With a Wild Surmise

The annual Mark of Excellence (MOE) Awards Luncheon is one of the true highlights of the year for a regional director. We get to hand out recognition to outstanding student journalists, awards that may play an important role in the careers of these young reporters. I know that because the speaker at our 2009 Region 6 Awards Luncheon remembered his MOE Award ceremony 29 years later.

Several years ago we had a luncheon speaker who was being realistic and offered a gloom and doom scenario to our audience of young journalists. There's certainly grounds for such a perspective but that's not the only realistic way of looking at the state of journalism today.

That's certainly not how David Stoeffler looks at it. David currently operates his own business, Touchstone News Consulting, following three decades as a reporter, editor and news executive. He's been the top editor at a number of newspapers and was the first vice president for news of Lee Enterprises. David also played a key role in the affiliation of the Madison (WI) pro chapter of SPJ, and preceded me in the position of president of that chapter.

It was my pleasure to invite David to give a talk at our 2009 Awards Luncheon and he responded with an insightful assessment of the role of journalism and why there will always be a need for journalists. He was blunt when necessary, calling journalism "an aloof institution that often fails to own up to its mistakes." But he also noted that our society is dependent upon journalism. "We must give people the information they need to engage as citizens of a democracy and as people curious about the world around them," he said.

He very clearly perceives that people today are awash in a world of information. "People feel overwhelmed by the information flowing at them," he said. "People will want someone to make sense of it all. That person is a journalist."

David was frank, challenging, insightful, and inspiring. It was exactly the kind of talk student journalists need to hear. I went back and listened to the talk again today and decided to post it online, for listening or downloading. (Time 19:15) David also has a condensed version of his talk posted on his website.

More SPJ @ 100

Driving to last month's SPJ centennial celebration in Greencastle, and thinking about the future of journalism, I decided to challenge myself to try something new, journalistically. The challenge: produce a video report of the centennial.

The report I produced wasn't heavily scripted. I used the video function on my point and shoot camera and Windows Movie Maker. So it has a certain amateurish quality, but also a journalistic flavor.

The video is posted on YouTube, here's the link.

SPJ @ 100

From SPJ@100

Last Friday, April 17, 2009, the Society of Professional Journalists celebrated its centennial anniversary with events on the campus of DePauw University in Greencastle IN, where it began.

In Meherry Hall, where founders originally announced the beginning of Sigma Delta Chi, a journalism fraternity, SPJ's venerable initiation ceremony was solemnly re-enacted by the officers of the organization. There are reports that some student chapters still use this initiation ceremony.

In addition there was a panel discussion by experienced veterans on the future of journalism, a presentation by the author of a book about a journalism pioneer, and a keynote address by Jane Pauley. It was a memorable afternoon and evening, attended by a number of distinguished Indiana and national journalists, including a number of past presidents and a number of winners of the Wells Memorial Key, SPJ's highest honor.

The centennial was conducted with full recognition that journalism is in the middle of a historic change in the basic model of the news business. No one knows what the next model will be but everyone believes that journalism still has an important role to play because people depend on accurate, timely information. Someone called it a visionary period, a time when visionaries are inventing new models of collection and distribution.

"If newspapers go down, corruption will go up," said one of the panelists, Ken Paulson, president of the Freedom Forum and former editor of USA Today, in recognition of the critical watchdog role of the news media.

"What does a journalist mean for society?" asked Karen Dunlap, president of the Poynter Institute. "It's disseminating information for the public good."

When the question and answer period came, the first question was, "How do we get people to pay for news on the internet?" Which is one of the biggest unsolved riddles of journalism's current time of dilemma. There's no clear answer yet, but a confidence that an answer will be found.

"We have not completed our journey, we are not done," said SPJ's current president, Dave Aeikens, in brief remarks at dinner. "Our responsibility is to continue to do that those who came before us did," he said.

The final word about news came from former NBC Today anchor Jane Pauley, who noted that viewing The News Hour on PBS was a priority for her, while viewing the commercial network news reports was optional. "I hope Jim McNeil never retires," she said. "One way the news media can get its niche back is to get straight again and not compete with entertainment."

SPJ's centennial events were webcast live online, are being archived at spj.org. For my photo album of the afternoon, click on the photo of East College above.

Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism

It was reported today that longtime Wisconsin State Journal investigative reporter Andy Hall is leaving the newspaper and striking out on his own. An article in today's paper states that Hall is the executive director and sole initial employee of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, an organization so new it doesn't appear to have its own website yet.

Andy is one of the nicest guys and sharpest journalists that I know. He's a solid reporter, and knows how to get to the bottom of a story, even a complicated story. Watching old video footage of John McCain during last year's presidential campaign I was surprised to catch a glimpse of Andy. He was one of the Arizona Republic reporters who investigated McCain's involvement in the 1989 Keating 5 scandal. He's a longtime member of IRE, Investigative Reporters and Editors and has won numerous reporting awards.

According to the story Andy is not so much leaving the State Journal as he is joining with Wisconsin Public Radio and Television and the UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication in a partnership to provide information about public issues, government ethics and public safety to news media across the state.

I'm curious to see how this partnership works out. Other partners are involved and funding will come from foundations and individuals. The State Journal has provided $2000 in seed money.

In the brave new world of journalism, as old media struggles to stay viable and new media struggles to become viable, collaborations like this may have staying power. I hope so. In concept at least, this appears to be First Amendment journalism at its best.

Post Script: I read this story in the "dead tree" edition of the Wisconsin State Journal, not the online edition. I went looking for it in the online edition and it didn't seem to be posted, at least as I scanned the headlines. The only way that I found it online was through Google. Which makes me wonder, why is it that there are more stories in the printed version, with limited content, than there are online, which theoretically has unlimited content?  That's one of the reasons I still prefer to read the foldable version, more relevant content.

2009=100

SPJ's centennial year has begun with a Kick-off Reception in Region 6, at the nation's oldest press club. More detailed and expansive celebratory activities are coming up on April 17th, at DePauw University, where it all started. There will be another Region 6 event on Friday, June 26, as Hubbard Broadcasting/KSTP-TV in Minneapolis receives a Historic Site in Journalism recognition plaque. Then August 27-29, at SPJ's annual convention, there'll be even more celebrating.

But there was also something appropriate about beginning this landmark year at the oldest press club in the western hemisphere, the Milwaukee Press Club. Several years ago I was present when then SPJ president David Carlson presented a Historic Site in Journalism plaque to the press club.

Members of the SPJ Executive Board were in town for a meeting and were joined by several members of the local chapter. Chapter president Brandon Lorenz gave a short report on the history of SPJ in Milwaukee. The chapter has an illustrious history, almost died out, but then was resurrected in the last couple of years. SPJ president Dave Aeikens also had some short remarks. Former SPJ Presidents Jean Otto and Dick Leonard, Milwaukee area residents, were not able to make the event because of weather conditions, it would have been great to hear from them also.

So the celebration has begun. Keep your party hats handy.

Wisconsin Public Records Audit

The 2008 Wisconsin Public Records Audit has been released by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and the information is available at the WIS FOIC website.

"The audit, conducted by the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication, involved 318 public records requests filed in 65 (of Wisconsin's 72) counties."

Getting an early start in journalism

At the recent University of Wisconsin-Madison mini-conference on Journalism and Democracy there was a running joke from panelists and speakers on when they first got into journalism. John Nichols, Associate Editor of The Capital Times and Washington correspondent for The Nation, got it started. He reminisced about applying for job at age 11 from the editor of the weekly newspaper in Union Corners, Wisconsin. And since the editor was also the entire editorial staff and production staff, young John got the chance to start reporting at an early age.

He elaborated on that situation by recalling the day that vice presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey came to town and let it be known that he was willing to meet with the local media. The young 11-year old journalist was ushered onto Humphrey's campaign bus. "The high point of my reporting career, and the low-point of Humphrey's political career coincided," he joked.

After Nichols spoke UW-Madison journalism professor Lew Friedland and several other panelists acknowledged their own reportorial roots went back to about the same age. It's been said before, the high school age is not too young to attract people to a life-long career in journalism. Even junior high school age is not too young.

One perfect example is here in Madison, where many more young journalism careers are being launched at a monthly publication called The Simpson Street Free Press, circulation 22,000. Since 1992 SSFP has been engaging teenagers and training them in the rudiments of journalism as a way to improve their writing skills and promote their academic success.

This is worthy of mention at this time because the SSFP was honored last Friday with the Coming Up Taller Award, which comes from the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. The award was presented to SSFP journalists Sisi Chen and Deidre Green by First Lady Laura Bush and Andrew Hazlett of the National Endowment for the Humanities, at a ceremony in Washington D.C. The recognition is well-deserved.

My own journalistic career also began at age 12, when I signed up to be a carrier for the Milwaukee Journal in my home town of Prairie du Chien. I pedaled (literally) the Journal for about three years. In the western part of Wisconsin the Journal was a morning paper, and reading each morning's edition at breakfast after finishing my route opened up a whole new world of events and issues to me.

Then in high school I got my first reporting job, covering sports for The Prairie News. My first editor was Margaret Quimby, who was famous in her own right.    There I discovered that I not only had an outlet for my instinct for helping people with information but also that my press pass gave me free entree into the important events of my world. I have been reporting ever since.

Three Decades of Advocacy for Open Government

One month ago today, on October 13, 2008, the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council (WFOIC) held a small celebration to celebrate its 30-year anniversary. The Society of Professional Journalists has been involved with WFOIC from the beginning.

This anniversary was an important milestone, and to mark the occasion there were remarks from the Wisconsin State Supreme Court's Chief Justice, a debate between a journalist and a legislator, a song from a troubador and cake for everyone. I'm mentioning it now because the audio of remarks from Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson have been added to the WFOIC website. Further audio files and photos from the event will be posted soon, as the website is being remodeled.

"Why Open Meetings and Open Records Are Important" was the topic of Chief Justice Abrahamson's remarks. She stated her case very clearly. "Representative government depends upon an informed electorate," she said. "Only when people know what government is doing can people act responsibly." She said that there's always a presumption of complete access in the law.

The chief justice described the training of judges in Wisconsin, who are instructed to be prepared for a journalist who may come to their courtroom and read from a card a protest against closed court proceedings. "It's sort of a reverse Miranda," she said of the open meetings cards carried by many journalists. "It says we have rights and we intend to enforce them."

One of the points of contention between journalists and jurists has been the issue of cameras in the courts. Wisconsin began to allow cameras in courtrooms in 1978, interestingly enough at about the same time the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council was formed. The practice is now fairly well accepted and is another example of access to important information. "It has worked extraordinarily well in Wisconsin," she said.

Chief Justice Abrahamson concluded her remarks by saying, "Let the sunshine in. Sunshine is a good disinfectant."

The program also included a debate between State Representative Marlin Schneider and WFOIC president Bill Lueders over online access to court records through Wisconsin's Consolidated Court Automation Programs (CCAP). Representative Schneider is a privacy advocate. "CCAP causes innocent people to be harmed," he said. "We should not bear false witness against our neighbors and CCAP does that."  Lueders said that access to information can be abused but overall it is good for democracy.

The program concluded with the "Open Records Blues," performed by singer-songwriter Pete Leidy. The song had been co-written by Bill Lueders. Afterwards cake was served.

Conversations on Journalism and Democracy

(Madison, WI) -- What better time to talk about the role of journalism in a democracy than right after the most exciting presidential election in a century. The University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Journalism and Mass Communications convened a post-election mini-conference on Journalism and Democracy on Friday, November 7, 2008. But while the democratic process seemed to work well on November 4th, journalism is struggling.

"Newspapers are technically dead," said journalism professor Lewis Friedland, a member of one of the panels of journalists and educators convened for the conference. He said the newspaper economic model doesn't work anymore.

Mark Katches, the assistant managing editor of Projects and Investigations at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel disagreed. "Newspapers are in trouble, but they're not dead yet," he said. Newspapers and newspaper chains with a heavy debt load are in the biggest trouble, but newspapers without a lot of debt are still healthy. "We make a ton of money with out Sunday paper," he said, "and online revenue makes up only ten percent of our ad dollars."

John Nichols, Associate Editor of The Capital Times and Washington correspondent for The Nation, recalled that it wasn't that long ago that an extra press plane had to be chartered by the Clinton campaign because of all of the newspapers and other media that wanted to cover the campaign in person. This year, despite the excitement generated by the Obama campaign, there were a growing number of vacant seats on the press plane because newspapers couldn't afford to send anyone. "By the next presidential campaign many of those newspapers will be closed," he predicted.

Nichols, in remarks at the conference, said that the performance of the news media frequently falls short of what he was inspired by when he started his writing career at the age of eleven. He suggested the demise of the newspaper behemoths might actually be a good thing. The appetite for news is not disappearing and the new media that arises to feed that appetite may actually accomplish better journalism than the present model. "Instead of clinging to the past, rush rapidly to the future," he advised. "The future is bright and the people want it."

UW-Madison journalism professor Dhavan Shah gave the media in general better grades for covering the election than journalists because of the growing trend of media interactivity. "Even intolerance breeds participation," he said. "A lot of people were really engaged with this election."

He observed that the perception of press bias seems to increase with every election cycle, apprently fed by the passionate partisanship of the election season. "We need to do a better job of telling our story and looking at ourselves," he said.

Fellow panelists agreed. "We need to explain to people why we do what we do," said Jason Stein of the Wisconsin State Journal. Bill Lueders, news editor of Isthmus magazine, suggested that teaching media literacy needed to become a higher priority in school.

photo: left to right, Rep. Spencer Black, Bill Lueders, Chris Long (wisconsineye), Jason Stein, Dhavan Shah.

Media Bias and the Presidential Campaign

The political news website Politico took a look at media bias in the presidential campaign. Admittedly, my media diet isn't as broad as I would like it to be but it seems to me that media scrutiny of legitimate (and sometimes illegitimate) campaign issues has been fairly one-sided and there's been relatively few stories along the line of Cheryl Attkisson's CBS News investigation into the Obama campaign's finances. I'm talking about genuine investigative news reports, not reality checks on campaign ads.

I'm sure it will continue to be an issue after the election but the dialogue is already beginning, and not just on the political weblogs and talk radio. In addition to the Politico column referenced above I was surprised to see a column on the ABC News website by Money columnist Michael Malone calling the bias not just bewildering but appalling.

The Pew Research Center for Excellence in Journalism has already done a study on the tone of the campaign coverage, which is referenced in the Politico column. The tone of the McCain coverage is heavily negative in the media, while the Obama coverage is much more positive or neutral.

Media bias is always a touchy issue for journalists. It's an area where we're more thin skinned then we want to admit to ourselves. Politico's frankness was refreshing but it's just a start.

UPDATE: On November 9, 2008, Washington Post Ombudsman Deborah Howell assessed the presidential campaign coverage in her column: An Obama Tilt in Campaign Coverage.

What's happening in Region 6

Here are some short reports on activities in chapters around the region. Some of the responses reference my query about when chapter elections are held. My point was that chapters, particularly student chapters, should not wait until the end of the school year to hold elections. This is because the new president, or someone in leadership, should always apply to attend the Scripps Leadership workshop, which is offered by SPJ every June. If elections are held at the end of the school year, the new officers miss the application deadline.

Here are the latest reports from the field...


The University of St. Thomas chapter will be electing new officers in December.  This is a recent change to our bylaws and one we think will work better with students' academic schedules.  Because we'll bring in new leaders halfway through the year, the old ones will still be around to mentor, field questions, etc. Our chapter is small, but we're working on building membership.  One thing we're trying to do is get more involved with Pro chapter activities.
 - Wendy Wyatt, faculty adviser

The Milwaukee Pro Chapter is making plans to host a visit by national SPJ leaders in January for a celebration recognizing one of SPJ's oldest pro chapters. Also, we've talked about doing a wine tasting fund-raiser.
 - Brandon Lorenz, president

The Minnesota Pro chapter held its second annual “How to Write a Book…and Get it Published” event on Oct. 14th. It included a new panel of local journalists-turned authors, plus advice on how to get book ideas into print. A program video is online at the chapter website. Our chapter officers are elected in May-early June every year. But we run one year ahead of schedule with participation in the Scripps Leadership training workshop. Our current President-Elect, Scott Theisen just attended Scripps training this summer.
 - Nicole Garrison-Sprenger, chapter president

The Minnesota State University-Mankato chapter worked with the Minnesota pro-chaper on an intern night. It went well, and it helped get many members motivated and gave them new ideas on what they can do in journalism. That was followed by a Resume Workshop several weeks later.
  - Larissa Larivee, president

The University of Wisconsin-Madison chapter noticed a scheduled screening on campus of Deadline USA, the legendary 1952 journalism film starring Humphrey Bogart. A chapter meeting was held just prior to the screening with Wisconsin State Journal columnist Doug Moe, who talked about his appreciation of the movie and other journalists he's met who also were fans of the movie. All who attended agreed the movie was very inspiring and well worth seeing.
  - Claire Lempke, president

This just in, one additional report from Minnesota State University-Moorhead:

The MSUM chapter of Society of Professional Journalists hosted DebateWatch 2008 on Oct. 15, bringing together 250 people -- mostly students -- to watch Sen. Barack Obama debate Sen. John McCain. Afterward, those who gathered to watch the presidential debate on a big screen TV discussed what they saw and heard from the candidates.

The chapter planned for about 120 people and booked a lecture auditorium that seats 227. We were stunned when 250 people showed up. It was SRO: Standing Room Only. The deans of the College of Business and Industry and College of Arts and Humanities gave SPJ $400 for promotion and food. Student leaders in SPJ wanted the event to be student-focused and like a Super Bowl party for politics so they ordered nearly $250 worth of pizza, plus loads of snack foods and soft drinks.

DebateWatch is a national event started by Dr. Diana Karlin of the University of Kansas nearly two decades ago; Debate Watch is endorsed by the Commission on Presidential Debates. A DebateWatch can be held anywhere from a living room to an auditorium.

We found that our best advertising was on Facebook. Each member of SPJ changed their Facebook profile picture to a mini-DebateWatch poster (see attachment) about 10 days before the event. The message spread "virally," with each SPJ member since each of about 14 active SPJ members has  anywhere from a dozen to 600 Facebook friends. Additionally, all four TV stations in Fargo attended and covered DebateWatch.
   - Deneen Gilmour, chapter adviser

Why Newspapers Still Matter

Bill Lueders,  Isthmus News Editor and Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council president, gave a speech last week to Madison's Downtown Rotary Club on why newspapers still matter.
"Here’s what I say: Newspapers are hurting because the people who should be relying on them don’t, and because those who do rely on them have decided they ought to be able to do so for free."

It's well worth reading in its entirety: http://www.thedailypage.com/daily/article.php?article=23707.

Madison is a unique newspaper town. Up until recently we had two daily newspapers, the morning Wisconsin State Journal and the afternoon Capital Times. Earlier this year the Capital Times switched from competing with the State Journal on a daily basis to competing with Bill's paper, the Isthmus, with a weekly newsprint version and more internet offerings. The University of Wisconsin campus also has two daily newspapers, which is pretty unusual, The Daily Cardinal and the Badger Herald.

Free people in a free country

Minnesota Pro Chapter board member (and former chapter president) Art Hughes has written an Op-Ed column carried in the St.. Paul Pioneer Press today and appearing online at: http://www.twincities.com/opinion/ci_10328695?nclick_check=1. The column raises concerns about the status of First Amendment freedoms in the Twin Cities on the eve of the Republican National Convention. While acknowledging the difficult job facing police officers, it makes a clear statement that press freedoms still need to be protected.

UPDATE: Ironically Art was one of the reporters who was arrested during the convention. His follow-up report is here.

Photographers Bill of Rights

Photographers in Wisconsin now have a clearer picture, okay a clearer understanding, of what is permitted at many picture-taking settings. The Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council and the Wisconsin News Photographers Association have assembled a Photographers Bill of Rights.
It outlines the rights and responsibilities of photographers, according to Wisconsin law. The document can be accessed on the Freedom of Information Council website and may be freely reproduced.

Acquiring News

The Region 6 spring conference begins tomorrow as another article in the New York Times focuses on how two generations access political information differently. Changing habits in news acquisition are being addressed at our regional and national conferences. Some may feel that the changes aren't being recognized as quickly as they should be. There are also concerns that the "black ink and cellulose" news days are numbered. Certainly there is handwriting on the wall that has to be recognized but the history of media (and transportation) has been that new forms do not totally replace the old forms, they just add to the available options. I am among those who believe that (some) newspapers will still be with us in the decades ahead.