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Professional Development Programs
There's something for everyone in this year's schedule. Check out a list of the many workshops we're offering, and check back frequently for information about sessions, speakers and dates and times.
Many more programs will be announced as September draws near, so keep your eyes on this page for updates and announcements, as well as dates, times and speaker information!
Thursday, Sept. 4
Click to see the lineup for:
Thursday |
Friday |
Saturday
1 - 2:15 p.m.
What Else Can We Report About Latinos?
Description:
It's a fact that the Latino population is growing and becoming increasingly important, but how can we, as a reporters and editors, reflect that? Latinos are often portrayed stereotypically in the news as part of a crime, gang or immigration issue. Are these the only topics we can cover about Latinos? What can we add to mainstream newscasts and publications that would provide more coverage about the Latino community?
Speaker:
Rodrigo F. Cervantes, editor, Mundo Hispánico
Pursuing the Lead: A Study of Persistence and Payoff on the Bigger Story
Description:
An interest in looking into an area of state government and education not routinely covered leads to tips and evidence of broader corruption in Alabama's two-year colleges. This is a case study of how larger, more significant news stories can be found in an area previously considered not interesting enough to have a beat reporter devoted to it. There are investigative stories on all beats and subjects, and ways to get to them when others don't want you to have the information. Getting around the obstacles, why it's important to stick with it and a reminder why every government institution that receives taxpayer money needs a watchdog, will be discussed.
Speaker:
Brett Blackledge, reporter, Associated Press and former general assignment and special projects reporter, Birmingham (Ala.) News, 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism
Click for speaker bios
Brett Blackledge, reporter, Associated Press and former general assignment and special projects reporter, Birmingham (Ala.) News
Brett Blackledge received the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism and the Associated Press Managing Editors public service award for his ongoing series on corruption and cronyism in Alabama's two-year colleges.
Brett, 44, is a general assignment and special projects reporter with The Birmingham News. He moved to Alabama in 1993, joining The Mobile Register as a local government reporter. He also covered education and state government. He has worked at The Birmingham News since 1998.
Brett is a native of Baton Rouge, La. He earned a journalism degree from Louisiana State University in 1986. He began his career with the Associated Press in New Orleans, and later worked for AP in Jackson, Miss., and Tulsa, Okla.
He worked for The Journal Newspapers in suburban Washington, D.C., covering crime, local government and the Maryland and Virginia legislatures. There he also wrote about national education issues for Education Daily, covering the White House, U.S. Congress and U.S. Department of Education. He left Washington for Alabama in 1993.
Figuring out Blogs and Whatever's Next
Description:
Want to know more about the best blogs FOR and BY journalists, how you can join the blogging revolution as a consumer and/or creator of blogs and how to make sense of all the other new technologies changing our business? Then this is the session for you. Topics covered include blog basics, blogs that are changing America and the world, blogs that are over hyped and a waste of time, how to read blogs without drowning in too much info, how to create a blog and raise your Google rankings and why journalists should or should NOT be blogging. What's next? Photoblogging, videoblogging, podcasting, wikis, RSS, XML? All levels of experience are welcome — blog skeptics to blog fanatics. You will go home with plenty of useful ideas and a printed handout that you will use often.
Speaker:
Sree Sreenivasan, professor and dean of students, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, co-founder, South Asian Journalists Association and technology reporter, WNBC-TV
Click for speaker bios
Sree Sreenivasan, dean of students, Columbia University; technology reporter, WNBC-TV
Sree Sreenivasan is a journalism educator, technology expert and freelance journalist and blogger. He is Dean of Student Affairs at Columbia University's journalism school, where he runs the new media program. He also serves as technology reporter for WNBC-TV in NYC (Thursdays at 6:20 a.m. and Mondays at 5:20 p.m.) and contributing occasionally to various NBC News programs (he previously spent six years as WABC's Tech Guru). His work explaining technology has appeared in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Rolling Stone and Popular Science. He is co-founder of SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, a group of 1,000+ journalists across the US and Canada, and has been a keen watcher of U.S.-South Asia affairs for more than 15 years. In March 2004, Newsweek magazine named him one of the 20 most influential South Asians in the nation and in July 2007, India Abroad named him one of the 50 most influential Indians in America. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Roopa Unnikrishnan (a business strategist and world-class sports rifle shooter), and their twin toddlers. More on his work at sree.net.
Online On Deadline
Description:
Yes, they may still be etching your writing on the pulp of dead trees, but chances are it's also hurtling through cyberspace. It's a different world out there. Techniques that get your story read in print may doom your prose to Web oblivion. Sharpen your online writing skills and pick up a few tools of the trade in this hands-on workshop designed for deadline journalists. We'll work on how to get clicks and how to keep your readers clicking; on what you need to know and what you should forget about search optimization; on narrative forms that work and don't work online; and on how to manage interviews and research under intense deadline pressure. Participants are welcome to bring their own concerns to this interactive session.
Speaker:
Daniel J. DeNoon, senior writer, WebMD and 2006 and 2007 SDX award-winner for online deadline reporting
Click for speaker bios
Daniel J. DeNoon, senior writer, WebMD
Daniel J. DeNoon is senior medical writer for WebMD, researching and reporting daily news stories and health features. Before joining WebMD in 1999, he was a freelance medical writer, editor, and communications consultant.
DeNoon began his career as a daily newspaper reporter. He became a full-time medical journalist in 1985. A charter member of the International AIDS Society, he was founding editor of the newsletters AIDSWeekly and VaccineWeekly and is the author of AIDS Therapies, a 1,500-page encyclopedia of AIDS treatments and vaccines.
He is the recipient of several professional awards. These include a commendation from the Centers for Disease Control for his work during the 2001-2 bioterror attacks and three Sigma Delta Chi awards from the Society for Professional Journalists, including the 2006 and 2007 SDX awards for online deadline reporting. DeNoon earned a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and religion from Emory University.
2:30 - 3:45 p.m.
It’s Not YourTube or YourSpace
Description:
The internet offers an inexhaustible supply of photos, film clips and other juicy tidbits deceptively free for the taking. Using material gathered from the Internet raises tricky questions both of law (copyright, defamation) and of ethics (verification, attribution). This phenomenon is only growing more complex as news organizations augment their coverage with user-generated content and the work of “citizen journalists.” From “don’t Taze me bro” to “Client 9,” this session will take a look at the legal and ethical issues presented when relying on third-party content gathered on-line.
Speaker:
Frank D. LoMonte, Esq., executive director, Student Press Law Center
Click for speaker bios
Frank D. LoMonte, Esq., executive director, Student Press Law Center
Frank D. LoMonte is the Executive Director of the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Virginia, a nonpartisan, not-for-profit legal assistance and advocacy group that advises collegiate and high-school journalists and their teachers. Before coming to the SPLC in January 2008, LoMonte was a litigator with the Atlanta office of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan, LLP, where he specialized in regulatory work for telecommunications and energy clients. From 2004 to 2007, LoMonte served on the Legal Committee for the ACLU of Georgia, and he was named “volunteer of the year” by the Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network in 2007 for his work on behalf of juvenile clients in immigration court. LoMonte is a 2000 magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, where he served on the executive board of the Georgia Law Review. Before law school, he spent 12 years as a daily newspaper reporter and editor with the Georgia-based Morris chain, working in capital bureaus in Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C. He spent 1987-88 traveling the country with the Jesse Jackson campaign, and headed the chain’s presidential campaign coverage in 1992 and 1996. His investigative reporting led to Medicare fraud convictions against the two largest home-health-care agencies in Georgia.
Covering Environment for Dummies
Description:
A reporter Q&A session on navigating TRI, CAFOs and LEED standards, plus a peep at peer review and the difference between the “reasonable doubt” evidence model and the science/environment "preponderance of evidence” standard, which has helped prolong the evidence-free “debate” on everything from climate change, PCB cleanups and O.J. Simpson.
Speakers:
Peter Dykstra, CNN; Michael Fields, WABE-FM; Moderator: Stacy Shelton, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
60 Sites in 60 Minutes
Description:
A fast-paced surf session taking you through some of the latest sites that journalists should be bookmarking, RSSing and sharing. We’ll toss in some tried-and-true favorites, plus some out-there sites that we think will either set trends or end up sucked into Web obscurity. As workflows increase, we’ll help you save time.
Speakers:
Molly McDonough, assistant managing editor/online, ABA Journal; Ron Sylvester, staff writer, The Wichita Eagle
Click for speaker bios
Molly McDonough, assistant managing editor/online, ABA Journal
Molly McDonough is the Assistant Managing Editor/Online for the ABA Journal. She also has worked for American Lawyer Media and The National Law Journal as a writer and editor.
Molly previously reported for seven years at daily publications, including the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin; Gary (Ind.) Post-Tribune; Spartanburg (S.C.) Herald-Journal; and the Florence (S.C.) Morning News, where she covered courts, politics and the occasional NASCAR race in Darlington.
Molly is a past president of the Chicago Headline Club. She also was the founding president of the Chicago Headline Club Foundation, which raises money for journalism scholarship. She serves on the advisory board for Columbia College Chicago's journalism department.
Molly is a graduate of Valparaiso University, where she majored in psychology and communications. She lives in Oak Park, Ill., with her husband and two children.
Molly, a former at-large director on SPJ's national board, joined SPJ after an employer would not help her fight a subpoena. "I learned that SPJ's Legal Defense Fund is a valuable service to journalists," she said. "I have been a supporter of the LDF since and have worked to strengthen an organization that serves our nation's democracy by supporting a free, open and ethical press."
Ron Sylvester, staff writer, The Wichita Eagle
Ron Sylvester serves as SPJ’s Region seven director, overseeing chapters in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. He is the second generation from his family to belong to SPJ. His father a broadcast pioneer from Missouri, joined SPJ when it was still the Sigma Delta Chi fraternity in 1950. After visiting his father on the job and hearing the clacking of teletype machines, Sylvester ended up working for his hometown newspaper, the Springfield News-Leader, for 24 years. His first assignment was "women's athletics," which he was the first reporter at the paper to cover the beat.
After being asked to leave college because he devoted more time to the paper than to classes, Sylvester continued in the industry, covering every beat in the newsroom, including arts and entertainment to public health, medicine, science and technology. He even found time to write a book on the development of Branson as an entertainment tourist destination. Today, Sylvester covers legal affairs for at the Wichita Eagle and works as a stringer for Court TV. He resides with his wife and five children. At age 47, Sylvester says he still can't think of any better way to make a living.
Craft of Writing
Description:
This class offers a guide to clear and powerful writing that you can put into practice today. By understanding whta makes a sentence easy to read, you are on your way to writing the kinds of stories readers will want more of and that you'll be proud of. The guide also helps in diagnosing problem sentences and finding quick fixes. If you are an editor, the guide will make it easier to coach your reporters. There will be indisputable reasons for edits and rewrites that avoid the "because I said so" rationale.
Speakers:
Thomas Oliver, senior editor, enterprise, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
4 - 5 p.m.
Instant Gratification: Redefining Journalism in the Technology Age
Description:
It's not just about print and video anymore. From multimedia presentations to virtual worlds, the computer has irrevocably changed the way we report, write and edit. InformationWeek's Nick Hoover will look at several emerging possibilities for how to communicate with audiences and sources, as well as the ethical quandries and strategic angles that need to be breached with each.
Speaker:
Nick Hoover, technology scribe, InformationWeek
Share Your Pain with Everyone!
Description:
We were unable to get Dr. Phil to lead the first SPJ therapy session about what to do about the business side of the business. Instead we nabbed Dave Garlock, University of Texas, to lead a free-form discussion on how to become a more cohesive and functioning team in this time of uncertainty and budget cuts. He promises to start with these two questions: Do we need an even bigger wall between the editorial and business side?
Speaker:
Dave Garlock, senior lecturer, University of Texas
The First Five Years: You Can Do It
Description:
For new journalists, the first five years can be brutal. The hours are long, the pay is low and the moves are frequent. It can be tempting to leave journalism for greener pastures. Hear from a panel of journalists going through their first five years and those who have survived the tough beginnings. Get tips for making the most of your early career years while avoiding common mistakes. Leave energized and ready to move to the next phase of your career path.
Speakers:
Andria Simmons, reporter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Leslie Froelich, reporter, Mundo Hispánico/Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Adrian Uribarri, reporter, Orlando Sentinel
Click for speaker bios
Leslie Froelich, reporter, Mundo Hispánico/Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Leslie Froelich is a reporter for the newspaper Mundo Hispánico, the Spanish-language branch of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. There, she is in charge of the business, real estate and career sections, and she also contributes to the health and local news sections. Leslie received her bachelor’s degree in Spanish and International Studies of Latin America from The Ohio State University in 2005, where she was also associate editor of the Latino magazine, Que Pasa, OSU. She also worked briefly as a reporter for the newspaper Nuevo Sumario in Córdoba, Argentina, that same year, where she had previously lived for one year as a Rotary exchange student in 2001. Leslie currently resides in Atlanta with her husband Nick.
Andria Simmons, reporter, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Andria Simmons graduated from Georgia State University with a bachelor’s degree in print journalism in 2001. While in college, she interned at Atlanta Magazine. Her first job out of college was Winder bureau reporter for the Gwinnett Daily Post. After a year covering general assignment stories in rural Barrow County, she was promoted to the police and courts beat in the home office in Lawrenceville, covering all of suburban Gwinnett County. She spent roughly four years covering murder and mayhem, including multiple stories that garnered national attention.
Adrian Uribarri, reporter, Orlando Sentinel
Adrian G. Uribarri is a reporter at the Orlando Sentinel, where he covers government and politics and produces multimedia content for OrlandoSentinel.com. He is also a member of the Society of Professional Journalists' ethics committee.
He returned to the Sentinel in 2007, two years after he interned there as a business reporter through the Dow Jones Newspaper Fund. In 2006, he completed a second internship with the Fund, as a copy editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. He later spent six months reporting at the Los Angeles Times.
He has served as the society's national campus representative and president of its University of Florida chapter, and earlier this year, he traveled to Taiwan as part of the society's delegation to the country.
He graduated from the University of Florida in 2006 with bachelor's degrees in journalism and political science and a minor in business administration. He is fluent in Spanish.
10 NEW Tech Things to Try Today: Become More Skilled and Efficient on the Web
Description:
Having a tough time keeping up with all the technology changes around you? Worried that there's some new tech tip or cool site that all your friends and family already know about, but you don't? Then this fast-paced seminar aimed at writers and other media professionals is for you. You will learn about some terrific new ideas that will make you more efficient, help you with your work and improve your online life. You will leave with more than 10 ideas, a useful handout and a whole new outlook on technology. After this YOU will be the one showing off to your friends and family.
Speaker:
Sree Sreenivasan, professor and dean of students, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, co-founder, South Asian Journalists Association and technology reporter, WNBC-TV
Click for speaker bios
Sree Sreenivasan, dean of students, Columbia University; technology reporter, WNBC-TV
Sree Sreenivasan is a journalism educator, technology expert and freelance journalist and blogger. He is Dean of Student Affairs at Columbia University's journalism school, where he runs the new media program. He also serves as technology reporter for WNBC-TV in NYC (Thursdays at 6:20 a.m. and Mondays at 5:20 p.m.) and contributing occasionally to various NBC News programs (he previously spent six years as WABC's Tech Guru). His work explaining technology has appeared in The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Rolling Stone and Popular Science. He is co-founder of SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, a group of 1,000+ journalists across the US and Canada, and has been a keen watcher of U.S.-South Asia affairs for more than 15 years. In March 2004, Newsweek magazine named him one of the 20 most influential South Asians in the nation and in July 2007, India Abroad named him one of the 50 most influential Indians in America. He lives in Manhattan with his wife, Roopa Unnikrishnan (a business strategist and world-class sports rifle shooter), and their twin toddlers. More on his work at sree.net.
Understanding Alternative Story Forms
Description:
What are they and how do you know which form is best in print and online? You will also know the top 10 forms of alternative story forms, and learn a step-by-step approach to actually putting one together. This session is good for reporters, line editors, designers, graphic artists and photographers.
Speaker:
Rick Crotts, business section editor, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Click for speaker bios
Rick Crotts, business section editor, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rick Crotts joined the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 1995, starting as the Sports Design Director. He then moved into News Art Manager position in 2001. The following year, he added Presentation Editor to his duties. As Presentation Editor, Rick was responsible for the design and look of the AJC. As the AJC moved to using more alternative story forms, Rick compiled a catalog of over 65 ASFs, with an explanation on how to create each. He also wrote the papers design stylebook.
In March 2008, he became the Business Section Editor. Rick works closing with reporters, editors, designers and graphic artists, using his talents as a visual journalist to help the reinvention of this important section.
For the past six years, he has been teaching visual thinking and alternative story form courses on-line and in person for designers, editors, reporters and photographers for newspapers in the Cox chain around the country. Rick also teaches visual communication, and desktop editing and publishing courses at Georgia State University as an adjunct professor. He has also taught Visual Journalism courses the University of Georgia. Rick has worked as a design consultant for UGA's student newspaper, the Red & Black, and papers in Alabama.
He has talked to numerous college groups over the years about visual thinking, design and the importance of alternative story forms. During his 26 years in the newspaper industry, Rick as been in design leadership positions at the St. Petersburg Times, Orlando Sentinel, Detroit News and Sarasota Herald-Tribune (Fla.). He has received numerous SND awards for design excellence, as well as many individual state and national design honors. Rick graduated from the University of Florida with a degree in journalism.
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2008 SPJ Convention & Journalism Conference
September 4-7, 2008
Atlanta
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