From the Vol. 3, No. 6 July 2018 issue of Dateline Online newsletter
WHAT’S AHEAD . . .
Have you let us know if you are interested in participating in a chapter outing to Nats Park for the Friday, Aug. 17, night game Washington Nationals vs. the Marlins? We have 16 tickets available, so make your plans now and let us know how many you will purchase. (contact Jonathan Make: press@warren-news.com)
Save these dates:
Sept. 25 — SPJ DC presents a panel of women sports writers talking about covering their beats in male-dominated sports
Sept. 27-29 — the national SPJ Excellence in Journalism convention — EIJ18 — in Baltimore. If you haven’t been to an SPJ national convention before, take advantage of this perfect opportunity to get there without a cross-country flight involved! Early-bird registration ends July 25, so fill out your information now.
Keep reading for details . . . .
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A sobering reminder of First Amendment perils
In June, we went from speeches at our June 12 Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame dinner touching on how our First Amendment privileges are under attack, to witnessing journalism colleagues at The Capital Gazette newspaper office in Annapolis literally under attack. A deadly attack.
“I look with puzzlement on those who accept the politically or socially expedient argument that journalists as a group are elitist, self-absorbed and out of touch. I suppose such folks do exist within journalism … but I would think at no more a percentage than any other profession, if not less because our very work forces us to look and report beyond just ourselves, our families or our circle of friends and associates,” Distinguished Service Award honoree Gene Policinski said during his acceptance speech at the dinner.
Policinski, the CEO of the Freedom Forum Institute and its First Amendment Center who noted that next year marks his 50th as a professional journalist, said that “journalists and journalism have always been by the people and for the people … not an industry apart, but a profession in which a few represent the rest of us …. Going to work each day to ask those questions we all would ask of our leaders, and of those who otherwise impact our lives … reporting back to the rest of us….”
As reporting unfolded about the June 28 shooting at the newspaper office, in what police say was a targeted attack by a man who had grievances against the paper for coverage of legal action taken against him, it became apparent just how integral The Capital Gazette is to the Annapolis community and the entire surrounding area. The GoFundMe account set up by a journalist at Bloomberg Government in the hours after news broke morphed into a fund administered by the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County. Donations are still pouring in. The dedication of the surviving newsroom employees was on full display when the paper published on schedule the next day.
All five employees — four editors and an ad sales representative — who were killed have been laid to rest, and the community has paid its respects in other ways, including moments of silence before large public gatherings and adding a contingent of current and past Capital Gazette employees at the front of the city’s Fourth of July parade. There are other events and commemorations planned, including a day on Saturday, July 28, in downtown Annapolis to recognize the Capital Gazette and Free Press, according to Mayor Gavin Buckley. “Sadly, our country’s attention will soon shift from this event that has forever changed our city. We will not stand by and allow the memory of these slain journalists to be forgotten. We also stand up for our journalists and our freedom of the press and this concert is just one step in that direction,” Buckley said in a statement.
But the full impact, especially on survivors, is probably not yet known. Already, the parent company is asking for volunteers to help put out the paper over the next couple of months. If you’d like to volunteer and can work from the Baltimore Sun office, use this information to apply.
SPJ DC is continuing to gather information about what the chapter can do to assist in a unique way in the aftermath. SPJ “I back the First Amendment” T-shirts are still on sale, with proceeds going to the Capital Gazette fund. There are several other T-shirt efforts to benefit the fund, but at least one has had to temporarily halt orders to catch up with demand.
To read Gene Policinski’s full speech, and his introduction by SPJ DC Freelance Committee Co-Chair Stephenie Overman, a former newspaper employee under his editorship in Indiana, go to this link.
For the Hall of Fame speeches at the June 12 dinner, go to this link.
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Out to the ballpark
SPJ DC chapter members will see the Nats play the Miami Marlins at Nationals Park on Friday, Aug. 17, at 7:05 p.m. There are 16 tickets available, first paid, first served until they are all gone. The price of admission is a donation to the chapter’s SDX Foundation of Washington. RSVP to chapter President Jonathan Make, press@warren-news.com, or 202-872-9200, for more information on minimum pricing and how to pay in advance to receive your tickets before the day of the game.
The tickets are for seats in the Gallery level in Section 321, rows D, E & F, just past 1st base. As an added incentive that evening, the Nats’ promotion will be a Hawaiian shirt give-away. The first 20,000 fans entering Nats Park will receive a free Nats Hawaiian shirt.
Nats season ticket holder and SPJ DC member Bill McCloskey has graciously arranged for this outing. He also arranged for a pair of tickets to the Nationals vs. the Atlanta Braves game in D.C. on Friday, July 20, to be available for raffling off during the June 12 Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame dinner. The raffle raised $75 (at $1 per chance) for the SDX Foundation of Washington scholarship fund. And the raffle winner was Ryan Powell, son of Distinguished Service Award honoree Gene Policinski and his wife Kathleen Powell, who was in Washington from Indianapolis to be in attendance at Gene’s award presentation.
The cookie in the shape of a baseball mitt was one of several different designs used at the July 16 speaker luncheon at the National Press Club featuring MLB Commissioner Robert Manfred. Chapter Treasurer Amy Fickling, also a Press Club member and member of the NPC co-ed softball team, captured this image after the cookie went untouched by MLB Hall of Famer Joe Torre, who sat next to her at the head table during the luncheon. He and the commissioner were in Washington for the All-Star Game. Read Bill McCloskey’s report from the NPC Wire here.
Women on the beat: How sports journalism has evolved
Sports journalism has long been a male-dominated field. The Washington Post has made headlines for having female reporters leading coverage of the city’s NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB franchises, as well as other sports. We have a program in the works featuring a panel of some of these reporters talking with us about how sports journalism has evolved over the years and what it is like being a woman on the beat.
The event will be from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 25, in the auditorium of Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies building, located at 640 Massachusetts Ave. NW in Washington. We’ll begin taking RSVPs for this event in August, and will let you know when an Eventbrite is ready. Questions in the meantime? Email the chapter at spjdcchapter@gmail.com.
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EIJ18 in Baltimore
Early-Bird Registration Rates end July 25
We recently emailed a number of journalists in the DC metro area who are not members of SPJ to publicize the national convention being held right up the road in Baltimore in late September. For the amount of money you can save on registering early, you can pay for a year of national SPJ and DC Pro dues. Think about it!
The Society of Professional Journalists and RTDNA are bringing Excellence in Journalism 2018 to Baltimore Sept. 27-29. It’s an opportunity to hear speakers who will inspire you and attend professional development workshops that will enlighten you.
- EIJ18’s “Super Session” will feature CBS News’s “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker and NBC News’s Pete Williams.
- David Cuillier, a top freedom of information expert, will talk about how to successfully appeal and sue for public records.
- Wendy L. Patrick, San Diego criminal attorney, will talk on “Getting people to talk: Lessons from a career prosecutor.”
Newsrooms from around the country, including some that are recruiting, will be part of the exhibits and other events.
And, right now, there’s an opportunity to save on your conference registration. Sign up by July 25 and save $100. Even better, spend $100 to become a member of the Society of Professional Journalists ($75 for national dues/$25 for SPJ DC Pro chapter dues) and still come out $100 ahead.
Join SPJ because SPJ advocates for you and your fellow journalists. The society’s Code of Ethics helps you through any dilemmas you may face. It’s the gold standard of journalism. The Legal Defense Fund provides journalists with legal or direct financial assistance. Quill magazine helps you keep on the latest industry trends.
Commit to Excellence in Journalism. Register and join now.
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Why journalists should associate together
— and join SPJ DC, too
Chapter President Jonathan Make gave this speech at the June 12 Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame Dinner:
We at the Society of Professional Journalists DC Pro Chapter welcome you to our annual dinner. We’d like to also welcome our national SPJ president, Rebecca Baker.
Now, we need you to join us.
For $100 a year, you could have gotten access to the 28 programs we held in fiscal 2018. You’d have helped sponsor the students here tonight getting scholarships.
We need you in September for the national convention in Baltimore. If you join, you will receive far more than the cost of membership as a discount off convention registration.
More than your money, we need you. Journalists need to stick together, and greater numbers mean we speak with a more united voice and with greater authority.
We need you on our board. We want to find new or young members to join our board, and one day to be president.
Most of all, we need your ideas. For help in organizing future programs. We have dedicated ourselves to putting in educational programming, including training on Google, Facebook, the Freedom of Information Act and a lot more. We need you as speakers and event hosts.
We need someone to maintain our website, SPJDC.org. And we need your help judging awards like these.
Your leadership could involve finding multiple organizations to protest lack of openness in government. Or maybe protesting when reporters in our region are physically threatened or attacked.
It could be you helping us and several other journalism associations, representing a variety of minority and other groups, organize an annual job fair. Every year, several hundred people attend. Probably some of you.
If you have ideas, please get in touch with me.
I hope to hear from you.
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DC PRO BOARD VACANCIES: There are two at-large board seats vacant, one for a two-year term and one for the one year remaining in a vacated two-year term. If you are interested in being considered for one of the seats, contact chapter President Jonathan Make at press@warren-news.com.
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If you want to join SPJ and the DC Pro Chapter, go to this link, select your fee category, remember that DC Pro annual dues are $25, then click on Join Now! in the blue column to the right of the fee list, and fill in all your information, selecting Washington, DC, Pro for your local chapter and filling in $25. Can’t wait to have you on board with us!
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What we’ve been doing ….
June 12: Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame Dinner
Use these links to get some of the flavor of our annual event:
Distinguished Service Award
Hall of Fame
Scenes from Dinner
Dateline Awards
July 9: Up in the Air — Using Drones to Cover Stories
An informative program detailing what you need to know to use drones for newsgathering was well attended at the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism Washington campus. Greg Agvent, senior director of CNN Aerial Imagery who heads the leading drone-based reporting team in the country — on
e of the very few teams allowed to fly over people — led a nearly two-hour session of nuts-and-bolts information that even those with little background knowledge could understand. Charles Tobin, a partner at the law firm Ballard Spahr and co-chair of its Media and Entertainment Law Group, added “color commentary” from a legal perspective. He advises some of the country’s top media companies on the evolving rules of using drones for reporting and when newsrooms can and can’t use drone footage and photos shot by others. Moderator Dee Ann Divis, an at-large director on the SPJ DC board and editor of Inside Unmanned Systems magazine, provided handouts for attendees on the Drone Journalism Code of Ethics, adopted by the National Press Photographers Association, SPJ and RTDNA.
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Member Milestones
Congratulations, Julie Asher!
On Friday, June 15, Catholic News Service National News Editor Julie Asher was awarded the highest honor in the Catholic Press Association, the St. Francis de Sales Award, affectionately called the “Franny,” reported Ann Augherton, managing editor of the Arlington Catholic Herald.
To put this into an SPJ context, Asher, a past chapter president and chapter Distinguished Service Award honoree, was co-chair of the DC Pro chapter’s annual Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame dinner, which went off without a hitch on Tuesday, June 12. Augherton, a past chapter president, was the designer and editor of the program for the dinner (see photo of the cover in this issue). Asher’s award, which she received at the end of the week the SPJ dinner was held, included a bronze statuette that weighed too much to carry back on the plane and would have been expensive to ship home. Augherton had driven to Green Bay, Wisconsin, to attend the gathering where the award was given at a luncheon during the Catholic Media Conference. So the “Franny” was able to hitch a chauffeured ride back to Washington.
According to the website detailing the qualifications for the honor, the St. Francis de Sales Award is the highest award the Catholic Press Association presents to an individual for his/her “outstanding contributions to Catholic journalism.” Members of the Catholic Press Association are encouraged to nominate someone who, in the preceding year or throughout their career, has performed with excellence and contributed to raising the professional standards of Catholic journalism. St. Francis de Sales is the patron saint of Catholic journalists.
“Wow. It’s overwhelming,” said Asher after she was handed the award, according to a Catholic News Service report.
“I can confirm there was no Russian collusion on this — I had to say that coming here from Washington,” she added.
Asher thanked her CNS colleagues, led by editor-in-chief Greg Erlandson, and his predecessors.
“I also want to thank all of you, my colleagues in the Catholic press, for what you do every single day and what you contribute to CNS. We are all workers in the vineyard; we do it every single day to tell the story of the Catholic Church,” she said.
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Spreading the word on free speech
SPJ DC Pro Recording Secretary, veteran health policy reporter and FOI advocate Kathryn Foxhall gave an audience at the American Association of University Professors Annual Conference in Arlington, Virginia, on June 14 a general overview of the “Censorship by PIO” issue that has gained visibility in recent years among journalists, and is becoming a concern in other sectors.
She said that over the past 25 years, government agencies, organizations, businesses, nonprofits and others have been instituting policies of blocking reporters from communicating with their staffs without notifying the authorities — usually a public information officer — unless they are tracked and monitored by public affairs offices. “Somebody needs to look into why this is happening, why we [journalists] didn’t react,” she said. “It’s mean, powerful censorship that’s now a cultural norm.”
She went on to explain the academic surveys that have been conducted and efforts to work with the Obama administration to reverse the trend.
“Having said [all] that, I feel like journalists are ultimately responsible for this, more responsible for this, than anything else. As long as we keep taking this censored information and not even opposing it or warning the public, organizations will keep dishing it out.
“So why are major news outlets not saying anything about this? I don’t know, but my guess is that, for one reason, we fear for our own credibility. If we say we can’t get into this institution, we can’t get into all these institutions, then we’re just saying we don’t have the story.
“But I think also our work ethic has betrayed us because very, very deep[ly embedded] into journalists is: it’s always hard. People are always going to try to stop you. You just keep at it. You, you use your techniques, you use your, you work, you, you know how to get it.
And there’s the thing, a conceit that good reporters get the story anyway. But what we don’t take into account is after a journalist publishes the story and our editor and audience loves it and we win an award for it, there are still people in that agency who could, who could blow it to smithereens, who could just — I mean, they are the people looking at this issue every day. And they still can’t speak. After they look at your story and say, ‘Oh my God,’ they’re going to go back to work and say, ‘you know, it’s not my responsibility to ruin my job because one story is stupid.’”
Read her full speech here.
The entire conference focused on free speech, particularly free speech issues on college and university campuses. Check out the agenda here.
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Dateline Contest Coordinator opening
The Washington, D.C., Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is looking for a Contest Coordinator for the chapter’s annual Dateline Awards competition.
The prestigious Dateline Awards for excellence in journalism are handed out at the chapter’s annual banquet, usually held in early to mid-June. We need one person to take on the paid, part-time responsibility of soliciting and coordinating entries, organizing volunteer judges (Dateline swaps with another SPJ chapter on judging entries), processing judges’ choices and announcing competition finalists and winners in a news release. Most of the work will take place from January through mid-June.
Compensation: $2,500. Reasonable expenses will be reimbursed.
Duties include:
- Maintain regular communication with the chapter’s Board of Directors and provide status reports when requested.
- Respond to queries from the Board’s designated liaison in a timely manner.
- Follow and update, as necessary, the chapter’s contest schedule.
- Maintain and update a database of media outlets eligible to submit entries.
- Send out contest announcements and solicitation of entries.
- Respond to questions from potential entrants and others about contest rules, categories and deadlines.
- Receive entries and monitor entry fee payments.
- Encourage entrants, especially finalists, to attend the Awards Dinner.
- Track entries from receipt through judging.
- Manage the judging process, by:
–Arranging a swap of entries with an SPJ chapter in another state, one that conducts a
similar competition.
–Providing that chapter with our chapter’s judging criteria, procedural guidance and
deadlines. And access to the judging platform.
–Receiving entries, judging criteria, procedural guidance and deadlines from the other chapter.
–Recruiting local volunteers to judge the entries coming from the swapping chapter.
–Ensuring that the judging stays on schedule at both chapters.
–Managing steps necessary to convey to the other chapter or receive from them the judges’ award decisions for each category.
–Preparing a comprehensive list of Dateline winners in each category.
–Preparing winners’ certificates in digital form, ready for printing.
- Prepare a news release announcing the winners and distribute it to area media outlets.
- Prepare a post-mortem report evaluating the contest and recommending procedural improvements.
Requirements:
- Residence in the Washington, D.C., area
- Familiarity with various news media
- Familiarity with Excel or similar database program
- Ability to solve problems and meet deadlines
- Ability to write news releases in proper form
- Ability to write clear reports
- Availability to attend some chapter Board meetings, evenings, about three or four times per year
- Availability to attend the chapter’s annual banquet in June, to assist in distributing awards
- A valid Social Security number
- Availability to work as needed throughout the year. The work will not be steady. It will be focused from January through mid-June, and the busiest periods will be those near deadlines, when contest entries are arriving and after judging results come in.
The Contest Coordinator will have great, but not total, flexibility in setting work hours.
Background in competition management is highly desirable.
Send expressions of interest or questions to subject line: Dateline Coordinator, spjdcchapter@gmail.com.
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Not a journalist but would like to support SPJ’s missions?
Are you reading this newsletter, and thinking you’d like to support the missions and vision of SPJ, but you’re not a journalist and may not qualify for membership? Send an email to Linda Hall at national SPJ headquarters (lindah@hq.spj.org) to find out about becoming an Associate. You won’t be a full member, but you can still add your voice.
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2018 CALENDAR for UPCOMING DC SPJ CHAPTER EVENTS
July 24 noon, SPJ DC freelance lunch, National Press Club. Please let Stephenie Overman know if you plan to attend at saoverman@gmail.com.
Aug. 17 7:05 p.m., SPJ DC at Nats vs. Marlins at Nats Park. Hawaiian shirt night. Contact Jonathan Make (press@warren-news.com) to RSVP and purchase tickets.
Aug. 28 6:30 p.m., SPJ DC Pro board meeting, 6:30 p.m., McClendon Room, National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW in Washington
Sept. 25 6:30 p.m., SPJ DCPro program “Women on the Beat: Covering Major Sports in D.C.,” Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies, 640 Massachusetts Ave. NW in Washington
Sept. 27-29 EIJ18 national SPJ convention in Baltimore. Early-bird member registration through July 25.
Nov. 15 noon, SDX Foundation of Washington board meeting, McClendon Room, National Press Club, 529 14th Street NW in Washington