Highlights of 2 SPJ board meetings at EIJ19 in San Antonio

 Published Date: October 14, 2019

National SPJ board met twice — the outgoing board, then the new board

By Andy Schotz

Here are highlights from those meetings (with a narrative summary of some points by Jonathan Make following):

 

SPJ board, Sept. 5

 

  • Outgoing President J. Alex Tarquinio provided a summary of her term (p. 4 of the board packet), including work by committees (a membership drive, growth of the #Press4Education program), the board (a strategic planning task force, a review of policies) and the staff (advocacy statements, a redesigned Quill magazine).
  • The board received a memo from Rod Hicks, the Journalist on Call, about work he has done (p. 24 of the board packet). The most notable has been the Casper project, in which he spent time with residents of Wyoming discussing journalism and the media, culminating with a town hall meeting with journalists from national news organizations.
  • The board approved two new campus chapters — at Louisiana State University and Northeastern Illinois University. It also reinstated the Wyoming Pro chapter.
  • The board approved a policy, recommended by a task force, on transparency that includes prominent notices of meetings and agendas, accommodating the public for in-person and electronic meetings, and posting recaps with several days after a meeting. Other new or updated policies (p. 69 of the board packet) were in areas such as conflicts of interest, campaign guidelines and awards.
  • The strategic planning task force (p. 107 of the board packet) went over a survey it did in which it received 550 responses, or about 9.9 percent of SPJ’s 5,591 members. Respondents did not support moving SPJ’s HQ; do not support changing SPJ’s name to Society for Professional Journalism; support hiring a full-time lobbyist; ad strongly oppose raising dues. The two areas considered most important for SPJ are advocacy and the code of ethics. (See Randy Showstack’s coverage of the task force report here.)
  • Talbott Talent, which SPJ hired to help with the search for the next executive director, talked about results of surveys done with SPJ and SPJ Foundation board members, as well as the HQ staff. Talbott presented some recommendations based on its time observing the HQ operations. The timetable for the search included possibly having a recommendation to the search committee in October and a new executive director starting in December. A more detailed discussion was held with the board in executive session.

 

SPJ board, Sept. 7

 

  • The board voted to disband the Greater Charlotte Pro chapter, after receiving a letter from the treasurer asking to do so. The chapter had been active for a few years.
  • The board heard about the process of switching to Blackbaud for a computer system at SPJ HQ. Board member Mike Reilley said SPJ was not supposed to sign a contract until webmaster Billy O’Keefe had a chance to test the Blackbaud system. However, the contract was signed in February without O’Keefe getting that access, which he still doesn’t have. Reilley said there might be other options, but the board needs to see the contract.

 

Any new SPJ executive director could start in December, search head tells EIJ19

By Jonathan Make

The Society of Professional Journalists could have a new executive director in place by year’s end, the head of the search committee told an SPJ board meeting the morning of Sept. 5, 2019, at the group’s annual convention in San Antonio.

December could see the executive director start on the job, said committee head Hagit Limor (see notes below this report). In coming months, she expects the board may get candidates to pick from. She’s encouraged by the progress of the recruitment effort so far.

In a nod to it being an unusual past year for the organization, outgoing board President Alex Tarquinio told the meeting that, “obviously, it’s been an extraordinary year with the turnover.” The last staff head, Alison Bethel McKenzie quit unexpectedly in April. Tarquinio noted that she had recounted staff and other efforts made over the past year, in her report.

EIJ19 Sept 5 board meeting Bluestein far left; Drudge in middle JMake photo
During EIJ19 Sept. 5, 2019, national SPJ board meeting, in the audience are Stephanie Bluestein far left, and Michael Drudge of the San Antonio Pro Chapter in middle. (Photo by Jonathan Make)

Limor’s timeline on the hunt for a permanent SPJ chief came in response to a request for an update from San Antonio Pro Chapter President Michael Drudge. He also welcomed this annual Excellence in Journalism convention to the city.

Also during the board meeting’s public comment period, Greater Los Angeles Pro Chapter President Stephanie Bluestein pointed out that her group had just formally called for SPJ to return to Fox News the money the nonprofit got for EIJ19. SPJLA is standing with the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, which had returned its share of the Fox sponsorship. SPJ didn’t return its share of the money, even though EIJ19 co-organizer NAHJ had.

SPJLA isn’t ”necessarily saying don’t invite Fox ever again,” Bluestein said. “But we felt like we couldn’t be silent.” She cited the network’s coverage. “And their rhetoric has increased over the past year.” She deemed it anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim.

Regarding sponsorships, the SPJ board OK’d keeping mostly as-is existing policies. Part of the reason for not changing things is that the Radio Television Digital News Association is again co-organizing EIJ for next year, Tarquinio said. So any change would affect not just SPJ but RTDNA. There was one “innocuous” clarification made, said SPJ Secretary-Treasurer Matt Hall.

The SPJ board spent considerable time discussing changes to the association’s transparency policy. Some of the policy is meant to get board meeting and other materials distributed ahead of time. “It’s very thorough,” Tarquinio said of the policy. She noted it applies not just to meetings, but to records and other communications. The changes were OK’d.

Director Lauren Bartlett noted that these changes that are meant to enhance transparency came after some SPJ members had raised issues about possible shortcomings. An informal group of local chapter leaders and other members I help coordinate had complained about insufficient notice about board meetings and not enough time between such gatherings and when materials for them were released in advance.

“We take your input very seriously. We heard you,” Barlett said of members. “A lot of people sitting in this room felt the same way,” she added, regarding the board. “To me, this is just a very critical thing. It helps move us forward in a very positive way. It demonstrates that we are open with our members.”

 

NOTES from SPJ DC Pro delegate to EIJ19 Stephenie Overman:

Hagit Limor chairs the executive director search committee. As well as being a past national president of SPJ and current vice president of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Foundation (formerly Sigma Delta Chi Foundation), Limor served on the last two search committees. Other committee members are national SPJ president Patricia Gallagher Newberry, president-elect Matt Hall and immediate past president J. Alex Tarquinio. SPJ Foundation President Irwin Gratz and foundation board members Dr. Battinto L. Batts Jr. and Michael Bolden also are on the committee.

According to the policy approved by both the SPJ and Foundation boards, the committee was appointed by both board presidents, with the SPJ president appointing the chair.

SPJ retained Talbott Talent, an Indianapolis firm that works exclusively with nonprofit organizations, to assist with the search and with an on-site organizational assessment. Talbott Talent has been conducting a nationwide search to recruit candidates matching the position profile established as a result of the assessment. SPJ headquarters is in Indianapolis.