On Tuesday, Jan. 26, 6:30 p.m. EST, the SPJ Washington, D.C., Pro Chapter board and chapter members and guests in the broader journalism community will have an opportunity to meet national SPJ President Matt Hall, and hear about his vision, goals and priorities at the helm of the nation’s largest, most broad-based journalism organization — the Society of Professional Journalists.
All will have a chance to participate in a dialog with him about that and about broad issues facing journalists and journalism – such as press access and press freedom *, misinformation and disinformation, and other issues – just days after the Joe Biden administration takes office.
One push he’s making involves growing SPJ’s membership, so you might want to ask a friend or colleague who has not joined yet to participate to get a sense of why membership has so many personal benefits! As stated on spj.org, Hall wants each SPJ member to recruit at least one new member. The initiative is called “SPJ+1: Be a member, bring a member.” “The idea is so simple, it sounds silly. But I’m serious,” Hall says. “Together, we can boost SPJ’s membership by thousands of people, with one simple act each: Finding one person to join.”
Hall, editorial/opinion director at the San Diego Union-Tribune, took to Twitter about the chaos at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 during the Electoral College vote certification, and some of the images that directly targeted journalists and the media. He also commented on the DC Pro statement, adding his admiration for press members who worked through the tense and troubled time.
To register for the “Town Hall with Hall,” go to this link.
The event is 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. If your Zoom confirmation indicated a 6 p.m., start, you may start your connection process before 6:30 p.m. but expect to wait while the call is being set up.
* Freedom of Information under a new administration
Chapter member Kathryn Foxhall, who is also recording secretary, has contacted Hall on behalf of the chapter to ask national SPJ to sign on to a letter to the Biden administration seeking a commitment to take action to loosen controls on talking to the media that have been established in federal government agencies. Foxhall spearheads chapter actions to raise awareness of this “Censorship by PIO” issue and to call for greater access for journalists to federal employees who have crucial insights into studies and methodologies that underpin data released by all agencies, with a particular emphasis on COVID-19 information at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FDA and the National Institutes of Health.
In another step, Foxhall led a letter from DC Pro to the top attorney for The New York Times asking “to explore with you how we can get this topic more widely discussed and how the practice of control by PIO can be stopped. We seriously need prominent people speaking out on it.”