Thursday, August 26, 2021
Virtual meeting held via videoconference on Zoom.
Present: President Randy Showstack; Treasurer Dan Kubiske; Vice President Dee Ann Divis; Corresponding Secretary Amy Fickling; Recording Secretary Kathryn Foxhall; board members Denise Dunbar, Jacqueline Fuller, Selma Khenissi, and Celia Wexler.
Special guests: Stephenie Overman, SPJ Region 2 coordinator; Kathleen Burns, student chapter liaison; chapter members Hazel Becker and Bob Becker, Mary Crowley and Bill McCloskey; and SPJ members Andy Schotz and Colin DeVries, president of the (SPJ) Deadline Club of New York.
Excused absences: Julie Asher, Ken Jost
Call to Order
President Randy Showstack called the meeting to order at about 6:30 p.m
Financial Report
Treasurer Dan Kubiske moved that the financial report he emailed to the board ahead of the meeting be accepted. Board member Celia Wexler seconded. The board voted to approve the motion.
Minutes
Kubiske moved that the minutes of the July 15, 2021, board meeting be approved as submitted by email earlier. Vice President Dee Ann Divis seconded. The board voted to approve the motion.
Committee Reports
Programs. Kubiske reminded the board of the chapter’s Sept. 22 program, “The Future of Times v. Sullivan,” to be held on Zoom starting at 6 p.m. Registration is open.
Censorship by PIO. Recording Secretary Kathryn Foxhall reported that the search goes forward for a client for a potential lawsuit against entities that prohibit employees from speaking to reporters without oversight. A session on the issue is scheduled for the national SPJ journalism conference in September. Transparency advocacy group Open the Government and past national SPJ president Sonny Albarado are each working on related research projects. Foxhall said she has been invited to speak at a session at the Yale Law School annual meeting on government Access & Accountability on October 2.
Kubiske asked Foxhall for material to populate the PIO Project area on the chapter’s website.
Showstack asked if the chapter’s PIO committee could meet again soon. Foxhall said she hoped to put together a meeting in the fall.
In a discussion of where to best spend time on the PIO issue, Foxhall said she wants to work on getting something published. She said others might contact congressional committees and other groups.
Dateline Awards Contest. Corresponding Secretary Amy Fickling noted she had earlier emailed the report on the 2021 Dateline Awards Contest submitted by the contest coordinator, Jane Giles, to the board members. She said that this year some outlets that usually submit entries did not, but some new outlets did submit entries
Fickling also said we made some money on the contest and we had an increase in entries of about a third over the 2020 total.
Member Appreciation Meeting. Fickling said she and Julie Asher are researching a venue for the member appreciation event, which the board has discussed holding outdoors in October.
She asked if board members would hesitate to attend such an event, even if outdoors, given the current hazards of the COVID-19 Delta variant. Several board members said they would like to attend, and no one said that they would be hesitant to attend such a gathering.
Delegates to the SPJ National Convention
Showstack said the chapter was allotted three delegates to the upcoming SPJ national convention and he appointed Stephenie Overman, Hazel Becker and himself to fill the positions. Dee Ann Divis will be an alternate delegate.
Foxhall moved that the board approve the delegates appointed by Showstack. Kubiske seconded. The board voted to approved the motion.
Candidates Forum
Showstack arranged a forum for the candidates running for national SPJ office. He moderated, adhering to the alloted time for each candidate to speak and then answer questions from the audience. Joining the forum were Claire Regan and Andrew Seaman, candidates for president-elect; and Ivette Davila-Richards, Jonathan Make and Danielle McLean, candidates for secretary-treasurer.
Discussion of Proposed Changes to National SPJ Bylaws
The board discussed with those present the proposed national SPJ bylaws amendments that are due to come before the SPJ delegates meeting at the national SPJ conference on Sept. 4. One of the more controversial proposals would provide a mechanism for SPJ’s online communities to get assistance from national headquarters staff equal to what chapters get, including having convention delegates.
Showstack recognized Colin DeVries, president of the Deadline Club of New York, to share his concerns about the proposed amendment on community status, as he has been actively discussing his views on it on several SPJ communication platforms. Showstack also recognized chapter member Bill McCloskey, a member of the national Bylaws Committee, and Bob Becker, that committee’s chairman, to provide some context. National SPJ Awards Committee Chairman Andy Schotz also weighed in on a couple of other proposed amendments. Chapter member Hazel Becker shared her thoughts on the importance of communities for SPJ to grow its membership. She is a founder of the SPJ Freelance Community.
Adjournment
Kubiske moved that the board meeting adjourn. Fickling seconded. The board voted to approve the motion.
The meeting was adjourned at about 8:25 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Kathryn Foxhall
Recording Secretary
2021-2022