Minutes of the SPJ D.C. Pro Chapter Board Meeting

Thursday, May 20, 2021

Virtual meeting held via videoconference and conference call.

Present: President Randy Showstack; Treasurer Dan Kubiske; Vice President Dee Ann Divis; Corresponding Secretary Amy Fickling; Recording Secretary Kathryn Foxhall; board members Julie Asher, Denise Dunbar, Jacqueline Fuller, Selma Khenissi, and Celia Wexler.

Excused absence: Board member Ken Jost.

Special Guests: Stephenie Overman, SPJ Region 2 coordinator; Kathleen Burns, student chapter liaison; and chapter member Andy Schotz.

Call to Order

President Randy Showstack called the meeting to order at about 6:47 p.m.

Minutes

Treasurer Dan Kubiske moved the minutes for the April meeting be approved as submitted by email earlier. Board member Celia Wexler seconded the motion. The board approved the minutes.

Treasurer’s Report

Kubiske had sent the board a financial report earlier. He moved approval of the report and Wexler seconded the motion. Corresponding Secretary Amy Fickling pointed out that the interest on the chapters’ two accounts with interest has dropped from .4 to .1 percent.

Kubiske said he would look into the possibility of putting money in savings bonds.

The board approved the report.

Committee Reports

Showstack said Nominations Chair Stephenie Overman had reported that members are voting in the election for officers and ballots will be counted after the May 29 deadline.

He also said Hall of Fame Committee Chair Steve Taylor reported there had been no new contact with the people named for the Hall of Fame awards because our plans remain to hold the dinner at a later time, given the pandemic.

Foxhall noted she had sent a report earlier on the work opposing restraints on reporters talking to people in organizations, often carried out through public information officers. She noted the Yale law clinic wants SPJ to find a reporter who is an SPJ member who has had problems with the county the clinic is considering suing.

She also reported SPJ is helping the National Association of Science Writers and the Society of Environmental Journalists to find reporters, such as with the Meltwater listings, for surveys on access in federal science agencies.

Kubiske noted the SPJ International Community was having a session on the coming Tuesday with the Committee to Protect Journalists on protecting journalists.

Kathleen Burns, student chapter liaison, said she and Overman had discussed making contact with American University and Howard University.

Programs

Showstack noted he would like the chapter to get back to having more programming.

He asked everyone to come up with one idea. He noted the New England SPJ chapter has a number of programs on their YouTube page. Some are just one person talking to another.

Wexler noted that programs on surviving as a journalist by Overman and others have been impressive. She cited one by a professional from Linked In.

Overman talked about the importance of doing a mix of subjects matters in programming.

Board member Selma Khenissi stressed the importance of diversity in programming.

Foxhall talked about moving ahead with a program with Frank LoMonte, Director of the Brechner Center, to talk about how it is possible for new outlets to sue about the restrictions on reporters talking to employees, etc.

Members discussed the ideas of getting young people, including the SDX Foundation scholarship winners, involved in program production and joint programs with student chapters or other journalism groups.  Kubiske suggested oral histories with some of our older members.

Wexler suggested that having younger people do oral histories with their own parents and grandparents might be good.

Vice president Dee Ann Divis suggested programs about freelancing and programs for the public about what journalists do.

Wexler said she would look for people who might be interviewed. Divis said she would like someone to talk to an older journalist about techniques involving not technology but “getting out there” and “hutzpah.”

Kubiske said everyone can do a 30-second spot on why they joined SPJ.

Member Survey

Showstack asked if the board could pull together a task force on questions for a member survey on what people want from the chapter and from journalism and on how we can help them and how they can help us. He said he would ask board members about it offline.

Website Redesign

Showstack asked for discussion on whether we should hire someone to redesign the website.

Kubiske said we can transfer our content to the new design automatically and perhaps put in other materials later.

Showstack said there should be a core group of people who know how to add things to the website.

Board member Denise Dunbar said that her newspaper has a very good website provider.

Update on National Journalism Conference

Overman reported that after discussion on the issue, the national board decided the national convention and journalism conference in September would be hybrid rather than totally virtual as it had previously voted.

Wexler said she was disturbed that some national board members had said they had felt bullied for how they voted, particularly in light of the organization’s need for diversity.

Showstack noted that the chapter won one free registration to the national conference because its members gave more donations over $100 each to the SPJ Foundation drive than any other chapter. It was the board’s consensus that the registration should be a prize given at random to a chapter member who completes the upcoming survey.

Showstack noted that the national convention is planned for Washington, D.C. in 2022. Kubiske noted we may want to wait and see how the hybrid format works in New Orleans before making plans.

Overman said we should do something like buttons or video to promote the Washington meeting during the New Orleans meeting. She said she will check on the costs.

Divis noted we can use some of the ideas the chapter worked on for the 2020 meeting which was planned for Washington but went virtual due to the pandemic.

Dateline Awards

Fickling said Jane Giles, the Dateline Awards coordinator, reported that the award winners have been chosen, the certificates are being made and the script is being written.

Kubiske suggested that, like last year, we have people do the presentations on video for which we can splice segments together and that we ask Jim Bohannan to do introductions.

Showstack said we would plan on the video being available on June 15 and work out the details offline.

The consensus among board members was it is better to delay the Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame Dinner until June of next year, rather than hold it this fall. Fickling said the National Press Club, the usual venue, is amenable to allowing the chapter to wait until 2022, with the same contract in place. There will be no further financial risk related to the delay.

Kubiske moved that the board authorize Showstack to sign the contract for the June 2022 dinner for the Dateline Awards and Hall of Fame. Wexler seconded the motion. The board approved the motion.

Assistant Treasurer Suggestion

Board member Julie Asher presented a motion that came from the board’s last meeting: “We recommend an assistant treasurer candidate or candidates be nominated each year at the first meeting of the chapter board, following the June installation, from among board members whose terms are current for the new chapter year. A formal appointment of one board member for the position should be made by the chapter president with ratification by board vote, no later than the next board meeting that follows.”

She noted the board had felt that the treasurer’s job is so big that an apprentice year would be helpful.

Kubiske seconded the motion.

The board approved the motion.

It was the board’s consensus that we keep the motion as a recommendation to future boards, rather than get into the process of changing the bylaws.

Good of the Order

Burns announced that Dunbar, who is editor of the Alexandria Times, along with her team, won 19 awards from the Virginia Press Association.

Kubiske moved that we commend Dunbar on this accomplishment. Divis seconded the motion. The board approved the motion.

Adjournment

Kubiske moved and Foxhall seconded a motion that the board meeting be adjourned. The motion was approved.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:16 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kathryn Foxhall
Recording Secretary
2020-2021