Candidate quotes
New regional director
Soledad O'Brien talk

Some great quotes came from candidates during the opening session Sept. 25.

President John Ensslin said: "SPJ stands for all that is good in journalism … "

President-elect Sonny Albarado wants to focus on membership and training.

Secretary-Treasurer David Cuillier, current FOI chairman, said:

"We fight secrecy, we fight unethical behavior."

Cuillier wants to look at having an approach of having a team "parachute" in for an FOI controversy

Those three were unopposed and were elected by acclaim.

One student candidate caught people’s attention:

Gideon Grudo, editor of Florida Atlantic University’s student newspaper, talked about its special project, where an entire issue was renamed and tried to violate as many SPJ ethics provisions as possible to show students what a paper might look like without the SPJ code of ethics.

REGIONAL MEETING

Three people ran for regional director. Chuck Baker of Las Vegas, current director Jodi Cleesattle of San Diego and Valley of the Sun Chapter President Teri Carnicelli. Carnicelli won narrowly.

Cleesattle gave a report:

1. SPJ is moving from a star-rating system to one of pass-fail for chapters.
2. The board has also approved an increase in dues to $75 a year from $72 – the first increase in 10 years.
3. Chapters that don’t file annual reports three years in a row will be deactivated.
4. The executive director’s salary has been increased 4 percent in line with the other staff increases.

The Los Angeles Chapter will host the 2012 regional conference – March 30-31. (Universal Studios tour is likely to be included)

Las Vegas will put the conference on in 2013, but each chapter is going to help by pulling together a panel for Las Vegas.

Hawaii will put on the 2014 regional conference.

SOLEDAD O’BRIEN, CNN anchor and special correspondent

John Cochran, formerly of ABC , the moderator, said good storytelling needs a good character.

O’Brien: "I feel I trip over characters every single minute of every single day."

On Hurricane Katrina, O’Brien said she was angry and baffled. Such a major disaster; "where is everybody (aid workers)?"

She recalled an instance where the Federal Emergency Management Agency said no one could get to Children’s Hospital; then she transitioned to Sanjay Gupta, who was reporting live from Children’s Hospital.

O’Brien doesn’t see herself as an advocacy reporter. There is nothing wrong with opposing poverty, she said.

Her goal has been to get deep into the characters of people like mass murderer Wayne Williams. "My goal is to flesh out really interesting complex characters."

A reporter "could be creeped out" talking to Williams, "or you could find out who this guy is."

People like Williams are narcissistic – as long as the reporter keeps talking to such a person, he will come back to talking about himself, O’Brien said. "He wanted to keep the conversation going."

Asked about her being lowered from anchor to reporter, she said it is important to have a plan and not react to the news because that reaction will probably be wrong. "I don’t let things happen to me that I don’t have a strategic plan."

Future of Journalism?

When she was hired in 1988 as a production assistant, one of the bosses said TV news is dead. She avoids "the naysayers." O’Brien sees a lot of opportunities in the current situation. "People’s skill sets have to change."

Asked about having to do tasks other than the one the person is supposed to do, O’Brien said "whatever opportunities you get, do it well."

She told the story of CNN interns sent to get hot coffee during inauguration coverage. An intern came back with two cups of coffee and said "they’re still making the box (of coffee)." The producer gave one cup to Soledad and the other to her co-anchor. Then the producer told the intern: "You’re fired."

If a worker asks you, " ‘What else can I do,’ that’s the person I want to work with," O’Brien said.

Asked if she finds problems interviewing people of different socioeconomic backgrounds.

"It’s not a barrier."

"You tell them you are to be trusted and I’m here to tell your story."

She thinks documentary reports can meet the three requirements of: good ratings, good reputation and good revenue.

She notes that in covering underreported issues, children are often described "by the parents’ dysfunctions," such as the daughter of a crack addict and an alcoholic. Mainstream stories tend to not do that. O’Brien says she tries to avoid the "shortcuts" that put people in categories