Inside the National Conference

Kathryn Drury Wagner

The 2007 SPJ Convention & National Journalism Conference took place in Washington, D.C. in October. Turnout was strong: of the SPJ’s 9,220 members, 1,000 were at the conference. I was lucky enough to go, as the vice president for the Hawaii Pro Chapter, and cast ballots to represent our organization.

For me, the highlight was when the Hawai‘i Pro Chapter won a Circle of Excellence Award, during the final evening’s banquet. We won in the area of scholarship activities for our work on the Gridiron Show, which raises money for the summer SPJ internships. (See a call for 2008 interns at http://www.hawaiispj.org/Interns/2008int.htm). The crowd literally gasped when the announcer noted that our Gridiron Show annually raises $24,000. I was pretty proud.

I’ve written up a recap of the conference, but even better, you can also see streaming video of the conference itself, at http://www.spj.org/conventionrecap.asp.

What’s New with National

The national organization has a new president, Clint Brewer, inducted during the convention. He’s a bow-tied, true Southern gentleman whose day job is executive editor at The City Paper in Nashville. For the national organization, his goals are:

• Continue pushing for a Federal Shield Law. (By the way, the Hearst Corp. lawyer reported she had fought off 162 subpoenas on their reporters in 2007, as of October. She got calls about two more during the conference.)
• Enact a new strategic plan to stress the value and ethics of good journalism and share that message with the general public. A recent study showed that 40 percent of Americans think the press "has too much freedom." National urges members to keep an eye out for First Amendment stories within your state, to educate the public on what it is and why it’s important to a democracy.
• Make sure that there’s a professional chapter in each of the 50 states; currently, 11 states do not have a chapter.
• In May of 2009, the SPJ will celebrate its 100^th anniversary, so the organization is gearing up for that. It’s in good financial standing, too, with cash reserves and a building fund.

Hottest Panels

Some of the liveliest sessions included:

• Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, who discussed how much the field of investigative journalism has changed since their Watergate reporting.
• Ken Paulson, the editor of USA Today, used superheroes to inspire journalists to protect the First Amendment.
• Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), who talked about a Federal Shield Law
• Helen Thomas, who interviewed Leia Fadel. Fadel is only 26-years-old, and already heads Baghdad Bureau for the McClatchy Newspapers group. Helen Thomas, by the way, is older than God but still as spunky and witty as ever. A scary fact: more journalists have died reporting in Iraq than who died reporting on WWII and Vietnam, combined.

I also attended some great workshops on Citizen Media (how former journalists and non-journalists are covering local issues and government); reporting hyperlocal news (our panel on this examined the Washington Post’s Loudon Extra; see it at http://loudounextra.washingtonpost.com/); the erosion of college press freedoms; and

resources for learning how to "get into the Freedom of Information habit." A Crime Beat panel included correspondents from CNN, NPR and the Washington Post, who gave riveting accounts of tracking down their stories.

The staff from the Student Press Law Center was particularly great speakers and a good resource for any college paper. They provide free advice and legal assistance at (703) 807-1904 or http://www.splc.org.

Of course, it wasn’t all work. There were parties, such as the opening night reception, where the crowd raised $23,123 in a silent and live auction for the Legal Defense Fund. There was Taco Night at the National Press Club. A Journalism Expo Trade Show offered job opportunities, internship information and colleges specializing in journalism programs.

Region 11 News

In addition to Hawaii, Region 11 consists of Arizona, California, Nevada, Guam and the Northern Marinas Islands. Our new Region 11 director is Sonya Smith, of the Orange County Register. She has been an SPJ member since college and a national campus representative. You can reach her at sonyanews@mac.com. Her first order of business was to bring back the e-newsletter, which she has now done.

I reported on our Hawaii Chapter activities, including the Gridiron, internship fund, Byron Acohido lecture/reception, and Region 11 meeting we hosted in April 2007.

The next Region 11 meeting will be held April 11 to 12 in Tuscon, at the University Marriott. Half the panels will be on border/immigration issues. Half will be on general journalism topics. Cartoonist Dave Fitzsimmons will be a keynote speaker.

Later in the conference, I also attended a brainstorming session with other regions, where we looked at some membership, fundraising and activities that have worked for different chapters around the country.

Next year’s conference will be Sept. 4 to 7 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta. For more, visit https://www.spj.org/c-register.asp.

Conference reports / SPJ Ethics Code / Hawaii Sunshine Law

Hawaii SPJ