saturday

n The Working Press n Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009

Student staffCristina Boccio

Arizona State UniversityDesigner

Julieta ChiquilloTexas Christian University

Copy editorAmanda Dolasinski

The Ohio State UniversityReporter

Breanna GaddieNorthern Kentucky University

PhotographerJoan Khalaf

University of Texas at ArlingtonCopy editor

Rashawn MitchnerHoward University

Copy editorJackie Palochko

Ithaca CollegeReporter

Meagan RaceyUniversity of North Carolina at

Chapel HillReporter

Andrew SeamanWilkes University

DesignerJosephine Varnier

Virginia Commonwealth UniversityReporter

Nicole VilloriaUniversity of Nevada, Las Vegas

PhotographerEmory Williamson

University of LouisvilleReporter

Professional staffDori Hjalmarson

Lexington Herald-LeaderEditor, The Working Press

Joe GrimmMichigan State University

J. Ben KellyThe Clarion-Ledger

Danese KenonThe Indianapolis Star

Billy O’KeefeSociety of Professional Journalists

Tony PetersonSociety of Professional Journalists

John P. StamperLexington Herald-Leader

Reginald A. StuartThe McClatchy Co.

Eunice TrotterThe Indianapolis Star

n n nThanks to the Logansport

Pharos Tribune, owned by CNHI, for printing The Working Press.

The Working Press Stepping out, stepping online

Many SPJ members found themselves stepping out of sched-uled convention sessions on Fri-day and stepping into the World Wide Web to test their newly learned skills.

Colorado Pro Chapter President Noelle Leavitt, a Denver free-lancer, was so excited about the job-seeking tips she learned in ‘A Bulletproof Career’ that she

skipped a subsequent session to update her personal Web site.

Other SPJ members sitting nearby were keeping up with speakers’ presentations through Twitter updates from seminar at-tendees.

Meanwhile, blogger and SPJ member Tamar Wilner, of Dal-las, was trying to organize an im-promptu session via Twitter.

Wilner was disappointed to find the ‘Blogging to Create Your Port-folio’ seminar, scheduled for 2:15 p.m. on Friday, was canceled.

Determined to discuss journal-istic blogging, Wilner initiated a grassroots effort to gather SPJ members via Twitter to host their own blogging discussion.

— Nikki VilloriaThe Working Press

NIKKI VILLORIA/The Working PressPresident-elect Sarah Bauer and Chapter Director Justin Piehowski, both of the Minnesota Professional Chapter, take a break from sched-uled sessions Friday to log onto the Internet and catch up with work e-mails, Twitter updates and other online networking.

Attendees log on, hone new skills Organizers still seekingTweetup site

Today’s Tweetup is still with-out a location, said organizer Ron Sylvester.

Sylvester said he wasn’t able to convince Loughmiller’s Pub and Eatery, where organizers had hoped to hold the event, to open on Saturday.

The Tweetup – a meet up or-ganized via the social network-ing Web site Twitter – was in-tended to serve as an alternative for convention goers who didn’t want to attend Saturday’s $65 President’s Installation Banquet.

Sign up for the 7 p.m. Tweetup at spj100.eventbrite.com.

— Emory WilliamsonThe Working Press

The Working Press 2009 staff thanks the following special patrons: Dave AeikensKevin Z. SmithCarol BowersBradley HammBenjy Hamm

Sue PorterGordon ‘Mac’ McKerralHoward DubinReginald StuartHagit Limor

Frank GibsonNeil RalstonLauren BartlettSteve Geimann

Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 n The Working Press n

Whether he was serenading staff members with his guitar or up-holding his duties as an official Maker's Mark ambassador, Terry Harper never let his illness slow him down.

Harper, then-SPJ executive di-rector, died June 2 after a two-year battle with brain cancer. To honor Harper, SPJ is hosting a memorial fund and video tribute this week. Some board members, including his friend, Joe Skeel, will also be wearing yellow lapel pins.

Skeel, SPJ interim co-executive director, said he considered Harp-er a friend more than a supervisor. The two would grab after-work drinks and attend minor league baseball games together. He re-members when Harper walked around the office singing and strumming his guitar to boost staff morale and guessed he was prob-ably one of the drama kids in high school because he craved to be in the limelight.

Harper suffered two seizures in June 2007. After three days of ob-servation at the hospital, doctors told him they suspected there was some type of mass.

Looking back, Skeel said Harper taught him to not sweat the small stuff — just live for the moment.

Harper remembered for strength, wit

By AmAndA dolASinSkiThe Working Press

SPJ celebrates former leader who faced death with bravery

"It's easy to get wrapped up and make sure we're prepared for 15 years from now," he said. "I learned, definitely live for today. Don't assume anything for tomor-row."

Steve Geimann, Sigma Delta Chi Foundation president, said he and other board members feel Harper's absence.

"His tenure in the top job run-ning the society is noteworthy given how fast other groups go through executive directors," he said. "That's a testament of who Terry was and what mattered to him."

Harper planned to maintain as normal a life as possible knowing he had a tumor on the right side of his brain. The sharp-tongued blog-ger decided to chronicle the last few years of his life online for his friends and family nationwide to follow in Thumping My Melon at melonthump.blogspot.com.

"Quality of life is my most im-portant consideration," he wrote. "If my time is indeed limited, I want to live it to the fullest and die on the beach in Cabo San Lucas at sunset with a shot of tequila in one hand and my wife’s hand in the other."

His wife, Lee Ann, whom he met and fell in love with while Okla-homa State University students in 1982, never left his side. Harper died two weeks before their 20th wedding anniversary.

"It was (hard), but I wouldn’t have kept him here another day," Lee Ann said. "He was in so much pain."

Despite medical advancements, doctors were not sure exactly of the problem. Harper's medical team removed a small piece of his skull for further testing and even-tually confirmed the tumor.

Dr. Scott Shapiro, Terry’s neu-rosurgeon, had operated on Lance Armstrong before he went on to

conquer seven Tour de France championships. Lee Ann said her husband felt fortunate to be treated at Indiana University and have one of the top surgeons in the area. He didn’t, however, bank on being miraculously cured. He continued to seek medical opinions from ex-perts at Duke University and the National Institutes of Health.

His new routine included regular six-week chemotherapy sessions. The regimen worked for about a year. He even reduced his chemo treatments to once a month. Feel-ing better, the couple decided to take a sailing trip to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts last summer. But three days after re-

turning, Terry wrote in his blog that the vision in his left eye went "haywire."

A doctor would treat Terry for the last time at the end of April. About one week before he died, he was so exhausted and in so much pain, he was staying on a hospital bed in his living room. His medi-cal team hinted that the tumor had progressed significantly.

The couple agreed to keep their two sons, Dale, 17, and Jace, 13, in the loop about Harper's condition from the very beginning.

"That third week — there was nothing they could do," Lee Ann said. "That was when I had to tell our children what the doctors had said."

On June 2, Lee Ann kept her word to her college love. She went to Harper's computer and found the document she'd been dreading to read - Harper's final Thumping My Melon post.

He'd written it in October and asked her not to read it until she posted it after his death.

"It was hard," she said. "But it was also characteristically Terry, so representative of everything that we had said to each other and meant to each other."

Courtesy of LEE ANN HARPERTerry Harper, wife lee Ann and sons Jace and dale enjoy a family vacation. Harper, then-executive director, passed away June 2 after a two-year battle with brain cancer.

in memory of former SPJ Exec-utive director Terry G. Harper, the Terry G. Harper memorial Fund in collecting donations for a scholarship in his honor.

NIKKI VILLORIA/The Working Press

www.spj.org/harper.aspHow to help


Are you a freelancer? Do you cover courts, cops, prisons or the law? Are you sitting on a great story but need a hand? The Carnegie Legal Reporting Fellowship Program and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University is here for you … WHAT THE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM PROVIDES:

- Subsidies of up to $3,000 for out-of-pocket reporting and research expenses.

- Research and reporting assistance by top-notch undergraduate journalism students.

- An expense-paid trip to campus in Syracuse, N.Y., to present findings from your reporting project in a public lecture or classrooms.

Applications must be postmarked by October 5, 2009. For more information, complete guidelines and an application, visit:

http://newhouse-web.syr.edu/legal/ or contact: Roy S. Gutterman Director, the Carnegie Legal Reporting Program S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications

Syracuse University (315) 443-3523 or [email protected]

Are you a freelancer? Do you cover courts, cops, prisons or the law? Are you sitting on a great story but need a hand? The Carnegie Legal Reporting Fellowship Program and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University is here for you … WHAT THE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM PROVIDES:

- Subsidies of up to $3,000 for out-of-pocket reporting and research expenses.

- Research and reporting assistance by top-notch undergraduate journalism students.

- An expense-paid trip to campus in Syracuse, N.Y., to present findings from your reporting project in a public lecture or classrooms.

Applications must be postmarked by October 5, 2009. For more information, complete guidelines and an application, visit:

http://newhouse-web.syr.edu/legal/ or contact: Roy S. Gutterman Director, the Carnegie Legal Reporting Program S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications

Syracuse University (315) 443-3523 or [email protected]

Dozens of delegates from So-ciety of Professional Journalists chapters nationwide gathered Fri-day morning at a pre-election busi-ness meeting to listen to candidate speeches for board of directors positions.

Out of the 12 seats in this year’s election, two are contested. Two candidates are competing for a two-year term as vice president for campus chapter affairs, and three students are vying for two one-year terms as campus representa-tive.

There were only two contested races last year as well.

Being a board member is a sig-nificant time commitment, said SPJ President Dave Aeikens, which decreases candidates who

want to run. Members may be sat-isfied with the candidates currently running in uncontested races, he said. However, looking at the big picture, SPJ should strive for more competition, he said.

Chapters get one vote per 50 members or fewer. Delegates vote at the closing business meeting at 4:15 p.m. Saturday.

VP for campus chapter affairs

Neil Ralston, the incumbent vice president for campus chapter affairs, said he will continue his ef-forts to protect First Amend-

ment rights on college campuses. When a First Amendment issue

rises, SPJ investigates the case, and if censorship is found, the so-ciety opposes it publicly and con-tacts school officials, Ralston said.

“We’ve won some battles and not done so well in others,” said Ralston, Western Kentucky Uni-versity School of Journalism & Broadcasting assistant professor.

Sometimes journalists will ap-peal to school officials’ sense of ethics or pressure them publicly. Quinnipiac University officials retracted after a The New York Times editorial criticized the uni-versity for threatening to kick the SPJ chapter off campus for associ-ating itself with a campus publica-tion not endorsed by the universi-ty. Ralston said journalists kept the story in the news and created pres-

sure that stemmed positive results.To complement past efforts to

fight campus censorship, Ralston said he would focus on getting students to push for legislation in their state that would protect their First Amendment guarantees.

Shoshi Mabina, who is listed on the SPJ Web site as an employee for Illinois-based magazine Af-rique, was called for a speech but was not at the meeting. Mabina could not be reached for comment.

Campus representatives

A n d r e w S e a m a n , a Wilkes Univers i ty senior and W o r k i n g Press staffer, said he is working on a

project with the Student Press Law Center — an agreement between student journalists and school ad-ministrators to protect students from censorship.

The document is not legally binding but would have some weight in court, he said.

“There’s nothing to be afraid of when it comes to the First Amend-ment and the free press,” Seaman said.

Tara Puckey said one of her ma-jor assets is her ability to balance tasks — parent-ing, study-ing, free-lance writing and teaching dance – as

a nontraditional student. Puckey, who attends Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, said one of her goals is to make mentorship programs between stu-

dent and professional journalists more accessible through partner-ships with local pro chapters.

“We’re going to connect with pro chapters to attend schools with basic information to let students know that if there’s not a (campus) chapter, this is still an option that can benefit them,” Puckey said.

Larissa Kir-sten Larivee, a Min-nesota State U n i v e r -sity senior, M a n k a t o , said she wants to work on i m p r o v i n g membership

recruitment and retainment. Lari-vee said her university chapter in-volved public relations students to help boost membership.

“We’ve done a lot of work to do more event planning,” she said.

Campus representatives serve as student liaisons between campus chapters and the board of direc-tors. Professional members on the board of directors usually get financial support from their em-ployers. The student candidates said they were financing campaign expenses on their own. If they were selected for the position, they said they would also have to cover the expenses related to attending board meetings.

Candidates vie for two contested positionsBy JulieTA ChiquilloThe Working Press

Ralston

Seaman

Puckey

Board of directors positions go to vote today

larivee

Delegates at the business meet-ing also voted to pass a resolution honoring efforts of indigenous staff in war zones — reporters, photographers, interpreters, trans-lators and drivers — who have aided Western journalists.

Resolutions will go to vote Sat-urday, but SPJ President Dave Aeikens said SPJ wanted this one to stand out so they schedule the vote for the opening business meeting.

“We don’t want it to be a routine resolution,” he said.

Resolution

Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 n The Working Press n

SPJ recognized the best journal-ism from 2008 on Friday evening, with Sigma Delta Chi Awards in 53 categories, including print, ra-dio, television and online.

Steve Geimann, president of the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, said these awards are the highlight of the year and renew enthusiasm for journalism across the nation.

“The significance of what we’re doing tonight is saying to people, ‘Journalism still matters. Jour-nalism is important,’ ” Geimann said.

“Without journalism, without the kind of work that’s being rec-ognized here, democracy is af-fronted.

I’m confident that democracy is still in good shape because we have this good, aggressive, pro-fessional reporting.”

SDX President Steve Geimann (right) presents an award to Kurt Kuenne of MSNBC for a documentary. The award was one of more than four dozen to print, TV, online and radio journalists at a recep-tion Friday night.

The awards date back to 1932 and originally honored six indi-viduals for contributions in jour-nalism. This year, judges chose 51 winners from more than 900 entries.

The Newark, N.J. -based Star-Ledger’s Amy Nutt, who received her first Sigma Delta Chi Award, emphasized the significance of journalism gatherings like the re-ception and the SPJ convention and national conference.

“I feel lucky to be among such distinguished company,” Nutt said.

“I think it’s just important that we get together and that we’re here with a sense of great com-munity."

BREANNA GADDIE/The Working Press

By MeAGAN RACeyThe Working Press

SDX celebrates 'sense of great community'

See entire list of winnners on-line at spj.org.

Award Winners


Speaker challenges audience with ethical questionsSometimes Jim Burke has more

ethical questions than answers.He’s heard it all on his ethical ad-

vice hotline: a journalist wonder-ing whether to identify a sexual as-sault victim, an author attempting to convert Christians to atheism, a reporter interviewing a child who witnessed a murder.

Burke and Casey Bukro are co-founders of the Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists -- 1-866-DILEM-MA -- which provides a free, 24-hour safe haven for journalists in need of advice.

Although organizations like SPJ and Poynter have similar hotlines and resources for journalists strug-gling with an ethical question, the AdviceLine is different because it helps keep discussions unbiased by using ethicists instead of work-ing journalists, said Bukro, a SPJ ethics committee member.

“Journalists know about journal-ism,” he said, “and ethicists know about ethics.”

In an interview after an “Ethics on Call” session Friday, Burke said the strangest case he’d received was an author who was writing a book to promote atheism. During interviews for the book, the au-thor had implied to church-going sources that he was writing an anti-atheism book.

Burke said sometimes the con-versations with hotline users end up as just that — conversations.

“We’re not trying to tell people what to do,” he said.

During Friday’s session, Burke talked about several thought-pro-voking calls and asked attendees what they would have done in each situation.

One journalist called in with a case of a high school basketball coach accused of sexual assault. The alleged victim was the only girl on the team, so the reporter was concerned about including in-formation that might identify her.

“Are you the protector of some-body or is your job to tell the news — the full news?” Burke asked.

By JoAn KhAlAfThe Working Press

The Ethics AdviceLine

The Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists is funded by $123,000 in grants, some from the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation.

1-866-DILEMMAWhen you dial 1-866-DILEMMA, be prepared to identify your-

self, state your question and leave a call-back number.

(ABoVE) The chips begin to stack up as SPJ members play with professional dealers and learn the game of Texas hold'em while mastering the SPJ Code of Ethics. This SPJ-modified version of gambling took place friday, in the State Room at the Indianapolis Westin.

(lEfT) Chanda Temple, of Bir-mingham, Ala., at center, plays among fellow SPJ members at the SPJ-modified Texas Hold'em game in the State Room at the Indianapolis Westin on friday. The game was designed to not only provide the entertainment of poker but to also ingrain the SPJ Code of Ethics into the minds of the players.

PHOTOS BY NIKKI VILLORIATHE WORKING PRESS

n The Working Press n Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 n The Working Press n Page 9

A night out in Indy

Jason Pigg and Kevin Hoganson, musicians from the group The Hooliganz, take some time to unwind at Ike and Jonesy's Thursday night. Pigg and Hoganson are in Indianapolis for the Red Bull India-napolis GP in downtown.

(ABOVE & BELOW) Dueling pianists at Howl at the Moon, 20 E. Georgia St., provide plenty of ac-companiment for the crowds.

Indianapolis' glass enclosed Artsgarden, and attached to the Circle Centre Mall, offers beautiful views and exhibits year-round.

PHOTOS By NIKKI VILLORIAThe Working Press

Have a Nice Day Cafe, at 225 S. Meridian St., becomes a pulsating disco at night, during which SPJ conventioneers brushed up on the latest dances.


Breaking News Reporting Arla Shephard, University of WashingtonGeneral News Reporting Staff, The Red & Black, Uni-versity of GeorgiaIn-Depth Reporting Marc Beja & Adam Playford, New York UniversityFeature Writing Thor Nystrom, University of KansasSports Writing Thor Nystrom, University of KansasEditorial Writing Jessica Mayrer, University of MontanaEditorial Cartooning Bill Richards, University of GeorgiaGeneral Column Writing Donald Hodge, Louisiana State UniversitySports Column Writing Josh Spielman, Rutgers Uni-versity

Best All-Around Daily Stu-dent Newspaper Staff, The Daily Pennsylvanian, University of PennsylvaniaBest All-Around Non-Daily Student NewspaperStaff, Loyola Phoenix, Loyola UniversityMagazine Non-Fiction Ar-ticle Sarrah Benoit, Blot Magazine, University of IdahoBest Student Magazine Staff, Brink, University of Cal-ifornia, BerkeleyBreaking News Photography Tess McEnroe, University of MontanaGeneral News Photography Deanna Dent, Arizona State UniversityFeature Photography Kasha Stevenson, University of KentuckyPhoto Illustration Zach Woodward, University of Miami

Sports Photography William Colsher, The Pennsyl-vania State UniversityRadio News Reporting Adam Cavalier, Marshall Uni-versityRadio Feature Kyle Stokes, University of Missouri, ColumbiaRadio In-Depth Reporting Mandy Walker, University of Colorado at BoulderRadio Sports Reporting Joe Staudenmayer & Jim Vas-sallo, Rowan UniversityRadio Newscast Staff, Annenberg Radio News, University of Southern Califor-niaTelevision Breaking News Re-porting Miles Doran & Patrick Flem-ing, University of FloridaTelevision General News Re-porting Carly J. Swain, University of

When two Emerson College broadcast students decided to cov-er the Boston Marathon last year, they had no idea their story would catch CNN’s attention and win na-tional awards.

They were just hoping to offer viewers a glimpse of a blind ath-lete’s life.

Ashley Porter and Richard Fein-del, now graduates, won the So-ciety of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence Television Sports Reporting category for their “Kick to the Finish” pack-age.

Students across the country sub-

Emerson group wins sports honorMark of Excellence award given to former students for report on legally blind runnerBy AMANDA DolASINSkIThe Working Press

mitted more than 3,600 entries in 39 MOE categories this year. Entries that won on the regional level were entered into the na-tional competition. Awards were presented Friday.

For Porter, the story started when she spent hours reading through a list of runners looking for a unique story.

“There’s 25,000 people in the marathon and each of them has a story,” she said.

She settled on Alexander Muel-ler, a legally blind man who quali-fied to run in the famous 26.2- mile marathon.

Porter connected with Mueller on Facebook, where there was a group soliciting sponsors for his

marathon run.During the marathon, Porter

spent time with Mueller’s sister. Feindel focused on the finish line.

The package was originally for the pair’s college television sta-tion, but CNN picked it as an iRe-port and it ran the following day.

The duo said the story prepared them for real world reporting.

The story was particularly dif-ficult to shoot, Feindel said, be-cause of the massive crowd. In fact, he wasn’t even sure he had caught Mueller’s big finish.

Porter is now a reporter for NBC affiliate WLBT in Jackson, Miss. Feindel is a new media producer for Channel 7 NBC/CW56 in Bos-ton.

MOE Coordinator Lauren Roch-ester said the contest continues to attract more entries each year, par-ticularly in online categories.

“We are one of the most compet-itive collegiate journalism compe-titions,” she said. “Our winners do excellent work.”

Students reap rewards for excellenceNorth Carolina, Chapel HillTelevision Feature A. Seraphina Lin, Northwest-ern UniversityTelevision In-Depth Report-ing Student Documentary Unit, University of MontanaTelevision Sports Reporting Ashley Porter & Richard Fein-del, Emerson CollegeTelevision News Photography Kyle Johnson & Christopher Flynn, Minnesota State Univer-sity, MoorheadTelevision Feature Photogra-phy Amber Dixon, Arizona State UniversityTelevision Sports Photogra-phy Richard Feindel, Emerson Col-legeTelevision Newscast Staff, WUFT News, University of Florida

online News Reporting Staff, NYCity News Service, CUNY Graduate School of Journalismonline Feature Reporting Ryan Kost, Arizona State Uni-versityonline In-Depth Reporting JMC 470 & JMC 494, Arizona State Universityonline Sports Reporting Courtney Servaes, Zack Rock-ey, Chelsea Twietmeyer & Chris Smith, Baker Universityonline opinion and Com-mentary Nate Hulings, Pacific Lutheran UniversityBest Affiliated Web site Staff, Maryland Newsline & Capital News Service, Univer-sity of Maryland, College ParkBest All-Around Independent Online Student Publication JMC 470 & JMC 494, Arizona State University

Neil Ralston (left), SPJ vice president of campus chapter affairs, congratulates photo illustration national winner Zach Woodward Friday during the Mark of Excellence Awards luncheon.

BREANNA GADDIE/The Working Press

Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 n The Working Press n Page 11

Decline in advertising means tough times for TVScott Broom, a traditional “coat-

and-tie” television reporter, would do anything to avoid the pink slip. So when he heard rumors of lay-offs, Broom decided to reinvent himself. He now works for WUSA in Washington, D.C., writing, shooting, editing and uploading news reports.

If you’re going to stay in the business, you have to make the change, Broom said. “You have no choice but to embrace it.”

This is the reality facing televi-sion journalists and their stations across the nation: adapt or go black.

The economic crunch, technolo-gy expansion and changing viewer habits are forcing stations to cut costs and find the most creative revenue-boosting strategies. For some stations, digital and automa-tion technologies have blended traditional news-gathering and production teams into one-man bands. For others, generating more local content on multiple platforms is key to stimulating revenue.

Local TV revenue declined 6.6 percent in 2008, to $20.1 billion, despite increases in political can-didate spending, typically a major revenue source, according to BIA Advisory Services of Chantilly, Va. The national media consulting firm projects 2009 revenue will be $16.6 billion—a 17.3 percent de-crease from 2008 and a return to a level not seen since 1995. Televi-sion news shed 1,200 jobs, or 4.3 percent of jobs in 2008, according to a survey conducted by the Ra-dio-Television News Directors As-sociation and Hofstra University.

Steve Hammel, vice president and general manager of WRAL in Raleigh, N.C, said the decline in automotive advertising had the biggest impact on television sta-tions. Auto advertising is typically

the source of the majority of televi-sion revenue, but for the first quar-ter of 2009, Verizon Communica-tions and General Mills were top spenders, according to an analysis of TNS Media Intelligence/CMR data by the Television Bureau of Advertising.

A report by Bernstein Research states that auto advertising on TV stations dropped by $903 million in 2008. Auto advertising declined overall by $1.1 billion, or 29 per-cent, in the first quarter of 2009, with TV stations bearing 41 per-cent of those cuts.

As viewers are faced with grow-ing numbers of channels, news shows and news Web sites, adver-tisers looking for higher audience numbers have turned to other op-tions that frequently exclude tele-vision.

Several television companies have filed for bankruptcy, includ-

By MegAn RAceyThe Working Press

ing Ion Media Networks, which owns stations in 39 of the top 50 U.S. markets; Young Broadcast-ing, Inc., the parent company for WKRN Nashville and WATE Knoxville; and Tribune Co., which owns KTLA in Los Angeles.

Mark Fratrik, BIA vice presi-dent, said TV stations will become profitable the faster they see them-selves as local information, mar-keting and entertainment compa-nies rather than simply television transmitters.

“Broadcasts have advantages in local markets,” Fratrik said. “First of all, they have the infrastructure to generate and add local program-ming, the ability to cross digital platforms and the sales staff on ground that know the local ad-vertisers and can say, ‘OK, if you don’t want to advertise on local television, maybe you’ll advertise in a different way.’ ”

NIKKI VILLORIA/The Working Press

Television stations are: • Cutting back- WRAL in Raleigh, N.C., began the year with salary cuts and a voluntary severance program. The station’s owner, Capitol Broadcasting Co., is cutting operating costs by 15 percent, which may lead to layoffs. The station is reducing travel, overtime, satellite time purchases and cell phone and printing costs, said Steve Hammel, vice president and general manager. • Training and hiring multimedia journalists- NBC-4 in Washington, D.C., recently created positions for content producers to produce news and footage for all platforms, including television, Web sites and mobile devices. The positions of writer, editor and technician will be merged to create content producers. - WUSA in Washington, D.C., has similarly blurred position distinctions by downsizing its staff to digital correspondents and anchors. Digital correspondents produce and write their own stories. Handheld and tripod-mounted cameras, laptop editing programs and the Internet have made full news teams unnecessary.

• Utilizing new technologies - KVVU in Las Vegas created an automated control room in July that drastically cut technical production for its newscasts. The system automates activities such as setting camera angles and shots, said Darrin McDonald, vice president and general manager. The new system cost between half a million and $1 million, but savings will quickly offset those costs, McDonald said.

• Increasing contentKSTC in Minneapolis recently became the exclusive broadcaster of all state high school sports tournaments, said station manager Susan Wenz. This fall, the station will add live online feeds for four new sports, Wenz said. High school students will produce the feeds, saving the station money and generating community involvement.

“We believe the only way for-ward is to create more and better content, which can only be done by putting resources against train-ing our staff to make full use of the new technologies,” said Al-lan Horlick, WUSA president and general manager. “This is very much a cooperative process and we are already seeing the benefits of these efforts.”

Broom of WUSA said that mul-timedia journalists can improve, but also damage news report qual-ity. When working alone and with relatively little equipment, Broom said he’s more nimble.

“But there’s no doubt that when you’re shooting, driving and filing an Internet story, clipping art to the Internet story and producing your own graphics for television, that a lot of your day that was once spent with journalism with a capital ‘J’ has been eaten up.”

University of Miami broadcast graduate Liane Morejon tours WISH TV station in Indianapolis with fellow SPJ members to get a behind-the-scenes look at broadcast media on Friday.

Y F I Q K V C E Q K D Z D R T H F M O D O Q

Q T T A D E T A C I D E D Y Q L J M M L I E

G I R N R R E G E L T R E B O R Q R A O I Y

G E H H E Y O N E H U N D R E D P A R T S T

A I N Z X M E A U Z Q L L E L U B H K J Y F

G C S C H R D X M K U S M N A Q O E O L M I

P J T J O B N N K A A L P O S B W Z F U F F

L I H I R U E V E D N V L N V S V I E A U D

I N H T N S R A O M N H P O E R A M X A A E

Q M O C P D E A C D A Q U I G P R I C W S R

T L E I A R E Q G C Y T P G A X N N E G S D

V W J K T T S P D E O W S E S C A I L E E N

S P E B Q A L V E C D U O R Y D D M L W R U

R E W L Y R M E B N M I N E I N B R E I P H

N Y E T V R E R D Q D Z V T M F Y T N O E O

Y O D K B E C P O A U E G E A Q C D C H E W

C J O A T Z U W O F M I N S R B K O E H R T

Z T W M N R H F Q R N G L T O S L W C R F Z

N O S M B Q U Y V X T I I L L V I E N W K S

V C J O P D S T E K S I K S X Y L T T A F E

G C E O L U E L H U W N T M X J Y H Y K Q W

C U X O N N A M I E G E V E T S C D N Z D Y

Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009 n The Working Press n Page 15

That was the intent of the chang-es, which relax some criteria used to rank chapters and allow for more creativity in meeting require-ments. New guidelines also require that the regional director contact the chapter more frequently.

The revised ranking system, first implemented in 2003, gives chap-ter leadership incentives to hold activities that promote SPJ goals and rewards chapters for hitting those benchmarks, Director-At-Large Bill McCloskey said. Re-wards include recognition in Quill magazine, convention registration and SPJ merchandise discounts, and SPJ-financed chapter mail-ings.

The original chapter ranking sys-tem had some inflexible require-ments that kept worthy chapters from getting higher rankings and kept struggling chapters in the bot-tom ranking, where they risked probation and inactive status, said McCloskey, who co-chairs the Chapter Doctor Committee with

Director-At-Large Michael Kore-tzky. This committee helps new and struggling professional chap-ters.

“Chapters do good things all through the year,” then they hit slumps, McCloskey said. Some-times chapters don’t get their books audited, send delegates to the convention or attend regional meetings, but their reports list many other good activities, he said.

As the industry changes in response to the recession and technology, chapters find more resourceful ways to meet, commu-nicate and pursue goals. Chapters meet online and socialize at mix-ers, and they hold workshops for students and professionals. Activi-ties like these didn’t fulfill the full-membership meeting requirement, but now they do.

The most dramatic ranking sys-tem change addresses regional conference and national conven-tion attendance. If a chapter was unable to attend both events, like Wyoming Pro, the chapter could not earn more than one star in the

four-star system.When a chapter is below two

stars, it is assisted by headquar-ters for one year and could go into probation the following year. Ultimately, the board can revoke the chapter’s charter or declare it inactive.

The board hopes these changes will allow more chapters to grow and improve their rankings. Mc-Closkey suggests that rankings should encourage chapters, not discipline them.

“What we see is that when a chapter has good programs and in-terests their members, its member-ship tends to grow,” McCloskey said.

CHAPTERSfrom Front Page

Here are ideas to steal from some of the nation’s top SPJ professional chapters:

•Western Washington Pro Chapter held a grant-funded town hall ethics program and the group holds regular press club mixers. The chapter also maintains an online diversity resource guide.

•Chicago Headline Club hosted its seventh annual First Amendment Forum and helped absolve a journalist charged with resisting and obstructing a police officer.

•William O. Douglas Pro Chapter sponsored a journalism-related movie night and members worked with high school students to report and write stories.

•San Diego Pro Chapter offered a basic Spanish program for journalists.

Chapter Requirements and Ranking SystemSPJ bylaws require that chapters submit annual reports or risk losing

good standing, but a new requirement will help keep chapters on track. Regional directors must now complete quarterly reports for chapters, who can then compile those for the annual report.

Professional chapters are ranked annually by a stars system. Each chapter is ranked from one to four stars (four being the best) according to several criteria, including: •The number of journalism-related activities held during the year.•How well it supports student journalists. •Communication among its members and with regional and national leaders.•Attendance at the regional conference and national convention.•On-time filing of annual report.

Chapter turnout at ’09 convention*

Professional 67 - Chapters 50 - Eligible to vote 42 - At convention

Campus233 - Chapters 93 - Eligible to vote 24 - At convention

* as of Friday

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Jenny elig, an indianapolis Star reporter, plays bass for The odyssey Favor at Friday night's Battle of the media Bands at Radio Radio in Fountain Square. The event was hosted by the indianapolis Pro chapter. Proceeds go to the chapter's scholarship for graduating high-schoolers planning careers in journalism. More photos online at spj.org.

niKKi Villoria/The Working Press

Battle of Media Bands benefits journalism scholarship fund

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