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MINUTES
MEETING OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS
JULY 16, 2005
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

MEETING CALLED TO ORDER

With President Irwin Gratz residing, the committee meeting was called to order at 9:21 a.m.

ROLL CALL

In addition to President Gratz, the following were present for all or a portion of the meeting: President-elect David Carlson; Secretary-Treasurer Christie Tatum; Vice President for Campus Chapter Affairs Jim Highland; Region 3 Director Holly Fisher; Director At Large Jim Parker; Executive Director Terry Harper; and Deputy Executive Director Julie Grimes. Ray Salazar, Deb Cohen, and Meg Tebo, Chicago Headline Club board members, were present for portions of the meeting.

FEDERAL SHIELD LAW UPDATE

Carlson suggested that Baker & Hostetler be asked to provide a proposal/outline of how funds raised to support a federal shield law campaign will be used. Carlson indicated that he plans to make the federal shield law legislation and PATRIOT Act issues a major part of his presidency.

Regarding any upcoming Capitol Hill visits, local members should be encouraged to participate. Baker & Hostetler should be asked to recommend locales where SPJ should solicit local involvement. Baker & Hostetler should be asked to generate talking points for members to use during visits and in letters.

ROUNDTABLE/PREVIEW FORUM PARTNERSHIP

Upon a proper motion and second by Parker and Highland, the committee voted to proceed on developing a partnership with Roundtable, Inc.

INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGES

Gratz reported that SPJ member Susan Kriefels represented SPJ at a journalism conference in Taiwan. Past president Robert Leger is overseeing plans for a visit in September by a Korean delegation of journalists. He also is overseeing an SPJ trip to South Korea for the East Asia Journalists Forum scheduled for the fall.

The group discussed whether and how to open this trip up to SPJ members and chapter leaders. The also discussed establishing a fund to help journalists travel on these international efforts. The trips foster and mentor helpful relationships with journalists in other countries.

MARK OF EXCELLENCE AWARDS

Upon a proper motion and second by Highland and Parker the committee approved the following changes to the Mark of Excellence Awards contest:

1. Clarify that the contest is open to students with no fulltime, professional journalism experience, other than internships.

2. Require that judges select winners in order, starting with first place. If judges do not feel any entries merit a first place award, then no awards would be given in the category. If there are four or fewer entries in a category, the judges should not make any awards unless they feel doing so is clearly merited.

3. In Category 21, Radio Spot News Reporting, change the category to Radio News Reporting so that it includes both spot and general news reporting.

4. In Category 25, Radio Daily Newscast, change the category to Radio Newscast so that weekly newscasts may also be entered. Actual criteria would specify that broadcasts would have to be regularly scheduled with a frequency of at least once a week.

5. Combine Category 34, Television Daily Newscast, and Category 35, Television Non-daily Newscast, to create a new category, Television Newscast.

6. Combine Category 36, Online Spot News Reporting, and Category 37, Online General News Reporting, to create a new category, Online News Reporting.

SPJ REGIONAL CONTESTS DISCUSSION

The group discussed SPJ's national involvement in regional contests. The discussion started when considering options for revenue streams for SPJ's regions.

The committee suggested that SPJ seek ways to assist regions with regional conference planning. Consider revising regional conference grant to take away specific rules about using the grant only for speaker expenses. Headquarters should consider whether it is able to manage one or two regional conferences each year, or other ways it might assist regions.

Headquarters should receive records from regions about who attends each regional conference. It would be interesting to track who attends each year and whether they are more loyal SPJ members. Statistics including the member/nonmember and student/pro breakdowns would be useful in evaluating regional conferences.

It was suggested that headquarters propose to two regions that the national office manage the 2006 conferences in those regions. A revenue sharing arrangement would need to be worked out.

Moving on from regional conferences, it was suggested that SPJ consider a series of national professional development programs that take place each year in various cities, on a rotating basis. These would be aimed at professional programming.

DISTINGUISHED TEACHING IN JOURNALISM

Upon a proper motion and second by Highland and Parker, the committee voted to present the Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award to Lisa Birkley, a teacher at Highlanas High School.

ETHICS IN JOURNALISM AWARD

No nominations were received for this award. Gratz will contact the Ethics Committee about possible nominations for the award.

FELLOWS OF THE SOCIETY

Upon a proper motion and second by Carlson and Parker, the committee voted to name Linda Deutsch, Bill Kovich and Phillip Meyer Fellows of the Society.

FIRST AMENDMENT AWARD

Upon a proper motion and second by Parker and Fisher, the committee voted to present First Amendment Awards to The New York Times, Judith Miller and Mark Felt.

HELEN THOMAS LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Upon a proper motion and second by Carlson and Parker, the committee voted to present the Helen Thomas Lifetime Achievement Award to Alan R. Walden.

HISTORIC SITE IN JOURNALISM

Upon a proper motion and second by Tatum and Parker, the committee voted to name the Milwaukee Press Club a Historic Site in Journalism. Founded in 1998, the Milwaukee Press Club is the oldest continuously operating press club in the Americas.

HOWARD DUBIN OUTSTANDING PRO MEMBER AWARD

Upon a proper motion and second by Carlson and Tatum, the committee voted to present a Howard Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Award to Molly McDonough Carson of the Chicago Headline Club.

Upon a proper motion and second by tatum and Fisher, the committee voted to present a Howard Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Award to Elizabeth Kelly Klay of the Southwest Missouri Pro Chapter.

JULIE GALVAN OUTSTANDING GRADUATE IN JOURNALISM AWARD

Upon a proper motion and second by Highland and Parker, the committee voted to present the Julie Galvan Outstanding Graduate in Journalism Award to award Trish Hartman of the University of Maryland.

REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR

Upon a proper motion and second by Tatum and Carlson, the committee voted to present the Regional Director of the Year Award to Region 6 Director Dave Aeikens.

SUNSHINE AWARDS

Upon a proper motion and second by Parker and Highland, the committee voted to present Sunshine Awards to J.W. August of KGTV and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

NEW BUSINESS: NOMINATIONS UPDATE

A report from McKerral, Nominations Chair, listed the following individuals who are seeking board seats this fall:
• President: David Carlson
• President-elect: Christie Tatum
• VPCCA: Mead Loop
• Secretary-Treasurer: Bruce Cadwallader and John Hopkins
• Director At Large: Jim Parker, Brian Eckert, and Molly McDonough
• Campus Adviser At Large: Neil Ralston
• Campus Adviser At Large (one year term): Sue Kopen Katcef
• Campus Representatives: Drew Sandholm, Sarah Bauer, Ashley Clark
• Region 2 Director: Ann Augherton
• Region 3 Director: Holly Fisher
• Region 6 Director: Gordon Govier
• Region 10 Director: Nathan Isaacs
• Region 11 Director: Paul McAfee
• Region 12 Director: Clint Brewer

Board members should remember that they should not participate in any campaigning on behalf of these candidates.

STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF JUDITH MILLER

Upon a proper motion and second by Carlson and Highland, the committee voted to add SPJ's name to a statement (proposed by Ethics Chair Gary Hill) in support of Judith Miller.

NEW BUSINESS: LOCAL CHAPTER CONTESTS

The committee decided to refer a discussion about policies on local chapter contests to the Awards and Honors Committee for review and recommendation. The committee is looking for guidance about standards and practices for establishing new contests and using SPJ's name.

The group also suggested preparing an inventory list of awards presented under SPJ's name.

CHAPTER CHARTERS

Upon a proper motion and second by Carlson and Parker, the committee approved a full charter for the Minnesota State University, Mankato Campus Chapter.

The committee reviewed the initial request of a group of journalists to form the North Central Florida Professional Chapter. Additional information is required before granting provisional status to this group.

ADJOURNMENT

Upon a proper motion and second by Highland and Tatum the executive committee adjourned.