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Rebecca J. “Becky” Tallent is an award-winning journalist and public relations specialist with more than 12 years experience as an energy/environmental and financial journalist plus an additional 16 years experience as a public relations specialist and five years as an educator. She is currently an assistant professor of journalism and mass media at the University of Idaho.
June O. Nicholson, an associate professor in the School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., has chaired national SPJ’s Journalism Education Committee since 2000. She has been a member of several other national SPJ committees over the past two decades. She is co-developer of the SPJ newsroom training module on covering diverse communities. Nicholson also is a former president of the Virginia professional chapter of SPJ. 
Kym Fox joined SPJ while an undergrad at Arizona State University in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism. She has been president of the San Antonio Pro Chapter and is currently the co-adviser to the Texas State University student chapter. Fox spent the first 20 something years of her career as a reporter and editor, first at the Mesa Tribune, a 40,000 daily in a suburb of Phoenix, and then 18 years at the San Antonio Express-News. She was the deputy metro editor when she left the Express-News to take to the classroom at Texas State. Most of her career, she spent covering courts and legal affairs, thus her affinity for Freedom of Information projects. Over the years she has covered everything from high school sports to George H.W Bush signing NAFTA. She has interviewed the Queen of England and Michael Jackson, though not at the same time. Along with her B.S. in journalism, she earned an M.A. in communications from the University of the Incarnate Word while an editor at the Express-News. At Texas State she is a senior lecturer and coordinator of the journalism sequence. She teaches a variety of writing classes as well as multimedia journalism. Her take on the future of journalism: “Newspapers are NOT dying. They are evolving.” Find her on Twitter @kymfox.
Dr. Jimmy McCollum is an associate professor in the department of communication and journalism at Lipscomb University, where he has taught since 1989. He is the director of the Tennessee High School Press Association, which is based at Lipscomb. He advises Lipscomb’s student online news service, www.luminationnetwork.com, and is faculty sponsor of the campus chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. He has served as a reporter/anchor with WSM-AM Radio News.
Gordon “Mac” McKerral is an associate professor and the news-editorial sequence coordinator in the School of Journalism & Broadcasting at Western Kentucky University.
Lee Anne Peck has taught English, journalism, and communications courses since 1988. Most recently she was an assistant professor of international communications at Franklin College Switzerland, Lugano. Over the years, she has advised three student newspapers.
Renée Petrina is a member of the journalism faculty at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind. She teaches editing and opinion writing as well as a media survey course for freshmen. A native of Richmond, Va., she graduated from Penn State University, where she was on the staff of The Daily Collegian. She is now a member of its alumni group's board. Petrina intends to complete her master's in Media Studies from Penn State in 2010. She completed five internships during college, including a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund editing internship at The Washington Post. After graduation, she worked on the copy desk of The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, Fla., then moved on to The Indianapolis Star. When she's not in her office or in the classroom, she enjoys volunteering, baking, and relaxing with her pets.
Jeff South was state editor and database editor at the Austin American-Statesman before heading to academia in 1997 under the mistaken impression he’d have summers off. He is an associate professor in the School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University, where he teaches news writing, legislative reporting, communications technology and media ethics. South has served as a trainer for SPJ, IRE, AP and other organizations. He frequently conducts workshops on, and writes about, computer-assisted reporting, online journalism and media convergence. In 2003, South was awarded a fellowship from the American Society of Newspaper Editors to work at The Charlotte Observer. In 2007, he will serve a six-month Knight International Press Fellowship in Ukraine. For more than 20 years, he was a reporter and editor in Texas, Arizona and Virginia for newspapers such as the Dallas Times Herald, the Phoenix Gazette and The Virginian-Pilot. He also served two years with the U.S. Peace Corps in Morocco.
Leticia Steffen is an associate professor in the Department of Mass Communications and Center for New Media at Colorado State University-Pueblo. She joined the CSU-Pueblo faculty in 2004. A native of New Hampton, Iowa, Steffen completed her bachelor’s degree at Saint Louis University, working as a stringer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Suburban Journals of St. Louis before moving to Colorado to complete a master’s degree in mass communications and journalism studies at the University of Denver. Before moving to Pueblo, Steffen worked as a writer and editor in the Denver area. Steffen teaches journalism courses and serves as faculty adviser to the CSU-Pueblo online student news website and news magazine, the CSU-Pueblo TODAY.
Nerissa Young is a recovering print journalist employed as assistant professor of print journalism at the W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. Before that, she taught three years in the Department of Mass Communications at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, W.Va., and in the journalism school at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater. Young has nearly 20 years of media experience that includes radio, newspapers, freelance and journalism education. A native West Virginian, she received her bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Concord College and her master’s degree in journalism from Marshall University. She has been a member of SPJ’s national ethics committee since 1995 and spent seven years as chairwoman of SPJ’s national Project Watchdog committee. Young writes a weekly column, “The Back Porch,” about whatever tickles her momentary fancy for her former employer, The (Beckley, W.Va.) Register-Herald. At Marshall, she teaches news writing and reporting and advises the campus newspaper, The Parthenon.
Resources for Journalists
Census Resources for Journalists
Pew Research Center
The All Things Census page from the Pew Research Center provides resources, findings and methods related to Census 2010. This site links to many other sites and organizations that are posting census information that could be helpful to journalists.
C-SPAN Video
Check out C-SPAN’s video archive on census news conferences.
American Society of News Editors
ASNE has a few resources listed on the Census Central page.
Census Director’s Blog
View Census Director Robert Groves’ daily blog.
Media Toolkit
The Toolkit for Media Organization Partners is designed to help media organizations and associations communicate the benefits of census participation.
Toolkits
Partner Toolkits contain information and resources to help partners communicate the importance of the census to key groups. Materials are tailored for each audience, addressing relevant facts and the unique benefits of participation.
Materials for Media
Online news briefings and electronic press kits will be available at this site in the near future. You can sign up to get e-mail notifications when the information to this site is updated. The kits are intended to package relevant news, information and photos to help generate earned media coverage throughout the 2010 Census effort.
Get a Fact sheet for Your Community
Review facts by zip, county or city from the 2000 Census and then be able to compare it to the 2010 Census results when completed. In some cases there are data from 2006-2008 through the American Community Survey.
U.S. Census Bureau American FactFinder
— Fact sheets for race, ethnicity or ancestry groups.
— View population trends in your community.
What the Media Need to Know
A handbook about the American Community Survey [PDF Format].
From the George Washington Library System
This research guide highlights the electronic and print resources published by the U.S. Census Bureau and select resources that accompany Census research.
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