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SPJ Experts

Have a question or working on a story and need a knowledgable SPJ and journalism-industry source? Try one of these SPJ experts first:

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General Journalism/Media Industry Issues

Sonny Albarado | 501-244-4321 | Email

2012-13 SPJ President Sonny Albarado is projects editor at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. As projects editor, he supervises a staff of two reporters and assists other editors and reporters in long-term investigative and explanatory journalism. Albarado has worked as a journalist since 1970, when he became editor of his college newspaper. His first professional newspaper job began in December 1972 in Houma, La.

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Ethics

Fred Brown | 303-829-4647 | Email

A former editor at the Denver Post, Fred Brown teaches communication ethics at the University of Denver, does analysis for Denver’s NBC television station, and is a principal in Hartman & Brown, LLP, a media training and consulting firm. He is a member of SPJ’s Ethics Committee and revised the latest edition of the textbook “Journalism Ethics: A Casebook of Professional Conduct for News Media.”

Kevin Z. Smith | 304-365-4864 | Email

Kevin Z. Smith is chairman of SPJ’s Ethics Committee and a past national president. He has more than 25 years experience in reporting, editing and journalism education.

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Freedom of Information/Public Records

David Cuillier | 520-626-9694 | Email

David Cuillier, a former newspaper reporter and editor, is an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Arizona and former chairman of SPJ’s Freedom of Information Committee. He researches public attitudes toward freedom of information and is one of SPJ’s newsroom trainers for acquiring public records. He is co-author of “The Art of Access: Strategies for Acquiring Public Records.”

Linda Petersen | 801-254-5974 | Email

Linda Petersen is managing editor of The Valley Journals in Salt Lake City, Utah, and the chairwoman of SPJ’s Freedom of Information Committee. She is also president of the Utah Foundation for Open Government, a citizen coalition that works to educate and advocate for open government, and has successfully advocated for more open government in the Utah state government.

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Diversity in Newsrooms and News Coverage

Sandra Gonzalez | Email

Sandra Gonzalez is the chairwoman of the SPJ Diversity Committee and works as a reporter for KSNV in Las Vegas. She joined the Diversity Committee in fall 2011.

George Daniels | 205-348-8618 | Email

George Daniels is past chairman of the SPJ Diversity Committee and Journalism Education Committee. He currently serves on SPJ’s national board as campus adviser at-large and teaches journalism at the University of Alabama. Before earning a PhD from the University of Georgia, he worked as a news producer at TV stations in Virginian, Ohio and Georgia.

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Digital Media

Gil Asakawa | 720-989-1650 | Email

Gil Asakawa is chairman of SPJ’s Digital Media Committee and student media manager at the University of Colorado. He consults and trains newsrooms in digital content development and was previously audience development manager for MediaNews Group Interactive.

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Government Relations/Public Notices

Al Cross | 859-257-3744 | Email

Al Cross is director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, based at the University of Kentucky, and an assistant professor in UK’s School of Journalism and Telecommunications. He reported for The Courier-Journal for 26 years, where he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1989. Cross is chairman of SPJ’s Government Relations Committee and is a past national president.

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