FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contacts:
Abbi Martzall, SPJ Awards Coordinator, (317) 920-4791, amartzall@spj.org
Taylor Carlier, SPJ Communications Coordinator, (317) 920-4785, tcarlier@spj.org

INDIANAPOLIS – The Society of Professional Journalists is pleased to honor Mickey H. Osterreicher and Lucy Dalglish as Fellows of the Society. It is the highest professional honor given by the Society and is awarded for extraordinary contribution to the profession.

Mickey H. Osterreicher is a lawyer with the firm of Hiscock & Barclay, LLP, in Buffalo, New York, working in the firm’s practice areas of Media and First Amendment Law. He also serves as general counsel to the National Press Photographers Association. He has devoted his career to protecting and preserving the rights of journalists and actively participating in matters such as cameras in the courtroom, the federal shield law, media access, public photography, fair use, orphan works and copyright infringement.

In fact, with a grant from the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation, Osterreicher is training police around the country regarding citizens’ and journalists’ First Amendment rights to photograph and record in public. Some of those cities include Chicago, Tampa, Charlotte, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Diego and Dallas. Also, he writes regularly for the Media Law Resource Center, the NPPA’s magazine and other online publications, and has been quoted extensively on these issues in print, online and on the air.

An award-winning photojournalist with almost 40 years of experience, Osterreicher’s work has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, Newsweek and USA Today as well as on ABC World News Tonight, Nightline, Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News and ESPN.

“Mickey has devoted his entire career to protecting and preserving journalism,” said media consultant Sam Stewart. “I know many journalists feel safer performing their work knowing that Mickey is a phone call or email away, or in many cases, on scene to help when issues may arise.”

Additionally, Mickey has been an adjunct lecturer in photojournalism at the State University of New York at Buffalo and an adjunct law professor in media and the law at the SUNY Buffalo Law School.

Lucy Dalglish was recognized nationally by the National Press Foundation in 2012 with the Kiplinger Award and was honored in 1995 by the Society of Professional Journalists with the Wells Memorial Key, the highest honor bestowed upon a member of the organization.

Dalglish became the Dean of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland in 2012. Prior to this she made substantial contributions to the profession through a broad range of career opportunities.

She served for 12 years as executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press -- an association of reporters and news editors dedicated to protecting the First Amendment rights of the news media.

Dalglish also spent five years as a media lawyer in the trial department of the Minneapolis law firm of Dorsey & Whitney. She was a reporter and editor for the St. Paul Press from 1980-1993.

Throughout her career, Dalglish has appeared frequently in print, online and broadcast stories about issues involving the media and the First Amendment, and serves on numerous boards and advisory committees interested in furthering the cause.

In 1996, she was one of 24 journalists, lawyers, lawmakers, educators, researchers, librarians and historians inducted into the charter class of the National Freedom of Information Act Hall of Fame in Washington, D.C. Her distinguished career and recognition within the journalism profession is a testament to her place among this group.

Osterreicher and Dalglish will be honored at the Excellence in Journalism 2015 conference in Orlando, Fla. Each will receive a jeweled key and a plaque on Sunday, Sept. 20, at the President’s Installation Banquet. Click here for a list of previous honorees.

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well-informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. For more information on SPJ, please visit www.spj.org.

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