Diversity discussion at BYU
Two Salt City Lake journalists, a pair of Utah educators and two Utah state legislators gathered at Brigham Young University to discuss the theme "Balancing Minority Rights and Majority Rule: Representing Diversity in the Newsroom and Community" with an audience of students and faculty.
The panel, hosted by BYU's SPJ Chapter on April 11, discussed topics related to diversity, including the difficulty news management faces in hiring and retaining minority journalists, the importance of representing minorities in news stories as well as avoiding writing "token" stories about minorities. All panel members addressed how effective they believed the news media was in covering diversity and what they believed could be changed to improve coverage of minority groups.
View the webcast of the panel discussion at (http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/38394).

San Diego awards program
The San Diego Chapter of SPJ handed out more than 110 awards for excellence in newspapers, television, online media, magazines, radio and college publications during its annual awards banquet June 6.
The 2002 San Diego-Area Journalism Competition saw more than 375 individuals and newsroom staffs enter their work from 2001. The 850 total entries from 65 media outlets represented a chapter record, according to chapter President Erin Massey.
"We were surprised by the sheer number of entrants and the quality of the work this year," Massey said. "With Sept. 11 and all of the chaos of last year, it seemed like San Diego journalists really rose to the occasion. The awards given reflect their efforts."
The chapter added separate Sept. 11-related categories this year to give journalists the opportunity to showcase work on the expansive story. San Diego journalists also competed in spot news coverage, features, legal affairs, government issues and special prizes for humor writing and diversity, Massey said.
In addition to the record participation in the contest, San Diego SPJ enjoyed strong participation in its awards banquet. Nearly 200 area journalists and guests attended.