For Immediate Release:
7/10/2009

Contact:
Lauren Rochester, Awards Coordinator, (317) 927-8000 ext. 210, lrochester@spj.org
Karen Grabowski, Communications Coordinator, (317) 927-8000 ext. 215, kgrabowski@spj.org

SPJ names three Fellows of the Society

INDIANAPOLIS – The Society of Professional Journalists is pleased to name Stanley E. Hubbard, Austin Kiplinger and Nelson Poynter as Fellows of the Society.

Being named a Fellow of the Society is the highest honor SPJ bestows upon a journalist for extraordinary contributions to the profession. The recipients will be recognized at the President’s Installation Banquet Aug. 29 at the 2009 SPJ Convention and National Journalism Conference in Indianapolis.

Stanley E. Hubbard

The late Stanley E. Hubbard founded Hubbard Broadcasting and was a pivotal innovator and pioneer in the broadcast industry. In 2001 he was inducted to the Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame in St. Louis Park, Minn.

In 1925, Hubbard began his first station. The station was the first to use only advertising sales as its source of profit and the first in the country to broadcast a 15-minute daily newscast. A long list of firsts is associated with Hubbard, including the first TV station in the United States to broadcast in color, the first to broadcast a seven-day schedule and the first to use remote satellite reports inside newscasts.

Other remarkable contributions to journalism include Hubbard’s role in starting what is currently the small satellite dish television and a satellite news service called CONUS, which offered news feeds to stations and KSTP’s investigative units in Minnesota. All of the accomplishments of Hubbard Broadcasting earned it the distinction as one of SPJ’s national Historic Sites in Journalism.

Austin Kiplinger

Austin Kiplinger is an enthusiastic entrepreneur and journalist who, at age 90, serves as chairman of his family’s booming business, Kiplinger Washington Editors. Kiplinger’s father, W. M. Kiplinger, founded the company that reports money issues to the public.

After Kiplinger graduated from Cornell University, he struck out on his own as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle. World War II took Kiplinger to the Pacific where he served as a naval aviator. When he returned home, he also returned to the family business for a short time, helping to start the magazine Changing Times. A stint in Chicago, however, introduced Kiplinger to his broadcast passions. He covered politics for NBC and ABC and anchored the first TV show on business news before returning to Washington again and the family business.

In 1961, Kiplinger became editor-in-chief of Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine, a position he kept until his son, Knight, took over. Kiplinger was the 2002 recipient of the American Business Ethics Award for small businesses.

Nelson Poynter

According to the Nelson Poynter Memorial Library at the University of South Florida, the late Nelson Poynter once said, “There never was any question what my career would be. Journalism was in my blood from childhood.”

Born in Sullivan, Ind., Poynter began his career in journalism by writing for the St. Petersburg Times after his father bought the paper in 1912. The reporter went on to be editor and publisher of the Clearwater Sun and the Kokomo (Ind.) Dispatch, advertising and business manager of the Washington Daily News, editor of the Columbus (Ohio) Citizen, business manager of the Minneapolis Star and general manager of the St. Petersburg Times. Continuing his journalism career, Poynter later became The Times Publishing Co. chairman of the board and served in that capacity until he died.

A successful industry pioneer, Poynter and his wife Henrietta founded Congressional Quarterly in Washington, D.C. All of his accomplishments did not go unnoted. Poynter was a past national honorary president of SPJ; an Associate Fellow of Silliman College, Yale University; a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Service Award from Indiana University; and a recipient of honorary doctorates from Stetson University College of Law, Florida State University, Eckerd College and University of South Florida.

St. Petersburg Times Editor, CEO and Chairman Paul C. Tash wrote dedicatedly to Poynter’s Fellowship, saying “Nelson Poynter spent his life devoted to journalism, and had great faith in the future and the generations it would produce… [His] contribution to journalism was enormous.”

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 about SPJ, please visit www.spj.org.

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