Mid-America Press Institute 10 a.m. Break
Standing up for your
presents
Covering
natural disasters
Friday, April 17
6 p.m. Seminar registration (Radisson
Quad City Plaza Hotel)
8 p.m. Keynote address
Mizell Stewart III, Evansville (Ind.)
Courier & Press
Stories everywhere but no power, no
fuel and no phones: The aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina on the Mississippi
Gulf Coast
Saturday, April 18
8 a.m. Coffee & rolls with newspapers
courtesy of the Quad City Times
8:30 a.m. Welcome & introduction
Steve Buttry, The Gazette (Cedar Rapids,
Iowa); Mark Ridolfi, Quad City Times
(Davenport, Iowa); Mizell Stewart III
SEGMENT 1: Before disaster strikes
9 a.m. Front-line flood fighters
Co. Robert Sinkler, commander of the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rock
Island District; Dee Bruemmer, former
public works director, Davenport, Iowa,
and U.S. Corps of Engineers; Mark
Ridolfi
Experienced flood responders explain
the public records, tools and techniques
you can use to improve flood stories.
4:30-6:15 p.m.
10:15 a.m. Newsroom and personal
disaster planning
Mizell Stewart III, Christine Martin,
Southwest Indiana Disaster Resistant
Community Corp.
From power outages to disruption of
infrastructure, advance planning is
necessary before disaster disrupts your
newsroom's normal ways of communicating
and doing business.
SEGMENT 2: When disaster strikes
noon The first crucial hours
Nancy Newhoff, Waterloo (Iowa) Courier
What your newsroom does in the first
crucial hours following a disaster can make
all the difference to your community--and
people all over the country.
12:15 p.m. Table talk and lunch
1:15-2:45 p.m. Your Web site as a lifeline
Steve Buttry
Why: In the first hours and days after a
disaster, your Web site may be the only way
that people outside of the disaster zone will
have any idea what happened. What you need
to be prepared for and what people expect you
to deliver.
2:45 p.m. Break
SEGMENT 3: Dealing with the aftermath
3-4:30 p.m. Using databases &
interactive storytelling to help your
community recover
James Wilkerson, Des Moines Register; Zack
Kucharski, The Gazette and GazetteOnline
How your newsroom can use databases,
online forums and other tools to help the
community recover after disaster strikes.
community
Mary Sharp, flood team editor, The
Gazette, and other speakers to be
announced
Disasters bring out the best in
communities and the worst in some
individuals. What you need to know to be
an effective watchdog for your readers in
the wake of the storm.
Sunday, April 19
8 a.m. Coffee & rolls with newspapers
courtesy of the Quad City Times
8:30 a.m. Stories from the front
David Purdy, former (Biloxi, Miss.) Sun
Herald photographer; Cecelia Hanley,
The Gazette
Panelists who have experienced and
covered disasters in their communities
discuss the challenges and rewards.
10 a.m. You need to recover, too
Bruce Shapiro, Dart Center for
Journalism & Trauma
Why: Journalists are so busy trying to
help their communities recover
following disasters that they often forget
to take care of themselves. Here is
practical advice for journalists and
editors on dealing with traumatic
events.
11 a.m. The conclusion of the matter
Steve Buttry, Mark Ridolfi, Mizell
Stewart III
Taking the lessons home, feedback and
goodbye.
 Registration form for
Covering
natural disasters
a Mid-America Press Institute seminar
April 17-19, 2009, Davenport
Radisson Quad City Plaza Hotel
REGISTRATION FEE:
$50/$40 (1st, 2nd registrant/members)
$75/$65 (non-members)
Newspaper
_________________________________
Participants
_________________________________
_________________________________
_________________________________
Address
_________________________________
City ____________________________
State ________ Zip________________
E-mail__________________________
Phone __________________________
Make HOTEL reservations with:
Radisson Quad City Plaza Hotel 111 E.
Second St., Davenport, Iowa 52801
(563.322.2200)
(For $106 rate, mention MPI and
make reservations by March 18.)
Seminar co-chairs: Mark Ridolfi, Quad City
Times (Davenport),;W. Mizell Stewart,
Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press, Steve
Buttry, The Gazette (Cedar Rapids)
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION:
Via e-mail: MPInews@aol.com Mid-America Press Institute
Call it in: 217.273.5812 presents
Fax the form: 217.581.2923
Mail the form:
Mid-America Press Institute A how-to-do-it seminar
Department of Journalism for reporters, editors
Eastern Illinois University
Charleston, Ill. 61920
and other journalists
Covering
REMAINING MPI SEMINARS in 2009
June 28-30
Addressing critical sports issues
(coincides w/Cardinals v. Giants game)
Sports staffers play a critical role in building
readership. This seminar will explore new
ideas for drawing readers other than hard-
natural
disasters
core fans, addressing the new realities of the
Web, evaluating the role of special sections
and moving lively stories and resourceful
coverage to the newspaper at large.
Sept. 18-20
Design/presentation April 17-19, 2009
(and a little copy editing) in Davenport, Iowa
The role of designers and copy editors
changes daily as newspapers continue to A seminar designed to prepare
evolve into 24-7 print and online platforms,
newspaper, online and other journalists
adding video and audio and addressing a for bringing to their communities the
multitude of other issues. New tasks require critical breaking news they’ll need to cope
new skills, especiallyat smaller papers.
with natural disaster. Sessions will
emphasize adapting skills to multimedia
Oct. 28-30 platforms and offer practical advice that
MPI Partnership:
journlaists can use on the job right away.
2009 APME Convention Programming Participants may attend the entire
MPI will partner with the Associated Press program or any part of it.
Managing Editors to offer MPI members from
non-APME papers a chance to attend
programming sessions at the annual APME
convention at MPI rates. Watch APME's web Other sponsors:
site for program details. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Dart Center for Journalism & Trauma
Lee Newspapers
Scripps Howard Foundation
Illinois Press Foundation