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Vol. 4, No. 6 November 1999
A publication of the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists

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November meeting U.N. officer to discuss media relationships Christmas party back by popular demand Strategic Plan suggests methods to increase membership Public records reveal truth, Chester says National convention Brown gives trip report Briefly noted

U.N. officer to discuss media relationships

by Christy Rockholt, Journalism 200 student

Tony Benesch, a foreign service officer and deputy director of U.N. Political Affairs, will speak at the University of Tennessee at 7 p.m. on Nov. 18 in Room 237 of the University Center. While visiting the Knoxville area, Benesch will speak to the Society of Professional Journalists' meeting and to the history department at U.T. He plans to discuss the U.S. role in the United Nations, including what it does for the United States, what is done in return, and the complex nature of that relationship. The journalism connection in his speech will include a narrative on how the United Nations is covered by the media, as well as a possibly surprising explanation of how the overall State Department press guidance process works.

Back by popular demand: ETSPJ

Christmas 'extravaganza'
Last years Christmas party received such great reviews that were doing it again -- just like before. The time is 6:30 p.m. The date is Thursday, Dec. 9. The place is the University Club, Room B. Well have another Chinese auction. Remember how it works? You bring a wrapped gift, costing $10 or less. Dont put a name on it. The gifts will be piled together. Youll get a number to determine the order in which you select something from the pile. After youve chosen your gift, you may try to keep it or exchange it for another. Surely, if you like it, someone else will, too. This continues until the last gift is opened. We will once again collect toys for the Toys for Tots campaign. Bring an unwrapped new toy to the party. Please phone or e-mail Sally Guthrie (588-1474, saguthrie@utk.edu) with the number in your group by Dec. 3 so we let the University Club know how many to prepare for. There will be a cash bar. Dont forget: Wrap the auction gift. Dont wrap the Toys for Tots gift.

Public records reveal truth, Chester says

by Judy Lovely U.T. Journalism 200 student

Tom Chester, assistant managing editor of the Knoxville NewsSentinel, spoke at the October 18 meeting of the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. His topic was Public Records/Public Lives. Chester talked about a number of high-profile reports published by the News-Sentinel in recent months and how these investigations were uncovered. He discussed the case of Frankie Lane Gresham, a person supposedly created by the Knox County Sheriffs Department for use in a drug sting. This caused problems for the attorneys involved, the attorney general, and the judge assigned to the case. More overwhelming were the problems created for the real Frankie Lane Gresham. He was embarrassed by the incident,

which was incriminating to him. Evidently, no one checked to see if anyone was really named Frankie Lane Gresham. To top it off, the Sheriffs Department was not even embarrassed by the incident, Chester said. Chester spoke of the Knoxville Police Department sergeant involved in an automobile accident with his cruiser. He allegedly fled the scene and then claimed the car had been stolen. Through the use of public records, the truth came out, and the police sergeant was charged with a criminal act and was fired. The recent reports on UT employee pay raises also became a top story because reporters obtained access to public records. These stories would not have happened had it not been for the availability of public records and the Freedom of Information Act. Chester said to remember three things: (1) what do you think you know; (2) what you know; and (3) what you can prove. You only publish the last one. Using public records helps prove the first two. More than 70 people attended the meeting held at the University Center.

Convention provides ideas for ETSPJ

by Wynne Brown

That first day things looked bad for SPJs 1999 National Convention in Indianapolis. Nine hundred attendees were expected Saturday, Oct. 2 -- and only 280 had showed up. Reasons cited by outgoing President Wendy Myers and Executive Director Jim Gray were:

the Saturday-Tuesday schedule instead of the usual Thursday-Sunday design the Circle City Classic, which brings thousands of visitors to Indy that same weekend -- and a shortage of hotel rooms cost of SPJ membership Fortunately, walk-ins started coming in Sunday, and the numbers improved to 500 attendees. Many sessions were packed, and only one had to be cancelled.

Sunday afternoon I attended three sessions for chapter leaders:

"Staying Strong: Membership Retention and Recruitment";

"Keeping Money in the Coffers" and "Making News: Raising Your Chapters Profile."

Suggestions particularly useful to ETSPJ were

Consider partnering with other organizations on programs Target the winners of the writing competitions for membership Use e-mail to alert faculty, department chairs, students, local media about chapter events Strengthen the link between student and pro chapters Consider new categories in contest so that journalists in every possible outlet can participate (ex. Trade magazines) Look into donations/underwriting possibilities Use news events to build chapter awareness among public (Ex: One Arizona chapter held a post-mortem on how former Gov. Fyfe Symingtons trial was covered.)

Ray Suarez, senior correspondent for PBS NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and author of The Old Neighborhood: What We Lost in the Great Suburban Migration, was the keynote speaker for the conventions opening. Participants then took buses for the Opening Night Reception, held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway - complete with a (sedate) shuttle bus trip on the track itself. The next two days were typical of SPJ conventions: Out of the 36 sessions offered concurrently during each day, how to choose the best three or four? Monday I picked Transition to Online Journalism with representatives of NPR, Tribune Interactive, ABP and the St. Louis Post Dispatch; Nations Within: The Untold Story of Native America, with representatives of the Navajo, Jibway, Potowatomie and Miami nations; and Environment: Hazards in Perspective, which provided dozens of valuable Web sites and Election Year: Behind the Scenes, a town hall meeting open to both the public and the press. The sessions paused for lunch, which was the Legal Defense Fund Roast with Jane Kirtley, former executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press as victim. Regional meetings were held Monday afternoon, and Marcia Biggs, president of the Mid-Florida Pro chapter, agreed to be Regional Director for our area. The Regional Convention was tentatively set for April 1-2, 2000, in the Tampa area (watch this space for more details).

Tuesday St. Petersburg Times Tom French discussed the techniques that earned him a Pulitzer in feature writing, coaches from The Indianapolis Star, the Honolulu Advertiser, Shaw Papers, and the Kansas City Star gave coaching tips, regional delegates met and online professionals met to discuss Journalism Ethics in a 24/7 World. The Legal Defense Fund Auction and Reception offered a chance to buy anything from football tickets to framed editorial cartoons. From there, participants moved on to the Sigma Delta Chi Awards Banquet with Seymour Hersh, author of The Dark Side of Camelot and investigative reporter. This was the fourth SPJ National Convention Ive been to, and, once again, I came away with new ideas of what to write and how to write it. And once again, I met people who are asking the same questions Im asking, who get restless when theyre not learning and who struggle with the same newsroom computer systems. So if you want a chance to learn, to stretch professionally, to meet people who know what it is you do - mark your calendars for Oct. 26-29, 2000, in Columbus, Ohio. A lesson learned by convention planners? Thats a Thursday through Sunday.

Methods to increase membership suggested in strategic plan

Submitted by Georgiana Vines

National SPJ has gone through a strategic planning process the past year to determine the organization's future. Georgiana Vines has been a member of the committee although she missed two meetings where the written plan was determined. Here is a synopsis of the plan based on a report by Fred Brown, the committee scribe. VISION STATEMENT The Society of Professional Journalists is dedicated to quality, responsible journalism as the foundation of a free and informed society. By maintaining a large and diverse membership, SPJ enhances its influence in advocating press freedoms, developing

the skills of working journalists and supporting students entering the profession. The Society seeks to be widely recognized as the conscience of journalism and the guardian of its principles. RELEVANCE Journalism is changing, and so is the society it serves. The Society of Professional Journalists must strive to provide services to a diverse and dynamic membership, to increase its influence and maintain its reputation as a voice for quality, responsible journalism. GOAL: To be essential and user-friendly to our members, the profession of journalism and the public, emphasizing access to information and journalism ethics. Objective: Give Freedom of Information and Ethics equal organizational and financial support. Objective: Improve the focus and influence of Quill magazine.

Plan minimum of three specialty content issues for Quill (Freedom of Information, Ethics, and Networking and Career Development) to respond to needs identified in member survey. Schedule them within the 2000 fiscal year; include reader-feedback forms and lists of resources and references in each issue. Each issue should include print, broadcast and on-line journalists leaders.

Objective: Improve SPJs message, visibility and influence.

Develop a plan to market to associates (media lawyers, government FOI officers, lawmakers, others). Launch an interactive website. Create targeted marketing materials for chapters, donors and the public. Create a source list to refer journalism inquiries from the media and public.

FINANCIAL SECURITY A healthy organization needs a reliable base of funding. SPJ is fortunate to have the active support of the well-endowed Sigma Delta Chi Foundation. But maintaining financial health requires careful attention to fiscal strategies. GOAL: Maintain cash flow and invested reserve by diversifying

revenue sources. Objective: Seek more partnerships to further SPJ missions, recruit new members, increase revenue and reduce costs of programs. Objective: Build an expanding base of financial support

Hire a development director with the primary responsibility of identifying and cultivating funding sources for SPJ and SDX, including individuals, foundations, corporations, media organizations and like-minded advocacy groups. (Elizabeth (Liz) Ellis has been hired as the new Director of Development. Liz currently works for Dorris Associates, a professional fundraising firm and she has six years experience asking people for money.) Analyze all costs of servicing each member. Objective: Convince news organizations to support memberships. Send mailings to the 10 largest news organizations and explain SPJs role to editors, publishers, news directors, managing editors and other top executives. Create more institutional membership benefits (such as volume discounts for employees attending convention, or for SDX awards entry fees, or for university institutional members, volume discounts for Mark of Excellence awards entry fees). Objective: Maintain a competitively compensated, professional, trained staff and efficient headquarters. Commit resources for ongoing staff training Update and maintain job descriptions for staff positions.

MEMBERSHIP Historically, the Society of Professional Journalists has been the largest and the most diverse of the journalism organizations. While size is not the only determinant of a groups influence, it is a critical factor. Even more important is the memberships level of activity and involvement. GOAL: Identify, recruit and serve a diverse membership that is active, involved and committed, and that includes all media. Objective: Create a pro-active and personalized membership system.

Annually review the membership recruiting system, including materials and marketing strategy. Conduct an annual demographic survey.

Conduct biennial member-satisfaction survey. Review dual-billing system of chapter and national dues. Create a resume template for students and job seekers. Provide an on-line job bank for members only. (Consider a careers committee, and end the charge for the service)

Objective: Increase number of high school journalism members.

Target advisers through Journalism Education Association. Develop programs targeted at high school students. Explore partnerships with scholastic journalism groups.

Objective: Increase the number of broadcast members.

Appoint a broadcast membership committee to develop recommendations for programs and recruitment strategies for broadcasters; targeting FOI and Ethics materials for broadcasters; exploring partnerships with broadcast journalism groups. Make the Taishoff Seminar an annual priority. Seek foundation grants to support broadcast initiatives. Objective: Increase the number of members from online/new media. Appoint an on-line/new media membership committee to develop recommendations for programs and recruitment strategies for new-media journalists; targeting FOI and Ethics materials for new media; exploring partnerships with new-media journalism groups. Seek foundation grants to support new-media initiatives.

Objective: Increase the number of members from the trade press.

Appoint a trade-press membership committee to develop recommendations for programs and recruitment strategies for trade press journalists; targeting FOI and Ethics materials for the trade press; exploring partnerships with trade-press groups. Seek foundation grants to support new-media initiatives.

Objective: Establish a better local-national network for volunteer recruitment and leadership track.

Seek continued funding for the Ted Scripps Leadership Training. Create a central registry of members who want to

volunteer. GOVERNANCE The Society of Professional Journalists is dedicated to serving and representing a profession that is devoted to effective and honest communication. Its own governance should be efficient, rational and accessible. GOAL: Ensure a practical governing structure that invites participation. Objective: Simplify chapter requirements. Objective: Restructure and reduce the size of the SPJ national board. (This clearly would require a bylaws change)

Appoint a committee to study board representation based on geography, news medium and type of membership. Create written policy guidelines for board members and national committee chairs. Provide a mandatory orientation session for all board members and committee chairs annually at national conventions.

Objective: Increase the equity and diversity of convention decision-making.

Consider a one-member, one-vote system to replace the delegate system of weighted voting (Another bylaws change, if we do it). Objective: Ensure that the strategic plan remains viable. Appoint a committee to review the plan on an annual basis.

Briefly noted
ETSPJ establishes mentoring program at UT The chapter board approved a mentoring program at the University of Tennessee through the School of Journalism. It will be designed to assist students on a one-on-one basis as much as possible and will be available to journalism majors, SPJ members and Beacon staff members if they're interested. Dr. Jim Crook, director of the School of Journalism, has invited David Carlson, SPJ national president of student campus affairs at the University of Florida, to visit the UT SPJ chapter on March 29

and 30 to share his experiences with online publishing. Jane Pope, manager of student publications, plans to involve Beacon staffers in this visit as much as possible but it's primarily to help students and the student SPJ chapter. The planning group for his visit is composed of Georgiana Vines, Dorothy Bowles, Bonnie Hufford and Jane Pope. We hope to have something for the ETSPJ chapter as well. Thanks to ETSPJ Wynne Brown received a note from Charmaine Smith, a UT student, thanking the chapter for the contribution that allowed her to attend the national SPJ conference in Indianapolis. Smith found the workshops useful and the friends I met the best rewards of the trip. Brown attended the Pellissippi State Technical Community College thank-you reception for those who had participated in the PSTCC scholarship program. Jeremy Linkous received the ETSPJ scholarship this year. Former Chattanooga Times reporter, Kevin Wiatrowski, a firstplace winner in the Golden Press Card general reporting newspaper category disappeared, and did not receive his award. He recently contacted us via e-mail, and the plaque was mailed to him. Wiatrowski, now of the Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C., wrote, I thought Id let you know I got my award this morning. Wow! Its great. New member Sarah Gregory, a graduate student at the University of Tennessee, is a new member. She lives on Gate Lane in Knoxville.

Updated November 1999 by Sally A. Guthrie