The state of the society: SPJ President John Ensslin speaks in Charlottte

John Ensslin, national president of the Society of Professional Journalists, spoke on the state of the society during a visit to Charlotte on Jan. 27. The organization’s national board held its winter meeting in Charlotte.

Ensslin’s speech emphasizes the strengths of the society: continuity, ethics, Quill magazine and support tools for individual journalists facing challenges while doing their jobs.

Ensslin and SPJ have been champions for journalists arrested while covering Occupy Wall Street protests. Ensslin has written thoughtful editorials and promises future support, and the society’s Legal Defense Fund provides legal assistance to individual journalists.

Ensslin, who was in Denver during the Democratic National Convention of 2008, also spoke to the challenges and fun ahead for the Charlotte chapter as the convention comes to Charlotte in September.

(Video from Rhiannon Bowman, text here from Andria Krewson.)

A letter to Steve Kerrigan

The Charlotte chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists sent the following letter to Steve Kerrigan, CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee, on Jan. 24, 2011:

Stephen Kerrigan
400 South Tryon Street
Suite 500
Charlotte, NC 28202

Dear Mr. Kerrigan,

The Greater Charlotte Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is concerned about the off-the-record portion of the media tour January 17 of venues for the Democratic National Convention.

Media representatives were told the restriction is standard procedure, and several were approached directly and asked to stop posting information to Twitter. One journalist who asked questions about the restriction was told he could leave if he didn’t accept the restriction.

While we understand the concerns for security and the preliminary nature of the logistical information, journalism and in fact our society are based on relationships of mutual trust and respect. Logistical emails, notices and parts of tours that require off-the-record restrictions violate that trust, treating journalists as passive recipients and not as partners in providing information in a civic society.

Further, research shows that the 2008 convention in Denver either had no such restrictions on the press or those restrictions were routinely violated without consequence. The actions by current DNCC communications professionals have resulted in online headlines such as, “Reporter blows the lid off DNC secret media meeting.” DNCC members have said they want an open and inclusive convention; restrictions that legitimately prompt adjectives like “secret” work directly against your purposes.

In addition, a DNCC communications professional implied in a conversation with one Charlotte media representative that journalists “in smaller markets” don’t fully understand the nature of large events or the importance of “off the record” information. That disparaging comment about Charlotte journalists is off base. The communications professional was talking with a journalist with many years in the New York media market. Further, one of the strongest voices pushing against the off-the-record tour restriction has served as an embedded journalist in Iraq.

The dust-up also prompted the headline, “Some Charlotte media not ready for the convention stage,” at one national blog as well. It’s not our role to compare credentials of journalists and DNCC communications professionals, but Charlotte has seasoned, professional journalists who deserve respect and mutual trust from the DNCC. We’d like to find ways to further positive relationships.

The Greater Charlotte Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists urges the DNCC to keep communication channels with local reporters as open and respectful as possible, and our chapter is inviting you attend one of our twice-a-month meeting for a discussion about such terms as “off the record” and other aspects of the approaching convention.

Thank you for your time, and we look forward to seeing you at one of our meetings.

Our president, Frank Barrows, will be glad to work with you to confirm a date.

Sincerely,

Greater Charlotte Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists

Contact: Frank Barrows, 704 576-3485, fcbarrows@aol.com.

Charlotte’s impending media circus: Insight from Iowa

Journalists work in the Google media filing center in Des Moines, Iowa. Photo by Kelsey Kremer, Iowa State Daily.

By Andria Krewson

At the Iowa caucuses, the Des Moines visitors’ bureau set up a media center that included television backdrops, wi-fi, snacks, coffee and Google goodies.

Workstations cost $400 each for established media organizations and $200 each for blogging stations, according to Erika Fry at Columbia Journalism Review. Not all traditional media or bloggers plunked down the money, Fry wrote, and political parties provided other media access points.

Watching the political hot spots can help Charlotte media folk know what to expect during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte in September 2012. The S.C. primary still lies ahead, but plans are starting to gel in Charlotte, and the PPL group has been working on access to free space for media, especially independent media. Charlotte’s expecting up to 15,000 journalists for the convention.

DNC organizers are making their pitches for institutional sponsorships in Washington, D.C., now.

The details from Politico:

The top fundraising package is appropriately named “Presidential” for those who raise $1 million. In return, the convention promises a premier uptown hotel room, platinum credential package, platinum events package, concierge services and priority access for rental facilities. It also earns the fundraiser two tickets for the “First in Flight Series,” a number of pre-convention events based in North Carolina with elected officials, political vets and others and four VIP tickets to the “Dialogue Series.”

The first media walk-through of the convention site in Charlotte is Jan. 18.

For a deeper sense of the Iowa scene, take a look at the Google Media Center in Des Moines, through the eyes of Business Insider, Iowa State Daily and Google. See and hear the media circus in a video from Lynn Sweet of the Chicago Sun Times.

Democratic National Convention: Lessons from Denver

WCNC news producer Carrie Hofmann talked with the Charlotte chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists about her work in Denver during the Democratic National Convention in 2008.

As you probably know by now, Charlotte will host the 2012 convention.

Hofmann told SPJ members and friends gathered at Sir Ed’s Pub on Dec. 1 to be prepared for 12-hour days, logistical challenges and lots of excitement. Check out a collection of tweets about her talk at Storify.

(Cross posted at Digital Words, a blog for a class in UNC’s digital master’s program.)

Use caution, Charlotte SPJ urges police

The Greater Charlotte Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is urging police and city administrators in North Carolina to use care and discretion as they respond to protest demonstrations that media reporters are covering.

According to the Associated Press, at least six credentialed journalists have been arrested or detained recently while covering protests in Chapel Hill and New York. Reporters have also been arrested in Atlanta, Nashville, Milwaukee and Richmond, Va.

“Unrest in our country is spurring protests, and it will continue to do so,” said Frank Barrows, the Charlotte chapter president and former managing editor of the Charlotte Observer. “The Democratic National Convention next year in Charlotte is apt to have many demonstrations accompanying it. So, especially now, it is critical that police throughout North Carolina develop the capacity to perceive — particularly in heated moments — the difference between protesters, who can sometimes be unruly and occasionally even break laws, and journalists legitimately on the scene to cover the news as a function of democracy.”

SPJ, a century-old national organization with more than 9,000 members, has called for all charges against the journalists recently arrested to be dropped. In those instances, the journalists were either wearing press credentials or explained to police that they were reporters covering the protests. They were clearly exercising the constitutional right of a free press.

“We know that as protests escalate it may be difficult for police to distinguish bystanders from participants, but it is clear now that many journalists have been erroneously arrested without cause,” SPJ national president John Ensslin said. “These errors must be rectified immediately.”

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 the Greater Charlotte Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, contact Barrows.

New voices on a mission to redefine journalism

Creators pitched ideas for startup funding, and Create Or Die 2 participants voted with stickers during the gathering. This idea won $1,000.

By Andria Krewson

The Greensboro 52.
That’s the label a group of journalists, students, educators and community members adopted during the Create or Die 2 conference in Greensboro June 2-5.
The label takes its inspiration from the Greensboro Four, African American students at N.C. A&T University who sat down at a lunch counter at Woolworth’s in 1960. Others joined them, launching a sit-in movement for civil rights across the South.
The Create or Die 2 participants in 2011 hope to be just as viral.
The first Create or Die gathering was held in Detroit in 2010. The project is part of Journalism That Matters, which describes itself as a collaboration supporting new creators of news and information.
Bill Densmore, director of the Media Giraffe project at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said at the end of Create or Die 2 that the event inspired the upholding and spreading of traditional journalism ethics and values, “by any means necessary.”
If that means spreading the standards of investigative journalism through hip-hop and biofueled buses, so be it, said participants at the conference, held at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
Actually, the “conference” was designed as a structured unconference, with attention paid to things like seating arrangements and story sharing to build trust and interaction, within a schedule that allows for concrete idea pitches and tours of the community. Journalism was loosely defined, or perhaps redefined, to include mission-driven efforts and storytelling in a broad sense across various platforms.
Peggy Holman, co-founder of Journalism That Matters, and Michelle Ferrier, associate professor at Elon University, were primary organizers, holding weekly calls with volunteers and building an online community before the event.
Holman has been organizing Journalism That Matters programs for years, and Ferrier brought the gathering to Greensboro, to take inspiration from the International Civil Rights Center and Museum and build ties and journalism capacity in the state.
Three incubators in the center of North Carolina offered support for startups emerging from the conference. Sponsors also offered $500 grants to groups who pitched ideas at the gathering.
Homewood Nation won a $500 grant for efforts to build online and offline community in a challenged neighborhood in Pittsburgh.
Two other $500 grants were combined and went to a creative, diverse group that formed at the gathering.
Members were mostly young, scattered from Los Angeles to Charlotte. They shared ideas, backgrounds and skills at the conference and made plans to launch a new website aimed at letting people claim and control their online IDs.
The project includes plans for a biofueled bus tour to spread the word of the project to underserved communities across the country.
I would not be surprised to see that bus roll into Charlotte in late summer 2012, before the start of the Democratic National Convention.

Getting ready for the Democratic National Convention in 2012: stories of past conventions from Jim Morrill

Tremone Jackson, a student at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, interviews veteran political reporter Jim Morrill about politics and conventions.

Charlotte will host the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte in 2012. Jim has covered five national political conventions in his 30 years at The Charlotte Observer.

(Interviewed in early April.)

Need money for an investigative project?

By Andria Krewson

Time and money are becoming scarce for investigative projects. One solution comes from Placeblogger’s Lisa Williams: a journalism angel fund to pay for specific projects that have the capability to win a topical or regional journalism prize, to be published FIRST at an independent, local, grassroots news site as a partner.

I talked briefly with Lisa about her intentions, and she’s targeting the money at journalists who have demonstrated they can produce quality, prize-worthy work. If that’s you, and you need help identifying an independent, local partner, get in touch.

The long view: The Democratic National Convention in Charlotte in 2012

By Andria Krewson

Organizing the Charlotte chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists began before word came about the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte in 2012.

But word of the convention gave us focus. We strongly believe that professional, local journalists have an important role to play leading up to the convention, and a local chapter of the society can help greatly. Yes, we want to throw a party, but we hope our work will go beyond that.

This video from Bob Morgan of the Charlotte Chamber notes that 15,000 journalists are expected, and the Chamber wants to help them tell Charlotte’s story. So do we.

Stay tuned, and get involved now.

Bylaws voting opens Monday, and then come elections

Voting on the chapter bylaws for the Greater Charlotte chapter opens Monday. We’re using SurveyMonkey for online voting, and we’re asking members to validate their vote by including their name and email in their votes. The vote is a simple up or down, with room for comments.

(If you’re comfortable with the bylaws and want to go ahead and vote, go here. It’s not pretty, but it’s free.)

Only steering committee members will have access to your vote on the bylaws. Those same bylaws stipulate that voting for officers will be conducted by secret ballot. We’re working on a technical way for that to be done online before officers’ elections are held. Voting on officers also can be done by snail mail, the bylaws say, and we’ll make sure we make provisions for people who feel more comfortable with that method.

Members should also be receiving an email blast with specifics; if you’re not receiving that email, and your national dues are paid up, please let us know by emailing CharlotteSPJ@gmail.com.

We’ve spelled out the election process with a calendar as well in the email, and duplicated it here.

Questions? Let us know. The next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. April 7 at Sir Edmund Halley’s at the Park Road Shopping Center. People usually stick around at those Thursday meetings until at least 9 p.m.

Calendar

By March 28: Opening of voting on bylaws.

By April 4: Closing of voting on bylaws.

By April 8: The Nominating Committee shall forward to the Steering Committee a slate of qualified candidates for president, vice president, secretary and treasurer for consideration by chapter officers. Required by bylaws to be 45 days before voting opens.

April 7: Charlotte SPJ night meeting at Sir Edmond Halley’s at the Park Road Shopping Center.

April 8-9: SPJ Region 2 Spring Conference in Norfolk, Va.,

By April 15: Candidates must provide qualifications and biographies provided to the steering committee: one or two paragraphs maximum; links to longer biographies online are permissible.

April 16: Charlotte SPJ brunch meeting at Soul Gastrolounge, 1500 1/2 Central Ave., in Plaza-Midwood.

By April 22: Candidates’ names chosen by the nominating committee will be published. Required by bylaws to be 30 days before voting opens.

May 5: Charlotte SPJ night meeting at Sir Edmond Halley’s at the Park Road Shopping Center.

By May 9: Deadline for nominations to the steering committee or nominating committee for alternative candidates, nominated by any member in good standing, for folks not included in the original proposed slate. Required by proposed bylaws to be 14 days before voting opens.

By May 13: Publishing of any alternative candidates’ names, if they are in good standing. Required by proposed bylaws to be 10 days before voting opens.

May 21: Charlotte SPJ brunch meeting at Soul Gastrolounge, 1500 1/2 Central Ave., in Plaza-Midwood.

By May 23: Voting opens for two business weeks.

June 2: Charlotte SPJ night meeting at Sir Edmond Halley’s at the Park Road Shopping Center.

By June 6: Voting closes. A committee is appointed to count ballots. That committee reports back to the steering committee, which announces results, before the end of June. Required by proposed bylaws.