Fred Brown

We had a really interesting episode of Studio SPJ on March 5.

Two former national SPJ presidents, Irwin Gratz and Fred Brown, had a conversation on the latest edition of the SPJ ethics book, which Fred helped edit.

The book, “Journalism Ethics – A Casebook of Professional Conduct for News Media” is available for order from Marion Street Press. Here’s a link to the order page.

The program was sponsored by Maine SPJ. Here’s an excerpt from their half-hour conversation.

Irwin: “Do you find that journalists are more or less ethical today?”

Fred: “I think they’re more hurried and harried today, less deliberative. And that may make them slightly less ethical.”

“But I think their basic nature, when they stop to think about it – and one of the things we hope to do with this book is let them think about it – they really want to be credible.”

“They need it to be competitive. They need to be reliable sources and ethics is very important in developing that reliability.”

Click here to listen to an archived podcast of the show.

Traditionally, this is a busy time of year for most SPJ pro chapters as they work on their annual journalism contests while planning for their spring regional conference.

Despite that flurry of activity, several chapters have put together some quality programming recently.

Here, in no particular order, is our top 10 list of events either in progress or recently completed.

The tragic shootings in Tucson in January gave rise to an interesting set of ethical questions that the Valley of the Sun Chapter in Phoenix plans to tackle in a March 7 program called “Communities in Crisis: Ethical Considerations for Journalists.”  Here’s a link with the details.

What’s the big story in your community so far this year? Is there some way you can turn it into an interesting program?

Next, kudos to the Deadline Club of New York City. This SPJ chapter scored a major coup recently by lining up Tina Brown, editor-in-chief of Newsweek and chief editor of The Daily Beast, to be the keynote speaker for their May 7 awards dinner. Here a link to the details.

Obviously, not every chapter can book as high profile a journalist as Ms. Brown. But who’s the most interesting journalist in your community? Consider inviting someone prominent to be your keynote speaker.

Here’s a program that the Press Club of  Long Island offered recently that I could have used: a panel of experts offering tips on how to stay organized. Besides staging the event, the Press Club, which is the SPJ pro chapter on Long Island, did a great job of posting what the experts had to say on the chapter website. Here’s a link.

With so many people struggling to find jobs these days, the South Florida Pro came up with an ideal event. They hosted a book signing for a Sun-Sentinel reporter with a new book out on job hunting. Here’s the link. Are there any local authors in your community with books that would make a good program?

Here’s a program idea that I’ve seen work time and again. Whenever a new editor takes charge at a local media outlet, it’s a great opportunity for a timely and well-attended program. That’s what the Cleveland SPJ recently by inviting the new editor of the Plain Dealer to be their speaker. Here’s the link.

It’s always a good idea to organize events that deal with some of SPJ’s core values, such as ethics and diversity. Here’s a link to a diversity themed event that SPJ at DePaul University held recently that looks like a success.

Also here’s a link to an ethics program that Connecticut SPJ plans to hold on March 13.

Several chapters have used the controversy over WikiLeaks disclosures are the starting point of a discussion of the ethics of news gathering.

Here are two good examples, one from Southwest Missouri SPJ (click here) and another from Hawaii SPJ (click here.)

And finally, it’s also a good idea to have events that are fun. That’s what the folks at the Minnesota SPJ chapter seemed to have in mind when they organized a trivia night contest with competing teams of journalists and public relations folks. Here’s the link.

To all the chapters hosting these outstanding events, keep up the good work.  for the rest of us, there’s plenty of ideas that can be duplicated elsewhere.

Studio SPJ had a successful premiere on Jan. 22 when I had an interesting conversation with Dave Phillips, my colleague at the Gazette in Colorado Springs.

We talked about his new book “Lethal Warriors – When the New Band of Brothers Came Home.”

 During the show, Dave read an excerpt from the book, which tells the story of a spike in homicides when members of one battle hardened unit in Iraq returned home to Colorado.

 This excerpt is about a soldier named Kenny Eastridge whose platoon was assigned to “Mad Max” duty patrolling a road called Route Michigan in the Sunni Triangle in November 2004.

“By the end of the week, when Eastridge learned his platoon was going back on three weeks of highway patrol, everyone was on edge. They had been trained early on to protect themselves from ambushes by watching for anything out of the ordinary. Problem was, they also learned pretty quickly that almost everything in their corner of Iraq was out of the ordinary. Every day, the soldiers struggled to find meaningful hints of what was normal in their patrol areas. Three people dressed head to toe in black robes, their faces covered except for glaring eyes, was that normal? Seven men in headscarves packed in a tiny taxi, was that normal? A burning mound of trash in the middle of a neighborhood with goats foraging on the smoldering edges, was that normal? And then some of the things that appeared the most normal were the most deadly – a person on a cell phone, a boy on a bicycle, a lone driver in a car, three teenagers in track suits, a clear strip of highway. Any one of them could be a sign of an imminent bomb attack. Or not. There was no normal.”

If you’d like to hear the entire 30 minute program, click here.

One technical glitch to this program. If you listen carefully, I believe you can hear my dog Buddy walking across the living room floor. I’ll try to keep Buddy out of future broadcasts.

Five Excellent SPJ Programs

There is a lot of great, innovative SPJ programming going on across the country.

Here are a few that were done in January that are worthy of emulation:

It’s one thing to talk about ethics among a group of journalists. It’s quite another though to combine with members of a local government to discuss their new code of ethics.

That’s exactly what SPJ Cleveland did on Jan. 10 when they discussed a new code of ethics proposed for Cuyahoga County. Read all about it here.

A topic on everyone’s mind these days – the future of journalism – is one that SPJ Louisville tackled on Jan. 19. This is a program almost any chapter can assemble and discuss. Click here for their list of speakers.

Colorado SPJ recently revived its series of Fireside Chats at the Denver Press Club. On Jan. 19, the chapter hosted a talk by Associated Press Editor and SPJ board member Jim Anderson.

Jim talked about his experiences helping to coordinate AP’s coverage of the earthquake in Haiti. As it turned out, the club’s fire place wasn’t working, but the program sparked some great conversation.

Jim also discussed the changes that have happened in Haiti in the year since the quake. A one year anniversary of a major news story is often a good time to invite people who covered a major story to gather and look back at how they did it.

A lot of chapters hold annual meetings for the purpose of electing new officers. How many though arrange to hold their meetings in a setting as elegant as Lincoln Center in New York City?

That’s exactly what the Deadline Club, the New York City chapter of SPJ did on Jan. 21, when their held their meeting in the studios of public television station WNET. Clear here for the details.

If you could hold your annual meeting someplace special in your town, where would you go?

The Rio Grande SPJ Chapter in New Mexico is hosting their first big event of the year: a talk by two leading experts on media law on Jan. 26 at the University of New Mexico. Click here for more details.

 Are there media lawyers is your community that you could tap for a similar talk?

Is your chapter planning an innovative or creative program that others might be able to duplicate? If so, drop me a line. My e-mail: damon_runyon@hotmail.com

Yours truly,

John Ensslin

SPJ Secretary-Treasurer