Posted by Scott Leadingham 

By all accounts, the SPJ Reporters Institute for early career broadcast and video journalists was an overwhelming success. Held June 13-16 at the Poynter Institute (though it’s strictly an SPJ initiative), the program brought together 29 eager and talented journalists from all corners of the country for what can only be described as journalism boot camp. 

The 2010 SPJ Broadcast Reporters Institute Graduates

The program just completed its fourth year, and all systems are a go for next year. Dates and application information will be announced in the coming months. 

Journalists in their first three years are invited to apply. It may seem odd that people recently out of school are coming back for what essentially amounts to a crash course in journalism. But take it from us and the participants – it’s a worthy and reinvigorating cause. We’ve heard over and over that even though participants were recently graduated, they weren’t sure of their long-term career paths in journalism. The Reporters Institute helped change that. For example, take some of these testimonials from the recent broadcast/video group: 

When Richard Roth and I sat down for our Skype meet-and-greet, he was finishing his work day. I was just about to grab lunch.

There are seven hours separating Indianapolis and Qatar, but SPJ has nestled into the journalism fabric of both places now that Northwestern University in Qatar is starting up the first international student chapter.

It’s pretty exciting: They are one of the fastest-growing student chapters already, with 55 four-year members and counting.

“Going from zero to 55, you can’t do that in a Maserati,” joked Roth, who serves as senior associate dean at the NU Medill School of Journalism.

He also will serve as the Qatar chapter adviser (he has been an SPJ member since 1968) and hopes that their first meeting will be in October while school is in full-swing. Why later in the fall? Well, they’re waiting until after Ramadan, when some students fast for 15 hours a day.

His goal is to have a past SPJ president or newly elected president Hagit Limor attend their first meeting. The university even hopes to send some students to the 2011 SPJ Convention.

Something also brought up in conversation is how the journalism culture is different over there. It’s hard for students to report when people are wary of being interviewed, he said.

“Doing journalism here is a hard thing to do,” Roth said. “There’s no history here of free speech. When they go out, people don’t talk to them.”

Northwestern recently sent 12 Qatar students to New Orleans on a documentary trip. They examined the area and how it was rebuilding five years after Hurricane Katrina. One thing students noticed was that it was easy to report in the U.S., Roth said.

Students in Qatar are interested in learning about western journalism and staying connected to it, he said. To get students revved up about starting a chapter, he visited journalism classes and spoke about SPJ, saying that the organization began with students 100 years ago and that if NU Qatar students were interested, they should continue on with the tradition.

And an international chapter is no doubt going to add different perspectives to SPJ. They have students from Palestine, Sudan, South Africa, Egypt, India and Saudi Arabia, to name a few places.

“This is probably the most diverse student body you can imagine,” Roth said.

Since its creation, the chapter has had to deal with small challenges because of its long-distance relationship with SPJ, such as converting Qatari riyals to U.S. dollars and delivering checks from around the world, Roth said.

In two years, their first group of journalism students will graduate (the Qatari journalism program is two years old). Ten years from now, they hope to change the media landscape in Qatar.

And SPJ will be a part of that mission.

“So far, everyone has jumped to fill out the paperwork,” Roth said, “and I hope it continues that way.”

April Dudash is the summer 2010 Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and does the bidding of SPJ Headquarters. She graduated from the University of Florida in May and has been an SPJ member since 2006.

I’m convinced that the journalism industry is one of the most cannibalistic professions. Sometimes for better (e.g. weeding out the Jayson Blairs of the world). Sometimes for worse (e.g. technoratti who practically cheer the death of the printed word). Sometimes for the fact that its practitioners are its most stalwart critics.

I don’t know in what category (if any) today’s chatter about The New York Times standards editor Phil Corbett’s pronouncement about the use of “tweet” falls, but there’s no shortage of cannibalistic tendencies taking place from within. Just check out some of the comments from this post on The Awl.

Yes, it’s true, ladies and gentlemen, The Gray Lady is putting the smackdown on Twitter slang, at least in most instances. In fairness, there isn’t an outright ban on “tweet,” though Michael McElroy in the Times’ public editor office wrote me in an e-mail that “it’s pretty close.” (Note that the public editor’s office doesn’t speak for the Times, but rather is an advocate for, well, the public.)

Reactions range from the snide (“rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic”) to the laudatory (“Thank you Phil Corbett. Can you imagine if you looked up a NYT article from 1974 and it was filled with CB radio slang?”).

Since we at SPJ are always interested in what journalists think about this thing we call “our livelihoods,” we put it out to the Twitterverse (a word I’ve just deemed acceptable in all SPJ Works blog posts):

And, of course, the responses varied:

For what it’s worth, the AP Stylebook is of at least minimal guidance. The new social media guidelines say this about Twitter:

“Twitter A message-distribution system that allows users to post continual updates of up to 140 characters detailing their activities for followers or providing links to other content. The verb is to tweet, tweeted. A Twitter message is known as a tweet.”

I’m not entirely sure if that means it’s acceptable to use “tweet” in AP style, or just that it’s been defined by the updated Stylebook. But, of course, The New York Times is free to use whatever style and guidelines it wants. In fact, it (and many outlets) diverts from AP style in notable instances, such as by using “Mr.” or “Mrs.” before surnames after a first reference.

And that brings me to the point of this: Does it really matter if the Times chooses to use “tweet” to describe a message or status update on Twitter? After all, don’t journalists and outlets pride themselves on their individualism, uniqueness and “local voice”?

Chew on that … cannibals.

Scott Leadingham is editor of SPJ’s Quill magazine. He’s a vegetarian. Twitter: @scottleadingham

Yesterday, we took a look at some problems SPJ chapters are currently facing. Today, we’re offering some tips that can make the chapter revamping process run more smoothly:

Examine your leadership.

It may be time to take the reins again and restructure your executive board.

Are there officers currently in place that, gulp, don’t do anything? Talk with them. See if they are willing to put in the work and the hours needed to make your SPJ chapter a great one. If not, perhaps it’s time they stepped down to a less-demanding role. Being tactful and professional about this goes without saying.

How many officer positions do you have? You can’t expect to restructure an entire chapter alone. You need people by your side and putting in a fair share of work. Examine how many officers you have right now. You may want to look for a few more enthusiastic people to hold a leadership position. (For campus chapters, a lot of that enthusiasm comes from underclassmen.)

Examples of officer positions: President, Vice Prez, Treasurer, Secretary, Historian, Webmaster, Fundraising Chair, Social Chair, Publicity Chair, Membership Coordinator

Each person has their role within the organization, but you’re always lending a hand to one another. SPJ togetherness!

Come up with a programming game plan. Think fun! Think flashy!

Once you have a solid exec board in place, now it’s time to sit down before things get crazy and come up with a six-month plan. This includes speakers you want, panels, social events and fundraising events. Put everything down on a calendar with tentative dates. That way, you can start contacting speakers early and getting the details together.

For campus chapters, think fun and flashy. You want interactive programs. Colorful, modern fliers. FREE FOOD. Enthralling speakers. And did I mention free food? Perfect examples of fun and flashy programming can be found on SPJ national board member Michael Koretzky’s website. He has created such events as the First Amendment Free Food Festival and Ethics Hold ‘Em. This kind of programming usually sends campus SPJ involvement through the roof. Contact national SPJ headquarters if you need help finding speakers.

Make sure to meet on a regular basis with your exec board in order to discuss the calendar you guys come up with. This makes sure jobs get done. And if someone is struggling with their SPJ duties, it’s up to everyone else to lend a hand.

Tell people about SPJ!

How do you communicate with SPJ members and potential members? If people have been apathetic before, then it’s time to be really aggressive when it comes to making your chapter’s mission public. Come up with a publicity strategy that you can stick to each time a meeting or event rolls around.

CAMPUS

• Design fun fliers you can post in the journalism/communications college.
• Send e-mails out over your chapter listserv/the JOU college’s listserv.
• Send a PowerPoint slide or PDF to all journalism professors (whether they’re in print, broadcast or online) so they can show it during class time.
• Update your Facebook and Twitter regularly.
• Set up a table in a high-traffic area with SPJ information, flashy fliers and candy.

PRO

• Send out information over your updated chapter listserv.
• Update your Facebook and Twitter regularly.
• Find local news organizations that you can mass e-mail about SPJ events and meetings.
• Hang up fliers at local libraries when you have events for the public.

Is there a way for people to routinely check in with your chapter? Set up a website. Get a webmaster to routinely update it for you. Make sure all your social media avenues remain updated, or people won’t trust them anymore.

Last but not least…Be the life of the SPJ party.

Once people come out to your events, engage them! Make them feel like they’re part of something great. Camaraderie is a big deal here, so when that person walks through your door, make them feel welcome. Campus chapters especially need to be good at this…students want to make friends, and if they make SPJ friends, they’ll have one more reason to attend meetings.

With pro chapters, you’ll have a group of people you can share journalism stories and woes with! It’s invaluable, especially during tumultuous times such as these. Set up a network of people who respect each other.

We hope you’re pumped like we are. And if you need any resources or advice, don’t hesitate to contact your handy-dandy SPJ headquarters. If you have advice to add or want to bring up chapter issues that weren’t mentioned, post them below!

April Dudash is the summer 2010 Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and does the bidding of SPJ Headquarters. She graduated from the University of Florida in May and has been an SPJ member since 2006.

When I became a new member of the University of Florida chapter more than four years ago, there were 10 active members…if that. The chapter maybe held two meetings a semester. The officers would meet in the student union every once in a while to discuss little things here and there while we scarfed down Subway, but there was no direction or focus.

People were bored. Worse yet, they were apathetic about being in SPJ.

My mushy freshman brain figured that was just how college organizations operated (I was UF SPJ historian at the time), that college students were way too busy studying for biophysics and trying to become America’s No. 1 party school. But sophomore year, I became part of an SPJ revamping process that completely transformed our chapter to a national leader in membership recruitment and programming.

At the SPJ Ted Scripps Leadership Institute last weekend, some student and pro members laid their SPJ worries on the table like a card player that’s been dealt a bad hand. Some were frustrated. Others were overwhelmed. And with good reason! It’s a huge responsibility (and a big pain in the you-know-what) to completely start over and rework a chapter from the inside out, especially if it has been inactive for months or years.

If you bleed for SPJ, you know there’s sweat involved. And tears. And a lot of heavy-lifting. But better yet, you also get that warm fuzzy feeling at night knowing you’re helping lead the future of journalism in the right direction. No warm milk required.

I brought up chapter woes briefly in my last blog post, but I really wanted to delve deeper here. Creating healthy chapters is something very near and dear to my heart, and the conversations I had with Scripps participants were ones full of stress and excitement for what’s to come.

So what are the issues?

CAMPUS

• “Not many people want to get involved, especially as leaders.”
• “The chapter’s inactive.”
• “The journalism program’s in shambles…or hard to communicate with.”
• “People aren’t interested in our programming.”
• “It’s hard to find people who want to speak at our meetings.”
• “We don’t have a Pro chapter close enough to us that can help.”

PRO

• “We have to scrounge for leaders and members who want to help plan activities.”
• “The chapter’s inactive.”
• “Professionals are too busy with jobs and too tired to come out to programs.”

A lot of the issues between campus and pro are similar, if not the same exact thing.

[We’d love to hear from you: Comment below if you have faced any challenges with your chapter.] Stay tuned for Pt. 2 this week!

April Dudash is the summer 2010 Pulliam/Kilgore Freedom of Information intern and does the bidding of SPJ Headquarters. She graduated from the University of Florida in May and has been an SPJ member since 2006.

Break out the bubbly and blare “Pomp and Circumstance”…our 2010 Ted Scripps leaders graduated over the weekend!

Nineteen pro leaders, 24 student leaders and six facilitators from around the country got together for three intense training days and brainstormed new ideas for their SPJ chapters. They learned a lot about themselves, their leadership styles and how to make improvements on the SPJ home front.

There was a lot of SPJ bonding going on. People seemed to feel more connected to SPJ’s missions after the program, and meeting others from different chapters was extremely unifying.

Executive Director Joe Skeel, President-Elect Hagit Limor and President Kevin Smith at the duckpin bowling alley. Everyone's a winner in SPJ!

Plus, there was duckpin bowling on Friday night…a Midwest experience that people couldn’t pass up. Despite the frequent gutter balls, spirits remained high.

Saturday, participants worked from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on setting goals for their SPJ chapters and visiting different roundtable discussions about programming, the newly renovated SPJ website and fundraising ideas.

The campus chapters had an interesting dynamic with one another. Some students were representing journalism programs that enrolled thousands of students. Others had 50 people in their entire program.

Despite the huge chapter differences, many leaders were facing the same problems. Apathy from students who had too much on their plates. A weak system of communication within the journalism college. Problems retaining members and keeping them coming to meetings and events.

Others were trying to revitalize stagnant chapters, whether they were campus or pro.

Despite having a lot of work ahead of them, the graduates left with pages of notes and overwhelming support from the SPJ community. Their awesome dedication will continue moving the national organization in the right direction.

Congrats again, 2010 Ted Scripps leaders. You guys rock.