Society of Professional Journalists -- Washington DC

05/28/2024

The latest SPJ International Community newsletter.

Mexico election getting more attention

05/28/2024

Ever try to figure out crowd sizes. Here is a good guide. Great piece on how to visualize crowd size.

If you're going to talk in front of an audience it's fun to visualize how big that audience size looks. Like what does it actually look like when there are 150 people in a room? Here are some images of crowd sizes. 50 people 50 people will fill up a

05/04/2024

2023 Journalism Hall of Fame member Jonathan Salant talks about the dearth of DC-based journalists with . -

Fewer local reporters on Washington beat is bad news for democracy, analysts say

05/03/2024

Reporters Without Borders annual Index on Press Freedom is out. https://rsf.org/en/index The USA dropped 10 points. "[M]ajor structural barriers to press freedom persist in this country, once considered a model for freedom of expression." https://rsf.org/en/country/united-states We've got some work to do.

Reporters sans frontières assure la promotion et la défense de la liberté d'informer et d'être informé partout dans le monde. L'organisation, basée à Paris, compte des bureaux à l'international (Berlin, Bruxelles, Genève, Madrid, Stockholm, Tripoli, Tunis, Vienne et Washington DC) et plus d...

04/04/2024

It really is "Hug a Newsperson Day." https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2024/04/03/hug-a-newsperson-day-is-april-4-heres-why-were-celebrating-us/ #:~:text=Each%20year%20on%20April%204,of%20journalists%20and%20reporters%20worldwide.
So here is Morning Papers by Johann Strauss II. It was written for the Vienna Authors' and Journalists' Association and inspired by Offenbach's Evening Papers. (Wouldn't be nice if the SPJ could commission a piece?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGgbVuR9wh4

02/20/2024

ICFJ seeks a paid intern for our US-based Programs department. Estimated start date: As soon as possible.

The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) seeks a paid intern for our programs department. The internship is a great opportunity to build foundational experience in how international programs are run by coordinating various selection processes, maintaining databases, conducting due diligence,....

01/23/2024

TONIGHT, Jan. 23 at 6pm ET.
Putting a Local Tinge to Global Stories: How One Small Paper Makes It Work

The Alexandria Times describes itself as a "hyper-local" newspaper. And yet Denise Dunbar, executive editor and publisher of the paper has been able to find ways to bring global events to the doorsteps of the papers' readers.

Join the International Community and the Washington DC Pro chapter in a discussion with Dunbar and learn how and why local news organizations can make the connection between local and global events.

Register here:

The Alexandria Times describes itself as a "hyper-local" newspaper. And yet Denise Dunbar, executive editor and publisher of the paper has been able to find ways to bring global events to the doorsteps of the papers' readers. Join the International Community and the Washington DC Pro chapter in a di...

01/22/2024

As noted in article, the SPJ has long been arguing this issue. And our own Kathryn Foxhall has been in the forefront of the battle. (You can keep up with the battle here - https://spjdc.org/pio-project/)

https://freedom.press/news/government-gag-rules-muzzle-journalists-sources/

Policies prohibiting government employees from speaking to the press violate the First Amendment

12/15/2023

Dec. 15 - Bill of Rights ratified! Yep, Dec. 15 232 years of constitutional protection of press freedom.

Following ratification by the state of Virginia, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, known collectively as the Bill of Rights, become the law of the land. In September 1789, the first Congress of the United States approved 12 amendments to the U.S. Constitution and sent them to the sta...

11/24/2023

SPJ DC Hall of Fame member Charles Peters dies at 96.

His political journal challenged liberal and conservative orthodoxies for decades.

11/05/2023

The SPJ IC talked with Hagit Limor, president of the SPJ Foundation about a special SPJ project to help Ukrainian journalists.

Hagit Limor, president of the SPJ Foundation, introduces a new program to help journalists in Ukraine.www.SPJ.org

11/01/2023

From Eric Wishart, AFP Standards and Practices Editor, and member of the SPJ International Community and SPJ Ethics Committee: Like several other media, AFP has been criticised for not branding Hamas as terrorist in the wake of the 7 October attack. Here I explain that the agency has a long standing policy of not calling any movement, organisation or individual "terrorist" without attribution https://www.afp.com/en/agency/press-releases-newsletter/israel-hamas-war-how-afp-using-word-terrorist?fbclid=IwAR3H2tiaVoOJU-ABV47rIl0li4Yg9RNgq7q9LN4jfVOGS5axBeuLHBa1dzk

In line with its mission to report the facts without passing judgement, AFP does not describe movements, groups, or individuals as terrorists unless it is in direct quotes or with attribution.

08/31/2023

Job Opening:
Voice of America has a job opening for a standards editor. They are looking for a top-notch journalist to lead their ethics and practices team.
The job description and other details appear at https://www.usajobs.gov/job/745615900
The application deadline is Friday, Sept. 8.

Position is located in Voice of America (VOA), Programming Directorate. Incumbent reports to the VOA Programming Director and provides editorial oversite, advice, and guidance to VOA senior management and staff involving standards applied to VOA broadcast and online content, including that related t...

08/24/2023

Congrats to the SPJ_NE for its great talk with with the Marion County Record about the raid of its newsroom. The talk was led by SPJ President Claire Regan.

Join SPJ-NE Wednesday at 7 p.m. as we chat with Eric Meyer and Deb Gruver about the recent police raid of the Marion County Record newsroom in Marion County,...

08/18/2023

DC SPJ chapter veep Celia Wexler shares her thoughts on CNN about the Marion (Kansas) Record raid and its implications for society and democracy.

This is about a police force essentially shrugging off the law and the Constitution. It’s about an intrusion into newsgathering that almost never happens because it so profoundly violates one of our deepest American values – the primacy of the public’s right to know, writes journalist Celia We...

08/13/2023

Outrage over police raid of newspaper office in Kansas.

Photo courtesy of Bank Phrom on Unsplash.com On Friday, August 11, 2023, the local police department, aided by county sheriff’s deputies, raided the office of the Marion County Record in...

07/29/2023

Mosheh Oinounou, founder of Mo News, and Jill Wagner, managing editor at Mo News join a Gallup podcast to discuss how the currents of social media and politics have shaped the media climate, and the challenges the industry now faces to regain public.

Mosheh Oinounou and Jill Wagner join the podcast to discuss how the currents of social media and politics have shaped the media climate, and the challenges the industry now faces to regain public trust.

07/22/2023

The money will fund efforts by the American Journalism Project and local outlets to experiment with AI.

07/22/2023

There is an understated importance in negotiating your first salary, as snagging a salary that reflects your value will set a foundation for future jobs.

07/22/2023

Unfortunately this attitude by university leaders is not unique to Michigan.

"It shouldn’t be a battle to send a journalist to cover what’s happening at our public university," State News Editor-in-Chief Morgan Womack wrote.

06/15/2023

On the heels of our very successful and inspirational Hall of Fame and Dateline Awards dinner we get this report from the Reuters Institute: More attention paid to social media influencers than journalists for news.

This year’s report comes against the backdrop of a global cost-of-living crisis, a continuing war in the heart of Europe, and further climate instability across the world. In this context, a strong supply of accurate, well-funded, independent journalism remains critical, but in many of the countri...

05/30/2023

It's sad # 1 had to be listed. And #3 has been a LONG time issue. #2 & #4 needed.

Cision surveyed more than 3,000 journalists to determine how they feel about the future of the industry – and what they believe it will take to be successful.

05/08/2023

Maybe a mascot for the SPJ?

View the comic strip for Kliban by cartoonist B. Kliban created May 08, 2023 available on GoComics.com

05/03/2023

Reporters Without Borders issued its annual Press Freedom Index today -- World Press Freedom Day. Not a happy report for our trade. US dropped in its ranking.

The 21st edition of the World Press Freedom Index, compiled annually by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), sheds light on major and often radical changes linked to political, social and technological upheavals.

04/30/2023

A bit of Washington journalism history.

Washington Evening Star reporter William Wallace Price co-founded the White House Correspondents’ Association, whose 2023 dinner President Biden will address Saturday in D.C.

04/17/2023

To be clear: Threats to US journalists are growing in number.

An Oklahoma sheriff and county commissioner were allegedly recorded making statements about killing a reporter and hanging Black people

04/08/2023

Batch of job openings with the BBC in the USA.

Jobs and careers with BBC

03/27/2023

This year’s SPJ Region 2 Conference will feature sessions on video game journalism, using AI for reporting, and more April 1 at the University of Maryland, College Park. The conference will kick off March 31 with an evening reception.

Learn more and sign up:

This year’s SPJ Region 2 Conference will feature sessions on video game journalism, using AI for reporting, and more April 1 at the University of Maryland, College Park. The conference...

03/21/2023

March 21 is (US) National Poetry Day. Here is a poem about press freedom thanks to ChatGPT:

Press freedom, a right so dear.
A beacon of hope that we hold near.
The power to speak, to write, to share.
A cornerstone of a just and fair affair.

With ink and paper, or a digital screen.
The press can make the world more keen.
To the truths that matter, to the stories untold.
To the voices silenced, to the lies that unfold.

Let us cherish this freedom, let us protect it with might.
For without it, our world would be dimmed of light.
Let the press be free, let their voices ring.
For in their words, lies the power to bring.

03/20/2023

he Craft of the Obituary

Getting an obituary of a loved one into the newspaper can take on the aura of a sports competition. There is no fee for running Obits in the news section, or sometimes on the front page. But there is a cost for the Death Notices. The Obits are written by reporters and the Death Notices are not.

How do the Obit editors decide who gets this coveted space in a newspaper? What are the criteria in deciding who gets this coverage when news value, history and human interest converge in creating the art of the obituary? And what is the process whereby future Obits for famous people like politicians, sports figures and well-known individuals are written and archived long before they die---with the reporter often facing a tight deadline for creating such stories?

Come find out when two veteran journalists ---Matt Schudel and Harrison Smith---will talk about the challenges of writing lively stories about the dead in the Obituary pages of The Washington Post. The free Zoom program is slated for 7 to 8:30 p. on Tuesday, March 21. The program is sponsored by the DC Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and is open to all. Panel moderator is Kathleen Burns, a long-time DC SPJ chapter member and organizer of the program.

Register:

Getting an obituary of a loved one into the newspaper can take on the aura of a sports competition. There is no fee for running Obits in the news section, or sometimes on the front page. But there is a cost for the Death Notices. The Obits are written by reporters and the Death Notices are not. With...