By John Ensslin, Region 9 Director
Dear fellow SPJ members,
Happy New Year. I hope you had a great holiday season.
I’m looking forward to the year ahead. My top SPJ goal in 2010 is to increase the number of our membership in Region 9.
Last year was a very tough year for journalism. Thousands of journalists lost their jobs and dozens of papers went out of business, including my own.
SPJ National President Kevin Smith has made membership his number one priority. It should be ours as well.
Kevin has set an ambitious goal of a net gain of 2,010 members this year, or roughly a 20 percent increase. I’d like to see us help SPJ make that goal.
Currently we have about 337 members. Thus a 20 percent net gain for us would be just 67 new members. If we all work together, I think that’s a goal we can reach.
To that end, you’ll be hearing about some special initiatives over the next few months that will be aimed at recruiting and retaining members.
Meanwhile, I want to bring you up to date on some interesting news within the region.
Contest numbers down
First off, thanks to everyone who mailed in entries for this year Top of the Rockies journalism contest.
The number of entries was down this year, due in large part to the demise of The Rocky Mountain News, which was a big contributor to the contest.
The exact numbers have yet to be compiled, but we’re running about 30 percent below last year’s competition.
However, we saw gains this year in the number of entries from Utah and New Mexico, so this year’s contest will a lot more regional in nature.
We also saw a lot more individuals submitting entries. We’ll be shipping those entries to judges outside the region.
Look for contest results in the weeks leading up to our April 10 regional conference in Denver.
Wyoming plans panel, contest
Speaking of contests, the Wyoming Pro chapter is fine-tuning plans for their own statewide journalism competition with categories modeled in part after the Top of the Rockies competition.
The chapter has also planned a panel discussion of “evolving journalism” to be held in Casper on the afternoon of Saturday, Jan. 16 as part of the Wyoming Press Association’s annual conference.
Weather and airplane connections permitting, I’m looking forward to taking part in this discussion. The topic is one I’ve thought about quite a bit over the last tumultuous year.
Utah creates video for high schools
The Utah Headliners chapter is working on a significant and worthwhile project.
SPJ members are helping film and edit a video for high school students that talks about the importance of open government and their rights in obtaining public information.
So often, we are focused on fighting our own freedom of information issues. I think this is a great pro-active way of getting young people to think about how keeping government open and transparent can affect their lives.
New Mexico elects new board
The recently revived New Mexico pro chapter recently held its first election of officers and board members in at least 20 years.
The membership also unanimously approved a new set of by-laws that had been drafted by an interim board that helped renew this chapter over the last six months.
Their hard work will be celebrated on Friday, Jan. 15 when SPJ National President Kevin Smith will swear in the new board during a reception in Albuquerque with members of the SPJ national executive committee.
Colorado questions firing
Colorado SPJ took a stand recently on behalf of a member whose dismissal raised questions over the influence of a major advertiser.
The Colorado SPJ board of directors wrote a letter to the publisher of the Summit Daily News, expressing concern over the timing of the dismissal of reporter Bob Berwyn, shortly after publication of a column he wrote that was critical of the marketing of a local ski area.
For a link to the board’s letter, go to: http://www.coloradospjpro.com/index.html
Posted 1/4/10
PREVIOUS MESSAGES FROM THE REGION 9 DIRECTOR
Greetings from Indy…
By John C. Ensslin
Dear fellow SPJ members,
I’m writing to you from Indianapolis, where the centennial edition of SPJ’s annual national convention is nearly completed.
There’s good news to report out of the convention. The revived New Mexico Pro chapter of SPJ is now official.
In the end, it did not require a formal vote of the national board. Here’s why: on paper, the last official record that SPJ national has of the New Mexico chapter dates back to the early 1990s.
Linda Hall, SPJ’s diligent membership coordinator (and a big fan of New Mexico) went back though several years’ worth of meeting minutes and determined that there never was a formal vote to “deactivate’ the chapter.
Thus, we’re free to proceed with efforts at reviving New Mexico Pro SPJ without having to go through any bureaucratic requirements.
I can tell you though that people at the convention, especially folks from Utah and Colorado, were very happy to hear the news that New Mexico is back on the roster of active chapters. Linda tells me there are only five states now that lack a pro chapter.
The chapter also was ably represented in Indianapolis by interim board members Betsy Model and Christina Durano.
Betsy gave a well-attended seminar on interview techniques and Christina attended her first-ever national convention and took advantage of the workshops and resume critique sessions.
A group of about a dozen members from the region went out to dinner together and had a great time.
A Fair Compromise
In another development, the SPJ board of directors adopted a revised set of rules that will make it easier for small chapters in large geographical areas like Wyoming, Montana and New Mexico to remain in good standing with the national organization.
Previously, all chapters had to send a representative to the SPJ regional conference and the national convention or else be put on probation or not considered in good standing. That designation meant the chapter would not be eligible for grants or for the right to cast votes at the convention.
That rule has been relaxed. Now a chapter will need to send a representative to either the regional or the national convention. And if that poses a financial hardship, the chapter can apply to the regional director for a waiver.
This seemed like a fair compromise to me. It didn’t diminish the standards that SPJ national expects of a professional chapter. But at the same time, it doesn’t punish smaller chapters that might lack the financial resources to send a delegate to both Salt Lake City and Indianapolis in the same year.
Viva Las Vegas
I’m hopeful that all four states in Region 9 – Utah, New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado – will be represented at the next national convention on Oct. 3-6 in Las Vegas.
Obviously those of us in the Rocky Mountain West won’t have as far to travel and airfares to Las Vegas tend to be pretty low. I wasn’t at the last SPJ convention in Las Vegas back in 2005. But I’m told by several people who did go that it was well-attended and a lot of fun. So save the date.
Posted 8/29/09
