Middle TN Pro SPJ

Passing of WPLN's Rebecca Bain

2011-10-17T06:51:00.000-07:00

One of the fixtures of Nashville's public radio station, Rebecca Bain, has passed. More from WPLN at this link.

On the passing of our friend and former chapter president Duren Cheek

2011-05-05T14:34:00.001-07:00

I know that all of us in the Middle Tennessee Pro Chapter of SPJ are sad to hear of the passing of our dear friend and former chapter president Duren Cheek.

It was a privilege to have known Duren and worked with him at The Tennessean, where for many years he was a top political reporter. But before he came to the paper, he worked for many years at United Press International in its heyday.

You can read a more thorough accounting of Duren's UPI career written by his friend and UPI comrade Jim East at this link.

Duren was an early president of this chapter, a participant in many years of Gridiron shows, and launched the chapter's Duffers' Golf Tournament, which benefited what is now the Drue Smith/SPJ Scholarship Fund. Several years ago, the Duffers' was formally renamed as the Duren Cheek Invitational Golf Tournament.

Duren's dedication to SPJ was evident to everyone who worked with him. He will deeply missed.

Channel 4's Jeremy Finley wins 2010 IRE award for flood investigation

2011-04-08T08:29:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Jeremy Finley of WSMV-Channel 4, who won has won the 2010 IRE award in the category of "breaking news investigations" for all media for his flood-related report called "A Failure to Warn."

Jeremy was also a finalist in the television category for below-Top-20 markets with his report "Deception of the Desperate."

Chapter president Fellows turns over the reins due to move to Texas

2011-03-31T09:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have not heard via WPLN, our chapter president and my personal friend, local Morning Edition host Jacqueline Fellows, is leaving NashVegas to move back to her hometown of Dallas.

I know we are all sad to see her go but excited for her that she is heading back to her roots, and we all wish her the greatest success.

Our new incoming chapter president will be our president-elect (and my old boss at The Tennessean), Deborah Fisher.

Congratulations!

Channel 5 takes two first places in Nat'l Headliner Awards

2011-03-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

Congrats to our Tennessee winners in the 2011 National Headliner Awards!

Jennifer Kraus and Bryan Staples of WTVF-Channel 5 took first place in the broadcast category for business and consumer reporting for their report "veteran support organization." And Channel 5's Ben Hall and Iain Montgomery took first place in the environmental reporting category for "Big Coal's Political Power."

More winners:

Local interest column on variety of subjects, 2nd place, for (my friend and former co-worker) Wendi C. Thomas of the Commercial Appeal.
Individual sports column, first place, went to Geoff Calkins of the Commercial Appeal.
Education writing, 2nd place, went to (more friends and former co-workers) Jaime Sarrio and Brad Schrade of The Tennessean.

See all the recipients here.

SPJ Region 12 spring conference goes off without a hitch at Lipscomb

2011-03-27T14:22:00.000-07:00

Journalists from Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana converged on the Lipscomb University campus in Nashville Saturday for the 2011 Society of Professional Journalists' Region 12 spring conference.

Among the highlights:

Our keynote speaker, SPJ national president and Nashvillian by upbringing Hagit Limor, gave a behind-the-scenes look at her reporting from Japan during the recent earthquake and tsunami and talked about the recent and troubling trend of states gutting their open government laws;
Prof. Sybril Bennett of Belmont University got rave reviews for her morning session on multimedia in the changing journalism landscape
The Louisiana schools took home bucketloads of honors in the Mark of Excellence awards for student journalism. Among our local winners were Lipscomb, TSU and Vol State (see separate post for more details and a complete list of winners).
And Prof. Donald Page of TSU won the door prize drawing, taking home free registration to the SPJ/RTDNA convention in September in New Orleans.

Thanks to everyone who attended and volunteered!

Lipscomb, TSU, Vol State honored at Mark of Excellence Awards

2011-03-26T21:01:00.000-07:00

Student journalists from Lipscomb University, Tennessee State University and Volunteer State Community College took home honors today in the Society of Professional Journalists' Mark of Excellence competition for Region 12.

Lipscomb took first place awards for breaking television reporting, online news reporting and best independent online student publication, along with a second-place finish in breaking news photography.

TSU won first place for best all-around radio newscast for WTST AM-1600's Tiger News Network reports.

Vol State took home first place for best student magazine in the two-year college category.

The awards were given out today during the regional conference on the Lipscomb campus.

Congrats to our local winners! For details on all the winners, check out the complete list below.

2011 Society of Professional Journalists Region 12 Mark of Excellence Awards results

John Seigenthaler remembers the Freedom Riders

2011-02-23T10:35:00.000-08:00

John Seigenthaler speaks on the Freedom Riders in this video from the Newseum.

"The Journalistic Enterprise": SPJ regional conference March 25-26 in Nashville

2011-02-22T17:25:00.000-08:00

“The Journalistic Enterprise”

WHEN: March 25-26, 2011
Opening night reception March 25
Conference March 26

WHERE: Lipscomb University, Nashville, Tenn.
HOW TO GET THERE: Details at this link

REGISTRATION
Early bird (by March 18)
$90 for SPJ members
$100 for nonmembers
$55 for students

After March 18
$95 for SPJ members
$110 for nonmembers
$60 for students

To register: Send checks by mail to SPJ Middle Tennessee Pro, P.O. Box 22248, Nashville, TN 37202.

Accomodations: There are several reasonably priced hotels near the campus.

Plus, the Hampton Inn Vanderbilt, 1919 West End, has set aside a small number
of rooms for SPJ at $109 a night, double or king beds. This rate is available until
March 2. The Hampton can be contacted at 615-329-1144 or 888-880-5394.
The reservation code is SPJ.

SPJ live Twitter chat tonight; topic: copy editing and social media

2011-01-13T06:13:00.000-08:00

SPJ's live Twitter chat is at 7 p.m. tonight Nashville time. More on the #SPJchat site:

Jan. 13 Topic: Copy Editing and Social Media with our Panel of Experts:
Andy Bechtel, University of North Carolina and author of The Editor’s Desk blog
Mignon Fogarty, author of Grammar Girl book and podcasts
Sue Bullard, University of Nebraska College of Journalism and Mass Communication
Mark Allen, freelance writer and copy editor, ACES/Copydesk.org
and a SPECIAL APPEARANCE BY GRAMMAR HULK!

Professional development next topic of SPJ's podcast/live Internet radio show

2011-01-12T07:00:00.000-08:00

Listen in to the next episode of "Your SPJ Membership," SPJ's podcast and live Internet radio show, coming up tomorrow to find out more about SPJ's professional development offerings.

The special guest on the show will be Deb Wenger, the chairwoman of SPJ's national committee on professional development.

The show airs at noon tomorrow (Thursday, Jan. 13) on BlogTalkRadio.com. If you can't listen in to the live show, you can always go over and listen to the archived show -- and you can also download the audio through iTunes and listen on your PC or on your iPod.

Listen to internet radio with SPJ on Blog Talk Radio

Lest we forget ...

2011-01-07T06:54:00.000-08:00

A little pep talk for us all on this Friday morning. The whole thing only takes about 30 seconds.

SPJ launches #SPJchat tonight on Twitter

2011-01-06T07:01:00.000-08:00

Want to chat live with prominent journalists and leaders in our industry?

SPJ has just the thing: #SPJchat.

SPJ is launching a new weekly live Twitter chat on hot topics in journalism. It's called #SPJchat, and it's slated to take place at 8 p.m. Eastern/7 p.m. Central each Thursday, starting tonight.

#SPJchat is being coordinated by Mike Reilley, the man behind SPJ's Journalists Toolbox site and adviser to the SPJ chapter at DePaul University. (We're also welcoming Mike as a member of the Digital Media Committee.)

If you're totally new to live Twitter chats, Mike has posted a step-by-step primer at this link.

The first #SPJchat sounds like it's going to be great. The topic will be "Online Storytelling and Best Practices," and the guest are slated to be:

Mark Briggs, author of Journalism 2.0
Mark Luckie, Washington Post national innovations editor, author of The Digital Journalist’s Handbook and founder of the 10000words Blog
Mandy Jenkins, social media producer at TBD.com

And next week's topic is slated to be "Copy Editing and Social Media."

So follow @spjchat on Twitter for more updates, and we'll see you at #SPJchat!

Focusing on freelancing with SPJ's Internet radio show/podcast

2010-12-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

Freelancing will be the hot topic tomorrow when "Your SPJ Membership," SPJ's live Internet radio show, hits the airwaves again. The episode airs live at 1 p.m. Eastern/noon Central, but if you can't tune in then, you can catch up later by listening to it as a podcast, either on BlogTalkRadio.com or via iTunes -- you can listen through your browser or download the audio to your iPod.

Listen to internet radio with SPJ on Blog Talk Radio

Four Nashville stations to share Governor's Award for flood coverage

2010-12-06T07:15:00.000-08:00

Round-the-clock coverage of Nashville's 2010 floods have earned Nashville's four commercial television stations the highest honor given out by the people who give out the Emmys.

WKRN, WSMV, WTVF and WZTV will receive the Governors’ Award, the highest honor from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences when it holds the Mid-South Emmys awards ceremony Jan. 29.

Among the numerous nominations received by the major stations for their journalistic output in 2010, WKRN, WSMV and WTVF were also nominated for the news excellence Emmy.

The awards ceremony will be held at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center. RSVP by Jan. 15. More info is available on the academy's Nashville chapter's Web site.

Social media ethics training Thursday in Knoxville

2010-11-12T07:40:00.000-08:00

Our friends in the East Tennessee chapter of SPJ are holding a cool program next Thursday at the News Sentinel offices -- it's on social media ethics.

The speakers include James Pilcher, business reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer and a member of the SPJ national board (who also serves with me on the SPJ Digital Media Committee) and Enquirer lawyer Jack Greiner.

The program is free and open to the public. Read more on ETSPJ's Web site.

Tune in at 12 noon Thursday for SPJ's live Internet radio call-in show

2010-11-10T19:37:00.000-08:00

Tune in to "Your SPJ Membership" on BlogTalkRadio.com. Holly Fisher from the national SPJ committee on membership will talk about SPJ's e-Campus online training program, and national Treasurer-Secretary John Ensslin will talk about chapter programming.

Listen to internet radio with SPJ on Blog Talk Radio

Save the dates, everyone!

2010-11-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

Nashville will play host to next year's spring regional conference for Region 12, so mark your calendars for the weekend of March 26, 2011. Time, place TBA. Watch this space for more details.

And the national convention next year will be in New Orleans -- a double convention SPJ is putting on with the nice folks at the RTDNA (that's Radio Television Digital News Association -- it used to be the RTNDA, the Radio Television News Directors Association) coming up Sept. 25, 2011.

Deadline is tomorrow for registration for May 17 "Access Across America" event at Belmont

2010-05-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

National FOI Expert Brings
"Access Across America" Tour to Nashville

"Doing FOI When You're SOL"

WHO: Presented by David Cuillier, National SPJ Freedom of Information chair and co-author of the recent book "The Art of Access"

WHAT: The Society of Professional Journalists and National Freedom of Information Coalitions are co-sponsoring a 45-day road tour of the United States to train journalists and citizens in accessing public records. Cuillier's tour covers more than 35 states and more than 60 groups.

To see the tour itinerary, with a map, go to http://blogs.spjnetwork.org/aaa/?cat=5. Cuillier blogs daily at http://blogs.spjnetwork.org/aaa/.

"So far, in meeting with 315 people, mainly journalists, I'm finding that people at the local level are having great difficulty with law enforcement, more than anything. Not much of a surprise, but the problems seem quite bad," Cuillier says. "Basically, journalists are reliant on public information officers who can choose to release what they want and withhold what they want. A lot has changed since reporting 20 years ago when incident reports were provided unredacted for anyone to look at in police station lobbies. It wasn't that great then, when I was a reporter. Now it is terrible.

"But one thing I have found is that people appreciate a reminder of why transparency is so important," he adds. "Without it, we're all in a world of hurt."

WHEN: Monday, May 17,11 a.m. registration
Two-hour session -- 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

WHERE: Curb Event Center, Beaman A, Belmont University
On the Belmont Campus facing Belmont Boulevard. Park in the attached Curb Center parking garage. Turn left off Belmont Boulevard going south onto Bernard; the garage entrance is on the left. Attached is a PDF of the campus map.

COST: $20 per person, including box lunch

RSVP: E-mail Frank Gibson at fgibson@tcog.info no later than May 12 at 11 a.m.

Region's best named in collegiate journalism

2010-04-12T17:23:00.001-07:00

The winners of the Mark of Excellence competition for college journalists from our SPJ region (Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana) were given their certificates at the regional conference this past weekend in Knoxville. Congrats to the UT Daily Beacon, which came in second in the category for all-around student newspaper (bested by the LSU Daily Reveille). See the complete list of winners here.

April 15 deadline to nominate for outstanding pro member, Wells Key

2010-04-09T07:49:00.000-07:00

Here's the word from SPJ HQ:

SPJ Members: We Need Your Help!

Each year, we are proud to honor SPJ members who go above and beyond for the journalism profession and for the organization. If you know one or more of those individuals, please help us recognize them by submitting nominations for the following awards: the Howard S. Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Award and the Wells Memorial Key.

The postmark deadline to nominate candidates is Thursday, April 15.

Awards will be presented at the 2010 SPJ National Convention in Las Vegas! If you have any questions, contact Awards Coordinator Lauren Rochester at awards@spj.org or at (317) 927-8000 ext. 210.

Wells Memorial KeyEach year, a member who is judged to have served the Society in the most outstanding fashion during the preceding year or over a period of years is presented SPJ's highest honor for a member, the Wells Memorial Key. Read more information online about the award and how to nominate a candidate.

Howard S. Dubin Outstanding Pro Member Award
Howard Dubin is a current SPJ member whose outstanding membership shines through his service to the Society, nationally and at the grassroots level. SPJ is honored to give this award annually to a member who is exceptionally dedication to the mission of the organization. Read more information online about the award and how to nominate a candidate.

Save the date: May 17 on doing FOI when you're SOL

2010-04-06T16:59:00.001-07:00

Mark Your Calendar Now!

National FOI Expert Brings "Access Across America" Tour to Nashville

"Doing FOI When You're SOL"

Presented by David Cuillier, national SPJ Freedom of Information chair and co-author of the recent book The Art of Access
Monday, May 17
11 a.m. registration
Two-hour session -- 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Curb Event Center, Beaman A
Belmont University
$20 per person, including box lunch

More details will follow later. Reserve that date!

Tricks and tips for multimedia: It's the new SPJ Digital Media Handbook

2010-04-05T20:18:00.000-07:00

Want to know how to Twitter, take better video, or make digital slideshows? We've got the answers. The SPJ Digital Media Committee has published the SPJ Digital Media Handbook, a compendium of some of our best posts from the SPJ Net Worked blog. Yep, it's free. You can download it directly from SPJ's Web site at this link (it's about 50-60 megs, as I recall) or you can read it in a quicker Flash presentation via Scribd.com. (You don't need to register with Scribd to read it there, by the way.)

Positive vibes going out to our friends who were laid off from SouthComm

2010-04-04T19:29:00.000-07:00

Seven people were laid off, and I know all of us fellow SPJ'ers are thinking good thoughts for them. (Details: Scene / Tennessean / Tennessean politics blog).

Early bird deadline extended to April 5 for regional conference in Knoxville

2010-04-01T09:29:00.000-07:00

Our friends at the East Tennessee Pro Chapter in Knoxville, who are hosting the April 9-10 Region 12 conference, have extended the early bird registration deadline to April 5.

April 5 is also the deadline for booking a room at the conference hotel, the Holiday Inn Downtown at the Convention Center, Regional Director Sonny Albarado said in an e-mail.

The focus for the conference programs on Friday will be environmental journalism, and the focus on Saturday will be sports journalism. You can go both days or just one day. Go to http://etspj.org/ to register.

'Converging Media' discussion with Chattanooga online editor at Vol State April 7

2010-03-31T07:35:00.000-07:00

Here are the details from chapter board member Clay Scott at Vol State:

Converging media is the topic for a discussion Wednesday, April 7, at 12:30 p.m., on the campus of Volunteer State Community College in Gallatin.

Ed Bourn, the online and technology director of the Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times Free Press (timesfreepress.com), will discuss the “new media” in the Rochelle Center of the Thigpen Library.

His lecture is titled, “Media: Emerging and Converging.”

Bourn develops the technology and business models that drive seven sites associated with the the Times Free Press.

Timesfreepress.com was named the 2009 Best Overall Website in 14 states by the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association.

This year, timesfreepress.com and its six sister sites won eight American Advertising Federation Addy Awards.

Editor & Publisher ranked the Times Free Press #22 among the Top 25 Daily Newspapers in Print and Online Growth last year.

Before coming to the Times Free Press, Bourn was the director of product management at Everstream, where he was managing over 250 newspaper and community online sites, powered by components developed by the company.

Bourn’s visit is part of Communication Week at Vol State. Events are planned throughout the week to celebrate the field of communication and the accomplishments of our students.

Bourn’s visit is funded by a grant from the Tennessee Press Foundation.

Environmental journalism topic of this year's regional conference in Knoxville

2010-03-04T15:30:00.001-08:00

SPJ's Region 12 will have its annual conference next month in Knoxville, hosted by our friends with the East Tennessee Pro Chapter.

Here's some description we are shamelessly lifting from their Web site:

Programs for April 9 will focus on environmental reporting issues, taking advantage of our location in Southern Appalachia between two opposites: at the foot of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and near TVA’s 2009 Coal Ash Spill.

Programs for April 10 will focus on issues in sports journalism (where the hometown Vols have been the source of some recent controversy), social media, health coverage and “The Myth of Diversity.”

Also featured are a reception at the East Tennessee History Center with live music Friday night and the Mark of Excellence Awards banquet Saturday.

The conference hotel is Holiday Inn Downtown Knoxville @ Convention Center , in easy walking distance of plenty of unique restaurants, shops and clubs, and in easy driving distance of the Smokies, where you might spend some time before or after the conference activities.

Plus, Knoxville will be in the middle of its annual renowned Dogwood Arts Festival with its art fair and entertainment events going on in nearby Market Square as well!

You may register for either day individually or for both days at a discount. When you make a reservation at the Holiday Inn please do so HERE using the code SPJ. If you phone them, please say you want the SPJ block of rooms.

For more details, including a full schedule, see ETSPJ's Web site.

Channel 5 racks up the Emmys

2010-02-01T04:53:00.000-08:00

WTVF-Channel 5 took home 15 regional Emmys Saturday night, including news excellence, best evening newscast and best investigative report.

The award for best investigative report went to Phil Williams' project on Davidson County General Sessions Court. Winning along with Williams were Bryan Staples and Kevin Wisniewski.

WTVF also had a second nomination in that batch as well.

WKRN-Channel 2 won for best daytime newscast and for best continuing coverage over a 24-hour period for coverage of the Good Friday tornadoes. Channel 4, which also had a nomination in the investigative reporting category, won for best continuing coverage of weather, also for the Good Friday tornadoes.

The Renaissance Center in Dickson and Bohan Advertising each took home two Emmys. WSMV-Channel 4, Nashville Public Television and Vanderbilt University News Service won one a piece. And WKRN's Anne Holt presented the Governor's Award to the Freedom Forum.

NewsChannel 5 wins the Pulitzer of TV news

2010-01-24T20:48:00.000-08:00

My apologies to the Channel 5 folks for not having posted this earlier. Here's a snippet from the story on their site:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- WTVF-NewsChannel 5 has been awarded one of broadcast journalism's highest honors, the prestigious Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award, for the station's investigation of Nashville's General Sessions Court system, it was announced Thursday.

That exclusive investigation – "NewsChannel 5 Investigates: General Sessions Court" -- exposed judges and court employees abusing their positions, as well as a judicial system in which ticket fixing and political favoritism was rampant. The project was led by chief investigative reporter Phil Williams, along with photojournalist Bryan Staples and producer Kevin Wisniewski.

Bob Battle, former Banner business editor, dies at 82

2010-01-22T19:56:00.000-08:00

From the Tennessean obit:

He started working part time with the Nashville Banner in 1943 and spent a career as a reporter, covering police, politics, entertainment, business and other beats, and retiring as vice president and senior business editor when the Banner folded in 1998.
Beth Fortune, Vanderbilt University vice chancellor for Public Affairs, started at the Banner in 1985 and spent 7 years there. She said Battle helped show her and other young reporters the ropes.
“Newsrooms are filled with great characters, and Bob Battle was one of the greatest,” she said.

Dobie's latest project 'as close to heaven as it gets'

2009-12-21T15:15:00.000-08:00

Former Nashville Scene editor Bruce Dobie is now with Dobie Media Inc., which produces the EvieSays online calendaring platform (did that phrase exist five years ago?) for major media sites. The company is raising $1.5 million in new capital, our former chapter president Milt Capps writes in a new post at Venture Nashville:

Although Dobie said he misses writing, he described the daily challenges of advancing EvieSays as being "as close to heaven as it gets."

He explained: "At this moment, as the media world is reinventing itself and transforming into something digital, my little company is at ground zero. We are right in the middle of the creative destruction. This is much more entrepreneurial than the Scene. The Scene was a copy-cat--we simply started something that had done well in other markets. You can argue about how well or poorly we pulled it off, but it wasn't truly original.

"But at eviesays," Dobie continued, "we're writing the rules. It requires looking around corners, lots of imagination. On top of that, our potential audience is not just Nashville, but it's everyone on the planet who has access to a cell phone or computer. When I come to work in the morning like I did yesterday, and my sales guy is yelling out that we've just gotten an email from someone in Macau asking for our calendar, and then we all rush to look up just where the heck Macau is, well, it doesn't get any more exciting than that."

Proud to be a 15-year member of SPJ

2009-12-02T17:22:00.000-08:00

When I took my mail out of the mailbox this evening, I didn't know why I was getting a little package from SPJ.

When I opened it up and shook it out, out fell a letter from headquarters -- and my 15-year pin.

It's a little hard for me to believe it's actually been 15 years, but I'll take headquarters' word for it. And I'm proud to have been a member of SPJ for 15 years now.

If you're a journalist and you're not a member of SPJ, you should be. Join now by clicking this link.

How has the Internet affected our industry? SPJ and the Federal Trade Commission need to hear from you

2009-10-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

Middle TN Pro Chapter SPJ members and friends,

We all know how much the Internet has affected our industry. SPJ wants to hear from you about it.

As many of you know, the Federal Trade Commission will hold hearings Dec. 1-2 in DC on the Internet’s effect on news organizations’ business models. SPJ National President Kevin Smith will testify at those hearings.

The SPJ national committee on digital media needs to hear from journalists about what you think and what the FTC needs to know. I'm a committee member, and I'm asking all of you to please write up as little or as much as you want to share and e-mail it to us at spj_dmc@yahoo.com by Nov. 2. We will share your comments with the FTC and with Kevin.

The FTC is seeking thoughts on:

the economics of journalism on the Internet and in traditional media
how news outlets’ business models might evolve in response to the Internet
innovative forms of journalism that have emerged on the Internet
how competition may evolve in markets for journalism and advertising
potential changes in governmental laws and policies to support journalism.

The digital media committee has a complete press release, with more details, posted online at this link.

Thank you,

Jennifer P in Houston
jennifer@texaswatchdog.org

SPJ calls on members to encourage their U.S. senators to vote for federal shield law

2009-09-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

From an SPJ e-mail just now:

Dear SPJ members,

SPJ is calling on you! Help the Society fight for a federal shield law to uphold the free flow of information.

On Thursday, Sept. 17, the Senate Judiciary Committee will discuss, and hopefully pass, S. 448 - the Free Flow of Information Act. The bill would create a federal shield law that would grant protections to journalists who refuse to reveal confidential sources, even when compelled by a subpoena and the threat of penal action. Currently, journalists and their sources are only protected by privilege statutes or administrative rules in certain states. There is no federal shield law protecting journalists and their sources.

Now is the time to act. The nation's journalists need your voice. SPJ encourages members to contact their senators and let them know how important S. 448 is to a free press.

Every member's support is important, and we particularly encourage those represented by senators on the Judiciary Committee to contact that senator before he or she meets Sept. 17 to discuss and finalize S. 448. The following is a list of Senate Judiciary Committee members (Click on names for contact information):

Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), Ranking Member
Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
Edward Kaufman (D-Del.)
Richard Durbin (D-Ill.)
Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)
Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.)
Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.)
Al Franken (D-Minn.)
Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Tom Coburn (R-Okla.)
Arlen Specter (D-Pa.)
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.)
Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
John Cornyn (R-Texas)
Orrin Hatch (R-Utah)
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman
Herb Kohl (D-Wis.)
Russell Feingold (D-Wis.)

We also encourage all SPJ members to contact their senators and voice support for a federal shield law.

To learn more about SPJ's efforts, click here. Read shield law press releases sent earlier this year on SPJ News.

Thank you for your continued support of SPJ and this vital piece of legislation.

Remembering Hank Allison

2009-09-07T18:45:00.000-07:00

Katie Allison Granju, blogger and daughter of longtime Nashville newsman and journalist Hank Allison, remembers her father in a touching post. (Hat tip to Phil Williams.)

WPLN going to all news during the day, dumping classical music

2009-09-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

More Iraq and Barack and less Bach, perhaps? The change is coming next Tuesday morning, the station says. Read more at the WPLN Web site.

Brewer, SPJ's 'secret weapon,' honored with President's Award

2009-08-29T20:38:00.000-07:00

INDIANAPOLIS -- Clint Brewer, a former president of the Middle Tennessee Pro Chapter and former national president of SPJ, was honored at the SPJ national convention tonight with a president's award for his work on behalf of a federal shield law.

"This guy could change minds," SPJ President Dave Aeikens said in giving the award to Brewer, who, as chairman of the national committee on government affairs, was tasked with visiting members of Congress and trying to win them over to supporting SPJ's position. Aeikens said members of SPJ's law firm, Baker and Hostetler, called Brewer "the secret weapon."

Congratulations to Clint, to the family of the late Robert Churchwell, and to all the honorees at tonight's banquet. :)

Harnisch matches gifts to Terry Harper Memorial Fund

2009-08-29T20:20:00.000-07:00

INDIANAPOLIS -- Nashville newswoman-turned-philanthropist Ruth Ann Leach Harnisch is matching the $13,000 raised for the Terry Harper Memorial Fund, created in honor of SPJ's executive director who died of brain cancer earlier this year.

Some $8,000 was raised Thursday night at silent and live auctions held during the opening night reception at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art, and Terry's family also contributed $5,000.

Harnisch, a friend to many members of Middle Tennessee Pro Chapter, is matching that pool of money, SPJ officials announced tonight. Given that it started with $9,000, that brings the total amount of the fund to about $35,000.

Harper was also honored Saturday night by being posthumously given the Wells Memorial Key, the Society's highest honor. (Previous Wells Key winners include two journalists with Nashville ties, Frank Gibson and Reginald Stuart.) The award was presented to Terry's widow tonight at the presidential installation banquet on the last night of SPJ's national convention.

Banner writer Robert Churchwell honored with SPJ's Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement

2009-08-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

INDIANAPOLIS -- The late Robert Churchwell, the first African-American member of the Middle Tennessee Pro Chapter of SPJ and a pioneer who broke the color barrier for black staffers at major Southern newspapers, was posthumously awarded SPJ's Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement tonight.

The presentation was made at the presidential installation banquet on the final night of the 2009 SPJ National Convention in Indianapolis, where the Society celebrated its centennial year.

Churchwell's widow, Mary, and one of their five children accepted the honor on behalf of the late Nashville Banner reporter, who died earlier this year at age 91. The crowd gave them a standing ovation as the award was presented by outgoing SPJ national president David Aeikens.

Mary Churchwell thanked the assembled crowd and joked that, while she knew her husband loved her, she suspected writing might have been his first love. She recalled their children bringing him pieces they had written for school, and his perpetual first reaction: "Hand me a pencil."

Policinski among speakers at SPJ national convention

2009-08-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

INDIANAPOLIS -- Our chapter board member Gene Policinski, executive director of the First Amendment Center on the Vanderbilt University campus, was among the speakers at tonight's president's installation banquet at the SPJ National Convention.

"Without a free press, without journalists, who will hold government accountable?" Policinski asked attendees gathered to celebrate SPJ's 100th birthday over dinner and slices of birthday cake. He introduced a short film clip on the history of the news and its importance in American history and culture.

We jailed Gibson -- and raised $200 for the LDF

2009-08-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks largely to our Middle Tennessee Pro chapter members and former Tennessean colleagues, we had our dear friend (and chapter treasurer) Frank Gibson "jailed" today as part of the "Jail-and-Bail" fundraiser for the SPJ Legal Defense Fund. We raised $100 in filing fees for 20 charges, ranging from "impersonating a University of Tennessee graduate" to "being a nuisance to politicians," and Gibson had to raise $100 in bail to regain his freedom.

Indiana: The Old West. Who knew?

2009-08-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

I was pleasantly surprised at Thursday night's opening reception for the SPJ National Convention to learn that the venue -- a museum I'd never heard of, called the Eiteljorg Museum -- is for Western and Native American art. I didn't expect to find such in Indianapolis. The museum looks really cool, and if I get to come back to Indianapolis sometime, I'm going to put it on my to-do list with (finally) seeing the speedway. (This is my fourth trip to Indy, and the third trip this year alone, and I still haven't seen the speedway.)

While walking up the steps to the museum I was impressed by this huge statue right outside the front door, towering over me. I took a picture of it, and a man walking up behind me stopped and asked me if he could tell me anything about it. "Who is it?" I asked. He said it's a Blackfoot man, and it's called "The Greeting," because the man is apparently greeting someone, and he told me all kinds of intricate details about it and the artist, George Carlson. Turns out, the man talking to me was the curator of the museum. You always meet cool people at SPJ convention events.

Former Scene man Tobia among those backgrounded by contractor for DoD

2009-08-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

Former Nashville Scene reporter P.J. Tobia, now working in Kabul, Afghanistan, is among the reporters who got checked-up-on by Pentagon contractor Rendon Group. In a first-person piece (via TrueSlant.com), he called the review "creepy," and shared the contractors' findings about him, including this nugget:

Based on his previous embed and past reporting, it is unlikely that he will miss an opportunity to report on US military missteps. However, if following previous trends, he will remain sympathetic to US troops and may acknowledge a learning curve in Afghanistan.

The scene from the national convention

2009-08-27T19:45:00.000-07:00

INDIANAPOLIS -- I'm in Indianapolis for the national convention marking SPJ's 100th birthday! I hope to be blogging some here and also Tweeting (follow me at @jpeebles; I may also Tweet some about SPJ at @texaswatchdog. Meanwhile, follow all convention-related Tweets by searching for the "hashtag" of #SPJ/100).

Tonight kicked off with the opening reception at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art just a couple of blocks from the convention hotel. The highlight of the reception was a live auction, for which SPJ had a real, live auctioneer, to raise money for a memorial fund in honor of late SPJ Executive Director Terry Harper, whose widow attended tonight's event.

Among the items sold at the live auction was a director's chair from the Watergate Hotel -- last year's SPJ convention was in DC -- autographed by Ben Bradlee, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein.

There was also a silent auction that included an honest-to-Goodness Associated Press teletype machine used in the 1950s in Columbus, Ohio.

Scene, Nfocus sold to SouthComm

2009-08-19T12:38:00.000-07:00

As reported by Nashville Post (another SouthComm pub), some words from Chris Ferrell:

“We essentially are unbundling the daily. The City Paper is our brand for news and sports, the Nashville Post and BusinessTN are our business news brands and the Scene gives us the strongest brand in the market for coverage of arts and culture. With this acquisition, we’ve built out our Nashville model. Over time, we will look to replicate our work here in other cities.”

SPJ signs on to letter to stop off-the-record briefings

2009-08-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

From E&P's Joe Strupp:

NEW YORK -- A joint letter from a group of news outlets and journalism organizations -- ranging from The New York Times to Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press -- is being sent today to some 600 press secretaries urging them to stop the practice of off-the-record briefings.

An announcement from the Sunshine in Government Initiative, which is coordinating the protest, states that the letter is an effort to stop the anonymous briefings that often limit how reporters can attribute information.

Late Banner reporter Robert Churchwell to be given SPJ's lifetime achievement award

2009-07-23T14:08:00.000-07:00

The late Robert Churchwell, who broke the color barrier for black journalists at major Southern newspapers and who was the first black member of the Middle Tennessee Pro Chapter, is being posthumously honored with SPJ's Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement. Here's the press release from SPJ:

INDIANAPOLIS – The Society of Professional Journalists is pleased to honor pioneering Tennessee journalist Robert Churchwell with the Helen Thomas Award for Lifetime Achievement. Churchwell, who died Feb. 1, 2009, was the first black journalist to work as a full-time reporter for a Southern general interest newspaper.

The Helen Thomas Award is presented to an individual or individuals for a lifetime of contribution and service to the journalism profession. The award is named after longtime White House correspondent Helen Thomas for her dogged pursuit of the truth in a career that has spanned almost 60 years. Thomas received the inaugural award in 2000.

In 1950, the Nashville Banner, a conservative daily paper, hired Churchwell after his graduation from Fisk University, where he’d studied English after a four-year tour in the Army. The white-owned paper didn’t hire the World War II veteran to show its racial integration agenda, but rather as a business decision to attract black readers.

Though he spent most of his career with the Banner, Churchwell’s early treatment – even by his employer and colleagues – was anything but pleasant. Initially he wasn’t assigned a desk in the newsroom and worked from home, dropping off stories to an editor. Some fellow journalists ignored his presence and routinely directed derogatory epithets toward him. He was also barred from staff meetings during his early years at the Banner.

Eventually Churchwell garnered the respect he deserved – from the community and his colleagues – being named to the education beat and holding the post for 20 years until his retirement in 1981. Among many awards for community activities and journalism is a 1994 induction into the regional hall of fame of the National Association of Black Journalists. In 1996 he earned a presidential citation from the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.

Aside from his monumental first in a white-dominated newsroom, Churchwell also made strides within the professional journalism association community. In 1965, he became the first black member of Sigma Delta Chi’s Middle Tennessee Professional Chapter. He served as chapter vice president in 1969. Sigma Delta Chi later became the Society of Professional Journalists.

Churchwell will be recognized Saturday, Aug. 29 during a dinner at the 2009 SPJ Convention & National Journalism Conference in Indianapolis.

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 SPJ, please visit www.spj.org.

Channel 5 wins National Press Club Award

2009-07-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Kraus, Bryan Staples, Kevin Wisniewski and Mike Rose of NewsChannel 5 won the National Press Club Award in the broadcast category for consumer journalism for "An Alarming Failure." From the NPC Web site:

Nashville’s WTVF News Channel 5 won the NPC’s Consumer Journalism Award broadcast category for “An Alarming Failure,” a ground-breaking examination of the differences between the popular ionization-type smoke detector and the photoelectric model in a smoky fire. The stories resulted in legislation being introduced in Tennessee banning the installation of ionization smoke detectors in new homes.

NPR ombudsman speaks in Nashville Wednesday

2009-04-16T06:39:00.000-07:00

Make your reservations now to hear Alicia Shepard, NPR's ombudsman, speaking next Wednesday at the studios of Nashville's NPR affiliate, WPLN.

As the ombudsman of one of the most trusted news sources, acts as an internal watchdog for fairness, accuracy, and advocate for listeners. This discussion is a "must-hear" for reporters and listeners alike.

This special event is being put on by NPR, WPLN, and the Middle Tennessee Pro Chapter of SPJ.

When: Noon Wednesday, April 22
Where: Nashville Public Radio, 630 Mainstream Drive (in MetroCenter), Nashville, 37228
How much: $7 SPJ members, $10 non-members. Cost includes box lunch.

Channel 4's Dan Miller dead of heart attack at 67

2009-04-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

My condolences go out to our friends at WMSV, who have lost a colleague and dear friend. From the Channel 4 site:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Longtime WSMV-TV anchor Dan Miller died Wednesday night of a heart attack in his hometown of Augusta, Ga., at the age of 67.

Miller was in Augusta to watch practice rounds of the Masters Golf Tournament with fellow friends and longtime co-workers Terry Bulger and Rudy Kalis ...

Miller, born in 1941, was the recipient of multiple Emmy Awards, was voted Best News Anchor in Nashville more than 20 times and recognized by Television/Radio Age as the Most Popular News Anchor in the United States.

Eddie Jones, former Banner chief, dies at 85

2009-04-06T05:21:00.000-07:00

"He was a true citizen journalist," John Seigenthaler told The Tennessean. "He believed in objective, good-news journalism."

One day left to register for Friday API training event in Murfreesboro

2009-03-09T10:41:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, March 10, is the last day to register for Friday's "New Newsroom workshop" on the MTSU campus. Get more details here.

Get ready for Sunshine Week later this month

2009-03-08T12:00:00.000-07:00

Don't forget that National Sunshine Week is coming up March 15-21.

Tennessee's four major dailies agree to share content: Memphis Flyer

2009-03-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

A snippet:

Representatives of the four largest newspapers of Tennessee -- Nashville's Tennessean, Memphis' Commercial Appeal, Chattanooga Times-Free Press and Knoxville's News Sentinel -- met Feb. 4, 2009, to explore opportunities to cooperate to leverage their resources. During the discussion, all agreed that readers would be best served if the papers found ways to eliminate duplicate effort and share content of interest throughout the state.

More details in bullet points in the Flyer story.

An obversation from Trace Sharp at the NewsTechZilla blog:

You can look at this in a couple of ways. First of all, keeping Tennessee local with a share program lessens the need for AP content. It also saves money.

SPJ aids publication trying to get records from CCA

2009-03-08T08:59:00.000-07:00

If you've ever looked at your SPJ renewal notice and wondered what that money goes toward, here's just one example: Helping people get public records. SPJ has signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief in an effort by the Prison Legal News to wrest records from the private Corrections Corp. of America. (Remember: The state's public records law says that records are public if they are in the possession of a private entity performing a government service in place of a governmental agency.)

Here's the whole statement from SPJ national:

INDIANAPOLIS – The Society of Professional Journalists has joined an amicus brief written by the Tennessee ACLU supporting a magazine that won an open records battle in its quest to cover and analyze prisoners’ rights.

The brief supports the appeal of Prison Legal News, which is fighting off an appeal by the Corrections Corporation of America, a private company that operates state prisons in Tennessee, after a lower court determined that the CCA was subject to the state’s open records laws. The amicus brief argues that the trial court was correct in determining that the law in Tennessee requires contractors of the corrections system to turn over records upon public request, just as government agencies must do.

The Prison Legal News has also appealed the lower court’s decision to deny it attorneys’ fees in the case. “The Prison Legal News should have its legal fees paid by CCA,” said SPJ President Dave Aeikens. “It would serve as a good deterrent to those who refuse to release public information.”

Joining the ACLU and SPJ in supporting the Prison Legal News on appeal are the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Associated Press, and the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors.

This is the second case SPJ has supported in 2009 by joining an amicus brief. The last case, in January, involved the appeal of a historical society in Nebraska asking for open death records at a state mental hospital. Read about the case and SPJ’s support here. Learn about SPJ’s legal advocacy and other news items by reviewing the news archive here.

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 about SPJ, please visit www.spj.org.

And you can read more about public records and FOI issues not only here but on the TCOG blog.

C-A's gun permit database stirs up a ruckus

2009-02-19T06:48:00.000-08:00

The Commercial-Appeal's recent posting of the state's database of handgun carry permit holders has stirred up a hornets' nest. Pro-gun groups are protesting, people are filing bills in the legislature to close the records and criminalize their publication (hello, prior restraint!) and people are posting maps to the editors' houses. Read a response from C-A editor Chris Peck, and commentary from The Scene's Jeff Woods, who quotes our own Frank Gibson.

Scene: Brewer out at 'City Paper'

2009-02-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

Clint Brewer, former president of the Middle Tennessee Pro chapter and former national president of SPJ (and, honest disclosure, someone your chapter blogger would call a friend) has been fired from his post as editor at the Nashville City Paper, SouthCom chief Chris Ferrell tells Jeff Woods:

He cited (a) economic reasons and (b) his desire to give "separate and distinct voices" to the Monday and Thursday editions of the City Paper. "

Channel 2's parent company files for bankruptcy; little local effect expected

2009-02-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

Little local impact is expected, The Tennessean reports:

“We’re not anticipating layoffs, we’re not anticipating staff changes, we’re not anticipating changes in programming,” said Gwen Kinsey, general manager of WKRN-TV and WATE-TV. “All of those things are going to continue as always.”

TPA honors Bredesen, 3 lawmakers for open government work

2009-02-06T05:20:00.000-08:00

The Tennessee Press Association honored Gov. Phil Bredesen and state legislators Randy McNally, Joe Haynes and Steve McDaniel. More from the AP via WRCB-TV in Chattanooga.

Remembering Robert Churchwell, who broke Southern newspapers' color barrier

2009-02-02T12:30:00.000-08:00

Robert Churchwell Sr., who died this weekend, was the first black staffer at a major Southern newspaper, a title that was both a huge accomplishment and a huge burden.

From Tennessean reporter Colby Sledge:

Mr. Churchwell began reporting solely on the African-American community in an attempt by the Banner to increase circulation among black readers. The 1998 book The Children — the account by former Tennessean reporter David Halberstam of the Nashville civil rights movement — said Mr. Churchwell met with hostility in his own newsroom and among some African-Americans unhappy with his decision to work at the Banner.

Tweeting today's Online News Association workshop in Nashville

2009-01-30T09:11:00.000-08:00

NewsComa reports that she is live-tweeting the ONA event on "Journalism Has a Future" at the First Amendment Center. She's newscoma on Twitter, and the hashtag for the event is #onanash.

NPT, WTVF take lead in regional Emmy count

2009-01-30T06:57:00.000-08:00

Nashville Public Television and WTVF-Channel 5 were the biggest local winners at the Midsouth Regional Emmys given out last Saturday.

NPT took 11 Emmys, including for historical and cultural documentaries, and historic or cultural program/special. WTVF took five, including for news excellence, investigative report for "Stories of Abuse," and business/consumer report.

WKRN-Channel 2 took three Emmys, and WSMV-Channel 4, WZTV-Channel 17, Vanderbilt University News Service and the Renaissance Center took two each.

Read the complete list of winners here.

Online journalism workshop in Nashville Friday

2009-01-28T06:11:00.000-08:00

Don't forget that the Online News Association is putting on a workshop here in Nashville on Saturday -- yes, that's this Friday, Jan. 30 -- titled "Journalism Has a Future." It's at the First Amendment Center on the Vanderbilt campus. Register here.

Unpaid week off for Tennessean and other Gannett employees

2009-01-17T10:22:00.000-08:00

From the NY Times:

The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs.

10 years of 'NewsChannel5 Investigates'

2009-01-09T09:53:00.000-08:00

Take a look at its greatest hits at this link.

Our top 10 posts for 2008

2009-01-01T14:25:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone! In case you missed any of them, here were our top 5 posts this year:

My favorite Jim East stories
Tennessean circulation declines (this was a 2007 post)
Rivals.com: 30M in annual revenue
Founding editor of Gallatin paper to be inducted into TN Newspaper Hall of Fame (this was another 2007 post)
Tennessean editor Silverman to address SPJ this month (another 2007 post)

Don't forget, SPJ friends and other Nashville media folks: Send us your tips, your links, your thoughts, your comments in 2009.

World descends upon Nashville for Belmont debate

2008-10-07T06:51:00.000-07:00

All eyes are on Nashville as the city prepares for the McCain-Obama presidential debate tonight at Belmont. Moderator Bob Schieffer rocked out with Brad Paisley this weekend at the Opry, the Red State Update boys got their credentials revoked by the Secret Service, and as recently as Saturday, TDOT was using a flashing warning sign on I-65 to direct "DEBAFFE" traffic, whatever that is, off to the Wedgewood Avenue exit. Will the Music City survive the show? We'll see.

(Note: I'm still on the job as your chapter Webmaster, Middle Tennessee Pro SPJ members. Yes, I've relocated to Houston, but we have the Interwebs here, too, so keep those links and news items about Nashville media coming my way: jpintn@gmail.com or jennifer@texaswatchdog.org. Curious souls who want to know what I'm doing in Texas can check us out at www.texaswatchdog.org.)

SPJ's national convention just 4 hours' drive from us ...

2008-08-11T18:33:00.000-07:00

The 2008 SPJ national convention is in Atlanta. It's coming up Sept. 4-7 at the Hyatt Regency on Peachtree Street. Sign up now!

Leaf-Chronicle, Tennessean, Southern Standard take top newspaper awards from TPA

2008-08-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

From the TPA press release:

The Leaf-Chronicle also earned the most first-place honors with eight. It won for make-up and appearance, local features, best personal humor column, best spot news story, best education reporting, investigative reporting, public service and best sports photograph.

Channel 5 sold to New York media company

2008-07-14T09:17:00.000-07:00

Landmark is selling the station to Bonten Media Group. No price disclosed.

Governor signs into law changes in public records statutes

2008-06-24T05:18:00.000-07:00

They include a seven-day deadline for records custodians to respond to records requests.

Cleveland alt-weekly chief to lead 'Scene'

2008-06-24T05:14:00.000-07:00

Pete Kotz will take the helm on July 1, outgoing Scene editor Liz Garrigan writes:

I know Pete from editors' meetings and conventions and can say unequivocally that he's a wonderful guy, a talented journalist and a good soul, if not the "dangerously handsome man" he claims to be. He has five kids, loves to "bust a phrase," holds dear the value of a great story, and prefers to chase his whiskey with beer. He's a rabble-rouser of the best sort whose wardrobe is even worse than Jeff Woods'.

Painting pictures and asking their questions

2008-06-18T05:18:00.000-07:00

Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle publisher Gene Washer recalls a blind friend who gave him some good advice as a young reporter: "You’ve got a paint a picture of what the game was like for them and answer all the questions they may have asked.”

Scene's Pulle to swim Cumberland on Thursday

2008-06-18T05:07:00.000-07:00

He's taking part in the en masse river crossing being organized by Metro Councilwoman Emily Evans. "Good luck, Matt," Scene editor Liz Garrigan writes. "We'll be at Brandon's."

It's getting ugly in upper East Tennessee

2008-06-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

The Bristol Herald-Courier is ripping the Kingsport Times-News, and it's getting downright personal. Seems the Bristol paper has been sharply critical of U.S. Rep. David Davis, and the Kingsport paper has echoed the Congressman's criticism of the Bristol paper. Now, Bristol Editor J. Todd Foster has called out the Kingsport paper, saying its reporter "has a bright future flacking for politicians. Lord knows, he’s better at it than at journalism." Spotted via Michael Silence.

So, you think this might be crossing the line a little bit?

2008-06-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Let's see, now ... Al Gore was a journalist and then went into politics. J. Percy Priest, for whom the dam and lake are named, was a journalist and then went into politics. Hey, if they can do it, so can I!

My favorite Jim East stories

2008-06-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

My friend and former colleague Jim East has been under the weather lately. I know many of you know Jim, either from his many years at The Tennessean, Williamson A.M., the Franklin Review Appeal, UPI ... Well, everywhere, basically.

Anyhow, I thought the best way to say how special Jim is would be to share some of my favorite Jim stories -- those about Jim or told by Jim.

Once, when Jim was a GA reporter at The Tennessean several years ago, there was a police-involved shooting here in Metro -- as I recall, some sheriff's deputies were serving some warrants on a bad dude who was holed up in a house. He shot at the deputies, and then they shot him dead. Jim was part of the team who covered it. The next day some obituary-style info on the dude ran in the paper under Jim's byline -- date and time of services, names of survivors, et cetera, phrased in the way that was our style at the time: Survivors include his mother, Jane Doe; brothers John Doe, Jim Doe, Jack Doe, all of Nashville, and sister Janet Doe, of Cookeville, or whatever.

A couple of days later, Jim got a complaint letter from a reader that went something like this: "Dear Mr. East, please cancel my subscription to your newspaper. How dare you say that 'all of Nashville' is in mourning for this loser who shot at a cop."

I remember the day I covered the Olympic torch coming through the Nashville area on its way to Atlanta for the 1996 Summer Games. It was a long day on the job, and I missed the best part of it, learning only the next morning from my co-workers about Jim's comedic re-enactment of the torch relay outside Cafe 123, across the street from the newspaper building, "running" in slow-motion for dramatic effect while holding aloft his flaming cigarette lighter. (Smoking probably hasn't helped Jim's health. I remember he once started a Christmastime column for Williamson A.M. by saying he'd heard the local chamber of commerce encouraging people to see Franklin all lit up. So, he wrote, he "lit one up" and drove around looking at the lights.)

Another great Jim-mail story: Jim wrote the the funniest newspaper column I think I have ever read, back a few years ago for Williamson A.M., in which he described the pre-Easter season and various conveniences and pleasures that Williamson Countians were giving up for what he repeatedly referred to as "Lint" -- referred to it not just twice, but a total of 16 times in the text. (The foregone pleasures included reloading their own shotgun shells, playing tennis at Maryland Farms Athletic Club, and carrying firearms to Spring Hill city meetings.) Not long after, Jim started getting letters: Did he know he misspelled "Lent" all the way through his column?

But my favorite Jim story is one that Jim told himself. I can't tell it nearly as well as he did.

It was back in about 1984 or so, and Jim was -- and I may have my facts wrong here -- the Tennessee press secretary for the presidential campaign of Walter "Fritz" Mondale. The campaign arranged a big event in Memphis that would bring in a huge political name: Marion Barry, Washington, D.C.'s mayor and former civil rights activist (this was years before his crack-smoking, "the b*&^% set me up" days).

Even better, the event where Barry was going to speak was at the big Memphis church pastored by none other than the Rev. Al Green.

This was going to be huge. Barry, who had been elected DC mayor six years earlier, was a major national celebrity. He also had Tennessee ties, having attended the University of Tennessee and having participated in the Nashville sit-ins.

So Mayor Barry traveled down to Memphis from DC. The campaign was supposed to arrange to get him to the church. Something logistical went wrong somewhere. When the appointed time came for the event to start, not only was Mayor Barry not present, the campaign didn't even know where he was.

So, here were thousands of people and the press, all gathered at this church. The candidate is there. Al Green is there. But the special guest, the mayor of Washington, D.C., is nowhere to be found.

Jim and the other campaign staffers start scrambling. Eventually, they find that Mayor Barry is being chauffeured from the airport by a well-meaning campaign volunteer who was legally blind, and who had decided to detour on the way to the church and drive to his own neighborhood to show off Mayor Barry to his friends.

I think they eventually did get the mayor to the church, though there was a pronounced delay. And I don't think the legally blind volunteer was allowed to do anymore driving on behalf of the campaign.

Like I said, I can't tell it nearly as well as Jim did.

But one more thing about Jim.

I interned here at The Tennessean the year between my junior and senior years at Vanderbilt, and that's when I first got to know Jim. I returned to school in the fall and went back to writing for the student newspaper, and one day we had to report on some criminal matter that involved a student -- I can't remember if it was on-campus or off-campus. I forget who we had to call to interview, but I remember that I was dreading it. At some point, I called the Tennessean newsroom for some kind of assistance in dealing with the police, and they connected me to the cops reporter on duty -- Jim.

I told Jim about my dilemma. Well, you just have to make the call and ask, he told me: "You never ask any questions, you never get any answers."

It's simple, but it's profound. I've never forgotten it.

I have worked as an editor for a few years now. While I don't think I speak from the position of authority with which Jim spoke to me that day, I have repeated that phrase many times to reporters I have worked with. It never fails to help.

Jim, you probably won't see this while you're feeling bad, but I love you, and you're in my prayers. Get well soon. :)

(If you've got a favorite Jim story you wouldn't mind sharing, please post it in the comments below or feel free to e-mail me at jpeebles@tennessean.com.)

Williams elected to IRE board

2008-06-08T17:58:00.000-07:00

MIAMI - Chapter board member Phil Williams, chief investigative reporter for WTVF-Channel 5, has been elected to the board of directors of Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. at its annual conference in Miami, Fla.

Williams, a past winner of the IRE Medal and winner of both the Peabody and Columbia-duPont awards, received the third-highest number of votes in the balloting, which took place Saturday night at the Intercontinental Miami hotel.

Congratulations!

You can read more about the conference at the IRE conference blog (and you can read a little bit, but not nearly as much or as interesting, at my own personal blog).

Honor for Channel 4 staffers

2008-06-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

MIAMI - WSMV's Demetria Kalodimos and David Sussman have just been officially awarded their IRE Certificate at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference. They were honored for their series on "Radioactive Dumping," which showed that the state had been allowing low-level radioactive waste to be dumped at Middle Point Landfill in Rutherford County and a few other sites around the state. Congratulations!

Channel 5's Williams in running for IRE board seat

2008-06-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

WTVF-Channel 5's chief investigative reporter Phil Williams is running for a seat on the board of directors of Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc. at the upcoming Miami conference later this week. (Honest disclosure: Yes, your Webmaster plans to vote for him.) We'll let you know how it goes later this week.

C-A sues Memphis over school director records

2008-06-02T16:41:00.000-07:00

Cuttin' and pastin' from the C-A:

The Commercial Appeal filed suit against Memphis City Schools on Friday in an effort to force the district to turn over information about those who applied to become the next superintendent.
The complaint asks a Chancery Court to order the school district and the Iowa-based search firm Ray and Associates to produce the names, titles, resumes and application forms of those who sought the district's top job.

The district denied an open records request by The CA seeking the information.

Want to see state e-mails? That'll be $3,200 for each day you want to see

2008-05-30T06:38:00.000-07:00

If the state can just get the Tennessee Center for Policy Research to request enough day's e-mails, it could maybe plug that $400 million hole in the state budget without laying off any workers.

Rivals.com: $30M in annual revenue and just 'one jackass' hired

2008-05-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

Rivals.com, the college sports site based in Brentwood, is going gangbusters. Chief Shannon Terry told a group last week that he's hired about 90 people but only "one jackass," blogger and chapter president Milt Capps reports on his Venture Nashville blog. Lordy, that new media sure is different -- we folks in "old media" know that the percentage of jackasses would be much higher in one of our newsrooms. :)

Sharing a funny, for no real reason

2008-05-27T18:05:00.000-07:00

From the BBC's sketch comedy That Mitchell and Webb Look:

Vanderbilt, Union students ranked among nation's top 100 student journos

2008-05-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

Two students at Tennessee schools, Vanderbilt's Glenna DeRoy and Union University's Brittany Howerton, made UWire's list of the top 100. Vanderbilt student media adviser Chris Carroll says DeRoy "possesses an uncommon mix of intelligence, ability, initiative and reliability." Union communications arts professor Michael Chute says Howerton, who covered the deadly tornadoes that struck the campus in February, "exemplified the very best of journalism in that she put her own struggles aside and worked tirelessly to inform a nation clamoring for information about the storm and its effects."

We've got a new address, everyone -- please update your bookmarks

2008-05-15T10:45:00.000-07:00

Our SPJ chapter Web site has a new URL as of right now is http://www.spjchapters.org/nashville. We apologize for the inconvenience, but it's something we had to do for some technical reasons. The old URL, www.spj.org/nashville will refer people to the new address for a little while longer, so that gives everyone some time to update their bookmarks.

Scene's Woods is finalist for national honor

2008-05-15T10:32:00.000-07:00

The Nashville Scene's Jeff Woods is a finalist for the new public service category in the 2008 AltWeekly Awards. The prize "recognizes the impact that stories and series done by member publications have had on their communities." He'll compete in a group with the Fort Worth Weekly, the Jackson Free Press, and the Weekly Alibi.

Scene Editor Liz Garrigan lauded Woods' work as "kicking tail":

In fact, I named the package of pieces "Mayor Bubba Smackdown," and we argued to the judges that the Nashville Scene provided a public service to Nashvillians by reporting and editorializing over several months' time that Bob Clement was far from the best choice to run this $1.8 billion major American city. An independent panel of judges apparently agrees, though the best we can hope for is probably third place as these types of journalism awards typically go to papers discovering that corporations are poisoning poor people, not to grumpy, unshaven wretches singularly obsessed with picking on political hacks desperately in search of power.

MTSU's McDonald wins Drue Smith Scholarship

2008-05-14T08:45:00.000-07:00

Raye S. McDonald, who will be a junior this coming year at Middle Tennessee State University, has won the 2008 Drue Smith Scholarship, which is funded by the Middle Tennessee Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and administered for us by the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee. Raye is majoring in broadcast journalism with a minor in Spanish, and plans to be a sports broadcaster. She is involved in MTTV, the campus television station. Congratulations!

Sumner businesswoman sues for access to records

2008-05-11T12:02:00.000-07:00

Not much warmth felt from the Sumner County Airport Authority: Art McClellan, the authority’s attorney, called Moore “a crazy woman,” labeled each of her attorneys an “idiot” and said her complaint has no merit.

Plaudits for 'Unsafe to Fly'

2008-05-08T09:42:00.000-07:00

The recent story on WTVF-Channel 5 by our chapter board member Phil Williams titled "Unsafe to Fly?" -- about faulty wiring on airplanes -- has been singled out for commendation by the SPJ "News Gems" blog.

Governor's office says e-mails aren't public

2008-05-08T08:50:00.000-07:00

From The Scene's Matt Pulle:

Faced with new scrutiny of the infamous Bredesen Bunker, your Tennessee governor's office is making the unlikely claim that emails transmitted on public computers and with state addresses are not necessarily public record, a mind-boggling stance that contradicts years of accepted practice here and throughout the country.

Garrigan to step down as 'Scene' chief

2008-05-06T19:42:00.000-07:00

She's going to be editorial director at Magellan Media. "... After 12 years at one place—as political writer, news editor, associate editor, then editor—it’s time for this root-bound journalist to repot herself," she writes on the Pith in the Wind blog.

House subcommittee wants public to pay for records searches

2008-04-10T05:29:00.000-07:00

From the AP:

Larger cities would get more time to respond to public records requests and people would have to pay for any search that takes longer than an hour under changes made to an open records bill in a House subcommittee on Wednesday.
The House State Government Subcommittee agreed on voice votes to the changes, most of which were suggested by Rep. Ulysses Jones, a Memphis Democrat, and advanced the measure to the full House State and Local Government Committee.
The panel also agreed to revise the legislation sponsored by Rep. Steve McDaniel, a Parkers Crossroads Republican, to require that only Tennesseans may request records in writing and that elected and appointed officials be notified about any records requests made about them.

SouthComm to buy 'City Paper'

2008-04-10T05:14:00.000-07:00

SouthComm, started by former Nashville Scene publisher and Metro Councilman Chris Ferrell, also owns NashvillePost.com. From the CP: "Company executives said the move will mean an increased focus on delivering news on the Web site and a reduction in the number of days the paper is published each week."

Ramsey is state's most powerful media figure: BusinessTN

2008-04-04T06:06:00.000-07:00

Financial advice guru Dave Ramsey ranked No. 19 on BusinessTN magazine's annual listing of the most powerful people in the state. Some other media folks: Henry Luken of Covista Communications, 85; Tom Griscom, publisher and executive editor of Chattanooga Times Free Press, 82; Jack Fishman, Morristown newspaperman, 81; conservative commentator Phil Valentine, 79; Charlie Anderson Jr. of Anderson News Co., 49; conservative commentator Steve Gill, 43; and Bruce Hartmann, president and publisher of the Knoxville News Sentinel, ranked at No. 39.

Story asks if C-A failed in covering the '68 garbagemen's strike

2008-04-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

As part of its extensive coverage of the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King in Memphis, the Commercial-Appeal did its own story looking at whether it fairly covered the 1968 strike by black sanitation workers. Dr. King had come to Memphis on behalf of the striking workers when he was slain.

Gun permit records to say open in TN following bizarre political dram

2008-04-03T06:10:00.000-07:00

Wierdness surrounds bill that would have closed off information in handgun carry permit records, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reports.

Five-day deadline on public records requests passes out of Senate committee

2008-04-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

The House version is up in subcommittee today.

Hobbs: State wants $200 to see public record

2008-04-02T05:20:00.000-07:00

Conservative blogger and GOP spokesman Bill Hobbs has been told he'll have to pay up if he wants to get a copy of some video footage of blasting at the governor's mansion work site. (And he's since been told he can't get a copy of the footage at all.) The Nashville Scene's Jeff Woods is backing him up on this one.

More than 250 types of government records not open under TN law

2008-04-01T19:50:00.000-07:00

Our chapter FOI chief Frank Gibson is quoted: "Any special interest who has a friend in the legislature can get records closed fairly easily. It’s a slippery slope — you close one piece of information on a file and then two years later you close something else.’’