FALL 2011 - cdn.ymaws.com · off the success of Denver. We’ll make sure you know about what’s...

APME NEWS F FALL 2011 2

3 Bob Heisse: Initiatives, our name change and membership expansion and take a look ahead to Nashville4 Name Change 6 Cover Story: APME508 Innovator of the year11 Gannett Innovation Awards14 Elections15 Diversity: McGruder Award16 Future: J.B. Bittner18 Policing Comments: Dennis Anderson 20 Facebook for Journalists: Laura Sellers Earl22 First Amendment: Kurt Franck 23 Geisler: Mark Baldwin25 Sports: Alan Miller27 Social Media: Laura Kessel28 Member Showcase 30 APME Board and Committees

Double PlatinumNational Press FoundationScripps Howard Founda-tionGannett FoundationEbylineMedicare News GroupAsbury Park (N.J.) PressAssociated PressThe Denver Post

PlatinumAthlon SportsSpreed MobileZope Corp.

GoldJournalism Online/Press +Publishing Group of AmericaTribune Media Services

Silver SponsorsTown NewsAccuweatherTecnavia

Bronze SponsorsVerve WirelessBody ArmorThe New York Times

A final thanks to our sponsors at the very successful 2011 APME Conference in Denver.

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3APME NEWS F FALL 2011

That was a great conference in Denver in September, wasn’t it?

Thanks to all who attended APME 2011. We’ve come away with great momentum and are off and running toward 2012 with an updated name, an expanded membership and a very clear mission.

It’s been a busy few months for us, first welcoming in Associated Press broadcast news leaders, college educators and student media editors. We changed our name to the Associated Press Media Editors to reflect the membership shifts.

These were historic changes for this 78-year-old organization, but they’re the right moves at the right time as we build our working relationship with editors and newsrooms across the United States and Canada.

I’m proud to serve as your president in what will be a year of expansion for APME, with a goal of reaching out to more editors than ever and providing top training through NewsTrain, great national reporting projects with our partner, the AP, with a focus on supporting journalists and recognizing innovative work.

This magazine sets the table for our initiatives and recaps our conference. Enjoy it and get involved with us by serving on a committee or simply visiting www.apme.com to read our APME Update blog to find out the latest developments.

Committees are where it will happen, and we’ve established new ones to work on the broadcast and college expansions and on an effort called APME50.

That project sets up a new way to connect with active editors at newspapers and at broadcast outlets in every state. We’re building a bridge to state boards so that more editors than ever will find out about our training opportunities and much more. Read about this in our cover story.

Last year, we made great strides in delivering Broken Budgets national reporting stories to newsrooms, and we expanded APME’s Innovator of the Year contest to recognize innovations monthly. At the same time, we kept NewsTrain strong and hired training leader Michael Roberts to oversee

our signature program.

This year, we’ll build on all of this work, starting with national reporting. Broken Budgets will continue in partnership with AP, along with a second initiative, Aging America, that you will hear more about in coming months. Next year, we’ll start a new themed reporting initiative that will deliver top stories and invite members’ participation.

We’re also taking steps to revamp and raise the profile of the monthly innovations and Great Ideas features, as detailed in a story in this issue. Our goal is to put the spotlight on more of the innovative work taking place in the U.S. and Canada, recognizing more newsrooms and sharing out-of-the box ideas in the process.

In addition to hosting four NewsTrain events in 2012, we’re starting NewsTrain webinars with a discount for APME members. Watch for announcements and then share them with your staff for opportunities throughout the year.

We’re also expanding the prestigious APME awards contest to include broadcast and college categories. Details will be announced by January.

These are just some of the activities of our board, coming off the success of Denver. We’ll make sure you know about what’s coming and hope you find ways to benefit.

For now, consider joining APME as a member and qualify for discounts all year, including on registration for our next conference. Mark your calendar now for APME Nashville, Sept. 19-21, 2012, at the beautiful John Seigenthaler Center on the campus of Vanderbilt University.

Follow conference planning as it takes shape on the Nashville page at www.apme.com, and while you’re there, consider bidding in our first online holiday auction to benefit APME programs. You just might find the perfect gift for someone on your shopping list.

Have the best holiday season and new year and keep in touch with us as APME expands in 2012.

—Bob Heisse, APME president.

P E R S P E C T I V E

Bob Heisse: Reflecting New Realities, Building New Ties

Bob Heisse is executive editor of the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa. He can be reached at

814 231-4640 [email protected]

>> JOIN APME TODAY! Go to www.apme.com and click on membership tab. <<


TBehind the Name Change

The Associated Press Managing Editors association is now the Associated Press Media Editors.

The organization founded by newspaper managing editors in 1933 has long embraced the changes that the digital age has brought to the news industry, and now its name reflects that evolution.

The association’s board voted Sept. 14 to change the name, and APME outgoing president Hollis R. Towns, announced the new name as he opened the 2011 APME annual conference in Denver.

“It’s an acknowledgement by the board that the organization needs to change with the times,” said Towns, executive editor and vice president of New Jersey Press Media. “A simple name change also is reflective of the larger tent that we intend to pitch to bring in a broader, more diverse group of members.”

APME president Bob Heisse, executive editor of the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa., welcomed the change.

“We’re moving forward in the right way to bring in broadcasters, educators and student editors into APME,” he

said.

The APME board voted in June to extend membership to broadcasters and journalism educators, as well as journalism students. APME is an association of editors at news organizations in the United States and Canada. It works closely with The Associated Press to foster journalism

excellence and to support a national network for the training and development of editors who will run multimedia newsrooms in the 21st Century. The association has held a multi-day conference every year since 1933 in various cities around the U.S. and Canada.

APME’s elected officers serve as national leaders in speaking out on journalism issues. APME also provides feedback to the worldwide cooperative directly and through the Sounding Board.

Any person who is the editor, executive editor or managing editor, or holds any other title that provides for senior responsibilities for the news, online or editorial staffs of an AP member news organization, is eligible for membership. APME is on the front line in setting ethical and journalistic standards for newspapers and in the battle for freedom of information and the First Amendment.


APME50 Builds Bonds with State Chapters

“We want to enrich papers and broadcast outlets.” –Bob Heisse

by Jon Broadbooks

COVER STORY


For years, the Associated Press Media Editors’ state chapters and national organization operated largely independent of each other, and few members of the national organization were involved in state APME chapters.

This year, through a program called APME 50, our organization aims to forge a closer bond between the state and national organizations. Bob Heisse, the president of APME’s national organization and executive editor of the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa., has made APME 50 a priority.

“It dawned on me – and a lot of us – that there are a lot of editors out there we need to connect with,” Heisse said. “We may be doing it on a hit-or-miss basis. We certainly haven’t been doing it on any regular basis.”

Heisse first got involved with APME through work with the Pennsylvania APME chapter. That experience sparked a conversation about how to build better relationships.

“Once I was on the national board, I talked to other state APME board members about what we do, and it was the first time we had had any connection with some of them,” Heisse said.

Heisse formed a committee this summer to identify the leadership of the Associated Press print and broadcast organizations. Already committee members have reached out to chapters in more than 40 states.

Spreading the word

The APME50 campaign comes as the organization sharpens its focus on digital news delivery. This year the national organization changed its name from Associated Press Managing Editors to Associated Press Media Editors and announced it would welcome educators and AP’s broadcast members into the fold.

The addition of broadcast partners to APME shows how digital newsgathering has evolved.

“They are natural partners now,” Heisse said. “They have needs, and we have needs. We are kind of meeting in the middle with video and mobile. We are all in this together. Broadcasters are going to play a

role in how we shape and change.”

Heisse said APME’s national organization has a lot to offer state chapters. The organization that was founded to provide feedback and support for the Associated Press in 1930 has a mission of championing First Amendment work, promoting newsroom diversity and training journalists at all levels. In the First Amendment arena, for instance, APME has taken an aggressive

stance on fighting efforts by sports organizations to limit press access and restrict distribution of stories and images.

The national organization holds an annual conference where editors share best practices and exchange ideas. Next year’s conference will be in Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 19-21.

Heisse said leaders of the AP’s print- and broadcast-oriented organizations would be asked to help pass on information about what APME is doing to their members. The state organizations’ leadership will be asked to share a monthly newsletter.

“I want them to know we are really delivering for them, whether in training through News Train and through webinars,” Heisse said. “We’re backing them in First Amendment and sports credential issues. We want them to know about national projects. We want to enrich their papers and broadcast outlets.”

COVER STORY


COVER STORY

National initiatives, local focus

In 2010, the AP began an effort to examine the growing budget crisis faced by states. It used the national project, called Broken Budgets, as a vehicle for newspapers to get more involved in covering the issue. Not surprisingly, the Pennsylvania APME was one of the first to launch a statewide project by member

newspapers in conjunction with the AP’s work to examine just how bad the budget situation was in that state.

Cate Barron, executive editor of the Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., said the state chapter has been working more closely with state AP bureaus in recent years.

“We’ve done a better job of avoiding doubling up on story

coverage - especially at the state capitol,” Barron said. “We’re sharing more stories with other papers in the state, and - best of all - by planning ahead and localizing when we can, we’re better able to pull off major joint projects like Broken Budgets. This multiplies our firepower -- especially for investigative work.”

Illinois’ Associated Press Editors Association worked with the Illinois AP to launch Deadbeat Illinois, a project that began in October to report on the state’s chronic inability to pay its bills. The state chapter’s members shared story ideas and worked off a common database to provide statewide and local articles.

“It’s smart news management and smart business to try and coordinate this,” said John Plevka, the state chapter’s president and managing editor of the Journal Star in Peoria, Ill.

The AP is now working on a series of stories on the aging of America. The lessons learned through the Broken Budgets initiative are shaping the project.

“Anything that strengthens ties between members and the AP at any level is valuable,” said George Garties, AP’s chief of bureau for Illinois and Indiana. “Members involved in the AP have a

broader, deeper understanding of what we do as an organization.

I think having editors in the national and state organizations makes them more willing to contribute and shape the state service that all of us are trying to provide.”

Cate Barron

About APME50

What it is: An effort by the national organization to reach out to state AP print and broadcast chapter members in all 50 states. Why it’s important: Closer partnerships can help APME fight First Amendment battles and provide better coverage of big issues, such as elderly care and state budget crises. How to get involved: Contact committee chairs Laura Kessel, managing editor of The News-Herald in Willoughby, Ohio, at [email protected]; or Jon Broadbooks, executive editor of The State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill., at [email protected].

APME membership this holiday season.

SAVINGS

three projects in the APME awards contest.

Your discount: $25 each, or $75 overall.

Membership only

$150 It pays for itself, and then some.

www.apme.com and click on membership

Join APME and save.

To attend the next APME conference, set for Sept. 19-21, 2012 in Nashville. Your discount: $100.

Say you want to attend three of the new NewsTrain

occasionally on topics of interest.

Your discount: $10 each, or $30 overall.


TThe Register Citizen of Torrington, Conn., a Journal Reg-ister newspaper, won the fifth annual APME Innovator of the Year award.

The Register Citizen was honored for its open newsroom project, which gives readers full access to the paper’s archives and its news meetings.

The paper turned its newsroom into a community center.

“Our Newsroom Cafe has coffee shop-style seating, leather couches and cafe tables. We have free public wifi, coffee and pastries for sale, an Artist of the Month program, an exhibit of archival photos from the Flood of 1955, a community bulletin board, and even a used book sale to benefit our Newspapers in Education program,” wrote Matt Dierenzo JRC’S Connecticut Group Editor, about the innovation.

“We hold our daily story meetings around a conference table at the edge of the cafe, with the public invited to pull up a chair and participate,” he said. “They are live-streamed on RegisterCitizen.Com, and a simultaneous live chat fields questions and comments from readers who are watching from home. We placed a “Fact Check” box at the end of every story on our website, and invited the audience

to point out our errors.”

The Associated Press Media Editors expanded the an-nual contest this year and now recognizes top innovative work monthly. The Register Citizen had been honored as

the January winner.

Register Citizen received $2,000 from APME’s sponsors of the Innovator of the Year award -- GateHouse Media and the Reynolds Institute of the University of Missouri.

“The Register Citizen’s open newsroom concept impressed APME judges when we first heard about it,” said APME president Bob Heisse, executive editor of the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa. “It was no sur-prise that our conference attendees voted it

the winner.”

“The work in the 16-member Torrington newsroom should give ideas to editors in all size newsrooms,” Heisse said.

The award was presented at APME’s annual conference in Denver.

Matt DeRienzo


TThe Associated Press Media Editors’ Innovator of the Year contest expanded at the start of 2011 to recognize one innovation per month.

Here’s an update on the monthly winners since the previous APME Magazine, which featured January through April winners.

Read about how our innovation program is changing elsewhere in this issue, and be sure to enter your innovative work. You may be in the spotlight next.

May: Statesman Journal, Salem, Ore. Walk in downtown Salem and you’ll find “The Best of Mid-

Valley” contest certificates proudly displayed in windows. The “Best of” logo is also plastered on billboards and mentioned routinely in commercials.

What’s made “Best of” work is that it’s a simple idea – tried in many markets – for which the Statesman Journal has leveraged social media to build the buzz.

The Statesman Journal launched online-only voting for its annual Best of Mid-Valley contest three years ago. Online users nominate entries in numerous categories and then are allowed to vote once daily during the contest period. This is a revenue-generating digital project that can quickly grow reader engagement and traffic for all sites.

In 2010, Best of Mid-Valley generated record growth in digital traffic thanks to exclusive early voting through Facebook, hundreds of Tweets from reporters and editors during the contest period, and the launch of a mobile Best of Mid-Valley site that integrated Foursquare.

Content was repurposed into a special section, generating new advertising revenue (up 55 percent year over year this year) and single-copy circulation opportunities.

It connected with our audience in experiential, fun ways. To build community, you need to become part of it. That’s been our approach to social media.

The Statesman Journal was a 2010 APME Innovator of the Year finalist for its use of social media in engaging readers.

It uses Facebook and Twitter to survey its social-media community extensively, engage them in reader contests, market content and develop stories.

“Our team understands the value of social media,” said Amy Read, the Statesman Journal’s digital editor. “And everyone in our newsroom is part of our social-media team.”

-- Bill Church, executive editor, [email protected]

June: Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World The Lawrence Journal-World’s new niche site

WellCommons.com is on the cutting edge of news development. Its innovative approach crosses three areas: community engagement, niche journalism and a new advertising model.

WellCommons is what journalism looks like in a social media world. Through an innovative content-management system we developed called Ellington Communities, WellCommons eliminates the barriers between journalists and their community, while preserving our goals of creating a safe place and a trusted source of information and news.

Reporters and members of the community post content — text, video, photos and graphics — directly on the site, akin to Facebook.

About 40 percent of WellCommons’ content is generated by community members. Content from the community is integrated with staff content. Participants can follow and message each other through the site. They can repost around the site and send posts to Facebook and Twitter.

WellCommons is the first of a series of niche sites planned for a Northeast Kansas news network.

-- Dennis Anderson, managing editor, [email protected]

July: Arizona Republic (read about the Republic’s work pg. 13)

August: Winnipeg (Canada) Free PressThe Winnipeg Free Press live Web coverage of the

municipal election in October 2010 was like nothing else the paper had ever done before. It’s quite possible the coverage was like nothing else anyone had ever done before.

A P M E M O N T H L Y I N N O V A T I O N W I N N E R S


Website coverage combined live streaming with tweeting, a dynamic updating of results and traditional text stories -- all on a night when every TV station in town had reneged on its responsibility to cover the election.

Portions of the live coverage were captured on tape and combined into a representative video which you can watch at http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/special/civicelection/ We fully democratized the coverage with our Cover-It-Live chat console, as viewers could comment and debate the impact of the vote.

All eyes in Winnipeg were upon us -- including the eyes at the incumbent mayor’s headquarters where they had the Free Press’s election landing page on one of their giant video screens.

We live streamed from 8:30 p.m. until the final staffers left the ballrooms. Our host monitored the live results as they came into the website dynamically and chatted with two bloggers and municipal experts on a panel that brought context to the results and to viewers’ comments.

Reporters were in the major candidates’ campaign headquarters tweeting results and reactions into the Cover-It-Live console on the main page.

The actual election night drew 17,159 page views. The next day, as people looked up results, we added another 19,002 page views. In all, our election coverage, from Aug. 18 to Nov. 8 (11 days post-election), had 130,579 page views.

More importantly, Winnipeg residents saw the newspaper in a different light, as a news outlet that provided more information and in a more timely fashion than our paper copy they find on their doorsteps each morning.

-- Julie Carl, deputy editor, [email protected]

September: Quad-City Times, Davenport, Iowa

Around 6:30 p.m. Friday on fall football nights, a member of the sports staff at the Quad-City Times fires up his computer and prepares to become the traffic cop on a lively four-hour discussion with those who are passionate about preps.

It’s called “Friday Night Tweets,” and it’s the place to be to get scoring updates, argue about referees’ calls, cheer for your favorite team and get some analysis from Times sports staffers and free-lancers who are scattered throughout eastern Iowa and western Illinois.

“Friday Night Tweets are a way for our sports staff to provide immediate information and to interact with high school football fans across a two-state area every Friday,” explains

sports editor Don Doxsie. “Reporters from our paper give frequent updates on the games they are covering via Twitter, reporting any scoring plays and also providing statistics and analysis through the evening.” Doxsie said “the coverage extends late into the evening, usually linking to a video panel discussion called ‘Late Hits’ in which our reporters discuss the highlights of the evening.”

Many fans join in the conversation while sitting in the stands watching their favorite football team and accessing scores from other games.

“The blog has become extremely popular,” Doxsie says. “We have averaged more than 1,000 page views per week through the first five weeks of the 2011 season, with the average stay being about 45 minutes per reader. As one fan pointed out on the Week 4 blog, ‘It’s better than being at the game.”

-- Jan Touney, managing editor, [email protected]

Join the Associated Press MediaEditors and NewsTrain on Facebook

and Twitter. Follow the APME Update

blog at www.APME.com


Digital Project as Watchdog

Shoe-leather journalism translates well in the digital era as

demonstrated by Statesman Journal reporter Tracy Loew’s 16-month investigation of a regional school district — captured in an innovative digital project at www.StatesmanJournal.com

G a n n e t t I n n o v a t i o n A w a r d s


M“Media organizations can look at this project as not only a

great example of dogged watchdog journalism by Tracy, but

also as an example of how to create a visually compelling,

easy way for readers to understand why it matters to them

and to the community,” said Amy Read, the Statesman

Journal’s digital editor.

The investigation by the Statesman Journal of Salem, Ore., was a 2011 winner of the Gannett Foundation Award for Digital Innovation in Watchdog Journalism, administered by APME. The Statesman Journal was honored for papers under 75,000 circulation.

We’re proud of Tracy Loew and our digital team for expanding the spectrum of digital storytelling , prompting lawmakers to act quickly to fix the problems that had engulfed WESD.

Loew’s report turned up multiple red flags about the agency that were raised -- and ignored -- over the past 10 years, including no-bid contracts, questionable property deals and ventures that were supposed to be self supporting but failed, lost money or drew formal complaints and lawsuits. The Statesman Journal obtained records showing that employees charged the district for luxury rental cars, expensive hotels, in-town meals and dozens of trips to Starbucks, even as the district was borrowing money to stay afloat. At the same time, the board of directors spent tens of thousands of dollars on training trips and meals with administrators, documents show, while casting its members as community volunteers who were left out of the loop.

The challenge of the “WESD Web of Deals” watchdog project was creating an investigatory experience for readers. Editors wanted users to: A) Visually understand the connections between the district and its partners; and B) Actively search documents and explore data.

The project involved more than 300 documents annotated in DocumentCloud, along with four separate databases.

The data had to be scrubbed and involved several different programming solutions. Checks and invoices had to be scanned manually. The complication was in linking documents and names in a way that was easy to navigate while recognizing that end users search in different ways.

“The WESD project was innovative in that we took a web of complicated connections and made it easy for the reader to digest and understand,” said Read. “Readers could click on a connection and dive into the documents that related to it. The really great part about the connections web was that it was created with open source software and modified easily to fit our needs.”

— Bill Church is executive editor of The Statesman Journal.

Loew’s report turned up multiple red flags about the agency that were raised — and ignored — over the past 10 years

G a n n e t t I n n o v a t i o n A w a r d s


At the Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we’re passionate about finding innovative ways to report and publish watchdog journalism. This past year, we invited readers to help us identify falsehoods from public officials. We posted rich, original source material on our website so readers could analyze information themselves enabling us to be the 2011 Gannett Foundation winner for large newspapers. We provided watchdog tools to our team and celebrated their First Amendment victories. Some key projects included:

AZ Fact Check

We launched AZ Fact Check on Aug. 15, 2010, in advance of the Arizona primary election. This interactive website and database, built from scratch, allows readers to suggest candidates’ statements for us to check. Then, reporters, along with Arizona State University journalism students, research the questions. We published the results in the newspaper and aired them on TV, through KPNX-Channel 12, our broadcast partner and NBC affiliate. Some Fact Checks came with deep original source material. We attached links to videos, documents and websites so that readers could view material in question and draw their own conclusions. They could search AZ Fact Check by topic or person.

Fact Checks were sent out through our azcentral Twitter account, reaching 15,000 followers. We also created a Fact Check widget that bloggers could download and embed on their own site. We made it easy for readers to share the feature through Facebook and Twitter. The response was tremendous. AZ Fact Check logged close to 225,000 page views over its first four months. Readers praised the feature in e-mails, phone calls and Facebook posts.

“This is a fabulous idea,” said Pat Thomas, one reader. “I take my hat off to you. You’re absolutely right. It’s getting difficult to know who is sticking to the facts and who is spewing half-truths or a lot of hate-filled hogwash. See it at azfactcheck.azcentral.com

Budget Balancer

With the state budget in disarray, our politics team wanted to find a way to give readers a voice in how the state resolved its financial issues.

Our team created an online application that allows users to balance the state budget. Users could choose from 39 funding cuts and moves to balance the budget or even create a surplus. They then submitted their budget by e-mail and

learned how their choices compared with others’. They could share budgets with friends, family and even members of the state Legislature via e-mail, Facebook or Twitter. Budget Balancer received more than 1,400 entries, with users spending an average of seven minutes interacting with the application. We published a story about how these users balanced the budget and compared their choices to decisions by the state Legislature.

See it at http://www.azcentral.com/news/election/azelections/state-budget/

Newsroom Tools

Our Watchdog Committee, composed of staffers from all newsroom departments, conducted an online survey of reporters and editors and, based on results, began rolling out face-to-face training sessions, online tutorials, video tutorials and guest speakers. A Watchdog Wiki on our newsroom intranet offers reporters and editors a forum for watchdog discussion and links to watchdog training. It offers tips, updates, case citations and “how-we-did-it” anecdotes. To sharpen our effectiveness in pursuing records, we created a shared Public Records Tracker that allows reporters and editors to note their records requests and ensure follow-up.

To address the increasing costs of records, we bought portable scanners for our reporters. Immediately, we ran into resistance from a university and a state law-enforcement agency, which wanted to charge us a fee for each page scanned with our own device. We argued that using the scanner was equivalent to inspection of the document and should be free. One by one, agencies reluctantly agreed. We cut a deal with Guidestar to get a special, discounted rate to its premium service, allowing reporters to dig into nonprofits in depth. We bought software that turns paper copies of charts into Excel spreadsheets.

These initiatives have helped strengthen our communities. They have held government officials accountable. They have given people power and tools to make informed decisions. And they have inspired our staff.

“It’s made a difference,” said Christina Leonard, Arizona Republic state politics editor and AZ Fact Check editor. “When upper management is invested in watchdog reporting, it makes everyone realize it’s a priority. When we do our day-to-day reporting, it’s front of mind. What we do is important. We serve an important role.” —Nicole Carroll is Executive Editor at the Arizona Republic/azcentral.com.

3Just the FactsG a n n e t t I n n o v a t i o n A w a r d s


ELECTIONS

— Bob Heisse is new APME president, replacing Hollis

Towns

B Bob Heisse, executive editor of the Centre Daily Times, was elected president of the Associated Press Media Editors at the group’s annual conference in Denver.

As vice president this year, Heisse worked closely with the AP-APME Broken Budgets reporting initiative and oversaw the expansion of the five-year-old APME Innovator of the Year contest to award monthly recognition.

“More than ever, APME is delivering for newsrooms, whether it’s in top training through NewsTrain, top content through national projects, or guidance in unsteady times.” Heisse said. “Thousands of editors in our newsrooms need the support and resources that APME can offer.”

“I look forward to welcoming AP broadcasters, educators and student media editors to APME,” he said. “We have a lot planned in coming months, including new social media projects, continuing two national reporting initiatives on Broken Budgets and Aging America, and unveiling the APME50 project to reach out to editors in a new way.”

APME — an association of editors at AP’s 1,500 member newspapers in the U.S. and newspapers served by The Canadian Press in Canada, and 3,000 AP broadcast outlets in the U.S. — works closely with the news company to strive for journalism excellence. APME also supports training and development of editors in a changing media landscape, as well as initiatives in online credibility and diversity. Its name was changed on Sept. 14 to Associated Press Media Editors to reflect the changing makeup of the 78-year-old organization.

Heisse began his career at Bucks County Courier Times in Levittown and later became city editor of The Patriot- News in Harrisburg. A Penn State journalism graduate, he joined the Centre Daily Times, which is owned by the McClatchy Co., in 2002.

He is immediate past president of the Pennsylvania APME and is a former president of the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors.

He will serve as association president until the next APME conference, which will be held at the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 18-21, 2012.

Other APME officers elected were Brad Dennison, vice president of News & Interactive for GateHouse Media, as vice president, and Debra Adams Simmons, editor of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer as secretary. Dennison will serve as president in 2013 and Adams Simmons in 2014.

Appointed to the leadership ladder was Alan Miller, managing editor of The Columbus Dispatch. Miller will serve as APME president in 2015.

Hollis Towns, executive editor of the Asbury Park Press in Neptune, N.J., completed his term as association president and will become president of the APME Foundation. Otis Sanford, who holds the Hardin Endowed Chair of Excellence at the University of Memphis, has completed his service to APME with a term as Foundation president.

Elected to at-large terms on the board were: Michael Days, managing editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer; Jan Touney, executive editor of the Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa; Martin G. Reynolds, editor of the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune; Laura Kessel, managing editor of the News Herald of Willoughby, Ohio; and Kurt Franck, executive editor of the Toledo (Ohio) Blade; and Aminda Marques of The Miami Herald.

Elected to the small newspaper seat was Bill Church of the Statesman-Journal of Salem (Ore.). Elected to the online seat was Joe Hight, director of information and development at The Oklahoman and NewsOK.com. Elected to the new seat for an AP broadcast member was Jim Farley, vice president of news and programming at WTOP-FM, Washington, D.C.

Appointed to the board a couple weeks after the conference was Jim Simon, assistant managing editor of The Seattle Times. Simon, the next highest vote getter in the election, replaced J. Todd Foster, who resigned from the board.


GGregory Moore, editor of The Denver Post, and Sher-rie Marshall, editor of The Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, are the recipients of the 10th annual Robert G. McGruder Award for Diversity Leadership, sponsored by the Associated Press Media Editors. Moore and Marshall were honored for their longstanding commitment to diversity in newspaper content and in newsroom recruiting and staff development.

The awards are given annually to individuals, newsrooms or teams of journalists who embody the spirit of McGruder, a former executive editor of the Detroit Free Press, former managing editor of The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer and a graduate of Kent State University. McGruder died of cancer in April 2002. A past president of APME and former member of the American Society of News Editors’ Board of Directors, McGruder was a relentless diversity champion. This year, the 10th annual awards were sponsored by the Free Press, The Plain Dealer, Kent State University and the Freedom

Forum. The winners were recog-nized Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011, at the annual APME conference in Denver. The honorees each received $2,500 and a leadership trophy. “Both of our winners reflect the legacy of Bob McGruder,” said Hollis Towns, outgoing APME president and executive editor of the Asbury Park Press and New Jersey Press Media. “They have embraced diversity in their

newsrooms in spite of the challenges the industry has had to endure, and they have elevated the attention to diversity in their newspapers.”

In the nominating letter for Marshall, nominators Jean Fox Alston, vice president/foundation for the Newspaper Association of America, and Reginald Stuart, corporate recruiter for the McClatchy Co., wrote: “Regardless of the economic times, Sherrie has made it her business to keep diversity in news coverage and staffing atop her agenda. On the recruiting front, she made it her business to participate in journalism events and to network with aspiring and early career prospects as well as peer colleagues. She gladly took on students for paid internships, knowing those early experiences are priceless. She breathes it, as Bob did. She lives it, as Bob did! Through three publishers, two owners, flush and lean times, Sherrie Marshall has remained consis-tent in her dedication to diversity.”

Marshall joined The Telegraph in February 2001, after working for the Minneapolis Star Tribune for 22 years, her last position being deputy managing editor. The nomination for Moore pointed to his career-long commitment to diversity in each of the newsrooms he has worked in.

“I’ve known Greg for more than two decades, and in ev-ery market he’s worked in as a reporter and editor – Dayton, Cleveland, Boston and Denver – he’s left visible signs of his diversity leadership. He leads through words, actions and personal examples,” said Mark Russell, editor of the Or-lando Sentinel, who worked for Moore at the Globe. Moore was named editor of The Denver Post in June 2002.

“And he quickly put a stamp on the largest newsroom in Colorado,” Russell said. “Call it the Moore effect: He prom-ised to shake things up, and promptly set about doing that. And, all the while, he kept diversity front and center as a way to improve the journalism and connect with the increas-ingly diverse Denver area. ”

Before joining The Post, Moore had been the managing editor of the Boston Globe for nearly eight years. He began his career in 1976 at the Journal Herald in Dayton, Ohio. Before becoming editor, he worked as a reporter covering crime, education, politics and government. A native of Cleveland, Moore joined the Globe in April 1986 after six years at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. It was his hometown paper that began his editing career, first as state political editor in 1982 and later as day city editor.

Moore, Marshall Win McGruder Award

Robert McGruder

Gregory Moore , Annette McGruder and Sherrie Marshall

journalists who embody the spirit of Robert McGruder


T

The Future: Credibility Is the

Product, but the Only Thing Certain Is

Uncertainty

by J.B. Bittner

Tom Curley

Kate Marymont

Dean Singleton

There is no going back, but it is credibility – the hallmark of newspaper journalism – that keeps the news industry going forward in the digital age. That is the word from Tom Curley, Associated Press president and chief executive officer; Dean Singleton, MediaNews Group chairman and CEO; and Kate Marymont, Gannett Co. vice president/news, U.S. Community Publishing. The three were in Denver for the 2011 APME conference. Each shared a vision of the future of news.

“I would make an argument that news today is a lot more important to society than it’s ever been,” said Singleton, whose company’s holdings include The Denver Post. “Credibility is one of our greatest assets, but it’s also one of our greatest responsibilities to make sure that credibility -- and accuracy and dependability-- is guarded just as much on new platforms as it was in print.”

Not everyone in new media shares a sense of responsibility for credibility and accuracy, Singleton said. “Whatever platform ... the rules that we have held sacred, the responsibility, the credibility and the guidelines that we never, ever bend are just as important as they ever were,” he said.

So how does the newspaper industry survive in its evolution to the newest media industry, credibility intact?

Get on the same page, said AP’s Curley. The people leading the way in innovation and the managers controlling the decisions must work together.

“I feel that some of those out there leading the charge don’t have their backs covered,” he said.

“I can’t come and give you a verbal dose of Xanax and get you through this,” Curley told editors from across the country. “I can’t tell you the bad times are going to end. You should go back and prepare your teams for the likely fact the change process is


going to accelerate, not slow down.”

Marymont outlined how Gannett is accelerating change in its American newsrooms. One step has been to combine operations that can be consolidated without eroding local news and advertising. That means centralized design studios but a commitment to local news and ad initiatives, she said.

“First, we’re redefining local journalism and how we approach it,” Marymont said. “We cannot do everything we used to do, so we have to be very selective. We think it’s possible to find alternative sources, to save our power for what communities look to us for - the great watchdog journalism, the great storytelling, community leadership, helping communities understand their issues and solve their issues ... So, how do news organizations take that content to readers on new platforms?”

Readers consume news and information differently on different platforms, Marymont said, and news organizations need to understand the experience readers want.

“The experience that you get from your tablet each morning is different from the experience you get from your printed newspaper,” she said. “We have to differentiate our content and sharply, crisply tailor the right content for website, mobile platforms, for print.”

Curley sees promise in mobile distribution of news.

“Mobile is a great opportunity for the do over,” he said. “Mobile gives us a chance to do so much. We’ve got to be smarter this time, in this do over. There won’t be a third chance here.”

Keywords from the session, from Curley: Accelerate, adapt, aggregate. From Marymont: high-impact local content from staff, coupled with user-generated content - “people expect to be a part of things now.”

From Singleton: Change. And change again.

“Print does not break news and never will again,” Singleton said. “We constantly have to change the print product as digital gets to be a bigger piece of what we’re doing. It’s not ‘this is the way it needs to be in the digital world and you leave it that way.’ We are going to be changing it all the time – monthly, if not weekly, but certainly all the time. Our challenge is to make sure we get the right mix.”

The future of news?

Curley sees it customized to give readers options. Marymont sees it tailored to all platforms. Singleton sees it on newsprint - but in a mix with digital opportunities.

“Print is not dead, by a long shot,” he said. “A lot of people depend on our print newspapers. A lot of advertisers depend on our print newspapers.”

A news future that includes print will operate with a business model featuring lean and efficient operations comprised of the right mix of print and digital.

“Infrastructures are going to have to be more creative and more efficient to make room for feet on the street,” Singleton told editors.”At the end of the day, feet on the street is what we have to sell.”

Curley said he was “more excited about 2012 than any year in my career, and I’m more positive about our prospects than at any time I can remember.” Marymont shares the enthusiasm.

“How fun is that,” she said, “when we get to do what we got into this business to do - and invent new ways of doing it?”

Singleton is optimistic that a business model is evolving that will allow those in the news business to transition successfully.

“There’s no certainty we get there the way we planned,” he said.

News, why journalists do what they do, Curley said, is as big today as ever.

“Everything you can measure or see or do-- news is still at the top,” he said. “News, and the credibility around news, the demand for it, still should excite the hell out of us every day when we get up. Doing it right should remain our life’s course.”

–J.B. Bittner is editor of CNHI/Stillwater (Oklahoma) NewsPress.


IIf news organizations want feedback, they certainly are

getting it today when they host reader comments on their websites.

For example, the Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World, a 16,500-circulation daily, reached 1 million reader comments just four years after turning on the service in 2005.

Strong reader engagement also comes with its challenges, especially when commenters are anonymous. Editors have to spend more time moderating comments, refocusing the conversation and engaging that audience.

Jack Lail, multimedia editor for the Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee, moderated a panel of news executives during the Associated Press Media Editors 2011 conference in Denver in September. Each member of the panel — David Arkin, executive director of Gatehouse News & Interactive Division; Bobby Burton, president of 24/7 Sports; and Steve Buttry, director of engagement for the Journal Register Co. — had a distinct take on engaging comments.

Arkin said Gatehouse editors were frustrated over how much time it took to manage comments, as well as over “the ugliness” of responses posted on articles. Some editors wanted more control of who was commenting or proposed requirements for registration using real names, which some believe would limit insensitive comments. The company also realized that with 90 daily and 250 weekly websites, one size wasn’t going to fit all.

The result was the creation of three systems, giving editors and publishers a choice of how they wanted to host comments, including:

• Newspapers didn’t have to change a thing.

• The papers could require all users to reregister and tell the paper who they are if they wanted to comment.

• Papers could require commenters to use their real names under a new terms of use.

Of the new policies, 155 papers chose the least-restricted model, 125 chose the moderate and 19 picked the most restrictive.

Arkin said papers choosing the moderate or most-

restricted policies saw comments go down 10 percent to 20 percent, but traffic remained steady. Stories also averaged about five to 10 comments each.

“Editors found they were spending less time managing comments,” he said.

Before starting 24/7 Sports, Burton was with Rivals.com, a college-recruiting website that encouraged commenting. At 24/7, he said, “Comments are baked into our DNA. It’s who we are. We believe in the value of it.”

24/7 is subscription-based and has forums where the audience hangs out when news isn’t happening. “We have discussion forums for every website but one home for all comments,” Burton said. “We have a single home where readers can discuss among themselves.”

Burton said each reporter is responsible for monitoring their own discussions, responding to reader questions and policing its use. It takes a lot of their time,

but they know the their responsibilities for comments when they are hired.

“It’s fun for the reader to interact on your website,” Burton said. But 24/7 also has an “ignore” button to hide users they don’t want to see. “We also have a general ban that could last a day or forever if the user is just being a jerk, or we can sell them a subscription to our content but not let them comment,” he explained.

Buttry said times sure have changed.“With the old way we chose which letters would run and

when on just one page,” he said. “We were in our comfort zone. But you can’t do that online. It’s not on your terms.”

Buttry can make a case for verifying identity because it encourages accountability, civility, sharing and good journalism.

“But you have to at least consider the case for anonymity,” he said. “I want to understand the issues better. It’s also the culture of journalism – remember Deep Throat?”

Reporters and editors need to join the conversation and use the comment forums for news tips, Buttry said. “The conversation is more civil when you are involved,” he said. “Also, you see more opportunities for crowd sourcing.”

—Dennis Anderson is Managing Editor of The Lawrence

Journal-World and a member of the APME Board of Directors.

Policing the Comments

by Dennis Anderson

David Arkin


Ashowcase for ingenuity

APME’s Innovations/Great Ideas Committee will seek to become more proactive in pushing its “Innovations” and “Great Ideas” concepts to its members and the industry.

The new committee formed by APME President Bob Heisse is being co-chaired by David Arkin, executive director for Gatehouse Media’s News & Interactive Division, and Joe Hight, director of information and development for The Oklahoman/NewsOK.com. Committee members are Kathy Best, managing editor of the Seattle Times; Bill Church, executive editor, the Statesman Journal Media in Salem, Ore.; and Kurt Franck, executive editor, The Blade in Toledo, Ohio.

The combination of the two projects will bring more visibility to the concept that media should be consistently sharing ideas and innovations that will spur growth in the industry. Media that submit their great ideas will not only have those highlighted but will be considered for the Innovator of the Month award.

“Awarding not only a monthly innovator, but also recognizing great ideas, will not only be great news for the newsrooms that are recognized, but it’s an outstanding tool for newsrooms that are hungry to test out new ideas,” Arkin said.

“Taking APME’s popular Great Ideas program and making it a monthly recognition program, in addition to the production of the annual book, was a no brainer,” he added. “In our constantly changing industry, our colleagues are constantly searching for the brightest and best ideas and innovations.”

Hight, the co-chair, added that the committee would be using social media as well as the APME website to interact more with the industry about its ideas and innovations. It will also promote the programs through state AP bureaus and other areas.

The committee will ask monthly innovation winners to participate in a Q&A and provide other interactive elements to help explain how they created and introduced the concepts. It also will try to simplify the process to submit innovations and ideas to the website.

Besides the monthly innovations and ideas, the committee will continue to award and highlight the Innovator of the Year and the Great Ideas book at the annual APME conference. Part of the book will be devoted to a new “hall of fame” for the past and monthly winners.

Heisse, executive editor of The Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa., had previously chaired the Innovations Committee. Franck and Terry Orme, managing editor of The Salt Lake Tribune, had chaired Great Ideas.

“This has become such a great tradition for APME that I and others look forward to each year at the annual conference,” Hight said.

“We hope that this new approach will not only simplify the process and make it more visible, but also build upon these valuable APME creations.”


FFacebook started from the idea of authentic identity, said Vadim Lavrusik, journalism program manager for Facebook during an opening day session at the Associated Press Me-dia Editors conference in Denver, Sept. 14-16.

“You didn’t have to use a user name,” Lavrusik said. “You can be who you really are, and connect with others you have authentic relationships with.”

Lavrusik is also an adjunct professor at the Columbia School of Journalism. He was previously at Mashable and The New York Times.

It wasn’t long before Facebook users discovered the joys of connecting with their authentic friends by sharing news with them by posting articles in status updates or “liking” ar-ticles of interest.

“If searching for the news was the most important devel-opment of the last decade, sharing the news may be among the most important of the next,” said Lavrusik, citing Pew Re-search Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism’s report “Navigating News Online,” released May 9.

Through subscribing, friending and navigating the “new clusters of news” around the same topics are ways of shar-ing, Lavrusik said. “Think of it as an additional filter to help readers and viewers decide what it is that they are interested in reading.”

Facebook conducted studies on “like” buttons and found that those who knew a face on the page were 3-5 times more likely to click on the button.

Lavrusik noted that the average news site has seen a 300 percent increase in Facebook referrals since January. News sites, such as Huffington Post, found that those who use Facebook to sign in, view more pages and spend more time on the site.

Lavrusik gave some mini-primers on how to use Facebook for reporting and storytelling. For instance, by going to face-book.com/search, you can click on Public Posts and see sta-tus updates by everyone. A search for “gaddafi” on Oct. 20 brought up videos, photos and stories from around the world. Lavrusik suggested that doing this search could help journal-ists track down the person-on-the-street voice. He said that soon they hope to be able to filter by location.

He pointed to a story by Ian Shapira of the Washington Post, “A mother’s joy and a family’s sorrow,” for which he used Facebook updates to create a compelling story and charticle. << http://live.washingtonpost.com/facebook-shapira.html>>

The Groups filter on the search page is useful to see what kind of conversations are out there. Lavrusik suggests that reporters can build a beat Rolodex out of this tool.

However, he most often uses the People filter, which can be pared down by location, education or work. He suggests messaging potential sources, because most get an e-mail, in addition to the Facebook notification.

In Minneapolis, he was able to track down the girlfriend of a student who committed suicide. Because he contacted her through Facebook, and she was able to learn a little bit about him from his page, she gave him the interview.

In another example, The Daily Norwalk had an open page and used it as a community hub. After a shooting, they got a great tip from the page.

“Use the community, the crowd, to help you in the pro-cess,” Lavrusik said. “Before you would go out to talk to six people, but now you can reach thousands.”

Questions or requests for input had 64 percent more en-gagement. “They want to participate; you just have to ask,” Lavrusik said. Try the “Ask a Question” tool, he suggested.

Facebook for Journalists A Rolodex of 750 Million

Vadim Lavrusik is the journalism program manager for Facebook and an adjunct professor at the Columbia School of Journalism. He was previously at Mashable and The New York Times.

By Laura Sellers Earl


Of course, the simplest use of pages – both for individual journalists or organizations – is to drive traffic.

Lavrusik announced that Facebook just launched a “sub-scribe” feature for profiles. This enables journalists to allow people to connect and subscribe, without adding you as a friend. This gets around the potential conflict of interest some-times implied by friending sources or subjects.

He urges journalists to use Facebook for breaking news. He cited a study showing that when there were 10 updates on the same story, those posts had above-average engagement and click-throughs, as opposed to 10 unrelated stories in the same timeframe, which lowered engagement and clicks.

Lavrusik said it is best to be transparent about who is post-ing, because it’s like a byline.

Facebook is the biggest photo-sharing site that isn’t exclu-sively a photo-sharing site, with more than 250 million photos uploaded daily. He said people are more likely to click on pho-tos than anything else.

He urged news organizations to post behind-the-scenes photos for their newsgathering.

“Readers are fascinated with the work of journalists and how that process takes place,” he said.

What works?:• News analysis: Posts by journalists with analysis received

20-plus percent more referral clicks. If the topic is international news, the percentage jumped to 70 percent; for politics, it rose to 60 percent.

• Meatier lengths for posts: – Five-plus lines get 60 percent more engagement; four lines receive 30 percent more.

• Photos: Posts with photos get 50 percent more “likes” than

posts without. Links with thumbnails work much better, too. • Weekend traffic: Saturday links received more than 85 per-

cent more clicks.• Post through the day: There are spikes at 7 and 8 a.m., 10

a.m., 4 and 5 p.m., 12 a.m. and 2 a.m.

What doesn’t work?:• Feeds: Feeds get 2 to 3 times less engagement. Lavrusik

said he almost thinks feeds are more damaging than not hav-ing a presence at all.

Lavrusik pointed to applications that can enhance your page, such as one to create a welcome page or welcome tab; streaming using Livestream; or adding a custom contact form. He suggested using tools to provide the incentive for people to connect, such as publishing an exclusive piece of content or donating for every “like.”

Asked which news organizations are doing the best job on Facebook, Lavrusik pointed to The New York Times, which he says uses Facebook not only for distribution, but also for reporting. He also gave high marks to NPR, The Washing-ton Post and The Associated Press.

Visit facebook.com/journalists for these tips and many more.

–Laura Sellers is the director of audience development for East Oregonian Publishing Co. and a member of the APME Board of Directors.

FACEBOOK FOR JOURNALISTS

• 800 million monthly active users• 350 million mobile monthly users• Average user has 130 friends• 50 percent of users return daily and spend 25 minutes on site• 4 billion pieces of content shared daily• The average user shares 150 items a month• People ages 35+ are fastest growing segment using Face book• Average media organization has seen a 300% increase in FB referrals since January 2010 Resources:• Facebook.com/Vadim Facebook.com/journalists Navigating News Online (Pew Research Center): www. journalism.org/node/25008


A At a time of strict privacy laws and tighter security for federal documents, the use of public records is one of the best newsgathering tools, an investigative journalist said during a session on the First Amendment and Public Records at the

2011 APME conference in September.“Public records are my favorite things,” said Laura Frank,

founder and executive director of I-News, the Rocky Mountain Investigative News Network. “Since 9/11, all road blocks have been thrown up because of national security, and there are privacy laws that are springing up and they seem to trump all others.”

In an interview after the conference, Frank said records are often more reliable than interviews with sources or eyewitness accounts.

“With records, you can document what it is you are trying to show that a ‘he said, she said’ from a source can’t do,” she said. “Eyewitness accounts are more likely to get it wrong than documents. If you’ve got what you report in a document, it is legally seen as much stronger than what a source told you.”

Frank, a founder of I-News Network, a Colorado-based non-profit investigative news service that partners with public television, public radio, newspapers and other media, recommended that news organizations form partnerships or consortiums that will be more powerful than going it alone.”

“If you have a story on one news outlet, you have one shot at one audience to get the information out there,” she said. “But if it is in the newspaper, on a commercial TV station, on the public TV station and on the public radio station and every other newspaper in the region, it is much more powerful to have the story reach a super audience.”

Relying on shield laws, protecting news sources and retaining notes also were key topics discussed during the First Amendment session.

Steve Zansberg, a Denver attorney with the law firm of Levin Sullivan Koch & Schulz, said 40 states have shield laws in the United States to protect reporters’ sources, but shield laws are not applicable in federal court. There also is no national shield law, he said.

“None of the protections is[sic] absolute,” Zansberg said. “The First Amendment is not unified across the nation. These laws vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.”

Zansberg also urged newsroom leaders to have a “consistent practice” on retaining notes from stories. He warned editors not to change the practice just because a staff member has been served with a subpoena.

It doesn’t matter, Zansberg said, “if you throw them (reporter notes) out or hold onto them for a year, but be consistent.”

Dave Tomlin, assistant general counsel for the Associated Press, said that it does not have a note-destruction policy and that he does not recommend one. He believes fully in the protection of notes, specifically for the use of the actual

reporter.Tomlin said it would not be a

good idea “to plan your entire note strategy around the crisis.”

Frank, a self-described “habitual note-keeper,” said she keeps her notes because she may refer to them years later.

“I tend to keep things that are relevant down the road,” she said. “And if you’ve been able to document what you’ve reported, you are bullet-proof.”

—Kurt G. Franck is executive editor of The Blade, Toledo, Ohio, and an APME board member.

On the Recordby Kurt Franck


Jill Geisler

Q: How do we encourage and inspire newsroom staffers who feel their best work is behind them?

A: I’d start by asking them to tell me more about why they feel that way. Then listen, really listen, instead of arguing that they’re simply living in the past. Find out what of that best work mattered most to them. In these conversations, you can find opportunities to connect journalists to things that still matter today. Newsrooms are doing important work, even on limited budgets. It’s so easy for newsroom managers to lose patience with complaints and comparisons to yesterday, when they, too, would love to have those resources back again. If your staffers matter

to you, find ways to empathize, honor the past, and then strategize how to make today’s work as meaningful as possible to them. Sometimes it’s great feedback from a respected leader, sometimes it’s sharing metrics that show how a story is being viewed and shared, sometimes it is saving up scarce dollars to fund that out-of-town story, sometimes its just carving out extra time for a journalist who loves to dig and does it well.

Q: Many of us are seeing talented people leave our newsrooms for opportunities outside the industry. What can we say to those who remain that will keep them in the business?

Teaches management and leadership at the Poynter Institute, answers questions about some common challenges confronting newsroom leaders

Then listen, really listen

Interview by Mark Baldwin, The editor of The Republic, Columbus, Ind.


A: There was once a time when newsroom managers could say, “Come work with us. There are folks in this newsroom who’ve launched their careers here and some who have put down roots for life. Do good work and you can have that option, too.” Today, the economy can make liars of us if we promise unlimited job security. So, what CAN you promise? How about this: “I promise to act as your agent. If you hired an agent, you’d want that person to be honest with you about your skills, tell you what you do well and could do better, help you grow, and find the best assignments for your talents. I will help you build a portfolio of work that will serve you well here or wherever the future takes you.” We have to assume our employees have one eye on the door today, and not resent them for it. They have to look out for themselves, but they’ll follow great bosses who are looking out for them, too.

Q: What are the most important questions we ought to be asking job applicants these days?

A: I think the traditional questions that check research, reporting, writing and critical thinking skills are as relevant as ever. But I’d be certain to add questions that probe for the applicant’s skills and values when it comes to collaboration. We can’t afford “lone wolves” in our midst, when so much of what we do in news today requires us to multitask in cooperation with others. I would give the applicant a story topic and ask him or her – on the spot – to tell me six different ways that story might be told. (Looking, of course, for responses that reflected knowledge of various platforms, media and story forms.) Then I’d announce that a big building across the street from us had just exploded, and ask the applicant how he or she would start reporting that story, right now. (I’m looking for good news instincts and use of new tools as part of the response.) I’d also ask the applicant one more question: How can you make us better?

Q: Editors are notorious for giving short-shrift to self-care. What advice do you have for editors who need to stay fresh, healthy and upbeat in the face of shrinking staffs and near-constant change?

A: We need to look out for each other. People who choose jobs with high levels of responsibility often need to be told by their bosses to stand down and take care of themselves. Without that, they feel self-indulgent when they rest. Managers need to be careful about sending unintended messages that demand ever more of middle managers. For example, editors or publishers who send

emails in the middle of the night, early morning or on weekends because that’s when they think of an idea or question, need to let their people know that they don’t expect others to be working those same hours. I’m also a passionate advocate of fun at work. The last chapter of my upcoming book for managers is all about the three essential values leaders bring to the workplace: integrity, humanity, and levity.

Q: Who were some of the important influences on your philosophy of management and leadership and what, specifically, did you take from them?

A: I feel like I’ve spent my life gathering management and leadership ideas and inspiration from all sorts of sources. I probably started in grade school with the School Sisters of St. Francis, who infused our learning with a strong focus on social justice. I’ve had bosses and co-workers from whom I’ve learned great lessons about strategic thinking, negotiation and collaboration. Then there were the many newsroom employees who helped me learn from my mistakes as a manager -- and still forgave me! When I signed on at Poynter, I immersed myself in leadership literature, and with Poynter’s support, earned a master’s degree in leadership studies.

Q: What are you reading? Can you recommend any good articles or books for editors?

A: My bias is always for leadership and management books that are research-based, not just someone’s opinions or a clever parable. If you’re going to accept someone’s advice, you ought to be able to check the foundational sources.

Having said that, my current favorites are: “The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement and Creativity at Work,” by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer; “Blind Spots: Why We Fail to Do What’s Right and What to Do about It,” by Max Bazerman and Ann E. Tenbrunsel; “Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us,” by Daniel Pink; and, if you’ll permit a plug, there’s this book coming out in June of 2012 called “Work Happy: What Great Bosses Know,” by Jill Geisler. It’s my answer to the people who’ve asked me to suggest just one book they could read to improve their leadership and management skills, the way we do in our Poynter programs. In these tough economic times, when training has been cut, it’s a workshop-in-a-book for aspiring great bosses! It’s was just listed on Amazon for pre-orders and I can’t tell you what a thrill it was to see it becoming a reality.


MMedia representatives and officials from two sports enterprises at the Associated Press Media Editors conference in Denver voiced strong disagreement about how much access the media should have to events and athletes and how important that access is to fans.

Generally, the four panelists agreed that their disagreements over access are not rooted in First Amendment issues but in contract law, which panelist Dave Tomlin, assistant general counsel for the Associated Press, said leaves room for negotiation.

Tomlin riled panelist Bob Bowman, chief executive officer of MLB Advanced Media, when the AP counsel said that independent reporting benefits sports enterprises, because it “confers credibility and respectability,” and that it will help to grow a fan base.

Bowman responded that it was insulting to the “125 hard-working, independent” members of his reporting staff to suggest that their work is suspect because they report for an organization connected to Major League Baseball.

“I’m not suggesting that it isn’t professional, but it’s owned by baseball,” Tomlin said. “What I’m saying is that you don’t want the only voice about baseball to be baseball’s.”

Bowman agreed and said he wants to own live streaming of games and video recaps, but he does not want to supplant the analysis and commentary found in most newspapers.

Mobile delivery of text and images from sporting events

had been an issue in the past, but the most recent flashpoints have focused on video.

Mike Colbrese, executive director of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, said that high-school associations such as his are fairly collegial when it comes to to working with the media on videotaping sporting events.

“The tug-of-war comes in the fact that we’re all looking for that dollar,” he said.

“A lot of us have contracts with video, and we’re making some money from it, and we’re not going to jeopardize that because a local newspaper wants to live stream a game.”

The reality of restrictions on covering college and professional sporting events today was brought home by John Leyba, a photographer for The Denver Post.

“In past, you were allowed to go pretty much anywhere you wanted,” he said. “Now, they limit you to certain parts of the stadium or arena. Now, I make friends with anyone I can in stadium so that I can get where I need to be.”

Leyba said he has to ask permission for access to locker rooms and players, and “a lot of times, we’re shot down.”

He fears, he said, that one day, only one entity will be allowed to supply photos, “and we’ll have to buy them.”

–Alan Miller is Managing Editor of the Columbus Dispatch and Journalism Studies Chairman for APME.

(from left to right): Dave Tomlin, AP assistant general counsel; John Leyba, staff photographer, The Denver Post; Mike Colbrese,executive director, Washington Interscholastic Activities Association; Robert A. Bowman, president and chief executive officer, MLB Advanced Media; and moderator, John Cherwa, deputy sports editor, Los Angeles Times.

Panelists Debate Limits on Media at Sporting Events

access

denied

sports

By Alan Miller


OOn the heels of the successful Broken Budgets national reporting project, The Associated Press and APME have launched another project that should also resonate with readers. Aging America stories already have started moving, accompanied by a logo.

While Broken Budgets continues to examine how state and local governments are dealing with the nation’s fiscal crisis, the new Aging America project is telling the story of aging baby boomers.

An estimated 78.3 million Americans were born in the post World War II baby boom (approximately 1946–1964).The oldest among the boomers are reaching retirement age, and millions will follow. The project will look at the impact – costs, strains and positive influences – that this so-called silver tsunami will have on the communities in which they live.

With the expanded resources of a joint project, journalists should be able to drill down to the state and local level to tell the story of what happens when the population ages.

And aging it is: 10,000 people will turn 65 every day for the next 20 years or so. By 2050, 1 in 5 Americans will be seniors.

The project will examine health, business, and transportation, recreational and residential issues, among others.

A large portion of the series will be enterprise, but editors plan to fold in spot, breaking news where appropriate.

The reaction thus far has been positive. One editor called it an “incredible series” on an important topic.

The project model employed by AP and the Associated Press Media Editors leverages the resources of the AP and news organizations across the country. Collectively, they develop ideas on these topics, and go deep and wide with the

reporting. The result has been an amazing collection of front-page stories, many of which were bolstered with localized reports.

To join in, members don’t have to engage in a full-blown collaboration. When your staff does a particularly compelling story on the state’s fiscal problems or aging boomers, point it out to your AP bureau chief for use as a member exchange; localize one of the upcoming stories; and kick in ideas for full collaborations.

Terry Spencer, AP news editor in Miami, will be the news editor for the project. He will oversee the content, but

stories will be edited on the regional desks. His email address is [email protected].

Ebony Reed, AP assistant chief of bureau for New England, is taking the lead among the bureau chiefs, and Alan Miller, managing editor of The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch will be liaison with APME. Carole Feldman, AP director of news operations and finance in Washington, is the overall

coordinator. Their emails are: [email protected], [email protected], and [email protected].

The goal is to set up a team of reporters for the project – at AP and in member newsrooms around the country.

As with the Broken Budgets series, this will be a rolling, ongoing series with contributions from the AP and from members. In many cases, the stories will be structured in such a way that members can localize them, and AP will seek to give advance notice of stories and offer advice on data or other resources to aid in localizing them.

Find details on the Aging America project here: http://www.apme.com

Following the Boomers


TNewsrooms test credibility in social media

Twelve newsrooms are working on three new social media credibility projects sponsored by the Associated Press Media Editors, and the results will be summarized in Webinars at Poynter’s News University in 2012.The new projects will build on six online credibility projects completed in 2010. The full reports are available at apme.com. The goal of the social media credibility projects has been to help newsrooms create standards and better policies and practices in the expanding world of gathering news, publish-ing it and managing the accuracy and credibility of journal-ism. Funding for all of the projects has been provided through grants from the Ethics and Excellence Journalism Foundation and the APME Foundation. They also have been supported by the Center for Advanced Social Re-search at the Reynolds Institute at the University of Mis-souri, and NewsU, the e-learning project of the Poynter Institute. New social media projects and participating

newspapers are:-- Individual and newsroom rights and responsibilities -- The Sioux City (Iowa) Journal; The Statesman Journal, Salem, Ore.; The Avalanche-Journal, Lubbock, Texas, and The World, Tulsa, Okla.-- Credibility regarding verifications -- The Victoria (Texas) Advocate; The Seattle Times; The Spokesman-Review, Spokane, Wash.; Carroll County Times, Maryland; and The Brownsville (Texas) Herald.-- Credibility when publishing material from social media -- The Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel and The Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.“We’ll all gain from this new round of online credibility projects, which will be delivered in 2012,” said incoming APME president Bob Heisse, executive editor of the Centre Daily Times of State College, Pa. “APME thanks these newsrooms for leading the way.” Webinars of the previous six sessions are available at newsu.org.

LEGACYLegacy Program Encourages Bequests

The Associated Press Media Editors has unveiled an APME Ambassadors program for editors who include the organization in their estate planning.The goal, according to APME President Bob Heisse, is to attract at least 80 ambassadors by 2013, which is APME’s 80th year. The program, he said, will expand the organization’s fundraising and help ensure APME’s future.”What we’re doing grows in importance each year for editors who work with fewer and fewer resources,” said Heisse, executive editor of the

Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa. “We have to stay strong to offer leading training through NewsTrain, AP-APME national reporting initiatives, First Amendment support and much more.”He said making an estate donation is as easy as including APME in your will when it is written or revised, or adding a bequest through a codicil, or amendment to an existing will.Further details will be published in the next APME magazine. For more informa-tion, contact Sally Jacobsen at [email protected].


member Showcase

Wing walker Todd Green falls to his death after losing his grip performing a stunt during an air show at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Harrison Township, Mich., Sunday, Aug. 21, 2011. Green was trying to move from the plane to a helicopter above it before he fell.

AP Photo/ David Angell, The Macomb Daily

August 2011


Evansville fire Capt., Don Spindler carries a young girl out of a burning apartment in Evansville Tuesday, Sept. 7, 2011. A mother and her two young daughters remain in critical condition but stable condition at St. Mary’s Medical Center after being rescued from their burning South Side apartment.

AP Photo/ Jason Clark, The Evansville Courier & Press September 2011


&OfficersPresident: Bob Heisse, Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa.Vice President: Brad Dennison, Gatehouse Media, Fairport, N.Y.

Secretary: Debra Adams Simmons, The Plain Dealer, ClevelandJournalism Studies Chair: Alan D. Miller, The Columbus (Ohio) DispatchTreasurer: Jan Touney, Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa

Executive Committee(officers above plus)Past President: Hollis Towns, Asbury Park Press, Neptune, N.J.AP Senior Vice President/Executive Editor: Kathleen Carroll, New YorkAP Vice President/Senior Managing Editor: Mike Oreskes, New YorkAPME News Editor: Michael Days, The Philadelphia InquirerConference Program: Mark Baldwin, The Republic, Columbus, Ind.

Directors(Terms expiring in 2012)• Dennis Anderson, Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World• Mark Baldwin, The Republic, Columbus, Ind.• Cate Barron, The Patriot News, Harrisburg, Pa.• Chris Cobler, Victoria (Texas) Advocate• Alan English, The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle• Laura Sellers-Earl, East Oregonian Publishing Co., Astoria, Ore.• Carole Tarrant, The Roanoke (Va.) Times

(Terms expiring in 2013)• J.B. Bittner, Stillwater (Okla.) News Press• Jon Broadbooks, The State Journal-Register, Springfield, Ill.• Jim Simon, The Seattle Times• Carol L. Hanner, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal• Teri Hayt, Arizona Daily Star• Jack Lail, Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel (Terms expiring in 2014)• Bill Church, Salem (Ore.) Statesman-Journal• Michael Days, The Philadelphia Inquirer• Jim Farley, WTOP-FM, Washington, D.C. • Kurt Franck, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio• Joe Hight, The Oklahoman, Oklahoma City• Laura Kessel, The News-Herald, Whilloughby, Ohio• Aminda Marquez, Miami Herald• Martin G. Reynolds, The Oakland Tribune

Committee Chairs APME 50 (state reachout): A new initiative in 2012, APME 50 is a plan to reach out to active editors and news directors in each state.Co-chair: Laura Kessel, The News-Herald, Willoughby, Ohio ([email protected])Co-chair: Jon Broadbooks, The State Journal-Register, Spring-field, Ill. ([email protected])Broadcast: A new committee in 2012, this panel will look at ways to honor and inolve APME’s newest members from the broadcast stations.Chair: Jim Farley, WTOP-FM, Washington, D.C. ([email protected])APME Magazine: One of our most valued and important

communication tools, APME News is mailed several times a year to the AP membership.Chair: Michael Days, Philadelphia Inquirer ([email protected])First Amendment: This committee champions the First Amendment through programs and initiatives.Chair: Teri Hayt, Arizona Daily Star ([email protected])Conference-Nashville 2012: One of the busiest com-mittees, this one plans the annual conference in Nashville, Sept. 19, 21, 2012, attends to the details and runs the show each year.Chair: Mark Baldwin, The Republic, Columbus, Ind. ([email protected])Contest: This committee organizes the annual APME awards: Innovator of the Year, The Gannett Foundation Award for Innova-tion in Watchdog Journalism, Public Service, First Amendment, International Perspective, APMEOnline Convergence, Robert G. McGruder Diversity Leadership and the AP staff awards. They will work with the marketing and other committees to publicize the awards, entry criteria and deadlines. Then the group coordinates the judging each summer and presentations at the conference.Chair: Kurt Franck, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio ([email protected])Diversity: The Time Out for Diversity initiative is but one of this committee’s focuses. It takes on myriad projects in support of diverse news coverage and newsrooms. This year, the committee tackles how to practically produce change.Chair: Debra Adams Simmons, The Plain Dealer, Cleveland ([email protected])Educators/Student Journalists: With the addition of educators and student news leaders to the membership, this com-mittee will help engage and involve those involved with our next generation of news leaders.Chair: Chris Cobler, Victoria (Texas) Advocate ([email protected])Elections/Nominations: This committee is responsible for vetting 16-plus candidates to fill expiring or empty positions on the APME Board of Directors. Candidates are chosen based on participation in APME, circulation size, geography and other fac-tors to ensure a diverse governing body.Chair: Carol Hanner, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal ([email protected])Great Ideas: This is a chance for your news media to show off great work and to help fellow editors by providing ideas that might work in their markets. This group gathers submissions throughout the year, culminating in a booklet and session during the annual conference. Submit your effort online.Co-chair: David Arkin, GateHouse Media ([email protected])Co-chair: Joe Hight, The Oklahoman/NewsOK.com ([email protected])Innovator of the Year/Month: The award recognizes innovation in print, online, management, structure or other area that demonstrates a bold, creative effort to improve a news or information product and increase audience. This committee chair


coordinates the award-entry process and leads a session during the national conference where APME members vote on the Innovator of the Year winner. New in 2010, an Innovator of the Month was recog-nized. Submit your effort online.Co-chair: David Arkin, GateHouse Media ([email protected])Co-chair: Joe Hight, The Oklahoman/NewsOK.com ([email protected])Membership: Working to grow active members in APME.Chair: Bill Church, Statesman Journal, Salem, Ore. ([email protected])Marketing/APME.com/Auctions: This committee helps to get the word out about the group’s activities and those of NewsTrain and other initiatives through the website, social media and other marketing tools. It interacts with all the other committees and is vital to the success of the organization. This committee works to grow and improve both the annual live and silent auctions at the conference and the online auctions throughout the year.Co-chair: Dennis Anderson, Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World ([email protected])Co-chair: Laura Sellers Earl, East Oregonian Publishing Co., Salem, Ore. ([email protected])National Reporting/Sounding Board: The National Reporting Committee helps coordinate joint efforts between AP and its members, usually centered on specific topics. The Sounding Board panel solicits feedback from editors about AP’s filing of the wires, news content and other aspects of the news cooperative’s report. It also deals with issues of import to the newsroom leaders who comprise the membership.Chair: Alan D. Miller, The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch ([email protected])NewsTrain: NewsTrain is a national touring workshop serving journalists in their own cities. Programs are designed to provide train-ing in the skills, knowledge, and information newsroom leaders need in a rapidly changing media setting.Chair: Cate Barron, The Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa. ([email protected])Journalism Studies: This group monitors the project work of all the committees.Chair: Brad Dennison, Gatehouse Media ([email protected])

TEASERSAP Style is ubiquitous, and followers can be quite demanding about fine points of spelling, punctuation, word usage and phrasing. Queries usually go to Ask the Editor, the help site for subscribers to the online AP Stylebook. Here is a sample of queries fielded by David Minthorn of the AP Stylebook team. Test yourself on these brain-teasers.

1. Does AP have a preference on kitty-corner, catty-corner,catercorner? Do you advise against using it? - from New York City.

a. Kitty-cornerb. Catty-cornerc. Catercornerd. None of the aboveAnswer: a. kitty-corner. But it’s not about cats. In AP usage it meansdiagonal to or from. The term derives from cater, four at dice, fromMiddle English, and catre, or four, in old French.

2. French Canadian in the Stylebook’s nationalities and races entrydoesn’t follow your rule for hyphenating, as in African-American. Anerror? - from Tempe, Arizona.

a. French-Canadianb. French CanadianAnswer: b. French Canadian. An exception to spellings likeGerman-American for people of dual heritage. Here it means a Canadianwhose native language is French.

3. Are “the Netherlands” and “Holland” correctly usedinterchangeably? - from Mattituck, N.Y.

a. Yesb. NoAnswer: b. No. Holland is the name of two provinces of theNetherlands, which is the country name in datelines. In AP stories,Netherlands is often written without the definite article.

4. Does duo take a singular or a plural verb? How about pair, when referring to two people? - from Chicago.

a. The pair is ...b. The pair are ...c. It depends.Answer: c. It depends. Singular verb when referring to an entity: Theduo was asked to donate $5. Plural verb for two individuals: The pair are fighting like cats and dogs.

5. What is AP Style on saint when a church uses the word spelled out? – from Philadelphia.

a. Saint John’s Catholic Churchb. St. John’s Catholic Churchc. Use the church’s spellingAnswer: c. Use the church’s spelling. In a location, saint isabbreviated: St. Paul, Minn.

Bonus (if you wish):

6. How do you reference hourly wages? - New York, N.Y.

a. Eight dollars and hourb. 8 dollars per hourc. NeitherAnswer: c. neither. It’s $8 per hour, with a dollar sign and numeral inAP Style.


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The Associated Press Media Editors will meet in Nashville on Sept. 19-21, 2012, at the beautiful John Seigenthaler Center on the Vanderbilt University campus. Our conference Twitter handle is @APMEsings2012. Follow us all the way to Music Row.

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