APME urges colleagues to share letter to NCAA

Dear Colleagues,

APME and APSE have reached out to the NCAA numerous times in the last few years in an effort to meet with and discuss issues of importance.  Our efforts to communicate with NCAA officials have had very limited success.

Over the last year, Gerry Ahern, president of APSE and Tim Franklin, co-chair of ASNE’s Freedom of Information committee, have tried repeatedly to talk with the NCAA. Unfortunately, like earlier attempts to arrange meetings, the NCAA has not been able to find the time to meet with anyone.

The attached letter was written by Kevin Goldberg, ASNE's attorney, with the input and approval of the leaders of each organization and their respective counsels. The intent of this letter is to communicate our collective frustration with the NCAA’s continued indifference to our requests and to serve as notice that we are aware of the changes they have made for upcoming tournament coverage.

The letter was emailed from ASNE Feb. 13 and Kevin has put a hard copy in the mail to Mark Emmert and the six conference commissioners.

Now it's your turn to help by sharing this letter with your college or university presidents and athletic directors.

Thank you to Tim, Gerry and Kevin for their work on this important and difficult issue.

I will keep you posted on any developments.

Teri Hayt, Executive Editor, GateHouse Ohio Newspapers
teri.hayt@cantonrep.com

APME signs letter protesting the Steve Tyler Act

Colleagues,

Earlier this week APME signed a letter of protest sent to the Hawaiian Senator who authored a bill that would add enhanced criminal penalties for those photographing and recording celebrities or anyone else who reasonably believed that such an act was offensive. This is called the Steven Tyler Act and there have been a few stories about it.  See: http://www.wcvb.com/news/entertainment/-Steven-Tyler-Act-to-protect-celebs-from-paparazzi/-/9848582/18402244/-/qd64agz/-/index.html

Mickey H. Osterreicher, General Counsel for National Press Photographers Association (NPPA) wrote to Sen. Kalani English asking the senator to withdraw his bill that “as drafted tramples on the First Amendment rights of citizens and journalists.”  APME and several other media organizations support the NPPA’s efforts to stop this bill.  The bill is being presented today in a Senate hearing in Honolulu.  I will keep you posted.

Our letter is linked here.

Teri Hayt

Executive Editor

GateHouse Ohio Newspapers

The Repository | The Times-Reporter

The Independent | The Suburbanite

teri.hayt@cantonrep.com

APME seeking applications for Community Journalism Public Service Initiative

As it continues to show support for the work of small news organizations, the Associated Press Media Editors announces the second year of its Community Journalism Public Service Initiative.

Media companies in metropolitan areas (MSA) of 100,000 or fewer people are encouraged to apply for the grant. The recipient will receive $1,000 to jump-start the initiative and a trip to the annual APME conference to present the project.

It's easy to enter: Just draft a proposal of 500 words or less and include examples of how you would approach the project. It should be multiplatform, include social media and address a long-standing community issue.

Last year's winner was the Beaver Dam News of Beaver Dam, Wis. , won the grant with its series on mental illness in its community. Staff members Trena And Trista Pruitt presented their work on the project at the APME conference in Nashville.

This year's winner will have the opportunity to present at the conference Oct. in Indianapolis.

To apply, go to http://www.tfaforms.com/232227 and fill out the online form. The deadline for applications is March 15. The grant will be awarded in April.

Read more about the initiative.

Letter sent about federal booking mugs

Here's the link to the letter that was sent regarding the Marshals Service memo about federal booking mugs.

http://www.rcfp.org/reporters-committee-asks-doj-overturn-new-marshals-service-policy-blocking-release-federal-mug-shots

— Teri Hayt, Executive Editor, GateHouse Ohio Newspapers

NewsTrain Marks 10th Anniversary With First Stop in Springfield

NewsTrain, the signature on-site journalism training program of the Associated Press Media Editors, will make its first stop in its 10th anniversary year in Springfield, Ill. Workshops are being planned for April 29 and 30 at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Downtown Springfield. The APME-funded program makes four stops per year in the United States and Canada. Trainer Michael Roberts oversees NewsTrain and plans the workshops based on a needs assessment from a committee of journalists in the region of the host city. Programs are aimed at all levels of newsroom editors and managers, reporters, copy editors, visual journalists and online producers. College journalism educators and student journalist are also welcome. Other workshops are being planned later this year in Seattle and Colorado. The cost is $75 for the two days of training. Details are being worked out for hotel stays in downtown Springfield. We'll post registration details when we have them.

Federal booking mugs FOIA concern

Colleagues,

Alan Miller at the Columbus Dispatch alerted me to a recent change of policy with the U.S. Marshal’s Service here in Ohio. See below:

Media: On December 12, 2012, the U.S. Marshals Service changed its policy of releasing booking photos of federal defendants. You can read their new policy here: http://www.usmarshals.gov/foia/policy/index.html

Fred Alverson
Law Enforcement Coordinator
U.S. Attorney's Office - Southern District of Ohio

I contacted Mark Caramanica, the Freedom of Information Director at The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and he was kind enough to explain what is happening and why.

“The Marshals Service in Ohio previously had only released mug shots pursuant to federal FOIA requests originating from within the geographic jurisdiction of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit (Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee) but not the rest of the U.S. That’s because of a lawsuit and a Sixth Circuit appeals court decision from 1996. Pursuant to that ruling, mug shots were released in the Sixth Circuit under FOIA when the following conditions were met: 1) the defendant had been publicly named; 2) the defendant had been indicted; 3) the defendant had made a court appearance in connection with the indictment; and 4) there was an ongoing trial or appeal related to the indictment. Once a release was made under FOIA to someone from the Sixth Circuit, the Marshals would then honor requests from anywhere for the same mug shot on the reasoning that it is already in the public domain.

In accordance with the December 12 memo, the Marshals have now decided to NOT release mug shots under FOIA from within the Sixth Circuit either.

This is in light of two recent federal appellate court decisions in the Tenth and Eleventh Circuits that held that a federal mug shot could be withheld from public disclosure under FOIA’s privacy protections.

The release of booking mugs from the Justice Department has always been a problem, their position has been that they will proactively release photos of people charged with crimes only if it benefits some law-enforcement purpose. They have also in the past narrowly followed the 1996 ruling referenced above but only in the Sixth Circuit. They would continue to deny requests from all other jurisdiction unless the mug shot was previously released under FOIA in the Sixth Circuit.

The new policy seems to simply be a unilateral refutation of the law in the Sixth Circuit.”

Everyone has this problem, it’s not just an Ohio issue and no doubt you have developed work arounds to get these images. It is counter to Ohio state and local laws — and the practices of all other law-enforcement agencies and courts most of us deal with everyday.

Mark has been working on this issue for some time and would like to document specific examples of FOIA requests where you could no longer get a federal booking mug shot in light of the December 12 memo. If you have other examples, not necessarily tied to the December memo, please let us know.

Take a moment to talk to your reporters and get examples ASAP to Mark or me. Mark is reachable directly at:

Mark R. Caramanica
FOI Director
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
mcaramanica@rcfp.org
(703) 807-2100

The Reporters Committee is drafting a protest letter to the Justice Department for sign-on by the media. I understand ASNE will sign and so will APME.

We need your help to get a change of policy.

Teri

Teri Hayt
Executive Editor
GateHouse Ohio Newspapers
The Repository | The Times-Reporter
The Independent | The Suburbanite
teri.hayt@cantonrep.com
(330) 580-8310

Roberts to receive 2013 President’s Award

NewsTrain Program Director and veteran journalist Michael Roberts will be the recipient of the 2013 Associated Press Media Editors President’s Award, the organization announced today.

Roberts has been involved with APME’s signature program, NewsTrain, from its inception in 2003. After starting as a featured speaker for the low-cost, national traveling journalism workshop, he became a crowd favorite and remained a staple of the program. Roberts became the program’s director in 2011.

"We are indebted to Michael for his service and dedication to NewsTrain,” said APME President Brad Dennison. "He’s passionate about the program and protective of its quality, and we’re fortunate to have him. It’s time to say ‘thank you’ in a public way.”

 The APME President’s Awards are given out each year at the discretion of the organization’s president, and this recognition comes just as NewsTrain celebrates its 10-year anniversary.

Roberts will receive the award at the 80th APME conference, to be held Oct. 28-30 in Indianapolis.

Roberts will oversee four NewsTrain workshops in 2013 – the host sites are yet to be named.

Sponsors of NewsTrain 2013 include The Associated Press, the APME Foundation, the Ethics & Excellence in Journalism Foundation, the Gannett Foundation, the Scripps Howard Foundation, GateHouse Media Inc., Medicare News Group, Athlon Sports, and The World Company.

Outside of his work with NewsTrain, Roberts is a newsroom trainer and consultant who works with news organizations in the United States and Canada. He was deputy managing editor of staff development at The Arizona Republic from 2003 to 2010, where he was responsible for all newsroom training, served as writing coach and edited major projects.

Previously, Roberts designed and taught the American Press Institute's first online seminar for copy editors, and has presented programs for the Poynter Institute, American Press Institute, the Maynard Institute, Freedom Forum and various National Writers Workshops.

Before the Republic, Roberts was a senior editor, including 10 years as training editor/writing coach at The Cincinnati Enquirer. He has also held writing and editing positions at the Midland (Mich.) Daily News and the Detroit Free Press, and worked as an editor at two magazines. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and holds a master’s degree in training and human resource development from Xavier University in Cincinnati.

For more information contact: Brad Dennison, bdennison@gatehousemedia.com, 630-386-2945.

The Associated Press Media Editors is an association of top newspapers, digital and broadcast editors, as well as journalism educators and students in the United States and Canada. APME 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. 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.

APME SOUNDING BOARD SURVEY on ELECTION COVERAGE

Many newsrooms devoted lots of resources to fact-checking during the 2012 election. Editors say those efforts seemed popular with voters, but remain uncertain about whether fact-checking really impacted the behavior of candidates.   

By Gary Graham and Jim Simon

   Many news organizations devoted significant resources to fact-checking candidate’s statements and advertising during the recent election season and generally drew praise from readers for the effort, according to a recent APME survey.
   Editors were more uncertain about the impacts of fact-checking on the campaigns.  When the accuracy of ads and accuracy of political statements were challenged, nearly three-quarters said the candidates didn’t modify claims. And in no cases, did any candidate pull a challenged ad, according to the editors surveyed.
   Still, even when campaigns ignored the fact-checking, several editors felt that it was a worthwhile service for voters.
   “While it didn’t seem to affect candidates and their messages, voters noted in interviews that that they were paying attention to fact-checking and that it had some affect in their decisions,” said one editor.    
   About 50 editors responded to the November Sounding Boards survey about coverage of this year’s elections.
   More than half – nearly 58 percent -- said they devoted significant resources to fact checking in their campaign coverage.
   At some organizations, reporters simply wedged the fact-checking into other reporting duties. A few editors said they assigned reporters and, sometimes an editor, to fact-checking nearly full time. Another editor said they partnered a member of their watchdog team with a political reporter to produce fact checks.
   Most of the respondents, about 62 percent, incorporated the fact checks into their spot news reporting.  About 10 percent of those surveyed used a “Truth Needle” or similar gauge that focused on single issues; while 24 percent wrote columns or editorials based on the fact checks.
   The fact checks didn’t prompt any changes in the behavior of candidates, according to 72 percent of the editors. About 17 percent said candidates modified their claims after inaccuracies were cited, but no one cited any cases of candidates pulling challenged ads.  
   Slightly more than half of those surveyed published some of AP’s fact checks in print or online; 14 percent published nearly all or most of AP’s fact checks. Another 15 percent said they used PoliFact or some other fact-checking product.
   In other findings, a third of editors who responded said the intensity of the presidential race was the biggest surprise in their coverage of the election.
   “As an Ohio newspaper,” wrote one editor,” “we expected to see the candidates and their surrogates, but the number and frequency of visits was beyond our expectations. It started much earlier than in 2004 and continued unabated.”
   An editor in the South said the intensity of negative campaigning in the presidential race kept his staff busy trying to produce issues-focused coverage.
    Twelve percent of the editors said the U.S. economy and unemployment dominated their coverage.
    Eighty-four percent of editors said they did not commission any polling this year.  Of those who commissioned polling, most said collaborating with other news organizations made the polling possible.
  More than 60 percent of the newspapers published voter guides in 2012 with 53 percent of them providing both print and online versions.
    More than a third offered online-only guides while 10 percent produced print sections. One newspaper's online-only section received more than one million page views.
During the campaign season, AP’s interactives were used by 12 percent of those surveyed, while 26 percent only used the election night map.

The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma shares Newtown coverage advice

Dear APME friends,

As the details of the horrific events in Newtown, CT, emerge, many of your teams and colleagues are involved in coverage - either on site or covering local angles elsewhere.

This story is challenging both professionally and personally. The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma has assembled an array of online tipsheets on covering mass shootings, child trauma and community tragedy which may be helpful – go to www.dartcenter.org. These include reporter-to-reporter advice on stories and news choices; editors' resources gleaned from previous incidents; and tipsheets on self-care and trauma response for news teams.

In addition, for any of your teams on site: I am pleased to report that the Yale University mental health team which is providing support for the Sandy Hook community has agreed to be available as a confidential resource for any journalist covering this very upsetting story. Journalists can call Carrie Epstein, 917-716-6546. She is an experienced and top-level trauma clinician.

Best
Bruce


--
Bruce Shapiro
Executive Director
Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
tel +1 212-854-8056 / cell 203 843 4390
www.dartcenter.org

Looking for low-cost, meaningful training for your newsroom?

NewsTrain is a national touring workshop serving journalists in their own cities. Programs are designed to provide training in the skills, knowledge, and information newsroom leaders need in a rapidly changing media setting.

For 2013, we need locations that are willing to host a NewsTrain session. This involves putting together a host committee, finding a venue and food and planning. It's a bit of work, but the payoff is great training that can be shared with your regional peers.

Our project director, Michael Roberts, will guide you along the way and help ensure your event is successful and valuable. What's not to love?

Time is tight. If you want training, such as that which is detailed at http://www.apme.com/?page=highlights, then sign up today at http://www.apme.com/?page=hosting

Don't let 2013 pass without providing your key newsroom people a chance to grow and learn. Stay in touch at http://www.facebook.com/NewsTrain

If you have questions, shoot them to Michael at mroberts.newstrain@gmail.com.