NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR MCGRUDER AWARDS FOR DIVERSITY LEADERSHIP – DEADLINE JUNE 1
The Associated Press Media Editors, in partnership with the American Society of News Editors, is accepting nominations for the 11th annual Robert G. McGruder Awards for Diversity Leadership.
Two awards are given annually: one for newspapers with a circulation up to 75,000; one for newspapers with more than 75,000 circulation.
The awards go 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, graduate of Kent State University and relentless diversity champion. McGruder died of cancer in April 2002.
This year, the awards are being sponsored by the Free Press, The Plain Dealer, Kent State University and the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute.
Jurors will be looking for nominees who have made a significant contribution during a given year or over a number of years toward furthering diversity in newspaper content and in recruiting, developing and retaining journalists of color.
Announcement of the winners will be made at the annual APME conference Sept. 19-21 in Nashville, Tenn. The recognized honorees each receive $2,500 and a leadership trophy.
Wanted: Sports and entertainment tickets, vacation getaways, booze
The Associated Press Media Editors Foundation needs your help to make our auctions successful.
The silent and live auctions will be held at the opening night reception at the annual conference in Nashville. We'll party at the Frist Center for Visual Arts on Wednesday, Sept. 19. As always, auction proceeds will go to support the APME Foundation and valuable programs, such as NewsTrain.
In August, we will feature some of the great items on the slate in September and allow folks to place an opening bid. We'll also have some online-only items, such as tickets to activities in Nashville, as well as an APME memberships conference registrations. This is a great way to give tickets to events or travel either before or after the conference
Right now we need donors – editors and friends of APME who can contribute items for the online, silent and live auctions. We're looking for anything newspaper or Web-related such as award-winning photos, umbrellas, signed comics and autographed books. Jewelry, art, wine and other libations are always popular sellers. Sports tickets and trips are big-ticket items that bring in the cash. A round of golf at a great course or a weekend stay at a resort hotel would be wonderful donations.
School shooting prompts Sounding Board question about naming juveniles
Two teens in Utah plot to blow up a high school in January. An Ohio a teen opens fire on fellow students in a school cafeteria in late February, and three of them end up dying.
In those cases and virtually every other crime involving teenage suspects, reporters and editors ask one another: Should we name the accused?
And some Associated Press members with more liberal policies sometimes wonder whether they will be able to name the accused, because AP doesn’t always provide the name. In the Utah case, it named an 18-year-old charged in adult court but not his 16-year-old accomplice facing the same charge in juvenile court. In the Ohio case, the AP named the juvenile after his family’s attorney held a news conference and named him – about seven hours after Cleveland-area media named the suspect based on eyewitness accounts and confirmed by multiple sources.
In an attempt to determine how closely AP’s policy reflects the policies of its members, the APME Sounding Board conducted a survey in February – between the time of the Utah incident and the shootings in northeastern Ohio.
Iraq was one of America’s longest wars. Thousands were killed and more than 1.5 million served. With the war now over and veterans returning home, there are countless stories to be told of how they are getting back to civilian life.
Society has always had a challenge reintegrating soldiers. The challenges are never more present than with Iraq veterans. Many of them served numerous tours and those repeated returns to the battlefront are complicating their ability to integrate into society. Mix that with a bad economy and an American public not as engaged in this war as they were in Vietnam or certainly World War II.
We’ve all been certainly covering the war since it began. Now that it’s over, it’s time to sharpen our focus. We’re mindful that we remain at war in Afghanistan and there will certainly be some troops who serve in both theaters. But the end of the Iraq war means there are big stories to be told about veterans and their impact on the wider society. We need to look at their health care, the economic toll on their lives, education and more.
We’re calling it Coming Home. And it’s this year’s AP-APME initiative.
APME's NewsTrain is at full throttle in 2012. We asked Project Director Michael Roberts what NewsTrain is about this year, where it's heading and how he became involved.
Tell us a bit about your history with NewsTrain.
APME was considering the NewsTrain program back in 2002-2003. I was asked to design and present one of several test prototype programs. I presented that program in the spring of 2003 in Columbus, OH, and it became the basis for NewsTrain's workshop design. We presented the first NewsTrain workshop that fall in San Diego. I've been a speaker for NewsTrain ever since. I took on the role of project director in the middle of 2011.
What is the philosophy driving the NewsTrain program?
One goal is to bring high-quality training at an affordable price to journalists around the country. Another is to design programs - no matter the topic - that provide practical skills people can apply back on their jobs. To that end, the planning process begins with a needs assessment to determine what problems, new skills, or specific outcomes a NewsTrain workshop can help people address in each location we visit.
We’re moving to two major magazines a year mailed to members, but we’ll start rolling out key stories on industry topics regularly on apme.com.
The printed schedule will change to an APME conference preview publication sent to members in June, and a post-conference, APME look ahead edition to be sent at the end of each year.
"This is the right change for us, so we can offer rich printed publications at key times but have the ability to post timely stories online for our members,” said Bob Heisse, president of the Associated Press Media Editors. "APME News has been a great way to reach editors and now broadcast news leaders and educators, and with a digital focus its content will now reach more newsrooms in the U.S. and Canada.
Look for the first magazine story on our full-throttle APME NewsTrain program now run by the very talented Michael Roberts. Links to every new story will be included in APME Update, emailed to members every week.
Society has always had a challenge reintegrating soldiers. The challenges are never more present than with Iraq veterans. Many of them served numerous tours and those repeated returns to the battlefront are complicating their ability to integrate into society. Mix that with a bad economy and an American public not as engaged in this war as they were in Vietnam or certainly World War II.
APME's NewsTrain is at full throttle in 2012. We asked Project Director Michael Roberts what NewsTrain is about this year, where it's heading and how he became involved.
