MEMBERS APPROVE ANNUAL DUES

Members of the Associated Press Managing Editors have voted unanimously to approve $150 annual dues, the first time the association has decided to collect dues in its 74-year history. The decision was approved in a show of hands by the roughly 50 editors at the organization's annual business meeting at the conclusion of the annual conference in Washington, D.C. The charge will take effect Jan. 1.

APME leaders said they hope to raise about $40,000 in the first year, $75,000 by 2009 and $120,000 by 2012 and the money is needed to create the structure to better serve the membership. Newspapers that do not pay the dues will still be members of the APME. Editors who do pay will be entitled to benefits including a copy of the association's magazine, discounts on conference registration and contest entries.

The organization has about 1,600 member newspapers, but only 250 of them are expected to pay dues and participate in events in the first year. The association hopes to double its dues-paying membership in a few years.

Board members said the money will help professionalize the organization, which has only one full-time employee who is on loan from The Associated Press. Goals include: hiring a staff for fundraising, budgeting and outreach efforts. "This will help us have a strategic start to our five-year plan," outgoing president Karen Magnuson said.

The decision brings APME in line with several other professional organizations, including the National Association of Black Journalists, the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Each charges at least $72 per year, with the ASNE charging up to $675 for newspapers with a circulation of at least 50,000.

Andrea Buck, managing editor of the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune, said she had mixed feelings about the dues structure. "For smaller newspapers, it's a difficult amount of money for them to come up with," she said. "At the same time, this organization needs to be supported and funded."

Members of the board of directors said this week they considered a tiered structure that would have charged small-circulation newspapers less but considered implementing it too difficult.

NINE EDITORS ELECTED TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The membership of Associated Press Managing Editors has elected nine members to its board of directors.

Elected to at-large seats on the board were: Mark Bowden, editor of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Joe Garcia, community conversations editor of The Arizona Republic in Phoenix; Jon Broadbooks, executive editor of the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.; Peggy Bellows, managing editor of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch; Jan Touney, managing editor of the Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa; Adell Crowe, staff development editor of USA Today, McLean, Va.; and Maria Lettman, managing editor/multimedia at the Naples (Fla.) Daily News in Florida.

Bob Heisse, executive editor/VP of the Centre Daily Times in State College, Pa., was elected to represent newspapers with daily circulation of 35,000 or less.

Jim Brady, executive editor of washingtonpost.com, Arlington, Va., was elected to a seat designated for online editors.

All directors will serve three-year terms on the board except for Lettman, who fills an unexpired one-year term.

APME's activities are governed by a board of directors elected from AP membership. About one-third of the board stands for election each fall. Editors of AP member newspapers in the United States and the Canadian Press in Canada are eligible to vote. APME bylaws give each member newspaper one vote.

GREAT IDEAS 2007 BOOKLET ONLINE

Newspapers, online sites and The Associated Press contributed hundreds of tips and suggestions to the 2007 Great Ideas booklet distributed at last week's APME annual conference. Editors who didn't receive one or were unable to attend the conference can download the entire 99-page booklet as a .PDF file here. Or go here to download these individual chapters:

a. Chapter 1: Projects and Investigative (18 pages)
b. Chapter 2: Young Readers (5 pages)
c. Chapter 3: Sports (9 pages)
d. Chapter 4: Diversity (3 pages)
e. Chapter 5: Building Readership (19 pages)
f. Chapter 6: Business and Personal Finance (3 pages)
g. Chapter 7: Online/Multimedia (18 pages)
h. Chapter 8: Photojournalism (4 pages)
i. Chapter 9: Storytelling (12 pages)
j. Chapter 10: Managing a Changing Newsroom (5 pages)
k. Chapter 11: From the Associated Press

NEWS-PRESS VOTED APME INNOVATOR OF THE YEAR

The News-Press of Fort Myers, Fla., received the most votes from editors in real-time voting at the Associated Press Managing Editors annual conference to become APME's first Innovator of the Year. The News-Press was honored for its culture of innovation and a series of trend-setting initiatives that include mobile journalists, or mojos, crowdsourcing and a team of watchdog citizens. The other two finalists were the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for its sweeping newsroom reorganization and the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle for its data-rich Web site RocDocs.

Editors at APME's annual conference in Washington, D.C., saw videos from all of the finalists summarizing their innovations and heard representatives explain the changes and their impact. The editors then voted electronically for their favorites, and the votes were tabulated instantly.

APME's first Innovator of the Year Contest attracted 44 entries from 40 newspapers of all circulation sizes. Innovations in print, online, marketing and structure were submitted. Four current and former APME members reviewed all of the entries and selected the three finalists.

POSTAL SERVICE UNVEILS STAMPS HONORING JOURNALISTS

Five journalists who covered the most tumultuous of 20th century times are being honored by the Postal Service. "These distinguished journalists risked their lives to report the events that shaped the modern world," said Postmaster General Jack Potter, who announced the stamp series at the Associated Press Managing Editors conference in Washington. The stamps are due out next year. The journalists being honored are:

▶ Martha Gellhorn, who covered the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the Vietnam War. Gellhorn found unusual ways to get the story. During World War II, she stowed away on a hospital ship in the D-Day fleet and went ashore as a stretcher bearer. She was married to writer Ernest Hemingway.

▶ John Hersey, whose most famous work "Hiroshima" described the effects of the atomic bomb dropped on that Japanese city on Aug. 6, 1945. What began as a New Yorker article was turned into a book.

▶ George Polk, a CBS radio reporter who covered civil war in Greece and whose murder in 1948 remains shrouded in mystery. Long Island University established the George Polk Awards a year later. The awards are among the most esteemed journalism honors.

▶ Ruben Salazar, a reporter and columnist for the Los Angeles Times and news director for the Spanish language television station KMEX in Los Angeles. He was killed by a tear gas projectile fired by a sheriff's deputy while covering anti-war rioting in 1970.

▶ Eric Sevareid, a newspaper reporter who later was recruited to CBS radio by Edward R. Murrow. Sevareid covered World War II, reporting on the fall of France to the Germans. He was an early critic of Sen. Joseph McCarthy's anti-communism campaign. In the 1960s and 70s, he was widely admired for his CBS television commentaries.

Under Postal Service rules, people cannot be honored on a stamp until five years after their death, except for former presidents who traditionally are commemorated with a stamp in the year after they die.

CONFERENCE NEWS – READ ALL ABOUT!

Unable to attend this year's conference? Didn't get Saturday's APME Gazette? Not to worry. This year's Gazette is posted online blog-style. Check up on the conference presentations and see what you missed here.

To receive e-mail notification of new APME Updates, write to APME@ap.org

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