A Magazine by the Society of Professional Journalists


People and Places

By Quill

Bradfield book of quotations released

William H. Bradfield’s book The Book of Ancient Wisdom: Over 500 Inspiring Quotations From the Greeks and Romans, was released recently by Dover. The book is a collection of quotes he compiled and edited. This book closely follows another one of his collections — On Reading the Bible: Thoughts and Reflections of Over 500 Men and Woman, From St. Augustine to Oprah Winfrey.

Both books appear in Amazon.com’s catalog and the catalogs of other online book dealers.

Stuart Wins Ida B. Wells Award for diversity

Former SPJ president Reginald Stuart, corporate recruiter for Knight Ridder, recently was named 2005 winner of the Ida B. Wells Award.

Bestowed annually by the National Association of Black Journalists and the National Conference of Editorial Writers, the Wells award recognizes media executives who have made outstanding efforts to ensure newsrooms more accurately reflect the diversity of the communities they serve.

Stuart joined The New York Times in 1974 as a business reporter. He stayed with The Times for 13 years before joining Knight Ridder in 1987 as a national affairs correspondent in Washington for the Philadelphia Daily News. He was an editor for seven years before leaving Knight Ridder in 1997. He returned a few months later as corporate recruiter, working with the company’s newspapers to recruit news and business talent and run its corporate internship programs.

Stuart will receive the Wells award on Oct. 15 at NABJ’s second annual Salute to Excellence Awards Gala in Washington.

President of Knight Foundation STEPS down

After seven and a half years, Hodding Carter III stepped down July 18 as president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, one of the nation’s largest private foundations. Alberto Ibargüen, who was elected to succeed Carter by the foundation’s board of trustees in January, began his term that same day as Knight’s new chief executive.

Ibargüen comes to Knight from his position as publisher of The Miami Herald, which won three Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure, and publisher of El Nuevo Herald. He has been a newspaper executive since 1984, first at The Hartford Courant, then at Newsday in New York before joining Knight Ridder in 1995. He is former chairman of the board of the Public Broadcasting Service.

Carter will remain as a consultant to the foundation through the fall. During his tenure, Knight’s assets grew from $1.2 billion to more than $1.9 billion, with grants increasing from $42 million annually to more than $90 million to promote excellence in journalism worldwide and invest in the vitality of 26 U.S. communities where the Knight brothers operated newspapers.

Lenger wins Harvard teaching award

Harvard journalism instructor John Lenger has won the James E. Conway Excellence in Teaching Writing Award. The prize was presented June 9 during Harvard University’s commencement exercises.

Editor in chief and assistant director of the Office of News and Public Affairs at Harvard, Lenger has been teaching journalism at the Harvard University Extension School since 1997 and serves on the advisory board of the extension school’s new master’s degree program in journalism.

In nominating him for the prize, students commented on his willingness to serve as teacher and mentor; several students remarked that his course had changed both their career plans and their lives.

One student said, “I came out of the final class feeling quite encouraged and certain that I wanted to become a journalist. And I owe that to John. He gave me the confidence that I needed.”

Ball State’s Massé has 2 books published

Ball State University faculty member Mark Massé recently had two of his books published.

* Inspired to Serve: Today’s Faith Activists, published by Indiana University Press, tells the life stories of social activists from Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist faith perspectives who have been working across the United States for decades on behalf of the poor and disenfranchised.

* Delamore’s Dreams, published by Booklocker.com, is a novel of the 1960s, set in metro New York, that chronicles a father and son fighting for respect during a passionate era.

Both books are available at Amazon.com, B&N.com and all online outlets.

D.C. Speakers to focus on clear writing

Renowned authors and experts on clear writing are scheduled to speak Nov. 3-6, in Washington, D.C., during the fifth international conference of Plain Language Association International.

The conference, “Plain Language: Adding Up the Benefits,” will include speeches and presentations by Bryan Garner, author of Legal Writing in Plain English and Garner’s Modern American Usage; Bill Sabin, author of the Gregg Reference Manual; Martin Cutts of England, author of the Oxford Guide to Plain English; and William Lutz, author of Doublespeak.

The use of plain language techniques to improve legal writing, health literacy, writing for the Web, business writing and public relations also will be discussed. The speakers work in consulting firms, government agencies, universities and corporate communications.

For more information about the conference, including registration, check the PLAIN Web site at www.plainlanguagenetwork.org/conferences/2005/ and the Center for Plain Language Web site at www.centerforplainlanguage.org/events.htm.

Satirical publication honored with APEX award

The Rhinebeck Beagle, a satiric newsletter written and published since May 2004 by Paul Swift, was awarded an APEX Award for publishing excellence in an international competition sponsored by Communications Concepts Inc.

Communications Concepts cited The Beagle for its parodies of Rhinebeck, N.Y., residents. Taglined “With a Nose for the News,” The Beagle publishes fake articles with residents’ real names. It’s sold in retail outlets in Rhinebeck for $1.

Dan Bleen, a Rhinebeck restaurant owner, was quoted in a press release from The Beagle as saying “None of it’s true, and it’s all real.”

L.A. Wave hires Lee

The Los Angeles Wave newspaper hired Malik Lee as a staff reporter. Lee earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from California State University Northridge in June 2005. The Los Angeles Wave is one of 13 newspapers owned by Wave Community Newspapers.