The Society of Professional Journalists turns 109 today!
In honor of over a century of promoting ethical journalism, training journalists and protecting the First Amendment, the staff of SPJ Headquarters solicited help from members to create a list of 109 things we all love about SPJ. Coming up with 109 reasons isn’t easy, but when people are passionate about improving and protecting journalism, it’s not as difficult as one might think.
Happy Birthday, SPJ! You’ve come a long way!
1. SPJ volunteers are the best around
2. A commitment to student journalists
3. Free coffee at events (Oh, and free pizza, too)
4. Access to professionals (and mentors)
5. Meeting other students at conferences
6. Making friends who understand your school struggles
7. Gaining Twitter followers after live-tweeting at conferences
8. Visiting new cities
9. Being among more than 1,000 student journos
10. Advisers who can help you get a job after graduation
11. SPJ keeps members thinking and motivated
- “As a professor, I use a lot of what I glean from SPJ in my classroom, which I hope helps my students be better reporters when they graduate.” – Rebecca Tallent
12. SPJ supports New Voices bills, which protect student journalists’ rights to be free from school censorship
13. Making journalism connections on campus with chapters
14. Showing SPJ pride with graduation cords
15. #FreePressFriday
Irwin Gratz bobblehead at SPJ Headquarters in Indianapolis.
16. Irwin Gratz’s bobblehead
17. Former Executive Director Joe Skeel dressing up as a gorilla for SPJ’s first Day of Giving
18. The SPJ Code of Ethics is available in nine languages
19. You can call the Ethics Hotline at any time if you’re facing an ethical dilemma
20. The Code of Ethics has been around since it was first adopted in 1926
21. The Code of Ethics is known as the “gold standard” of journalism
22. Code of Ethics bookmarks and posters can be found in newsrooms around the world
23. The Code is easily accessible and shareable
24. For the last 15 years, we’ve had a week dedicated to the Code of Ethics (and for the last two, it has appeared on billboards in Times Square)
25. “Good ethics are good business” – Andrew Seaman, SPJ Ethics Chairman
26. Networking opportunities with incredible people who members might never get to meet otherwise
27. After Deadline events
28. One-on-one training
29. Making friends with people in the field
30. Belonging to the largest membership group dedicated to journalism – with 7,000 members and counting
31. You can join a chapter nearly anywhere you go
32. You can connect with journalists from all mediums
33. SPJ helps other journalism organizations to improve and protect journalism by partnering with them and providing association management services
34. You might meet your bae through SPJ
35. SPJ members are passionate about what they do and SPJ’s mission
36. The lively debates which can break out, especially when arguing passionately for a cause or idea, at conferences or meetings (It helps us keep our faith in journalists as caring humans)
37. SPJ is committed to protecting the First Amendment and the journalists who fight for it every day
38. SPJ has been around a while (since 1909) and it’s not going anywhere
39. SPJ has a bright future
40. We’re your voice on Capitol Hill
41. SPJ looks for and promotes innovative ideas people in the industry have
42. SPJ stands up for journalists in the courtroom by signing on to amicus briefs and national coalition letters
43. SPJ’s Legal Defense Fund gives journalists facing litigation cold, hard cash so they don’t have to go through things alone
44. SPJ’s Freedom of Information Committee is the watchdog of press freedoms across the nation
45. Members can receive first-hand help from FOIA lawyers
47. iFOIA: an open government guide
48. Access Denied: A survey of media access to public officials
49. Reporter’s Guide to FERPA: Family Education Rights and Privacy Act
50. Covering Prisons: Policies, contacts, tips and more
51. Public Information Officers guide: who they are, why they can be a problem for journalists and what SPJ is doing about it
52. Leak Seeker: A way to share information with reputable news media
53. The Whistleblower Project: A collaboration between SPJ and the Government Accountability Project that informs journalists on how to safely work with whistleblowers and shares a comprehensive case for why those brave workers who risk everything should be praised and better protected
54. Project Sunshine surveys and monitors newsrooms across the country, publishes guidelines and legal advice for sunshine legislation and provides educational workshops and seminars
55. Having Alison Bethel McKenzie as SPJ’s first African-American executive director.
56. SPJ’s top six positions are currently held by women.
57. Sigma Delta Chi opened its membership to women in 1969. Some of the first women to join were:
- Charlotte Kuzmich O’Dea
- Charlayne Hunter-Gault
- Janet Bodnar
- Nancy Hulquist
- Linda Grace Mitchell
- Patricia Stepian
- Peg Stomierowski
- Dianne Salt
58. The Diversity Style Guide, which contains over 700 words related to race/ethnicity, disability, immigration, sexuality and gender identity, drugs and alcohol, and geography
59. Guidelines for countering racial, ethnic and religious profiling
60. SPJ encourages journalists to expand their source base to better reflect their communities
61. The Dori Maynard Diversity Leadership Program
62. #SPJ4ALL
63. #SPJLove
64. Regularly partner with and support NAHJ, NABJ, RTDNA, AAJA, NAJA, NLGJA, ACES, SEJ and JAWS
65. Being inspired by other journalists
66. Having a network to turn to for advice and who understand what you’re going through
67. The inclusive, supportive community of members who, together, make SPJ an exceptional organization that we’re proud to be a part of
68. SPJ members are quirky, fun and passionate about journalism
69. Life-long friendships
70. SPJ provides training for professional journalists
71. SPJ has fun and educational regional and national conferences
72. Ted Scripps Leadership Institute helps journalists become better leaders by offering a mix of sessions focused on interpersonal and organizational leadership skills and sound chapter management practices
73. SPJ Training Program in association with Google News Initiative, which has helped train more than 15,000 journalists at more than 400 locations for free across the United States and Canada (and is now offered in Spanish!)
74. SPJ Training Program in partnership with the Facebook Journalism Project, which is a free training program that teaches journalists to improve digital storytelling through Facebook’s tools
75. #Press4Education encourages journalists to get into schools across the country and train students on ethics, editing, online reporting, data journalism, visual journalism, reporting basics, broadcast journalism, social media and news literacy/identifying fake news.
76. The Journalist’s Toolbox: A free website that contains thousands of links helpful for reporters, editors, educators or anyone else doing research
78. Offers newsroom memberships
79. SPJ Leads
80. Quill + Quill Online
81. Sam Stewart
82. Paula LaRoque
83. Eugene S. Pulliam
84. Excellence in Journalism is the one of the largest and most successful journalism conferences
85. Passion and creativity come together
86. Seeing that hard work pays off at EIJ, a.k.a. “staff vacation,” which is in no way like a vacation
87. Gives staff a chance to meet and mingle with members
88. How insanely well we’re able to throw together EIJ each year
89. There’s never a dull moment at an SPJ conference
90. Seeing members’ name badges with ribbons a mile long
91. The President’s Banquet
92. The Opening Night Reception
93. Past President Dave Cuillier dancing to “Thunderstruck”
94. Spending all our money at the Live Auction
95. Meeting your journalistic heroes
96. Joining friends and colleagues at different receptions – like Scripps, Donors, Student Union and others
97. Seeing the inspiring work student journalists do when the national MOE awards are given
98. Catching up with old friends at the hotel bar or poolside or wherever! 😊
99. Learn how to freelance and make connections
100. Freelance Directory
101. SPJ gives you the opportunity to hone your craft.
102. Getting hired for your next job while at EIJ
103. Getting feedback on your resume and clips
104. Robert’s Rules of Order
105. Honoring outstanding professional journalism with the Sigma Delta Chi awards, and the best student journalism with the Mark of Excellence awards
106. We give grants bigger than your yearly salary
107. Recognizing volunteers’ dedication with national member honors
108. The SPJ HQ staff: they’re talented, friendly, hardworking and committed to SPJ’s mission
109. Promoting ethical journalism and press freedom is as important as it has ever been
All in all, we love the feeling of camaraderie when we are all advocating for journalism in an age when credibility is so important for the industry – that feeling that we’re in the same boat in a storm and rowing in the same direction, or at least arguing over which direction to row in. We are all in this together as journalists, despite shaky financial footing and constant attacks on our profession. And, it’s good to know there are thousands of people who are going through the same thing and understand the challenges.
Tagged under: #SPJLove, Society of Professional Journalists, birthday, spj news
