Author Archives: Michael Sanserino
July 2nd, 2018
Take this quiz to help refresh your writing
Nothing annoys readers like having to plow through a litter of errors on their way to a period. And because even professional writers can get rusty regarding the basics, it’s a good idea to check on one’s recall from time to time.
June 29th, 2018
Press Club of Long Island honors its legacy with historical marker
On Long Island, we preach about advocating for journalism all the time. Every Press Club event and outing is about making sure our members and the community at-large believe in the journalists doing great work all around us. With that comes the need to shed light on the history of journalism in our area as well.
June 29th, 2018
SPJ releases statement on Capital Gazette shootings
The following statement may be attributed to SPJ National President Rebecca Baker.
“SPJ is deeply saddened by the reports from Annapolis, Maryland, that a shooter entered the Annapolis Capital Gazette building and shot several people. Our hearts go out to the victims and their family, friends and colleagues.
June 18th, 2018
Turn your ideas into stories
During my 40 years in the business, I’ve learned to listen to anyone who tells me they have a story. Great stories come unannounced, like a soft tap on the door. You need to be alert to that sound. The series that turned out to be the story that won me the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 2001 came from a telephone call to me from a reader.
June 15th, 2018
Ten Questions with Christine MacDonald
Christine MacDonald was raised in Michigan, went to college in Michigan and has spent her 20-year career as a journalist at four Michigan newspapers, the past 15 at the Detroit News.
That dedication to local journalism gave MacDonald the foundation to publish a series of articles about housing problems and evictions in Detroit, which earned her a Sigma Delta Chi Award in Public Service Journalism (Daily Circulation of 50,001-100,000).
June 14th, 2018
Media must do better with race reporting
“May you live in interesting times …”
The quote has been attributed to various sources, and rightfully so, being that it has been used by many to describe different time periods. Along with its true author, the original meaning of this quote has been lost to time, but can aptly describe today’s media climate.
June 13th, 2018
Let’s work together to protect student journalism
One of the best parts of my SPJ presidency has been meeting young people who are interested in journalism. This spring, I was delighted to meet dozens of talented student journalists at our regional conferences in Chicago, Philadelphia and Little Rock, Arkansas.
June 12th, 2018
Meet the victims of violence against journalists
“I was sitting there, choking. I couldn’t breathe.”
Davis Winborne, a freelance photojournalist, remembers the night he and several other journalists were forcefully loaded into a van by police while covering a protest in St. Louis last September.
“All of a sudden, there were no cops around us,” he said.
June 11th, 2018
Colorado Pro chapter helps high school newspaper in Senegal
High school girls in Senegal, one of the poorest countries in Africa, have been granted $2,000 by the SPJ Colorado Pro chapter to help them start an online newspaper.
The international effort, a first for the Colorado chapter, was proposed by Bob Burdick, a chapter board member and former editor of the Denver Rocky Mountain News.
June 5th, 2018
Lawsuits and #MeToo changed internships — for the better
When it comes to internships, most in the news industry can agree on a few key aspects: Internships should be educational. Interns should be compensated for their work – either with paychecks or with university credit. And interns should be protected from discrimination and sexual harassment or misconduct.
May 31st, 2018
Do journalists deserve some blame for America’s mass shootings?
The reporter who won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for feature writing initially thought she was in Charleston, South Carolina, to chronicle the lives of nine church-goers who died in 2015 when a stranger with a Glock murdered them while they were praying.