A Magazine by the Society of Professional Journalists


SPJ Report


January 4th, 2022 • Featured, Quill Archives, From the President, SPJ Report
From the President: #SPJChapterStrong

SPJ professional and student chapters are the backbone of our organization. Often the “boots on the ground” for our local journalists, student journalists and journalism educators, they play a big part in the strength of SPJ. That’s why I’m devoting my Quill columns to our chapters, whether they are standing up for the rights of journalists, raising scholarship money or giving students a place to grow their network on campus.


October 22nd, 2014 • SPJ Report
Chapter News

Will Write For Food 2014 Now in its sixth year, SPJ’s annual Will Write For Food program brought 21 college journalists to the Homeless Voice shelter near Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Over Labor Day weekend, they took over the nation’s second-largest homeless newspaper and completed a 28-page print edition and website.


June 6th, 2013 • Quill Archives, SPJ Report
Chapter News – FIU Photo Contest

SPJ’s Florida International University chapter held a photojournalism contest in April with the theme “Capturing Generation Y.” The chapter asked college and high school students around the country to submit one photo that captured the essence of their generation in any real moment.


October 4th, 2012 • SPJ Report
Chapter News

Send chapter and SPJ news information to Scott Leadingham. Will Write For Food enters fourth year The fourth annual Will Write For Food program, cosponsored by the South Florida Pro chapter, had a special guest Labor day weekend. SPJ president John Ensslin joined the half-dozen professional journalists who act as advisers.


August 7th, 2012 • SPJ Report
Chapter News

Ethics Hold ‘em in Florida SPJ’s Code of Ethics made the rounds July 6 at Florida Atlantic University when the student newspaper, The University Press, hosted a summer Ethics Hold ‘em game for students. Ethics Hold ‘em is a take on the popular poker game Texas Hold ‘em.


April 5th, 2012 • SPJ Report
Chapter News

Columbia SPJ Makes Music – Ethically The life of a journalist isn’t all stressful deadlines or beating the streets for sources and stories, nor is the life of a graduate student all coffee and late-night thesis writing. Members of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism chapter have been making a musical name for themselves lately, in between classroom deadlines, work assignments and, of course, job hunting.


October 5th, 2011 • SPJ Report
Chapter News – Sept/Oct

Students produce homeless newspaper paper in volunteer program Over Labor Day weekend, 20 college journalists from nine states gathered at a South Florida homeless shelter, where they took over the shelter’s newspaper that is sold on the streets of Miami and Fort Lauderdale.


April 4th, 2011 • SPJ Report
Chapter News

Send chapter news items to Scott Leadingham at sleadingham@spj.org. DePaul chapter hosts ‘Who’s News?’ panel Diversity was the central theme of a Feb. 17 panel hosted by the DePaul University chapter in Chicago. Titled “Who’s News? Achieving Diversity in Media Coverage and the Newsroom,” the event drew participants and questioners in person and on Twitter using the hashtag #SPJchat.


October 11th, 2010 • SPJ Report
Chapter and Member News

Send member and chapter news items to editor Scott Leadingham at sleadingham@spj.org. Students spend Labor Day in homeless shelter College journalists from nine schools around the country spent their Labor Day weekend in a homeless shelter in South Florida – and they had to fill out a lengthy application for the privilege.


August 3rd, 2010 • SPJ Report
SPJ/Chapter News

Send chapter news items to Quill editor Scott Leadingham. Early career journalists attend Sigma Delta Chi-funded training Print and broadcast/video journalists in the first three years of their careers attended one of two SPJ Reporters Institute sessions in May and June.


May 31st, 2010 • SPJ Report
Chapter News / People & Places

Submit chapter news items, member announcements and ideas for member profiles to editor Scott Leadingham at sleadingham@spj.org. Ole Miss honors the past More than 250 people celebrated the University of Mississippi being named an SPJ Historic Site in Journalism on April 14.


April 2nd, 2010 • SPJ Report
Chapter News

Send chapter items and other SPJ-specific news to editor Scott Leadingham at sleadingham@spj.org. Knowing when to Hold’em The Arkansas Pro chapter began 2010 with a gamble. Specifically, 30 people turned out for the chapter’s first — and hopefully annual — Ethics Hold’em tournament at a local bar.


January 31st, 2010 • SPJ Report
Chapter News Briefs

Love is all around Detroit On Nov. 24, the Detroit chapters of SPJ and the National Association of Black Journalists co-hosted the “Show the Love” event at PJ’s Lager House to support out-of-work Detroit-area journalists. A full house of supporters jammed to former Detroit News Editor Luther “Badman” Keith, who entertained on the main stage with his guitar.


December 2nd, 2009 • SPJ Report
Chapter News Briefs

Submit chapter news items to editor Scott Leadingham at sleadingham@spj.org. Florida chapters challenge students and gamblers The semesters were in full swing when two Florida campus chapters held popular events that made students, faculty, staff and their communities think twice about media law and ethics.


August 6th, 2009 • SPJ Report
Chapter News – August

D.C. goes Honky Tonk The D.C. Pro chapter honored several journalists at its annual Dateline Awards Dinner at the National Press Club in June. CBS’ Bob Schieffer, PBS’ Gwen Ifill, U.S. News & World Report’s Kenneth T. Walsh and Bureau of National Affairs editor Toby McIntosh were inducted into the chapter’s Hall of Fame.


July 11th, 2009 • SPJ Report
Chapter News – June/July

[b]Ole Miss remembers slain journalist, celebrates Centennial Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hank Klibanoff urged more community involvement in catching the person responsible for killing French journalist Paul Guihard in 1962. Klibanoff spoke during the Ole Miss chapter’s daylong program celebrating the April 17 SPJ Centennial.


March 3rd, 2009 • SPJ Report
Chapter News

In light of this historical issue of Quill, SPJ Report has gone deep into the archives to highlight chapter and other SPJ news from the past 100 years. Following are a few selections of news briefs from previous issues: From the January/February 2000 issue: The Detroit Metro Chapter protested proposed restrictions on media access to prisoners in Michigan.


March 3rd, 2009 • SPJ Report
Chapter News March

Washington journalists examine losses other than jobs In the wake of layoffs at Washington state’s largest newspaper, the Seattle Times, and the potential sale and closing of its competition, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Western Washington Chapter in January gathered to discuss the changing industry and its effects on the public.


January 30th, 2009 • SPJ Report
SPJ Report

[b]Cincinnati hosts two programs The Greater Cincinnati chapter held a panel discussion at Northern Kentucky University in late January that focused on shifting job responsibilities due to the surge in Web content. Topics included what online readers expect from news sources; shifting investigative news online; and how print media must adapt to new technology.


June 30th, 2006 • SPJ Report
SPJ Report: Chapter News

Guy Baehr receives final 2005 president’s award Immediate Past President Irwin Gratz tended to one final bit of presidential business at the Region 1 Conference in Newark, New Jersey in March. There, Gratz formally presented the last of his “President’s Awards” to Guy Baehr, the Society’s Honors and Awards Chairman.


June 30th, 2006 • SPJ Report
SPJ Report: SPJ gives $1,000 to Utah paper for legal battle

SPJ has awarded $1,000 from its Legal Defense Fund to the Deseret Morning News to defray legal costs associated with filing a brief in the Utah Supreme Court. The case, Deseret Morning News v. Salt Lake County, involves the paper’s right to obtain government records, which county government had sealed.


June 30th, 2006 • Quill Archives, SPJ Report
SPJ Report: Benjamin Franklin print shop rededicated

Two ninth-generation descendants of Benjamin Franklin helped the Greater Philadelphia Chapter rededicate a plaque marking his printing shop as a “Historic Site in Journalism” on April 8. The plaque was originally installed in 1961, but recent modernization of the area necessitated removal of the plaque.


June 30th, 2006 • Quill Archives, SPJ Report
SPJ Report: Strong local programming key to getting new members

When I took over as president of our professional chapter last summer, I knew that one of my duties would be to boost membership. I learned quickly, though, that such a goal is not so easily accomplished. The conventional phone tree and bullying of friends and co-workers were largely ineffective in signing up new members.


June 30th, 2006 • SPJ Report
SPJ Report: SDX awards more than $200,000 to improve journalism

The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation board of directors approved grants totaling $203,400 at its April 23 meeting in Indianapolis. Grant recipients included the Society of Professional Journalists, the National Freedom of Information Coalition, the Coalition of Journalists for Open Government and the Chicago Headline Club’s Ethics Adviceline.


March 30th, 2006 • SPJ Report
SPJ Report: Chapter News

Buffalo chapter offers scholarships Student and professional journalists seeking additional academic training now can apply for college and graduate school scholarships for the 2006-07 academic year, courtesy of The Greater Buffalo International Society of Professional Journalists Chapter. To be eligible, applicants must be residents of western New York, northwestern Pennsylvania or southern Ontario, and they must attend an accredited college or university that offers journalism education.


March 1st, 2006 • Quill Archives, SPJ Report
SPJ Report: Chapters to discuss Knight Ridder sale

The dramatic and rapid changes occurring in the newspaper industry have led several SPJ chapters to call for public discussion about the future of the profession and the public service it provides. In late January, SPJ national headquarters, with the Northern California Chapter, released a statement calling for “an urgent national conversation about how to preserve public-service journalism in light of the likely sale of the Knight Ridder newspaper company.”


March 1st, 2006 • SPJ Report
SPJ Report: Society awards $5,000 for chapter programs

Over the next few months, many of SPJ’s local chapters will host professional development programs in their area. Sixteen of those programs will be funded through SPJ’s national chapter grant program, with awards totaling $5,000. Following are brief descriptions of the events funded by the chapter grant program: Truman State University will bring Pulitzer-Prize winner Leon Dash to campus March 29-30 to meet with journalism classes and give a talk for the entire campus on “Challenges of Social Justice: What is Media’s Responsibility?”