#diversity
April 3rd, 2015 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
Racism is a hard truth in American society. It is our inheritance, built into America’s history of slavery, lynching, and unequal treatment in law enforcement. And it is our present, through the unspoken, unacknowledged biases we may abhor but unconsciously still carry with us.
February 3rd, 2015 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
Stunned by the brutal massacre at Charlie Hebdo magazine, journalists and citizens around the world mourned. Many proclaimed, “Je Suis Charlie” in solidarity. The massive march Jan. 11 in Paris made the most powerful statement of all. Jews, Muslims, atheists and others across a spectrum of beliefs and politics walked together “to shout their love for liberty and tolerance,” as Prime Minister Manuel Valls told the Guardian.
December 9th, 2014 • Quill Archives, From the President
From the President
Last year SPJ added communities to its list of membership offerings, giving members new ways to connect with and learn from each other. To date, we have three — freelance, digital and international journalism — all of which are active and serving SPJ members in new ways.
October 22nd, 2014 • Quill Archives, From the President
From the President
On the heels of a busy 2013-14 led by SPJ President Dave Cuillier, I am honored and eager to serve SPJ during the next year, continuing his good work and embarking on new projects and initiatives to better serve journalists. While journalists continue to face daunting challenges, including fighting for press freedom, facing arrest and even death in extreme cases, there is much SPJ can do to support journalists and our industry.
October 22nd, 2014 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
Let’s face it: The moment news gatherers take on a story that turns on racial justice, most of them contend with a severe lack of trust. Americans are only half convinced that the news media are ever worth their confidence, according to survey data.
September 3rd, 2014 • Quill Archives, From the President
From the President
The future of SPJ, journalism and even democracy rest squarely on two people’s shoulders: Joe and Chris. That’s a huge burden, I know, and it might seem a little melodramatic, but it’s true. I’m talking about two people who really keep our organization moving: SPJ Executive Director Joe Skeel and Sigma Delta Chi Foundation Director Chris Vachon.
September 2nd, 2014 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
“Good enough” isn’t good enough if you are a data journalist. Even “accurate” isn’t good enough. When you’re working with data, it’s important to run it through a bias filter at every stage. That’s what three highly regarded investigative journalists insisted as we prepared for a panel on the ethics of working with data at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in June.
June 20th, 2014 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
In December 2012, a young man walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., and killed 26 people, 20 of them children. We later learned that he’d killed his mother before going to the school. His many issues relating to social isolation came out in the following months, including the fact that he had Asperger’s syndrome, which is an autism spectrum disorder.
June 19th, 2014 • Quill Archives, From the President
From the President
Now, more than ever, every journalist should have a “Plan B.” Journalism is not dead or dying, and there are amazing opportunities out there; but clearly the industry is a little more fluid today than it used to be. It’s crucial to develop a network to spring to a new opportunity if the need comes up.
February 12th, 2014 • Quill Archives, Digital Media Toolbox
Digital Media Toolbox
Being a gadget freak isn’t a requirement for being a journalist, but these days it helps to have some familiarity with the plethora of new stuff constantly being pushed into the consumer pipeline. While journalists learn to embrace new tech as part of their jobs, news audiences have also benefitted from the march of progress.
December 20th, 2013 • Quill Archives, From the President
From the President
The time is right for us to take a hard look at who we want to be and adapt to the changing journalism environment. We’ve done it before, which is why we remain the largest journalism organization in the United States.
December 20th, 2013 • Quill Archives, Member Profile
Member Profile: Reggie Stuart
One day over 10 years ago, Jeneé Osterheldt received a phone call from her professional mentor, Reginald Stuart. He was attending a journalism conference just two hours away from her in California, where she was completing an internship he had helped her acquire.
December 20th, 2013 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
Red state, blue state. White, black. Old, young. Citizen, immigrant. Journalists and their audiences seem to live in a world of opposites, with not much information in between. Observing the dichotomies that dominated coverage of the government shutdown, the Affordable Care Act, immigration and countless other topics, I’m reminded of a classic essay by developmental biologist Anne Fausto-Sterling.
October 22nd, 2013 • Quill Archives, From the President
From the President
These are exciting times for journalism, and a bit unnerving. But journalism is NOT dead or dying; it’s evolving. Journalism matters. I’m glad SPJ can play a role, and during this next year I will need your help. During my speech at EIJ13 in Anaheim, Calif.,
October 16th, 2013 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
Brace yourself. Reports on women and people of color in the news tend to depress. But the latest compilation of data may coax you into a tiny bit of a smile. Investigative reporting, that high-status bastion of male dominance in the news business, is opening up, according to data in the Women’s Media Center’s The Status of Women in the Media 2013 report.
September 5th, 2013 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
What’s the foundation of great reporting? Sure, smart questions and careful listening. But underpinning all but the rare, confrontational interview is one key ingredient: trust. That’s one reason journalists gravitate toward familiar faces. We develop our reliable, go-to sources and on a breaking story, quickly identify who is likely to be responsive and credible in the crowd.
September 5th, 2013 • Quill Archives, Digital Media Toolbox
Digital Media Toolbox
I’ve heard it for years from mid-career journalists, though not so much from the j-school students I work with today: “How am I supposed to keep up with all this new stuff?” That was when now-commonplace concepts such as blogging, social media and SEO were bewilderingly new to the established news media.
June 6th, 2013 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
It has been happening a lot lately: Native Americans misrepresented in the media, often with animal images. Whether it is Michelle Williams’ Another Magazine photo shoot where she is dressed as a Native American in a wolf-like costume or a former Minnesota TV news director posting on Facebook an “Indian and other animals” are on his front lawn, once again Native Americans are being described in media as anything but human.
April 10th, 2013 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
The Supreme Court hearing cases this year on same-sex marriage have thrust gay rights issues to the forefront again. One dominant voice continues to reflect the perspective of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community in news: the white male. “Mainstream (media) organizations will go to the one or two white organizations they know about,” said Jeff Graham, executive director of Georgia Equality, a statewide gay rights organization based in Atlanta.
February 7th, 2013 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
February is African-American History Month (also called Black History Month) and is designated to recognize and celebrate the accomplishments and contributions of African-Americans, people of African descent who were born in the United States. But the increase of African immigrants is also notable and is changing the definition of who is an African-American.
December 5th, 2012 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
Years ago, when I was a radio reporter in Fort Worth, Texas, I was invited to cover a Las Posadas event at a local Catholic church. It was a wonderful experience and a great way to share a slice of Latino culture with my listeners.
October 3rd, 2012 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
NOTE: As Quill went to press, and this column came out, the Hartford Courant announced it was dropping Google Translate and developed its own in-house, staffed Spanish-language site. Read more here. Over the summer, the Hartford Courant began offering news in Spanish to its readers.
October 3rd, 2012 • Quill Archives, Education Toolbox
Education Toolbox
I’ve learned through the years that thoroughbreds for the most part run to form. If you study a horse’s past performances in the horse gambler’s bible, the Daily Racing Form, odds are the horse will produce similar results. But horse players often face the dreaded maiden race — an affair for non-winners in which starters have a minimal number of starts or none at all.
August 7th, 2012 • Quill Archives, Member Profile
Member Profile: Jeremy Steele
Jeremy Steele isn’t a reporter. He’s not an editor or a producer, and he hasn’t worked at a news outlet since 2009. But he has always been tangled up in journalism, even after spending three years in public relations. In July, Steele started work as the executive director of the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association.
August 7th, 2012 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
We who teach college-level journalism have observed for years that women dominate our classrooms. In fact, an annual survey shows that two-thirds of students in journalism programs are women, a number that has held steady since the 1980s. The latest statistics from the American Society of News Editors show approximately the reverse: Women remain 37 percent of newsroom employees.
June 21st, 2012 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
On August 22, 2011, former University of Idaho psychology professor Ernesto Bustamante shot and killed his former student and lover Katy Benoit at her rental house. After the shooting, Bustamante sequestered himself in a hotel room, a move that led to a stand-off with Moscow, Idaho, police and, ultimately, Bustamante’s suicide.
April 5th, 2012 • Quill Archives, From the President
From the President
A journalist friend who also is commissioner in a fantasy baseball league to which I belong recently sent an email to all the team owners who also are journalists. Does playing in a league that features modest fees and prize money constitute a form of sports betting?
April 5th, 2012 • Quill Archives, Ten With...
Ten with Jim Asendio
More than four decades into a journalism career that has spanned both U.S. coasts, Jim Asendio isn’t going to the newsroom on a daily basis for the first time in a long time. But it’s not because he’s retired – though he did leave his last job over a conscious choice of his own.
April 5th, 2012 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
The headline read “ESPN Fires Employee for Jeremy Lin Racist Headline.” Today, that former ESPN editor, Anthony Federico, is learning a hard lesson for writing a racially offensive headline “Chink in the Armor: Jeremy Lin’s 9 Turnovers Cost Knicks in Streak-stopping Loss to Hornets.”
February 6th, 2012 • Quill Archives, Diversity Toolbox
Diversity Toolbox
My son Ray is a transgender person. As a journalist and mother, I’ve realized that many media outlets don’t know how to cover this community. Sometimes reporters are afraid to ask questions or don’t even bother to get to know the transgender community that exists in their city.
December 2nd, 2011 • Quill Archives, From the President
From the President
The unsung heroes of our Society are the volunteers who log countless hours working on various national committees. As your new president, I’ve been blessed to inherit a very strong set of committees. I’ve added people and created some new ad-hoc committees, but for the most part, a fair number of folks agreed to continue on this year.
December 2nd, 2011 • Quill Archives
Convention News – 2011
Cross earns Wells Memorial Key Al Cross was the 2011 recipient of the Wells Memorial Key, presented the final night of the Excellence in Journalism conference in New Orleans. The Wells Key is the highest honor bestowed on a member for service to the Society.
