Download Report

Spring 2007
D.C. CONFERENCE COVERAGE INSIDE
Jobs to
Be Done
IDENTIFY
INFORMATION
YOUR CONSUMERS
WANT AND VALUE
HOW TO RECRUIT
THE BEST PEOPLE
ENLIVEN YOUR
SUMMER CONTENT
Illustration by Michelle Wiese
APME PRESIDENT’S CORNER
Commitment reaps rewards
Karen Magnuson is
editor and vice
president of news at
the Rochester (N.Y.)
Democrat and Chronicle. You can reach her
by phone at (585) 2582220 or by e-mail at
kmagnuso@democrat
andchronicle.com
The mailing address is
55 Exchange Blvd.,
Rochester, NY
14614-2001.
ur industry is undergoing a sea
change to meet the needs of
consumers who want news and
information at their fingertips as soon as it’s
available.
Many newspapers now offer everything
from news alerts and podcasts to mobile services for PDAs and forums full of community
conversation. Our Web sites are becoming
more sophisticated with continual breaking news reports, countless photo galleries,
engaging video stories, interactive graphics
and deep databases.
Almost everyone who worked strictly for
our ink-on-paper products now has a hand in
electronic delivery of news and information.
More change is needed, however, to keep up
with new technology and a morphing media
landscape.
Things are happening so quickly, it can
make editors’ heads spin. How do we keep up
with the latest consumer trends and be as innovative as possible while producing a daily
report? And how do we maintain our fierce
commitment to core values in the midst of so
much transformation?
Thankfully, the Associated Press Managing
Editors Association is hard at work answering those questions and many others. Our
annual conference, which will be held Oct.
3-6 in Washington, D.C., is the best place
to network with others and learn about the
latest trends.
This year’s theme is ‘‘Fast Forward to the
Future: 500 Great Ideas for Staying Ahead
and Producing Great Journalism.’’ (See articles on pages 6 and 7 for more details about
the conference.)
You can plug in to APME’s editor network
at any time, however, by joining one of our
many committees. For example, if you would
like to learn more about innovation happening in newsrooms around the country, join
2007 APME board of directors
O
2 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
Front row (from left):
Lance Johnson,The Day,
New London, Conn.; Donna Reed, Media General,
Richmond,Va.; Secretary
Bobbie Jo Buel, Arizona
Daily Star,Tucson; President Karen Magnuson,
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle; Past
President Suki Dardarian,
Seattle Times; Rob Humphreys, Culpeper (Va.)
Star-Exponent; Carole
Tarrant, Roanoke (Va.)
Times; Hank Klibanoff,
Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Second row (from left):
AP Senior Vice President
and Executive Editor
Kathleen Carroll; AP Vice
President and Managing
Editor Mike Silverman;
Program Chairman An-
drew Oppmann, Appleton
(Wis.) Post-Crescent; Jill
Nevels-Haun, Fremont
(Ohio) News-Messenger;
Treasurer Karen Peterson,
Tacoma (Wash.) News
Tribune; Joseph Garcia,
Arizona Republic; Rosemary Goudreau,Tampa
(Fla.) Tribune;Tom Eblen,
Lexington (Ky.) HeraldLeader.
Third row: (from left):
Calvin Stovall, Press &
Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton,
N.Y.; Peter Kovacs, New
Orleans Times-Picayune;
Everett Mitchell, Cherry
Hill (N.J.) Courier-Post;
Hollis Towns, Cincinnati
Enquirer;Vice President
David Ledford, Wilmington (Del.) News Journal;
Ken Chavez, Sacramento
(Calif.) Bee; Scott W.
our Innovation Committee, headed by APME
board member Scott W. Angus.
Angus, who started attending APME
conferences in the early 1990s, said he’s met
many people through APME who have become mentors, confidants and great friends.
‘‘Being active in APME has broadened my
knowledge of the industry beyond my community and my state,’’ said Angus, editor and
vice president/news at the Janesville Gazette
in Wisconsin. ‘‘It has given me a national and
even global perspective on challenges and
ways to address them. I can’t imagine a better
Angus, Janesville (Wis.)
Gazette.
Back row: (from left): Mike
Davis, Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel; AP President and
CEO Tom Curley; Journalism Today Chairman Steve
Sidlo, Springﬁeld (Ohio)
News-Sun; Journalism
Today Vice Chairman Otis
Sanford, Memphis (Tenn.)
Commercial Appeal; Ken
Tuck, Dothan (Ala.) Eagle;
APME Executive Director
Mark Mittelstadt.
Not pictured: Robin
Henry, Atlanta JournalConstitution; Jennifer
Houtman, Marietta (Ohio)
Times;Troy Turner,
Farmington (N.M.) Daily
Times; Mark Bowden, Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette.
(AP Photo/Richard Drew)
organization or a better group of people. It
has been, by far, the greatest professional association of my career.’’
Do you want to help our industry improve
diversity? Then join our Diversity Committee, headed by Calvin Stovall, executive editor
of the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton,
N.Y., and Marisa Porto, assistant managing
editor of The News Journal in Wilmington,
Del. This committee is working closely with
UNITY: Journalists of Color and the APME
Credibility Committee on a special project to
CONTINUED ON PAGE 27
INDEX
Presidents’ columns
Hiring
2 Karen Magnuson, APME
23 Naomi Halperin, APPM
26 Jim Jenks, APSE
Recruiting the right people
APME News editor
18-19 Fellow editors share what works for them
4 Mark Bowden
Questions for AP
4 Alternative leads, ombudsmen,
rights to content
You Make the Call
10-11 Do you agree with NBC’s decision to air excerpts of the video, photos
and text the Virginia Tech gunmen sent?
Cover story
Consumers, not readers
12-14 What information do people really want from
you? Use Jobs-to-Be-Done strategies to find out
AP political coverage
22 AP goes deep and wide to cover
2008 presidential race
Great Ideas
15-17 Hot fun in the summertime
AP health and medical
coverage
20-21 How AP delivers the health and
science coverage your readers demand
AP Member Showcase photos
24-25 December Member Showcase
photo of the month, David I. Andersen,
Cleveland Plain Dealer; January, Erik
Trautmann, The Hour; February, Mike
Terry, Deseret Morning News; March,
Javier Manzano, Rocky Mountain News
This issue
Editor • Mark Bowden,The Gazette, Cedar Rapids,
Iowa / [email protected]
Designer • Michelle Wiese,The Gazette
Copy editor • Rae Riebe,The Gazette
Printing • Cedar Graphics, Hiawatha, Iowa
Conference
The new Newseum awaits you
7-8 Conference
attendees will be among
the first visitors to the
new building celebrating
freedom of the press
The Associated Press Managing Editors is a professional, non-profit organization founded in 1933 in French Lick, Ind. Its
membership includes senior editors from more than 1,700 newspapers in the United States and Canada affiliated with The
Associated Press. APME’s mission is to assist editors in coping effectively with newsroom management challenges, to monitor
service provided by The Associated Press and to support journalistic excellence. APME also sponsors the National Credibility
Roundtables Project, national Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy and the NewsTrain. APME News is the quarterly magazine
for APME members. For updates on APME activities and programs, go to apme.com, or write to [email protected] to request an
e-mail subscription to APME Update. Supporting memberships are $100 a year; details are available at apme.com.
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 3
NEWS NOTES
We are in the information business now
Mark Bowden
APME News editor
mark.bowden@gazette
communications.com
he foot bone connected to the leg
bone . . . the leg bone connected to
the knee bone ... the knee bone connected to the thigh bone ... and so goes the
old song, ‘‘Dry Bones.’’ The lyrics ultimately
teach children how the bones of different
sizes and shapes are connected together to
make a person.
At a time when editors are pressed to create
and support a growing variety of products
and services, many may be wondering how
these new efforts are connected to their ‘‘day
jobs’’ to service the core businesses — newspapers and Web sites.
T
To be sure, it’s a challenge, but if we focus
on the goal of building or fortifying our position as a clearinghouse of information in the
community, it all makes sense.
We’re not in the newspaper business anymore, and probably haven’t been for the
past decade or more when we jumped into
the Internet. We’re in the information business, and our goal is to ﬁnd that right mix of
products and services to serve the information needs of the community. These are
exciting times for an industry engulfed in
change. Let APME News help you create the
future.
QUESTIONS FOR THE AP
Questions for
the AP are
answered by
Mike
Silverman
Associated Press
managing editor
Does the AP have an
ombudsman or an ‘‘internal
affairs’’ department to investigate
signiﬁcant questions raised about accuracy and objectivity of the
news service reports?
Q
Rather than designating one person
whose sole job is to ﬁeld complaints, we
have many ombudsmen available to you — all
our bureau chiefs in the ﬁeld and our news
department chiefs at headquarters. Because of
our special relationship with our members, we
usually hear from you rather than directly from
the public, though we often answer questions
from the public as well.
Having questions go to our department
heads and chiefs allows us to engage with
the membership and, we believe, strengthens
that connection. At the same time, we don’t
hesitate to loop in our Corporate Communications department when an issue — such as the
specious claim that one of AP’s Iraqi police
sources didn’t exist — requires a public defense against attacks by blogs or other media
A
4 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
critics.
What is the advantage of being a
member of the AP versus simply
being a customer of the news service?
Q
A
Members own the AP and elect its board
of directors. The board has broad powers
under AP’s bylaws ‘‘to have control and management of all the affairs of the Corporation,
except as otherwise provided in the bylaws.’’
AP customers who are not members have no
such direct inﬂuence.
Does its agreement with a member newspaper give AP the right
to take original content from that
newspaper’s Web site?
Q
The AP bylaws require that members
‘‘promptly’’ furnish, or share, news of
their districts with the AP. The bylaws do not
specify how that sharing is to take place.
Over the years, that exchange has been accomplished in a variety of ways, using different
technologies. Those ranged from providing carbon copies of member stories to the local AP
bureau, to the ‘‘electronic carbon’’ system, and
now e-mail sharing and posting of local content
on member Web sites. As a practical matter, AP
sees Web posting of local member content as
another way to facilitate that sharing.
A
What has been the receptivity
to the AP’s alternative leads for
breaking news stories?
Q
A
The appetite is huge — and growing, as
newspaper editors tell us they are always
seeking new ways to better distinguish what
their readers can get on the Web from versions of stories they can offer in their printed
product.
Our daily spot checks of newspapers around
the country show that optionals have proved
most popular on stories that break early in the
day and cry out for fresh material or a fresh
approach before the newspaper is read the
next morning.
Over the ﬁrst three weeks of March, for
example, the most used optional was on the
tornado that killed eight people in an Alabama
school. The basic facts of the disaster were old
news, so the optional explored the question
of whether classes should have been dismissed
earlier, in time to evacuate the school. A third
of papers using the AP story went with the
tornado optional.
Play was similar on the conviction of I. Lewis
‘‘Scooter’’ Libby. That one analyzed the reasoning behind the jurors’ decision.
Editors tell us that optional leads like those
are particularly effective because they advance
stories, look at unanswered questions and tell
readers things they didn’t already know.
QUESTIONS?
If you have questions you’d like The
Associated Press to answer in APME
News, let us know. E-mail questions to
mark.bowden@gazettecommunica
tions.com or call Mark Bowden, APME
News editor, (319) 398-5869.
INNOVATIONS
New APME award
to honor innovators
I
s it new? Is it different?
Is it great?
If it is, APME wants
to know.
APME this year is
introducing the Innovator of
the Year Award, which will
go to the newspaper that
‘‘demonstrates a bold, creative
effort to improve a news
or information product and
increase audience,’’ said Scott
W. Angus, executive editor of
the Janesville (Wis.) Gazette
and coordinator of the innovation award.
APME board members will
narrow the entries to three
ﬁnalists, which will be presented at the 2007 conference.
Attendees will vote to select
the winner.
The new category was the
brainchild of APME President
Karen Magnuson, executive
editor and vice president of
the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat
and Chronicle. Magnuson said
she wanted to highlight and
reward the inventive changes
newspapers are making.
The innovator honor is one
of several awards that will be
announced when APME meets
for its annual conference in
Washington, D.C., Oct. 3-6.
APME once again will recognize standout entries in four
primary categories — First
Amendment, public service,
international perspective, and
convergence.
The general contest also is
open to any member paper
of APME. Entries must have
been published between
Aug. 1, 2006, and July 31,
2007.
Hollis Towns, executive editor of the Cincinnati Enquirer
and APME contest committee chairman, is encouraging member newspapers to
participate.
‘‘Papers across the country
are doing great things, and this
is an opportunity for members
to showcase their ﬁne work,’’
Towns said.
During the 2006 awards
ceremony in New Orleans,
members heard from winning newspapers that tackled
everything from federal ﬁscal
mismanagement to the excitement and energy of the South
by Southwest festival.
‘‘The entries last year were
phenomenal, and we expect no
less this year,’’ Towns said.
For more information, go to
www.apme.com/awards
HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION FOR THE APME INNOVATOR AWARD
The APME Innovator of the Year Award
recognizes innovation in print, online,
management, structure or other area that
demonstrates a bold, creative effort to
improve a news or information product
and increase audience. Demonstrable success is not essential but could improve the
entry’s standing.
Eligibility: The competition is open to
any editor or staff member of an AP member newspaper, a team from a member
newspaper or a newspaper.
Contest period: Entries must have
been published or launched between Aug.
1, 2006, and July 31, 2007.
Submissions:
• All entries must be submitted with an
entry form available for downloading at
www.apme.com
• Online — If an entry is not available
to the public during August, September
and October, the entrant is responsible for
making the site available to judges through
a Web link.
• Print — Submit tearsheets, PDFs or
CD.
• Online and print — Combinations
are welcome and should be submitted according to rules for both.
• Management, structure or other
— Explain thoroughly the innovation and
how it improved or increased efﬁciency,
effectiveness, coordination and audience or
enhanced the newspaper’s competitiveness
or ability to improve content. Provide examples of resulting content as appropriate.
Deadline: Entries must be submitted
by Aug. 15, 2007.
Judging: A panel of APME board members will judge all entries and select three
ﬁnalists. The ﬁnalists will be presented
to attendees of the APME conference in
Washington, D.C., Oct. 3-6, and a vote of
attendees will determine the winner. A
representative of each ﬁnalist will be asked
to present his or her newspaper’s entry at
the conference. Attendance is not required
to win.
Entry fee: $50.
Recognition: The APME Innovator
of the Year will be honored at the APME
conference in Washington, D.C., and will
receive a plaque recognizing the winning
effort. Also, APME’s quarterly magazine,
APME News, will feature the winner in a
cover story in its winter 2008 edition.
Information: Contact Scott W.
Angus, APME Innovation Committee
chairman, [email protected]
or (608) 755-8250.
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 5
2007 CONFERENCE
Come early, stay late
ashington, D.C.,
especially in early
October, is the
perfect place to attend a conference and then extend the visit a
couple of days.
One can tour for weeks and
still not hit all the major and
minor attractions.
Assuming you’ve already hit
the Smithsonian museums a
couple of times, toured the
Mint with your third-grade
class and have been awed by the
power of the Vietnam, Lincoln
and assorted Mall memorials,
consider these new or limitedtime-only events:
• The National Museum of
the American Indian — This
beautifully designed museum
on the National Mall offers an
eye-opening look at the culture
and lives of American Indians.
One ongoing exhibit chronicles
Indians in the Washington,
D.C., region from 1600 to the
present with an astonishing
display of photographs and
artifacts.
• The Spy Museum — You
need at least two hours to ‘‘gather your own intelligence’’ at
this packed museum. Current
W
exhibits include a collection
of more than 200 spy devices
from invisible ink to ingenious
disguises. Admission is $16 for
adults.
• The World War II Memorial
— Opened in 2004, this memorial is a beautiful space that
combines classical and modern
architectural details. It is worth
a stop off the tour bus.
• Ansel Adams — A special
showing of 125 photos by Ansel
Adams at Cocoran Museum
will include a number of rarely
exhibited prints along with
several of his iconic landscapes.
Tickets are $12.
• ‘‘Shear Madness’’ — A
‘‘comedy whodunit’’ in which
the audience helps solve
the crime is a long-running
Washington favorite at the
Kennedy Center. It plays seven
times during the first week of
October. Tickets range from
$40 to $50.
• The National Symphony
Orchestra — Conducted by
Leonard Slatkin, the symphony
will perform Beethoven’s Ninth
Symphony at the Kennedy
Center at 8 p.m. Oct. 6. Tickets
range from $20 to $80.
API to hold mini-seminar
at 2007 APME conference
he American Press Institute will offer APME
members attending the
2007 conference in Washington,
D.C., an exclusive two-hour
sampler of its most innovative
training and ideas.
API will design and lead
workshops Friday afternoon,
Oct. 5, in a first-of-its-kind
arrangement that will focus on
change, innovation and news
leadership.
The three leading elements on
the ‘‘API Experience’’ segment
during the conference will be:
• Lessons from Newspaper
Next. API will update APME
members on this initiative that’s
spreading throughout the newspaper industry. For example,
this segment will explore the
needs and unmet needs of the
audience and the community,
as well as new ways to communicate news and information to
the target audience.
• Culture change and collabo-
T
Auction needs your special items
t is time to start thinking
about how your newspaper will be represented at
this year’s APME Foundation
auction.
Each year newspapers
showcase their communities
with generous gifts that are
made by local artisans or that
represent the unique offerings
of the region. Those gifts will be
sold to APME members at this
year’s conference in October
in a silent auction or during a
boisterous bidding war during
the live auction.
Auction chair Suki Dardarian
is planning to present a rich array of can’t-pass-on items.
‘‘We’re soliciting great items
that celebrate the history of
journalism, as well as those
I
ABOVE:The National Museum of
the American Indian opened in 2004.
(McClatchy Newspapers)
LEFT: Queen Elizabeth of England
and Mary Bomar, National Parks
Service director, tour the World War
II Memorial in May. (AP Photo)
6 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
ration. Using the experiences
and teachings of API’s The
Learning Newsroom, a threeyear project to help newsrooms
improve their capacity to produce better journalism, API will
talk about the tools needed to
break away from old workplace
structures to create a more collaborative, creative newsroom
culture.
• Leadership self-awareness.
API’s Leadership Effectiveness
tools will help editors recognize
how they promote or inhibit
constructive culture and innovation in their newsrooms. This
understanding can enable them
to meet their goals and have the
impact they desire.
Also, API will invite 12
APME editors to participate in
special storytelling workshop,
guided by API facilitators,
before the conference. Those
editors will then share observations from the training as part
of the Friday workshops.
ever-popular sports tickets and
special trips,’’ said Dardarian. ‘‘It
will be a fabulous evening with
music, dancing and high-stakes
bidding!’’
Need a suggestion of something that will get an arm-waving response at the auction?
Talk to Dardarian; ask your
staff and be on the lookout for
that unique item or opportunity
(trips and tickets are always
hot!) that you will be proud to
sponsor this year.
In addition to providing a reason for a great party, the auction
is a key way the APME Foundation is sustained and portions of
the annual conference funded.
For more information, contact
Dardarian at (206) 464-2791 or
[email protected]
2007 CONFERENCE
See the new
Newseum
Be among the ﬁrst
visitors to the
new building that
celebrates freedom
of the press
By Adell Crowe
USA Today
ditors attending the 2007
Associated Press Managing Editors conference
in Washington, D.C., in October
will be treated to a VIP experience at the new Newseum, the
Freedom Forum’s interactive
museum of news.
APME and its sister organization, the Associated Press Photo
Managers, will open this year’s
conference at the Newseum on
Wednesday, Oct. 3. Attendees
E
will get special access to the
250,000-square-foot facility
that afternoon, followed by a
welcome reception at the site
sponsored by the Freedom
Forum.
The rest of the conference,
which boasts the theme, ‘‘Fast
Forward to the Future: 500 Great
Ideas for Staying Ahead and
Producing Great Journalism,’’
will be at the JW Marriott Hotel
on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Workshops and programming
at the JW Marriott will begin
Thursday, Oct. 4, and go through
Friday, Oct. 5. The conference
concludes Saturday, Oct. 6.
Register for the conference
now and save:
• Save $50 by registering on the
APME Web site now. https://
s08.123signup.com/servlet/
SignUp?P=15217811911540190
00&PG=1521781182300
• Take a look at our convention
hotel, the JW Marriott. https://
s08.123signup.com/servlet/Sig
nUp?P=521781191154019000&
PG=1521781182300&Info=
The facade of the new Newseum has a 50-ton, 74-foot-high marble engraving of the First Amendment.There are 264 sections with 12-inch
letters and characters that spell out all 45 words in the amendment. Charles Overby, chief executive of the Freedom Forum, the non-proﬁt
organization that underwrites the Newseum, says the Newseum is not meant to be a monument to the press, but to its freedom.The
building’s grand opening is scheduled for Oct. 15.
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 7
2007 CONFERENCE
Newseum by the numbers
By Christy Mumford
Jerding
Freedom Forum editorial director
ow many words, images, artifacts and videos does it take to
fill a museum of news? We did the
math.
H
Jack Hurley, senior vice president for
broadcasting at the Freedom Forum,
describes work on the Newseum during a
hard-hat tour in late March with leaders of
the Associated Press Managing Editors and
AP Photo Managers. Listening are APME
Executive Director Mark Mittelstadt and
conference ﬂoor director Jon Broadbooks.
(Photo by Kate Patterson, USA Today)
magazines in the News History
Gallery
Newseum complex at Pennsylvania
Avenue and Sixth Street NW, Washington, D.C., including residences
and restaurant
ordered for the Newseum
30,000 — Total number of historic newspaper front pages in the
Newseum collection, going back
nearly 500 years
6,180 — Artifacts in the Newseum
collection
2,757 — Age, in years, of the
oldest artifact (a statue from ancient
Egypt)
90 — Height, in feet, of the Great
Hall of News atrium (The Sistine
Chapel is 68 feet tall.)
65 — Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers interviewed
50 — Tons of Tennessee marble
used to create the First Amendment
facade on Pennsylvania Avenue
15 — Theaters
14 — Major galleries
12 — Additional exhibit areas
8 — Panels of the Berlin Wall, each
weighing about 3 tons
1,800 — Images on display, including cartoons, comics, front pages,
photographs and other graphic elements
7 — Levels of the building
2 — State-of-the-art television
1,063 — Press passes in the collec-
1 — The First Amendment is carved
tion
8 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
375 — Historic newspapers and
100 — Miles of fiber-optic cable
um’s gallery scripts
A 500-seat auditorium to be used for
programs on the value of press freedoms
and the First Amendment takes shape at
one end of the Newseum. (Photo by Kate
Patterson, USA Today)
of dollars, by the Freedom Forum in
the Newseum building project
643,000 — Square footage of the
100,000 — Words in the Newse-
The new Newseum, meant to be a monument to freedom, takes shape on Pennsylvania Avenue. (Photo by Kate Patterson, USA
Today)
435 — Total investment, in millions
studios
into the Newseum’s exterior wall
From left: APME President Karen
Magnuson, program Chairman Andrew
Oppmann, conference ﬂoor director
Jon Broadbooks, Pam Galloway-Tabb
(center), vice president for general
services at the Freedom Forum, APME
Executive Director Mark Mittelstadt
and Vice President David Ledford.
(Photo by Kate Patterson, USA Today)
Q&A
YOU MAKE THE CALL
Q&A: Media responsibility
Did NBC err by airing what it received from the Virginia Tech gunman?
The situation: NBC News broadcast about two minutes of the 25-minute tape and a handful of the
45 photos sent by Seung-Hui Cho, the gunman who killed 32 people at Virginia Tech on April 16.
Do you agree with NBC’s decision to air excerpts of the video, photos and text the gunmen sent?
‘‘You Make the Call’’
is a Q&A feature on
news ethics by Jennifer
Houtman, managing
editor of the Marietta
(Ohio) Times and cochairman of the APME
Credibility Committee.
If you have an ethical
situation you’d like explored, of if you would
like to be a part of the
discussion of an ethical
issue, please contact
Houtman at (740) 3765437 or by
e-mail at jhoutman
@mariettatimes.com
10 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
From Mike Throne, general manager/
managing editor, Chillicothe
(Ohio) Gazette:
Y
es, I agree with the NBC News decision to air segments of the
killer’s video and other parts of the manifesto because they helped
explain the killer’s mind-set when he decided to go on his ram-
page.
At the Gazette, we didn’t use any images from the video and ran the story
about the discovery of the tapes on an inside page. That’s our decision, given our community standards and local sensibilities. We’ve also focused on
local angles to the story (how our local regional campus would handle such
a situation, a local professor who conducted a security review at Virginia
Tech, etc.) rather than all the stories about the killer and his ramblings.
Two arguments can be made against publishing multimedia of the killer.
The first argues that, by publishing them, NBC gave the killer what he
wanted: to kill and get notoriety, even in death, for doing so. The second is
the tapes have no news value.
There’s no question the manifesto and photos answer why the killer did
what he did — maybe not a clear answer, but an answer nonetheless.
It also helps the biggest question of the Virginia Tech shootings: Why
did this happen? It’s not enough to boil the killer’s motives down to mental
illness. Many readers and viewers want to understand the triggers to his
behavior. The killer’s photos and writings help to answer that question.
Therefore, they have news value.
However, there’s the first argument, which also comes into play. There’s
no question that it’s possible others may look at the killer’s writings and
photos and emulate his behavior. But it’s also clear that NBC used only a
small amount of what it received. In my mind, that’s balancing, answering
the public’s questions with concerns about media overplay, and that’s the
correct decision.
Without question, the events of April 16 at Virginia Tech were tragic, but
helping everyone to understand exactly what happened in the mind of the
killer is journalism’s obligation.
YOU MAKE THE CALL
From Maria Lorensen,
editor, Martinsburg
(W.Va.) Journal:
From Bob Gabordi, executive editor,Tallahassee (Fla.)
Democrat:
BC was correct to air the Virginia Tech killer’s
manifesto. The network probably realized
sometime after the initial airing (perhaps
after hearing from mental health professionals) that it
shouldn’t continue to air the piece ad nauseam for fear of
spurring copycats. Therefore, the network scaled back.
And that scaling back, I believe, was appropriate.
The day after the manifesto was released, our small
daily newspaper opted not to run the photo of the killer
with the gun on Page 1. Instead, we ran a photo of a
vigil at our small local university. Several readers called,
including one who said she had the option of buying any
one of six newspapers at the train station that morning.
She chose ours because we opted not to picture the killer
with his gun.
Clearly, the media bear an enormous responsibility
for what gets printed, what gets aired. In small markets,
we worry as well about copycats. After the Virginia
Tech massacre, a local high school was evacuated after
a bomb threat. Students sat on bleachers for most of the
morning, while law enforcement checked and rechecked
the school. We ran that story on Page 1. It’s a story we
wouldn’t have played with such prominence six months
ago.
So much of what we do is a balancing act. Sometimes
we get it right; sometimes we don’t. And when readers
believe we don’t, they let us know.
This past Labor Day, we covered a shooting at the same
local university mentioned above. A father gunned down
his two sons who were students, and then turned the
gun on himself. After careful thought and much discussion, we opted to run a photo of one of the dead sons
on Page 1. Most of the backlash came from university
students. As part of a panel discussion a month later, my
chief photographer and I explained our rationale. While
the students didn’t necessarily agree with our decision,
they at least understood why we did what we did: Nothing like this had ever happened on this idyllic campus
before.
irst, I’m not really sure this package of materials and grievances can accurately be called a
manifesto. That suggests a carefully thought-out
position or policy statement. This strikes me more as
a collection of the mind of an emotionally deranged
young man, a tortured mind incapable of a manifesto.
Calling it that elevates it, in my mind, and victimizes
the victims and their families by suggesting he had a
cause.
Clearly, based on former classmates’ recollections,
this man had been bullied and treated very poorly in
high school. In some way or another, many people are;
growing up is very hard. But no one has ever done this
before, so I do not want to contribute to misinformation by calling it a manifesto.
That said, I think NBC was right in turning the materials it received over to police, and I think it should
have reported fully on the contents of the materials it
received. It is less important to me that it release wordfor-word, photo-by-photo everything it received. I
think it is always important to weigh the public good of
what we do or write or broadcast against the potential
for harm. Historically, we have always done so in times
of tragedy.
We have always made those kinds of value judgments
on behalf of our communities. Newspaper editors do
it every day, asking if this photograph or that is too
graphic or painful. At times, we decide the news warrants the picture or the graphic description. At times,
we decide not to publish blood and guts for its own
sake. This is no different from those kinds of decisions.
We are balancing values and rights. The public good
of the release of the manifesto vs. the public harm,
including making a value judgment on whether its
immediate release gets in the way of understanding this
crime.
We have a responsibility as journalists to report the
news and to inform the public. That does not have to be
at odds with being good citizens or caring people.
N
F
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 11
COVER STORY
CONSUMERS,
NOT READERS
Are you supplying useful
information
and services
people really
want, when
and how they
want them?
Learn how by
following Jobsto-Be-Done
strategies
12 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
By Elizabeth Adams
Managing editor
Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle
J
obs to Be Done. It’s a
phrase you’ve heard if
you’ve attended a Newspaper Next (aka N2)
presentation in the past
six months, as thousands
in the industry have.
In September, the
American Press Institute began
releasing findings from its yearlong study on restoring growth
in the newspaper industry. A key
concept of N2 is that consumers don’t buy products, they hire
them to get key jobs done in
their lives.
Newspapers across the country
are pondering the process of
identifying the ‘‘jobs’’ that people
in their market need done and
crafting corresponding solutions.
For a mom having trouble finding child care, the answer could
take the form of a baby-sitter
database. For someone seeking a
mechanic or plumber, a service
directory with user reviews could
be useful.
But what does this mean for
you and the journalists in your
newsroom?
Stephen T. Gray, managing
director of Newspaper Next for
the American Press Institute,
said newspapers can improve by
applying some of the Jobs-to-BeDone strategies.
‘‘One of the things newspaper
people need to realize is that the
rising number of people who
don’t regularly read a
newspaper
simply
find that it
doesn’t get a
critical job
done in their
everyday
lives.’’
Stephen T.
As an example, Gray
Gray
suggests
Managing direcexploring
tor of Newspaper Next for the the Jobs-toBe-Done
American Press
needs of
Institute
people who
want to read
about schools. Newspapers often
write about education from an
institutional perspective, covering school board meetings, etc.,
Gray said.
‘‘The mom or the dad is not
necessarily concerned with what
the board is doing,’’ he said.
‘‘They want to know, ‘How can I
get the most out of the educational resources that are available
to my child?’ ‘’
The N2 Tools section of the
Newspaper Next Web site (www.
newspapernext.org) includes
Jobs-to-Be-Done interview
forms. But to accompany this
article, Gray molded questions
specifically for newsrooms. (See
list.)
‘‘All of the questions will help
reporters understand the many
urgent jobs arising in people’s
lives, and you can get more specifics by taking No. 6 and plugging in your beat,’’ Gray said.
Are there important gaps or
shortcomings in the information
you wish you had about _____
_____ (education, health care,
government, etc.)?
‘‘I can’t think of anything
healthier than having face-toface conversations with the individuals that you want to serve,’’
Gray said.
Gray suggested that reporters
monitor and participate in online
discussion forums to see what
people are talking about and
what problems they’re having.
Focus groups are another option.
‘‘We tend to have reader panels
where we ask about the things we
do. We could have a consumer
panel where we ask about what
people are trying to get done in
their lives and what are some
possible solutions,’’ he said.
‘‘Some of this stuff wouldn’t
look like journalism. But it could
definitely lead to stories. It would
frame the story differently if we
were in frequent contact with
real humans about what they’re
trying to get done.’’
Readers vs. people
Gray said he shies away from
the word ‘‘readers,’’ preferring
‘‘people,’’ ‘‘individuals’’ and
‘‘consumers’’ instead. In most
newspaper markets, as much
as 40 percent of the people are
not readers, Gray said. These
non-readers present vast growth
opportunities.
‘‘In the last 50 years, we’ve gone
from an extremely narrow pipeline for delivering information,
to a time when anyone can get
anything on the Internet,’’ Gray
said. ‘‘The local newspaper’s opportunity is in finding out what
their frustrations are — the gaps
COVER STORY
and shortcomings in what’s available and what they can’t get.’’
Making contact
Augusta, Ga.-based Morris
Communications Co., whose
media holdings include 27 daily
and 16 non-daily newspapers,
hired two University of Missouri
graduate students to conduct
Jobs-to-Be-Done research in
Augusta and other markets.
During their four-month internship as market analysts, Tina Qiu
and Isabel Ordonez are interviewing women, young people
and businesses — including
newspaper employees.
Although they began by
interviewing individuals, they
soon switched to meetings with
existing groups. The one-on-one
interviews were too time-consuming and not productive, said
Jim Smith, the vice president
of research and development
for Morris. Common problems
are identified faster during the
group discussion as participants
chime in about having similar
problems.
The team starts by distributing
a one-page questionnaire. That is
followed by a group discussion.
‘‘We focus essentially on communication problems,’’ Smith
said.
In Augusta, the Morris interns
interviewed two groups of stayat-home-mothers, an AfricanAmerican women’s group and
some business networking organizations. They met with several
women’s groups in other cities.
‘‘The people we’re talking to are
not used to being talked to by
reporters,’’ Ordonez said. ‘‘Newspapers will have to incorporate
Tina Qiu (left) and Isabel Ordonez conduct Jobs to Be Done
research for Morris Communications Co., based in Augusta,
Ga. Both women are journalists pursuing master’s degrees at
the University of Missouri. (Elizabeth Adams Photo)
more research into their daily
routines to stay in touch.’’
Common
denominators
Another point Smith said
newsrooms should note: Newspaper coverage tends to focus
on what’s unique or atypical.
The Jobs-to-Be-Done approach
casts a broad net that identifies
big problems that consumers
share. Content or products that
address those issues may be more
relevant to a larger audience than
what newspapers are providing
now.
After the interns complete
their research, Morris plans
to produce a Jobs-to-Be-Done
‘‘cookbook’’ that its properties
can apply in their individual
markets.
‘‘What we’re planning is a
SWAT team strategy,’’ Smith said.
‘‘The idea is to get fundamental
information back fast.’’
Newspapers will set up meetings in their communities, and
students or stringers hired on
location will conduct the meetings. Reporters and editors will
be invited.
‘‘We like to have reporters
around,’’ Smith said. The Jobsto-Be-Done sessions provide
raw data that any good journalist could use as a bank of story
ideas, he said.
For Morris, Smith said, the goal
of Jobs to Be Done is to identify
products and services targeting
non-consumers and non-advertisers.
‘‘When you identify jobs that
the newspaper can’t do, you have
a strategy for new products,’’
Smith said. ‘‘It’s far more useful
to follow the market. It’s easier
than imposing your product
ideas and testing them.’’
Smith said you also can ask,
‘‘Do we need another product to
serve this need or can we do it
with the newspaper?’’
In March, the Morris team
traveled to Holland, Mich.,
where the Morris newspaper, the
Holland Sentinel, is located.
Working with students from
the Medill School of Journalism
at Northwestern University, the
team spent two days meeting
with groups from the community. The students are using what
they learned to develop a product strategy for Zeeland, Mich., a
town of about 6,000.
Newspapers are uniquely qualified to execute the Jobs-to-BeDone approach, Ordonez said.
She and Qiu, who have worked
as reporters, are using journalistic methods to conduct research.
They find people in the community, set up interviews and ask
questions.
‘‘This combines reporting
techniques and strategies with a
focus-group mentality,’’ Ordonez
said.
Market analysts Tina Qiu (left) and Isabel Ordonez meet with
Jim Smith, vice president of research and development for
Morris Communications Co., weekly to discuss what they’ve
learned in Jobs to Be Done interviews. (Elizabeth Adams
Photo)
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 13
COVER STORY
What jobs
are needed?
Of the seven Newspaper Next
demonstration projects, The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, Calif.,
was the most newsroom-based,
said API’s
Gray. (View
the Sun’s summary at www.
innosight.
com/news
papernext/
gannett1.
html)
Steve SilberSteve
man, executive
Silberman
editor, said The
Executive editor Sun continues
of The Desert
to employ Jobsto-Be-Done
Sun
thinking as it
revamps the
information it provides and how it
provides it. The N2 experience has
become part of the culture.
‘‘We’re talking to consumers
and non-consumers all the time,’’
Silberman said.
Three essential questions The
Sun staff is always asking:
1. What is the job consumers
want done?
2. What job do businesses want
done?
3. What job do we need to do?
The answers can mean focusing
on many different jobs besides
delivering news, Silberman said.
The Sun is doing more with
databases online, recently posting
systemwide test scores where parents can call up results by school.
14 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
It has created a pet playoffs
feature on its Web site that
allows people to vote on their
favorites and upload photos of
their pets.
About 30 reporters shoot
video. Reporters are textmessaging breaking news
from meetings and hearings.
In April, The Sun launched
a weekday audiocast of local
news that is aired on a local
radio station. A freelancer
works with the staff to
summarize and record the
headlines of the day.
‘‘That’s a new job to be done for
us, a new way of reaching nonconsumers,’’ Silberman said.
Rick Green, The Sun’s managing
editor, said audiocasts have been
well-received and would expand
to other stations soon.
The Sun also used the Jobs-toBe-Done approach to revamp its
monthly business publication.
‘‘We had a lot of conversations
about why anybody would want
it,’’ Silberman said. They learned
that the job local businesses needed done was to learn more about
how to grow their businesses.
The Sun narrowed the Business
Review’s focus to better suit that
need — taking out general-interest consumer information, for
example. It switched from full-run
home delivery to direct mail to
17,000 businesses.
The Jobs-to-Be-Done approach
meshes with other innovations
The Sun was pursuing, such as
delivering what information
people want, when and where
they want it.
Silberman cited this as an example: A wreck on a major highway
one morning recently brought
traffic to a standstill. Text messages and an e-mail blast alerting
drivers went out at 6:41 a.m.
The next day, The Sun ran a fullpage house ad featuring a photo of
the backed-up cars with the line:
‘‘Were you snarled in this?’’ Sign
up for free breaking news text
alerts, the ad advised, and ‘‘next
time you’ll know before you go. ’’
Saving people time?
Now that’s a job we all need
done.
These 8 questions help
identify Jobs to Be Done
tephen T. Gray, managing director of Newspaper Next
for the American Press Institute, says newsrooms can
use the Jobs-to-Be-Done approach to get a better
understanding of common problems, issues and opportunities — small or large — that frustrate the people in our
communities.
S
‘‘Virtually every such issue has an information component, often a local one. Our goal is to learn how we can
use our skills and resources to help them navigate these
challenges and thereby become indispensable in their
lives,’’ he says.
‘‘You want to ﬁnd out where they’re frustrated with the
available solutions and how they think these needs could
best be met,’’ Gray says.
He offers eight
questions that could
be posed to the public:
1. What are some things
you’re trying to get done at
the moment? Or were trying
to do recently?
2. What frustrates you
about trying to get this done?
3. Where, when and how
do you or did you go about
trying to deal with this issue?
4. How would you describe an ideal solution? And
how would it make you feel?
5. Are there frustrating
gaps or shortcomings in the
information you need to deal
with these or any other situations in your life?
6. Are there important
gaps or shortcomings in the
information you wish you
had about what’s going on in
your neighborhood, schools,
community and region, or in
the nation and the world?
7. What, for you, would be
the most convenient way to
get this kind of information?
8. How would you
describe an ideal solution
— for you — for keeping up
on what’s going on in your
community?
Interview tips
Gray says interviewers
should forget they work
for a newspaper and
remember their mission is
to see the world through
their subjects’ eyes. The
goal is to understand how
people perceive current
or recent needs.
Other tips
• Be careful not to
steer them toward any
particular channel (such as
the newspaper).
• Probe for a deeper
understanding of any answers you get. You want
to be sure you understand
how this person perceives
the job he or she is trying
to get done, and what
he or she would see as a
great solution.
• Probe about desired type and depth of
content, range of subjects,
preferred means of access,
time of day and format,
what the experience of
using it would feel like, etc.
GREAT IDEAS
Spice up
your summer
Lance Johnson is the
executive editor of
The Day in New
London, Conn.
He can be reached at
[email protected]
o you recall that sinking
feeling
one Friday last summer when half your staff was on
vacation and the other half had
called in sick to play golf?
As newsrooms empty during
the heat and haze, newspapers
and Web sites still can be rich
with content that connects us to
readers’ everyday lives.
A series about day trips within
50 miles of home, with links
to restaurants and attractions,
will interest those who want to
explore.
Families will be thankful for
weekly tips on how to entertain
the kids during school vacation.
How about an occasional blog
by a recent grad who is getting
used to her ﬁrst full-time job,
with tips from professionals?
Here are a number of contributions from the 2006 Great
Ideas booklet that might liven up
your pages.
D
Sell your stuff
Nobody having a tag sale has time to read a
whole article. That’s when using an alternative story form comes in handy. Just in time
for summer’s high season, the Allentown
(Pa.) Morning Call gave readers the briefest
of pep talks and a clipable poster featuring
succinct tips for planning and executing these
popular outbursts of personal retailing. All
displayed on tags, of course.
Summer sports camp
When the prep sports season slowed, the
Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle offered a ﬁve-week
summer sports camp series. Each Sunday, the
newspaper published a full page of instructions on a sports skill readers might not have
or might want to improve upon. These and
other topics were pegged off national or local
sporting events happening in the upcoming
week:
• How to hit a backhand in tennis (to coincide with Wimbledon)
• How to keep score in baseball (Major
League Baseball All-Star Game)
• How to spin a basketball (Nike Peach
Jam Invitational, a tournament featuring the
nation’s top high school players)
Are you ‘gull-able?’
Joan Benson-Cacchione, a lifestyle reporter
at the Erie (Pa.) Times-News, hatched the
idea to stitch up stuffed gulls to hand out
to readers. She sewed six gulls and invited
readers to take one along on summer vacation and send back photos of their travels.
Requests ﬂew in, and more gulls had to be
made.
‘‘We may live in a hard-wired world, but,
we learned, there is still something special
about that soft, tactile connection with a lovable stuffed critter,’’ says The Times-News.
Every week, the Sunday lifestyle section
updated readers on a new gull sighting, with
a short story and photos, and a photo gallery
online.
Best local golf holes
The Gazette in Colorado Springs, Colo.,
kicked off the 2006 season with a feature
on the best 18 holes of golf in the region.
Photos were shot in the fall to capture the
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 15
GREAT IDEAS
best conditions. The courses allowed public
access, and both the front and back nine were
showcased. All had quality ﬁnishing holes,
but it was tougher to ﬁnd the best No. 6 with
a par 4. A scenic 10th hole anchored a double
truck.
Undercurrents
The Tampa (Fla.) Tribune decided to tap
into readers’ discussions of what they did
from Friday evening to Sunday afternoon
on the previous weekend. These slice-of-life
vignettes showed readers the newspaper
doesn’t hibernate on weekends, because the
news staff was required to get out and about.
The tight stories and photos didn’t always
ﬁt the mold of traditional journalism. And
instead of headlines, the vignettes had time
stamps showing when and where we were.
Exploring
At the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, the
news and advertising departments collaborated to build readership and ad revenue in
targeted communities. A special section was
published periodically with limited geographical distribution that proﬁled a locality.
The advance section was inserted, with additional copies delivered to advertisers and to
targeted non-subscribers. A cross-departmen-
16 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
tal team brainstormed news content aimed
at capturing what set each community apart.
Stories were kept short, and the images and
words worked together.
Lawn-care guide
The Cincinnati Enquirer proﬁled a northern
Kentucky man known for his pristine lawns
and developed a full-page, clip-and-save
lawn-care guide, which provided information
to carry readers through fall.
On the waterfront
Starting on the Saturday of Memorial
Day weekend, the Erie (Pa.) Times-News
launched a weekly series, ‘‘On the Waterfront,’’ to guide readers to the treats and
treasures that come with living along a Great
Lake.
Pennsylvania’s Presque Isle State Park,
with beaches, boat launches, bicycle paths
and walking trails, is the jewel of this
waterfront, but the Lake Erie shoreline also
is ringed with other interesting attractions,
including historic lighthouses, tiny cottage
communities, piers for bucket ﬁshermen and
places to enjoy a dish of Lake Erie perch.
Don’t have a Great Lake? How about a
mountain or an ‘‘antiques trail?’’
Sole survivor
Never underestimate the creativity of your
GREAT IDEAS
The Gazette
Colorado Springs, Colo.
Jeff Thomas, editor
(719) 636-0384
[email protected]
Tampa (Fla.) Tribune
Craig Gemoules, deputy
managing editor
(813) 259-7669
[email protected]
Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch
Rick Thornton, deputy managing editor
(804) 649-6441
[email protected]
readers and their ability to generate content,
says the Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call. On
the heels of a White House ﬂip-ﬂop ﬂap, The
Morning Call whipped readers into a summer froth with a design-your-own ﬂip-ﬂop
contest.
The clever entries exceeded even the
staff’s fertile imaginations. Sisters competing against sisters, mothers teaming up with
daughters. Drama, glue guns, fringe and
sequins — 182 entries in all, says The Call.
Readers voted online and by phone to choose
a winner from among 12 ﬁnalists.
Boutique guide
At the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, features reporter Vikki Ortiz noticed a surge in
the number of boutiques in the region. Ortiz
visited more than 25 shops and used an alternative story form to spread the word.
She told readers the typical shopper age
for each boutique and also identiﬁed what
brands you’d see and what and why you
would go to each place to buy. The guide
was quick and engaging, and it helped readers ﬁnd their fashion ﬁt.
Feathers and seeds
When asked to create an informational
graphic depicting birds that could be attracted to local gardens, David Wright, a
graphic artist at the Shreveport (La.) Times,
turned a feature page into an aviary. Through
interviews with a local birder and ﬁeldguide research, he reported and designed
a graphic that was as beautiful as it was
informative.
From bird descriptions to food preferences
to feeder tips, Wright’s imaginative presentation offered readers the information they
needed to begin creating a backyard habitat
sure to attract ﬂocks.
Erie (Pa.) Times-News
Liz Allen, administrative editor
(814) 870-1735
[email protected]
Cincinnati Enquirer
Bill Cieslewicz, features editor
(513) 768-8398
[email protected]
Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel
Jill Williams, assistant managing editor
(414) 224-2349
[email protected]
Shreveport (La.) Times
Jeff Benson, executive news editor
(318) 459-3269
[email protected]
Readers share photos
The Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World
regularly invites readers to e-mail digital
photos from local events and gatherings to
be displayed online and in print. Used daily
in the ‘‘Friends and Neighbors’’ feature, they
help the paper cover local news.
Fourth of July celebrations generated 69
photo submissions from more than 30 readers. One local family vacationing in Chicago
sent in a photo of the daughters celebrating
Independence Day along the shores of Lake
Michigan. The photos were featured online
and in print.
Lawrence (Kan.)
Journal-World
Dennis Anderson,
managing editor
(785) 832-7194
[email protected]
Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle
John Boyette, sports editor
(706) 823-3337
john.boyette
@augustachronicle.com
Allentown (Pa.) Morning Call
Linda O’Connell, AME/features
(610) 820-6562
[email protected]
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 17
HIRING
Recruiting the right
Seasoned
editors offer
timeless tips
and new
approaches
inding the best talent
is one of an editor’s
most important jobs.
APME News asked
ﬁve experienced editors to explain their
role in recruiting, to share tips
and to talk about hiring in these
changing times.
Our panelists are Susan Denley,
director of editorial hiring and
development for the Los Angeles
Times; Mizell Stewart III, managing editor of the Akron (Ohio)
Beacon Journal; Monty Cook,
deputy managing editor of the
Baltimore Sun; Walt Stallings,
senior deputy managing editor
of the Dallas Morning News; and
David Bailey, managing editor of
the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
in Little Rock.
F
18 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
David Bailey
Monty Cook
dbailey@arkansas
online.com
[email protected]
Walt Stallings
Mizell Stewart III
WStallings@
dallasnews.com
mstewart@thebeacon
journal.com
On the prowl 24/7
Bailey: ‘‘I recruit even when I don’t have
an opening. I commonly devote months to
recruiting journalists I want badly, and I occasionally recruit one for several years. I keep
tabs on top prospects, even people I’ve never
met and who don’t realize they’re candidates
for a new job. Once in a while, I make a cold
call to someone I’ve heard a lot about just to
say we should meet sometime.’’
Denley: ‘‘Charge your department heads
with knowing who their top competitors are.
The business editor should be able to name
the best business reporters; the metro editor
should know who is mopping up at City Hall.
Then have someone who can keep track of
it all.’’
The role of editors
Stewart: ‘‘I expect the supervising editor
to vet resumes, conduct testing and check
references before a candidate even comes into
the building for an interview. Assuming the
candidate has passed all of those ‘tests,’ I’m
looking for three things: Does this person
have leadership potential? Does this person
take the initiative to make things better?
Does this person have high personal and
professional standards? It’s a simple adage:
Hire for attitude and train for skill.’’
Stallings: ‘‘The senior editor should take
a broad view of the hiring process and try
to make sure that the journalists being
Susan Denley
Susan.Denley@
latimes.com
interviewed for any given position represent
a diverse pool of candidates that have the
potential to reflect the organization’s values,
standards and aspirations. It’s important to
try to determine the candidate’s potential
beyond the position they are interviewing for
in most cases.’’
Digging for the gold
Cook: ‘‘HELP WANTED: Versatility of
skills. Adaptability. Skill at managing change.
A prospective employee with these traits is
likely to catch the eye of an editor who is
seeking to ride the choppy waters of change
in today’s uncertain newspaper environment.
‘‘The candidate who has experience with
multiple disciplines will get a strong look: reporters adept enough to file four paragraphs
of AP-style quick copy for the Web and turn
around a solid, in-depth enterprise piece for
the next day’s print product; photographers
who are comfortable with still photography
and videography; designers skilled in producing eye-catching visuals who can also turn a
phrase with a headline; columnists who can
HIRING
people
make their points quickly in the form of a
Web log, yet provide Mencken-esque content
for the cover of the metro section. And the
list goes on.’’
Denley: ‘‘I look at three things: work
(i.e., clips), character, and — yes, I admit it
— personality. To take them in reverse order:
‘‘Personality counts in two ways: How will
this person interact with sources, and how
will he or she interact with others in the
newsroom? I’m not looking for Miss or Mr.
Congeniality, but I do want reporters who
get sources to talk to them, photographers
who put their subjects at ease and editors
who don’t beat people up emotionally. I want
everyone I hire to be able to work as part of
a team, to be flexible and to be open to new
experiences and ideas.
‘‘Character. Our profession can’t tolerate plagiarism, laziness or lying. This is the
hardest one of my three to nail down. I get
some clues in the interview, maybe in the
clips, and, if I am lucky, through checking
references.
‘‘Often the first two things on my list check
out fine. Then the final determinant is the
thing that probably interested me in the first
place: the quality of the work. If the work isn’t
smart or if I don’t see a strong potential for
growth, I have to say no.’’
Favorite questions
Stallings: ‘‘I generally will ask the person
to tell me their story, because telling stories
is what we do. It’s a plus if they can do that
well. Included in that will be questions about
how they see their future. It doesn’t have to
be precise, but you want people who have
given serious thought to career goals and
objectives.
‘‘I’ll generally ask them about the best work
they’ve done because how they respond is a
pretty good gauge of
how strongly they
feel about what they do.
I’ll also ask them to tell me
about something that didn’t go
so well to get a sense of how self-aware they
are and if they learn from mistakes.’’
Stewart: ‘‘Tell me about the last problem
you solved at work. How did you realize it
was a problem? What steps did you take to
solve it? Who did you involve?
‘‘Tell me about the time someone at work
did something that got on your last nerve.
What was it? How did you deal with it?
‘‘Tell me about the last time someone challenged the accuracy or integrity of your work.
How did you respond?
‘‘Assuming you are hired, what do you need
to learn to be more successful in this job next
year than you would be right now?’’
Bailey: ‘‘I ask open-ended questions that
evoke conversational answers and tell me
a lot about the person — questions such
as ‘What drew you to your best childhood
friend?’ or ‘What was it like growing up in
your hometown?’ or ‘Why do you trust some
people but not others?’ I look for evidence
that the candidate has done some research on
the newspaper and its personnel. I repeatedly
encourage applicants to ask me questions
during the interview, and their questions
are sometimes more enlightening than their
answers to my questions.’’
Denley: ‘‘I use two techniques. One, taught
to me long ago by a mentor, is to say, ‘I’ve
read your resume, but I want to hear it from
you. Tell me your life story. What were you
like as a kid? Why did you work for a summer in Alaska?’ Keep them talking and you’ll
get some insight into
their storytelling skills and
into what drives them as journalists.
‘‘The other technique is something I learned
in a seminar on interviewing job applicants.
Don’t ask: ‘What would you do if ...’ Ask:
‘What have you done in the past when ...’
‘‘For instance, if you’re hiring an assistant
city editor, you might ask: ‘When was the last
time a reporter complained about changes
you made in her story and how did you
handle it?’ ’’
Hiring for tomorrow
Cook: ‘‘To attract and better target the versatile candidate, newspaper companies must
craft newsroom job descriptions with equal
measures of innovation, practicality and
real-world application. The interview session
can be used to further explore the candidate’s
complete skill sets and most intense interests.
‘‘The days when a copy editor’s job was
simply to edit copy may be over. It’s all hands
on deck for the industry at the moment. And
the more roles a candidate can fill, the better
off the job-seeker — and the employer —
will be.’’
Stallings: ‘‘Because of the turmoil in the
industry, it’s important to talk openly about
the challenges our paper has had and what
we’ve done to address them to give us the
best chance to be successful going forward. I
talk to the candidates about what it’s like to
work here more than in the past to provide
a sense of what we’re about and to dispel any
concerns. Job stability almost always comes
up now, so I stress that the top performers
will always have a role.’’
The ﬁnal word
Denley: ‘‘Be a mensch. Have a reputation
not only for quality journalism but for being
a mentor, for helping other people grow and
achieve. Be someone other people respect
and want to work with. Recruiting will be a
breeze.’’
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 19
AP HEALTH AND MEDICAL COVERAGE
Vital
signs
How AP
delivers
the health
and science
coverage
your readers
demand
20 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
By
Kit Frieden
AP Health and
Science editor
eaders have an insatiable appetite for
health news — whether it’s a surprising drop in cancer deaths or a flawed
system for inspecting food. That’s undoubtedly
why a check of the best-played AP stories each
month invariably shows those kinds of stories
at the top of the list.
AP produces roughly 80 such health-related
stories a month. Nearly half involve consumer
advice and/or medical research; about a third
are public health stories, such as disease
outbreaks, vaccine developments and health
care; and the remainder are focused on diet
and fitness.
At a time when many newspapers have cut
back on their coverage of national medical issues and have put more focus on local stories,
AP is more committed than ever to providing
a full array of comprehensive, fast, agenda-setting health news.
We especially pride ourselves on our accurate, evenhanded coverage of the top health
stories of the day. That’s increasingly important
as a growing number of online health news
providers and Web sites around the world offer
junk science reports with tantalizing but
misleading headlines that can attract thousands of clicks.
Our core coverage comes from a seasoned
team of six full-time medical writers:
• Marilynn Marchione, based in Milwaukee,
R
covered medicine for the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel for 12 years before joining the AP in
2004. She writes trend-setting enterprise pieces
and staffs at least five major medical meetings
each year, along with handling oversight of our
New England Journal of Medicine coverage.
• Lauran Neergaard, the Washington-based
writer of our weekly HealthBeat column, got
her start covering the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, then the Food and Drug
Administration. She has covered medicine and
public health for 15 years.
• Mike Stobbe, our CDC beat writer in
Atlanta, covered health care at the Charlotte
(N.C.) Observer and two Florida papers before
joining AP in 2005. He has a master’s in public
health and is working on a doctorate at the
University of North Carolina School of Public
Health.
• Lindsey Tanner of Chicago, a medical
writer for seven years, covers the American
Medical Association and its journals and
frequently writes about pediatric and women’s
health care.
• Maria Cheng, our European medical
writer based in London, worked for the World
Health Organization, where she became wellversed in bird flu and global public health
issues before joining AP last year.
• Margie Mason, our Asia medical writer
based in Hanoi, Vietnam, previously an AP
writer in San Francisco, has extensively covered the AIDS epidemic. She is in the center
of the bird flu epidemic and observes firsthand
how Asian governments are coping with the
emerging threat.
Coverage by those writers is bolstered by
four full-time science writers and part-time
health writers in bureaus across the country.
Reliable sources
What’s AP’s strategy for covering health
AP HEALTH AND MEDICAL COVERAGE
news?
First, we make sure we’re plugged in to
the most reliable sources of groundbreaking
medical research through close oversight of
the leading medical journals, key research
gatherings and leading medical institutions
like the CDC, the FDA and the National
Institutes of Health.
We also aim to regularly offer illuminating
enterprise. Last year, for instance, a New
York scandal involving the illegal harvesting
and sale of human body parts led to a twoday package of stories on the lax regulation
of the human tissue industry and the risks of
medical procedures using cadaver parts.
Each year tends to have a major issue that
dominates the headlines. In 2003, it was
SARS, a new and deadly respiratory disease
that spread from China to Canada and put
airlines and the U.S. government on alert.
Next year it was a stampede for flu shots
amid a vaccine shortage.
In 2005, it was safety questions about popular painkillers and antidepressants.
Bird flu and fears of a global epidemic
were Topic A in the winter of 2005-06. More
recently, new research has raised questions
about the risks and benefits of stents used to
treat clogged arteries in heart patients.
Health headlines
Looking ahead, what health topics are likely
to dominate?
Concerns about obesity and its far-reaching
implications.
The ongoing debate over stem cell research.
Longevity and the health issues of aging
baby boomers amid a possible shortage of
caregivers and a strain on Medicare.
America’s 45 million uninsured citizens,
who face an earlier risk of death and whose
health problems are straining hospitals and
government budgets.
Medical care for the growing number of seriously wounded American soldiers, many of
whom will need care for the rest of their lives.
U.S. preparedness for a global flu epidemic
or biological attack.
The topics are enormous, complicated and
challenging. Scientists and doctors speak a
language all their own, and often it’s not plain
English. AP’s writers and editors strive every
day to accurately translate these complexities
into clear, meaningful information that readers can both understand and trust.
Indonesian ofﬁcials carry ducks to slaughter in Gilimanuk, Bali, Indonesia, in April. Bird ﬂu has killed at least 170 people since it began ravaging Asian poultry in 2003. Bird ﬂu has hit Indonesia the hardest, according to the World Health Organization. (AP Photo)
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 21
AP POLITICAL COVERAGE
WIDE AND DEEP
By
Donna
Cassata
AP political
editor
AP provides
extensive,
in-depth
coverage
of the 2008
presidential
race
UPPER RIGHT: Former
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt
Romney (left) sits with
Pat Robertson, founder of
the Christian Broadcasting
Network, before delivering
a commencement address
at Regent University in Virginia Beach,Va., on May 5.
Robertson is chancellor of
the university. AP’s coverage of Romney, a Mormon,
has included a look at the
history of polygamy in his
family tree. (AP Photo)
FAR RIGHT: Sen. Barack
Obama, D-Ill., attends
morning worship at Antioch
Baptist Church in Waterloo, Iowa, on May 6. Iowa is
drawing many presidential
contenders well in advance
of its ﬁrst-in-the-nation
2008 presidential caucuses.
In-depth AP political coverage of Obama has included
a look at his upbringing in
Hawaii and his church in
Chicago. (AP Photo)
22 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
he AP launched its coverage of the 2008
presidential campaign on Nov. 9 — just
two days after the midterm elections.
That was the day veteran Iowa reporter Mike Glover
broke the story that Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack would
enter the race for the Democratic nomination.
Ever since, our reporting on the most wide-open
presidential race in a half century has been nonstop, with a current field, as this is being written, of
at least 18 candidates — 10 Republicans and eight
Democrats.
National political reporters in Washington, New
York and Boston have been focusing on the top-tier
candidates while keeping a close eye on the wild cards
— Al Gore, Mike Bloomberg, Newt Gingrich. Those
reporters regularly write stories on campaign strategy, fundraising and issues that matter to the voters.
Our local bureau reporters in early voting states
like New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada and South
Carolina cover many of the spot events, interview
the top candidates and provide enterprise stories
— from a profile of New Hampshire independent
voters to what Friends of Bill Clinton are doing in
the 2008 race.
AP bureaus from Chicago to Honolulu to New
York to Salt Lake City also have added to the report
with feature stories that give a deeper sense of the
candidates and their backgrounds, such as a look
at Illinois Sen. Barack Obama’s Chicago church,
at his upbringing in Hawaii, and at the history of
polygamy in Mitt Romney’s family tree.
With every enterprise story, we remind editors about our presidential interactive. We’ve also
launched our Where They Stand on the issues
interactive. Every enterprise story is layered for all
T
Iowa Gov.Tom Vilsack kicks off his presidential
campaign in November. He was the ﬁrst Democrat to formally enter the race and the ﬁrst to
exit. (Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Gazette)
formats: print, photo, graphics, multimedia.
The AP invests huge resources in blanket coverage
of the campaign because we believe it is our duty
as journalists serving your newspapers. We also
are finding a high degree of reader interest in the
subject. Surprising even to us political junkies, the
public consistently lists the 2008 campaign in its top
three stories to watch.
We will continue to focus on a mix of solid enterprise and breaking news until December, by which
time we will have a core of reporters on the road full
time as well as in the early voting states — just in
time for the first caucuses and primaries.
Meanwhile, the landscape no doubt will keep
shifting. Vilsack, that first entrant, already has
dropped out (another scoop for Glover) and thrown
his support to Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York (a
development first reported by Des Moines staffer
Henry C. Jackson).
“
APPM PRESIDENT’S CORNER
A great picture can ﬁnd a place deep in your soul.
–– Naomi Halperin, director of photography at the Allentown Morning Call
’’
Still photos still powerful
T
Naomi
Halperin
is director of
photography
at the
Allentown (Pa.)
Morning Call.
She can be
contacted at
(610) 820-6744
or by e-mail at
naomi.halperin
@mcall.com
he image still haunts me.
I am haunted by its beauty. And its tragedy.
The picture is of a St. Charles, Ill., firefighter
carrying the body of Chase, a 2-year-old boy, from the
Fox River in South Elgin, Ill. Chase had been missing for
nearly three hours when firefighters found him near the
shore. Rescue personnel were unable to save him.
The image looks like an Old Master’s painting that
should be viewed in a glorious gilded frame. Except the
child is dead, and I am still profoundly haunted by it.
Photographed by Brian Hill of the Arlington (Ill.) Daily
Herald, the image won Best in Show for the National Press
Photographers Association’s 2007 Best of Photojournalism contest, which was judged in March at the Poynter
Institute.
I was one of five judges viewing tens of thousands of
images over six days. I was joined by Bebeto Matthews, a
staff photojournalist for the Associated Press in New York;
Steve Gonzales, director of photography for the Houston
Chronicle; James Colton, a photography editor for Sports
Illustrated; and Kathleen Hennessy, deputy director of
photography for the San Francisco Chronicle.
Looking at these pictures reminded us that the world is a
wondrous, humorous and dangerous place.
While my colleagues and I agreed and disagreed, the fact
remains there are great photojournalists who walk among
us. They see and record, with great intimacy, compelling
stories of courage, dignity, hope and despair in our communities and abroad.
Sheer guts, grace and a little loco is how I would describe
Carolyn Cole of the Los Angeles Times. Her work took
first-place honors for Portfolio of the Year (large markets).
Cole’s pictures took us to Haiti, the Middle East and New
Orleans. The images engage and challenge by bringing
horror, joy and, most important, the truth. She sees life in
such an incredibly beautiful way, even when the subject
matter is not. It is a shame for those who do not have the
opportunity to share her very intimate, thought-provoking
world.
She might not be happy that I say this, but this is a very
big, impressive body of work for such a little person. Cole
is one of the most courageous journalists I’ve ever met.
An entry that surprised me in its genuine humanity was
from Dave Yoder, Fairchild Publications/Atlas Press, who
won first place in Celebrity Picture Story. I was prepared
to look at some newsy fluff, but what I saw was a frank
look at what was behind the curtain during the New York
Fashion Show. The photography was engaging and brutally
honest. The images are beautiful but not always pretty. It
was pure storytelling joy.
The experience reaffirmed my passion for the still photograph. Don’t get me wrong. I am all over the multiplatform
storytelling universe of the Internet. I am a real sucker
for the beauty of still photographers producing video that
looks like their best stills, yet moves and has sound and
is worth all the resources we give it. The still photograph
does something that other media don’t.
A great picture can find a place deep in your soul. It can
be so powerful that we recognize it in a word or phrase:
Iwo Jima, World War II celebration kiss, Tiananmen
Square, Oklahoma City, the World Trade Center.
I hope photojournalists always will have the ability to
shoot the next flashpoint image. The one that defines a
life-altering event. The one that makes us witness to the
world with a single thought.
I congratulate the winners of this competition. You give
your readers a great reason to pick up the newspaper each
morning.
You can look at all the winners by logging on to http://
bop.nppa.org/2007/still_photography/winners/
Stylists ﬁt a model backstage at a fashion show. A collection showing what
goes on behind the scenes won ﬁrst
place for Celebrity Picture Story in the
2007 Best of Photojournalism contest.
(Dave Yoder, Fairchild Publications/Atlas Press)
A St. Charles, Ill., ﬁreﬁghter carries the body of a 2-yearold boy from the Fox River in South Elgin, Ill., on July 27,
2006.This photograph won Best in Show in the 2007 Best
of Photojournalism contest sponsored by the National
Press Photographers Association. (Brian Hill, Arlington
(Ill.) Daily Herald)
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 23
MEMBER SHOWCASE PHOTOS
December Member Showcase photo of the month
Water mist forms a rainbow as ﬁreﬁghters, covered in attic insulation,
ﬁght a blaze in a vacant
house in Cleveland on
Dec. 13, 2006. (AP Photo/
Cleveland Plain Dealer,
David I. Andersen)
February
Member
Showcase
photo of the
month
24 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
A police ofﬁcer squats
with his gun drawn next
to a body inside the Trolley Square Mall in Salt
Lake City on Feb. 12. A
gunman killed ﬁve people
and died in a shootout
with police. (AP Photo/
Deseret Morning News,
Salt Lake City, Mike
Terry)
MEMBER SHOWCASE PHOTOS
Januar y Member Showcase photo of the month
Fireﬁghters and emergency medical personnel
respond to the Salvation
Army ofﬁce in Norwalk,
Conn., where a man became stuck in the donation bin on Jan. 17. Fire
Department ofﬁcials
say people looking for
warmer clothing often
try to reach into the bin
when temperatures begin
to drop. (AP Photo/The
Hour, Norwalk, Conn.,
Erik Trautmann)
March Member Showcase photo of the month
Annalee Cathcart (left)
and Bridget Johnson list
items that were rescued
from Cathcart’s house
in Holly, Colo., on March
29, the day after a tornado struck. Cathcart
had lived in the house
for 30 years.The home
was condemned to be
torn down. (AP Photo/
Rocky Mountain News,
Denver, Javier Manzano)
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 25
APSE PRESIDENT’S CORNER
Meet me in St. Louis
I
Jim Jenks,
executive sports
editor for The
Philadelphia Inquirer, is president
of the Associated Press Sports
Editors. He can
be contacted at 1(215) 854-4545 or
e-mail jjenks@
phillynews.com
n planning APSE’s national convention agenda, one
of the items the committee discussed was free time.
As in: How much should be built into the program?
When we hit St. Louis on Wednesday, June 20, expect
to be kept busy right through to Saturday night’s banquet.
There will be no free time during the day, unless you
count the two hours you have on Saturday afternoon to
prep for the awards cocktail reception and banquet. (Yes,
after two years of an awards brunch, we are back to a
banquet on Saturday evening.)
With all the ideas that flowed in during the past few
months — thank you for those — it was obvious to committee members that we could have added another day
or two to the convention program. Rather than do that,
we jammed as much as possible into the allotted time and
told the free time to take a walk. Too much to do and not
enough time to do it.
The convention will begin on June 20. After registration, the Executive Committee meeting and AP’s
newcomers’ reception, the highlight of the day will be the
opening reception at Anheuser-Busch Brewery, where we
have been told beer is plentiful — and even better — free.
Please find a designated driver or at least a designated
walker back to the hotel.
The program gets going Thursday morning with a
sponsored breakfast and then the first general session,
‘‘Ad Sales and the Sports Section: Why Doesn’t the Cash
Flow?’’ Many APSE members have seen Mort Goldstrom’s ad presentation at regional meetings during the
past six months. It gets better as we put a sports editor,
a newspaper ad director and advertisers on the same
panel to answer that question. We also will hear from the
advertising folks at ESPN, who have figured out how to
make money in many different media, including print
and Internet products.
In keeping with the day’s advertising theme, there will
26 APME NEWS SPRING 2007
be workshops on ‘‘Unearthing Hidden Gems: A New Way
of Looking at Church and State in Sports’’ and ‘‘Newspapers: Marketing Your Sports Section For Maximum
Exposure.’’
On Friday, the general session will examine the
diversity of our sports sections. It has been a year since
Richard Lapchick told us we are failing at hiring people of
color in our departments. Diversity chairman Jorge Rojas
put together a panel that is sure to spark dialogue as well
as plans to improve our position.
Three general sessions are planned for Saturday, with
two focusing on the Internet, that amazing, unwieldy
medium that has us all going crazy trying to figure out
how to use it to our advantage. The first session will be
‘‘Transforming Your Staff to the Internet,’’ which could
read, ‘‘teach old dogs new tricks.’’ After a sponsored
brunch, ‘‘Internet Audio and Video, What’s Next’’ will
be brought to you by Yahoo! Sports and new/old APSE
member Dave Morgan.
In the last general session of the day, we can walk
around the room and check out the success stories of the
past year in a round-table program called, ‘‘How We Did
It.’’
Don’t worry. The sessions aren’t all about revenue generation, Internet or diversity. We have plenty of journalism workshops for sections of all sizes:
• ‘‘The Management Doctor’’ returns with separate
programs for big and small sections.
• With the Olympics in Beijing a year away, USOC and
APSE Olympic committee chairman Roy Hewitt will
lead sessions, including one for papers that don’t get to
send reporters to China.
• What do sports editors expect from graduating college
students? Are they ready for work? Our industry tells
CONTINUED ON PAGE 27
JUMP PAGE
President’s corner/Magnuson
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2
Credibility Committee on a special project to improve retention.
Jennifer Houtman, APME
board member and leader of
our Credibility Committee, said
it’s especially important for editors of small newspapers to get
involved in such efforts.
‘‘In many ways, working at a
small newspaper can feel isolating,’’ said Houtman, managing
editor of the Marietta (Ohio)
Times. ‘‘I appreciate the opportunity APME provides for working
with editors from around the
country on issues and topics
that make a difference in our
industry, in our newspapers, and
the involvement nourishes me as
an editor, too.
‘‘I know I’m often inspired and
challenged by the projects we’re
doing at APME and the work I
see other editors and other newspapers doing. I’d like to see more
small newspapers get involved
with APME at all levels.’’
Our First Amendment Committee is led by Otis Sanford,
editor/opinion and editorials
for The Commercial Appeal in
Memphis, Tenn. Sanford attend-
ed a First Amendment Summit
in Washington in January and
wrote an article for the APME
Update encouraging members
to focus attention on freedom of
information and attempts by the
government to subpoena reporters to get at confidential sources.
‘‘While our work on the board
is demanding, I have found it
to be extremely rewarding,’’
Sanford said. ‘‘The commitment
of APME board members is
exemplary. They are some of the
hardest-working people in all of
journalism.’’
A list of committees and committee leaders appears on the
back page of this magazine. You
can find more information at our
Web site, www.apme.com
No matter what the committee
assignment is, my key point is
this: Get involved if you would
like to connect with other editors
and have an impact on what’s
happening in our industry. I can
guarantee you won’t regret it.
Some editors like it so much
that they decide to run for the
board — and that’s a much
bigger commitment. Our board
members are very dedicated, and
I am honored to work with them.
As Tom Eblen of the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader puts
it: ‘‘Editors who get involved in
APME don’t just talk. They make
it happen.’’
A member who epitomizes that
APME spirit is Lance Johnson,
who is leaving the board as he
retires from his position of executive editor of The Day in
New London, Conn.
Johnson has been involved in
APME since 1995 and was first
elected to the board in 2001.
He led a newspaper critiques
program and chaired regional
programs but probably is best
known for coordinating the
APME Great Ideas booklet. Last
year, he was elected treasurer of
the APME Foundation.
‘‘APME has helped me much
more than I’ve helped it. It’s provided training and contacts that
have made me a better editor,
leading to improvements at my
newspaper,’’ Johnson said.
‘‘Editors who take the leap and
get involved are repaid many
times over. For instance, while
it took a substantial effort to put
the Great Ideas booklet together
each year, the fact that all these
ideas arrived in my e-mail from
all over the country and beyond
was more a blessing than a
burden.
‘‘By far, the best memories are
the times I’ve had with fellow
board members. And I’ve gone
places I probably would not have
seen — whether to a conference
host city or interviewing Cuban
dissident Oswaldo Pay in a Havana restaurant.’’
Johnson also did some mean
salsa dancing while in Cuba. (I
know because I was his lucky
dance partner.) It speaks to our
informal motto: Work hard and
play hard.
Why not join in the fun? We are
always on the lookout for new
people to carry on APME’s good
work and playful spirit — especially during our industry’s most
challenging times.
If you’re interested in joining a
committee, helping plan our fall
conference, writing for APME
News or volunteering your time
in general, please contact me directly by calling (585) 258-2220,
e-mailing at editor@Democrat
andChronicle.com or writing
at Democrat and Chronicle, 55
Exchange Blvd., Rochester, NY
14614.
reporting.
They will be set up for the
convention’s duration. It is
too early to announce which
companies will be attending. But
as they sign up, the news will be
reported on the APSE Web site.
This is expected to raise $5,000
or more of sponsorship.
Once the money is in hand,
we hope to have raised more for
this convention than ever before,
allowing us to keep the fee structure the same.
Joining us as a sponsor is
ESPN.com. It has committed
$10,000 to the opening night
reception as well as adding nine
editors to our membership.
Yahoo! Sports, our first Internet
member last June, has committed
to sponsor the banquet cocktail
time for longer than an hour,
meaning you still can get drinks
during dinner.
With details falling into place
every day, this proves to be a
great convention. And remember, there is no such thing as free
time.
Here is the link to the APSE
Web site with more information
about the convention and hotel:
http://apse.dallasnews.com/
news/2007/031407hotelinfo.
html
President’s corner/Jenks
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 26
academia the truth about what
students are learning in school.
• Lessons learned from the
Duke lacrosse scandal. Did
newspapers do a good job covering this story?
• How to cover high school
recruiting. It is getting bigger
every year.
We also are trying something
different on a couple of fronts.
Each breakfast will be sponsored and filled with content.
While the details have not
been totally worked out, expect
presentations from the Breed-
ers’ Cup and Ultimate Fighting
League as well as an announcement from the Robert Wood
Johnson Foundation’s Sports
Philanthropy Project for the
sports philanthropist of the
year. There will some breaking news for some lucky sports
editor.
Also this year, we will have a
‘‘Mall of Ideas,’’ as companies
from around the country will
pay for a spot to show off their
businesses in an informal setting.
Companies that have shown
interest are primarily involved
in the Internet, but also include
book publishing and prep score
SPRING 2007 APME NEWS 27
ASSOCIATED PRESS MANAGING EDITORS Board of Directors
OFFICERS
President: Karen Magnuson, Rochester (N.Y.)
Democrat and Chronicle
Vice President: David Ledford, The News Journal,
Wilmington, Del.
Treasurer: Karen Peterson, The News Tribune,
Tacoma, Wash.
Secretary: Bobbie Jo Buel, Arizona Daily Star,
Tucson
Journalism Today Chairman: Steve Sidlo,
Springfield (Ohio) News-Sun
Journalism Today Vice Chairman: Otis Sanford, The
Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
(Officers above plus)
Past President: Suki Dardarian, the Seattle Times
AP Senior Vice President/Executive Editor:
Kathleen Carroll, New York
AP Vice President/Managing Editor: Mike
Silverman, New York
APME News Editor: Mark Bowden, The Gazette,
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Conference Program: Andrew Oppmann, The
Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wis.
Regional Programs: Lance Johnson, The Day, New
London, Conn.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Mark Mittelstadt, Associated Press,
450 W. 33rd St., New York, N.Y. 10001
DIRECTORS
(Terms expiring in 2007)
Scott W. Angus, the Janesville (Wis.) Gazette
Mark Bowden, The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Mike Davis, Journal Interactive, Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel
Joseph Garcia, the Arizona Republic, Mesa, Ariz.
Lance Johnson, The Day, New London, Conn.
Donna Reed, Media General, Publishing Division,
Richmond, Va.
Troy Turner, the Daily Times, Farmington, N.M.
(Terms expiring in 2008)
Ken Chavez, Sacramento Bee
Tom Eblen, Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader
Rosemary Goudreau, The Tampa Tribune
Jennifer Houtman, the Marietta (Ohio) Times
Hank Klibanoff, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Everett Mitchell, The Courier-Post, Cherry Hill, N.J.
Hollis Towns, the Cincinnati Enquirer
Rob Humphreys, Culpeper (Va.) Star-Exponent
(Terms expiring in 2009)
Peter Kovacs, New Orleans Times-Picayune
Carole Tarrant, Roanoke (Va.) Times
Andrew Oppmann, The Post-Crescent, Appleton, Wis.
Karen Peterson, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
Jill Nevels-Haun, Fremont (Ohio) NewsMessenger
Robin Henry, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Calvin Stovall, Press & Sun-Bulletin, Binghamton,
N.Y.
Ken Tuck, the Dothan (Ala.) Eagle
COMMITTEES
APME/APPM/APSE Liaison: Otis Sanford, The
Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.
Contest: Hollis Towns, Cincinnati Enquirer
Communications: Bobbie Jo Buel, Arizona Daily Star,
Tucson
Marketing: Rosemary Goudreau, The Tampa Tribune
Membership: Ken Tuck, the Dothan (Ala.) Eagle
Nominating: Tom Eblen, Lexington (Ky.) HeraldLeader
Project Steering: David Ledford, The News Journal,
Wilmington, Del.
JOURNALISM TODAY COMMITTEES
AP Sounding Board: Troy Turner, the Daily Times,
Farmington, N.M.
Credibility: Jennifer Houtman, the Marietta (Ohio)
Times, and Steve Shirk, Kansas City Star
Diversity: Calvin Stovall, Press & Sun-Bulletin,
Binghamton, N.Y., and Marisa Porto, The News
Journal, Wilmington, Del.
First Amendment: Steve Sidlo, Springfield (Ohio)
News-Sun, and Otis Sanford, The Commercial
Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.
Multimedia: Mike Davis, Journal Interactive,
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Innovation: Scott W. Angus, the Janesville (Wis.)
Gazette.
APME News accepts paid advertising, and reserves the right to accept or decline advertising at the discretion of the editor. To inquire
about rates and the publication schedule, contact Mark Bowden at [email protected] or 1-(319) 398-5869.
APME News
c/o The Gazette
P.O. Box 511
Cedar Rapids, IA 52406