Minutes of Chicago Headline Club Board Meeting
Monday, April 6, 9:00 AM
Bloomberg Offices
Attending in Person: Dawn Reiss, Micah Maidenberg, Sue Stevens, Suzanne McBride, Kristen Schorsch, Flynn McRoberts, Hilary Sizemore, Beth Konrad, Abdon Pallasch,
Kathy Catrambone, Deborah Cohen
Attending On Phone: Tony Noce, Jon Sidel, Howard Dubin, Bonnie McGrath, Jane Hirt
Meeting called to order at 9:00 am.
March Minutes approved.
Regional conference report: Jon says it was a good meeting with more than 90 participants. They talked of hosting the conference next year in Cincinnati.
Content touched on war reporting, freelancing, backpack journalism.
Lisagors Update: Dawn says we have all the entries back. We traded with seven papers; five of the seven made the deadline. Rob Conrad will do the Powerpoint.
Karen Kring and husband will photograph. Deb Cohen will send updates throughout the evening on the club’s Twitter account. Brian Pitts is going get us out of PR Newswire and try to get free distribution. Dawn was checking to see if the website could be updated with the winners at 9:30. Videographer Zach Love will cover the event for $100 and the price of a ticket. Four students will oversee the silent auction, for which Bonnie says we have a range of prizes. She has agreed to sell mugs. Kristen will sort plaques. Suzanne, Micah, Kristen and Sue will handle check-in.
Per suggestion by Abdon, we agreed to have to Watchdog and Lifetime Achievement before the Lisagor award presentation.
Lifetime Achievement Update: Beth says two students will do Q&A, photos and video with Fran Spielman for a bio sketch. Andy Shaw’s bio is provided by the station.
Watchdog Award Update: Dawn says we have at least six entries. Meg Tebo has been making calls.
Watchdog Fund Update: Tony got an application from David Glowitz, an independent journalist, who has a new project about how much patronage abuse in Chicago city government costs reader. He is working on the story for the Chicago Reader. Tony says it sounds like a very good project. The reporter is asking for $11,000. Dawn recommends that Tony call and see if we can winnow down the amount to something more reasonable.
FOIA Update. Sue Stevens says two bills are working their way through state legislature, one to make it more people-friendly and other to legalize the public access counselor’s job. Beth Konrad suggests we do a letter so that the club’s position is on the record. Sue has a meeting scheduled with the new Chicago police spokesman to discuss the credentialing procedure.
Mid-meeting Update on Treasurer Position: Howard Dubin reports that he has received an email from Tim Inklebarger indicating that Tim is going to have to resign from the treasurer’s post and drop off the board.
Slating Committee Update: Sue Stevens reports the following candidates: Steven Gray, Chicago correspondent for Time Magazine; Stephen Franklin, who has joined Community Media Workshop from Chicago Tribune; Ken Davis, who was at WLS-AM and the first news director of BEZ; Tan Hock, new editor of Red Eye, recommended by Jane Hirt; Brian Pitts, PR person at Mayer Brown. Kathy Catrambone notes that the bylaws stipulate an April 20 deadline.
Motion to adjourn after the meeting to call a special meeting: We agreed to call a special meeting at the conclusion of this board meeting so we could amend the bylaws.
Treasurer’s Report: Suzanne notes that a meeting scheduled with her, Howard and Tim for turning over the treasurer’s duties to Tim will need to be put on hold. Abdon says we need to recruit for new treasurer.
Membership Update: Micah says Dawn, Hilary, Steve and Micah had a meeting recently. They are rationalizing the membership list, setting up a system to email people after they join and when their membership is due to expire. We are also steering new members to sign up online.
Annual Membership Party End of May: Dawn talked to Pegasus. Dawn recommends that we charge for membership, and suggests Tuesday, June 2. The location to be picked in next week or two.
Program Committee Update: Beth says we had 110 participants altogether for the Ethics in Journalism program with Poynter Institute held at Loyola.
Web Site Update: Hilary says we had our first training session for the new site was held.
Burger Nite Update: Dawn says Alex Kotlowitz may be willing to do the next Burger Nite on May 7.
Meeting adjourned at 10:25 am.
Special Meeting Called: Beth opened a special meeting at 10:25 am. Beth requested a motion to adopt a by-law amendment to adopt a voting mechanism for our slating committee to electronically inform our members of the proposed slate as an alternative to informing them in print.
Motion to Amend Bylaws: Dawn made the motion. Deb seconded. A vote was taken in favor of the motion.
Meeting adjourned at 10:30.
Respectfully submitted,
Deborah Cohen, Secretary