Chicago Headline Club MINUTES
February 12, 2010
Present: Beth Konrad, Kathy Catrambone, Ken Davis, Stephen Franklin, Brian Pitts, Dawn Reiss, Kristen Schorsch, Micah Maidenberg, Flynn McRoberts, Suzanne McBride, Adbon Pallasch, Hilary Fosdal.
January minutes were approved.
Following the recent Illinois primary election results Bonnie McGrath will be solicited back on the board. Once all the primary ballots are counted in the GOP gubernatorial race we will know if we can invite Wes Bleed to return to the board.
Preliminary Digital Media Training Institute survey results were tallied and reported on by Kathy Catrambone. Half of the attendees responded to our poll. In the categories of ‘price for the workshop’, ‘venue’, ‘and teacher knowledge’ the workshops were rated 4.5 out of 5 or higher. The results will be passed on to the programming committee for further review.
Heather Porter is taking care of all the logistics for the Spring Region 5 Conference being held in Chicago. The dates chosen by SPJ National for the conference conflict with a conference being held by APME/MPI NewsTrain in a northwestern suburb of Chicago.
It was noted that DePaul University has created a student chapter.
The Lisagor banquet is set for Friday, April 23. A total of 494 entries were received, 51 more or 12% than last year. A total of 9 individuals paid for chapter membership: 7 were new members and two were renewals; we got 6 new members last year. The chapter earned 5% more from Lisagor fees this year than the previous year. A total of $22,280 was added to the chapter’s coffers.
The confirmed keynote speaker for this year’s Lisagor Awards banquet is James Tyree. We will begin to advertise and promote this immediately with the help of Brian Pitts.
The programming committee has been tasked with planning the logistics of the Lisagor banquet’s schedule of event. Items to be included on the schedule: recognizing journalists who have contributed significantly to the profession during the past year, journalists who have passed away, etc.
No decisions have been made yet for the Lifetime and Watchdog Awards. Currently there are 4 Watchdog nominations and 1 Ethics Awards nomination.
The Chicago Headline Club will be exchanging entries for judging with Utah, Denver, Detroit and Greater Philadelphia chapters. The procedure for judging reciprocating chapters will be discussed at the next board meeting.
The Google program had 132 registrants and over 90 attendees. Jake Parillo invited the Chicago Headline Club to use Google’s office as a location for future events.
February’s burger night had approximately 12 people in attendance. Burger night is scheduled through the spring. The board will revisit changing the venue at a later board meeting.
Micah reported that Lisagors brought in 7 new members and 2 renewals.
The Google presentation was an excellent opportunity for the Chicago Headline Club to gain visibility and possibly gain new members. Hilary Fosdal and Micah set up a table with flyers at the Google event and greeted attendees with CHC pamphlets and membership applications.
The board voted to co-sponsor Loyola’s Journalism and Government event taking place on Friday, February 19. The event will be placed on the website for promotion.
Howard Dubin was on vacation, but informed Beth Konrad that Kathy cancelled the mailing service in January. Howard also continues to be concerned about the budget.
Susan Stevens was on vacation, but informed Beth Konrad that she is nominating Hilary Fosdal for the SPJ national Howard S. Dubin Award for outstanding chapter member. All board members voted ‘aye’ to support the nomination.
Susan submitted her FOIA report via e-mail:
Police credentials: This came from chief spokesman Roderick Drew
1-28-10:
I am currently researching one other aspect for the City’s lawyers, and once that is done and they are satisfied I can share it with you and Bob [Roberts]. Still struggling (apparently) with how to authenticate people who don’t work for known news entities (i.e. TV stations to community newspapers).
We want to model it on what the White House has in place, but getting details from them isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.
That’s where we stand at the moment.
Abdon Pallasch and Beth Konrad will be attending the next Medill court hearing scheduled for 2/11.
The board discussed ways to reach out to members online. Beth Konrad suggested creating our own Romanesko, adding commenting to the website, or bringing back the online forums.
Steve Franklin brought up the idea of holding an event to raise money for unemployed journalists. Steve Edwards volunteered WBEZ as a venue for the event.
Adjournment