Chicago Headline Club board meeting
Jan. 14, 2011 at Bloomberg News
Start: 9:05 a.m.
In attendance: Sue Stevens, Kathy Catrambone, Steve Edwards, Steve Franklin, Hilary Fosdal, Tony Noce, Brian Pitts, Kristen Schorsch, Howard Dubin, Amy Lee, Randi Belisomo, Rummana Hussain, Ken Davis, Flynn McRoberts, Beth Konrad, Aimee DeBat
The board offered their condolences to Beth Konrad, who had two recent deaths in her family.
Sue Stevens said about 1,000 people have applied for the updated City of Chicago police media credentials.
Diane Monk McClelland, president of the Chicago Headline Club Foundation, wants the board to brainstorm ideas for how to honor Art Nielsen, who has donated money to the club. Steve Franklin suggested we have a distinguished speaker in the fall to talk about journalism.
The December board meeting minutes were unanimously approved.
Kathy Catrambone gave an update about the upcoming Peter Lisagor Awards banquet. The entry deadline is Jan. 25, which the club has publicized through eblasts, Facebook and by alerting various local media columnists. We have received 25 entries so far. Board members, including Steve Edwards, Tony Noce and Felicia Middlebrooks, will help present awards or MC the event.
Howard Dubin gave a treasurer’s report. As of Dec. 31, 2010, the club had $93,477 in total assets, and the Foundation had $67,137.96. Club expenditures this fiscal year included for a Chicago Sun-Times intern, underemployed or unemployed journalists and a survey among journalists to determine their access to public information, among other expenditures.
Beth Konrad updated the board about the access survey. She made some changes based on suggestions from the board. The survey likely will be sent out in the second or last week of January.
Jon Seidel emailed a report to update the board about the Web site. He and others are still tinkering with the site and adding new content, including information about the Lisagor Awards. He is negotiating a new contract to have a person conduct monthly site backup.
Hilary Fosdal provided an update about membership. She created a video for the Club’s web site to attract more members.
Ken Davis gave an update on the programming committee. He is working on putting together a social networking program for the Digital Media Training Institute.
Steve Franklin reported that he had a meeting with the ethnic news media to talk about the challenges covering minority communities.
Brian Pitts and Aimee DeBat discussed a communications strategy for the night of the Lisagor Awards.
Tony Noce provided an update on journalists who have received watchdog money from the club and how their projects are progressing.
The National Society of Professional Journalists is hosting an online journalism training session in April.
Meeting adjourned at 10:20 a.m.
— Secretary Kristen Schorsch