B O A R D M I N U T E S
Chicago Headline Club
Board of Directors Meeting
April 20, 2004
President Ben Bradley called the meeting to order at 8:10 a.m.
Present: Ben, Andy McKenna, Phil Kadner, Ed Cooper, John Camden, Casey Bukro, Barb Iverson, Cindi Schu, Jeason Jedlinski, Nathaniel Polster, Howard Schlossberg, Bob Roberts, Jennifer Diehl, Diane Carbonera, Phil Potempa, Meg Tebo, Molly McDonough and Susan S. Stevens.
President’s Report:
Ben noted 70-75 people attended the Sun-Times event, making it very successful. Coming up: Lisagor Awards banquet and Gary Gilson ethics night.
A proposal for CHC to take over the Ring Lardner Foundation Awards won’t happen this year at least, but might cap the Brownlee Series later. Entirely independent production, not a drain on CHC board time, is promised.
Ben is working on a “heavy” annual report to send SPJ in June.
Membership:
John Camden discussed criticism of the last mailing. We saved a lot of money and hit a lot of birds with one stone.
We need to dramatically increase outreach, John said. Several databases Howard Dubin has and one that Thom Clark at Community Media Workshop has might be used for a new membership campaign.
Good news: the mail return rate is down to 1-2 percent.
Lisagor:
John reported for Steve Rynkiewicz a projection of 270 attendees. (It has since reached about 300.) 60-70 percent of the tickets went through Acteva.
Treasurer’s report:
Susan Stevens reported on an e-mail from Howard Dubin. Current CHC assets are $114,890.42, checking account $42,578.34, Money Market fund $72,312.08. Current CHC Foundation assets are $17,431.96 which consists of the former Brownlee account plus new contributions of $2,000 and $50. Howard said it is necessary for the foundation to attract a large number of small gifts so that it will continue to qualify as a public foundation.
Foundation:
Molly said it will give more scholarships and sponsor journalism contests. It must give away 90 percent of what is taken in within 3-5 years.
FOI:
Phil Kadner reported national is to vote this month on a case against the Joliet Diocese. CHC pledged $5,000, Midwest Suburban Publishers pledged $2,000. National indicated it would come up with $15,000.
Ben called Lisa Madigan’s office regarding police reports to discuss whether the media should have access. Ben wants an official opinion from the Illinois attorney general on whether media must file an FOI request. Ben had one rejected regarding personal information about a victim, ala the new hospital privacy rules.
Bob Roberts noted Texas FOI laws trump HIPPA.
Molly asked for funding to help pay a $200 a day fine for Wally Wakefield, who refused to reveal confidential sources and exhausted his appeals. Motion passed.
Programs:
Howard Schlossberg of Columbia College is managing the PR Newswire series. A convergence panel was scheduled April 25 to kick off the series.
Student Chapter:
Jennifer Diehl said the Columbia College chapter is out of money and wants to do a political reporting panel. CHC voted to give the chapter $100.
Slate:
President and president-elect positions are open. Ben said he had one possible candidate trying to decide if he has enough time.
As it stood April 20:
Officers:
President: open
President-Elect/VP Programs: open
Ex-officio: Ben Bradley, WLS-TV/ABC 7
VP Membership: Jason Jedlinski, WFLD-TV/FOX Chicago
VP FOI: Phil Kadner, Daily Southtown
Treasurer: Howard Dubin, Manufacturers’ News
Secretary: Susan S. Stevens, Southeast Chicago Observer
Directors through 2005:
Scott Keenan, WBBM-TV/CBS2
Abdon Pallasch, Chicago Sun-Times
Meg Tebo, ABA Journal
Anupy Singla, CLTV News (replacing Jodi Wilgoren, New York Times)
Andrew Dunning, Beverly Review
Michelle Stevens, Chicago Sun-Times
Carlos Hernandez Gomez, WBEZ-FM (replacing Jason Jedlinski who moved up to VP)
Diane Carbonara, WFLD-TV/FOX Chicago
Directors through 2006:
Rob Olmstead, Daily Herald
Lawrence Holmes, WSCR-AM
Deborah Cohen, Reuters America
Kristen McQueary, Daily Southtown
Paula Brien, Columbia College
Bonnie McGrath, Attorney/AWJ
Mary Wisniewski, Bloomberg News
Stephen Rynkiewicz, chicagotribune.com
Committee chairs/program coordinators:
Volunteer/New Member coordinator: John Camden, Tribune Publishing
Brownlee Series: Ed Avis
Ethics, ethics award and AdviceLine: Casey Bukro, Chicago Tribune
FOI and related issues: Phil Kadner
Lisagor Awards and 25th anniversary gala planning: Steve Rynkiewicz
Student outreach: Art Menke, Jenner & Block
Website: James Fisher, freelance
Job File and Phone Bank: Bob Roberts, WBBM-AM
Slate-making committee was Karen Callaway, Ilyce Glink, Anupy Singla and Jason Jedlinski.Slate was approved.
New business:
Phil Kadner asked us to consider the Stateville Prison newspaper, now banned by prison officials.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan S. Stevens
Ssecretary