Information about our Oct. 20 Fall Conference is available at http://www.ninaonline.org/. Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and editor Deborah Nelson will deliver the evening's keynote address, and winners will be announced in 28 categories for our annual contest. The event runs from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 20, at NIU-DeKalb.
Pricing has been simplified this year, to a flat $30 per person. (In previous years, the first participant from each newspaper was charged significantly more.)
Registration deadline is Monday, Oct. 11. The registration form is available on our website, or get it here.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Monday, September 13, 2010
Wanted: Your watchdog ideas
For the upcoming NINA newsletter, we're looking for examples of watchdog journalism your paper has done this year. Big stories, small stories ... if it served your readers and could work for other papers, let us know. Either comment below or e-mail me.
Shaw Newspapers becomes Shaw Media
Press release:
Shaw Newspapers becomes Shaw Media
SEPTEMBER 13, 2010 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DIXON, Ill. – Chief Executive Officer Tom Shaw announced today a change in name to Shaw Media, to better reflect the forward motion of this legacy company. The change goes into effect on October 10, 2010.
The Shaw brand has been synonymous with high-quality newspapers for more than 159 years.
The name change is necessary to more appropriately capture the company’s ongoing growth – both inside and outside of newspapers – and its strength in current and emerging forms of media.
“We decided to embrace a name more reflective of the company we have become – a vibrant, community-based, media organization that is well poised to meet the changing information needs of the communities we serve,” Chief Executive Officer Tom Shaw said. “Although newspapers are still at the core of what we do so well, our future will increasingly use various publishing platforms to provide our valuable products and services.”
Shaw Media also announced that three distinct elements of its brand promise would guide the company and serve as goals for its future.
“Our brand promise is to provide relevant information for all of our customers, create and aggressively sell marketing solutions for all our business partners, and to be aggressive community advocates for the areas we define as our markets,” Shaw said.
Shaw Media publishes 60 newspapers, magazines and websites across Illinois and Iowa. Benjamin Flower Shaw published the first issue of The Dixon Telegraph and Herald in 1851.
– 30 –
Contact:
Shaw Media, Tom Shaw, 815-284-4000
Shaw Newspapers becomes Shaw Media
SEPTEMBER 13, 2010 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DIXON, Ill. – Chief Executive Officer Tom Shaw announced today a change in name to Shaw Media, to better reflect the forward motion of this legacy company. The change goes into effect on October 10, 2010.
The Shaw brand has been synonymous with high-quality newspapers for more than 159 years.
The name change is necessary to more appropriately capture the company’s ongoing growth – both inside and outside of newspapers – and its strength in current and emerging forms of media.
“We decided to embrace a name more reflective of the company we have become – a vibrant, community-based, media organization that is well poised to meet the changing information needs of the communities we serve,” Chief Executive Officer Tom Shaw said. “Although newspapers are still at the core of what we do so well, our future will increasingly use various publishing platforms to provide our valuable products and services.”
Shaw Media also announced that three distinct elements of its brand promise would guide the company and serve as goals for its future.
“Our brand promise is to provide relevant information for all of our customers, create and aggressively sell marketing solutions for all our business partners, and to be aggressive community advocates for the areas we define as our markets,” Shaw said.
Shaw Media publishes 60 newspapers, magazines and websites across Illinois and Iowa. Benjamin Flower Shaw published the first issue of The Dixon Telegraph and Herald in 1851.
– 30 –
Contact:
Shaw Media, Tom Shaw, 815-284-4000
Friday, September 10, 2010
A Free and Responsible Student Press
Here's a piece by Randy Swikle that is offered as an op-ed column for any newspaper interested in publishing it.
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is disturbed by research showing our nation’s high schools are failing their students when it comes to instilling in them an appreciation for the First Amendment and civic issues.
“Civic education—and, with it, civic learning—has been in steady decline for decades,” she writes in the forward to Sam Chaltain’s new book, "American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community." “As a result, too many young people today do not understand how our political system works, or how to be seen and heard in meaningful, effective ways.”
Arguably, the best measure of a high school’s commitment to civic education is the nature of its student news media. A student newspaper can provide the most visible evidence of whether schools just preach or actually practice First Amendment principles, democratic learning and significant civic engagement.
All high schools in America receiving Federal funds are required to hold an educational program about the U.S. Constitution every Sept. 17, the anniversary of the signing of the document in 1787. On Constitution Day schools will offer special lessons about the principles of democracy and the virtues of American freedom. But beyond that talk, how many schools are actually doing the walk?
The student press is a telling sign.
If school authorities recognize their student newspaper as a forum that serves the functions of authentic journalism, if they nurture free and responsible student news media and if they trust the student press to provide a meaningful and effective way for students to be seen and heard, chances are, democratic learning is at the core of the school’s culture.
However, if school authorities want to control the student press rather than cultivate it, if they want students to learn obedience rather than responsibility and if they want to silence rather than share diverse—sometimes unpopular—perspectives, chances are, autocratic administrators are impeding the school’s civic mission.
Too many school authorities are too quick to censor controversial student expression that they disagree with, find discomforting, consider overly critical or otherwise object to for additional reasons. By exercising clout rather than collaboration, administrators demoralize and alienate learners. They may control the learners, but they sure don’t convince them.
Good schools support authentic journalism and democratic learning when they strike a proper balance between the press rights of students and the pedagogic responsibilities of educators. Students are empowered but not emancipated; educators are authoritative but not authoritarian; and the school culture is collaborative and not autocratic.
Help has arrived for proponents of civic education. A new initiative by the McCormick Foundation, supported by the Illinois Press Foundation, can help resolve student expression controversies while inspiring students and administrators to engage in dialogue that should enhance civic education, community engagement and ethical development.
Protocol for Free & Responsible Student News Media is a handbook to guide scholastic journalism stakeholders in ethical decision-making. The Protocol process can be used in other school arenas as well. The Protocol is the product of a two-day conference of 50 leaders from around the country representing students, educators, administrators, school board members, professional journalists, attorneys and a wide variety of organizations.
Here’s how the Protocol works:
Key principles and important questions relevant to the issue at hand are identified. The principles provide reference points on your moral compass, represent “what you stand for,” and guide you in ethical decision-making. The checklist of questions is a pathway to follow to resolve conflicting principles and to help determine your actions.
The protocol helps balance freedom and structure at school, prioritizes the merits of arguments above the rank of advocates and helps stakeholders find common ground. (See http://www.freedomproject.US/Education/Protocol.aspx to read the Protocol report.)
Sandra Day O’Connor believes in experiential learning: “Knowledge about our government is not handed down through the gene pool. Every generation has to learn it, and we all learn best by doing.”
Schools that practice democratic learning build civic responsibility, and no indicator is more telling of school commitment to democratic learning and civic engagement than the way administrators deal with the student press. Such an examination will reveal the correlation between rhetoric and reality.
Randy Swikle is state director of the Journalism Education Association and a member of the board of directors of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association and the Illinois Press Foundation. He is a retired journalism teacher in Johnsburg, Ill.
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is disturbed by research showing our nation’s high schools are failing their students when it comes to instilling in them an appreciation for the First Amendment and civic issues.
“Civic education—and, with it, civic learning—has been in steady decline for decades,” she writes in the forward to Sam Chaltain’s new book, "American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community." “As a result, too many young people today do not understand how our political system works, or how to be seen and heard in meaningful, effective ways.”
Arguably, the best measure of a high school’s commitment to civic education is the nature of its student news media. A student newspaper can provide the most visible evidence of whether schools just preach or actually practice First Amendment principles, democratic learning and significant civic engagement.
All high schools in America receiving Federal funds are required to hold an educational program about the U.S. Constitution every Sept. 17, the anniversary of the signing of the document in 1787. On Constitution Day schools will offer special lessons about the principles of democracy and the virtues of American freedom. But beyond that talk, how many schools are actually doing the walk?
The student press is a telling sign.
If school authorities recognize their student newspaper as a forum that serves the functions of authentic journalism, if they nurture free and responsible student news media and if they trust the student press to provide a meaningful and effective way for students to be seen and heard, chances are, democratic learning is at the core of the school’s culture.
However, if school authorities want to control the student press rather than cultivate it, if they want students to learn obedience rather than responsibility and if they want to silence rather than share diverse—sometimes unpopular—perspectives, chances are, autocratic administrators are impeding the school’s civic mission.
Too many school authorities are too quick to censor controversial student expression that they disagree with, find discomforting, consider overly critical or otherwise object to for additional reasons. By exercising clout rather than collaboration, administrators demoralize and alienate learners. They may control the learners, but they sure don’t convince them.
Good schools support authentic journalism and democratic learning when they strike a proper balance between the press rights of students and the pedagogic responsibilities of educators. Students are empowered but not emancipated; educators are authoritative but not authoritarian; and the school culture is collaborative and not autocratic.
Help has arrived for proponents of civic education. A new initiative by the McCormick Foundation, supported by the Illinois Press Foundation, can help resolve student expression controversies while inspiring students and administrators to engage in dialogue that should enhance civic education, community engagement and ethical development.
Protocol for Free & Responsible Student News Media is a handbook to guide scholastic journalism stakeholders in ethical decision-making. The Protocol process can be used in other school arenas as well. The Protocol is the product of a two-day conference of 50 leaders from around the country representing students, educators, administrators, school board members, professional journalists, attorneys and a wide variety of organizations.
Here’s how the Protocol works:
Key principles and important questions relevant to the issue at hand are identified. The principles provide reference points on your moral compass, represent “what you stand for,” and guide you in ethical decision-making. The checklist of questions is a pathway to follow to resolve conflicting principles and to help determine your actions.
The protocol helps balance freedom and structure at school, prioritizes the merits of arguments above the rank of advocates and helps stakeholders find common ground. (See http://www.freedomproject.US/Education/Protocol.aspx to read the Protocol report.)
Sandra Day O’Connor believes in experiential learning: “Knowledge about our government is not handed down through the gene pool. Every generation has to learn it, and we all learn best by doing.”
Schools that practice democratic learning build civic responsibility, and no indicator is more telling of school commitment to democratic learning and civic engagement than the way administrators deal with the student press. Such an examination will reveal the correlation between rhetoric and reality.
Randy Swikle is state director of the Journalism Education Association and a member of the board of directors of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association and the Illinois Press Foundation. He is a retired journalism teacher in Johnsburg, Ill.
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