NINA contest winners announced

From our Fall Conference last night at NIU: The winners list from our annual contest. Congrats to all of our winners, and to the sweepstakes-winning newspapers: The Evanston RoundTable and the Rock Island Argus / Moline Dispatch.

If the motto fits ...

Not much I can add to this ...

Conference registration deadline is today

Here's a reminder that if your paper is planning to send people to the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association's Fall Conference next Wednesday, we need to hear from you by the end of today (Monday, Oct. 11).


Conference details here. Note that we don't need your payment by today, but we do need your commitment so we can order meals.

Hope to see many of you next Wednesday. We have a great program, and lots of awards to hand out.

Register by Monday for Fall Conference

Here’s a reminder that the deadline to register for the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association’s Fall Conference and Awards Dinner is Monday, Oct. 11.


The event is scheduled for Wednesday evening, Oct. 20, at NIU-DeKalb. Keynote speaker is Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and editor Deborah Nelson, who now teaches journalism at the University of Maryland. And, we’ll announce our annual awards in 28 categories for both daily and non-daily newspapers.

Registration is $30 each; new this year, we’ve eliminated the higher fee for the first attendee from each newspaper. Payment may be made at the door, but we you’re your registration forms by Oct. 11.

You’ll find full information, including a printable registration form, at http://www.ninaonline.org//

The Case for Teaching Journalism

Here's a good letter to the editor from USA Today, today:

The tragic loss of an 18-year-old Rutgers University freshman, driven to suicide by a voyeuristic online video, has the nation clamoring for new methods of teaching online civility.


But there is already a highly successful program that trains young people to differentiate between fact and rumor, verify information before they repeat it, take responsibility for the consequences of their words, respect opposing points of view, and weigh the legal and ethical considerations before damaging a person's reputation. That program is called "journalism."

When everyone with Internet access is a publisher, school authorities should be stampeding to ensure that all students are taught the journalistic fundamentals to publish responsibly. Far too many are doing the opposite.

Journalism teachers are being driven from the classroom — fired, demoted or transferred in retaliation for their students' uncomfortably candid journalistic work. Administrators who value the PR illusion of a controversy-free school over the quality of education are creating a hostile climate that makes participation in journalism intolerable for all but the meekest and most compliant students — just when the values conveyed by journalism education are desperately needed.

State officials in Kansas are defunding scholastic journalism programs on the grounds that newsgathering is not a marketable career. They are right. Ethics, responsibility, accuracy and fairness are not résumé credentials; they are essential life skills for membership in a civilized society, which journalism teaches effectively.

Frank LoMonte, executive director

Student Press Law Center, Arlington, Va.