If you’re in northwest Arkansas this weekend, Arkansas Press Women is holding a conference on the theme of media literacy.
There will be sessions on Web-savvy branding, the new Crystal Bridges museum, and presentations by Lisa Thompson of NWA Newspapers and John Brummett of the Arkansas News Bureau.
Registration is $35, including lunch, or $20 for students and teachers.
More info here.
Media watchers in Arkansas heard from NPR’s Debbie Elliott this Wednesday, at the annual banquet honoring the winners of the Arkansas Pro SPJ chapter’s journalism contest.
Elliott, who has covered Congress and anchored Weekend All Things Considered, has returned to her native Alabama to live and work. She told the assembled group that she loves reporting in the field but grapples with the added demands of producing stories in several formats besides radio.
‘It’s something I think a lot of us are dealing with these days,” she said. “When do you put down the microphone and pick up the camera?”
Elliott also shared pieces that she has produced in conjunction with the Oxford American magazine, based in Conway, Arkansas, with video modules added to stories produced for NPR.
Dozens of awards were handed out to Arkansas journalists, including:
Best Use of FIO: Debra Hale-Shelton, Arkanas Democrat-Gazette
Best Spot News, TV: Marci Manley & Stacy Smith, KNWA
Best Feature, Div I Newspapers: Democrat-Gazette NW Staff
Hard News: AP Staff
Outstanding New Journalist: Chad Day, Democrat-Gazette
Full results are available under the “Contest” tab above. Congratulations to the winners, and thanks to all those who made the banquet a success!
Arkansas SPJ’s annual awards banquet will be held this Sept. 21st, and will feature a special speaker: correspondent Debbie Elliott of National Public Radio.
Elliott has worked for NPR since 1995. She has covered national elections and Congress, and was the host of Weekend All Things Considered. Now she’s back working in her native Alabama.
The banquet will be held at Whole Hog Café on Cantrell Rd. in Little Rock on Sept. 21st at 6:30 p.m.
RSVP by e-mailing kelly@kuar.org.
All are welcome – tickets are $20, and there’ll be a cash bar. Winners in the Arkansas SPJ annual journalism contest will be eligible for a discounted tickets.
Winners of the contest are still being notified, but as a teaser, I’ll let you know the winner in the Outstanding New Journalist category is Chad Day of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Congratulations, and we hope to see you all there!
The attendees of the Arkansas SPJ annual membership meeting today elected a new board for the group. Your officers, mostly returning for a second year, are:
President: Kelly MacNeil
Vice-President: John Lyon (replacing Rob Moritz)
Treasurer: Kelly Kissell
Secretary: Andrew Demillo
Board members returning for a second term are:
Rob Moritz
Sonny Albarado
Ron Sitton
John Thompson
New board members are:
Sonny Rhodes, journalism professor at UALR
Sarah Morris, reporter at the Stuttgart Daily Leader
Eric Francis, freelancer
The board is scouting a new location for SPJ’s annual banquet this September. So if you know a reasonably-priced facility that can handle about 65 people and an a/v presentation, please let us know!
All Arkansas SPJ members are invited to come to the full-membership meeting next Monday, July 11th, at noon.
The meeting will be held at the Stephens Media office on Main St. in Little Rock.
We’ll be electing a new board for the year. Here are the nominations:
President: Kelly MacNeil
Vice-President: John Lyon
Treasurer: Kelly Kissel
Secretary: Andrew Demillo
Sonny Albarado
John Thompson
Rob Moritz
Ron Sitton
Eric Francis
Sonny Rhodes
We’ll also accept nominations from the floor. There are still two openings.
The board will convene immediately after the full membership meeting adjourns, to address business including adjustments to the scholarship program, and plans for the annual banquet this fall.
Hope you can attend!
One of the most useful times to use social media is during a natural disaster. It’s also one of the most fraught.
This Saturday, Arkansas SPJ is hosting a forum on the use of social media during natural disasters.
We’ll be talking about how best to use Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and live streaming during disasters, when many residents are without electricity and are looking at their phones for information.
We’ll also being talking about how to verify whether the information you see on social media is correct. Continue reading “#ARWX Panel Set For Saturday”
The Oxford American is bringing several noteworthy writers and editors to Arkansas as part of its Summit for Ambitious Writers, not the least of whom is David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker since 1998.
Local journalists have a unique chance to meet this Pulitzer Prize-winner after his appearance Friday at 2:00 p.m.
Remnick will be interviewed by the OA’s Marc Smirnoff at the Winthrop Rockefeller Institute on Petit Jean Mountain, and a reception will follow. SPJ members are invited to attend and meet Remnick.
All you need to do is RSVP at: http://summit.oxfordamerican.org/registration/
Also appearing this week are William Whitworth, formerly of The Atlantic Monthly, and Pico Iyer, the highly-regarded travel writer.
The publisher of Stephens Media newspapers in central Arkansas has filed a criminal complaint against the superintendant of the Pulaski County Special School District over an alleged FOI violation.
Dennis Byrd (who has served as the state’s Sunshine Chair in the past) says that Charles Hopson didn’t turn over copies of text messages to and from his cell phone in response to a May 2 request.
The district says the messages are on Hopson’s personal phone, and it doesn’t have access to them.
Lots more detail here.
Update: The prosecutor says he won’t take action on the request, because of a doubt over whether the FOI applies to the employee’s personal phone in this case.
If you’ve never had a chance to see the legendary Farkleberry Follies, or if you’d like to reminisce about the show, you’ll get chance this Thursday.
The Butler Center is screening the video “Hello Folly! A Brief History of the Farkleberry Follies” the the Main Library downtown at 6:30 p.m.
The legendary skits skewering Arkansas politicans and newsmakers were produced by journalists as a fundraiser for SPJ.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Craig Douglass, Bill Lancaster and Ben Combs, skit creators and performers for some of the shows.
The screening is free, but you’ll get a copy of the video if you make a donation of $25 or more to the Butler Center to continue programs like this one.
The Attorney General’s office is conducting “FOI Roadshows” around the state to educate citizens and public officials about the Freedom of Information Act.
The Little Rock session will be held on Tuesday, June 14th, at the Bowen School of Law, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
It’s free, but you gotta register! More info here.
Society of Professional Journalists | Arkansas Pro Chapter 