April 2002 Spot News

Spot News
Vol 7, No. 3 April 2002 A publication of the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists
on the Web at http://www.korrnet.org/etspj
GPC awards program set for May 3

East Tennessee Pro Chapter of the Society of Profes- associate managing editor in 1997. Franklin was named sional Journalists will announce winners of the annual Golden one of the nations 100 most influential business journalists by TJFR magazine, a publication that covPress Card awards Friday, May 3, at the ers financial journalism. In 1999, the MidUniversity Club (former Faculty Club), west Financial Editors and Writers named The event will begin at 6:30 with a the Tribunes business section as the best in cash bar and heavy hors doeuvres. You can the Midwest for overall news coverage. make your reservations by sending a check AP Top 10 for $20 per person (payable to ETSPJ Franklin headed the Tribune sports deGolden Press Card) to Dorothy Bowles, partment in 1996 when it won the most 1829 Chicadee Drive, Knoxville, TN national AP sports editors awards (4) in 37919. its history. In 1995, the paper won its first Reservations must be received by FriAP Top 10 daily section award in three day, April 26, and any cancellation not reyears. In 1988, Franklin received an Oscar ceived before that date will be billed $20. in Agriculture Award, one of the nations If still available, tickets purchased at the top agricultural reporting awards, for a sixdoor will be $25. The University Club is part series on the fallout of the farm crisis. at the corner of Neyland Drive and He was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize Kingston Pike. in 1986 for a series on the states child welKeynote speaker Tim Franklin fare system. Our keynote speaker this year is Tim In 1981, Franklin received the Barney Kilgore Award, Franklin, editor and vice president of the Orlando Sentinel. A long-time reporter and department editor at the Chicago given annually by the Society of Professional Journalists/ Tribune and former editor of the Indianapolis Star, Franklin SDX to the nations top college journalism student. had been at the Orlando Sentinels helm only two months See Franklin, page 4 when the newspaper was heavily involved in the Dale Ernhardt autopsy photos controversy. A popular Freedom of Information speaker and featured speaker at the national SPJ conference in Seattle this past year, Franklin actually has some ties to the Knoxville areahe Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . page 2 was a 1979 summer intern at the Knoxville News-Sentinel before graduating from Indiana University. Follies Preview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3 Franklin, 41, began his career at the Chicago Tribune in 1982, where he rose from county government reporter to
Inside
SPOT NEWS
Page 2
Heartbreak revisited: Lessons learned from Columbine

by Clifford Hightower, UT journalism student News reporters learned many lessons almost three years The sensitivity was like nothing Id ever seen in a newsago when two teenagers killed 13 others and themselves at room, he said. Columbine High School near Denver, the former managing One of the biggest mistakes made by the newsroom, editor of the Rocky Mountain McElroy said, was the hanNews said. The newspaper won dling of the Cassie Bernall a Pulitzer Prize for its photogstory. Bernall was said to have raphy in covering the event. been asked by Klebold and Jack McElroy, recently Harris if she believed in God. named editor of the Knoxville The teenagers response was reNews-Sentinel, spoke to a crowd ported to have been yes, and of more than 80 area reporters then she was shot and killed. and journalism students at the Urban legend ETSPJ meeting in March at McElroy said later they Ramseys cafeteria. found they were in error with In April 1999, Dylan the story, but they could not Klebold and Eric Harris, after correct the mistake. It was alplotting the attacks for weeks, ready a part of urban legend. entered the high school with We dont know what guns and killed 13 people and Cassie Bernall said, McElroy Jack McElroy wounded more than 40 others. said. Afterward, Klebold and Harris turned the guns on themA visibly shaken McElroy presented a slideshow of the selves and took their own lives. photographs that won the Pulitzer Prize. I still get choked Lessons Learned up to this day, he said. I think there were a lot of lessons learned, McElroy Although there were many mistakes, McElroy felt the said of the press coverage. Some of the biggest lessons were experience was something he could never forget. Journalisabout trying to treat the event as a tragedy rather than a tically, it was the greatest experience I ever had, he said. crime scene and being more careful with the reporting of eyewitness accounts. McElroy said he remembered the moment he heard of Officers and Board ETSPJ the shooting. We were in our morning news meeting. Then an editor came in and said shots were fired at a local high President Adina Chumley school. First Vice President Larry Aldridge McElroy asked a new reporter, who had just arrived Second Vice President Lisa Hood Skinner that day, to call and ask for advice from newspapers in other Secretary Jan Maxwell Avent locations where similar events had occurred. The majority said to treat the event as a tragedy, not as a crime story. The Treasurer Dorothy Bowles newspaper used this as the basis for its coverage. Board Members Heartbreak Jean Ash That day we decided to run the paper with the headAlan Carmichael line Heartbreak, McElroy said. We felt this was approBryan Mitchell priate. We wanted to present ourselves as part of the comBonnie Riechert munity. Michelle Silva As the stories began to unfold, McElroy said he and the other higher-ups at the newspaper began to see stress taking Communications Coordinator its toll on some of the reporters in the newsroom. The Rocky Sally Guthrie (588-1474) Mountain News brought in counselors to help reporters cope.
SPOT NEWS
Page 3
Follies preview
Noteworthy
Speaker at ONO Conference Dorothy Bowles is to be a featured speaker at the Organization of News Ombudsmen (ONO) 2002 conference in Salt Lake City at the end of April. The group is interested in her research examining the response of newspaper editorials to Supreme Courts decisions in First Amendment cases. On the program with Bowles are Bill Kovach, chairman of the Committee of Concerned Journalists, and Kathleen Hall Jamieson, dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. Story in TrailRunner Former ETSPJ president, Wynne Brown, has published a story and photographs in the March 2002 edition of TrailRunner magazine. Browns work describes the managainst-horse race near Prescott, Ariz., last October. She now lives in Tucson. New Member Pete Prince, veteran newspaperman, has rejoined ETSPJ. Prince, a resident of Maryville, has published, written for, and edited several newspapers including the Knoxville NewsSentinel, the Clinton Courier-News, and the Morristown Citizen Tribune.
Front Page Follies 2002 will honor Jim Crook. This postcard reminder has been mailed to those who typically re- Editor and Publisher Ron Bridgeman, formerly of the Oak Ridger, is now serve tables. The next edition of Spot News will have more editor and publisher of the Clinton Courier-News. information. Meanwhile, save June 15 on your schedule.
Members of the audience at ETSPJs March meeting, Lessons Learned from Columbine, listen to speaker, Jack McElroy.
SPOT NEWS
Page 4 from page 1

Franklin is on the board of the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors. He is co-chairman of the organizations Public Access Committee, which has been actively involved in preserving the states open government and public records laws. He also is a member of the Leadership Committee for the American Society of Newspaper Editors. Franklin received a bachelors degree from Indiana University in 1982 with majors in journalism and political science and a minor in education. Franklin is married and has 9-year-old twins. His wife, Alison, is an attorney.
Franklin
During his tenure in Indianapolis, Franklin made substantial changes to the paper, including opening bureaus in Detroit and Bloomington. He reorganized the papers staff of 300 reporters, and he launched a redesign of the paper. In his year there, the Star won numerous honors, including a top spot news coverage award from Gannett for its work on the Bob Knight firing. The paper also won more Hoosier State Press Association awards than at any time in its history.
Mark Your Calendar

April 19-21, SPJ National Writers Workshop Region 3 Conference, Atlanta June 8-9, SPJ National Writers Workshop , Indianapolis
May 3, 6:30 p.m., Golden Press Card awards, June 15, 6:30 p.m. Front Page Follies honorUniversity Club. Speaker: Tim Franklin, Orlando ing Jim Crook, Marriott (formerly Hyatt Regency) Sentinel
Golden Press Card awards . . . . 6:30 p.m., May 3

April 2002 Spot News

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

April 2002 Spot News

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

April 2002 Spot News

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Spot News

GPC awards program set for May 3

Heartbreak revisited: Lessons learned from Columbine

Page 4 from page 1

Mark Your Calendar

Golden Press Card awards . . . . 6:30 p.m., May 3

You might also like