Members present: (18) Jan Larsen (president), Owen Phelps, Greg Rivara*, John Etheredge, Jim Killam, Randy Swikle, Jim Slonoff (treasurer), Lois Self (exec. Secretary), Richard Parmater, Lonny Cain (past president), Wally Haas, Tom Martin, Jeanine Otto*, Ray Karges, Roger Ruthhart, Joe Corrado, Colin O'Donnell, Kim Kubiak (first v.p.).

* Board-member nominees to be voted upon at this meeting.

Staff present: Dana Ditrichs-Kunkel.

Members absent: (3) Cheryl Wormley, Pam Lannom (2nd v.p.), Rick Nagel.

Larsen called the meeting to order at 10:25 a.m., following meetings of the program, education and membership committees.

Treasurer's report: Slonoff said as of Dec. 31, NINA shows a savings account balance of $5.94 and a checking account balance of $2,285. However, a couple of pending bills will bring the balance down to about zero. Slonoff emphasized that this is not cause for alarm, because dues have not been received yet. He suggested that NIU send dues statements as soon as possible, and that NINA consider charging more for workshops in 2002.

Executive secretary's report: Self said the NIU journalism program is healthy, with all classes full for the spring 2002 semester. A faculty search for a photo/graphics position is not proceeding as quickly as she had hoped. To help bridge the gap, John Kringas, Chicago Tribune photographer and NIU alumnus, is teaching an advanced photojournalism course this semester. Staffing may be an issue for the foreseeable future, she said, because of potential university budget cuts.
Self encouraged board members to submit nominations for Illinois Journalist of the Year, an award given by NIU each spring.

Program committee report: Slonoff (subbing for Lannom) said the spring conference will be held April 26 at Oak Trust Credit Union in Oakbrook Terrace. The committee hopes changing to a suburban location periodically will boost attendance. The day's training topics have not been finalized, but may deal with police/courts coverage or writing and editing for a diverse audience.

Membership committee report: Phelps (for Kubiak) spoke of several recruitment ideas:
· Charging non-members twice the members' price for all NINA activities.
· Developing an e-mail list of all potential member newspapers
· Using the NINA Web site or listserv as a problem-solving tool for members, perhaps by establishing a message board.
· Free one-year trial memberships for newspapers that have never joined NINA. This would include only paying members' rates for conferences and workshops.
· Encouraging newspapers' free-lance correspondents to join as individual members.
· Establishing a complete members and non-members list and potentially listing both on the Web site (the members list already is posted).
The board voted unanimously to set non-member rates for all conferences and workshops at double the members' rate. (Ruthhart motion, Slonoff second). And, the board voted unanimously to offer one-year trial memberships to newspapers that have never been members (Ruthhart motion, Cain second).

Education committee report: Haas listed four potential workshop topics: writing, ethics/libel. Math/databse journalism and how to find a story. Possible locations, besides NIU, include Joliet and Naperville.
Discussion followed about whether the program and education committees' responsibilities overlap too much, since the Spring Conference basically amounts to a workshop. Parmater asked if the education committee should focus more on programming for high school and college journalists and their teachers/advisers. Self mentioned the possibility of NIU holding a one-day workshop for high school journalists and/or advisers. Swikle added that such an event also should be aimed at high school administrators, too, to build support for a free and responsible student press.
Swikle also suggested that NINA promote itself to high school journalism advisers, with the offer of free advice and support when needed.
The board directed Killam to include a flyer in the scholarship-contest packet to be mailed soon, promoting the Web site, listing member newspapers and potential contacts and encouraging high school students, advisers and administrators to contact Larsen, Killam or Haas for help getting in touch with a NINA member newspaper near them.
Self suggested that the education committee use this year to look at the question of how NINA can best relate to high school journalism programs. And, to avoid possible overlaps in planning, the committee will develop just one regular workshop this year, in early September. Along with NIU, it also will explore the idea of a day-long high school advisers' workshop.

Communications coordinator's report: Killam said the winter newsletter has been mailed and also is posted on the Web site. He also will create hyperlinks to all member newspapers from the Web-based members list. Recruitment brochures will be updated with the new board-members list and sent, along with NINA letterhead, too all board members. Scholarship packets will be mailed soon, along with the new flyer to be enclosed (see above). Scholarship applications also will be made available via the Web site.
Killam also will look into finding a larger meeting room within the NIU Campus Life Building for NINA board meetings. (Update: the April 5 and Aug. 9 meetings will be held in the Campus Life Building's auditorium, room 100.)

President's report: Larsen asked for board approval of new members Jeanine Otto of Sauk Valley Newspapers, and Greg Rivara of the Kane County Chronicle. Both were approved unanimously, bringing the board to a full 21 members.
A couple of contest questions were discussed: whether a category should be canceled if there are too few entries (board consensus: possibly - leave it to the judge's discretion; and whether a local editorial cartoon category should be added (consensus: maybe on a 1-year trial basis, with one open category for all entries).
Note that the NIU Department of Communication actually runs the contest, so the board does not control these decisions. It does, however, advise NIU about the contest. No formal recommendations were voted upon; Killam said he would relay the discussion highlights to Self and Kunkel, who had to leave the meeting early).

Old business: None.

New business: Swikle said Johnsburg High School is holding a journalism day Feb. 11 for all of the high schools in McHenry County. He asked if NINA could offer any financial support to help with expenses. The board was unable to do so, but Killam said he would check with the Communcation Department and the Northern Star about potential help.

Meeting unofficially adjourned at 11:55 a.m., with some members staying later for shop talk.

Shop talk:
Corrado: Sun is launching a new weekly entertainment tab in the first week of February, and also is looking for a reporter and a regional editor.
O'Donnell: The first Daily Herald Leadership Team was named for high school students. It's similar to all-area sports teams, but based on service.
Kubiak: the News Weeklies are undergoing a redesign, with new lifestyles and entertainment sections coming soon. They also are opening a Hampshire bureau soon.
Killam: The Northern Star has been named one of three finalists by Editor & Publisher magazine for Best College Newspaper Online Service. The other finalists are Indiana University and Brigham Young University.
Swikle: Johnsburg High School was one of 10 nationally named a First Amendment School by the Freedom Forum. It was one of nine charter schools in the program last year, and one of just four to repeat the honor this year.
Parmater: The Regional News is seeing more interest from very talented stringer candidates as a result of the weak economy.
Cain: The Daily Times has a redesign in process, with much of it being done in-house.
Larsen: The Herald-News has refocused on its core market - the west side of Joliet -with strong circulation success thus far.
Ruthhart: The Argus and Dispatch photo departments have gone all-digital, which is a challenge for archiving.
Rivara: The Chronicle is part of Shaw's Strategic Suburban Market Group, and showed some circulation gains last last year.

The meeting adjourned at 12:25 p.m. Next board meeting is Friday, April 5.

Minutes submitted by Jim Killam, communications coordinator.