Northern Illinois Newspaper Association

Newsletter

Spring 2005

The endangered
First Amendment

By
Randy
Swikle
It’s one of the old axioms of the newspaper business that our job is to report the news, not make it.

Yet as I write this, another journalist has moved into the public eye. This time, it’s Lee Pitts, a reporter for the Chattanooga Times Free Press. Pitts was covering Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s recent town hall session with U.S. troops in Kuwait, and he got a member of a Tennessee-based National Guard unit to ask Rumsfeld why their vehicles were ill-equipped.

The query brought about cheers from others on hand, grabbed immediate headlines in both print and broadcast media and, maybe most importantly to those in our business, thrust the public spotlight on a reporter who was doing nothing more than his job. Rumsfeld would only take questions from soldiers, and Pitts found a way to have the secretary address an issue that had become important to many. It was sound journalism to some, a questionable tactic to others.

Debate over whether he and the Times Free Press - which did not initially disclose that the question was prompted by the reporter - acted properly has since made its way out of that paper’s newsroom and into the public eye, as the incident has been addressed in newspapers across the country and on CNN.

Such is the world for today’s journalists, where more than ever before, the news reporters are becoming the newsmakers, often with our collective credibility taking the hit. We in the newspaper business face an unenviable task: selling newspapers to increasingly skeptical readers who can turn to more sources than ever before for the news they want. And the tools to do this? They’re drying up as well, as newsrooms’ tight budgets mean shrinking staff sizes and less money spent to train those still around.

It’s for those reasons that organizations such as the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association are particularly valuable today. NINA’s goals are to advance print journalism and print journalism education and training in northern Illinois. To that end, we strive to provide practical and affordable training, both for the working journalists of today and the students who will come into our business tomorrow.

During the past year, Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Hallman Jr. discussed narrative writing at our fall conference, and investigative reporter Michael Berens taught a session on computer-assisted reporting at our spring conference. At other times during the year we presented design and “grammar for journalists” workshops.
In addition, our quarterly newsletter and Web site offer articles about the industry in general, as well as newsroom training advice. Our Fall 2004 newsletter, for example, presented photography tips from Brian Plonka, the National Press Photographers Association’s 2002 National Photographer of the Year, along with Internet resources that can help editors and reporters stay one step ahead of the competition. And our contests and conferences give everyone the chance to network and see the good work other newspapers are doing.

We already have workshops and conferences for 2005 in the planning stages, and we will continue our high school scholarship program while we seek other ways to help those in high school and college become the solid professional journalists of tomorrow.

As I move into my term as president of the NINA board of directors for 2005, I couldn't be more excited about the year ahead. But we can’t do it alone. We’re here to serve you, and to that end, we need your help. What are we doing right? What can we do better? What do you want from NINA? Feel free to reach me with any of your thoughts by email (jcorrado@scn1.com) or phone (630-416-5255).

Yes, today’s journalists are faced with demands unlike those of our predecessors. By working together, NINA can help us all.

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