SPJ national update IV: Doing business in the daylight; those who would keep that from happening; and taking a stand. The "Sunshine Sunday" campaign that papers in Florida, South Carolina and Alabama have conducted to bolster open-government measures is going national and expanding to a full week beginning March 13. Newspapers, broadcasters and online news groups nationwide will present commentary, cartoons and news stories to encourage a discussion on why transparency in government benefits all citizens, not just journalists. AP president Tom Curley said a national campaign is needed to fight government secrecy "that seems to be growing at an epidemic rate." More here. ... Thanksgiving week marked the 30th anniversary of a bitter Washington battle that produced, over a presidential veto, the landmark Freedom of Information Act. It also warns of new threats to that law, as the leading losers in 1974 now dominate the vice presidency, the Pentagon and the Supreme Court. More here and here and here. ... SPJ supports a Rhode Island TV reporter's decision not to identify a confidential source; the reporter faces six months in jail after a federal judge found him guilty of contempt. SPJ also encouraged a positive outcome at Brigham Young U., where charges were dropped recently against a student journalist; asked Congress to reconsider post-Sept. 11 provisions that would repeal financial reporting requirements for senior government officials; has aided reporter Miles Moffeit as he fights a military court subpoena for his Denver Post notes; and joined the NPPA to protest the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority's effort to ban photography on New York's buses and subways. More here and here and here and here.
SPJ national update V: Superintendent backs adviser; trustees back student newspaper staff; and judge condemns censorship. Chad Tuley, newspaper adviser at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis, was suspended in November over a published story, but he received support from the superintendent and likely won't be fired. Principal Kevin Koers told Tuley that the story about an 11th-grade student charged with murder in connection with the stabbing and beating of a 67-year-old man was too sensitive for a student paper. ... A Southern heritage group urged the East Carolina University board of trustees to sanction the East Carolinian for an opinion column that called the Confederate flag a racist symbol. School officials declined, saying that the East Carolinian is controlled by ECU students and does not speak for the school. More here. ... Student journalists "must be allowed to publish viewpoints contrary to those of state authorities without intervention or censorship by the authorities themselves," U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Tarnow ruled Nov. 17. Tarnow earlier called "indefensible" officials' censorship of a 2002 story in the Utica (N.Y.) High School Arrow about a lawsuit filed against Utica Community Schools by a local man and his wife who maintained that diesel exhaust from a school bus garage, owned by the district and located near their home, worsened the man's lung cancer. More here.
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PEOPLE & PLACES
After 11 years with the Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors, Fort Worth SPJ stalwart Verlie Edwards has left to become chief of staff for Rep.-elect Rob Orr, R-District 58, in the Texas House of Representatives. She was SPJ chapter president in 1995-96.
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GET A JOB
The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas seeks a content management coordinator for its web sites. Requirements include a bachelor's degree in business, at least five years in corporate communications, PR or marketing and experience with content management software, preferably Documentum, as well as Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Adobe Acrobat. Knowledge of banking products and services is a plus. Apply through the web site at www.fhlb.com. ... Fort Worth Country Day School seeks a fund-raising director for Summerbridge, an outreach to FWISD middle school students. Must have a college degree. More from advancement director Anne Robillard, (817) 302-3223, arobillard@fwcds.org. ...
The Dallas office of Burson-Marsteller is hiring. Must have at least five years in PR, corporate or not-for-profit environment. Ability to speak Spanish is a plus. E- glen_orr@dal.bm.com. ... EDS in Plano seeks a corporate PR director. Must have 10 years PR experience with a large public company or global agency and a B.A. in journalism or related discipline. Graduate degree and a technology background are pluses. E- résumé to dana.scott@eds.com. ... The Margulies Communications Group has an immediate need for an account executive "with a strong track record of writing media materials and pitching media." E- pidge@prexperts.net. ...
The travel commerce company Sabre Holdings is hiring a web designer. Must have a bachelor's degree, at least three years experience in web-based graphic design and advanced knowledge of JavaScript and CSS, DreamWeaver, Fireworks and Photoshop, Flash and ActionScript. Apply online at Sabre-Holdings.com or Monster.com, or e- andrea.scott@sabre-holdings.com.
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COMINGS & GOINGS
Additions ... at the S-T: Ehren Meditz, a May 2004 Kansas U. j-grad and recipient of KU's John Bremner Award for copy editing, on the news copy desk; he worked as an intern this summer at The Philadelphia Inquirer
Exits ... at the S-T: Ilene Aleshire, who worked as both an editor and reporter in business news for nearly seven years, to The Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore., as business team leader
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RESOURCES
SPJ's Rainbow Source Book (spj.org/rainbowsourcebook) is an online database of experts on populations historically underrepresented in the news: people of color, women, gays and lesbians, and people with disabilities. A companion "Diversity Toolbox" provides links to diversity resources and institutions on the web.
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