Snow to speak at Golden Press Card

ETSPJ will honor the best journalists in East Tennessee at the Golden Press Card Awards program at 6:30 p.m, Friday, April 28, at the Foundry. Tony Snow, host of the FOX News Sunday public affairs program and syndicated columnist with the Detroit News and columnist with USA Today will be the featured speaker.

More than 200 newspapers nationwide publish Snow’s writing. He has appeared on radio and television programs worldwide including "The McLaughlin Group," "Crossfire," and "Good Morning America." Snow worked in the White House for George Bush, first as chief speechwriter (deputy assistant to the president for communications and director of speechwriting), and later as deputy assistant to the president for media affairs.

Davidson graduate

Snow began his journalism career in 1979 as an editorial writer for the Greensboro (N.C.) Record. He later served as an editorial writer at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, editorial page editor of the Daily Press in Newport News, Va., deputy editorial page editor of The Detroit News, and editorial page editor of The Washington Times.

Snow received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Davidson College in North Carolina and studied philosophy and economics at the University of Chicago. He taught school in Kenya and in Cincinnati and worked as an advocate for the mentally ill and developmentally disabled in North Carolina.

The Golden Press Card Awards program recognizes outstanding service and professional achievements by East Tennessee journalists. Those working for daily and non-daily newspapers, other print media and radio and television stations are eligible. This year’s awards feature a new category—online journalism. Eligible works must have been printed or broadcast between Jan. 1 and Dec. 31, 1999.

Reservations

Adina Chumley, chair of the program, says that the judges were impressed with the quality of the work. Print judges were from the Inland Northwest Chapter of SPJ, and broadcast judges were radio/television professional broadcasters from Louisville, Ky.

A cash bar and heavy hors d'oeuvres will be available at 6:30 p.m. The winners will be announced at 7:00.

Make reservations by phoning Chumley at 995-2914 or Sally Guthrie at 588-1474 before April 24. Tickets purchased in advance are $15. At the door, they’re $20. Make checks to ETSPJ.

'Convergence' hot topic at Tampa conference

Convergence, the coming together of print, broadcast and online publishing, was the hot topic at the SPJ Region 3 conference in Tampa this spring. Journalists there were abuzz with talk of the Tampa Tribune/WFLA News Channel 8/Tampa Bay Online (TBO) venture.

Michelle Bearden, religion reporter for the Tribune and WFLA, explained that she began as a print journalist, but had to learn to write for broadcast when she became an on-air personality. She now considers herself a multimedia journalist because she writes for the Tribune, appears on television, and is packaging her material for the TBO Web site.

The partnership among various media is being driven by economics and demand for news, said Eddie Robinette of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and Florida's first local all-digital cable news channel, known as SNN6. Because this trend is being driven by economics and the bottom line, Robinette predicted that a downturn in economic conditions would bring about a single operation doing all three—print, broadcast and online.

The Herald-Tribune publishes breaking news on its Web site and doesn’t wait for the printed edition. “A story goes to the medium where it makes sense first,” Robinette said.

Convergence also means cross-promotion. Broadcasters “debrief” reporters on the air. Newspaper and broadcast stories refer the audience to the Web site, and the Web site promotes the television and newspaper properties.

Internet skills

Another session focused on using the Internet and World Wide Web for research. “You sometimes get what you pay for,” John Martin, news researcher for the St. Petersburg Times, told the audience. He advised reporters to be particularly wary of people finders on the Web, noting that the databases are infrequently updated or have incorrect information. For example, one such service reported that Martin lived at his parent’s address although he had moved away 14 years ago. “Absolute garbage” is the discription Martin gave to many of the free directories.

Martin noted that it is easy to get information on the Web, but “getting quality information is a tougher nut to crack.” He advised his audience to use the advanced features of search engines to narrow the results. “Emphasize precision, not quantity,” he said.

Martin demonstrated the features of some of his favorite search engines—Hotbot, Northern Light, Google and Altavista. He also discussed Yahoo, a directory, not a search engine. Each of these has its strengths and weaknesses.

Those attending the feature writing panel quickly filled the room and spilled out into the hall, a good indication of the popularity of this topic. Participants on the panel were Patty Ryan of the Tampa Tribune, Chip Scanlan of the Poynter Institute, Susan Eastman of the alternative Weekly Planet and Mike Wilson of the St. Petersburg Times.

The challenge for a feature writer is “to find the story within the story,” Eastman said. Then the writer can use the techniques of fiction writing to tell the story. Wilson noted that something of yourself is essential. “Your presence in the story is vital,” he said.

The panel discussed the apparent increase in first-person writing, especially in alternative journalism. Scanlan said, “The writer’s presence needs to be felt whether the pronoun is there or not. It has to be appropriate and relevant.”

Ryan sees the first-person style as a cyclical thing that also varies according to the paper. Some use it; some don’t. “If you use it a lot, it dilutes,” she said.

Eastman remarked, “Reality is the fall guy for the reporter. It gets old. It’s about the reporter’s ego.”

“Done well, it is compelling; done badly, there is nothing worse,” Wilson concluded.

Awards luncheon

Victor Merina, former investigative reporter with the Los Angeles Times and now a Ford Foundation Fellow, was the keynote speaker at the awards luncheon. He had the audience rapping to a song he had written, “With Us or Against Us” from the “Live at Tampa: April Fool’s Day Concert” album/CD.

The University of Georgia, University of Florida, and Florida A&M appeared to win most of the awards. The University of Tennessee won second place for the online version of the Daily Beacon.

The conference was held at the Tampa Airport Ramada from March 31 to April 1. Concurrent sessions covered a range of topics from writing your resume to hot topics in media law and ethics.

'Go deeper,' diversity panel suggests to media

by Amy Rothrock, Journalism 200 student

”Do you know where the tortillas are?” Jeannine De La Torre Ugarte was asked in the grocery store by another customer soon after she arrived in Knoxville. ”And I have never seen a tortilla before!  I love tortillas now!” she said.

Ugarte joined Babakj Abdolrasulnia, Harbans Singla and Dr. Po-Yung Lu in a panel discussion on media coverage of local Hispanic, Persian, Indian and Chinese-American communities at a meeting of the East Tennessee Society for Professional Journalists on March 1 in Room 223 of the University Center at the University of Tennessee. The four panelists also shared their personal experiences with diversity.

Ugarte said, “I come from Peru, which is in Latin America. But here in America, I am called Hispanic. When I came here, I had to accept that word. Everybody is put in the same boat. And we are not—we are just as different as can be,” she said. Ugarte is the assistant director for Hispanic ministries with the Catholic Diocese in Knoxville.

Mistaken identity

Abdolrasulnia, a native of Iran who is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in public health at the University of Tennessee, recounted a similar experience of mistaken identity. While traveling to Egypt on an American passport to attend a health conference, he was detained for 45 minutes after the flight landed while his co-workers from the Centers for Disease Control breezed through customs without problems. ”I got scared because they don’t distinguish a Persian from an Arab,” he said.

When asked what he would like to see in media coverage of Persian Americans, he replied,  “If you are reporting on domestics, please make a distinction between countries and between how you categorize people because Persians are not Arabs.  That is the biggest insult that you can give to a Persian is to call them an Arab.” 

He also had this advice to journalists: “Give people a different perception on how Iranians were before the revolution and how things have changed.”

Chinese Americans

Lu, who is originally from Taiwan and is the section head of Toxicology and Risk Analysis, Life Sciences Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, is president of the Organization of Chinese Americans, East Tennessee Chapter. His organization represents three to four thousand Chinese Americans in the Knoxville area.
 
He recognizes the power of public news media in very powerful ways and wants to work with media contacts more effectively for accuracy. ”The East Tennessee coverage on Channels 6, 8 and 10 is very good, but in contrast,” he said, “sometimes the network news fails to differential between Chinese and Chinese American.” As an example, an ice skating championship headline on MSNBC recently read “American Beats Opponent,” but Michele Kwan is also an American, he pointed out. 

In addition, Lu thinks press reports on economic and trade issues with China are often generalized.  “Sometimes words that connote Communist China can provoke negative sentiments,” he said.

Indian families

Singla had a different perspective on media coverage. ”In the local community of 275 Indian families, we don’t see any profiles of Indians. Most Indians are quiet and peaceful, it’s true,” he said of the lack of sensational or negative news. “One of the problems is that we are heavily involved in the community centers but not in politics.” 

He would like to see more emphasis on the positive economic impact that Indian business owners, scientists, educators, doctors and professionals bring to the local community. For instance, he cited 600 to 800 people employed in Indian-owned Days-Inn franchises in this area alone.

Singla, who was born in India and has 27 years of engineering experience as president of MS Technology, looks forward to working with contacts in SPJ so that Indian Americans in Knoxville and Oak Ridge will be well represented.

Hispanic workers

Ugarte cited media coverage of Hispanics doing agricultural work and agricultural workers. Sometimes we have no idea who is doing this work,” she said. ”If you go further in the things you write, you can find out that there are teachers—Mexican teachers—picking crops because they can’t get jobs in teaching.”

“In today’s world we value education, technology and computers,” she said, “but there are other aspects of the Hispanic community. Agricultural workers should not be seen just as workers.”

She would like to see more of their family life covered in the media. “They hug their wives, embrace their children and go to church.” Her best advice is, “Don’t assume who is or is not here illegally when you see workers working in a field—focus on whatever the person has to say and where they are coming from. Go deeper.”

Vines' father dies

Members of ETSPJ express condolences to Georgiana Vines whose father, George W. Fry, died April 4 of complications from surgery.

Mr. Fry, the former superintendent of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, was 89. He was noted for his love of the outdoors and his outstanding work in the National Park Service.

Mr. Fry was a strong supporter of the Boy Scouts. He was an Eagle Scout and the fourth Scout ever to receive the Hornaday Gold Honor Badge for his service to wildlife and conservation. He was also a vigil honor member of the Order of the Arrow and a member of scouting’s national council.

Funeral services were held April 6 in Gatlinburg. Burial was at Shiloh Cemetery in Pigeon Forge.

Memorials may be made to the George and Helen Fry Eagle Scout Scholarship, Great Smoky Mountain Council, Boy Scouts of America, P.O. Box 51885, Knoxville, Tenn., 37950-1885 or Our Savior Lutheran Church, Building Fund, P.O. Box 511, Gatlinburg, Tenn., 37738.