Cincinnati SPJ Board Meeting – 12-12-07

AGENDA - Cincinnati Pro SPJ Meeting -  Wed Dec. 12, 2007

Members present: President Hagit Limor, Secretary Josh Rinaldi, Stephanie Creech, Emil Dansker, Taelonda Sewell, Aiesha Little, Tony Mastriani, Brian Duerring

1) Come to order at 11:47 a.m.

2) Approval of minutes from last meeting  

3) Old Business - Bylaw changes tabled until January meeting pending advice from our legal counsel.
      
4) New Business -    

     I. Treasurer's Report - Alex - $5,190.38 in account.
- Hagit: While this is an improvement on our recent past, it’s not a lot of money because we have programs coming up that will incur  costs. We will run through this and it has to last until next fall.
  - State Contest account has $4,500 in it. Being handed off to Columbus and Cleveland, which will take the lead for now.

     II. Secretary's Report - Josh  -
- Board members could use the following proxy addresses to reach the following groups of people. You can send an email to the address, which come to Hagit and me for approval before going to the list serv.
Dues paying members (about 100 people)
cincyspj.proxy@listrocket.com
Executive board
exec.proxy@listrocket.com
Society of Professional Journalists (about 800 people)
members.proxy@listrocket.com       
- Newsletter will be out by week’s end. Will contain a goodbye to the Post

 Web site - Brian
- Homepage is stale. We’ve dropped 50 percent of page views. New page views every couple hours.
- Will film netcast with Hagit on it. Perhaps weekly,
- Link of national homepage. Will get best journalistic story of the week from local sources. Site is avenue for members, but we want to be an avenue for public.
- Hagit: We can do news of members. There’s a lot we can do. Send an email to the 800 member group for any news.  Brian has beta cameras that will be donated to someone. Perhaps we can get one donated to spj. Brian/Josh will start shooting events.

- Can we link to Post’s last edition on our Web site? Josh will talk to Brian about doing this.

III. President's Report – Hagit
 a. membership  update
- We gained more than 20 new members by eliminating local dues.  We have more than 100 members.
- Recruitment is one thing; retention is another. We need to figure out what we can do to recruit and retain.
- Jon will help with recruitment. He suggests reaching to Dayton, Lawrenceburg.
- Josh will reach out to Cox Ohio in Dayton to see about co-sponsoring events.

b. Region 4 Fund - $100
- Regional Director fund. We are considered a large chapter and our contribution is $100.
- Emil moves to allocate $100. Stephanie seconds. Passes. 

c. Contest changes - implemented so that Post could get them now
- Biggest change is eliminating daily/weekly divisions.
- Contest names will be limited to three per entry with one plaque issued. Additional plaques will require an additional charge.
- Fees raised per previous discussions

d. Student contest - Josh, Emil, Tony and Jon will be on a committee to determine rules and eligibility.Perhaps two $500 awards.
- Jon: Award is more important than the amount.

e.   Programming proposals
      i. Do we want to do a program with national? - ---     - However, it has to be a weekend conference. 4-hour event. Chapter has to determine the topic, find a hotel or conference center, market the program and fill the seats. However, national determines program content, speakers, etc. and pays the bills.
- Stephanie: Saturday mornings are great for people who work odd shifts, but not so great for parents.
- Hagit will ask National for October, or as back-up November. Stephanie will handle.
Possible ideas: Board voted on No. 3.
      1. Writing that Works Online
      2. Targeting New Audiences -As America grows more diverse, the demographics of the news audience are changing.  
       ***WINNER***3. Newsroom Ethics/Values -   case study based training.
      4. Creating a Document-Driven Newsroom - how FOI laws work.

    ii. Another proposed program - Aeisha's proposal  - The Story in April 2009.
- Cincinnat Black Theatre Company presents a play based on the Janet Cook debacle at Washington Post.
- Josh suggests following show with a roundtable discussion about issues.
- Aeisha will try to get a budget estimate to find out what’s involved.

    iii. Holiday party coming up next Monday at Cincinnati Athletic Club. We have bar area reserved; can move to lounge if too many people. Jeff Thomas is catering it.

iv. Upcoming for 2008:
- Jan. 22 - "Race(ing) the News" - WCPO Channel 9, evening (exact time TBA)
- Feb. 19 -  "New Media: Journalism 2010" - Northern Kentucky University - 7 p.m.
- March 19 - Law and Media Day - Cincinnati Bar Association – evening (exact time TBA)
- April 7 - "War on News" - Miami University - evening (exact time TBA)
- Stephanie offers help to everyone handling events in early 2008.
- Josh: Suzanne reports that there should be a new year event for Gen J in early January.
- May: Mary Ellen Hutton from post wants to put on an event about covering non-profits.
- Josh suggests a happy hour in early June/late May to Kick off summer.

v. Hagit: some chapters do an annual holiday Annual Holiday Party/Satire Show - invite all politicians and media - like White House Correspondents' Dinner - (45 minute show) - big buffet at hotel; play hotels all each other for names involved. Perhaps something for 2008 or 2009? Could serve as a secondary fundraiser.

V. Announcements
- Aeisha: region IV  conference is March 14/15 in Pittsburgh
- Emil: suggests a possible spj clergy board for a support group. Like firefighters or police. A five person board. Emil will look into it. It’s like hwen a school says “we have counselors available.
- Josh: interfaith?
- Jon: a serious question of privilege here. Questions need to be answered while setting it up. Jon sees the need, but just wants to make sure we’re careful.

5) Adjournment at 12:45 p.m.