Active in journalism beyond WMTM
Courtney Sherwood
In addition to my involvement in WMTM, I’m also on the board of the
local chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, which brings
a lot of great training, networking events, and journalism recognition
to our region every year. It is a top priority of SPJ this year to do
a better job of supporting journalists in Oregon and Southwest
Washington, and engaging more people to join in our efforts.
I hope this isn’t too spammy of me, but I wanted to send out this e-
mail message to see if any of you is interested in joining any of our
committees, which have a lot going on this year. You don’t have to be
a member of SPJ, or employed by a traditional news organization, to
get involved.
We need volunteers for all of these groups:
* TRAINING: Puts on the full-day Building a Better Journalist training
program in Eugene (Oct. 9 this year). Also seeks out opportunities to
bring more training throughout the year. Programs in development this
year include could include training on investigative business
journalism, photojournalism, and use of the Freedom of Information
Act.
* OUTREACH/MEMBERSHIP: Builds relationships with the region’s
journalists, works to drum up attendance at events and membership in
SPJ, publicizes and promotes events and programs that benefit
journalists in our region.
* FUNDRAISING: Seeks out new revenue sources, sponsors, money.
* WEB: Maintains and updates the Web site (spjoregon.org). At a
minimum, this year the committee will be involved in overhauling
current Wordpress install to allow blogging and update the look –
could also reinvigorate or rethink how SPJ uses the Web.
* SUNSHINE COMMITTEE: Advocates for open and transparent government.
In March: putting on a concert at Berbati’s to fund its advocacy,
hosting a panel discussion of open government/government
accountability.
* HONORS AND AWARDS: Runs an annual contest for nondaily print and
online new orgs, a $500 college scholarship, the Bob Chandler Rookie
of the Year award (for people in their first year of full-time work as
journalists) and the First Freedom award (which recognizes work that
defends the First Amendment principle of a free press).
If you think you’d like to get involved in any of these groups, shoot
me an e-mail – csherwood (AT) gmail (D0T) com – and I’ll put you in
touch with the appropriate person.
Thanks for your attention!
Courtney
PS – In case you’re wondering, SPJ’s board is:
Tamara Kent of KATU
Laurent Bonczijk of The Newberg Graphic
Libby Tucker of The Columbian
Courtney Sherwood of the Portland Business Journal
Lee van der Voo, freelancer
Hank Stern of Willamette Week
Raymond Rendleman, freelancer
Dennis Newman of Natural Oregon (naturaloregon.org)
Christian Gaston of The Forest Grove News-Times