Early Bird Registration Deadline is July 10

Friday, July 10, is the early bird registration deadline for the AEJMC convention Aug. 5-8, 2009, in Boston. If you are planning to attend the convention, register by Friday and save money! The registration form and details are available on the AEJMC Web site, http://www.aejmc.org

Doug Fisher, COMJIG's program chair, has put together a terrific program for Boston. Details were posted earlier on this blog. I encourage you to attend the COMJIG program sessions during the convention and the COMJIG members' meeting at 6:45 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 6.

I hope to see you in Boston.

International weekly editors' group honors writers for editorials and Garrett Ray for service

The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors concluded its annual conference yesterday on Prince Edward Island after recognizing 12 weekly editors for their editorials and giving its highest award to a man whom one nominator dubbed the dean of the organization.

Garrett Ray, right, former editor and owner of the Littleton Independent in Colorado and retired faculty member at Colorado State University, won the Eugene Cervi Award for a career of outstanding public service through community journalism. His friend Richard McCord of Santa Fe, N.M., said in announcing the award that Ray has won journalism awards for "almost anything you can win an award for."

Ray's awards included the 1980 Golden Quill, which ISWNE gives to the editorial deemed the best of the Golden Dozen, 12 editorials that are recognized at the group's awards dinner and reprinted in its quarterly magazine, Grassroots Editor. For the latest edition of the magazine, with the award winners and their editorials, click here For a capsule rundown of the awards and the conference, click here.

Need to know COMJIG members' accomplishments

It's time to put together COMJIG's annual report for AEJMC, and we need your help.

Specifically, we need to know COMJIG members' accomplishments for the past year in community journalism-related research, teaching, PF&R, publications, etc.

Sorry to be a bother, but we need this by June 8 -- next Monday.

Please help out Liz Hansen and me. Send me (at dfisher@sc.edu) any notable things you've done. Have you worked with your class to help a local community media outlet -- or create one of your own? Have you found a new teaching technique? Have a new book, chapter or article with a community journalism component? Been working with an online community ...

We want to hear about it.

Again, please let me know ASAP, Just fill in the blanks below:

Name:

Institution or affiliation


Notable teaching 2008-09 (community J-related):


Notable research 2008-2009 (community J-related):


Articles, books, chapters, other publications related to community J:


Teaching accomplishments:


Other accomplishments we need to know about:




Again, please send to Doug Fisher dfisher@sc.edu

Thanks,
Doug

Seeing need for local ownership, former owner buys back small daily paper he sold 21 years ago

Gene Hall of Charles City, Iowa, sold the Charles City Press 21 years ago. About a month ago, he and his wife Cathy bought it back, along with the New Hampton Tribune and associated publications. This week, in the Iowa Newspaper Association Bulletin, he explains why, and it's a terrific testimony to the value of local newspaper ownership. There are good chain-owned papers, but Hall has seen the bad side of both forms of ownership, and with the newspaper business in turmoil, his reflections are quite timely.

"I am coming more to the realization that in order for community papers to be the best they can be they must be locally operated and better yet, locally owned," Hall writes. "I repurchased the paper I sold some 21 years ago because this is my paper in my community and I care. I’m essentially a private owner of a public trust and I feel good about that." With a circulation of 2,800, the Press is one of the smallest daily newspapers in the country. (Encarta map)

Hall opines, "The business model of community/local newspapers is still strong and will remain so. What is broken is the capital structure caused by way too much debt; unrealistic profit goals set by private equity owners; operational plans put in place by “Wall Street” analysts whose lack of knowledge and experience in the business is only exceeded by their shortsightedness."

Hall notes that he was "a corporate officer in a publicly traded media company for more than 15 years." His piece doesn't name the companies, but he told us that they were, in succession, Hollinger, Liberty Group and GateHouse Media. "Never was there a meaningful discussion about the product being germane to the community. Never a sentence about putting something back into the product or community," he recalls. "What has and is ruining American media is that, like even baseball, it came to be run solely as a business. Newspapers are more than a business. They have obligations and responsibilities far beyond what a big-box retail store or a widget manufacturer has. ... Big business has corrupted a sacred covenant. Care must be taken with a commodity so central to democracy." (Read more, via RuralJournalism.org; this item is also posted to The Rural Blog)

NRJ to feature special issue on "The Future of Community Journalism"

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: SPECIAL ISSUE OF NEWSPAPER RESEARCH JOURNAL FOCUSED ON "THE FUTURE OF COMMUNITY JOURNALISM"

The rapid changes in the newspaper industry have turned more focus in recent years to what appears to be one of the more stable branches of the newspaper business — small-circulation daily and weekly newspapers generally referred to as "community newspapers." In light of these developments, the Newspaper Research Journal is accepting research articles and conceptual/theoretical essays that will shed light on "The Future of Community Newspapers" for a special issue of NRJ (tentatively scheduled for the winter 2011 issue).

This call is for articles that provide insights into the modern role of community newspapers, as well as suggestions that would help community newspapers to adapt to the changing marketplace. Both social-scientific and cultural/critical approaches will be considered, as will mixed-methods approaches. Preference will be given to articles that draw upon and advance media theory, although insightful non-theoretical, descriptive studies will be considered.

Submissions will undergo NRJ's usual peer-review process, and must be original research that is not under review with any other publication (although modified conference papers will be considered). NRJ's published guidelines regarding length, citation style, and formatting of tabular material will apply. The deadline for submissions is Dec. 1, 2009.

Submissions should be sent as Microsoft Word files to guest editor Bill Reader of Ohio University. E-mail them to reader@ohio.edu.

Volunteer weekly started when chain closed one

Many readers of this blog probably read yesterday's Los Angeles Times story about citizens in a Colorado town starting a newspaper after their local paper closed. The story was fine as far as it went, but for those interested in more details about content, competition, ownership and other facets of the story, read this item in The Rural Blog.

Writer pens a love note to community newspapers, explains why her hometown paper thrives

"Dailies are on hard times, but weekly newspaper readership is hard core," the Daily Yonder says in introducing a piece by Betty Dotson-Lewis, singing the praises and giving many of the operational details of her hometown newspaper, The Nicholas Chronicle in Summersville, W.Va. "This small-town newspaper is a mainstay of Nicholas County," she writes. "On Wednesday evenings a little after 4 o’clock, you will see people braving the coldest or hottest weather, in sickness or health, driving to a nearby convenience store or Wal-Mart to get their copy of their small-town paper."

Dotson-Lewis says the key to success of small-town papers is that "Rural folk are neighborly in the extreme. . . . The majority of rural residents read their weekly paper for dependable and reliable local news." And the Chronicle is "thriving," she writes, because "The newspaper owners live in the community and are involved in community activities," and meet the needs of readers. "The paper is filled with local happenings of nearby small rural communities written about by local people."

The Chronicle recently went online, publishing for non-subscribers the first few paragraphs of a few major stories each week and giving subscribers the choice of the traditional print or the electronic "green edition." The cost is the same, $28.50, except that students can get the online version for $18. (We like that idea.) One couple switched their subscription, but switched back to print, Dotson-Lewis reports, quoting the wife: “I need to hold my paper, turn the pages back and forth, spread it out on the table and take it all in. and if there is a photo of my boys in the paper, I can cut it out.” (This item was originally posted to The Rural Blog)

Newspaper Division launches teaching-ideas contest

AEJMC's Newspaper Division is conducting an activity that may be of interest to COMJIG members, called Teaching News Terrifically in the 21st Century - TNT21, for short. This is a competitive call for teaching ideas, with cash awards in three divisions: full-time faculty, adjunct faculty and graduate students. The entry deadline is Sunday, March 1.

Text of the call and links to the entry forms follow:


Teaching News Terrifically in the 21st Century

A teaching ideas competition sponsored by the Newspaper Division
of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication

What is the best way to introduce students to the craft of writing, reporting or editing? The Newspaper Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication is looking for your ideas. This spring the division is launching a new online competition -- Teaching News Terrifically in the 21st Century, or TNT21 -- designed to reward and publicly acknowledge full-time faculty members, adjunct professors and graduate student instructors for their good ideas for teaching foundational journalism courses.

AWARDS/ELIGIBILITY
Three $100 prizes will be offered for the best ideas, one from each of the following entrants' categories:
o Full-time faculty members
o Adjunct or part-time professors
o Graduate students
To facilitate participation by adjunct faculty and graduate students who are not able to attend AEJMC's annual convention in Boston, where most otherNewspaper Division awards will be given, the competition will be held completely online.
Top entries will be published in a downloadable PDF booklet available on the AEJMC Newspaper Division website.

TYPES OF IDEAS
Teaching tips should be suitable for use in newswriting, reporting or editing courses, though they might be tailored for specific versions of those courses. For example, tips for teaching newswriting across media would be welcome, as would tips for teaching a specific type of reporting, such as public affairs reporting, business reporting or environmental reporting. Tips can address teaching practical skills, such as tracking down public information in online records or editing to improve the organization of a story. Entries also can focus on conceptual knowledge, showing, for example, how to teach students to report ethically or edit to avoid libel. Tips that help professors address the challenges of teaching in a world where technologies are rapidly changing are especially welcome.

HOW TO ENTER
To enter, download and fill out the entry form (also available at this backup location). Then send the completed form and any supporting materials to the teaching competition coordinators, Susan Keith of Rutgers University and Andrea Frantz of Wilkes University, at 21stcenturyteachingtips@gmail.com. The deadline for entries is 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time March 1, 2009.

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION
Teaching ideas will be judged for their originality, innovative nature, ease of application, completeness, writing and whether they would work in more than one course and/or at different types of schools. All entries should reflect original teaching ideas that have not been published elsewhere and have not been finalists on display in other teaching awards competitions.
Winners will be announced on the Newspaper Division Web site about April 15. If you have questions about the competition or would like to serve as a judge, please e-mail Susan Keith at susank@scils.rutgers.edu or call her at 732-932-7500, ext. 8235.

Lauterer on the future of newspapers

Jock Lauterer, the always optimistic founding head of COMJIG, has an article in this month's issue of Quill. Check out what he has to say about the future of newspapers at https://www.spj.org/quill_issue.asp?REF=1454.

Live from Louisville - your AEJMC schedule!

(Updated with new times on preconference session)

A little live blogging today from inside the closely guarded chip room and cranberry juice bar at the AEJMC winter meeting. We now have a tentative program for you for the Boston convention, Aug. 5-8. We think it's a great selection of panels:


Tuesday Aug. 4
1-4 p.m.: A preconference session with CCJIG on the Mumbai terrorist attacks, citizen journalism and media literacy.

Wednesday Aug. 5
10 a.m.: COMJIG and CCJIG - We kick off with Helping rural journalists better serve their communities. This panel explores university-based training programs and projects designed to help rural journalists better serve their communities. Several could become prototypes for programs across the country.

11:45 a.m.: CCJIG and COMJIG - We follow that great panel with Reinventing Journalism: Anatomy of a One-Year Applied Field Experiment. This panel takes a look at the one-year Representative Journalism field experiment in Northfield, Minn.

3:15 p.m.: COMJIG, International, Religion. Mini-plenary on normative theories of the media, including the special role community journalism plays in helping democracies flourish.

5 p.m.: COMJIG - Our refereed research session. Be sure to be there for some great papers!

And, of course, don't forget the keynote speech and opening reception Wednesday night.

Thursday Aug. 6
11:45 a.m.: Newspaper and COMJIG - A great teaching panel on Pushing Students Outside Their Comfort Zones: The Challenges of Teaching the Sheltered Student Generation. How do we get those sheltered students to deal with people who aren't like them?

1:30 p.m.: Our scholar-to-scholar paper presentations.

6:45 p.m.: Don't miss our always engaging members meeting, which once again will be held partly in conjunction with the Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Group.

Friday Aug. 7
After the AEJMC business meeting, don't forget that J-lab will be having its citizen journalism luncheon. It's always a fascinating presentation.

1:45 p.m.: COMJIG and Minorities and Communication: Ethnic news organizations as community media, their health and future role in an evolving media world. Boston is rich in ethnic media. Come talk with publishers, editors and those who study the ethnic media about their health and their future roles.

3:30 p.m.: COMJIG and Newspaper - Research opportunities in community journalism. A great research panel. You need to come if you have or are planning a research agenda in community media. And remember, we define community not just as geographical, but social as well.

We'll let you know more as the convention approaches.

- Liz and Doug

Community Journalism loses a hero

Tom Gish, the crusading owner of The Mountain Eagle, in Whitesburg, Ky., died Friday, Nov. 21, 2008, at the age of 82.


Gish and his wife, Pat, were among the heroes of community journalism celebrated in a COMJIG panel at AEJMC's national convention in Chicago last August.

Tom and Pat Gish bought The Mountain Eagle in 1956 and began operating it in 1957. In the Nov. 22, 2008, issue of the Lexington Herald-Leader, reporter Andy Mead wrote this about the Gishes:

"The Mountain Eagle became the first newspaper in Eastern Kentucky to seriously challenge the environmental damage caused by strip mining. The Gishes scrapped the paper's motto: 'A Friendly Non-Partisan Weekly Newspaper Published Every Thursday.' The new motto: 'It Screams.'

"The Gishes pried open the meetings of public agencies and took on corrupt politicians, rapacious coal companies and bad schools.

"They were respected nationally but made plenty of local enemies. In 1974, after the newspaper published stories about local police mistreating young people, an officer paid arsonists to throw a kerosene firebomb through a window at the newspaper, destroying the building. Mr. Gish said he later learned that coal company money was behind the crime.

"The paper came out on schedule the next week, published on the Gishes' front porch. It had a new motto: 'It Still Screams.'" Read more at http://www.kentucky.com/181/story/600788.html


The Gishes won numerous awards for their work. In 2004, the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues headquartered at the University of Kentucky created the Tom and Pat Gish Award for courage, integrity and tenacity in rural journalism. They were the first recipients. Read more at http://www.ruraljournalism.org/


In addition to his wife, Mr. Gish is survived by his son Ben, who edits the paper, another son, three daughters, four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Filipino press organization focuses on CJ to recruit new journos

The Sun-Star Cebo newspaper in the Philippines reports on its Website of a conference focused on Community Journalism held recently in the province of Cebu, called "Reaching out to future journalists: community journalism forum."

According to the report, Sun-Star Cebo editor in chief Pachico Seares "observed that many Cebu journalists regard their work as not just a livelihood but also a means of 'serving the community they cover.'" The report also paraphrased Seares to say "Despite constraints and challenges, community journalists leave the national competition behind in covering their cities and towns."

Another editor at the conference, Stella Estremera of the Sun-Star Davao, reportedly stated that "Equating community journalism as 'the art of making friends and making do,' Estremera encouraged future journalists to regard ordinary citizens as their 'eyes and ears.' By listening to citizen journalists, newsrooms can be in touch with the authentic day-to-day problems, needs and aspirations of the so-called little people."

The newspapers are part of the Sun-Star Community Newspaper network, which publishes 12 newspapers across the Philippines.

Another metro veteran finds success in CJ

Earlier this year, I talked to a reporter for a New Jersey political Web site about where veteran metro journalists are going after they are laid off or take buyouts from big-city newspapers. Some go to work for politicians or large organizations to do PR, I noted, but one option a few are embracing is moving to small and/or rural communities to take over or start community media.

Poynter's Sara Quinn recently wrote about just such a person, Jim Denk, who was a news design specialist for a number of large newspapers (Wichita Eagle, Asbury Park Press, Detroit Free Press, and the Charlotte Observer) before he and his wife, Janet, bought the 11,000 circulation weekly Record in Matthews, N.C. Jim and Janet run the newspaper with a handful of part-time employees, and told Quinn that they enjoy the "doing it all" aspects of publishing a community weekly.

Quinn is a design specialist at Poynter, so naturally her profile of the Denks focused mostly on how they use high-end visual journalism to serve the community and to showcase the kind of news and information that is so common to community journalism – intensely local concerns. Denk has used visuals to tell compelling stories about poorly design sidewalks, wildlife that live in and around the community, even the passing of a pet rooster that was a fixture in a local hardware store. And, of course, the ads – Denk puts just as much effort into custom-designed ads for the businesses of his community.

Read the profile, and see some samples of excellent community-journalism design work, at http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=47&aid=151124

Good investments: Small, local media companies with digital components, banker and publisher say

Jeanne Straus, right, the president of Monroe, N.Y.-based Straus Newspapers, had a question for her fellow weekly publishers in the New York Press Association when she took over as president on Friday: "What do Rupert Murdoch of News Corp., Roger Ailes of Fox News and Strauss Zelnick, the investment banker, all have in common?"

I said, "They're all rural publishers," thinking that Zelnick might be one. Two out of three wasn't bad. As Straus noted and has been reported, Ailes recently bought the Putnam County News and Recorder in Cold Spring, N.Y. And she noted that News Corp. recently bought weeklies in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx. She could have also noted that Murdoch decided not to sell Ottaway Newspapers, a former Dow Jones subsidiary that has weeklies and a large rural clientele.

Answering her own question, Straus said the three men "are all headed our way – to the local community newspaper business. Strauss Zelnick said in January of this year that he wanted to invest more in 'smaller businesses … that have digital components.' And apparently he believes in old line media companies because he thinks although we don’t currently have the answer yet on the digital business – we will eventually," Straus said. "So my talk to you today is really a pep talk. Some pretty savvy media watchers think you – and I – are perfectly positioned for the future – small, local media companies with a digital component." For her full remarks, click here.

The digital component was my topic the next day, at a presentation arguing that weekly newspapers need to enter the 24/7 world: "For decades now, Americans have grown more accustomed to getting their news for free: First from radio, then TV, then from the Internet. (I say people get news free from the Internet, because while they pay for Internet access, there are plenty of free news sites.) Now, on top of the phenomenon of news for free, is the phenomenon that is already changing weekly newspapering: Americans are increasingly expecting to get their news immediately. Increasingly, your readers simply will not understand why they have to wait several days to read in your newspaper the local news that they heard about at the grocery, the post office, the bar or the coffee shop. There will be a demand for immediate local news, in the form of text, and someone will fill it." (Read more)

Also at the conference, the publishers voted to add this to the NYPA by-laws: "NYPA members are urged to conduct business with high ethical standards and practice good journalism ethics as exemplified by the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics."

Newspapers and Community Building Symposium

This is the program for the 2008 Newspapers and Community Building Symposium to be held Sept. 26-27 in conjunction with the National Newspaper Association Convention in St. Paul, MN. Several COMJIG members are presenting papers at the symposium.

Community Building Symposium – Local voices
Score one for the home team: The return of independent journalism to
Madera, CA
Gary Rice, California State University, Fresno, CA
Lessons in community (re)building from the post-Hurricane Katrina created
Gazebo Gazette
Lawrence Strout, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS
Keeping quiet or taking the lead: A study of editorial pages, local editorial
material and political endorsements in one state’s newspapers
Al Cross, Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues,
Lexington , KY, and Elizabeth Hansen, Eastern Kentucky University,
Richmond , KY
Friday, Sept. 26, 10:15 – 11:15 a.m.
Community Building Symposium – Local Business
Free ads increase revenue: Three counterintuitive solutions to problems at a
small-market daily
Mark Furman, School of Journalism and Communications, Eugene, OR
The twain has met: Advertising and the newsroom should take responsibility
for a better (and more ethical) product
Joe Marren, Buffalo State College, Buffalo, NY
What community newspapers can learn from the fast-growing free U.S.
daily newspaper industry
Peter Gade, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Friday, Sept. 26, 2:15 – 3:15 p.m.
Community Building Symposium – Local Web
New media/new challenges: A tale of three newspapers
Timothy Boudreau, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, MI
Building community online: A twice-weekly’s experience extending its
reach with a citizen-based news site
Douglas J. Fisher, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
Seeking the essence: Community journalism meets the digital age
Jacquelyn A. Lowman, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND
Friday, Sept. 26, 3:30 – 4:30 p.m.

Call for 2009 Panel Proposals

AEJMC and COMJIG move to Boston for next year's convention, which means we have to start thinking about panels and other programming.

This is our first call for ideas for panels.

We had a very successful 2008 meeting, with some fine panels and the mini-plenary on the state of the industry. For 2009 we'd like to put a special emphasis on panels dealing with the state of research in community journalism and with an international orientation, including ethnic media. But of course, all ideas are welcome.

So put your thinking caps on, drag out all those proposals you just wanted to make before but never got around to, and send them our way by Oct. 6.

Please use the form you can find at http://tinyurl.com/comjigpanels09a (or go to our Yahoo group site at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/comjig, and you'll find the file in the Files area of the site).

Please return the form to Doug Fisher, vice head and program chair, at dfisher@sc.edu (if you'll be so kind as to put COMJIG Panels in the subject line, your e-mail will be zapped into the right folder for immediate attention).

Again, the deadline is Oct. 6.

We raised the bar with some great panels last year; let's see if we can raise it further for 2009.

Best,
Doug

Minutes of the 2008 COMJIG meeting

The following are the draft minutes of the annual meeting of the Community Journalism Interest Group of AEJMC, 6:45 p.m., Thursday, August 7, 2008, Chicago, Ill. Minutes are unofficial until ratified at the 2009 annual meeting.

Members’ meeting
The members meeting began with a gathering of both the Community Journalism Interest Group members and members of the Citizen/Civic Journalism Interest Group. About 20 people were in attendance.
Bill Reader (Ohio University), outgoing chair of COMJIG, and Jack Rosenberry (St. John Fisher College), outgoing chair of CCJIG, proposed the idea of a collaborative project that would involve reaching out to daily newspapers in the U.S. to teach them how to effectively use both civic and community journalism in their news operations. The idea was proposed as a way of:
- raising the profile of the two interest groups
- putting members in touch with professionals in their regions
- allowing for conducting field research and as a way to get professors back into newsrooms to both study and refresh their skills

Bill Reader said that larger media are trying to embrace these concepts, but do not really know where to begin. They are seeing civic journalism organizations as competitors; they want to connect to community, but are not sure how. The idea proposed was to come up with short, three-hour training sessions with mid-level editors at these newspapers.

Discussion on this topic and the logistics of its execution continued for roughly 30 minutes. The question was raised as to whether this was something that members of both groups would like to pursue. Several members said they thought that newspapers would be interested in such programs. There was some discussion of previous models that had attempted these kinds of projects. Some questions were raised about whether these training visits would work best by visiting specific newsrooms or by hosting regional workshops. Brian Steffens, executive director of the National Newspaper Association, said newsroom budgets are making training efforts difficult. Bill Reader said that if 10 of these sessions could be completed in the next year, it would be outstanding. Another member explained a session done at his university that was a social media conference and has grown each year as people come to find out about citizen journalism and public relations. It had sponsors and grew to 300 in its most recent event. The next one will actually bring in money for the department.

Liz Hansen (Eastern Kentucky), outgoing vice chair of COMJIG, asked if the first step was to see if there was a demand for this kind of workshop and perhaps see if this can lead to the creation of a prototype for the training program. Another member said that the most exciting aspect of the program would be the creation of a curriculum that could be used by everyone. Discussion continued on topics including how this work would translate into research and how that research could be shared with people in the industry and whether such training could be given using online resources.

In summary, Bill Reader said that there did seem to interest in the idea, was unsure of who might take the lead on the project, but said a first step might be to see if there is a need and interest.

Several other topics were discussed during the general meeting including whether a Romenesko-like blog could be created for smaller newspapers, and whether such a thing could be done using the COMJIG blog. Another suggestion was made that an experts guide could be created by the incoming secretary of COMJIG that might include press releases when new research in community journalism was created.

The groups adjourned the group members' meeting and divided for their respective annual business meetings.

Business meeting

The minutes of the 2007 meeting were unanimously approved as submitted without comment or question.

Bill Reader reported that COMJIG had had a good year, and the annual report had been submitted. The AEJMC program was one of the best to date, including sessions including “profiles in courage” and a mini-plenary that was very strongly attended discussing the future of print journalism. He said next year’s programming should lean more toward research as a way of maintaining a balance. He said COMJIG members had been very active, including work of regional centers and institutes as well as work of independent scholars.

COMJIG has a current balance of $1,227.40.

The current membership is 110, with most members from the United States, but other members from Mumbai, Japan and China. A goal for the following year was to make the group more international and to explore panels that would look at the issue of community journalism in other countries. There was some discussion of how to make more international connections, including with neighboring Canada.

Bill Reader said that it would be useful to create a clearinghouse list of community journalism organizations and to enhance the list to get more international.

In all COMJIG had nine submissions of research papers, which was fewer than in 2007; five were accepted for presentation.

It was noted that AEJMC is re-examining its strategic plan, which means interest groups need to make themselves visible, partner with other organizations and make attempts to be more international.

Liz Hansen said there were many good submissions for panels from COMJIG members, but not enough spots for all of them.

There was no old business discussed.

Liz Hansen then took over running the meeting as the new Chair of COMJIG. She oversaw the election of new officers and opened the floor to nominations. She accepted the golden pica pole from Bill Reader.

Doug Fisher (South Carolina) was nominated by Bill Reader as Vice Chair and seconded by Al Cross (Kentucky). He was accepted by acclamation.

Bill Reader volunteered to occupy the position of Secretary and Membership Chair. He was accepted by acclamation.

Andris Straumanis (Wisconsin-River Falls) was nominated to keep his position as Research Chair. He was accepted by acclamation.

Jennifer Woods Adams (Auburn) was nominated to be the PF&R chair and was accepted by acclamation.

Eileen Gilligan was nominated to retain her position as Teaching Chair and was accepted by acclamation.

There was some discussion as to whether to raise the $5 dues for the group. After discussion, the group agreed to leave the dues at $5.

The group voted to add a cash prize to the top faculty paper award in 2009, to complement the $100 cash award we agreed in 2007 to give to the top student paper starting in 2008.

The group agreed that it would send out a call for research panels for the 2009 convention. It was suggested that a panel on research on community journalism and how that’s being done would be a useful discussion. It was also suggested that a panel on international aspects of community journalism would be useful.

A move to adjourn was made and seconded. All voted aye.


Minutes respectfully submitted by John Hatcher (Minnesota-Duluth), outgoing Secretary.

Let's think global when talking community journalism

COMJIG members should remember that there is more to community journalism than what is going on in the U.S. newspaper market.

Here is an item of some interest from Africa (where the WNA reports newspaper readership is generally on the increase), where the governor of the Nigerian state of Delta challenged community newspapers to lead the charge for peace and development. According to The Vanguard newspaper, "Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta State has identified community based newspapers as veritable instruments for the propagation of peace and development journalism as well as mobilization and development of the society, especially rural areas."

A goal for next year's conference is to enhance the international focus of the interest group's programming, so if any of you chance upon items like the one above, please post them to this blog or forward them to me at reader@ohio.edu.

No comfort in latest figures

Community newspapers like to point out that they are doing better than their big-city brethren. But there's only some comfort in the latest news out from the biennial news consumption survey by the Pew Center for the People & the Press.

From the Editor & Publisher story:

Weeklies, however, are doing a little better: "At a time when daily newspapers are losing readers, the audience for local weekly community newspapers has remained relatively stable. Currently, 33% say they read such newspapers regularly, about the same as in 2006 (35%) and 2004 (36%)....

"As is the case with daily newspapers, however, weekly community newspapers are much more popular with older people than young people. Four-in-ten of those 50 and older say they regularly a community newspaper, double the percentage of those 24 and younger (19%)."

Bottom line: Weeklies can't afford not to have online strategies, either, because that's where young readers are going. Yet some recent research from the University of South Carolina presented at a COMJIG session at the annual AEJMC conference showed that many still do not have a Web presence.

Community Newspaper leaders to gather

Seven leaders of the community newspaper industry in America's heartland will meet at the University of Missouri in Columbia on Sept. 11 for a discussion about the future of such papers. Questions include: What value(s) do community newspapers offer citizens in self-governance of their local democratic institutions? How valuable are community newspapers in serving the local retail economic engines that sustain local communities? What opportunities exist for local community newspapers to continue as the primary source of community information, and how can community newspapers monetize those opportunities?

More from The Rural Blog.

Case Studies of Courage in Community Journalism: A thoughtful editor inspires

Those who attended the panel discussion, "Case Studies of Courage in Community Journalism," at this month's AEJMC convention were treated to an inspiring commentary from Laurie Ezzell Brown, left, editor of The Canadian Record. After giving her thoughtful and practical tests for the journalism she practices in the Texas Panhandle weekly, she said, "The hardest part of community journalism is also the most rewarding part. We live within what we write about. Either we know what we report, or we are called on the carpet within hours, if not minutes, to account for our mistakes. We look our stories in the face every day. We meet them eye to eye. And if we deny their humanity, if we feel no compassion, then we have failed to grasp the story’s essence, and will fail the story’s telling."

Brown concluded, "At a time when we hunger for authenticity, for words which have meaning in our lives, for stories which are of us, about us — not thrust upon us — community journalists have both the privilege and the responsibility of beginning at the very root of the human experience, and of lifting it up, bringing it to light. Well done — and God knows, I’ve seen it done poorly — this is an honorable profession ... and a necessary one ... and that is what I would tell young students today." To read Brown's full remarks, click here.

Also on the panel were Bernard Stein, until recently the editor and co-publisher of The Riverdale Press in the Bronx, who talked about the editorial that prompted a firebombing of his weekly and his current project at Hunter College-CUNY, a student-produced newspaper for one of New York's poorest neighborhoods; and Homer Marcum, who edited and published The Martin Countian in Inez, Ky. He talked about his experiences in the Appalachian coalfield and two of his neighbors and mentors, Tom and Pat Gish of The Mountain Eagle in Whitesburg, Ky., who were unable to attend the convention but were featured in video about their famed 50-year career. For a detailed report on the panel, click here.

COMJIG's Reader quoted in AJR 'Disconnected' Article

Will Bunch of Philadelpha's "Attytood" blog writes in American Journalism Review this month about the disconnect between journalists and the communities they write about, especially at the big metros.

Bunch quotes Bill Reader, COMJIG head:

"Honestly, I think the solution is not to be big," says Bill Reader, a career journalist who now teaches at Ohio University and heads the Community Journalism Interest Group of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication. Like many, he bemoans a system that lavishes major awards and higher salaries on those who practice detached reporting with a broad focus, when it is highly localized journalism that best connects with the public. "Your job is to be the connection. The cultural role of the newspaper is the inherent value of the newspaper, because what you're selling and what you're doing is holding the community together – and everything else will fall into place."

COMJIG program in Chicago

COMJIG members:

The AEJMC convention in Chicago is fast approaching. As you plan your convention activities, I want to call to your attention the programming COMJIG is co-sponsoring.
We are the lead sponsor or co-sponsor for five panels and one of four sponsors of a mini-plenary session. These events are listed below:

Wednesday, 10 am to 11:30 am, Media Ethics Division and Community Journalism Interest Group
PF&R Panel Session: Anonymity and Identity in the News
Moderating/Presiding: Denise Dowling, Montana
Panelists:
David S. Allen, Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Janice Marie Collins, Eastern Illinois
Patrick Lee Plaisance, Colorado State
Anon Y. Mous, Large Public University-Midwest

Wednesday, 1:30 pm to 3 pm
Community Journalism and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Interest Groups
PF&R Panel Session:
Beyond Geographic Community: Culturally Defined Community Newspapers
in the Chicago Area
Moderating/Presiding: Elizabeth Hansen, Eastern Kentucky
Panelists:
Tracy Baim, publisher and executive editor, Windy City Times
Steven V. Bonica, executive director, Romanian Tribune
Elena Ferrarin, reporter, Reflejos Bilingual Newspaper
Michael A. House, president, Chicago Defender
Mary C. Johns, editor-in-chief, Residents’ Journal
Helen Karakoudas, managing editor, Wednesday Journal/Chicago Journal
Yasmin Nair, reporter, book reviewer, columnist, Windy City Times,
independent journalist

Wednesday, 3:15 pm to 4:45 pm
Newspaper Division, Community Journalism and Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Groups and Media Management and Economics Division
Mini-plenary PF&R Panel Session: The Transformation of Print Journalism
Moderating/Presiding: Jack Rosenberry, St. John Fisher
Panelists:
Randy Jessee, editor, Special Projects/Multimedia and News Technology, Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch
Carl Sessions Stepp, Maryland
Bill Reader, Ohio
Jan Schaffer, executive director, J-Lab: The Institute for Interactive Journalism, American
Hugh Martin, Georgia

Thursday, 5 pm to 6:30 pm, Community Journalism and Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Groups
PF&R Panel Session: What the F**?!! Dealing with Offensive Postings on News Web Sites
Moderating/Presiding: Jeff South, Virginia Commonwealth
Panelists:
Geoff Dougherty, founding editor, ChiTownDailyNews.org
Suzanne McBride, Columbia-Chicago
Nikhil Moro, Central Michigan
Alissa Swango, producer, chicagotribune.com
Rick Wade, editor, Pekin, Ill. Daily Times

Friday, 1:45 pm to 3:15 pm, Community Journalism Interest Group and Newspaper Division
PF&R Panel Session: Case Studies of Courage in Community Journalism
Moderating/Presiding: Al Cross, Kentucky
Panelists:
Laurie Ezzell Brown, editor and publisher, The Canadian Record, Canadian, TX
Tom and Pat Gish, publishers, The Mountain Eagle, Whitesburg, KY
Homer F. Marcum, Holston United Methodist Home for Children, Greenville, TN, and former editor and publisher, The Martin Countian, Inez, KY
Bernard Stein, co-publisher, The Riverdale Press, Bronx, NY; professor, CUNY-Hunter

Friday, 3:30 pm to 5 pm
Civic and Citizen Journalism and Community Journalism Interest Groups
Teaching Panel Session: Whose Learning Curve Is It? How Technological Advances Have Changed How We Teach Journalism
Moderating/Presiding: Andrea Breemer Frantz, Wilkes
Panelists:
Evene Estwick, Wilkes
Kandace Harris, Johnson C. Smith
Lindsey Wotanis, Maryland
Merrilee Cox, Maryland
Les Anderson, Wichita State

COMJIG will also have two research paper sessions, one of them a part of Friday’s Scholar-to-Scholar session:

Friday, 8:15 am to 9:45 am
Community Journalism Interest Group
Refereed Paper Research Session: Community Involvement in Community Journalism
Moderating/Presiding: Andris Straumanis, Wisconsin-River Falls
Finding It, Storing It, Discussing It: A Content Analysis of Weekly
Newspaper Web Sites
Kelly Mitchell, Erik Collins and Anna Saunders, South Carolina
Collaborator or Competitor? Community News Editors’ Perceived Roles
of Professional and Citizen Journalists
Seungahn Nah and Deborah Chung, Kentucky
Evaluating Reader Feedback Importance to Newspapers: A Look
at Community Structure and Economic Influences
Carly McKenzie, Hal Hays, Jee Young Chung, Chang Wan Woo
and Wilson Lowrey, Alabama
Discussant: Stephen R. Lacy, Michigan State

Friday, 12:15-1:30, Scholar-to-Scholar
Community Journalism Interest Group
37. Using a Newspaper to Stabilize a Community
Lindsey Wotanis, Maryland
38. Beyond Standard Professionalism: Journalism and Language Roles Among
European Minority Language Journalists
Iñaki Zabaleta, Nicolás Xamardo, Arantza Gutierrez, Santi Urrutia,
and Itxaso Fernández, University of the Basque Country
and Carme Ferré, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Discussant: Bill Cassidy, Northern Illinois

As we did last year, the Community Journalism and Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Groups will hold a joint members’ meeting. We’ve reserved two time slots on Thursday evening for it (see below).

Thursday, 6:45 pm to 8:15 pm and 8:30-10 p.m.
Community Journalism and Civic and Citizen Journalism Interest Groups
Business Session: Joint Members’ Meeting
Moderating/Presiding: Bill Reader, Ohio and Jack Rosenberry, St. John Fisher

The COMJIG and CCJIG Executive Committees will meet at 10: 15 p.m. Thursday following the members’ meeting.

I hope to see you in Chicago.

Liz Hansen
Vice Chair and Program Chair
COMJIG

Another daily goes online only

Another small daily, the 5,500-circulation Daily Telegram in Superior, Wis., is going pretty much online only -- with just two weekly print editions.

While many community newspapers are doing a lot better than their big-city counterparts, this is another reminder that the digital wave does not stop in the large markets, and we need to help small publishers, with their very different situations from large ones, adapt as well.

David Sullivan, an editor in Philadelphia and one of the smartest observers of the industry, suggests the Superior move is not as major as it sounds.

Congrats to Ralph Hanson

We'd be remiss if we did not extend congratulations to Ralph Hanson who is leaving the University of West Virginia to become chair of the communication department at University of Nebraska at Kearney.

Good luck, Ralph. And don't forget to check out his blog.

Two new - and important - links

Take a look on the left rail and you'll see two new, and important links.

The first takes you to a PDF copy of the Community Journalism Interest Group bylaws.

The second is COMJIG's excellent booklet The Community as a Teaching Resource, something that will come in handy for anyone teaching journalism. (This is a 1 Mb PDF).

Enjoy.

COMJIG stalwart Lauterer heads NNA's CJ effort

COMJIG was launched several years ago with no small amount of effort from founding chair Jock Lauterer, so it seems only fitting that Jock has been tapped by the National Newspaper Association to be its special advisor on community-journalism newsroom issues.

Read the announcement online at the NNA Web site.

A 'swarm' approach to in-depth reporting

One of the most persistent myths of Community Journalism is that it is often "soft" journalism that does not tackle tough issues. We plan to confront that myth in August at the AEJMC convention with a number of sessions, most notably a panel on bravery at rural newspapers.

In the meantime, you all should read the American Journalism Review article about CNHI's attempt to combat that myth as well — by getting many of its 90-some newspapers to collaborate on in-depth reporting on big, national issues. Examples include a three-part series on gambling addiction, another series on the crumbling Interstate Highway system, and a brilliant (and scary) series on the injuries suffered by young athletes who play for poorly trained coaches.

One of the most important things we can all do as members of COMJIG is bring such examples to the attention of our colleagues and students to remind them that Community Journalism can (and does) include many examples of serious, in-depth reporting.

New Convergent Journalism Book

Just a note that, finally, it's a book. "Principles of Convergent Journalism," co-written by Doug, Augie Grant and Jeff Wilkinson was released late last week from Oxford.

We've tried to build a book that can be used by newbies or professionals to bridge the gap to the "other" media by giving them the basics to work in all, and a killer glossary so that they can speak the lingo.

If you get an exam copy, let us know how you like it.

Doug

Update May 2008
Awhile back, Bill Reader asked me to expound a bit more on the community journalism connection in the book. As often happens, I got swamped with classes and seminars like ACES and got behind. But let me now correct that.

When we wrote the book, the journalist always in my mind's eye was at a small daily, 20,000 or less, or maybe a larger weekly or twice- or thrice-weekly. A place where some of my students have gone, like the Shelby (N.C.) Star, which has gone heavily into digital journalism -- audio, video, online maps, etc. One of its newest assets is the Star Car, a completely outfitted live unit:

Online wireless capabilities through a cell phone connection.
A camera mounted on it where people online can see what reporters see.
A GPS tracking system that lets people watch where the car is going online ... not only can you watch the news as it happens, you can watch the Star Car as it's chasing the news that's happening.

I also had in the back of my mind the journalist at the small community TV station, like many in the Midwest and Mountain West, who might now be called on to file "print" for the Web site (yes, we know much of it is still "shovelware," but that will change). And all three of us wanted to show that convergent journalism does not just mean the big three: print, broadcast and online. So our approach to the book was, first, to give some practical advice to those who suddenly are thrown into doing "another" medium. Thus we have chapters on the basics of broadcast for print folks and the basics of print for broadcast folks (I think the illustration of the same story - broadcast and print - that highlights the differences, especially the additional information needed for print and the need to think visually for broadcast is one of the best parts of the book).

We also then talk about "repurposing" print and broadcast for online. Some folks have not liked us for doing that, but we felt it was disingenuous not to acknowledge the current state of affairs and at least try to suggest some best practices.

We then have chapters devoted to new types of content online and -- and this is important -- other types that may emerge as well, such as billboards and radio sidebands.

Finally, the glossary is one of the most complete we know of that seeks to enable a journalist to translate from print to broadcast to digital technologies.

We know that journalists at small papers and broadcast stations already are multitasking -- for instance that small-newspaper reporter probably also is taking still photos. So while we talk about stills, the person might skip that (or he or she might pick up a pointer or two).

The book is aimed not only at students, but at professionals looking to "repurpose" themselves. More information and resources are on our wiki, and here is a chapter list:

1. Introduction to Convergent Journalism (pg. 1)
2. Basic Skills and Roles in Convergent Newsrooms (15)
3. From Print to Internet: Repurposing Content (35)
4. From Print to Internet: New Types of Content (53)
5. From Broadcast to Internet: Repurposing Content (75)
6. From Broadcast to Internet: New Types of Content (91)
7. Basics of Broadcasting (109)
8. Basics of Print (127)
9. Internet News (145)
10. Adding (Multi) Media to the Web (165)
11. Converging With Other Emerging Media (187)
12. Your Future in Convergent Journalism (203)
13. Glossary (219)

Convergence Newsletter - special communities issue

The Convergence Newsletter is seeking contributions for its June issue on the impact of convergence and distributed journalism in communities.

We are looking for articles not only on geographic communities, but also on social and economic ones. How has the online world fostered community? Or split it apart? Or realigned it? We hear a lot about the issues of big-city dailies, but how is this playing out in smaller communities, or in communities never envisioned before?

What "convergence" are we looking for, how do we define it? We don't. We think Rich Gordon did a great job many years ago and will consider submissions in any of these areas. Likewise, this is not solely about news and journalism (as we classically define it). Technological convergence, for instance, may be forming its own social communities with their own means of information sharing. And, shifting back to the geographical for a moment, how is all this interacting with the warp and weave of community structures and life?

The June issue is part of our new realignment into topical issues. We hope to have a communities and convergence issue twice a year.

The Convergence Newsletter has about 1,000 subscribers (and growing - if you don't get it, please feel free to subscribe for free or visit our blog), is published out of the University of South Carolina and Newsplex once a month except for June and January. We call it a journal of first impression. Most pieces run from 600-1,200 words. It is not peer reviewed, but it is edited. It's an excellent place to work on the kernel of a thought that may blossom into a longer publication or to write about notable things that may not become a longer project but are just as valuable to know about. (For instance, I saw a paper for a class the other day that had a unique set of interviews with Lawrence Journal-World staffers about the problems with comments on the site and how to deal with those.)

If you have a proposal, please e-mail me (dfisher@sc.edu). You'll probably hear back from Brad Petit, the day-to-day editor, who will work out details with you.

Thanks,
Doug Fisher
Executive Editor

A community newspaper slapped for reaching out?

The Mount Airy News in north-central North Carolina last week published a series of stories about some North Carolina missionaries who were stranded while on a mission to Cameroon. Some readers questioned the coverage, as many of the missionaries were apparently from outside of the traditional news boundaries of The News.

The editors on Sunday published an explanation for why they crossed their own community boundaries, and said their choice was essentially to offer a helping hand to a needy stranger:

"When a desperate loved one says she is frustrated with diplomatic efforts to get her spouse out of country boiling over in civil unrest," the editorial states, "and needs the local media to cast a spotlight on a neglected continent and put some pressure on the bureaucrats, there's no time to quibble about boundaries. The first response from any responsible journalist should be to find a way to cover the story and to enlist as many media outlets as possible to aid in the effort."

The editorial obviously was based on feedback the newspaper received regarding its reporting. One critic challenged the newspaper's devotion of a "really thin" reporting staff to a story that had more to do with Washington, D.C., bureaucracy than local news in the Mount Airy region. (Another critic took potshots at the grammatical errors in the editorial -- boy, do we journalists love THOSE kinds of critics).

The message for journalism educators is multi-faceted. First, it suggests that community news media can have an influence on government at the state and national levels. It also suggest that community news media can set a national news agenda by being the first to pick up and run with a story that is being ignored by "the big guys." It also serves as an example that people served by community news media are not always oblivious to the limitations faced by community journalists nor to the differences between community journalism and regional/national journalism.

COMJIG to tackle tough issues at AEJMC in August

Thanks to excellent panel ideas from COMJIG members, officers Liz Hansen (vice-chair and programming chair) and I (your fearful chair) were able to cobble together what I think is a pretty exciting and boundary-pushing program for the August AEJMC convention. Once again, I think our group has transformed from "The Little IG That Could" (as founding chair Jock Lauterer once called us) to our new identity as "The Little Group with a Big Footprint" (as immediate past chair Peggy Kuhr described us in August).

At the infamous "chip auction" at AEJMC's winter meeting, held in St. Louis in December, Liz and I frantically negotiated with a variety of other AEJMC groups to lock in the following program for the Aug. 6-9 convention in Chicago. We also managed to make sure all COMJIG sessions are held Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, thus alleviating our members of the pain and loneliness of talking to empty seats during AEJMC's dreaded Saturday afternoon time slots.

That said, here's the lineup for August:

On Wednesday, Aug. 6, we open our program at 10 a.m. with "Anonymity and Identity in the News," a debate about the pros and cons of anonymity in our biz, from the use of anonymous sources to news stories to the beautiful ugliness of anonymous posts to online discussion boards. The panel is co-sponsored with the Media Ethics Division, and this session marks COMJIG's first formal collaboration with the Media Ethics folks.

At 1:30 p.m. on Aug. 6, COMJIG has another first-time partnership, this time with the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Interest Group: "Beyond Geographic Community -- Culturally Defined Community Newspapers in the Chicago Area." The panel will feature representatives of a variety of ethnic, religious, and GLBT media in the Chicago area. (Special props to our PF&R chair Ralph Hanson for throwing this one together at the last minute -- it attracted a lot of potential co-sponsors).

Following that session on Wednesday, COMJIG again participates in a mini-plenary session (our third year in a row for the high-profile sessions!). Titled "The Transformation of Print Journalism," this panel addresses AEJMC's challenge to divisions and interest groups to offer at least one program that focuses on the future of the industry, and will feature a mix of professionals and scholars who will discuss how a variety of print media are adapting and thriving in the digital/online age. This session is co-sponsored by our friends in the Civic & Citizen Journalism Interest Group, Media Management & Economics Division, and the Newspaper Division.

Thursday's programming starts at 1:30 p.m. with COMJIG's scholar-to-scholar research session. COMJIG chair Bill Reader and a team of anonymous judges will choose the best-designed poster and present the winner with a very special prize (don't worry -- it'll be the kind of prize somebody will actually be happy to receive).

Then at 5 p.m., we team up with Civic/Citizen again for a session titled "What the F***?!! Dealing with offensive postings on news Web sites," which should prove to be a lively, R-rated (for language) discussion of the place of profanity in audience-feedback forums. (As a side note, we had a lot of fun during the planning sessions referring to this as the "F*** Panel" -- it was just like being back in the newsroom).

COMJIG and Civic/Citizen will follow up last year's joint members' meeting with another one, tentatively scheduled for 6:45-9 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7. We will be working with Civic/Citizen to come up with a special topic for the joint members' meeting, and are hoping to sneak some Chicago deep-dish past the hotel-catering cops so we can meet and eat. Thanks to our former research chair Jack Rosenberry (now Civic/Citizen chair) and Civic/Citizen vice-chair Mary Beth Callie for agreeing to turn our members' meetings into a bonus round-table discussion.

On Friday, we'll start the day with our sole-sponsored research-paper session at 8:15 a.m. Research chair Andris Straumanis will honcho that shindig, at which we also will be presenting the top student paper with our first-ever prize of $100 (so be sure to encourage your community-minded graduate students to submit their papers to COMJIG!).

Then after lunch, we'll team up with the Newspaper Division for an amazing panel titled "Case Studies of Courage in Community Journalism," which will feature a panel of small-town newspaper editors who battled problems in their communities at great personal risk. Thanks to COMJIG stalwart and former PF&R chair Al Cross of the Institute for Rural Journalism & Community Issues for not only pitching this excellent panel idea, but for offering some IRJCI funds to help cover the travel expenses of our brave panelists.

Then at 3:30 p.m. Friday, we'll close out COMJIG's programming with the teaching panel, "Whose Learning Curve Is It? Strategies for Incorporating Digital Media Into Civic-Oriented Students Media and Courses," a teaching panel that will give all of us ideas for learning how those of us trained in "legacy media" can get up to speed -- and STAY up to speed -- on the whiz-bang techno-mojo needed in today's poly-media environment. This is another good partnership with Civic/Citizen.

Again, many thanks to all of the COMJIG members who submitted panel ideas. We can never find co-sponsors for all of them, but it's nice to have so many members who give us great ideas for programming.

Rural Journalism loses a friend and champion

Many COMJIG members are familiar or involved with the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky, which is directed by active COMJIG member Al Cross. Earlier this week, Al sent us some bad news: Rudy Abramson, a nationally known journalist who helped start the IRJCI, died Feb. 13 from injuries suffered in a fall at his home in Reston, Va. Rudy was 70.

Rudy's professional chops are solid: He was a Washington reporter for the L.A. Times for three decades, his biography of American statesman Averell Harriman was critically acclaimed, and along with Jean Haskell he edited the very useful Encyclopedia of Appalachia. Most recently, he was working on a biography of Eastern Kentucky lawyer and author Harry Caudill, and he was active in efforts to prevent an amusement park from being built next to a Civil War battelfield.

For the IRJCI, Rudy was an enthusiastic champion of community journalism, particularly those editors in small towns who showed bravery, integrity, and tenacity in holding accountable the powers that be. Those who had the pleasure to hear Rudy's detailed and enthralling tales of brave community journalists at IRJCI functions will no doubt miss Rudy's storytelling skills.

A full obituary is currently on the front page of the IRJCI Web site, but I wanted to include here an excerpt of that obit, a quote from IRJCI co-founder Al Smith:

“Although he was always a big city reporter, Rudy never forgot his rural roots in northern Alabama,” said Al Smith, the Lexington journalist who co-founded the Institute with Abramson. “He was passionately concerned about environmental and economic problems in Appalachia. While writing stories about the region, he concluded that one major improvement might be to help local news folks do a better job covering the serious issues. That’s how we came up with the ideas for the Institute, which we sold to President Lee Todd at UK.”

I urge COMJIG members to keep our friends Al Cross, Al Smith, and others at the IRJCI in our thoughts as they mourn the loss of their friend, who was a true champion of community journalism.

A memorial service for Rudy will be held at the Freedom Forum's Newseum in Washington, D.C., at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 26.

An exemplar of rural and community journalism changes, offering essential lessons in the craft

Examples of community journalism are easier to come by than a clear-cut definition of the term. For years, the Point Reyes Light in western Marin County, California, has been an exemplar. The weekly newspaper won a Pulitzer Prize for public service in 1979, for its coverage of the Synanon drug-rehabilitation group that turned into a religion, but well before that had established itself as an essential part of community life and function. That is less true today, and the change teaches lessons.

You may have read about the ownership and policy changes at the Light in “The Language of Strangers,” by Jonathan Rowe in the latest issue of Columbia Journalism Review. He makes good points about community journalism that are rarely seen in the pages of national journalism reviews. My graduate assistant, Tim Wiseman, and I did a little extra reporting on it, which you can read at www.RuralJournalism.org.