ISWNE/Huck Boyd Competition Call for Proposals

The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors (ISWNE) is looking for paper proposals for its ISWNE/Huck Boyd Competition. Proposals should provide insight and guidance on issues and/or everyday problems within community newspapers, particularly at publications with less than 10,000 circulation. 

Here's a link to more information, including a PDF download of the competition submission requirements. Deadline to submit is Nov. 2. The ISWNE conference is July 20-24, 2022 in Lexington, Kentucky. 

Deadline Extended: ISWNE/Huck Boyd "Strengthening Community News" Research Competition

The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors (ISWNE) and the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media at Kansas State University are seeking proposals for papers that provide insight and guidance on general issues and/or everyday problems that confront community newspapers and their newsrooms, with particular reference to weekly general-interest publications with circulations under 10,000.

The deadline for proposals has been extended to October 19, 2020. Initial proposals should not exceed two pages. One paper from the competition will be selected for presentation at the 2021 International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors conference in Reno, Nevada. 

The full call for proposals can be found here. 

ISWNE, Huck Boyd Center issue call for applied research on community journalism

The International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors (ISWNE) and the Huck Boyd National Center for Community Media at Kansas State University are accepting proposals for papers that will provide guidance on general issues and/or everyday problems confronting community newspapers and their newsrooms.

This paper competition is an extension of the Huck Boyd Center’s former “Newspapers and Community-Building” Symposium, co-sponsored by the National Newspaper Association (NNA) and its foundation and presented for 20 years at NNA conventions. It is an effort to promote “conversations in community journalism” between academicians and journalists working for community newspapers.

Proposals will be peer-reviewed by faculty with expertise in community journalism. A panel of working and retired community journalists also will review proposals, focusing on their potential value to newsrooms.

Completed papers will undergo a final peer review prior to publication in an issue of ISWNE’s quarterly journal, Grassroots Editor. One paper will also be selected for presentation at the 2018 ISWNE conference in Portland, Oregon. The ISWNE Foundation will provide financial assistance to the author chosen to present.

The deadline for proposals is Jan. 2, 2017. Read the full call for papers after the jump.

St. Louis American takes a strong stand on Ferguson

When The Washington Post wanted local perspective on the publication of leaked reports from the autopsy of Michael Brown, the 18-year-old shot and killed by a police officer in Ferguson, Mo., they turned to community newspaper editor Chris King.

King is managing editor of The St. Louis American, the largest weekly newspaper in Missouri and one of the best African-American newspapers in the U.S. Over the last two weeks, he has been an outspoken critic of the Post and The New York Times, both of which published the autopsy leaks in late October. The leaks seem to suggest that Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot and killed Brown in August, will not face criminal charges. The protests and riots touched off by Brown’s shooting have received international media attention.

King told the Los Angeles Times a law enforcement source had offered him the autopsy reports, but he decided not to run them. In the Post article, King was quoted as saying he suspected the publication of the leaks could touch off more violence on the streets of Ferguson, an idea that was echoed in an American editorial the same week. That editorial read, in part:

The Times and Post ran with this anonymous third-party hearsay regarding a high-stakes case that has our entire region on edge. Tensions are so high that preparations for riots, if Wilson walks free, are discussed in sober terms in local and national media and on street corners. The editors of these powerful publications have shown a lapse in judgment and ethics that is not only shameful, but actually dangerous.

This week the American covered  protesters upset with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s publication of the leaked autopsy details.

Aggressive reporting and public commentary on matters such as the leaked autopsy reports are nothing new for the American. The newspaper has provided pointed, comprehensive coverage of the social unrest in Ferguson, Mo., since Brown’s shooting.

Call for papers: International perspectives on community journalism

INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON COMMUNITY JOURNALISM
Special, joint issue call for papers: Community Journalism and Grassroots Editor

Submission deadline: September 2, 2014 (extended abstracts);
December 15, 2014 (full manuscript); March 2015 (publication)
Guest editor: John Hatcher of the University of Minnesota Duluth
Overview: This special, joint issue, titled “International Perspectives on Community Journalism,” will attempt to unite top scholars in the field of community journalism in an exploration of this growing and exciting area of research. This issue also will solicit articles from leading community journalists from across the globe who will offer their own analyses of the state of community journalism.

·      Grassroots Editor, the journal of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, was first published in January of 1960.

·      Community Journalism, first published in 2012, is the online, peer-reviewed journal based at Texas Christian University that is the official journal of the Community Journalism Interest Group (Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication).

Peer-reviewed articles: This special issue will explore the nature of community journalism on a global scale. We seek mostly empirical work, though we welcome methodologies of all types (including well-reasoned theoretical pieces). We invite manuscripts that discuss community journalism at both the country level and in comparative, multi-country analyses.

Essays from the field: Community journalists who are members of the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors are encouraged to submit pieces that offer a perspective on community journalism in their country. Ideally, these pieces will include some original reporting and look beyond the case of one newspaper or news organization.

For both peer-reviewed articles and essays from professionals, articles that broach the following kinds of topics are encouraged:

·      Does the concept of community journalism have the same meaning regardless of the cultural setting?

·      What role does community journalism play in providing a voice to communities historically overlooked by larger publications?

·      Does print journalism remain a vital medium in some countries and for some communities? Why/why not?

·      What is the historical context that defines community journalism in a given country?

Submission instructions/deadlines: Peer-reviewed articles should be no more than 8,000 words in length, excluding references etc. Please submit an extended abstract (750 words or less) and 2-3 suggested reviewers no later than September 2, 2014, to jhatcher@d.umn.edu. Abstracts should outline the proposed research and give a sense of the theoretical approach, method and timeline for completion. Full manuscripts are due December 15, 2014 (also to jhatcher@d.umn.edu), when they will be peer-reviewed and considered for acceptance by members of the editorial board of Community Journalism. The scheduled date of publication is March 2015. The journal will be available online and will be printed thanks to the support of ISWNE. Please contact John Hatcher at jhatcher@d.umn.edu with questions. Manuscripts should conform to the guidelines for Community Journalism (http://journal.community-journalism.net/content/call-papers).

ISWNE, COMJIG partner to host screening of "The Sun Never Sets"

To celebrate the end of our programming at this year's AEJMC convention, we will host the screening of a new documentary that tells the story of a feisty, independent newspaper in Española, New Mexico.
The movie will start at 8 p.m. immediately following the COMJIG business meeting, which starts at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 10.
We invite you to bring a guest and beverages and snacks of your choosing. The complete COMJIG schedule can be found here. Earlier in the day, the film will also be screened at the Newseum.
Below is the trailer of the film, followed by a press release that gives an overview of the project.
The event is being co-hosted by the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors. In the audience will be the director of the documentary, Ben Daitz; the paper's publisher and founder, Robert E. Trapp; and the paper's managing editor Bob B. Trapp.

The SUN Never Sets, a documentary film
about a small-town newspaper

Written, produced, and directed by Ben Daitz
Narrated by Bob Edwards

Smithsonian Magazine once asked the rhetorical question, “Can a weekly paper in rural New Mexico raise enough hell to keep its readers hungry for more, week after week?”

The Rio Grande Sun, published in Española, New Mexico, is considered one of the best weekly newspapers in the country. Bob Trapp, the Sun's founder, editor, and publisher, is the quintessential newspaperman—the last of a vanishing breed—a scrupulously honest, fearless, independent journalist, and a mentor to generations of young reporters.

The Sun is known for investigative reporting. The paper broke the story that its own rural community had the highest per capita heroin overdose rate in the country. It has led the fight for open records and open meetings in a county where political shenanigans are the rule.

The film follows the Sun’s
reporters and editors as they write about the
 news, the sports, the arts, and the cultures of a 
large, rural county.  John Burnett, National Public Radio correspondent, reports on the Sun's Police Blotter—“the 
best in the country.” The Sun's
 journalists investigate the largest 
embezzlement in the state's history, and the
 widespread use of tranquilizers in the county jail. The film tags along with the sports reporter, the obit writer, and the “arts guy.”

Tony Hillerman, the celebrated author and newspaper editor, speaks eloquently in the film about the role of community newspapers, as does Jock Lauterer, who teaches journalism at the University of North Carolina, directs the Carolina Media Project, and is the author of a textbook on small-town papers. In the age of digital media and the 24- hour news cycle, this is the story of a small town paper that causes traffic jams when it's sold on the street. It's a story about community journalism on the “blue highways.”

“The Sun Never Sets” is narrated by Bob Edwards, National Radio Hall of Fame and Peabody award-winning news anchor and radio host. It is an official selection of the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, the Ojai Film Festival, and the Albuquerque Film & media Festival.  The film will be screened on August 10, 2013 at the Newseum in Washington, DC.

Edited by Dale Kruzic
Original music by Ben Daitz, Jimmy Abraham, and Sid Fendley  

Ben Daitz is a physician, writer, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. His work has been shown and honored by PBS, American Public Television, multiple film festivals, and Emmy nominations. Ben is a contributing writer for the New York Times. His novel, Delivery, is published by the University of New Mexico Press.

“The Sun Never Sets”, 55 minutes, is distributed by New Deal Films, Inc., www.newdealfilms.com
There’s a trailer on facebook: facebook.com/riosunmovie
and on Vimeo: https://www.vimeo.com/51021301