2012 Summer Conference: APSE Executive Committee Opening Meeting minutes

 

 

Officers: 1st Vice President Gerry Ahern, 2nd Vice President Tim Stephens, 3rd Vice President Ben Brigandi.

Region representatives: Northeast — Joe Sullivan, Southeast — John Bednarowski, Great Plains — Jeff Rosen, West –Mark Faller; Midwest — Jeff Kuehn; Northwest — Don Shelton. Atlantic — Absent. Mid-Atlantic: Josh Barnett. Southwest: Absent 

Past presidents: Phil Kaplan, Jerry Micco, Lynn Hoppes

 

Executive director Jack Berninger reports overall revenue for fiscal year ending May 31 was up $886 dollars. APSE used $12,000 from rainy day fund and was $1,200 over budget on miscellaneous expenses. Not included in the report are $15,000 in sponsorsphips and $9,000 more in conference registration fees. Convention has 93 paid attendees, up from 81 last year. About 60 representatives of AWSM also registered.

Next year the conference is Detroit on June 26-29, APSE rate at Marriott Renaissance will be $139. Winter meetings are not scheduled. A conflict with location in Indianapolis means we're actively searching for new location. Orlando remains under consideration. We will look to return to Indianapolis in 2014. It will be a Winter Olympics year, meaning judging will move to March where threat of bad weather should be lower. We need to resolve 2013 soon.

Membership totals: 505 total, primary is down to 302 from 319. We have 16 student members, up from 3 a year ago.

 

Jeff Rosen reports we had a good commissioners meeting in April. We added new sessions, including the NCAA's Mark Emmert and NASCAR's Brian France. About two dozen people attended. Takeways were positive. The NHL suggested they would like more of a give-and-take and to be able to ask us questions. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was a last-minute cancellation. USOC expressed interest in attending in future.

 

Gerry Ahern repors record participation in 2012 contest dGerry – record participation starting with the online contest that continues to evolve. Some remaining issues in terms of protocol, library printouts for example. One issue to consider is newspapers going to metered online subscriptions and how that changes their unique visits for contest classification. Also issue raised over potential membership issues for newspapers that will now only be publishing three days per week. We'll look at judging schedule for beat reporting. It is a great improvement to the contest but  a logistical challenge for judges. 

 

Michael Anastasi reports positive impressions of our first joint conference with AWSM and that he is eager to hear feedback. The content matter and interests dovetails between the two organizations and it has helped alleviate concerns of losing money on the convention and brought more energy and participation to the conference. Next year AWSM will hold its own convention for its 25th anniversary but there is interest in resuming partnership. APSE had 93 registrants and AWSM approximately 60, making this the most attendees since St. Louis in 2007. ACES is interested in partnering in 2013, which will be APSE's 40th convention.

 

Michael Anastasi reports the first year was a huge success for the Diversity Fellowship Program. Four participants had a great experience. He is looking forward to spending more time in fundraising and thanks Sporting News' Garry Howard and Digital First Media for their contributions. The Day of Diversity at Hampton University remains a strong program and SJI now has its new home at the University of Missouri. SJI's Class of 2012 was an excellent group. Newspapers can seek a free SJI intern. See Phil Kaplan for details.

 

Joe Sullivan reports that there are two vacancies on the Futures Committee and appeals for more members. Two topics being discussed are membership drives and college membership, but no consensus has been reached.

 

Joe Sullivan reports that he needs two volunteers to help in judging the scholarship applications. All entries are in.

 

Teri Hayt of APME reports credentials remain an issue and it is very important that organizations such as APSE consistently push back on them. Anastasi thanked Legal Affairs chairman John Cherwa for much behind-the-scenes work on behalf of the organization.

 

Gerry Micco reports that he's working on a date for the USOC credentialling conference and solicits members for the committee. He said he is trying to diversify the committee. He said he is looking forward to working with the USOC, and USOC equally eager to work with APSE.

 

Phil Kaplan reports student membership is up. The new Student Outreach Inititative is a good idea. It's still a battle for members, however, because of changes in the industry. Social media has really helped us. We have a strong brand on Twitter at @apse_sportmedia with more than 6,700 followers, and the Facebook account is a  good way for members to communicate and see the latest APSE-related news.

 

Michael Anastasi reports that Toby Carrig has resigned from his chairman position. Gerry Ahern will appoint replacement

 

Anastasi reports that the expanding voting and efforts for more transparency in nominations was deemed successful and many longtime members expressed happiness that they had a voice in the process. Bob Yates of the Dallas Morning News did a terrific job organizing the process.

 

Josh Barnett reports we had a very strong year in terms of quality and topics discussed at region meetings, with good attendance. The Southwest Region meeting will be July 27-28 in San Antonio. The West is planning a meeting hosted by Yahoo! in Santa Monica, Calif, date TBD. The Atlantic Coast will have a meeting in Charlotte, date TBD. The Great Plains needs a region chair and region vice chair. The Southeast needs a vice chair after Tommy Deas' election to 3rd Vice President. The Northeast made a change in November. Gerry Ahern would make one-year appointments and keep the elections on schedule.

 

Tim Stephens thanks Josh Barnett for the good region and On the Move reports and region chairs and vice chairs for stories from all the region meetings. We were able to add layers of video and social media to the website. The Student Outreach Initiative could be a good way to increase quantity of content on the site.

 

Ben Brigandi reports that sports editors on the whole remain optimistic and that newshole and staffing cuts remain relatively unchanged from the previous year. Details of the survey will be posted on the APSE website.

 

Anastasi reports that we have discussed reinstating this in part because the baseball and NBA writers organizations conducted negotiations with their leagues without APSE knowledge. It would be helpful to know what the other organizations are doing and coordinate efforts.

 

Kent Babb of the Kansas City Star and Dan Weiderer of the Minneapolis Star Tribune introduced a proposal to allow writer memberships to APSE. They said writers often may feel intimidated to participate but that they could offer a lot to the organization and benefit from it, as well as help increase overall membership in the organization. 

 

Greg Brownell says Times Picayune and the Alabama papers that are moving to 3-days-per-week publication may not be eligible for membership, according to bylaws. This will merit further discussion.

 

Motion to adjourn by Joe Sullivan; 2^nd by Jeff Rosen. Meeting adjourned.

 

Michael Anastasi, Salt Lake Tribune, President

Gerry Ahern, USA Today Sports Media Group, 1st Vice President

Tim Stephens, Orlando Sentinel/South Florida Sun Sentinel, 2nd Vice President

Ben Brigandi, Williamsport Sun-Gazette, 3rd Vice President

Joe Sullivan, Boston Globe

Josh Barnett, Philadelphia Daily news

Gene Warrick, L.A. Daily News

Don Shelton, Seattle Times

Mike James, Los Angeles Times

Greg Brownell, Post-Star

John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal

Gene Myers, Detroit Free Press

Jeff Kuehn, Oakland Press

Phil Kaplan, Knoxville News Sentinel

Mark Faller, Arizona Republic

Robert Gagliardi, Wyoming Tribune Eagle

Tommy Deas, Tuscaloosa News

Mary Byrne, USA Today Sports Media Group

Jerry Micco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Jeff Rosen, Kansas City Star

John Afflect, The Associated Press

Terry Hayt, Arizona Daily Star

Jack Berninger, APSE Executive Director