APSE Executive Committee Closing Meeting
The 45th Annual APSE Summer Conference
10 a.m. Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University
Meeting called to order at 10:05 a.m.
Incoming president John Bednarowski introduces himself and:
First vice president Todd Adams
Second vice president Lisa Wilson
Third vice president Dan Spears
Executive Director Bill Eichenberger
Conference Coordinator Glen Crevier
Past presidents present:
Bill Eichenberger, now Bleacher Report then Newsday (2003)
Jerry Micco, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (2004)
Glen Crevier, The Star Tribune of Minneapolis (2005)
Phil Kaplan, The News Sentinel of Knoxville (2010)
Mike Sherman, then Oklahoman, now Tampa Bay Times (2015)
Tommy Deas, The Tuscaloosa News (2017)
John recognizes former president Jeff Rosen of the Kansas City Star and outgoing third vice president Robert Gagliardi.
Region representatives:
Atlantic Coast
Bret McCormick
Great Lakes
Emily Horos
Great Plains
Matt Stephens
Mid-Atlantic
Jane Havsy
Northeast
Justin Pelletier
Northwest
Paul Barrett
Southeast
Joe Schiefelbein
Southwest
Nick Talbot
West
Chris Boan
Representing the Associated Press: Berry Bedlan
Finances and budget update (Bill Eichenberger)
Waiting for final numbers from hotel before presenting new 2018-19 budget for a vote
John thanks sponsors:
MLS
National Football Foundation
Play Ball, Major League Baseball
USA Today Sports
The Associated Press
USA Today Network Tennessee
ESPN
The Nashville Predators
NASCAR
Football Bowl Association
NHL
Tennessee AP Broadcasters and Media Editors
Middle Tennessee State University School of Journalism
Diversity Fellows recognized – will graduate this week:
Erik Bacharach
Adam Coleman
Reina Kempt
Kwani Lunis
Conference update (Glen Crevier)
Glen talks about the conference going well in Nashville.
2019 Winter Conference and judging: Orlando.
Dates are Feb. 23-26, 2019, at the Doubletree Suites by Hilton/Walt Disney Resort.
Update on 2019 Summer Conference: Atlanta.
Dates are June 16-19, 2019, at the Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center.
Rates to come. Recommendations: Don’t bring a car, parking is expensive. Hotel is easy to get to via public transportation. Reception at College Football Hall of Fame and an outing to an MLS game is planned.
Other committee reports:
Commissioners (Gary Potosky)
No updates.
Contest (Justin Pelletier, John Bednarowski)
After many emails and conversations. Here are the proposed changes for the contest.
— New circulation categories
— Eliminating redactions
— Consolidation of video categories to one, with two entries per news organization
— A reduction from five to four columns per entry
— An addition of a digital component to the beat writing category, eliminating one wild card
— Adding a potential photo contest
Bill Speros will take the lead on a group to re-invent the contest instead of just tweaking it. The group will solicit ideas from membership with the idea of having a new contest in place within two years.
ALSO:
–Proposed photo contest would be judged best by photographers. Kelly Huff from Marietta offered to take the lead. Barry offered the AP photographers if needed.
–Concern raised about consolidating video into one category; can shorter videos be judged fairly against longer ones? Tommy notes we just don’t get enough entries for two categories.
–Idea raised about judging sections on PDFs and saving on postage.
Diversity (Larry Graham and Dana Sulonen) – Change in chair to Larry and Dana. Angel Rodriguez thanked for his efforts.
Futures (Michael Peters) – not able to make it this week, but update would include that we’ve spent the past year focusing on grant possibilities. We’ve so far struck out in applying for a couple, but the process of pursuing them has been very instructive and we’re encouraged about the potential here the rest of this year and in 2019.
Legal affairs and ethics (Gerry Ahern and John Cherwa) – Jeff gave update on meeting with Gary Abbott of USA wrestling. The standoff continues: APSE is not recommending members undergo video training or submit to background checks; USA wrestling won’t issue credentials without it. There were some bullet points shared with Gary and the hope is there might be some flexibility and middle ground. For example, APSE is not willing to give social security numbers, but would consider conducting interviews with a press officer present. The bullet points were to be sent to the USA wrestling board within a week as wrestling season is coming to an end. APSE will continue to deal with this issue in the offseason.
Concerns were raised about the dangerous precedent this sets for other Olympic sports.
It was noted that the NFL asked for social security numbers for Super Bowl credentials. It was suggested APSE deal with that as an organization; now is a good time. A driver’s license should be fine for a background check.
Olympics (Mark Faller) – Change in chair. Mark welcomes all input from members.
Outreach (Chris Fickett) – Two Ohio U students will write stories for APSE website on their experience at the convention to try to encourage other students to attend.
Jeff volunteered to look into refining the process for student chapter membership, bringing it up to date to make it more simple while lowering the required number of students.
Red Smith Award (Jack Berninger) – Nothing new.
Regions (Dana Sulonen passing the torch to Robert Gagliardi) – New chair, nothing else to report.
Revenue (Tommy Deas) – No updates.
Scholarship (Phil Kaplan) – No updates.
Student Liaison (Tim Stephens) – No update.
Website (Chris White) – Erik Hall applauded for On the Move. No other updates.
Writers (Joey Chandler) – Ideas to increase membership include a writers symposium and slack channel for writers to bounce ideas off each other.
Old business:
Nothing.
New business:
John said after Monday’s Women of Sports Journalism general session, a number of people approached him about continuing the discussion of diversity training each year at the summer convention. Diana C. Nearhos has agreed to work on programming.
Tommy brought up a topic for discussion through the winter: changing the membership bylaws to allow writers from websites operated by sports organizations to join APSE if they meet generally accepted journalism practices. He understands the reasons for rule and conflicts but notes when the Chicago Tribune owned the Cubs they were admitted and there is no conflict with the Red Sox owner also owning the Boston Globe. Some members expressed concern that these writers work for organizations we cover and they are under the teams’ control. There was also concern about these writers entering the contest because of the level of access they receive. One idea raised was to grant these writers associate membership.
Any other other new business?
Proposal that the Bernie Award needs a set way that it is going to be chosen going forward. The executive committee will come up with rules.
Move to adjourn.
Joe Schiefelbein moved
Phil Kaplan second.
Attendees:
John Bednarowski, Marietta Daily Journal
Todd Adams, Springfield State Journal-Register
Lisa Wilson, ESPN’s The Undefeated
Dan Spears, Wilmington Star News
Bill Eichenberger, Bleacher Report
Glen Crevier, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Jeff Rosen, Kansas City Star
Chris Fickett, Kansas City Star
Zach Creglow, Des Moines Register
Chris Thomas, Detroit Free Press
Joe Schiefelbein, The Advocate
Robert Gagliardi, WyoSports
Phil Kaplan, Knoxville News Sentinel
Nick Talbot, San Antonio Express-News
Oskar Garcia, The Associated Press
Emily Horos, American News
Tommy Deas, Tuscaloosa News
Chet Fussman, Florida Times-Union
Matt Pepin, Boston Globe
Dana Sulonen, Detroit Free Press
Justin Pelletier, Boston Herald
Hugh Kellenberger, Jackson Clarion Ledger
Barry Bedlan, The Associated Press
Oscar Dixon, The Associated Press
Dave Ammenheuser, The Tennessean
Nalia-Jean Meyers, The New York Times
Christopher Boan, Tucson Local Media
Tony Maluso, Dalton Daily Citizen News
Mike Sherman, Tampa Bay Times
Diana C. Nearhos, Knoxville News Sentinel
Paul Barrett, Seattle Times
Gary Potosky, Philadelphia Inquirer
Maria McIlwain, The Bryan-College Station Eagle
Joey Chandler, Tuscaloosa News
Alex Mena, Miami Herald
Jerry Micco, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Donn Walden, The Blade (Toledo)
Bill Speros, USA Today/Golfweek
Hank Winnicki, Newsday
Larry Graham, The Blade (Toledo)
Matt Solinsky, The Desert Sun
Joe Baird, Salt Lake Tribune
Malcolm Moran, IUPUI
Bret McCormick, The Herald (Rock Hill, S.C.)
Ethan Joyce, Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal
Matt Vita, Washington Post
Josh Bean, AL.com
John Talty, AL.com
