Some senior SPJers have said, both to me and to others, that this blog is "negative nitpicking." And they're right.I'm not smart enough to get metaphysical about SPJ, and I haven't been on the board long enough to get historical. What I rant about is what I see — and what I believe the average, active member would get irked about.
So if I point out at a convention session that's poorly edited, or an SPJ award that's poorly marketed, I believe more regular SPJers will care about that than another press release touting a shield law.
And of course I support a shield law, and I know it's damn important. But I'd gladly sacrifice just one of the Executive Committee's frequent lobbying trips and one round of our numerous email statements if it meant more money and time to get our internal shit together. Because I believe the little stuff adds up. Here's some more...
• This morning's USA Today mentions the SPJ Code of Ethics. Go here and look three grafs from the bottom. SPJ's own homepage needs to prominently link to this, as well as other media attention we've received lately. For instance, SPJ president Dave Aeikens told the board last week that he's being interviewed tonight on a nationally syndicated radio. I volunteered to look for a link to the audio or contact the producer so we can get a clip. This isn't (just) about tooting our own horn. It goes directly to recruitment and retention. People want to belong to an organization that others regularly quote as an authority.
• Speaking of recruitment: A newer SPJer told me that if we want to recruit more members in these dire economic times, we need to appeal to greed. He wanted to know more about the "discounted services" that come with membership, like cheaper auto insurance from Geico and rental cars from Hertz. "But it's not easy to find on the SPJ website," he said. And indeed, it requires clicking membership first, then discounted services. And even then, there are scant details about how much the discounts are for. "Like a good reporter, give me the facts," he suggested. "Give me numbers."
• This week, I'm visiting Northwest Missouri State University, about an hour north of Kansas City. The student media director flew me in for the newspaper staff's annual retreat. At one point, I held aloft the SPJ Code of Ethics and asked if anyone had seen it before — noncommittal guttural sounds from the diners. I asked if anyone had actually read it — silence. Then I did my usual shtick (which I wrote about here) and passed around printouts of the code in Arabic, Chinese, and Hungarian. For whatever reason, that never fails to impress. But I wish SPJ would redesign those translations. Right now, many are just a jumble of characters on a plain sheet of paper. Let's acknowledge the value of those translations aren't just for speakers of those languages.
Some other random stuff...
• Last week, the SPJ board of directors launched its own social networking group. I first posed the idea of a listserve back in June and never heard a pro-or-con peep from anyone. But starting a Ning group might be a much better plan. As President Dave Aeikens wrote to the board, "This is not a substitute for a board meeting. We will never take any action. This is merely a communications enhancement." And a damn fine effort, I think. It's invite-only, but I'm pretty sure it foreshadows the death of SPJackass after next week's convention — if other active SPJers are invited, too.
• Oh, and the change from SPJihad to this has spurred some emails accusing me of simply changing the nature of my offensiveness. But the jackass here isn't SPJ — it's supposed to be me. I was shooting for self-deprecating humor. I must've missed the mark (again). Guess I'm a better journalist than a comedian, which may not be saying a lot.
• If you're heading to Indy next week and you have a half-hour of downtime, you can volunteer for a groovy event — and SPJers will be hanging on your every word. It's called the Freelancing Fare. Freelance Committee vice chair Stephenie Overman is looking for "one-on-one mentors" who can chat with individuals for 30 minutes on " how to pitch ideas, discover new markets and launch a successful freelancing career." Sessions run Friday and Saturday from 10 am to 3 pm. Email her. I already did. Unsung efforts such as these are some of the best-loved convention programs. And I usually learn as much I teach. You should try it.
THURSDAY: Conventional wisdom.
