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VOLUME 17, NO. 3 NOVEMBER 2010 A publication of the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists

http://etspj.org

Social media: Where do ethics fit?

ETSPJ brings in speakers ETSPJ speaker ers to lead free training
Social media its a buzzword todays journalists hear daily. But when it comes to journalistic ethics, the Web is still the Wild West in many ways. How do reporters and editors make use of the dizzying array of social media tools and programs, and still retain the ethical standards that have long been a cornerstone of the profession? How much of what we do in print applies to these newer, faster platforms. Find out where some newsrooms are drawing the lines when ETSPJ sponsors a training program on social media and ethics at 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18, at the Knoxville News Sentinel. The free training is open to all and will include speakers and a question-answer session. Light refreshments will be served. Leading the training will be James Pilcher, business reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer, and Jack Greiner, fulltime attorney for the Cincinnati/Kentucky Enquirer and a partner at the Cincinnati firm Graydon Head. Theyll focus on how journalists can still apply traditional ethical standards to
When: 5 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 18 Where: Knox Room, first floor, Knoxville News Sentinel, 2332 News Sentinel Drive arking: Parking: Free in Sentinel lot Info: Info: Amanda Womac,

Amanda@HellbenderPress.org or 865-406-2964. social media platforms. There is a national conversation taking place about the ethics of social media and how journalists use these tools in their reporting, said Amanda Womac, ETSPJ president-elect. We want to help journalists and other individuals using social media develop these platforms while still keeping the SPJ Code of Ethics at the core of their reporting. James Pilcher is a business projects reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer and has been a practicing journalist for the past 20 years. He returned to journalism and the Enquirer in 2008 after a two-year stint in product development for a local telecommunications company. A long-time advocate for the use of technology in the newsroom, James has won numerous awards,

including the best business reporter in the state of Ohio in 2006 and several national awards for his coverage of the Brent Spence Bridge. He currently covers the economy, the aviation/airline industry and personal technology for the Enquirer, while also tackling large in-depth projects about business and the Cincinnati area. He is known as one of the nations premier aviation reporters. Jack Greiner practices in the areas of commercial litigation and First Amendment law. He has considerable practice experience in courts throughout the state, as well as federal courts. His work has included litigation of disputes over a variety of contracts, First Amendment issues, non-competition covenants and intellectual property disputes. He is especially proud of his work on public records cases. He has handled dozens of cases and helped establish a very favorable body of law requiring that records be available to the public. Jacks practice has also included libel and insurance defense litigation. Jack also has an extensive background in creditors rights and collection litigation.

Facebook and privacy: a primer

Ali James, Head Mom for knoxmoms.com, recently gave KNS Media Group employees a minisession on using Facebook privacy settings. She shares some tips. The problem with Facebook is trying to find balance! Facebook will only allow you to have one account to manage your business and personal lives. There are many aspects of our lives and groups of people we interact with and the easiest way to handle facebook is to keep them all separate. The first step to managing a Facebook account is to make friend lists - at least three, but no more than five. You can go about it several ways. I personally have three lists. Once you have your lists established, your Facebook experience will change forever. List 1 Family and Friends More specifically, family I like, and friends who are friends because I want them to be friends. These are people I want to talk to more than I do and use Facebook as a way to keep them up to date with my life. List 2 Limited These are people you work with and/or people you have for networking. You want them on your Facebook, but you dont want them to know everything youre doing on Facebook. You restrict their access to your photos, wall, etc. List 3 The Have-To-Adds This is where I put people I keep on Facebook for interactive games, people I dont want to be rude to by ignoring their friend requests, or my crazy aunt who insisted on posting random idiotic things on my wall. This will also be the group you will demote people to from other groups when they misbehave. This group is the answer for those people who find themselves unable to ignore requests or unfriend people. From the home page, click on Friends. This loads your friend page, and there will be a tab to the left of your requests that says Create A List. This will pull up a box with your entire friend list. The field in the top lefthand corner is where you type what you will call the list. It is easier to start with people you most want to restrict. When you have selected everyone you want in that list, click on Create List and start making your second and third lists. After you have your lists created, they will be listed below Friends when you click on it. If you click on a list, your news feed will show only those people on the list. Once you click on a list, a box will appear where Create A List used to be that now allows you to edit. If you click on this, it will pull up your entire friends list, and everyone in that list will be highlighted. Be careful to make sure people are only on one list, because Facebook will allow them in more than one. Now adjusting the privacy settings gets much easier. Click on Account on the upper righthand corner of the screen, then on Privacy Settings, then on Customize Settings at the bottom of the box on the privacy home page. This is where a lot of people get confused. There are two ways to work the customizing of each field. You have to click each Edit tab and click Customize, which will open a new box. You can list the people you want to see information, or the people you dont want to see each field. It looks like it wants you to list names, but this is where you need to put in your list titles, automatically including or excluding all the people in the lists. Do this for every field. When updating your status, you can adjust who can view it every time you post. There is a lock symbol with a drop menu that lets you control which list can see it. Applications and Websites Click on Edit Your Settings under Applications and Websites from the main Privacy page to access these fields. Game and Application Activity: Controls what apps can post to your wall. Info Accessible Through Your Friends: Your friends can use an app or game, and because youre friends, your information can be shared through them! Click on Edit Settings to restrict what can be obtained through them. Instant Personalization: There are some sites that will recognize you and make your presence known. You can shut that off here. Public Search: If someone searches for you in a public search engine, your Facebook profile can be brought up. You can see here what your Facebook summary will look like on a search engine, and enable it if you wish to. Blocking From the Privacy page, click on Edit Your Lists for blocking people and applications. Here you can block people, applications, application invites and events. This is also where you would need to go to unblock something if you decide you want to play again.

Party time! Come for food, fun and outrageous gifts

Whether youve been naughty or nice this year, you dont want to miss ETSPJs annual holiday party. Its set for Tuesday, Nov. 30, in the clubhouse of Cherokee Bluff Condos, 1837 Cherokee Bluff Drive in South Knoxville (off Alcoa Highway near University of Tennessee Medical Center). Well start the fun at 6:30 p.m., but come anytime. Well keep the party going until at least 9. The meal is potluck, so bring something to share. The chapter will provide a main (meat) dish. If youre particular about beverages, bring what you like. Well continue our tradition of playing Dirty Santa, so if you and watch the fun. Were also planning to have an area where people can sit and watch the DVD of the 2010 Front Page Follies show, which well play on a loop (in case you get distracted by socializing!). Please let party chairman Georgiana Vines know no later than Nov. 27 what dish you plan to bring, so that the committee can fill in if necessary. Georgiana will also needs to know the names all guests (so she can put you on the list and the gatekeeper will let you in). Contact Georgiana at 865-3350010 or vinesfox@hotmail.com. See you there, with (jingle) bells on!

want to play, bring a wrapped gift worth about $10 -- either a gag gift or a good one. Participants will get steal gifts from each other. If you dont want to play, though, you dont have to -- youre welcome to come just to eat, talk

Golden Press Card deadlines, fees set 2010 SDX Awards open
Its that time of year again time for local journalists and media organizations to pick out their very best work to enter in ETSPJs Golden Press Card Awards. Over the next couple of weeks, well be refining our contestspecific website, http:// goldenpresscard.wordpress.com/, to add information about this years contest. Like last year, well have a variety of categories for print, television, radio and new media. There will also be options for parttime or freelance writers to enter their work Also like last year, well accept awards both online and through the mail though were switching to a different form this year to accommodate those of you who wanted to submit your entries online last year but had trouble with the Acrobat format. This years contest will be judged by members of the Pittsburgh pro chapter of SPJ (in return, our chapter members will judge several categories for Pittsburghs Golden Quill awards, so please let us know if youre interested in helping out with judging). Deadline for Golden Press Card entries will be March 1. Fee per entry is $20, but current SPJ members can have one free entry. Winners will be announced at our awards banquet at 7 p.m. Friday, April 29, at the L&N Station. The event will include a buffet dinner and cash bar. For information about this years contest, call Kristi Nelson at 865342-6434, or send e-mail to nelsonk@knoxnews.com. Dating back to 1932, the Sigma Delta Chi Awards honor professional journalism excellence in all media: print, art/graphics, radio, television, online, newsletters and research. Continuing this year are categories for non-daily publications and specialty news websites, among others. And the streamlined online submission process will save SPJ members time and money. All work must have been published or broadcast in 2010. Winners will be honored at the Excellence in Journalism 2011 conference Sept. 25-28 in New Orleans. See all the categories, rules and information on the submission process at the SDX Awards page, www.spj.org/a-sdx.asp . Entry deadline is Feb. 9, 2011. For questions, contact Lauren Rochester, 317-927-8000, Ext. 210, or awards@spj.org.

Defending right to offend is part of the job

Every generation, I think, grows up hearing certain phrases over and over. Some are strictly humorous (I dont know nothin bout machinery), and others are more serious (My country, right or wrong). One of the latter that I have heard off and on is I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. This phrase was reportedly coined by author Evelyn Beatrice Hall to describe the attitude of the French Enlightenment-era author Voltaire toward a book that was controversial at the time. Variations on the quote appeared on signs at last months Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, but outside of that, I rarely hear the defend quotation used now. Maybe its happenstance. Or maybe its because in recent years we have been beset with political correctness and the fear of upsetting someone. There are lots of things Ill call them coarse that I dont particularly like hearing people say. I dont want to hear anyone libeled or slanFrom the dered, and I Presidents dont think Pen people should use demeaning terms to refer to people they just dont like, people of other races, other religions, other colors and so forth. In fact, I dont see why we cant all just get along. Why people cant live and let live (another phrase I grew up hearing) take care of their own business and let others take care of theirs. For journalists, though, its more clear-cut: Journalists mustnt be afraid of writing the truth even when the odds are that it will upset some people. We must write carefully and candidly. Write the facts, you know, no matter what the flack from whatever source, government or fellow citizens. Sometimes it takes courage; it takes standing up for what we believe. But our profession isnt worth much, and we are not worthy of it, if we arent willing to do that. As you probably know, free speech and free press are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights in our constitution, in the second phrase of the First Amendment. It was James Madison who wrote the Bill of Rights, who had opposed the adopting of a constitution without a declaration of rights. The First Amendment doesnt set out that no one must be offended by what is spoken or written. It guarantees that we can express ourselves freely. I hope as journalists we are willing to exercise our right and stand up for others as they exercise theirs. -- Elenora Edwards

Several East Tennessee journalists bring home Green Eyeshades

ETSPJ members were among winners in the 60th Annual Green Eyeshade Awards, a journalism contest that recognizes excellence in news media in 11 Southern states. Winners were announced in September. Sally Kestin, Peter Franceschina, and John Maines were awarded Best of Show for their three-part investigative series, Trust Betrayed. It chronicles a six-month investigation into Florida day-care centers and nursing homes that uncovered numerous workers with criminal records, including rape, child abuse and murder. The competition drew more than 500 entries from media outlets in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Started by the Atlanta Professional Chapter of SPJ, the Green Eyeshade Awards are now administered by regional directors. East Tennessee winners were: DAILY DIVISION PRINT Humorous Commentary, 1st Place: Columns by Sam Venable, News Sentinel, Knoxville Courts and the Law Reporting, 3rd Place: Warrant in Question, by Jamie Satterfield, News Sentinel Editorial Cartoon, 1st Place: Portfolio by Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press Specialized Reporting, 1st Place: Fly Ash Spill, by Scott Barker, News Sentinel ONLINE DIVISION Best Multimedia, 1st Place: Wasted: People, Money, Lives, by Mark Boxley, The Daily Times, Maryville Best Multimedia, 3rd Place: Death on Chipman Street, by Erin Chapin, Jigsha Desai, Talid Magdy and Lauren Spuhler, News Sentinel, Knoxville

Media panelists detail night of Kiffins resignation, discuss access

Principal players at the news conference at which 2009-10 UT Football Coach Lane Kiffin announced his resignation reflected on the events at an Oct. 26 ETSPJ program. Anger among UT personnel and news media representatives had dwindled to the philosophical in the months since that Jan. 12 event, though there were indications of discomfort with Kiffin himself. Bud Ford, associate athletic director/communications, said he made mistakes that night, mistakes that to that day his wife had not let him forget. He said he should not have insisted on following Kiffins request that no live coverage be allowed. Ford said he had not developed a relationship with Kiffin the way he had with other coaches, and that if he had, he would have handled the situation differently. Ford said he was leaving church when he was called and told the news conference would begin in 15 minutes. When Ford was explaining what the ground rules were for the conference, WBIR-TV News Director Bill Shory

COMING UP
Nov. 30: ETSPJ Holiday Party, 7 p.m., Cherokee Bluff Clubhouse. Potluck and gag gift exchange.

TE-T sports editor Wogan, center makes er, WATE-T V spor ts editor Jim Wogan, center, makes a point as olquest.coms left, For listen. ord Volquest.coms Brent Hubbs, left, and UTs Bud Ford listen.

objected, and others reacted angrily, wanting fair coverage for each news organization. Because of Shorys stance for total access, he was selected for a national SPJ Ethics in Journalism Award, which he received Oct. 5 in Las Vegas. He was nominated by News Sentinel Editor Jack McElroy. Shory was unable to attend the ETSPJ panel because of predicted severe weather. Jim Wogan, sports editor for WATE-TV, took a seat on the panel, since he was present on Jan. 12. He said his concern was that other news outlets not cover the news conference live because he was not prepared to do so, having been told earlier that it would not be allowed. Brent Hubbs of Volquest.com, who said he was playing Chutes and Ladders with his children when he learned

about the conference, said he was not so much concerned with the conference itself as with what peoples reactions would be. Phil Kaplan, News Sentinel sports editor, said the paper learned of the resignation from ESPN. Staff searched the archives for photos to go with a variety of stories. John Adams, who was vacationing in Florida, was asked to write a column. Kiffins announcement meant remaking the paper, since everything else in it didnt matter, Kaplan said. Jimmy Stanton, associate athletic director/ communications, who was new on the job at the time, also served on the panel. WATE-TV investigative reporter Don Dare moderated the panel, held at the University of Tennessee. -- Elenora Edwards

March 25-26: Region 12 Conference, Nashville Feb. 28: Deadline for Golden Press Card entries April 1: Journalism Law School April 29: Golden Press Card Awards banquet, L&N Station Find us on Facebook: East Tennessee Society of Professional Journalists

2406 Belt Road Knoxville, TN 37920

ETSPJ BOARD
President: Elenora E. Edwards President-Elect: Amanda Womac Secretary: Megan Venable Smith Treasurer: Dorothy Bowles Board members: Patrick Beeson Mark Boxley Kristi Nelson Bumpus Don Dare Erin Donovan Matt Shafer Powell Georgiana Vines Contact us:
elenora1971@gmail.com nelsonk@knoxnews.com
LaVone, ETSPJ scholarships for 201 Dorothy Michelle LaVone, recipient of an ETSPJ scholarships for 2010, talks with Dorothy Bowles, represented chapter ScholarBowles, who represented the chapter at the College of Communication Scholarfocusing ship Donor Appreciation Dinner on Oct. 22. Michelle is a junior focusing on broadcast received science journalism. Meredith Machen, a broadcast major who also received an ETSPJ scholarship year was ear, to attend ev ETSPJ scholarship this year, was unable to attend the event.

Journalists law school on docket for 2011

Dont be an April Fool! Mark your calendars now for ETSPJs version of a law school for journalists. Were calling our all-day training Justice, Media and the Peoples Right to Know: Inherent Tensions and Practical Implications in a Free Society. Its set for 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, April 1, 2011, at the Howard Baker Center for Public Policy on the UT campus in Knoxville. The program is free, and lunch is included. Look for more details in the December Spot News and on our website.