Members present (15): Pam Lannom (president), Jim Slonoff (treasurer), Roger Ruthhart, Joe Corrado (2nd VP), Rick Nagel, Owen Phelps, John Etheredge, Lois Self (executive secretary), Jim Killam (communications coordinator), Colin O'Donnell, Greg Rivara, Tom Martin (1st VP), Lonny Cain, Jan Larsen (past president), Rich Rostron.
Guest / board nominee present: Jay Dickerson.
Members absent (4): Jeannine Otto, Richard Parmater, Wally Haas, Randy Swikle.
Lannom called the meeting to order at 10:10 a.m.
Minutes of the Oct. 23 meeting were approved (O'Donnell motion / Rostron second)
Treasurer's report: Slonoff reported a checking account balance of $2,626.65 as of Nov. 30. Savings account balance is $5.94.
Executive secretary's report: Self thanked board members for support with this year's contest. No final results are available yet.
Outgoing president's report: Lannom proposed two new board members, to replace the resigned Ray Karges and Rich Parmater. The proposed new members are Jay Dickerson, news editor of the Galena Gazette; and pete Nenni, Lake County editor of the Daily Herald. The board accepted Dickerson (Larsen motion / Corrado second) and Nenni (Martin motion / Etheredge second) as new members.
Two board openings remain. They will be discussed at the board's January meeting.
Lannom proposed that Greg Rivara be added to the 2004 executive committee as the at-large member. The board approved (Slonoff motion / O'Donnell second).
Lannom thanked the board for its support this year. The board, by acclamation, passed a resolution commending Lannom for her successful term as president (Self motion / Phelps second)
Incoming president's report: Martin proposed the following board meeting dates for 2004: Friday, Jan. 23; Friday, April 2; Thursday, Oct. 21 (board dinner); and Friday, Dec. 3. All meetings except Oct. 21 will be held at the Northern Star. Committees meet at 9 a.m., executive committee at 9:45 and full board at 10. The board approved (Larsen motion, Lannom second).
Ruthhart suggested that committee chairs e-mail members an agenda a day or two before meetings.
Martin proposed the following committee assignments for 2004:
Program: Corrado (chair), Cain, Otto, Nagel, Rostron, Nenni.
Education: O'Donnell (chair), Etheredge, Haas, Rivara, Swikle, Dickerson.
Membership: Lannom (chair), Larsen, Phelps, Ruthhart, Slonoff.
Resource: Killam.
The board approved these assignments (Etheredge motion / O'Donnell second)
Program Committee report: Corrado said Mike Behrens of the Chicago
Tribune has agreed to do a "Precision Reporting Techniques" workshop
for NINA's spring conference, which will be held either April 16 or April
23, possibly at Oak Trust Credit Union in Oakbrook Terrace. Other ideas
suggested for future conferences include interviewing techniques, opinion
pages, journalistic credibility and reader service in the newsroom.
Killam added that there will be a possibility of offering a design workshop
Feb. 27 at NIU. More details should be available at the board's January
meeting.
Education committee report: O'Donnell said the committee will contribute to another "New Ideas" conference for high school teachers being held at NIU in February. Also, a workshop for high school newspaper advisers is planned for September, possibly at the Daily Herald. And, another grammar workshop is a strong possibility for this summer.
High school scholarship information will be mailed to teachers and guidance counselors in early January. A total of $1,200 is available this year, with potential matching amounts from the winning students' local newspapers.
Membership committee report: Lannom asked each board member to come back to the January meeting having identified a "buddy" newspaper - one that is not currently a member but that could benefit from membership. Board members will be responsible for contacting these newspapers to alert them of conferences, workshops and contests. NINA will offer newspapers a one-year free trial membership.
Discussion ensued about whether NINA's programming should expand beyond the newsroom. The matter will be discussed again in 2004.
Communication coordinator's report: Killam plans to publish the winter newsletter in late December or early January. Content will include announcement of the high-school scholarships, columns from the incoming and outgoing president and mention of the Illinois College Press Association job fair and convention, which is Feb. 20-21 at the Holiday Inn City Center in Chicago.
Also, the "Job Hunters Guide" on the NINA Web site is newly updated, along with listings of journalism job openings and positions wanted.
Old business: None.
New business: None.
Shop talk:
Rivara: The Kane County Chronicle has a new sports copydesk person.
Killam: The Northern Star won second-place, Best of Show, at the National
College Media Convention in Dallas. Also, NS*Radio is up and running with
daily live shows.
Etheredge: The Ledger-Sentinel has a new real estate tabloid section.
Nagel: The Beacon News is losing a designer.
Corrado: Joe has been promoted to executive editor of Sun Publications.
Slonoff / Lannom: The Doings is running color on page 3 and sports.
Dickerson: Some controversy has erupted in Galena over the paper's use of
accident photos.
Rostron: The Woodstock Independent's kids page is dying. There hasn't been
a lot of support from local schools.
Larsen: The Herald News has tons of new initiatives, aimed at providing
more and more local news. Will County is the second-fastest growing county
in the nation.
Martin: The Register-Mail will begin publishing work by Knox College students
taking an advanced reporting journalism class taught by Martin.
Cain: The Daily Times' has redesigned its Web site and now features much
more online content at http://www.InOttawa.com.
Much of the site is being locked down to subscribers only
after Jan. 11. The site also has a story tracker that consistently shows
the top items read every day...every day...are obits and police blotter.
The newspaper also is a Net access provider (ISP), offering dial-up and
wireless.
Next board meeting: Friday, Jan. 23, 2004, at the Northern Star office, Campus Life Building, NIU.
Meeting adjourned at noon.
Minutes submitted by Jim Killam,
communications coordinator, 12-10-03.