J-Week 2010 Workshop Schedule

Workshop presenters pictures and bios here.

Thursday, May 6

Radio track begins at APTI

Alaska Public Radio Network/CoastAlaska News Training Schedule
Part of the Alaska Press Club’s 2010 Journalism Week

8:30 a.m.: Light breakfast and introductions.

9-10:15 a.m.: Making basic stories more interesting, with NPR’s Tom Goldman: How to find the human elements, real-world impacts and other aspects of otherwise dry topics. PODCAST

10:30-11:45 a.m.: Concise radio reporting, with Northwest News Network’s Tom Banse: Identifying the most important elements of a story amongst a myriad of possibilities. How to stay on track, avoid tangents and identify which audio to use. (Bring a script to edit.) PODCAST

Noon-1:15 p.m. Lunch group listening session, with NNN’s Tom Banse and NPR’s Tom Goldman: Our guest trainers play and discuss reports that serve as examples of new, different or just plain great radio news approaches. PODCAST

1:30-2:30 p.m.: Sweeten the sound, with APRN’s Dave Waldron: Audio processing with Adobe Audition and CoolEdit, plus how to get better sound in the first place, including phone audio.

2:45-4 p.m.: APRN in the present and future, with APRN’s Lori Townsend: What’s happening with the network, what it can do to better support station news staff, and what station news staff can do better to help APRN. Also, plans for series or other group projects.

4-5:30 p.m.: Listening session #1: One-on-one coaching (sign up early) sessions with NPR’s Tom Goldman, NNN’s Tom Banse, CoastAlaska’s Ed Schoenfeld, KTOO’s Rosemarie Alexander or APRN’s Dave Donaldson. Those not in individual sessions can be part of a group listening session. Bring scripts and reports for feedback.

Thursday evening, Alaska Dispatch

7-9 p.m. Alaska Dispatch hosts all Alaska Press Club members at their new offices, 2301 Merrill Field Drive, 743-0729.

Besides checking out the Dispatch office, complete with airplane hangar, you will meet many of the visiting workshop presenters, most arriving midday Thursday to join J-Week.  Check the full list of presenters here. They are excited to be in Alaska, ready to meet Alaska journalists. Beer courtesy of Alaska Dispatch, nibbles courtesy of the Alaska Press Club. 

Friday, May 7

Radio track continues at APTI

8:30 a.m.: Light breakfast and introductions.

9-9:50 a.m.: Multimedia options for small radio stations, moderated by APRN’s Annie Feidt: What works best to enhance online coverage. With Annie Feidt on video, KMXT’s Jay Barrett on posting scripts and Ed Schoenfeld on links, photos and extra audio.

10-10:50 a.m.: The ethics and practice of editing audio, with CoastAlaska’s Ed Schoenfeld: How and when to make actualities shorter and more concise. Keeping context and the speaker’s voice while editing to make it easier for the listener to hear and understand.

11 a.m.-noon: Listening session #2: One-on-one coaching (sign up early) sessions with Tom Goldman, Tom Banse, Ed Schoenfeld, Annie Feidt, Lori Townsend or Rosemarie Alexander. Those not in individual sessions can be part of a group listening session. Bring scripts and reports for feedback.

11 a.m.-noon: Covering the Capitol, with APRN’s Dave Donaldson: Tips and tools for covering local or regional issues in the Legislature and the Capitol from your location station.

Legacy and New Media tracks begin at UAA

The Commons, 3700 Sharon Gagnon Drive. West off Elmore Road between Tudor Road and Providence Drive.

8-8:50 am: COFFEE ROUNDTABLES
Rooms 106 and 107
Come early. Grab a muffin and coffee and join a roundtable.  Presenters will be spread around the room at tables, sipping coffee and waiting for you to join them in conversation about journalism. Don’t be shy.

9-10:20 am: SESSION ONE
• Abraham Hyatt, (Room 107), The New Newsroom, good and bad. Focus on the changing structure of the newsroom. How a decentralized newsroom negatively and positively affects the reporting and editing process, newsroom culture and productivity. How very proactive newsrooms (like the Guardian) have reenvisioned the traditional reporter/editor structure as part of their print/Web integration.
• Suzanne Yada, (Room 106), Social Media isn’t as stupid as you think. Believe it or not, Facebook and Twitter can be used for good, not evil. This workshop will show you how. We’ll share successes and failures, tips and how-tos for journalistic uses of social media. We’ll talk best practices and ethics. We’ll use real-life examples. Novices and pros alike will learn something new from this session.
• Al Cross, (Creekside Eatery), Community journalism, the personal mixed with the professional. Community journalism can be called “relationship journalism,” because you have a closer, more continuing relationship with your subjects, sources and readers, listeners or viewers than journalists in metropolitan areas. “It’s more difficult to be a good professional journalist in a rural area than a big city, because the personal so often conflicts with the professional,” says Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community issues.

10:30-11:50 am: SESSION TWO
• Kevin Fagan, Rm 106, Storytelling and Truthtelling, the newspaper reporter’s job. After 30 years, he knows it and still loves it. SF Chronicle reporter will share two long-form stories and describe how he fits them in around constant breaking news that a newsroom must react to daily in an era of shrunken staffs. Find links to his workshop stories here.
• PANEL: HIPAA Constraints, Rm 107, Many reporters asked for this workshop, saying they find the inconsistent information they get from different agencies confusing and frustrating. With Prov’s Kirsten Schultz, Alaska State Medical Examiner Katherine Raven, APD Lt. Dave Parker, AFD Steve Poggi.

Noon-1:20 pm: LUNCH and LUNCHTIME PANEL
• PANEL: Uncivil Discourse, APRN Steve Heimel, Anchorage Press Brendan Joel Kelley, The Star-Post, Glens Falls, NY editorial writer, 2009 Pulitzer winner, Mark Mahoney, ADN editor Patrick Dougherty former ADN reporter and Assemblyman Charles Wohlforth,. Nasty story comments, polarized audiences, the endangered fact. This panel was requested by reporters who wonder if things really are as bad as they seem. What do you think?

Feel free to bring a brown bag lunch. APC is arranging for the sale of 40 lunches, all you can eat salad bar, sandwiches and drinks, through the Creekside Eatery at an individual price of $11. Local quick spots nearby include Taco King, Thai Kitchen on Tudor Road.

1:30-2:50 pm: SESSION THREE
• Tom Goldman, Rm 106, Making local sports more interesting. Moving beyond scores and coach interviews. Using but not overusing sound. Bringing a broader approach to sports reporting..
• PANEL: Public Records Access: Whom to ask for what, when and how to make requests, why it matters, where in statute we can find our rights, samples of a variety of types of requests and the stories that have come out of them. Rebecca Braun, John McKay, Gregg Erickson (Creekside)
• Dean Krakel, Rm 107, A photographer who tells the tale of photojournalism as a lifestyle, from shooting Marlboro ads, working at a tiny Wyoming newspaper. to earning multiple Pulitzers while at the Rocky Mountain News, to being out of work.

3-4:20 pm: SESSION FOUR
• PANEL: Working the Social Media, how they do what they do, and what results do they get? Workshop presenter Suzanne Yada, Alaska Dispatch managing editor, Own the Sidewalk blog Maia Nolan, Play Magazine editorb>Spencer Shroyer, Keynote, Snarkmarket blog Robin Sloan, formerly of KNBA and now Tundra Telegraph Jennifer Canfield , social media strategist Aliza Sherman (Creekside)
• Mark Mahoney, Rm 107, How small newspapers with small staffs make a huge difference. Mahoney won the 2009 Pulitzer for editorial writing at The Post-Star, Glens Falls, NY. He also writes a blog called Your Right To Know.
• Dan Dickinson, Rm 106, Dan is an oil and gas expert and frequent consultant to the Alaska Legislature. He talks about 5 energy bills that made it through the recent session until the Governor’s pen struck one down; and Dan’s wish list for reporter investigations
• Patrick Davison, Rm 107, Planning and executing team multimedia projects, drawing on a decade of local, state and international work.
• PANEL: On the road again. (other end of Creekside room, or we’ll scout a location for this one) Reporting from communities you don’t know well without falling into the traps of parachute journalism. How to plan and explain your role to people who don’t understand how news media works.Ed Schoenfeld, Tom Banse, Annie Feidt

4:30-5:50 pm: SESSION FIVE
• PANEL: Fighting Fake News on the Web, Rm 106, Web marketing that mixed authentic and fake news stories under Nancy McGuire’s byline to promote Nome’s “abduction” story, or how the Alaska Press Club received a gift of $20,000 as recompense for crimes against Alaska journalism. Nancy McGuire, John McKay
• PANEL: Alaska Dispatch tells its start-up story, Rm 107, Editor Tony Hopfinger, contributor Amanda Coyne and reporter Jill Burke, and a member of the website’s business staff, will tell the story of start-up challenges and lessons learned. Freelancer David Holthouse, who drove back onto Alaska turf literally hours before this session, joins this panel. He contributed ideas to a New Orleans news start-up, The Lens, and has written freelance for the Alaska Dispatch.
• Associated Press Membership Meeting (Creekside)

Friday Night, Anchorage Press

7-9 p.m. Staff of Anchorage’s weekly newspaper, The Anchorage Press, invites the Alaska Press Club over for a social hour or two. Presenters are invited to join us. Beer courtesy of the Anchorage Press and munchies courtesy of the Alaska Press Club. The newsroom is at 540 E.  5th Ave. 561-7737.

Saturday, May 8

Journalism workshops, panels and roundtables continue at The Commons.
TV journalism track begins at 8:30 a.m. at KTUU with presenter Lisa Taylor, see below.

8-8:50 am: COFFEE ROUNDTABLES
Rooms 106 and 107
Come early. Grab a muffin and coffee and join a roundtable.  Presenters will be spread around the room at tables, sipping coffee and waiting for you to join them in conversation about journalism. Don’t be shy.

9-10:20 am: SESSION ONE
• Abraham Hyatt, Rm 107, How news organizations will support themselves going forward. Events. Premium content. Different ways to monetize the editorial product. As a journalist, writing sentences like that last one gives me the willies, but I believe that everyone in the newsroom of the future will be more attuned with what’s happening on the financial side. I’m not saying they’ll be selling ads or that our ethical standards will change. But, for instance, reporters and editors will be asked to provide content for new products/methods of driving revenue.
• Mark Mahoney, Rm 106, Open government and how readers can help themselves. I try to educate citizens and involve them in the process, in addition to editorializing on legislation and when boards do something wrong. It’s worked very well here, and our readers have certainly responded. Mark will be joined by David Offer, a career journalist reporting and editing many years in Maine, now teaching at UAF as the Snedden Chair.

10:30-11:50 am: SESSION TWO
• ROUNDTABLE: Covering the homeless in Anchorage Rm 106, ADN Julia O’Malley, Homeward Bound Melinda Freemon, independent journalist Nellie Moore, Brown Jug Ed O’Neill, Catholic Social Services Susan Bomalaski, SF Chronicle reporter with long experience covering homelessness Kevin Fagan, ACLU Legal Fellow Josh Press, Fairview Community Council rep.
• Rebecca Braun, Alaska Budget Report, Rm 107, Putting their money where their mouths are: the state budget. Budgets are the ultimate policy statements. This workshop will provide an overview of Alaska’s budget basics: Operating, capital, supplemental… Who cares and why? Where can you get the best budget information? Where does our government spend all that money? What are past and future spending and revenue trends and what do they mean? This workshop will also explore trends, politics and policy specific to big-ticket budget items like Medicaid, retirement, and K-12 education. Consider bringing a laptop to this session. The Commons is wireless, and Rebecca has plans for an online scavenger hunt. 

Noon-1:20 pm: LUNCH and LUNCHTIME PANEL
• PANEL: Native Issues, moderated by APRN’s Lori Townsend, with panelists Aaron Leggett of the Alaska Native Heritage Center, and Elizabeth Hensley, who shared the keynote address with her father, Willie Hensley, at last October’s AFN convention.

Feel free to bring a brown bag lunch. APC is arranging for the sale of 65 lunches, all you can eat salad bar, sandwiches and drinks, through the Creekside Eatery at an individual price of $11. Local quick spots nearby include Taco King, Thai Kitchen on Tudor Road.

1:30-2:50 pm: SESSION THREE
• Suzanne Yada, Rm 106, Just do it: Bringing entrepreneurial spirit into the journalism world. What is an entrepreneurial journalist, and why are people saying they will save the world? Whether you already work for a news organization or want to break out on your own, having an entrepreneurial spirit will help you reinvent your role as a journalist in ways readers will notice.
• Patrick Davison, Rm 107, Finding the narrative. How to create non-narrated multimedia stories with a strong narrative arc in the subject’s own voice.
• ROUNDTABLE on rural coverage, (Creekside) Al Cross, Edgar Blatchford invite Alaska rural reporters to talk about the particular challenges they have encountered.

3-4:20 pm: SESSION FOUR
• Kevin Fagan: Creekside, Keeping a fresh perspective in tough newsroom times. Fagan will share three essays that demonstrate why it’s still worth it for him to get up everyday and go to work. Find links to the stories he’ll discuss in the workshop here.
• Abraham Hyatt: Rm 106, New Web tools for journalists. Pipes, Fever and lots more to make your work easier.
• Dean Krakel, Rm 107, A photographer tells the tale of photojournalism as a lifestyle, from shooting Marlboro ads, working at a tiny Wyoming newspaper. to earning multiple Pulitzers while at the Rocky Mountain News, to being out of work.

4:30-5:50 pm: SESSION FIVE
• Alaska Press Club Membership Meeting. (Room 106) Among the agenda items:

Elections of new board members and board positions.

Discussion over how to utilize the $20,000 that the Alaska Press Club received through the work of John McKay, provided as recompense to Alaska journalism after real and fake news stories about Alaska were mingled on a movie marketing Web site. The board has voted not to spend any of this money until after membership has an opportunity to discuss it. John McKay and Nancy McGuire will tell this story in full at a session on Friday from 4:30-5:50 p.m.

Another issue up for discussion, and eventual board vote, will be whether the press club contest should move to an online contest entry system. One has emerged that is serving many Pacific Northwest journalism organizations and some national ones. Print and photo entries would be loaded onto the Web site as PDFs and JPGs; video and audio entries would be posted as urls. Judges would go to the site for judging and commenting. The cost is $1,000 for start-up, and an annual fee of $2,500 to maintain. The contest burns a lot of member and board calories, so it might be worth considering an easier system. At any rate, the membership should have an opportunity to discuss it.

Other items? Please e-mail or .

TV track at KTUU

A workshop and TV reporter story critiques take place at KTUU, 701 East Tudor Road, Suite #220, 762-9202. 

8:30 -10 a.m.: SESSION ONE
• Workshop: Focusing on deadline for TV reporters: Lisa Taylor, Canadian broadcaster

10 a.m.-11:45 a.m.: SESSION TWO
• Reporter critiques, group session to share the lessons, Lisa Taylor. KTUU reporter Rhonda McBride () has offered to be a point person for TV reporters from KTUU, KIMO and KTVA who’d like to participate in the workshop and critique sessions. Alaska Press Club membership ($25) is required to participate in J-Week. Find a membership form at the Alaska Press Club Web site.

Workshop Description: Story Focus on Deadline
Imagine a world in which daily TV journalists are able to take the time to reflect on their story assignments, framing and reframing, considering all possible angles. As if.

The reality for most daily TV reporters is more like this: as you walk into the office, the assigning producer shouts that the event you have to cover today (which you’ve not heard a thing about until this very moment) gets underway in ten minutes. You turn on your heel and race back out the door--it’s the start of another frantic, deadline-driven day.

Story Focus on Deadline will explore a range of practical and analytical tools that will better equip TV journalists to turn the day’s assignment into a well-focused, satisfying story that will resonate with viewers. Developing a clear focus for a daily assignment can take just a few minutes and, ultimately, gives a reporter more time, because a precise focus will ensure that your research, shooting and interviewing is as efficient as it can be--you’ll gather only what you need, and not waste time in the field.

Participants will explore and apply an effective approach to focusing daily turnaround stories--a tool that doesn’t just ask “what” (i.e. What’s the story?), but also “why” (i.e. Why are we telling this particular story? Why should our viewers care?). Participants will learn how this approach to story focus will reveal what elements and information they need to tell their story, and what’s extraneous. We’ll screen a range of examples of well-focused stories; we’ll also do some myth-busting, and explore some of the most common problems associated with daily turnaround stories. Story focus will be further refined through the introduction and application of “main motivators”--tried and true story angles that will help ensure your stories resonate with viewers.

Alaska Press Club Banquet Saturday night

7-10 p.m. At The Commons. Tickets are $30, or, with two drink tickets, $35. Tickets can be purchased at the registration table during the conference. Media writer and critic Robin Sloan is the keynote speaker. This is also the night that the results of judging some 750 journalism entries are announced by our gracious and funny MC, John Tracy.  -

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