APSE Executive Committee Meeting
The 45th Annual APSE Summer Conference
4 p.m. Sunday, June 17, 2018
Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University
Meeting called to order at 4:03 p.m.
President Jeff Rosen introduces himself and:
First vice president John Bednarowski
Second vice president Todd M. Adams
Third vice president Robert Gagliardi
Executive Director Bill Eichenberger
Conference Coordinator Glen Crevier
Past presidents present:
Bill Eichenberger, now Bleacher Report then Newsday (2003)
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 Cherwa, Los Angeles Times
Region representatives:
Atlantic Coast
Dan Spears
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: Barry Bedlan
REMINDER: please wear your name tags, and please pay for Dave Ammenhauser for any ticktes you ordered for this week.
Finances and budget update (Bill Eichenberger)
We came in right on budget for the first time in several years. Last year we raised 29K in sponsorship money for the convention. This year, thanks to Tommy Deas, that figure is 70.5K, of which we’ve received 51K. Heading into the convention, we have 102.3K in our checking account, which is .57K more than we had at this time a year ago.
We’re mostly up on membership, too.
We’ve spent 21.4K of the 31.5K the Knight Foundation has given us for the Diversity program, so we should easily handle the expenses for the four Diversity Fellows at this convention. We’ll need to reach out to the Knight Foundation to see if it will renew that grant.
Jeff recognizes sponsors.
Conference(s) update (Glen Crevier)
Glen talked about what we can expect this week in Nashville.
Diversity Fellows recognized – will graduate this week:
Erik Bacharach
Adam Coleman
Reina Kempt
Kwani Lunis
Committee updates, with reminder that sign-up sheets for participation on these committees are in the lobby/foyer:
2019 Winter Conference and judging: Next year in Orlando.
Dates are Feb. 23-26, 2019, at the Doubletree Suites by Hilton/Walt Disney Resort.
Uncertain at this point as to where the 2020 Winter Conference will be. We’ll be discussing that this week.
ALSO:
Update on 2019 Summer Conference – Atlanta.
Dates are June 16-19, 2019, at the Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center.
Rates to come, but they’re good. Glen Crevier and John Bednarowski have been thorough in their search to get us the best-located hotel accommodations at the best possible rate.
So … back to the present, and the 2018 Summer Conference.
Dave Ammenheuser talks about the week ahead here in Nashville.
Other committee reports:
Commissioners (Gary Potosky) – Update: The commissioners meetings took place April 19 and 20 in New York, and were an unqualified success for APSE and the participating leagues. We altered our Q&A rules to this: Each session opened with an off-the-record statement from the commissioner/president, and then all questions thereafter were on the record unless the commissioner/president asked for that answer to be off the record. They used that a few times but not often. Attendance was up from last year. We had the same lineup as last year although we attempted to add at least one organization (USOC) but weren’t able to do it. Also, it was windy in the low 40s and rainy on the first day, so walking from place to place wasn’t always wonderful. And we spent a few hours at Bleacher Report. Attending editors thought that unplanned break in Day One turned out to be a benefit and we should build that into each day next year.
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
Diversity (Jorge Rojas) – Congratulations to the fellows who will receive their certificates at the banquet.
Futures (Michael Peters sent some points to share) – 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.
We were turned down for a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation. We will need to wait another year before pitching them with another grant idea.
· We are still looking for grant avenues that fit into our current non-profit status. Any ideas from the group would be greatly appreciated.
· Earlier this year the idea of a name and branding change came up in our committee. That’s something we can further discuss and move forward with if there is interest from the larger group.
· In our proposal to the EEJF, we pitched an idea called APSE University (a new take on our previous drive-in workshops, where we would hold one-day continuing education sessions for journalists in conjunction with our current student chapters). That is an idea we can develop rather easily if there is interest.
Legal affairs and ethics (Gerry Ahern and John Cherwa) – Update: We remain firm in our position that USA Wrestling’s new credential policy calling for training and federal background checks for reporters is unacceptable. We therefore continue to advise APSE members against complying with these requirements. We are meeting this week with Gary Abbott, head of PR for USA Wrestling, in hopes of moving the conversation forward.
Olympics (Jorge): We need a new chair for this committee. If interested, let Jeff Rosen or John Bednarowski know ASAP.
Outreach (Chris Fickett) – Thanked everyone for their efforts this year. Numbers are good. Still looking for new leads.
Red Smith Award (Jack Berninger) – Update: This past year was Jack’s first in this position, after taking the reins from Joe Sullivan of the Boston Globe. Our winner for 2018, who we’ll honor on Tuesday at the annual Red Smith Luncheon, is former Associated Press global sports editor Terry Taylor.
Regions (Dana Sulonen): Dana has been hard at work over the past couple of years reimagining our region alignments with APSE’s officers. The logical conclusion, for now: Reorganize mildly, keeping blocks of states together. This moved ND, SD and Wyoming to the Great Plains region and cleaned up Arizona and South Carolina. Let’s let her explain further.
Revenue (Tommy Deas): Our latest tally for sponsorship of this summer conference is about $70,000, and Tommy, my appointee as the first chair of this new committee, is already well underway in fundraising for an Atlanta conference next summer.
Scholarship (Phil Kaplan) – The 12 finalists for the four APSE scholarships have been distributed to the committee. The deadline to submit the top three choices to the chair is June 29.
Phil will determine the four students with the most votes the first week of July. He will contact the four winners and write a story for use on the website the week of July 16.
Three of the four scholarships are named after APSE members – the late Tim Wheatley, Jack Berninger and Roy Hewitt.
Student Liaison (Tim Stephens, report by Jeff) – Update: APSE’s second student contest is in the books, and our winner is Kelli Stacy of the University of Oklahoma. The field of entrants grew this year, and we expect that will continue. Tommy and the current APSE officers are also looking at ways to attach some scholarship money to it, in hopes of marshaling still greater interest next year and beyond.
ALSO: Reminder of need to sponsor a student, and help campuses in our respective spheres of geographic or figurative influence launch APSE Student Chapters.
Website (Chris White) – We’d like to have Chris White, the mastermind behind our overhaul of apsportseditors.com, give us the update on the site. A round of applause for Chris for his efforts over the past year…
Writers (Joey Chandler) – Writers who want to get involved should contact her.
Old business:
Vote needed now on Showtime Sports’ application for membership. Per our bylaws, notice of this request was posted for 10 days or more. Chris DeBlasio of Showtime Sports is here with us in Nashville.
Vote taken. Showtime approved.
New business:
Thai dinner update from Tommy Deas.
Move to adjourn.
Matt Steens moved.
Mike Sherman seconded.
