NPR ombudsman speaks in Nashville Wednesday

Make your reservations now to hear Alicia Shepard, NPR's ombudsman, speaking next Wednesday at the studios of Nashville's NPR affiliate, WPLN. 

As the ombudsman of one of the most trusted news sources,  acts as an internal watchdog for fairness, accuracy, and advocate for listeners. This discussion is a "must-hear" for reporters and listeners alike.
















This special event is being put on by NPR, WPLN, and the Middle Tennessee Pro Chapter of SPJ.

When: Noon Wednesday, April 22
Where: Nashville Public Radio, 630 Mainstream Drive (in MetroCenter), Nashville, 37228
How much: $7 SPJ members, $10 non-members. Cost includes box lunch.

Channel 4's Dan Miller dead of heart attack at 67

My condolences go out to our friends at WMSV, who have lost a colleague and dear friend. From the Channel 4 site:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Longtime WSMV-TV anchor Dan Miller died Wednesday night of a heart attack in his hometown of Augusta, Ga., at the age of 67.

Miller was in Augusta to watch practice rounds of the Masters Golf Tournament with fellow friends and longtime co-workers Terry Bulger and Rudy Kalis ...

Miller, born in 1941, was the recipient of multiple Emmy Awards, was voted Best News Anchor in Nashville more than 20 times and recognized by Television/Radio Age as the Most Popular News Anchor in the United States.

Eddie Jones, former Banner chief, dies at 85

"He was a true citizen journalist," John Seigenthaler told The Tennessean. "He believed in objective, good-news journalism."

One day left to register for Friday API training event in Murfreesboro

Tuesday, March 10, is the last day to register for Friday's "New Newsroom workshop" on the MTSU campus. Get more details here.

Get ready for Sunshine Week later this month

Don't forget that National Sunshine Week is coming up March 15-21.

Tennessee's four major dailies agree to share content: Memphis Flyer

A snippet:

Representatives of the four largest newspapers of Tennessee -- Nashville's Tennessean, Memphis' Commercial Appeal, Chattanooga Times-Free Press and Knoxville's News Sentinel -- met Feb. 4, 2009, to explore opportunities to cooperate to leverage their resources. During the discussion, all agreed that readers would be best served if the papers found ways to eliminate duplicate effort and share content of interest throughout the state. 

More details in bullet points in the Flyer story. 

An obversation from Trace Sharp at the NewsTechZilla blog:

You can look at this in a couple of ways. First of all, keeping Tennessee local with a share program lessens the need for AP content. It also saves money.

SPJ aids publication trying to get records from CCA

If you've ever looked at your SPJ renewal notice and wondered what that money goes toward, here's just one example: Helping people get public records. SPJ has signed on to a friend-of-the-court brief in an effort by the Prison Legal News to wrest records from the private Corrections Corp. of America. (Remember: The state's public records law says that records are public if they are in the possession of a private entity performing a government service in place of a governmental agency.)

Here's the whole statement from SPJ national:

INDIANAPOLIS – The Society of Professional Journalists has joined an amicus brief written by the Tennessee ACLU supporting a magazine that won an open records battle in its quest to cover and analyze prisoners’ rights.

The brief supports the appeal of Prison Legal News, which is fighting off an appeal by the Corrections Corporation of America, a private company that operates state prisons in Tennessee, after a lower court determined that the CCA was subject to the state’s open records laws. The amicus brief argues that the trial court was correct in determining that the law in Tennessee requires contractors of the corrections system to turn over records upon public request, just as government agencies must do.

The Prison Legal News has also appealed the lower court’s decision to deny it attorneys’ fees in the case. “The Prison Legal News should have its legal fees paid by CCA,” said SPJ President Dave Aeikens. “It would serve as a good deterrent to those who refuse to release public information.”

Joining the ACLU and SPJ in supporting the Prison Legal News on appeal are the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, the Associated Press, and the Association of Capitol Reporters and Editors.

This is the second case SPJ has supported in 2009 by joining an amicus brief. The last case, in January, involved the appeal of a historical society in Nebraska asking for open death records at a state mental hospital. Read about the case and SPJ’s support here. Learn about SPJ’s legal advocacy and other news items by reviewing the news archive here.

Founded in 1909 as Sigma Delta Chi, SPJ promotes the free flow of information vital to a well- informed citizenry; works to inspire and educate the next generation of journalists; and protects First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and press. For more information about SPJ, please visit www.spj.org.

And you can read more about public records and FOI issues not only here but on the TCOG blog.

C-A's gun permit database stirs up a ruckus

The Commercial-Appeal's recent posting of the state's database of handgun carry permit holders has stirred up a hornets' nest. Pro-gun groups are protesting, people are filing bills in the legislature to close the records and criminalize their publication (hello, prior restraint!) and people are posting maps to the editors' houses. Read a response from C-A editor Chris Peck, and commentary from The Scene's Jeff Woods, who quotes our own Frank Gibson.

Scene: Brewer out at 'City Paper'

Clint Brewer, former president of the Middle Tennessee Pro chapter and former national president of SPJ (and, honest disclosure, someone your chapter blogger would call a friend) has been fired from his post as editor at the Nashville City Paper, SouthCom chief Chris Ferrell tells Jeff Woods:

He cited (a) economic reasons and (b) his desire to give "separate and distinct voices" to the Monday and Thursday editions of the City Paper. "

Channel 2's parent company files for bankruptcy; little local effect expected

Little local impact is expected, The Tennessean reports:

“We’re not anticipating layoffs, we’re not anticipating staff changes, we’re not anticipating changes in programming,” said Gwen Kinsey, general manager of WKRN-TV and WATE-TV. “All of those things are going to continue as always.”