Policinski among speakers at SPJ national convention

INDIANAPOLIS -- Our chapter board member Gene Policinski, executive director of the First Amendment Center on the Vanderbilt University campus, was among the speakers at tonight's president's installation banquet at the SPJ National Convention.

"Without a free press, without journalists, who will hold government accountable?" Policinski asked attendees gathered to celebrate SPJ's 100th birthday over dinner and slices of birthday cake. He introduced a short film clip on the history of the news and its importance in American history and culture.

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.