Posts by Connecticut SPJ

National SPJ Election Time

All members of the Society of Professional Journalists can vote in the election for national candidates.

Voting will take place electronically during the Excellence in Journalism 2013 conference, Aug. 24-26. Additional instructions will arrive via email, so make sure that information is up to date!

The list of candidates can be viewed here.

The candidates will be available in person at the National Convention in California. If you can’t attend, you can also watch videos of their speeches online at the www.SPJ.org website.

Victim Privacy/FOI Task Force Holds First Meeting

The “Task Force to Consider the Balance between Victim Privacy under the Freedom of Information Act and the Public’s Right to Know” met for the first time on Aug. 1 at the state Legislative Office Building in Hartford.

The task force took no action, but began discussing its task and how it would organize.

The 17-member task for was formed by the legislature as part of a law blocking access to crime scene documents in the wake of the Newtown shooting.

The new law specifically exempts from disclosure: “Any record created by a law enforcement agency or other federal, state, or municipal governmental agency consisting of a photograph, film, video or digital or other visual image depicting the victim of a homicide, to the extent that such record could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of the victim or the victim’s surviving family members.”

The materials from each task force meeting will be posted on this website.

CT Freedom of Information Act

FOIVictim TF Members

FOIVictim TF Schedule of Meeting (Draft)

PA No. 31-311

To read more about the task force, click any of the following links:

Privacy Task Force Created After Newtown Shooting Begins Work, Hartford Courant

Positions Vary After Newtown FOI Panel’s First Meeting, CTNewsJunkie

CTN Video Archive

Connecticut Crime Victim Privacy Panel Meets, AP

CTSPJ appoints four journalists to legislature’s task force

June 18, 2013 — The Connecticut Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists voted to appoint four journalists to the Connecticut task force on public information and privacy, created by the state legislature as part of the Newtown public records legislation this month.

The four CTSPJ appointees are:

• Don DeCesare, President and General Manager of WLIS-AM in Old Saybrook and WMRD-AM in Middletown. DeCesare is past chairman of the Connecticut Broadcasters Association. DeCesare is a 40-year broadcast veteran, and spent several years at CBS in New York City, where he went from editing radio broadcasts to overseeing television news coverage. He is a past treasurer for CT-N, and is a member of the Media Center Advisory Board at Middlesex Community College. DeCesare helped push for a Connecticut Shield Law.
• Klarn DePalma , Vice President and General Manager for WFSB-TV 3 Hartford and WSHM-TV 3 Springfield. DePlama has spent the last 20 years at WFSB, starting as an entry-level account executive in 1993. He was named Vice President and General Manager in 2005. DePalma is the chair of the Connecticut Broadcasters Association.  He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Connecticut Science Center and Channel 3 Kids’ Camp.
• Brian Koonz, Metro Editor for the Connecticut Post in Bridgeport, a Hearst Connecticut newspaper. Koonz has spent the last 26 years in daily journalism in Connecticut. In addition to his role at the Connecticut Post, he has also worked as a sports reporter and columnist at The News-Times in Danbury, and has reported for the Register Citizen in Torrington, The Day of New London, The New Britain Herald and the Republican-American in Waterbury. Koonz, a Newtown resident, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for his coverage of the Newtown school shooting.
• Jodie Mozdzer Gil, president of the Connecticut SPJ board and assistant professor of multimedia journalism at Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven. Mozdzer Gil is also a freelance reporter for her former employer, the Valley Independent Sentinel, as well as other online news sites, including the Connecticut Health Investigative Team. Mozdzer Gil is a member of the national SPJ Digital Media Committee. Prior to her time writing for the Valley Independent Sentinel, she previously reported for the Hartford Courant and the Republican-American of Waterbury.

The appointees represent print, radio, television and online media.

“Our board is pleased to find four journalists who are enthusiastic to serve on this committee and who represent CTSPJ’s views — that transparency and public access to records is paramount in a free and open society,” said Cindy Simoneau, immediate past president for CTSPJ.

The task force includes 13 other members, including a representative from the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information and the executive director for the FOI Commission.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Brendan Sharkey, and president pro tempore of the Senate, Donald Williams, will select two chairpersons for the committee.

The task force is asked to meet between July 1, 2013 and Jan. 1, 2014, at which point a report with recommendations will be sent to the Connecticut General Assembly.

CT Journalism Hall of Fame: Bart Barnes

Bart Barnes is perhaps best known as the publisher of the Bristol Press, an enterprise he led for thirty years until his family sold the newspaper in 1985.

He started there in 1937 as an advertising sales person and moved up in the ranks. He also was among a small group of editors and publishers who, in the mid-1950s, launched a 20-year campaign for the creation of a state Freedom of Information law. Mr. Barnes served on the FOI commission from 1985 to 1989, where he acquitted himself with characteristic diligence, fairness and impartiality. Mitchell Pearlman, executive director of the commission, said Barnes was “an icon of what a newspaper publisher, a public citizen and a public servant ought to be.”

Yale University graduate, publisher, scion of one of Bristol’s best-known families, E. Bartlett Barnes had pedigree and prominence. Yet Mr. Barnes’ personal qualities — an unassuming style, humor, kindness and passion for community — earned him genuine affection.

In Bristol, Mr. Barnes’ influence was pervasive. He is credited with transforming the New England Carousel Museum into a nonprofit group dedicated to preservation and education. He helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships for local students.

Remarkably youthful and spry well into his later years, Mr. Barnes relished his daily walks. He was perceptive and curious. When people many years his junior were intimidated by the Internet, Mr. Barnes embraced it. He had a vast store of knowledge about Bristol and shared it. People came away from a conversation with Mr. Barnes more knowledgeable, a little wiser and almost always smiling. Mr. Barnes died at the age of 96.

Sherman London receives Helen M. Loy Award

The Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists gave its FOI award to Sherman D. London at the annual Excellence in Journalism Awards Dinner May 23, 2013.

Sherman D. London, a past CTSPJ president and member of the Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame, has been a member of the Freedom of Information Commission since 1996, having been appointed by Gov. John Rowland.

The award, named after the late Helen M. Loy, honors a person who has fought for freedom of information in Connecticut.

A graduate of Rider College in New Jersey, London came to the commission after a distinguished journalism career, during which he reported on local politics and the Connecticut General Assembly. During the last 20 years of his journalism career, London was the editor of both the Republican and the American newspapers in Waterbury.

Since his appointment, London has become known as a “work horse.” Not only does he rarely miss a commission meeting, but he also presides as hearing officer over contested cases on a weekly basis. He has quickly mastered the law and the procedures under which the commission operates, and is studious in preparation. Even simple typographical errors rarely get by him.

At 17 years, London is the commission’s longest serving member. His last term on the commission ends this year.
London’s two careers, first as a reporter and editor and then as a public servant, together demonstrate a decades-long commitment to the values of open government so important to SPJ.

The late Helen M. Loy was a former chairwoman of the Freedom of Information Commission, and one of the trio of original members appointed by then-Gov. Ella T. Grasso. Loy served as a commissioner from 1975-1985 when she died. She worked in various local and state government positions throughout her career.

According to former FOI Executive Director Mitchell Pearlman, “It was said of Helen Loy that she never saw a public record that she thought ought to be kept secret, and, to a large extent, this was true. She believed passionately that democracy requires the greatest amount of public disclosure possible.”

Upon her passing, the Connecticut Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists named its annual Freedom of Information award in her honor. The award honors any member of the public or officials who use the state’s Freedom of Information laws to advance open government.

CT Journalism Hall of Fame: John Long

John Long was a staff photographer for the Hartford Courant for 35 years. He covered everything from political conventions, to golf, to the plight of the homeless and all the local events that defined the Hartford area during the time. He won many awards and was twice named the Connecticut Photographer of the Year. He was awarded the Joseph Sprague Award in 2007, the highest award given by the National Press Photographers Association.

“Photojournalism is a craft and I consider myself to be a journeyman craftsman.” Long said. “Accurate photographs help the members of the public understand the world in which we live, especially on an emotional level.”

Long has been deeply involved in protecting access for Connecticut journalists to news scenes. He was a member of the first and second Connecticut Cameras in the Courts committees that created the rules and monitored the results as Connecticut approved the use of TV and still cameras during court proceedings. He was a founding member of the Media Access Task Force, a group that sought to improve relations with law enforcement in Connecticut. He also served on the media / law committee of the Connecticut Bar Association.

Long’s work has extended beyond Connecticut’s borders. Since 1998, he has been the ethics chairman for the National Press Photographers Association, and he served as its president in 1989-90. He headed the committee that rewrote the NPPA Code of Ethics in the early 2000s.

After retiring from the Courant in 2006, he served as an adjunct professor at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. Previously, he taught part time at Manchester Community College in Manchester for five years. Long lives in Manchester with his wife, Mary. They have three grown daughters.

Long was inducted into the Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame in 2013.

CT Journalism Hall of Fame: Sherman London

Sherman D. London spent most of his journalism life at the Waterbury Republican-American. He was a political and legislative reporter, assistant managing editor, and for the last 20 years of his career served as the Editorial Director. He retired in 1989. Sherman is a true native son of Waterbury. He was born there in 1922. After graduating from Rider College in 1942 his first job was at the former Waterbury Democrat. He was drafted during World War II and served with a field artillery division in the Pacific.
When he came home he returned to the Democrat. It was sold to the Republican-American in 1947 and he stayed on…for more than 40 years.

Sherman has been a long-time advocate of freedom of information in Connecticut. He has served as an FOI commissioner since 1996, retiring in 2013. He has won many journalism awards, including the CTSPJ Helen M. Loy award for efforts in Freedom of Information, and a United Press International honor for the best editorial on education in 1977. He served a term as president of the Connecticut Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists and was a member of the Ethics Committee of the National Conference of Editorial Writers.

Sherman has been a reservist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency handling public affairs during disaster recovery efforts. Sherman serves as co-chair of Vision Waterbury, in on the Board of Directors of the Greater Waterbury Arts Council, is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and several other community boards.

Sherman D. London was inducted into the Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame in 2007.

CTSPJ board to meet

The CTSPJ Board of Directors will meet on June 8, 2013 in East Hartford, Conn.

The meeting is the time when CTSPJ starts planning programs for the upcoming year, discusses upcoming SPJ conferences and the board-run contest.

Click here to download a copy of the agenda.

If you have any suggestions for programming or items you wish the board to discuss, please contact CTSPJ President Jodie Mozdzer Gil at jmozdzer@ctspj.org by Friday, June 7.

SPJ condemns secret legislation

The Society of Professional Journalists and the Connecticut Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists sent the following statement to Gov. Dannel Malloy Thursday, in response to a May 22 Hartford Courant article about behind-the-scenes legislation planned to limit the public’s access to public information.

• Please click here to download a PDF of the letter. (A copy is below.)
• Please click here to read a letter sent by the Connecticut Council on Freedom of Information.

Dear Governor Malloy,

The Society of Professional Journalists is alarmed by reports that Connecticut’s top elected officials have developed in secret a plan to withhold public information connected to the school shootings in Newtown, Conn.

The Society condemns the creation of this legislation outside the normal, transparent process of public hearings and debate. And we deplore the attempt to use the tragic events of Dec. 14 as an excuse to close off access to records that are otherwise available to the public.

The Hartford Courant reported May 22 that the governor’s office has been working secretly with legislative leaders and the state’s top prosecutor to deny access to documents related to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children and six women died.

According to the Courant, state lawmakers could vote on this legislation as early as this week. We urge them to delay such a vote until members of the public can air their views during a public hearing, as is typically done during the legislative process

We also urge legislators to defeat any bill that would close off documents – such as death certificates, emergency 911 recordings and other records connected to crimes – that have been routinely provided to the public under existing law.

It is our understanding that this legislation would bar all government agencies from releasing photographs, videotapes and digital recordings as well as audio recordings that depict the physical condition of any victim without the victim’s consent or the consent of a family member. It would also allow public agencies to remove from public records the names of witnesses younger than 18 and ban the release of the audio recordings or transmissions of any 911 or emergency assistance calls.

Under the legislation, municipal officials could withhold death certificates of anyone who died at the school, unless the request is made by a member of the victim’s spouse, adult child, parent, adult sibling or legal guardian.

We have seen similar efforts in other states to close access to routinely available information about crime and victims of crime in the misplaced belief that secrecy protects victims and witnesses.

This legislation does not honor the victims of the Newtown shooting, and the tragedy should not be used as an excuse to close access to public documents, the release of which does not change the circumstances surrounding the Newtown massacre. In fact, their release could debunk conspiracy theories and provide lessons worth learning.

Chief State’s Attorney Kevin Kane has said he wants some of the proposed limitations on the release of records to apply to general police investigations and not just the Newtown case. We do not believe such a broad exemption to Connecticut’s public records law would benefit the public, law enforcement or the state.

A coalition of news and freedom-of-information organizations wrote a letter to the governor on Wednesday, raising concern about shutting out the public. We raise those same concerns and ask the Connecticut Legislature to delay action and ultimately defeat this bill in the interest of protecting open government and the public’s right to be informed about its public servants.

Respectfully submitted,

Sonny Albarado
President, Society of Professional Journalists

Jodie Mozdzer Gil
President, Connecticut Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists

Retired Hartford Courant photographer to be inducted into Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame

The Connecticut chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists will induct John Long into its Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame on May 23 at its annual dinner.

Long was a staff photographer for The Hartford Courant for 35-years.

He covered everything from political conventions, to golf tournaments (especially The Masters), to the plight of the homeless and all the local events that defined the Hartford area during the time. Every storm, every heat wave, every performance of the Hartford Ballet. He was on a first name basis with everyone from governors to the drug addict on Park Street.

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