Navigating Immigration Coverage in the News

The Society of Professional Journalists student chapter at Southern Connecticut State University will present “Navigating Immigration Coverage in the News” on Nov. 15 at 9 a.m. The event will be held at the Adanti Student Center, Room 301, at Southern Connecticut State University.

Invited panelists include: Michael Boyle, Immigration Attorney; Esteban Hernandez, New Haven Register reporter; Sandra Gomez-Aceves, Hartford Courant reporter; Esteban Garcia, SCSU Undocumented Students’ Support Team.

 The panel is co-sponsored by the CT Pro Chapter of the SPJ. Use the #SPJ4ALL for all diversity-related tweets and events. RSVSP by emailing: spj.scsu@gmail.com by Nov. 9. 

President’s Letter – October 2017

Come have pizza and beer

If you missed out on September’s happy hour event in West Hartford, don’t worry. We’re coming to JRoos in North Haven on Oct. 18 from 7 p.m. 9 p.m. Come enjoy free food and catch up with friends, network and even talk with board members. If you and your colleagues would like us to schedule a happy hour in your region of the state, let us know. We’d love to come meet you!

What else is going on?

We’re working on some great programming ideas that we hope to share with you in the near future. In the meantime, we’re working with students, including our friends at the Central Connecticut and Southern Connecticut state universities. President Mike Savino was part of a panel discussion, along with the Hartford Courant’s Matt Kaufman and SPJ national President Rebecca Baker, at CCSU. He is also scheduled to speak at SCSU’s High School Journalism Day at the end of the month.

For those able to get to NYC, meanwhile, our friends with the Asian American Journalists Association is hosting Catalyst: Elevating Media Founders of Color, happening Nov. 9-11. The AAJA is offering a limited number of travel stipends.

See what else is happening

Job Openings

Looking for work, or know someone who is? Perhaps you know a student looking for an internship opportunity. Check out the jobs bank we’ve just added to our website. We’ll keep adding job postings as we learn of them, so please share with us any openings. Keep in mind that some of these postings may have expired or been filled.

See all the opportunities here

It happened in Vegas, and it has happened at home. Stay up on best practices

The Oct. 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas is an unfortunate reminder of the way journalists can be thrown into difficult assignments at a moment’s notice. Veteran Connecticut reporters, sadly, have been forced into similar circumstances in the not too distant past. With that, it’s always a good idea for reporters to remind themselves of best practices before they are thrown into those situations. Journalists can always look to the SPJ Code of Ethics for guidance on how to handle any difficult situation, but here is a recent article from Poynter specific to mass shootings.

The SPJ Code of Ethics

Four CT journalists attending NEFAC institute

The New England First Amendment Coalition has selected four journalists from the Nutmeg State as part of its 25-person 2017 New England First Amendment Institute. Attendees, including WVIT’s Jill Konopka, Hartford Courant’s Stephen Busemeyer, Norwalk Hour’s Kaitlyn Krasselt, and Norwalk Hour’s Martha Shanahan, will spend three days learning about Freedom of Information laws.  

See what else NEFAC is up to

Thanks for your continued support.

Your president,

Mike Savino

CT SPJ annual dinner photo gallery

Maureen Croteau

University of Connecticut’s Journalism Department Chairwoman Maureen Croteau is the first woman to lead an academic department in UConn’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and is its longest-serving department head. Last year, the department celebrated its 50th anniversary last year and Croteau has been its leader for the past 34 years.

Croteau arrived in Storrs after more than a decade working as a newspaper reporter and editor in Hartford and Providence. When she accepted the position in 1983, the department had three faculty members and a roomful of manual Underwood typewriters on old oaken desks. In 1985, she set up the department’s first computer lab, one of the first on campus. The department now has eight full-time faculty members, including two Pulitzer Prize winners, serving more than 200 undergraduate majors and pre-majors. Under her direction, the department has become the only nationally accredited journalism program in New England.

Since 1991, Croteau has been a director at The Day, where Publisher Gary Ferrugia calls her, “the conscience of the company in all matters regarding journalism.”

She is a UConn alumna and a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is co-author of two books, and was the 2014 New England Journalism Educator of the Year, chosen by the New England Newspaper and Press Association.

CTSPJ Board of Directors 2017-2018

2017-2018 Officers:

Michael Savino
President

Jordan Otero
Vice President for Programming

Viktoria Sundqvist
Vice President for Communications

Bruno Matarazzo Jr.
Treasurer

Cara Rosner
Secretary

Paul Singley
Immediate Past President

2016-17 Board of Directors:

• Darren Sweeney
• Pete Paguaga
• Leslie Hutchison
• Elizabeth Glagowski
• Andrew Ragali
• Ajhani Ayres
• Jodie Mozdzer Gil

2017 Theodore Driscoll Award for Investigative Reporting finalists

Here are the finalists for the 2017 Theodore Driscoll Award for Investigative Reporting Award. The winner will be announced at the Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame at its annual dinner on May 25. More information on the dinner here. And you can buy tickets here.

Desperate choices: Giving up custody for care; Connecticut Health I-Team; Lisa Chedekel, Tony Bacewicz

Inside the money game; Connecticut Post; Ken Dixon, Angela Carella, Neil Vigdor

Missing at sea; Hartford Courant; Dave Altimari, David Owens

New pieces to art puzzle; Hartford Courant; Edmund H. Mahony

Left stranded; Hartford Courant; Josh Kovner

Commissioners with benefits; NBC 30; Jonathan Wardle, Len Besthoff

2017 Stephen A. Collins Public Service Award finalists

Here are the finalists for the 2017 Stephen A. Collins Public Service Award. The winner will be announced at the Connecticut Journalism Hall of Fame at its annual dinner on May 25. More information on the dinner here. And you can buy tickets here.

Deadly day care; Connecticut Post; Bill Cummings 

Connecticut’s opioid crisis; Hartford Courant; Maura Casey (one in a series of editorials)

Left stranded; Hartford Magazine; Josh Kovner

Derbygate; Norwich Bulletin; Ryan Blessing

Increasing transparency amid rising gun violence; Record-Journal; Lauren Sievert, Andrew Ragali, Bryan Lipiner, Molly  Callahan, Jesse Buchanan, Leigh Tauss, Eric Cotton, Jeffery Kurz, Richie Rathsack (one in a series of stories)

Troubled schools on trial; The Connecticut Mirror; Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

Connecticut SPJ 2017 Scholarship Call for Entries

DEADLINE EXTENDED TO APRIL 12, 2017!

The Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists Foundation Inc. presents the Bob Eddy Scholarship Program To Foster Journalism Careers.

The 2017 Scholarship program is now open! The deadline to apply has been extended to April 12, 2017. 

This year we will honor five journalism students with awards totalling $6,500.

To apply for a scholarship, students must start their junior, senior year in the fall 2017 and be enrolled at an accredited university in Connecticut or be a Connecticut resident enrolled in an accredited university in any state or country.

Apply today.

CTSPJ statement on New Haven reporter’s arrest

Statement from Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists President Mike Savino following an incident this month involving a New Haven Independent reporter and New Haven police.

“We are greatly disappointed in the decision by the New Haven police department to arrest a working journalist.

We recognize that police have legitimate concerns when setting a perimeter around a scene and urge journalists to respect those boundaries, but an arrest is extreme when less draconian remedies would have sufficed. Additionally, we are concerned by officers’ attempts to seize the memory card from a reporter’s camera, especially in light of New Haven Police Department’s historical failure to recognize the public’s First Amendment Right to record police.

The Connecticut General Assembly even felt compelled to pass legislation reaffirming this right in response to actions by New Haven police, among other agencies. Allowing the press and general public to freely monitor the government that serves on their behalf are an essential part of democracy.”

Longtime journalist and Connecticut SPJ board member dies

Longtime Connecticut journalist Debra “Debbie” Ann Estock, 61, of Fairfield, died Tuesday, Nov. 29.

Estock worked for many years as an editor at The Cooperator, a publication that serves the co-op and condo community on articles on management, finance and maintenance.

Estock was a longtime member and board member of the Connecticut SPJ, serving as chairwoman of the scholarship committee for nine years, starting in 2000.

Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Emery’s Church, 838 Kings Highway, Fairfield. Burial will be at Mt. Grove Cemetery.

Visiting hours will be from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Lesko & Polke Funeral Home, 1209 Post Road, Fairfield Center.