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SPJ Georgia Board Meeting Minutes Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2020 Present: Charlotte Norsworthy, Ashlyn Webb, Mark Woolsey, Stell Simonton, Curt Yeomans, Jennifer Parks, Lars Lonnroth, Rahul Bali, Jack Zibluk, Nicolle Sartain. The December agenda was approved. November minutes were approved. Treasurer Report Not included in the bank statement is $1,200 from Region 3 and $300 in expenses for donations to universities. Committee Reports Advocacy Committee Ashlyn and Charlotte reported progress with Georgia Public Safety Center Training. Script sent to AG’s office, awaiting approval. Freelance Committee Mark said the committee is putting together a list of panelists for a Feb. 10 event for freelancers, a panel called Finding Your Niche. Events Committee Charlotte said no new events are planned, but the board can start brainstorming in 2021. She urged new members to join any committees they might be interested in — on an ad hoc basis if desired. Student Affairs Committee Ashlyn reported that the project of distributing money to student newspapers has wrapped up. Old Business Elections
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SPJ Georgia Board Meeting MinutesWednesday, Dec. 9, 2020
Present: Charlotte Norsworthy, Ashlyn Webb, Mark Woolsey, Stell Simonton, Curt Yeomans, Jennifer Parks, Lars Lonnroth, Rahul Bali, Jack Zibluk, Nicolle Sartain.
The December agenda was approved.November minutes were approved.
Treasurer ReportNot included in the bank statement is $1,200 from Region 3 and $300 in expenses for donations to universities.
Committee ReportsAdvocacy CommitteeAshlyn and Charlotte reported progress with Georgia Public Safety Center Training. Script sent to AG’s office, awaiting approval.
Freelance CommitteeMark said the committee is putting together a list of panelists for a Feb. 10 event for freelancers, a panel called Finding Your Niche.
Events CommitteeCharlotte said no new events are planned, but the board can start brainstorming in 2021. She urged new members to join any committees they might be interested in — on an ad hoc basis if desired.
Student Affairs CommitteeAshlyn reported that the project of distributing money to student newspapers has wrapped up.
Old BusinessElectionsCharlotte certified the election results. All candidates for the board ran unopposed.Ashlynn Webb is president; Nicolle Sartain, vice-president for 2021 and is expected to take the president position in 2022.; Stell Simonton, secretary; Rahul Bali, at-large director, Jack Zibluk, at-large director. New board members introduced themselves
New BusinessDiscussion of Ideas for 2021 InitiativesRahul said that student media at the state Capitol, including the Red & Black and the Signal, cannot get standing press passes. They are limited to one-day passes. SPJ could push to change this. Ashlyn suggested first raising this issue at the Capitol and
then bring in the attorney general for advice if needed. Charlotte said we could start working with student newspapers on this.
Ashlyn said that training for police through the Georgia Public Safety Training Center will roll out in March. But we will also have trainings for journalists on what law enforcement does and how trespassing is defined. This is per our agreement with the Georgia Public Safety Training Center. Charlotte said we will have a campaign to publicize our efforts and Stell has offered to do a piece about it, maybe for Quill. Jack has worked with Quill and. Jennifer said we should make the trainings available to student journalists. Ashlyn said the PIO at GPSTC and the First Amendment Foundation could provide trainers.
Stell said that SPJ should do some type of public outreach to counter the great amount of misinformation that is circulating. Jennifer suggested panel discussions involving journalists who could do community outreach. Rahul has done community access workshops. He and others said that staffers on political campaigns and lobbyists are also poorly informed about how journalism works. Jack suggested a toolkit containing short videos and Q&A information. Lars suggested an Ask a Journalist form.Mark suggested SPJ consider a speakers bureau. Charlotte said the Atlanta Press Club would be a good partner and already has resources. AJC and CNN were suggested as partners and the AJC as a good location for in-person gatherings. Since younger campaign staffers need educating, UGAs School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) could be targeted, Ashlyn said. This could happen in the first three months of 2021. Lars and Jennifer said rural newspapers need resources and tools. The state Capitol was suggested as a good place to educate staffers. Charlotte said we have about $3,200 in the bank as we consider expenses.
Curt suggested a Zoom event for journalists on election law changes being considered in Georgia by the Secretary of State’s office. Ashlyn suggested Gabriel Sterling as a presenter. Partners could be the Atlanta Press Club and we could reach out to NAHJ NABJ and student chapters or university journalism entities.
ProcedureCharlotte opened the floor for any questions on transition, procedure or how things work. The board agreed to focus on using email rather than Slack at this time.
The meeting was adjourned.
