Madison School Board Candidate Forum March 21

The Madison Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is sponsoring a Madison School Board candidate forum.

Each of the four candidates – incumbent Arlene Silveira and her challenger, Nichelle Nichols, along with Mary Burke and Michael Flores, who are competing for an open seat – has confirmed his/her attendance.

The forum will take place Wednesday, March 21, from 7:00 – 8:30 pm at Covenant Presbyterian Church, 326 South Segoe Road. The church, at the corner of Segoe and Mineral Point roads on the city’s West Side, has plenty of free parking.

Candidates will field questions from the audience.

The Madison School Board races have drawn attention like no others in recent years, largely driven by the discussion over how to best close the achievement gap between minority and majority students. The school board will also be the first to write work rules for teachers and other employees under the state’s new collective bargaining law.

Silveira, who has been on the board since 2006, is director of global custom sales for Promega Corporation. Nichols is vice president of education and learning at the Urban League of Greater Madison. Burke is a former state Commerce secretary and former president of the Boys and Girls Club of Madison. Flores is a Madison firefighter.

The election is April 3.

Based in Indianapolis, SPJ is a national membership organization that promotes high professional and ethical standards among journalists, First Amendment principles and the belief that a free and vigorous press is vital in a representative democracy. The Madison professional chapter was formed around 1990. Membership costs $75 annually, and it is open to journalists who spend at least half of their professional life writing or editing work for publication.

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Anthony Shadid: An Appreciation

Madison Pro Chapter President Mark Pitsch has written an appreciation of New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid, who died on assignment in Syria last week.

Shadid, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, worked for The Daily Cardinal and graduated from UW-Madison.

The appreciation, first published in the Wisconsin State Journal on Feb. 18, can be found here.

SPJ mourns death of UW-Madison graduate Anthony Shadid.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and UW-Madison graduate Anthony Shadid died Thursday while on assignment in Syria. The New York Times reporter was 43. He worked at the Daily Cardinal at UW before beginning his professional career.

The Madison Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists mourns his death.

Reporter Roundtable with Dana Priest

MADISON – The UW-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Madison Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists invite Madison-area journalists and journalism students to a luncheon roundtable with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dana Priest.

The brown bag luncheon will take place on Feb. 28 from 12-1 pm in Room 5055 at Vilas Hall, 821 University Ave., on the UW-Madison campus.

Priest is an American author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose work focuses on intelligence and counterterrorism. As one of The Washington Post’s specialists on National Security she has written many articles on the United States’ “War on terror.” In 2006 she won the Pulitzer Prize for Beat Reporting for her reporting on black site prisons and in 2008 The Washington Post was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the reporting of Priest and Anne Hull and photographer Michel du Cille at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Priest’s most recent book, “Top Secret America: The Rise of the New American Security State” was published in September, 2011. Co-authored with William Arkin, it uncovers and explores the top-secret world the U.S. government created in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The luncheon will feature Priest discussing her work and sharing tips for local reporters on how to investigate U.S. homeland security spending and policy in their communities. Space is limited and RSVPs are required. Professional journalists should RSVP to Mark Pitsch at mpitsch@madison.com. Professionals who can spend time speaking to student journalists after the reporter roundtable are encouraged to do so.

Please note: Ms. Priest’s flight arrives in Madison at 11 a.m. Feb. 28. Changes to her flight schedule could prompt changes to or cancellation of this event.

At 6:30 p.m. Feb. 28, Priest will give the UW-Madison Nafziger Lecture at the Fluno Center, Howard Auditorium, 601 University Avenue. The Nafziger Lecture is made possible through generous donations from alumni, friends and the family of Ralph O. and Monona H. Nafziger.

SPJ seeks professionals, aspiring journalists for mentoring program

The Society of Professional Journalists – Madison Pro Chapter, the SPJ – UW student chapter and the SPJ – UW-Whitewater chapter are seeking professionals and students to participate in a mentoring program for aspiring journalists.

You do not have to be an SPJ member to be a mentor or to have a mentor.

We will connect one professional with one student. Under the program the pair should talk at least once a week for a four month period. The interaction will be both in person as well as via email and phone. We want the professional to use their skills to help the student build toward a professional career as a journalist.

Areas of expertise include: Broadcast Journalism (Reporter/Producer/Sports/Photojournalist), Print Journalism (Reporter/Editor/Sports/Feature/Photojournalism), Magazine (Reporter/Editor), Radio (On-air, Producer).

For more information, please contact Joe Radske, vice president of the Madison Pro Chapter, at 262-366-1259 or jradske@wkow.com.

Nonprofit News: What to Know About ‘Free’ Media

NONPROFIT NEWS: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ‘FREE’ MEDIA

MADISON – The State Capitol media landscape is changing. Within the past two years several nonprofit news organizations have been established offering to share their reporting with traditional media outlets.

In conjunction with the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, the Madison Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is sponsoring a discussion about nonprofit media on Feb. 23 at 10:30 a.m. at the Madison Marriott West, 1313 John Q Hammond Drive, Middleton. The event will be prelude to the WNA annual convention, which runs Feb. 23-24.

“Nonprofit News: What You Need to Know About ‘Free’ Media” will be moderated by UW-Madison journalism ethics professor Stephen J. Ward and feature representatives of the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism, Wisconsin Reporter, and the Center for Media and Democracy. It will give the nonprofit news organizations a chance to explain what they do and it will give news editors and publishers an opportunity to ask questions of the groups.

WNA and SPJ members, and other members of the media, are encouraged to attend.

The event is free and open to the public.

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Standing Business Meeting: First Mondays

The Madison Pro Chapter of SPJ will hold a standing business meeting on the first Monday of each month at 7 pm at the Vintage Brewing Company, 674 South Whitney Way, Madison. We’ll still send out agendas in advance.

Other events — talks, training, social events — will be scheduled on other days.

This is another step in more firmly anchoring the SPJ Madison Pro Chapter in the area media landscape.