[Imc-newsroom] Covering Chicago/WLUP/Delivering On The Pitch/Meet Journalists

[Community Media Workshop eNotes]

COMMUNITY MEDIA WORKSHOP'S eNOTES -March 2, 2006
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On Chicago's CAN TV Channel 21 . . . 

 >> MEDIA ACCORDING TO MARK, MARY AND RENEE <<
featured Saturday, March 3, 8 p.m. on Community, Media & You

More and more news is driven by a national agenda.  Too often broadcast
news concentrates on body bag journalism, political scandal and celebrity
divorces.  Too many news consumers aren't finding the local news that helps
them know what's really going on in their communities and what we can do
about it as citizens.  

The 2006 Studs Terkel Award winners Sun-Times page-two columnist Mark
Brown, veteran NBC 5 investigative reporter Renee Ferguson, and Mary Johns
editor-in-chief of Residents Journal explore how journalists how they got
into journalism, how difficult it is to do local journalism today, the
difference between newspaper and television reporting and how communities
can get their news on the air and into print, with host Thom Clark.

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>> INTRODUCING STNGWire <<
Sun-Times has a new daybook up and running, called Stingwire (or STNGWire,
short for Sun Times News Group Wire). At 4 p.m. every day the STNGWire will
send advance schedules of tomorrow's news to clients-TV, radio, and other
news outlets that purchase the service from the Sun-Times. Then the wire
will publish an update at 9 p.m. and a final schedule at 6 a.m. listing the
day's likely news events. To get your news event on the schedule, you can
email STNGwire at suntimes.com, fax 312-321-2148, send mail to STNGWire, c/o
Chicago Sun-Times, 350 N. Orleans, 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60654. You can
also call to confirm receipt of something you sent on 312-321-2147. The
STNGWire service has more than a half-dozen staff that monitor police
stations, legal action, and the Medical Examiner's office, to name a few,
and will be staffed 24-hours. Jeff Mayes is the editor.


>> GETTING LISTED ON WLUP'S WEBSITE <<
WLUP lists community and nonprofit groups on its website's public affairs
page at http://www.wlup.com/public_affairs/index.aspx.  To be considered
for inclusion, send email to Phil Grosch at Pgrosch at emmischicago.com which
includes the name of your organization, a short paragraph description, and
your organization's website's URL.

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Up next at the Workshop. . .

>> STORYTELLING TO CREATE CHANGE - March 8 <<
A good story is a prerequisite to media coverage and a key to the public's
connection to your organization. Information and statistics are not enough.
Come ready to write, sweat and try out story ideas in small groups. Learn
to find your organization's stories and how to tell stories with impact.
http://www.newstips.org/register/index.php?section=Workshop&calendar_id=30 


>> DEVELOP AND SHARPEN YOUR MESSAGE - March 14 <<
Communicating what you're doing quickly and convincingly helps further your
organization's mission and bottom line. Lack of clarity and jargon will be
covered as participants develop a "key message" and focus on a given
audience, research their values and concerns, determine the best way to
reach that audience, and put the whole thing together to craft messages
that move people to action.
http://www.newstips.org/register/index.php?section=Workshop&calendar_id=45 


>> DELIVERING ON THE PITCH: HOW TO PACKAGE YOUR STORY FOR TV & RADIO -
March 16 <<
Now that a broadcast news outlet has agreed to cover your story or event,
what can you do to get the most out of the opportunity? Find out to
determine and sharpen the focus or "hook" for your story and make sure
you're offering the absolute essentials--interesting people, video and
audio. 
http://www.newstips.org/register/index.php?section=Workshop&calendar_id=69 


>> STUDS TERKEL AWARDS - April 19 <<
Join Studs and honorary chairpersons ERIC ZORN and MARY SCHMICH for hors
d'oeuvres, drinks, dinner & some special entertainment as we celebrate the
accomplishments of some of Chicago's best journalists:  MARY JOHNS and the
editorial team of the Residents' Journal; MARK BROWN, columnist for the
Chicago Sun-Times and RENEE FERGUSON, investigative reporter for WMAQ-TV.
When: 5-8 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, 2006. 
Where: The Arts Club of Chicago, 201 E. Ontario, Chicago.  
Details are at
http://www.newstips.org/interior.php?section=Calendar&main_id=558.

You might have noticed in the media guide the ceremonies were originally to
be on April 5.  The date changed to accommodate Studs' book tour schedule.
He's expect to be on The Daily Show that week to mix it up with Jon
Stewart.

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Where the journalists are . . .

>> WOMEN ROCK! <<
Saturday, March 11, 1 p.m.
:Harold Washington Library Center, Video Theater-Lower Level, 400 S. State
St., Chicago

Chicago Reader's MONICA KENDRICK, Venus' AMY SCHROEDER, Music critic
JESSICA HOPPER, and DePaul professor DEENA WEINSTEIN will discuss women,
class, race and music.  Have women installed themselves so firmly into the
various roles of the music business that we don't notice them anymore? Is
talking about 'women in rock' a self-ghettoizing exercise or simply a tired
topic? From punk and metal, to hip-hop, country and electro, these experts
elucidate the roles of superstars, critics and groupies of all genders. 
For more info, contact Lorna Donley at 312-747-4889 or
ldonley at chipublib.org.


>> WOMEN, ACTION & THE MEDIA: MAKING NOISE, MAKING CHANGE << March 31 -
April 2
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA

Now in its third year, progressive journalists, authors, activists,
bloggers, students, and fed-up TV-viewers come together near Boston to
share skills, trade information, exchange strategies, and inform and
inspire one another. Chicagoans presenting include In These Times' TRACY
VAN SLYKE and JESSICA CLARK, Northwestern's MICHELE WELDON,
PopPolitics.com's CHRISTINE CUPAIUOLO. More about it's at
http://www.centerfornewwords.org/wam.html.

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"I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can
do something. I will not refuse to do the something I can do."  Helen
Keller

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Community Media Workshop is a nonprofit organization of journalists,
educators and media relations experts helping other nonprofits doing vital
work in their community connect with the media and visa versa. We provide
workshops, an annual conference, a media guide, a journalists' tipsheet,
briefing papers, sources, and sponsor the Studs Terkel Awards...that will
be April 19, 2006, by the way.

Community Media Workshop 
at Columbia College 
mail: 600 S. Michigan 
Chicago, IL 60605 
312-344-6400 
http://www.newstips.org

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