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Your connection to industry & member news | April 15, 2020
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SCPA Foundation selects 2020 Mundy Scholar
Anna Sharpe, a Mass Communication and Spanish major at Winthrop University, was named this year’s SCPA Foundation Mundy Scholar.
Sharpe will receive $1,000 to put toward her education. The Mundy Scholarship is given in memory of R. Frank Mundy, the late publisher of the Index-Journal in Greenwood and the first president of the SCPA Foundation.
Sharpe, a Summerville native, is an aspiring investigative journalist and was named SCPA’s Collegiate Journalist of the Year. She has served as the editor of Winthrop’s weekly newspaper, The Johnsonian, and will continue as managing editor in the fall.
“I am extremely honored to be awarded the Mundy Scholarship,” Sharpe said. “I am looking forward to covering important stories on campus in the upcoming school year and making a difference in my community.”
Sharpe is the daughter of Mike and Julie Sharpe. In her free time, she enjoys practicing her Spanish skills and spending time with friends.
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By Eric P. Robinson,
USC School of Journalism and Mass Communications
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Is there a legal remedy for Coronavirus ‘Fake News’?
President Trump, various federal officials, and several governors have been criticized for initially failing to acknowledge the threat posed by the coronavirus and by doing so leading some to a false sense of complacency and that the threat was not real. In addition, there has also been criticism of media outlets and personalities that also downplayed the situation. One reaction to this is an “Open Letter to the Murdochs,” signed by a collection of journalists and journalism professors, asking the owners of the Fox News Channel to stop conveying misinformation to their audience, which skews into the older demographic thought to be at highest risk in the pandemic.
There has also been commentary about the possibility of suing Fox over the misinformation, and a report that the company was girding for such lawsuits.
But so far it appears that only one such lawsuit has been filed, by a public interest group in Washington state. The lawsuit claims that Fox violated Washington’s consumer protection laws by “willfully and maliciously engag[ing] in a campaign of deception and omission regarding the danger of the international proliferation of the novel Coronavirus, COVID-19.” As a remedy, the lawsuit seeks an injunction barring Fox from “falsely and deceptively disseminating ‘News’ that the novel Coronavirus is a ‘Hoax’ that is not a danger to public health and safety, or otherwise interfering with or undermining the legitimate control measures imposed within the State of Washington for the limited time period under which the pandemic is brought under control and until the pandemic is brought under control[.]” Read more.
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Steve Bruss named executive editor for Gannett's Upstate newsrooms
Veteran journalist Steve Bruss has been named executive editor for Gannett's Upstate newsrooms, overseeing The Greenville News, Spartanburg Herald-Journal and Anderson Independent Mail, the company announced Monday.
Bruss has been news director of The News and Independent Mail since 2017. He will guide a team of more than 40 journalists dedicated to providing quality community news, watchdog journalism and sports coverage.
“Steve has been such an integral part of Greenville's and Anderson's successes. Adding Spartanburg to his team will only add to those great efforts,” said Pam Sander, Southeast Regional Editor for Gannett. Read more.
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Index-Journal adjusts to these pandemic times
Editor’s note: Please share any changes your paper is making due to COVID-19 with us and we will share them with your peers.
In response to a sharp decline in revenue as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Index-Journal has, as previously outlined, had to make adjustments to both its products and its workforce.
Beginning with the April 4 edition, the newspaper will cease print and delivery of Saturday and Monday newspaper for the foreseeable future. While other newspapers across the nation have reduced production of their daily newspapers from seven to five days, our intent is to remain on this course of action for the time being.
Additionally, all salaried and hourly full-time employees have taken a furlough of 4 hours per week as a cost-saving measure. Read more.
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AP makes coronavirus dataset available to all
AP uses data collected by the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering as its source for COVID-19 cases and deaths.
AP has paired this data with population figures and county rural/urban designations, and has calculated caseload and death rates per 100,000 people. Its dataset is now available to any organization that signs up for a free account on data.world.
AP updates this dataset hourly at 45 minutes past the hour.
In addition to the data, AP is also offering an embeddable interactive visualization.
AP will demonstrate its COVID-19 data in a webinar on April 16.
By Lauren Easton, The Associated Press | Read more
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Media Groups call on Congress to support local news, local media
On April 9, four national media organizations representing thousands of local newspapers and local broadcast media outlets – the News Media Alliance, National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), National Newspaper Association (NNA) and America’s Newspapers – jointly called on Congress to provide critical support to local news media in its next stimulus bill designed to provide relief to businesses impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. In its summary document, the organizations specifically call for Congress to ensure the ability of local media to seek relief under the Paycheck Protection Program and to fund federal advertising spending on local media through directing current U.S. government advertising campaigns to local news and media outlets, and providing the Department of Health and Human Services, the Small Business Administration and other relevant agencies with an additional $5-10 billion for direct funding for local media advertising that would be evenly distributed to local media in communities of all sizes.
From News Media Alliance | Read more
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America’s Newspapers offers free marketing campaign to newspapers
"Newspapers have your back," reads a new marketing campaign being rolled out by America's Newspapers. "We are grateful for those who have our back in this important time."
Newspapers can download this series of print and social media ads at no cost. The print ads include space for the name or logo of the newspaper publishing them.
From America’s Newspapers | Read more
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| Thanks Annual Meeting Sponsors!
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Even though the Annual Meeting has been postponed until September, please take a moment to visit these special organizations online.
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