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Vol. 4, No. 5 1999

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September
A publication of the East Tennessee Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists

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Getting public records they don't want us to have Brown to lead ETSPJ Follies auction item winners listed Winstrom leaves can't keep a good man down South New dues options

Getting public records they don't want us to have

Tom Chester, assistant managing editor of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, will be guest speaker at the Oct. 18 meeting of the East Tennessee Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Chesters talk, Public Records, Public Lives, will address the problems of getting public records when officials do not want to release them to the media. University Center To give students the opportunity to hear the presentation, the chapter has made arrangements to hold the meeting in Room 220 at the University Center on the UT campus. This room holds about 45 people. Parking is available in the garage next to the University Center. This will be a brown bag lunch. If you wish, you can buy sandwiches, salads or hot lunches at two different dining areas on the first floor of the building and carry your food upstairs to the meeting room.

UT Graduate Chester, a 1978 graduate of the University of Tennessee, has been an editor and reporter with the News-Sentinel since 1987. Before that, he was an editor and reporter for the Knoxville Journal and a part-time sports reporter for the Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser. Chester, in addition to having served four years in the U.S. Air Force, has been a house painter, carpenters apprentice, quality control specialist in the textile industry, grave digger, pots and pans scrubber in a hospital, grocery store clerk and farm hand.

Brown to lead ETSPJ

Wynne Brown, freelance writer and editor and expert horsewoman, will serve as president of ETSPJ during the coming year. She will be assisted by vice presidents Alan Carmichael and Adina Chumley. Jan Maxwell Avent will continue as secretary and Bonnie Riechert as treasurer. Dave Winstrom is immediate past president. Carmichael, a partner and co-president of Moxley Carmichael, served as chairman of this years Front Page Follies and will be vice president for Follies. Chumley, an associate producer/writer for Scripps Productions, will serve as vice president for the Golden Press Card awards. Avent is assistant editorial page editor at the Knoxville News-Sentinel, and Riechert is an assistant professor in the U.T. College of Communications. Winstrom, a former producer for the Food Network, is now a news director with the Fox network in New York. Dorothy Bowles, professor of journalism in the U.T. College of Communications, will serve a two-year term on the board as campus liaison. Serving the second of two-year terms on the board are co-program chairs, Lisa Hood Skinner, freelance journalist and director of marketing and public relations for the Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, and Jean Ash, freelance broadcaster and China tour leader. Georgiana Vines, deputy managing editor of the Knoxville NewsSentinel, will serve her second year as membership chair.

Follies auction item winners listed

Donors of Front Page Follies auction items and the winners are helping ETSPJ support journalism education at the University of Tennessee and Pellissippi State. The items and the purchasers were: 1. Cap signed by Phil Fulmer; basketball signed by Pat Summit--bought by Bill Baxter for $200. 2. Dinner with Victor and Joan Ashe at the Sunspot--Ginger Baxter, $325.

3. Dinner with Tim Burchett at Woodsmoke Lodge--Joe Johnson, $110. 4. News-Sentinel ads--Victor Ashe, $1,350 and Randy Tyree, $1,200. 5. HGTV letter jacket, bathrobe, cap, garden- ing gloves, shirts--Anne McKinney $325. 6. Dinner with Randy Tyree at Calhoun's--Julie Hardin, $100. 7. "Live at Five" appearance on Channel 10-- Ginger Baxter, $400. 8. Lunch with Jimmy Duncan at the Capitol and USAir tickets--Jim Clayton, $1,050. 9. Photograph by Howard Baker--Tom Hill, $375. 10. Walking tour with Jack Neely--Cynthia Moxley, $100. 11. Appearance on Hallerin Hill show--Nick Pavlis, $325; SportsTalk appearance-Danny Mayfield, $150. 12. Daniel cartoons--Bill Baxter, $700. 13. Golf with Rick Katzfey--Gene Patterson, $125. 14. Golf with Matt Hinkin--Jim Clayton, $150. 15. Lunch with Rachelle Kennedy and Margie Ison--Victor Ashe, $110. 16. Photograph by Jack Kirkland--Karen Bridgeman, $550. 17. IPIX photo of Lady Vols at the White House--Ron Bridgeman, $375. Thanks to everyone who donated and bought items.

Winstrom leaves
Dave Winstrom, who has served two terms as president of ETSPJ, is leaving Knoxville to become director of News Edge for the Fox Network in New York. Winstrom will manage the news service, which covers news from all over the world for the Fox network and its affiliates across the United States. More than 100 Fox affiliates are carrying news programming. The News Edge operation has 120 employees in the United States and seven bureaus throughout the world. Winstrom will be based in New York, but expects to spend a lot of time traveling. Winstroms family will remain in Knoxville because this is our home, he said. They are delaying decisions about moving until school is out. We hate to leave Knoxville, but Im really looking forward to the challenge, Winstrom said. While in Knoxville, Winstrom was a news executive at WATE, Channel 6, and WVLT, Channel 8. He has also done freelance work for ABC in Atlanta, 20/20 and the Food Network. I'll miss my friends and associates with ETSPJ, but I hope to be in and out of town often. I'll be checking my e-mail if anyone wants to contact me, Winstrom said. His e-mail address is IndyDave5@aol.com.

New Dues Options

by Georgiana Vines The biggest complaint SPJ gets about membership is the cost. So

here's what headquarters is going to do on a trial basis: One year memberships -- pro, student, retired and associate -- can be charged in two equal installments (just like the infommercials!). For example, a regular one-year pro membership at $70 can be paid for in two installments of $35 each. SPJ also has introduced multiple-year memberships at discounted rates, also with installment payments. For example, two-year pro membership, regularly $140, is now $125; and three-year pro membership, regularly $210, is now $185. Details will be on the Web site (www.spj.org) soon. The promotion will be tried through the end of 1999 and then evaluated to see if discounts and installment payments make a difference.
Updated September 1999 by Sally A. Guthrie