Glenn Bohn

Rob Brown

Bruce Claggett

Neil Godbout

Betty Selin

Jack Webster Foundation Co-Chairs Steve Crombie and Chris Weafer announced the 2006 recipients of the new JWF Poynter Institute Fellowships for BC print, broadcast and online journalists. Jack Webster Foundation Poynter Institute Fellowships provide up to $2,000 per Fellow to attend a journalism seminar of their choice at the Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida.

"We're proud that the success of the foundation's annual awards dinner has allowed us to expand educational opportunities," Crombie said. "It's tremendously exciting that these awards are coming just as a group of young BC journalists is returning from Malawi and Tanzania on our CIDA-sponsored Seeing the World through New Eyes program," said Weafer. (See the blogs at: http://www.jackwebster.com/awards/eyes-fellowship.shtml)

Jack Webster Foundation Poynter Institute Fellowships provide up to $3,000 per Fellow to attend a journalism seminar of their choice in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Poynter Institute's five-day narrative Reporting on Deadline seminar was the most enriching educational experience I've had since I graduated with a journalism diploma three decades ago.

Glenn Bohn, The Vancouver Sun



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I really can't say enough about the "Poynter experience". It was truly life altering for me. The program is focused not only on producing better journalists but better people. To be able to live and breath nothing but the craft for that long was one thing. But to do so while learning from the best TV storytellers in the business - people focused first and foremost on serving the public - has put my mind in a place it hasn't been for a very long time.

Rob Brown, CTV



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Within moments of sharing a shuttle with a visiting faculty lecturer from Detroit, I discovered the Poynter Institute would not only serve as a venue for revisiting journalistic leadership but also help nurture a network of broadcasters committed to pushing the boundaries of 'purpose.' I came to St. Petersburg as a Canadian radio news editor but was quickly welcomed by more than a dozen TV newsroom organizers from around the States, all armed with similar stories and challenges for our 'Managing People and Plans for Breaking News' seminar.

One of my goals in applying for a Jack Webster Foundation Fellowship was to augment my knowledge and skills to enhance systems for managing breaking news situations, especially during natural disasters or other notable emergencies. This Poynter seminar exceeded my expectations by incorporating participant experiences in its sessions. Some of the highlights were:

1. A Systems Approach to Breaking News - During this session, we focused on building a station's image around the concepts of getting to the scene first, getting the story right and getting it on the air.
2. Breaking News Ethics - This centered on three main areas including anticipating ethical problems in order to avoid ethical explosions, incorporating experts in news coverage (mainly for off-air advice) and maintaining balance through tone and proportion.
3. The ABCs of Performance Management - We examined Antecedents, Behaviors and Consequences in dealing with reporter staffing issues.
4. Performance Management: "Tearing Down the Walls" - This interesting session dealt with the experiences learned in one TV newsroom after the physical walls were removed and no one could hide.
5. The Disaster Plan Breakout Group - In this small group discussion, we examined communication webs for allocating reporter resources.
Ideas flowing from these sessions often continued through casual evening discussions.

During one of our dinners, a fellow participant from Memphis used the term 'cousins' to explain her approach to phoning other newsrooms. Now that the Poynter sessions have ended, we use email list serves to communicate with all our 'seminar cousins,' sharing ideas ranging from the definition of 'exclusive' to handling natural disasters. Such ongoing discussions prove that plans now being readied for implementation at my newsroom, News1130, are still living concepts that can be improved through the lessons learned from other media markets. This positions us to excel at conveying timely, accurate and credible information. On a daily basis, this means continuing to build on journalistic credibility - a concept that Poynter recognizes as key to any station's success. In fact, being trusted as an information source is far more than simple business acumen. It's about delivering the best product 24 hours a day so our audience has a trusted ally during any emergency and an advocate during their daily lives.

Bruce Claggett, News1130



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Please accept my heartfelt thanks for awarding me a fellowship to attend the Poynter Institute for the Advanced Copy Editing seminar. As I expected, it was an outstanding experience, both educational and inspirational.

My week of study was frantic but fun. We started the week with a no-nonsense reminder from John McIntyre of the Baltimore Sun that it starts and ends with the words. While our relationship with writers is often adversarial, John stressed to us that our job as editors is to make good reporting great by being fearless. "Copy editors heal with the knife," he argued. Even in an age of increasing online journalism, we must have a commitment to writing and language that stresses clarity and accuracy.

For the rest of the week, we expanded our view of copy editing to look at page design, headline writing, visual editing, graphic use and ethics. Our group leaders emphasized that while we had a week to explore these concepts, they were trying to give us tools to apply under deadline, when there are only minutes to craft a headline, sculpt a presentation for our top story on page one or decide if a story should be held because of ethical concerns.

Each component addressed these very real issues and they were applicable to all 14 of us, regardless of our publications, from USA Today and Yahoo! to the Prince George Citizen and the Herald-News in Wolf Point, Montana, a weekly newspaper with a circulation of just 2,200. As the week progressed, we found we had far more in common with each other than differences. We love to tell stories, we adore language, we always want to be right and we care passionately about the future of our industry. Wisely, Poynter faculty left plenty of time for participants to share their struggles, challenges, successes and insights with each other.

Neil Godbout, Prince George Citizen



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I would like you to know how truly grateful I am for the Fellowship I received to attend the Poynter Institute. The instructors were highly skilled professionals who were excellent facilitators at the Leadership Academy I attended.

What I didn't realize is how much I would learn from the other talented people in the course. They came from all over the world, South Africa, Denmark, Sweden, Nigeria, Romania, and of course the United States. I was one of just two Canadians.

Betty Selin, Standard Radio