News Leaders Association

Last updated
News Leaders Association
Founded2019
Merger ofAmerican Society of News Editors, Associated Press Media Editors and Association of Opinion Journalists
Type Nonprofit
PurposeJournalism-related and First Amendment issues
Headquarters Reynolds Journalism Institute at the Missouri School of Journalism
2023 NLA President
Alison Gerber
Website newsleaders.org

News Leaders Association (NLA) is a non-profit organization that focuses on training and supporting journalists. [1] Formerly the American Society of News Editors and Associated Press Media Editors, the organizations merged in 2019 to form NLA. [2]

Contents

History

In 1922, the American Society of Newspaper Editors was formed by top editors to elevate the professionalism and ethics of the journalism business. [3] In 1931, managing editors felt they needed their own organization, forming the Associated Press Managing Editors. [4] Both organizations would later change their names to reflect the changing industry: ASNE became the American Society of News Editors in 2009 [5] and APME became the Associated Press Media Editors in 2011. [6] In 2016, the Association of Opinion Journalists was merged with ASNE. [7]

By 2018, the need for two separate organizations was not needed and hence they were merged to form the American Society of News Editors and the Associated Press Media Editors.” [2] At the 2019 annual conference of APME and ASNE, the merger was approved.

In 2020, the NLA canceled its annual conference, postponing it to spring 2021. [8]

On December 8, 2023, the NLA's board of directors unanimously approved the NLA membership’s November vote to dissolve organization and distribute its remaining assets to other nonprofits by June 30, 2024. [9]

Programs

Diversity Survey

In 1978, ASNE launched an annual diversity survey of America's newsrooms. [10] NLA continued this work, under the name "Transformative Transparency Project". [11]

In a 2021 interview with Open the Government, NLA executive director Fran Reilly explained, "We have created an expanded program that is designed to meet the urgency of the lack of DEI in journalism—we will soon be rolling out the Transformative Transparency Project, which still uses a data collection framework to gain insights to understand the full scope of the problem, but is expanded to include tools, resources and programs to help newsrooms improve their DEI culture, and set and reach diversity goals." [12]

NLA paused the survey in 2020 to rework it after years of lackluster participation. In 2021, NLA choose not to release the results of that year's diversity survey, citing problems with the collected demographic information. Those issues included discrepancies in how certain racial and ethnic categories were counted and percentages that did not add up to 100. [13]

In 2022, while NLA had planned for 2,500 print and online organizations to participate in the survey, only 303 news organizations responded that year, down from 429 orgs that responded in 2019, but up from the 293 that responded in 2018, which was the historic low-water mark for participation. [14]

Sunshine Week

Sunshine Week is a national initiative spearheaded by the News Leaders Association to educate the public about the importance of open government and freedom of information. [15] It was established in March 2005 and is celebrated annually during the week containing March 16, which is National Freedom of Information Day. [16]

In December 2023, NLA transferred stewardship of Sunshine Week to the Joseph L. Brechner Freedom of Information (FOI) Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications. [17]

Annual Awards

NLA recognized excellence in journalism and leadership with their annual awards. The NLA Awards continued the long traditions of the previous ASNE and APME Awards, and are among the most prestigious in journalism. [18]

In 2021, a new award was created to recognize an editor or team of editors who have displayed strong leadership in matching the extraordinary moment of an unprecedented year through great journalism and vital decision making on all fronts. Ron Nixon, Associated Press global investigations editor, was named the inaugural News Leader of the Year. [19]

On November 30, 2023, it was announced the NLA transitioned stewardship of the NLA Awards to the Poynter Institute, who will administer the contest from 2024 onward. The awards were renamed to The Poynter Journalism Prizes. [20]

Related Research Articles

The Oklahoman is the largest daily newspaper in Oklahoma, United States, and is the only regional daily that covers the Greater Oklahoma City area. The Alliance for Audited Media lists it as the 59th largest U.S. newspaper in circulation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Society of News Editors</span> Organization

The American Society of News Editors (ASNE) was a membership organization for editors, producers or directors in charge of journalistic organizations or departments, deans or faculty at university journalism schools, and leaders and faculty of media-related foundations and training organizations. In 2019, it merged with the Associated Press Media Editors to become the News Leaders Association.

<i>The Post and Courier</i> Newspaper in Charleston, SC

The Post and Courier is the main daily newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina. It traces its ancestry to three newspapers, the Charleston Courier, founded in 1803, the Charleston Daily News, founded 1865, and The Evening Post, founded 1894. Through the Courier, it brands itself as the oldest daily newspaper in the South and one of the oldest continuously operating newspapers in the United States. It is the flagship newspaper of Evening Post Industries, which in turn is owned by the Manigault family of Charleston, descendants of Peter Manigault.

<i>The Patriot-News</i> Newspaper in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area

The Patriot-News is the largest newspaper serving the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, metropolitan area. In 2005, the newspaper was ranked in the top 100 in daily and Sunday circulation in the United States. It has been owned by Advance Publications since 1947.

<i>Austin American-Statesman</i> Daily broadsheet newspaper published in Austin, Texas

The Austin American-Statesman is the major daily newspaper for Austin, the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is owned by Gannett.

The Poynter Institute for Media Studies is a non-profit journalism school and research organization in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The school is the owner of the Tampa Bay Times newspaper and the International Fact-Checking Network. It also operates PolitiFact.

Sunshine Week is a national initiative spearheaded by the News Leaders Association to educate the public about the importance of open government and the dangers of excessive and unnecessary secrecy. It was established in March 2005 by the American Society of News Editors, now known as the News Leaders Association, with funding from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The Burlington Free Press is a digital and print community news organization based in Burlington, Vermont, and owned by Gannett. It is one of the official "newspapers of record" for the State of Vermont.

Brett Murphy is an American journalist, best known as a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2018 for his investigative reporting series on the exploitation of truckers in California. He was also a child actor in the early 2000s, appearing in films including Fever Pitch.

The Conversation is a network of not-for-profit media outlets publishing news stories and research reports online, with accompanying expert opinion and analysis. Articles are written by academics and researchers under a Creative Commons license, allowing reuse without modification. Copyright terms for images are generally listed in the image caption and attribution. Its model has been described as explanatory journalism. Except in "exceptional circumstances", it only publishes articles by "academics employed by, or otherwise formally connected to, accredited institutions, including universities and accredited research bodies".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sara Ganim</span> American journalist

Sara Elizabeth Ganim is an American journalist and podcast host. She is the current Hearst Journalism Fellow at the University of Florida's Brechner Center for Freedom of Information and the James Madison Visiting Professor on First Amendment Issues at the Columbia Journalism School. Previously, she was a correspondent for CNN. In 2011 and 2012, she was a reporter for The Patriot-News, a daily newspaper in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. There she broke the story that featured the Sandusky scandal and the Second Mile charity. For the Sandusky/Penn State coverage, "Sara Ganim and members of The Patriot-News Staff" won a number of national awards including the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, making Ganim the third-youngest winner of a Pulitzer. The award cited "courageously revealing and adeptly covering the explosive Sandusky sex scandal involving former football coach Jerry Sandusky."

Carol Marbin Miller is a senior investigative reporter at The Miami Herald. Marbin Miller began covering social welfare programs at the St. Petersburg Times in the 1990s. She joined The Miami Herald in 2000 and has reported extensively on Florida's services to children as well as the state's juvenile justice system, programs for people with disabilities, mental health and elder care.

Loren Frank Ghiglione is an American journalist, editor, and journalism educator and dean. He has worked as a part of journalism professionally for over 45 years, and was awarded the Ida B. Wells Award from the National Association of Black Journalists, as well as the Distinguished Service to Journalism History Award from the American Journalism Historians Association. In 2001 he decided to focus his career around education, working as a professor for universities such as Emory University, University of Central Florida, and Northwestern University.

Jay T. Harris, an African-American journalist; journalism educator at the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois; and chairman and publisher of the San Jose Mercury News in San Jose, California, United States. He is a self-described "journalistic traditionalist" and stepped down as publisher as a statement about how the newspaper industry's emphasis on profits was harming its public mission. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Association of Black Journalists in 1992.

Jerome Merle Ceppos was an American journalist, news executive, and educator.

The Google News Lab is a global team at Google whose mission is to "collaborate with journalists and entrepreneurs to help build the future of media". Launched in 2015, the team works with news organizations to help drive innovation, address industry challenges, and provide training and access to emerging technologies for reporting and storytelling. Some industry commentators have labelled it as an attempt to build goodwill among journalists, in contrast with rival tech giants such as Facebook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandra Mims Rowe</span> American journalist

Sandra Mims Rowe is an American journalist. She is the former editor of The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, and of The Oregonian, in Portland, Oregon. She was one of the few women editors of metro newspapers in the 1980s, and was the first woman editor at The Virginian-Pilot and The Oregonian. She was the second female president of the American Society of News Editors, a decade after Kay Fanning, the editor of The Christian Science Monitor, was the first.

Chalkbeat is a non-profit news organization that covers education in several American communities. Its mission is to "inform the decisions and actions that lead to better outcomes for children and families by providing deep, local coverage of education policy and practice." It aims to cover "the effort to improve schools for all children, especially those who have historically lacked access to a quality education". Its areas of focus include under-reported stories, education policy, equity, trends, and local reporting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank LoMonte</span> American lawyer

Frank D. LoMonte is an American lawyer and journalist known for his press freedom advocacy. He is legal counsel at CNN and adjunct professor at the University of Georgia School of Law. He was the director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, part of the University of Florida's College of Journalism and Communications from 2017 to 2022, and was previously the executive director of the Student Press Law Center from 2008 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military Veterans in Journalism</span> American nonprofit organization founded 2019

Military Veterans in Journalism (MVJ) is an American nonprofit organization established in 2019 to support military veterans and their family members pursuing careers in journalism. Founded by two military veterans, MVJ aims to bridge the gap between military service and the journalism industry by providing mentorship and job opportunities for veterans seeking news careers.

References

  1. "About". News Leaders Association.
  2. 1 2 Edmonds, Rick (June 21, 2018). "The logic for two separate newspaper organizations evaporates and so they merge". Poynter.
  3. Leib, Howard (2009). "American Society of News Editors". Middle Tennessee State University . Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  4. "The Associated Press History". Zippia. August 27, 2020.
  5. Calderone, Michael (December 16, 2008). "ASNE proposes name change; remove 'newspaper'". Politico . Archived from the original on December 17, 2008.
  6. Romenesko, Jim (September 14, 2011). "Associated Press Managing Editors changes name to Associated Press Media Editors". Poynter. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  7. "AOJ to join forces with ASNE, turn over writing seminar to The Poynter Institute". PR Newswire . May 10, 2016. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  8. Edmonds, Rick (2020-03-06). "Merged news editors group is canceling its 2020 conference". Poynter. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  9. "NLA board approves membership's vote to dissolve by June 2024". Editor & Publisher . 2023-12-12. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  10. Chideya, Farai (May 22, 2018). "'This deepening division is not inevitable': The failing diversity efforts of newsrooms". Columbia Journalism Review.
  11. "Transformative Transparency Project". News Leaders Association. Archived from the original on March 9, 2021.
  12. "Q & A with an Accountability Expert". Open the Government. March 23, 2021. Archived from the original on April 16, 2021. Retrieved December 14, 2023.
  13. Fu, Angela (2022-08-18). "NLA scraps 2021 diversity survey results after finding 'data integrity' issues". Poynter. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  14. Scrie, Sarah (April 12, 2022). "Yet again, newsrooms aren't showing up to the industry's largest diversity survey". Nieman Lab. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  15. "Celebrate Sunshine Week 2021 March 14-20". March 11, 2021.
  16. Board, News Editorial. "The Editorial Board: As Sunshine Week dawns, officeholders continue to keep secrets from citizens". The Buffalo News.
  17. Bennett, Randy (2023-12-11). "Brechner Freedom of Information Project to Lead National Sunshine Week". UF College of Journalism and Communications. Retrieved 2023-12-14.
  18. Andersen, Travis (March 5, 2021). "Boston Globe columnist wins News Leaders Association opinion prize". The Boston Globe .
  19. "AP's Nixon wins News Leader of the Year award from NLA". Associated Press . April 5, 2021.
  20. Orsi, Jennifer (2023-11-30). "Poynter Institute to run respected 45-year-old journalism contest, now renamed The Poynter Journalism Prizes". Poynter. Retrieved 2023-12-14.