Prepaid orders only
Send check payable to NASW
PO Box 890
Hedgesville, WV 25427-0890
Instructions: It's easy to order. Print off this form, fill out your shipping information, check off the tapes you want, make check payable to NASW, and send to Diane McGurgan, NASW, PO Box 890, Hedgesville, WV 25427-0890.
Available tapes:
____Plenary Session: Science writing ethics
· Organizer: Lee Wilkins, professor of journalism, University of Missouri
· Richard Harris, science reporter, National Public Radio
· JoAnn Valenti, professor, Department of Communications, Brigham Young University
· David Perlman, science editor, San Francisco Chronicle
____Forging strong writer-editor relationships (or is the phrase "warm and fuzzy" absurd in our business?)
· Organizer: Laura Van Dam, Boston-based editor
· Steve Mirsky , freelance writer
· David Ansley, science editor, Consumer Reports
· Tim Appenzeller, features editor, Science magazine
· Deborah Pike, health editor, Good Housekeeping
The connection between writer and editor extends far beyond copy quality and financial matters. For both sides, figuring out how to work well with the other is critical. A panel of editors--and at least one freelance writer--will explore how to avoid common problems in this "marriage" and to foster a healthy, respectful relationship.
____Reporting on cloning: should there ever be another ewe?
· Organizer: Deborah Blum
· Robert Lee Hotz, Los Angeles Times
· Bob Cooke, Newsday
· Sue Goetinck, Dallas Morning News
· Alta Charo, researcher, University of Wisconsin
· Norman Hecht, professor of human reproduction, University of Pennsylvania
Is cloning really news - except in the minds of editors and science fiction junkies? How does one cover - and keep in perspective - a high profile science, which is changing rapidly and which poses enormous ethical issues? Do we really understand what cloning is? What its future is? How should reporters handle - and advise their newspapers to handle - this issue? Tips, war stories, and some solid background education.
____The business of freelancing
· Organizer: Kathryn Brown
· Robin Marantz Henig (moderator)
· Julian Block, tax attorney and finance columnist
· Ingrid Wickelgren, freelance writer and Science correspondent
Freelance writing isn't just an art--it's a business. You're the sole person responsible for choosing assignments, juggling deadlines, and keeping track of taxes. How can you make the finance side of freelancing easier? At this workshop, three writers share solutions. Julian Block is a New York tax attorney, finance columnist who hosts "Tax Talk," an online forum by Prodigy, Inc., and author of the annual guide,"Julian Block's Tax Avoidance Secrets." Ingrid Wickelgren, also from New York, recently made the jump from staff jobs to freelancing, including a contributing correspondent slot at Science. Robin Marantz Henig, a veteran freelancer from Takoma Park, Md., has written hundreds of articles and several books. Her most recent is "The People's Health: A Memoir of Public Health and Its Evolution at Harvard."
____Beefing up the science beat
· Organizer: Carol Cruzan Morton
· Shannon Brownlee, U.S. News and World Report
· Nils Bruzelius, Boston Globe
· Ira Flatow, president of ScienCentral, executive producer of NPR's Science Friday
· Reg Gale, Newsday
Tips for staff editors and reporters for getting the news space and work time to for science stories. How can you help increase science coverage at your newspaper, magazine, television or radio station? Leading journalists from radio, television, major newspaper, major newsmagazine share their secrets on shepherding science through internal politics, past competing stories, and onto the front page or evening news.
____Computer assisted reporting workshop
· Organizer: Carol Cruzan Morton
· Glennda Chui, science writer, San Jose Mercury News
· Jennifer LaFleur, database editor, San Jose Mercury News
· Keith Epstein, investigative reporter, Washington DC bureau, Cleveland Plain Dealer
Since the late 1980s, computer-assisted reporting has helped reporters on many beats do far-reaching research through on-line databases, gather large numbers of records from government agencies, analyze those records and use that analysis to launch stories from a higher level and with deeper context than possible before. These computer-assisted reporting techniques can unearth new stories and provide a new way of covering the science beat.
____Late breaking news session: Reporting from Kyoto
· Organizer/Moderator: Paul Raeburn, Businessweek
· Richard Harris, National Public Radio
· Curt Suplee, science writer, Washington Post
Two months ago, science and environmental writers from around the world converged on Kyoto, where the United Nations was considering a treaty to limit carbon dioxide and other emissions that could lead to global warming. The nations of the world were asked to take strong action on the basis of scientific findings that remain incomplete. It is one of the most complicated and politicized stories science writers have been asked to cover.
Richard Harris will give us a brief report from Kyoto before joining Curt Suplee and Paul Raeburn in a discussion of the coverage.
Special Public Information
Officer Workshops
Plenary Session
____Institutional cooperation: How PIOs can facilitate communication among
institutions
· Seema Kumar, Associate Director of Public Affairs, Whitehead Institute
· Judy Jackson, Director of Public Affairs, Fermi Lab
· A'ndrea Messer, Science and Research Information Officer, Penn State University
· Susan Turner-Lowe, Director of Public Affairs, National Academy of Sciences
When PIOs help each other manage information dissemination on a continuous basis as well as during crises, it often results in good PR for both institutions. Several PIOs will discuss how this strategy has been successful at their institutions.
Seema Kumar will talk about a national, two-day press seminar launched two years ago in the Boston area. The event, co-sponsored by two or more institutions in the Boston area, has been very successful and resulted in good PR for a number of institutions.
Judy Jackson will tell us about the variety of creative and efficient systems of communications she has established (including, of course, an electronic forum) for PIOs from a variety of institutions and agencies to communicate and share notes with colleagues.
A'ndrea Messer will talk about how collaborations ranging from simple referrals to using electronic forums like PIOnet can result in better communications and better institutional relations.
Susan Turner-Lowe will talk about the difficult job of collaborating with numerous PIOs at a time on major news stories and how to get systems in place to accomplish this task.
Discussion:
o Why is it important for PIOs to collaborate? What can happen when they don't?
o How can PIOs can develop relationships with their peers at other institutions?
o How do you agree on a strategy when you have similar but not synergistic goals?
o Forming professional societies and how they can help? Do they help?
o Help during crisis management. Elevation of the PIO role.
____Who needs the BBC?
· Organizer: Jim Cornell, president, International Science Writers Association
· Alex Huppe, Director, Public Affairs, Harvard University
· Fabiola de Olivera, head of communications, INPE, Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil
· Robyn Williams, Science Corresponent, Australian Broadcasting Company
· Sallie Baliunas, Solar Astronomer, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
· Martin Redfern, Executive Producer, BBC Science (World Service)
The increasing globalization of almost every human endeavor, including scientific research and information dissemination, raises interesting issues about the proper response of U.S. PIOs to queries from overseas media. Indeed, one might legitimately ask if it is worth the time and effort to work with foreign science journalists, whose reputations are unknown, who write or broadcast in strange tongues, and whose final products may never be seen or heard? This panel is intended to describe who is the audience for science news outside the U.S, why it is important to American scientists, PIOs, university administrators, and what are some of the tangible paybacks of getting good press abroad.
____TOTAL ($5 EACH TAPE)
Updated 15 July 2003, ccmorton@nasw.org
Back to1998 NASW workshops general information
Back to NASW Home Page