MacGregor Fiske Award being Incorporated Into Journalism Education Foundation of New England Scholarships
The MacGregor Fiske Award was first bestowed in 2013 and has awarded up to $2,000 annually to a journalist in New England with less than five years of experience who had been recommended by their editor and then selected by a panel of former editors and reporters.
In 2020, a number of smaller awards were also made to journalists who had been laid off or furloughed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mac Fiske, who died in 2009 at 75, had spent his career as a sportswriter, sports editor, news editor, city editor, copy editor, and weekly columnist. Fiske was a much-loved mentor known for his warmth, kindness, and keen editing.
He began his career at the Framingham (Mass.) News, which became the Middlesex News and is now the MetroWest Daily News. He worked for many years at the Providence Journal-Bulletin, up to his retirement when he returned to the MetroWest Daily News as a part-time copy editor and also followed his passion for the sea on his 22-foot Columbia sailboat.
A fourth-generation newspaperman, he earlier enjoyed a period as a merchant mariner with the Boston Harbor Pilots and served in the Army during the Korean War.
The MacGregor Fiske Award was established by Mac’s wife, Mary McCann Fiske, who also grew up in a newspaper family in Framingham. She started the award to recognize talented, hard-working journalists who are relatively new to the field, encouraging them to persevere in the profession. The award also honors the contributions of journalists in sustaining an informed society.
Past awardees have included reporters at the Lowell Sun, Cambridge Chronicle/Tab, and Patriot Ledger, a reporter and a photographer at the Portland Press Herald, a feature layout editor at the Fall River Herald News, and a night editor at the Valley News.
McCann Fiske has decided to transfer the funding to NENPA’s Journalism Education Foundation to ensure its continued impact and reach in the years to come through scholarships to promising journalism students.
“Mac never sought the limelight, but he would have felt good about helping individual journalists and seeing the progress of those the Fiske Award has recognized,” McCann Fiske said. “I’m hopeful that this will continue to help strengthen journalism in New England, especially newspapers, which we know can mean so much to a community.”
Please contact Linda Conway at l.conway@nenpa.com if you would like to make a donation to support the MacGregor Fiske Scholarship, the general Journalism Education Foundation of New England scholarships, or if you are interested in honoring a mentor or a loved one with a Journalism scholarship in their name.
Nominations close Monday for the inaugural class of E&P’s Creative Visionaries
Nominations for the 2022 inaugural class of “E&P’s Creative Visionaries,” their salute to creative directors, graphic artists, and multimedia designers, close on Monday, August 29.
Help Editor & Publisher salute these essential colleagues who bring our storytelling to life, curating captivating images, informative graphics, copy, and increasingly, video and audio. Their talents for communicating the news in visually intriguing but effective ways are integral to a news organization’s success today.
We mustn’t overlook the talented professionals who work outside of the newsroom, who artfully create advertisements and sponsored content for multiplatform distribution.
Nominations for colleagues who have been instrumental in the news organization’s creative vision, who are accomplished designers, and who exhibit a pattern of leadership and innovation.
They deserve our gratitude and E&P’s tribute with the winners being featured in the October 2022 edition of E&P Magazine.
Nominations close at midnight (EDT) on Monday, August 29, 2022.
Stigler Center’s Journalists in Residence Program Open For Applications
With the aim of shaping the next generation of leaders in business reporting, the Stigler Center’s Journalists in Residence Program launched in 2017. The program provides a transformative learning experience for journalists working in all forms of media around the world.
Participants spend approximately 12 weeks on our Hyde Park campus, auditing classes, participating in Stigler Center events, collaborating with peers, and networking with the university’s scholars.
The program offers exclusive seminars, opportunities to study with world-class faculty, and the chance to network with colleagues from around the world.
The deadline to apply is October 2, 11:59 pm CT Chicago time.
Applicants will be notified of the final decisions in December.
The Spring 2023 program will run from approximately March 13 – June 3, 2023.
Journalists with some years of media experience, proficient English, and an interest in deepening their knowledge and understanding of political economy are encouraged to apply
Former Mount Desert Islander editor Earl Brechlin to join the Maine Press Hall of Fame
Former Mount Desert Islander editor Earl Brechlin will be inducted into the Maine Press Association Hall of Fame this October at a ceremony in the town where he built his journalism career.
Brechlin, along with Chris and Paula Roberts of The Lincoln County News, have been selected by the MPA’s Hall of Fame Committee. The three will be inducted during a luncheon at this year’s fall conference at Bar Harbor’s Atlantic Oceanside Hotel and Event Center Oct. 22.
Brechlin’s journalism career began in 1977 at the Bar Harbor Times. He got his start in the job shop hand-setting lead type. From there he went to the production darkroom, taking photos and writing a photo column. In 1981, he joined the newsroom staff as a reporter and was promoted to editor in 1983. Under his leadership the Times consistently earned general excellence press awards in Maine and New England.
In 2001, Brechlin, along with Ellsworth American publisher Alan Baker, founded a new, locally owned weekly newspaper on Mount Desert Island. With no reporters, no staff, no name and no design, the two got to work and the first edition of the Mount Desert Islander rolled off the presses six weeks later on Nov. 15, 2001.
Under Brechlin’s leadership, the Islander earned first place among Maine small weeklies 12 out of its first 13 years, best in New England for several years and was honored by a first-place award from the National Newspaper Association.
Tell them why – and sell more
Like some other kids, I learned how to drive before taking the drivers’ education class in high school. My father took me to the school’s football stadium on weekends when the expansive parking lot was empty. The car was an old station wagon with a manual shift on the steering column. “Once you learn how to drive a manual shift, an automatic transmission will be a piece of cake,” he said.
Dad was a great teacher. After he methodically explained the gas pedal, the brake, the clutch, and other essentials, he assured me that it was okay to make mistakes, because I couldn’t damage anything around us. Shifting gears was the number one topic. He carefully demonstrated the correct way to move from neutral to first, then let me try it. “Let the clutch out slowly,” he said, “because the car will lurch and stall if you do it too quickly. Do it slowly and the car will ease into gear.” At first, I struggled so much with that clutch that the poor station wagon jumped around like a bucking bronco. But after a while, I developed a feel for it – and the car actually behaved.
One thing that made Dad such an effective communicator was that he told me why certain things should be done. He was a mechanical engineer who dealt with whys all the time. When the car bucked, I knew why, because he had told me why. When I shifted smoothly, I knew why, because he had explained it. And when I eventually drove on the road, I had more confidence than I would have had without his patient instruction.
One of the most important techniques in communication – especially in persuasive communication – is to tell people “why.” Steven, an ad manager who has observed countless sales presentations, told me, “Salespeople have a tendency to do a lot of telling, but not much explaining. It’s important to realize that we all have a need to know why we are being told something or asked to do something. Even children need to know why. They are champions of ‘why’ questions.”
Steven is right. Give prospects reasons why. It helps to use a simple bridge like “because” or “the reason I say that is” or “this will provide you with.” For example:
1) “Let’s take a look at our publication’s readership figures. This will show you how many prospective print and online customers you can reach with us.”
2) “Here’s a comparison between a couple of ads in the last campaign you ran and a couple from the new campaign we’ve been discussing. We’re taking a look at these together because this will help us see how the new ads build on the brand image you’ve established.”
3) “Let’s set an appointment to talk next Tuesday, after the first ad runs. This will give us a chance to make any needed tweaks to the offer.”
Without a doubt, telling prospects why is a good way to keep your sales presentations in gear.
(c) Copyright 2022 by John Foust. All rights reserved.
Applications for Joan Shorenstein fellowships for Spring 2023 open through Sept. 7
The Joan Shorenstein Fellowship Program is designed to bring journalists, scholars, politicians and policymakers to the Shorenstein Center for a semester to work on a project with a tangible output, and engage with students, faculty, other fellows, and the broader Harvard Kennedy School community. Applications for the Spring 2023 semester are now open through September 7.
Fellows are expected to be fully-participating members of the Shorenstein Center community while in residence, attending and participating in Center events, social gatherings, and other activities.
Alumni fellows join the Shorenstein Center’s Alumni Fellows Network, to stay connected with the Center and the large and growing group of former fellows all around the world.
Mid-to-late career professionals from a variety of related fields are welcome to apply. Past fellows include journalists from local, national and international TV, radio, print, and digital media; media and civic technology innovators; nonfiction authors; political advisors and policymakers; leading academic scholars in fields such as media research and political science; and policy analysts.
The Shorenstein Center is committed to diversity, and actively encourages applications from all demographic backgrounds, and across the political spectrum.
Joan Shorenstein Fellowship and Application
Family, friends mourning death of ‘Newtown Bee’ Publisher R. Scudder Smith
The Smith family announces with sadness the passing of R. Scudder Smith on August 14, 2022. He was 87 years old.
Born on April 12, 1935, Robert Scudder Smith was the elder son of Paul Scudder Smith and Mary Starr Conger Smith, and older brother to Mary Starr Adams and Ted Smith.
He attended his father’s alma mater, Amherst College, briefly, in 1953, but in 1954, he enlisted for three years with the United States Marine Corps, and trained as a navigator at Cherry Point, N.C. On a night out with a friend he met Helen Willis. They were married in 1956, and settled the following year in upstate New York, where he began attending Union College in Schenectady, N.Y.
Scudder’s family has owned Bee Publishing Company Inc and published The Newtown Bee for 141 of its 145 years.
Scudder worked at the paper beginning in 1961; he succeeded his father Paul as editor in 1972.
On June 28, 2022 — the 145th anniversary of the first issue of The Newtown Bee’s publication — local luminaries, including Newtown’s First Selectman, Newtown’s delegation to the Connecticut Legislature, both of Connecticut’s US Senators, and the Fifth District US Congresswoman honored The Newtown Bee for its longevity, and celebrated Scudder and his family’s love for and dedication to the community.
Scudder’s passion for antiques manifested in The Newtown Bee sister paper, Antiques and The Arts Weekly, which he founded in June 1963 and began as four pages of antiques coverage in the local newspaper. Then, as now, the paper each week was finished and printed by midday Thursday, with the following day’s date. As written by Laura Beach for A&A — as the staff and many readers refer to it — in March 2006, “After finishing his editorial chores on Thursday, Scudder spent Fridays pounding on doors, talking to dealers and auctioneers and selling ads for the next antiques section.”
Scudder is survived by Helen, his wife of 66 years; son, David Smith, and daughter and son-in-law, Sherri Smith Baggett and Scott Baggett; grandsons Benjamin and Gregory Smith and their spouses, and Scudder and Judd Baggett and their spouses; and six great-grandchildren, as well as generations of friends and colleagues both local and around the world.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in his honor to one of the following organizations: Newtown Scholarship Association (PO Box 302, Newtown CT 06470 or NewtownScholarship.org); Town of Newtown Animal Control (21 Old Farm Road, Newtown CT 06470), or FAITH Food Pantry (PO Box 53, Newtown CT 06470 or newtownfoodpantry.org).
By Madelia Ring & John Voket
This Week’s Webinars – Getting Started with Digital Sales Aug. 18 and Navigating Sports Chaos Aug. 19
A NENPA member code is required to register for the NENPA U Online Media Campus webinars at no cost. Members that are interested in taking advantage of this benefit should email t.cleary@nenpa.com to receive the access code. Non-members may attend the webinars for $35 per person.
Providence Journal announces key managing editor positions
The Providence Journal has announced two major appointments.
Whitman Littlefield was named the new managing editor of digital and Eryn Dion was named the new managing editor of content. David Ng, executive editor of The Providence Journal, announced the appointments to the staff on Thursday.
“Whitman and Eryn are two of the most talented journalists that I know, but more importantly, they’re fun to work and have a vision for the future of journalism,” Ng said.