Lauren Johnston is Head of Content & Programming at Yahoo & Yahoo News overseeing editorial planning, content curation, distribution, media partnerships and audience growth for Yahoo.com and Yahoo News across web, app, newsletters and social channels, including the Yahoo News TikTok, which hit one million followers in under one year.
This is a cross-functional role and she works closely with product, design, engineering, marketing, PR, analytics, search, algorithm, personalization, and business development teams.
We are proud to rank No. 1 in the Comscore news/ information category for audience size and time spent and are deeply committed to providing our readers/ viewers/ listeners with top-notch reporting and storytelling from our original journalists and deep bench of premium content partners.
Shauna Rempel is a Canadian strategist, journalist and educator with 15 years of experience working in social media and digital news. As the leader of award-winning social media teams at two major Canadian news organizations, she consistently developed audiences on new and emerging social platforms. Shauna’s currently the senior social media strategist at the University of Toronto Mississauga and teaches multi-platform journalism to undergraduate students. As you can guess, she’s pretty obsessed with TikTok and as a consultant, she’s happily shared that obsession with journalists around the world.
Karina E. Cuevas is a producer for Telemundo New England. Originally from New York City, she took an early interest in journalism when her 7th grade Spanish teacher suggested that as a career path. She has written for publications such as The Boston Globe Magazine, AM New York and Metro New York. Her days as a photographer for NY1 News/Noticias1 are not forgotten either. She serves as President of the National Association for Hispanic Journalists New England chapter and is part of the NESNE board. Karina is a graduate of Penn State University and Columbia University. In her free time, she liked to go bike riding, read, watch movies and pamper her two cats, Thor and Loki.
George Arwady has been Publisher and CEO of The Republican newspaper since January 2010. Arwady spent most of his professional career as an editor and publisher in Michigan and New Jersey. He has chaired, is former chair and serves on the board of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts. He also serves locally as a Trustee of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, a member of the Springfield Business Leaders for Education and the board of the United Way of Pioneer Valley. Arwady is also a life-long consumer and supporter of the arts, having served over the years on symphony boards, museum boards and children’s chorus boards. He is a resident of downtown Springfield.
Bill Kole, New England editor for The Associated Press, oversees daily and enterprise coverage of all six states. A longtime former AP foreign correspondent, he has reported extensively on terrorism, corruption, immigration and human trafficking from Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna and Eastern Europe. Bill worked for newspapers in Michigan and Massachusetts before joining AP in Detroit. He and his wife, Terry, a children’s book illustrator, now live in Pawtuxet Village, R.I.
We are happy to announce that registration is open for the 2021 New England Newspaper Convention, you can view the convention schedule of sessions, speakers, and award presentations. But you must sign-up or log in to your profile on the NENPA platform to register.
How to Get Started in 5 Easy Steps 1. First, follow this link (https://nenpa.tradewing.com/home) to navigate to the community! We recommend you bookmark this page so that it’s easy for you to find. 2. Next, click where it says “Sign-up” You’ll be prompted to enter your name and email address. Please be sure to use the same email address you receive your NENPA email on. If you receive an error message that says an account already exists with that email address, then go to “Log In” and click Forgot Password. 3. Check your email for an activation link. You may have to check your Spam folder. 4. Click on the link, set your password, and begin exploring! 5. Check out this video on how to log in and run through the features and benefits of the platform!
In addition to hosting this year’s convention, the platform will serve as a member community where you can connect, collaborate, and learn from your peers all year long. We will be hosting a series of webinars on the platform very soon.
The centerpiece of the annual Newspaper Convention is the New England Better Newspaper Competition awards presentation, at which hundreds of awards are presented to deserving newspaper professionals from throughout the region.
Individuals are awarded for their extraordinary work in serving their audience, advertisers, and communities. The awards recognize the outstanding coverage, commentary, community involvement, and marketing activities that newspaper professionals throughout New England pursue day-in and day-out.
We’ll be notifying award finalists by email next week and will also let you know what day and time at the Convention the winners will be announced!
If your newspaper isn’t a current member, you will be able to request access to the online community for an introductory period.
If you have any questions or problems accessing the member community or registering for the Convention contact Linda Conway, NENPA Executive Director at l.conway@nenpa.com.
This online NPF fellowship will help journalists follow the money in Washington, whether they’re reporting from the Capitol or covering the effects of federal spending and financial regulation on their states and local communities.
Sessions meet Fridays online for 2.5 hours, starting April 30, 2021, for eight weeks. The application deadline is Monday, April 12 at Midnight.
This fellowship will offer skills, sources, and best practices to journalists who want to track the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package and report on whether the funds are flowing to and/or having an effect in communities disproportionally affected by the COIVD-19 pandemic. It is also designed to help journalists who wish to power their accountability reporting with a deeper understanding of congressional finance, corporate lobbying, antitrust, taxation, and other federal regulatory issues that will be debated in 2021 and beyond.
When government fails, it’s the rare public official who says, “Oops. My fault.”
That’s human nature, particularly for officials in the public eye who may have to run for office again. No one wants to be held directly responsible for letting the public down.
Ken Paulson is the director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University, a lawyer and a former editor-in-chief of USA Today.
Case in point is the recent catastrophe in Texas, when unexpected winter storms left 4 million homes without power, ruptured pipes and tainted the water supply for many.
Texas’ energy grid essentially collapsed. While Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was quick to blame frozen wind turbines, the cause was much more complex than that. To truly understand how things went so terribly wrong will require time, study and research.
So, too, with the coronavirus vaccine distribution. In this state and others, residents are frustrated with the slow rollout of vaccines. Is it poor distribution? Politics? A flawed strategy? These are literally matters of life and death.
But how do you get to the truth when public officials so rarely step up to take direct responsibility for failures?
The answer is public records. And public meetings. And access to the information that taxpayers deserve.
States throughout the country have laws that guarantee access to government records and meetings. But the details vary widely and there are many statutory exceptions. New challenges to access emerge every year in virtually every state.
The need to fight for government transparency is reaffirmed each year during Sunshine Week, a national awareness event overseen by the News Leaders Association and keyed to the March 16 birthday of James Madison. The fourth president of the United States drafted the Bill of Rights – including the guarantee of a free press – in 1791.
That journalism connection reflects the role news media play in the free flow of information, but it unfortunately can also leave the public with a sense that Sunshine Week reflects the concerns of a single industry.
To the contrary, access to government information is critical to every American who cares about the quality of his or her community, state and nation.
It’s important to see government employees – including elected officials – as the people we hire through our tax dollars to do a good job for all of us. If you run a business or hire a contractor, you wouldn’t hesitate to demand a full understanding of how something went wrong. That should be exactly our relationship with government.
Getting that information, though, requires public meetings where residents can ask questions. It also means access to the documents that led to a poor decision. Words on paper can be much more forthright than the dissembling of politicians.
It’s critical that we hold government accountable, for better or worse. (It’s also important to acknowledge when government leaders are doing a good job.)
How can you help? I have two suggestions.
First, keep doing exactly what you’re doing at this moment. Read and support your local newspaper. Local journalists, more than anyone else, will stand up for your right to information. Facebook will not be going toe-to-toe with your mayor.
Second, when you believe government isn’t doing its job, demand an explanation. Ask to see the documents. Attend public meetings. And above all, support legislative efforts to make government more transparent.
It’s too easy for officials who have failed us to point fingers, blame the media and wait for their side of the partisan fence to rally to their defense. We deserve better. We all pay taxes to support the work of the government. We should get our money’s worth.
As journalists, we rely on open government and freedom of information principles to keep the public informed about their government. Too often, though, we are met with roadblocks.
With Sunshine Week happening on March 14-20, we invite you to hold our government leaders and agencies accountable by running an editorial on the importance of open government.
Please join us in raising our collective voice for transparency and access to public information, and what it means for your readers and community.
This is a call for action on the importance of open government. Please publish an editorial during Sunshine Week, March 14-20. Write your own or you can use one of the two below. To educate your staff or readers a list of free Sunshine Week webinars is also included below.
Let us know that you’ll be participating and we’ll collect all editorials submitted and feature them in our eBulletin at the end of the month.
As journalists, we rely on open government and freedom of information principles to keep the public informed about their government. Too often, though, we are met with roadblocks.
Open government is key to honest government
When government fails, it’s the rare public official who says, “Oops. My fault.”
That’s human nature, particularly for officials in the public eye who may have to run for office again. No one wants to be held directly responsible for letting the public down.
Case in point is the recent catastrophe in Texas, when unexpected winter storms left 4 million homes without power, ruptured pipes and tainted the water supply for many.
Texas’ energy grid essentially collapsed. While Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was quick to blame frozen wind turbines, the cause was much more complex than that. To truly understand how things went so terribly wrong will require time, study and research.
So, too, with the coronavirus vaccine distribution. In this state and others, residents are frustrated with the slow rollout of vaccines. Is it poor distribution? Politics? A flawed strategy? These are literally matters of life and death.
But how do you get to the truth when public officials so rarely step up to take direct responsibility for failures?
The answer is public records. And public meetings. And access to the information that taxpayers deserve.
States throughout the country have laws that guarantee access to government records and meetings. But the details vary widely and there are many statutory exceptions. New challenges to access emerge every year in virtually every state.
The need to fight for government transparency is reaffirmed each year during Sunshine Week, a national awareness event overseen by the News Leaders Association and keyed to the March 16 birthday of James Madison. The fourth president of the United States drafted the Bill of Rights – including the guarantee of a free press – in 1791.
That journalism connection reflects the role news media play in the free flow of information, but it unfortunately can also leave the public with a sense that Sunshine Week reflects the concerns of a single industry.
To the contrary, access to government information is critical to every American who cares about the quality of his or her community, state and nation.
It’s important to see government employees – including elected officials – as the people we hire through our tax dollars to do a good job for all of us. If you run a business or hire a contractor, you wouldn’t hesitate to demand a full understanding of how something went wrong. That should be exactly our relationship with government.
Getting that information, though, requires public meetings where residents can ask questions. It also means access to the documents that led to a poor decision. Words on paper can be much more forthright than the dissembling of politicians.
It’s critical that we hold government accountable, for better or worse. (It’s also important to acknowledge when government leaders are doing a good job.)
How can you help? I have two suggestions.
First, keep doing exactly what you’re doing at this moment. Read and support your local newspaper. Local journalists, more than anyone else, will stand up for your right to information. Facebook will not be going toe-to-toe with your mayor.
Second, when you believe government isn’t doing its job, demand an explanation. Ask to see the documents. Attend public meetings. And above all, support legislative efforts to make government more transparent.
It’s too easy for officials who have failed us to point fingers, blame the media and wait for their side of the partisan fence to rally to their defense. We deserve better. We all pay taxes to support the work of the government. We should get our money’s worth.
Please join us in raising our collective voice for transparency and access to public information, and what it means for your readers and community by publishing an editorial during Sunshine Week, March 14-20.