By Betsy Russell

Each year, the Idaho Press Club sponsors our state’s premier journalism contest, our annual Excellence in Journalism competition, in which entries from all media compete in various categories to be named, in this case, the “Best of 2007.”

There are several reasons why this contest really does matter. One is that contest entry fees are the Press Club’s largest funding source for our year-round operations, from our part-time executive director to our newsletter to our website. Contest entry fees and our modest $25 per year membership fees are our club’s sources of funding.

But there’s a much bigger and more important reason. Our mission as a Press Club is to promote excellence in journalism, freedom of expression and freedom of information. The contest goes to the first one on that list – recognizing, promoting and encouraging excellence in journalism in Idaho.

That function also is furthered by our fall conferences, hosted by one of our chapters each year, at which we provide professional development opportunities aimed at increasing all of our skills as we practice journalism in Idaho. Other Press Club activities, including chapter events throughout the year, contribute toward that same goal. In the spring, when we celebrate our best at our annual awards banquet, we recognize our successes.

Sure, it’s great to win an award. Winning an award in the Idaho Press Club’s contest wins you bragging rights, a handsome plaque or certificate, the recognition of your peers, and an enhancement for your resume that just might help you get your next job. But I think even those entries that don’t win awards in our contest are a sign of excellence in journalism in Idaho. Here’s how: Journalists work hard all year, then select their best work and submit it to the competition. Even if it doesn’t win – sometimes competition can be particularly tough – it’s still that journalist’s best work. And the fact that we’re all doing good work, reflecting on it, and selecting our best for entry into the contest shows that as Idaho journalists, we’re mindful of the quality of our work, and we’re continually working hard to do our best.

In May, we’ll gather in Boise for our annual awards banquet and celebrate. Elsewhere in this issue, you’ll find full registration information. Whether you are winning an award or not, please join us. The program will be entertaining, the food delicious, and the company convivial. We’ve scrapped the silent auction and instead everyone will be in the running in a raffle that will benefit our First Amendment Fund. Please join us for a fun and celebratory evening.

I’d like to extend a big thank-you to all those who are working hard on this year’s contest and banquet, including our amazing executive director, Martha Borchers; this year’s contest chairman, Sadie Babits of NPR News 91; this year’s banquet chairman, John Miller of the Associated Press; all the members of the contest and banquet committees; the professional journalists from across the country who helped judge our contest; and everyone who enters, competes, and helps celebrate.

Betsy Russell is the president of the Idaho Press Club. She is a Boise-based reporter for The Spokesman-Review newspaper.

By Joan Cartan-Hansen

Your old television set is a 4 by 3, 525-line marvel.  The screen is a basically a square. The quality of the picture and the sound has been acceptable, and the system of broadcasting an analog signal to a basic television worked well for decades.  However, this technology wasn’t perfect.  If you made the picture bigger, it lost detail. The quality of analog television’s audio was limited, and widescreen movies just didn’t fit. In order to see a Hollywood blockbuster properly on a basic analog TV, the film had to be letterboxed. But for most viewers, basic TV was just fine.

However, broadcast station owners thought analog television had another, more expensive flaw. Because an analog signal took up so much space on the spectrum, broadcasters had only one channel per market, one pipe if you will, to spit out their programming.  Remember, the frequency spectrum allocated for television signals is limited, highly coveted and very valuable.  So researchers started looking for other options.

In the 1990s, the Japanese developed the first commercial high definition television. This technology was digital.  Its televisions had a 16 by 9 aspect ratio and the picture was made up of 1,080 lines.  High Def television produced jaw-dropping quality video and better than CD quality sound.  The widescreen aspect ratio eliminated the need for letterboxing and you could blow the picture up to wall size and still have amazing detail.  In addition, a digital signal can be broken into multiple program streams, all in the space of a single channel.  It’s called multi-casting.  Now a true High Def signal has a lot of data, so it still takes up most of the space allocated to a channel.  But with the right technology, broadcasters can still send out a High Def channel and a couple of other SD or Standard Def channels.

Now, I could spend another week explaining the difference between SD and HD, 1080i vs. 1080p and up-converted vs. down-converted signals. But it is so complicated that I won’t do it here. Just accept that all futurists said this new High Def technology was television’s future, if we only had the courage to change.
But nobody jumped, at least not at first.  Converting to DTV, that is Digital Television, meant a huge financial commitment.  Just about everything at a station, from the transmitters to the control rooms to the cameras to the sets would have to be changed in order to deliver a High Def product. It also meant all of the viewing public would have to either buy new digital televisions or obtain converter boxes for their old analog sets in order to receive this new signal.

So considering the cost and inconvenience, why would Congress and the president vote to force everybody to convert to DTV?  They saw it as a win-win situation.  Broadcasters would get up to six channels where they now had just one and could get all that extra revenue. Viewers would get a fantastic picture and lots more choices. And to ease the pain for the individual television viewer, the government said it would provide citizens with coupons to cover the majority of the cost of converter boxes for their old analog televisions.   But here’s what I think clinched the deal. The government would get a lot of revenue from selling off the old analog spectrum space. So in 1997, Congress and President Bill Clinton passed legislation requiring broadcasters to shut off all analog television transmitters and go DTV by February 17, 2009.

Making the Change
Idaho Public Television was the first station in the state to produce and broadcast locally produced High Def programs. The timing was right for us to make the change. Our production switcher was purchased in 1976 and engineers now had a hard time finding replacement parts. So thanks to the good graces of the State of Idaho and viewers like you, we started changing over to High Def.  It wasn’t just a change of technology.  Moving to High Def meant we in production had to change how we did our jobs.  We built new sets designed for the wider screen.  We had to change lighting plans.  We bought new HD field cameras and editing bays, and in the process, discovered everything High Def costs more.

We were lucky in one respect.  Our talented videographers have been shooting widescreen (16 by 9) for a few years, but with High Def, they still had to re-think how they shot a scene, how they lit things.  The sheer quality and detail of the picture was a whole new reality.  Among other things, we found we could no longer get away with using burlap as a set background anymore.  Viewers can tell if the table is wood or just veneer. They can see the seam in the curtain.  Heck, they can see the dust on the curtain in High Def.  The new saying around our shop is: What you see is what the audience gets.

And because we don’t yet shoot everything in High Def, editing has become more complicated. When we edit, we sometimes draw from six different tape formats (eight if we have to go into the ¾ inch and 1 inch archival stock).   And not every tape machine takes every format, so our editors are constantly running around the building, routing video. And because we are lucky enough to have a wonderful library of archive tapes, we often have to deal with the difference in the aspect ratio.  The 4 by 3 video didn’t just go away.  So to make the 4 by 3 footage work in a 16 by 9 world, we first up-convert it to HD, then we either stretch it from top to bottom or pillar-box it.  Yes, that’s what they call keeping the original 4 by 3 aspect ratio and then either putting black or a graphic material on the right and left sides. We do all this stretching and pillar-ing so people or animals or whatever in the old 4 by 3 video don’t look shorter or wider.

Today, when we finish editing most of our shows, we output it in High Def for air. But, and this is a big but, until Feb. 17, 2009, all our locally produced shows also air on our regular analog service.  Master control operators have to down-convert and letterbox a version of every local program for the analog channels.  And while this isn’t a discussion about how the Web has changed what we do, I will mention that we also output a version of most of our programs to MP-4 for video IPODs, MP-3 audio-only files, three sizes of Windows Media files and will eventually output 3GPP files.

So how has High Def specifically changed my job?
It hasn’t changed the basics. I still need to start with a good story. I need to write to my pictures. I need to be a good reporter and do my homework. But when I first stepped before the new High Def cameras, a cold driving fear crept into my soul. Well, OK, it wasn’t quite that bad, but moving to High Def was definitely intimidating. I have to make sure my programs work well on a 52-inch High Def television and a three-inch cell phone screen. I do try to think twice before spending another couple extra thousand dollars on HD tape stock. I need to plan for more editing time and I need to deal with the consequences of what viewers will see in this amazingly clear and detailed picture.  And I personally now spend more time thinking about makeup than I used to. It is not that I am vain, but after the Press savaged Cameron Diaz following her first appearance on High Def, I figured I wouldn’t stand a chance without some help. So I volunteered to learn about High Def and makeup.

In the old analog world, on-camera talent used a foundation and powder and a slightly heavier hand with their makeup.  If you didn’t, and I mean this for both men and women, you would look pale, even ill.  But High Def cameras are so detailed that if you wore traditional television makeup, your viewers would actually see the granules of powder sitting on your skin. One anchor in Seattle said she cried after she went on her first High Def broadcast. Fortunately I have a boss who occasionally appears on camera and understood this dilemma. He agreed to bring in a High Def makeup expert to help our on-camera talent make the transition.

Where do we go from here?
While we have a year or so of experience producing and broadcasting in High Def, we here at Idaho Public Television are by no means unafraid. Idaho Public Television has a higher percentage of viewers who watch via an over-the-air signal than stations in other parts of the nation.  We pray people will get their converter boxes in time.  We hope satellite and cable companies will decide to carry our High Def broadcast signal after Feb. 17, 2009.  Right now, that’s not certain. Survival in this new world means change.  It is all a work-in-progress, kind of like High Def itself.  At the last big electronic show, researchers showed off the next big breakthrough: Ultra High Def!

Joan Cartan-Hansen is a producer, reporter and writer for Idaho Public Television. A former Press Club president, she is the current treasurer of the board for the Idaho Press Club.

High-definition TV facts

• According to Nielsen figures, about 417,000 Idahoans could lose their local (over-the air) television service on Feb. 17, 2009.
• Consumer Reports found 64 percent of its respondents were aware of the digital transition, but 74 percent had “major misconceptions” about what it actually involved.
• 24 percent of respondents believed they would need to throw out all of their analog TV sets after February 2009.

• If you have cable, you don’t need a converter box for your televisions so long as your cable system picks up your local stations’ DTV services.
• If you have a satellite service, you might or might not get local stations after Feb. 17, 2009 depending upon if your service decides to carry the signals.
• Where do you get your coupon for your digital converter box? Remember, you may need a converter box for each television in your house. Go to www.DTV2009.gov for an application.

By Melissa McGrath

The Idaho Press Club’s Southwest Chapter attempted to answer an eternal question in the news industry:  How can ‘hacks’ and ‘flacks’ get along better in the course of doing their jobs?  The answer: It all comes down to relationships, according to a panel of journalists and public relations specialists.

The panel of six – three ‘hacks’ and three ‘flacks’ (who are all former reporters) discussed the issue at “The Hacks and Flacks Summit” on Wednesday, Nov. 7 in Boise.  The panel was made up of Vickie Holbrook, managing editor of the Idaho Press-Tribune; Mark Danielson of Local News 8; Kevin Godwin of Peak Broadcasting; Andrea Dearden, spokeswoman for the Ada County sheriff’s office; Melinda Keckler of Scott Peyron & Associates; and Lynn Hightower of the Boise Police Department.

“It really is about relationships,” said Danielson. “We have to spend the time to build that relationship. I don’t think we do that enough in this business.”

The panelists also fielded other questions, including “How can I get my story in the news?” and “How do you tell a reporter he/she got it wrong?”  Still, all the panelists emphasized the importance of the relationship and the trust between the reporter and the person on the other end.

In the end, the panelists listed several helpful pieces of advice for people in the news industry, especially on the public relations end.

Some advice for ‘flacks’:

• Be proactive. Get to know the reporters covering your topics.
• Visit a newsroom to see firsthand how reporters work.
• Talk to a reporter before you call to pitch a story.
• Reporters are busy people. Give them clear and concise information.

Some advice for ‘hacks’:

• Build relationships with the public relations
• people who work on your beat.
• Let the flacks know what helps you as a reporter. One example: Do not just write “Press Release” in the subject line of an e-mail. Give reporters more information in the subject line to catch their eyes.

Melissa McGrath is the public information officer for the state Department of Education. She is a former newspaper reporter and is the associate representative on  the Idaho Press Club board.

By Shea Andersen

If you’ve noticed the new, snappier Idaho Press Club logo recently, or taken a gander at the club’s refurbished Web site, you’ll see the fingerprints of Sydney Sallabanks all over them.

Sallabanks, 41, joined the state board last year, and has wasted no time leaving a mark on the club. The Boise-based public-relations professional has brought a new level of energy to the club, and to the Southwest Chapter in particular.
With the ever-chatty Sallabanks hustling things along, the Southwest Chapter has been busily organizing public events, forums and get-togethers that make that group the most active of any in the state. Whether it’s ferreting out a new location for an unheard-of social event or rustling up participants to fill out a debate panel, Sallabanks has lent a high-paced but convivial professionalism to the group.
Sallabanks recently had to weigh the options before her about her own career. She’d been representing the University of Idaho since 2001, adopting the school as her own, even though she herself attended the University of Oregon’s journalism school.

“[The University of Idaho] is such a great university,” Sallabanks said. “It didn’t take long to become an ambassador for it. For such a small school, it’s amazing what they’re doing. “

Which helped her to develop her own credo for public relations work: “If you don’t believe in a project or a client, then it isn’t worth it.”

That ideal made a job offer from the Gallatin Group, a Boise public-relations and issues management firm, seem at once tantalizing and challenging. She worried what it might be like to work for a company that paid attention to the bottom line as well as the integrity and interests of its client list.

She also spent time talking it over with her husband, Rex, and together they considered the impact it might have upon their life with their 13-year-old daughter Chloe. A constellation of life issues came into play. Would she be able to ride her mountain bike as much, something she does a lot in the summer?
After lots of soul-searching, Sallabanks took the plunge. She started as one of the company’s newer principals in late January.

First things first: the workload, she has found, is “huge. It’s enormous.”
The client list, yes, is diverse. But Sallabanks has been pleased to encounter a vigorous discussion-sometimes, debate-over just what clients the company should or shouldn’t take.

In that regard, she says, it’s been a return to journalism-like work: investigating people’s backgrounds to make an informed decision.

“You have to do a lot of investigating,” Sallabanks said. “We Google the hell out of people before we take them on as clients.” Ultimately, she said, not all clients are accepted.

That collegiate atmosphere has helped make the move worth it. Yes, she is working harder. But, instead of connecting remotely to a distant campus in Moscow, Sallabanks is now in and out of the offices up and down the hall, talking with colleagues like former Gov. Cecil Andrus, who also keeps an office at the Gallatin Group.

“It sounds really cliché, but it really is like a family,” she said. “There’s such teamwork.”

The evening was held in the downstairs room of Vino Rosso, an Idaho Falls wine bar, starting with hors d’ouevres and socializing. Cooke, son of longtime BBC commentator Alistair Cooke, spoke about the critical importance of an informed populace to democracy, pointing to the Declaration of Independence and its assertion that “governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

About 25 to 30 people came. As a membership builder, it was a good way to put ourselves back on the map. We hope to sponsor more events of this kind.

Paul Menser, Eastern Idaho Chapter President

THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW
Now that the dust has settled from the layoffs, voluntary buyouts and subsequent rehirings at The Spokesman-Review, here’s how things ended up in the Coeur d’Alene office: Erica Curless remained in Coeur d’Alene throughout, and is now a general assignment reporter. Taryn Hecker has returned to the Coeur d’Alene office and also is a general assignment reporter there. Becky Kramer, former Coeur d’Alene-based business reporter, is now the regional environmental reporter, still based in Coeur d’Alene.

Former Idaho Editor Scott Maben is now an assistant city editor in Spokane. Former reporter Paula Davenport has taken a newsroom position in Spokane, former Idaho education reporter Meghann Cuniff is now a reporter in Spokane, and gone is former Coeur d’Alene-based environmental reporter James Hagengruber. D.F. Oliveria remains based in Coeur d’Alene as a fulltime blogger and columnist with his popular Huckleberries Online blog.  Jesse Tinsley is now based in Spokane.

THE COEUR D’ALENE PRESS
Linda Ball of The Coeur d’Alene Press has been promoted to Special Sections Editor.  Ball covered education for The Press from November 2005 until July 2007, then briefly was the business reporter until this appointment.   She worked part-time at the Spokesman-Review in the Idaho newsroom, from 2001 until 2005.

TELEVISION

IDAHO PUBLIC TELEVISION
Dave Thomason is a new videographer/editor and is heading up the Legislature Live service.

KTVB Channel 7, Boise
New staffers include Kelsey Jacobson, News at Noon producer, formerly a producer at WDAZ; Ranae Bangerter, associate producer for Today’s Morning News, who came from Utah State University in Logan, Utah; and Darren Martinez, photographer, from KTRV. Nick Gamb is a new editor; Lisa Chavez has been promoted from assignment editor to managing editor; Xanti Alcelay, formerly chief photographer, is now assistant news director; and Kate Morris was promoted from producer to executive producer. Gary Salzman, formerly a photographer, is the new chief photographer, and Justin Corr has moved from sports reporter to weekend sports anchor.    

KIVI Channel 6, Nampa
Lincoln Graves is a new morning anchor, from Missoula, Mont. Eric Harryman departed for a TV job in Norfolk, Va.

KPVI -TV, Pocatello
New reporter Nisha Gutierrez joins the staff from Baldwin Park, Calif. Matt Hugie is a new producer; ISU graduate William Kotowski is a new produer; BYU-Idaho grad John Merrifield comes on as a reporter; ISU grad Mike Skimmyhorn is a new producer; and new sports reporter Paul Shahen arrived from Wolcott, Conn.

KIFI-TV, Idaho Falls
Four new reporters have joined the station: Mary Hamelton from BYU; Danielle Granter from Cal Poly; Megan Boatwright from Florida; and Michelle Costa from Syracuse, N.Y. Alyssa Chin has moved from reporter to sports, and departures have included Kristy Kircher and Adam Mikulich, who now is sports director in Champaign, Ill.

KIDK-TV, Idaho Falls/Pocatello
New arrivals include Idaho Falls reporters Araksya Karapetyan and Rick Montanez, both arriving from KABC; Pocatello reporter Wes Horrocks, from KSL Radio; Pocatello reporter Hasti Taghi from the University of Texas at Austin; Idaho Falls morning producer Anne Chantkavong, from KABC; San Diego State grad Kris Keach, a new Idaho Falls reporter; and main anchor Todd Kunz, formerly weekend anchor at KVOA in Tucson, Ariz.
Departures from the staff include Idaho Falls reporter Teresa Priolo, who headed to Albany, N.Y.; Pocatello reporter Jeff Robinson who went to Salt Lake City; Idaho Falls reporter Abbey Gibb, now with KREM in Spokane; and morning anchor Kayla Anderson, who went to KOB in Albequerque, N.M.

KLEW-TV, Lewiston
New reporter/anchor Stephanie Smith is a recent University of Washington graduate. Part-time reporter and weather anchor Lindsey Davis is a WSU grad who recently completed an internship at KOMO-TV.

KMVT-TV, Twin Falls
Bryan Larrondo is the new weekend sports anchor.  He came from KTVB.