It’s contest time – enter your best work!

President’s Column

By Betsy Russell

The Idaho Press Club’s “Best of 2022” annual awards contest will open for entries on Dec. 15. It’s time to review and enter your best work of the year; you deserve the recognition!

This year, our Contest Committee has conducted an extensive review and update to our categories. You’ll find an array of changes, including new categories for Spanish-language media and more. The deadline to enter the contest is Jan. 20. All entries are submitted online at [Read more...]

New challenges for political debates

The ‘Idaho Debates’

By Melissa Davlin

This year, like debate organizers across the country, we at the Idaho Debates found ourselves with empty time slots in our schedule as a handful of incumbent candidates declined to participate, including some who had never before turned down our invitations. That has led to some soul searching at Idaho Public Television, as we look to how we can improve our chances of hosting successful congressional debates in 2024.

This year wasn’t all bad. A lot of … [Read more...]

Successful public records fight puts community concerns to rest

By Mike Weland

Dubbed the "Best Small Library in America" in 2017, the Boundary County Public Library, Bonners Ferry, became a hotbed of contention in 2021 after four employees raised numerous allegations of mismanagement, malfeasance and potentially criminal violations.

The first indication of the upheaval about to erupt came with an announcement March 13, 2021, by the library district board of the retirement of the library director, Craig Anderson, effective April 1, and the interim appointment of his … [Read more...]

IPC mid-career and student scholarship applications are now being accepted

Deadline is Feb. 15

By Joan Cartan-Hansen

Have a great idea for a story and no funds to get it to print or on the air? Need money for professional training?  Apply for the Idaho Press Club’s Don Watkins Mid-Career Scholarship.

The Mid-Career Scholarship awards $500 for any Idaho Press Club member to use for any training or project that will improve the working press in Idaho. The only catch: You must share what you learn with Press Club members through a discussion at a conference or an article in an … [Read more...]

Media Moves

IDAHO EDUCATION NEWS

East Idaho investigative reporter Devin Bodkin left Idaho Education News after seven years to become a communication director at the Idaho National Laboratory. Idaho Education News replaced Bodkin with Darren Svan, a former Wyoming news editor who has been teaching English on the Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. He earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from Louisiana State University. Svan started his Idaho investigative reporting job the first week of December. 

THE IDAHO … [Read more...]

President’s Column: Signs of life in the news industry

By Betsy Russell

Check out the “Media Moves” section of this newsletter – there are a lot! Lots of Idaho journalists are moving around as our industry finally once again begins to show some signs of life, after the huge financial gut-punch most or all of our employers took due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As you’ll see in Orion Donovan-Smith’s interesting article in this issue, reprinted from The Spokesman-Review, the news … [Read more...]

Demystifying the Courts: Idaho Journalists Institute Promotes Understanding of the Courts and the Judiciary

By William Cracraft

Twenty-eight journalists from across Idaho attended Idaho’s third Journalists’ Institute on Covering the Courts in April. The Idaho Press Club, Attorneys for Civic Education and the University of Idaho College of Law teamed up to hold the institute. Previous institutes were held in 2018 and 2019.

The day-long program, titled “Without Fear or Favor: Reporting on the Rule of Law and the Work of an Independent, Impartial Judiciary,” included information on journalists’ access to court … [Read more...]

Can Congress save local news? Two bills backed by Northwest lawmakers may help

Note: This story first published in The Spokesman-Review

By Orion Donovan-Smith, The Spokesman-Review

Jun. 12—WASHINGTON — America's local news outlets are in crisis and in search of a new business model, forced to cut staff or close altogether amid rising costs and falling revenue. But two proposals backed by Northwest lawmakers in Congress may offer a solution.

The Local Journalism Sustainability Act, introduced in 2021 by Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Democrat, and GOP Rep. Dan Newhouse … [Read more...]

Meet Your IPC: Lisa Chavez

Lisa Chavez is one of the newest members of the Idaho Press Club board.  She is the Director of Content at KTVB.  She oversees the news department and all news platforms.

Interviewed by Joan Cartan-Hansen

Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Powell, Wyoming.

Why did you go to Boise State University?

I initially wanted to focus on documentary shooting and producing. Boise is so … [Read more...]

Media Moves

New faces in your newsroom or communication department? Let everyone know. Send your Media Moves mail to:email@idahopressclub.org

TIMES-NEWS, Twin Falls

Business reporter Hannah Ashton is leaving to become a science writer for Oregon State University.
 
IDAHO PRESS, Nampa/Boise

Crime and courts reporter Alexandra Duggan left for a position at KTVB. … [Read more...]

Lots happening, and now is the time!

President’s Column

By Betsy Z. Russell

There is SO MUCH going on with the Idaho Press Club right now! It’s time to sign up for our first gala awards banquet since 2019 on April 30; don’t miss it! We are also just a week away from the deadline to register for our top-notch “Journalists Institute on Covering the Courts” the same day as the banquet; registration deadline for that also is April 20.

The courts training, for which we’ve teamed up with Attorneys for Civic Education and the University of … [Read more...]

A busy session for public records legislation

First Amendment Committee report

By Scott McIntosh

The 2022 Idaho legislative session was a surprisingly busy one for the Idaho Press Club.

In all, the Press Club, represented by our lobbyist, Ken Burgess, of Veritas Advisors, worked on seven pieces of legislation having to do with open government and public records. We worked with legislators to help make a couple of bills better, we helped to get a couple of bad bills quashed and we carried a bill that requires disclosure of phone numbers … [Read more...]

Media Moves

New faces in your newsroom or communication department? Let everyone know. Send your Media Moves email@idahopressclub.org

COEUR D’ALENE PRESS

Managing Editor Mike Patrick reports that Maureen Dolan will take over as managing editor, and Patrick will cut back to part-time, effective June 1. Patrick has been managing editor at the Press for more than 20 years. He will continue to write the paper's editorials and do some consulting while traveling and spending … [Read more...]

Register Now for the Best of 2021 Awards Banquet

By Deanna Darr

You have just one week left to register to attend the Best of 2021 Awards Banquet.

After two years on hold, we’ll be gathering on Saturday, April 30, to celebrate some of the best work of Idaho journalists in the last year. Get dressed up and enjoy a wonderful meal with your friends and colleagues as award winners claim their bragging rights.

We’re returning to the Boise Centre East in the heart of downtown Boise. We’ll gather in the ballroom on the fourth floor of the Boise Centre … [Read more...]