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Last updated:
February, 2005
Minutes of the Board of Directors
Canadian Association of Journalists
September 18-19, 2004
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Present: |
Deborah Campbell |
Ron Friesen |
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Robert Cribb |
Saleem Khan (chair) |
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John Dickins |
Jennifer Morris (secretary) |
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Kerry Diotte |
Michelle MacAfee |
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Jennifer Fowler |
Paul Schneidereit |
Regrets: Murray Brewster, Charles Bury, Maria McClintock
Meeting was called to order at 10:10 a.m.
1. Agenda Approval
K. Diotte motioned to approve agenda, M. MacAfee seconded. Approved.
Election of Treasurer: J. Dickins has talked to Maria McClintock, who has agreed to stand as treasurer.
2. Approval of Past Minutes
Errors/Additions:
Item 6: should read R. Cribb, not R. Friesen
Item 8: should be re-worded.
Item 9: should read “P. Schneidereit will not e-mail”
Item 10: should read D. Campbell, not M. MacAfee
J. Fowler motioned to approve past minutes as amended, R. Friesen seconded. Approved.
Task List from June 2004 meeting (report and update):
#1 Report to be done on chapter and regional representation
- ad hoc committee will report in January
#3 Lawyer to be approached pro-bono to review CAJ policies and ensure compliance with Privacy Act
- on-going
#4 Report to be done on Glacier publishing and given to advocacy committee
- withdrawn
#5 CAJ to acquire Code of Silence.com website
- There was discussion about whether to buy codeofsilence.ca or codeofsilence.org; codeofsilence.ca was chosen. The web site will be used for soliciting award nominations, listing awards, and providing news stories about government secrecy, along with links.
3. President’s Report
R. Friesen motioned to receive verbal President’s Report, M. MacAfee seconded. Approved.
P. Schneidereit talked about the by-line strike at London Free Press; it resolved itself after P. Schneidereit and J. Dickins made a couple phone calls. P. Schneidereit was part of the ad-hoc committee that reviewed when and if CAJ should make public statements about individual journalists. The ad-hoc committee will be filing its report later in the meeting.
J. Fowler motioned to accept report, R. Friesen seconded it. Approved.
4. Executive Director’s Report
P. Schneidereit motioned to receive Executive Director’s Report, M. MacAfee seconded. Approved.
J. Dickins was pleased with Vancouver conference. Planning for NWS in Charlottetown is coming along; however, a couple of speakers have backed out. There will be a meeting in Toronto in November to discuss contract renewal with Canada NewsWire for the next 3 years regarding press releases, awards, and funding. J. Dickins will take an extra Friday off occasionally due to some 18 days of lieu time banked. R. Cribb acknowledged J. Dickins’s efforts and duties for the CAJ, even while on vacation. J. Dickins would like to apply to foundations for grants but that can’t happen until we get charitable status. The CAJ is still waiting for final approval from Canada Customs and Revenue Agency on charitable status for its foundation. If achieved, the CAJ plans to host special evenings for the public events centred around journalism-education.
Update on Online Registration: Online registration started in January. It started off well, but slowed in summer. The number of members signing up is improving now that school has started. The ease of registering on the internet allows instant memberships, and fewer applications are getting lost in the mail. J. Dickins is dealing with fewer cheques, which means less running to the bank. Renewal and new members have complimented on the thank-you note that is sent for signing up; it is a nice, personal touch. J. Dickins acknowledged that he does this for renewing members too and quite often will send a personal note to people when he sees them renew.
P. Schneidereit motioned to accept the Executive Director’s report, R. Cribb seconded. Approved.
CAJ Committees – Elections: M. McClintock to be on the budget committee as treasurer. J. Dickins spoke to T. Beutel and she is interested in staying on the financial and budget committees. R. Friesen to join conference committee. J. Fowler suggested emailing members about joining the advocacy committee. Possible future members discussed were Nick Russell, Deborah Jones, and Julian Sher. D. Campbell, R. Friesen, and K. Diotte to join awards committee; M. MacAfee will stay on. Discussion about trying to get other non-directors involved in committees.
5. Budget Committee
P. Schneidereit motioned to receive Budget Committee’s report, D. Campbell seconded. Approved.
Financial Update: J. Dickins noted that membership revenues are anticipated to hit
$65 000 this year. More money was made in awards this year than ever before; however, there was a shortfall in attendees at the Vancouver conference. NWS fundraising is estimated to be low but hoping for $10 000 in conference fees. Presently, the finances are showing $8000 in the bank; everything looks fine, but as always cash flow will continue to be the issue.
6. Conference Committee
Update on NWS 2004 Program: A suggestion was made to stop using the 25-page glossy conference programme, because it costs an extra $4000 to print. J. Dickins reported that Jacqui Banaszynski has been confirmed as a keynote speaker. The committee is also considering Ira Basen, David Weale, Scott Taylor, Heather Mallick, and Stephen Buttry.
K. Diotte motioned to accept Conference Committee report, J. Fowler seconded. Approved.
CAJ/IRE Workshop Update: J. Fowler spoke about the decision to bump the CAJ/IRE workshop from October 2nd to November 15th, 2004 because 3 weeks was not enough time to prepare for IRE folks. J. Dickins read just arrived e-mail regarding the November date. IRE would like to move to a later date because of U.S. presidential elections. June 6th was tentatively planned as a date. Waiting on approval from IRE.
Location for conference/NWS beyond 2006: Discussion about where conferences should be held and when.
P. Schneidereit motioned that a national conference be held in Halifax 2006, an NWS held in Ottawa in the fall of 2005, and an NWS held in Edmonton in the fall of 2006, M. MacAfee seconded. Approved.
For the conference May 13-15 in Winnipeg, the committee is looking for keynote speakers. Possibilities include Christopher Hitchens, Jon Stewart, and Garry Smith. R. Friesen said the MCNA (Manitoba Community Newspaper Association) should subsidize their people to come to CAJ conference.
7. Lunch
P. Schneidereit motioned to adjourn for lunch, M. MacAfee seconded. Approved.
Meeting called to order at 2:15 p.m..
D. Campbell discussed an e-mail she received from the Canadian Network for International Surgery asking CAJ to choose 3 journalists from Vancouver to go to Uganda for one week. The CNIS would like to have the CAJ’s name and choices for participants on their grant proposal. The board decided that in order to accept the proposal, the candidates must be from across the country, and there will be no conditions on editorials. The CAJ will strongly recommend that the trip be two weeks instead of one. Applicants will have to be members of the CAJ in order to apply for this opportunity. D. Campbell tasked to e-mail everyone on the Board of Directors with the organization’s response to the conditions.
8. Advocacy
Review of policy on issuing press releases: P. Schneidereit encouraged more people to step up and take on press releases if they are free. Anyone can suggest a press release; even if they are too busy, someone else may be able to pick it up. It is everyone’s job to pitch in.
Update on court cases (intervenor status): R. Cribb will talk to John Norris, lawyer, about the Supreme Court regarding maintaining public access to search warrant information. For the case challenging NAFTA Chapter 11 secret hearings, the CAJ must find another lawyer. S. Khan tasked to make some phone calls to media lawyers, preferably an Ontario or Toronto lawyer, asking for help. Someone on the advocacy committee could also make some calls. The CAJ is listed as an intervener in the Bangora v. Washington Post case.
Consideration of interim report from the ad-hoc committee: M. MacAfee motioned to receive interim report from the ad-hoc committee, seconded by J. Fowler. Approved. All six members of the ad-hoc committee agreed to the set of recommendations.
A discussion on the recommendations raised the following issues:
-How many people would be on the proposed ethics committee ?
-Who would the CAJ be looking for on an ethics committee?
-If the CAJ moves that an ethics committee be formed, the ad-hoc committee can make recommendations on a mandate.
-If a member of the CAJ is going to be named individually in any statement, they must be contacted first
K. Diotte motioned to approve the report of the ad hoc committee, M. MacAfee seconded. Call to Vote: M. MacAfee –Yes, R. Friesen – Yes, P. Schneidereit – Yes, K. Diotte – Yes, D. Campbell – Yes, R. Cribb – Yes, J. Fowler – Yes. Approved.
J. Fowler motioned that the board request the ad hoc committee to formulate a detailed mandate for an ethics committee, that could be given to prospective members
P. Schneidereit seconded. Approved.
M. MacAfee moved to amend the preceding motion by adding that the committee is asked to forward their recommendations to the board for its meeting in January 2005.
P. Schneidereit motioned to go in-camera at 3:55 p.m., M. MacAfee seconded. Approved.
9. Adjournment for the day
Meeting was adjourned at 6 p.m.
Meeting was called to order at 10:15 a.m. on Sunday.
10. Discussion – unfinished or arising from previous day.
Board went in-camera at 10:15 a.m
11. Membership Committee
Current membership: J. Dickins reported that the membership count in June was 1455, but is now down about 20 memberships. B.C., Saskatoon, Ottawa, and Québec’s memberships have slipped a bit, while Alberta and Atlantic Canada are steady. There is no cause for concern in the number of members, as long as it does not reach less than 1400. Otherwise there will always be some fluctuation.
Chapter reports: Chapters should be specific about their two paid events. J. Fowler will ensure that chapters are in good standing. S. Khan would like to see what is in the works with each chapter. R. Friesen has an executive meeting next week to plan for the fall. P.E.I. and Ottawa were the only chapters that did not send in their reports.
Chapter Liaison update: J. Fowler reported that everything has been updated on the web site; names and contacts of chapter executives have been added to make it easier for chapters to contact each other. She is encouraging direct communication between chapters and for presidents to use her as a resource. It was suggested that chapter presidents exchange reports and share information about their most successful events to help educate each other. J. Dickins congratulated J. Fowler, having worked with her in the past few months, as she has been doing a great job. P. Schneidereit agreed.
Fees: J. Dickins wants to see membership fees increased by $5 - $10 to help with the budget. By increasing fees, the CAJ will probably bring in about $3000 more dollars. J. Dickins suggested that it be done incrementally so it is easier for people to handle. Fees right now are $75/membership. K. Diotte has a problem with the $150 fee for associate members. Some PR members work for charitable organizations and may not be able to afford it. It was suggested that there be less of a price differential between journalists and associate members. R. Cribb wants to see a list of fees of other comparable organizations because the CAJ’s membership is cheap compared to others. J. Dickins guessed that close to 40% of membership claims to make less than $30 000 a year . Questions were raised about how many people work in public relations, and how many journalist members are under the salary threshold of $30,000? J. Dickins to evaluate and analyze the memberships. R. Friesen said that he has talked to students who say fees are too high and wants to lower fees to bring in more people.
12. Lunch
Decision was made to work through lunch.
13. New Business
London Free Press situation – applicability to other like situations: S. Khan suggested we should look at the issue of advertisers’ influence on editorial copy. The board decided this would be a perfect issue to give to the ethics committee, when formed. It’s also an excellent topic for Winnipeg to make into a panel discussion.
Professional Designations: There had been discussion of professional designation for journalists on the CAJ list-serve. The board believes professional designation is beyond the capability of the CAJ. However it was acknowledged that new members should be made aware of the CAJ’s statement of principles.
Privacy of internal board communications via e-mail discussion: Board went in-camera.
Board came out from in-camera. M. MacAfee thanked R. Cribb, J. Dickins and P. Schneidereit for all their work dealing with Stevie Cameron, including taking time off from vacation.
14. Next Meeting
January 29-30, 2005 weekend.
15. Adjournment
P. Schneidereit motioned to adjourn the meeting, R. Friesen seconded. Approved.