RTDNA Announces Winner for 2012 Gannett Foundation Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism

The Radio Television Digital News Association announced on Wednesday the winner of the 2012 Gannett Foundation Award for Innovation in Watchdog Journalism.

Danny Gawlowski and the staff of The Seattle Times including Michael J. Berens, Ken Armstrong, Justin Mayo, James Neff, Katrina Barlow and Genevieve Alvarez were named the winners of this year’s award for the piece,  “Methadone and the Politics of Pain,” which also won a 2012 Pulitzer Prize. 



“This is an outstanding journalistic investigation that clearly embodies the precepts of the Gannett Award, “ according to Mike Cavender, RTDNA Executive Director. “Besides excellent reporting and writing, this series creatively and effectively used digital technologies to help the readers and viewers really understand the significance of the problem and its effects on thousands of residents.”

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RTDNA Joins Letter to NYPD on Police-Press Relations

Dear Commissioner Kelly,

As a follow-up to our meeting on November 23, 2011, after which you issued your FINEST message “to remind members of the service of their obligations to cooperate with media representatives acting in a news-gathering capacity at the scene of police incidents,” I am writing on behalf of the organizations listed below in order to address recent events involving members of the press and your department...

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Be A Joiner at RTDNA

By Mike Cavender, RTDNA Executive Director

After spending several days “unburying” myself after our very successful EIJ ’12 conference, I’ve had a chance to reflect a bit about what we’ve accomplished so far and, more importantly, what lies ahead.

First, I have to restate the obvious:  EIJ ’12 in Fort Lauderdale was another great joint effort between your organization and the Society of Professional Journalists.  For years, I’ve been attending our conferences (which have undergone a variety of iterations) but never really gave a great deal of thought to all of the blood, sweat and tears shed by the many talented and dedicated staffers charged with the responsibility of making it all work...

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Money Matters Story Idea: 8 Things You Should Shred Right Now

By Ryan G. Murphy, RTDNA

According to financial services consulting firm Javelin Strategies and Research, identity theft affects 11 million people a year, at a cost of $54 billion, according to a report by thestreet.com.

If your audience members don't want to become a statistic, a good place for them to start is to get a shredder, the report notes.

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What's in Store for the Year Ahead at RTDNA

By Vince Duffy, RTDNA Chairman

The last two or three years have been challenging ones for RTDNA, but challenges that we have successfully met thanks to strong leadership and an excellent staff. We restructured our staff, hired a new executive director, put the finances in order, and developed a successful partnership with the Society of Professional Journalists.

Thanks to the efforts of the board and staff, the RTDNA ship has been righted and the hull has been repaired. With that that work done, this is the year we should hoist the sails and get back to our mission, continuing the work RTDNA was created to do...

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Full #EIJ12 Conference Coverage

Welcome to the hub for all of the editorial coverage for #EIJ12. Here you will find links to each day's Top Stories, information from specific sessions, videos, interviews, pictures and more. Click here if you'd like to view the #EIJ12 microsite, excellenceinjournalism.org

Quick Links:

From Newsroom to Classroom: Always a New Beginning

By Dr. Lydia Reeves Timmins, University of Delaware

As I write this, it’s the first day of classes at the University of Delaware. The early AM news is on and  the rain should end before my classes start.

It’s a fresh new semester, a fresh new year with new students on campus all brimming with excitement. What will they learn this year? Which brings me to, "what will I teach this year?" The academic life is full of new beginnings and reinvention, much like the daily newscast. But my classes are, in truth, a bit more rigid. The students expect a syllabus detailing the flow of the semester on the first day of class. Sure, I can change it but it’s less fluid than the 6 p.m. news...

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A Note Regarding the 2012 Bylaw Changes

RTDNA Members,

You have before you a number of changes to RTDNA and RTDNF by-laws which we hope you will approve. The common theme reflected in these changes is one of inclusion.

When the Radio Television News Directors Association became the Radio, Television, Digital News Association, we did so in order to acknowledge the remarkable and revolutionary changes occurring within our industry. Electronic journalism must include digital and more often than not, those people leading our organizations are involved in multi-platform news dissemination. Our intent was to become a more inclusive organization. These by-laws changes are another step in that effort...

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7 Hours in Nashville - A Minute-By-Minute Breakdown of Sept. 11, 2001

By Bob Priddy

(Editors note: this piece initially appeared on RTDNA.org in September of 2011 in a series of reflection pieces on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11/01.)

No single day in the 65-year history of RTDNA changed the organization more than September 11, 2001.  Although organization leaders had recognized the changing business and media climate around them and were pondering changes RTNDA (as it was called then) would have to make, they could never have anticipated the changes set in motion that morning.  As the day unfolded, I started keeping a log of events. Later, I added other notes that might add context to what happened in about seven hours that day at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville. The times listed for what was happening to us that day in Nashville are the readings from my watch and might not match times in other chronologies of other events. Here is a behind the scenes look at the day history changed the world and RTDNA...

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