The Future Just Showed Up: Like By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President September 2010 Last year I asked my Facebook friends on my “Wall,” where conversations are texted (Is this English?), “Why are people so upbeat on Facebook?” I’d been on Facebook a few months, having been sold on it by NSNC veteran Dave Lieber [...]

By Ben S. Pollock NSNC President Thank you for electing me president of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Didn’t you hear? I have not published a running column since Sept. 16, 2001. Instead I’ve written at benpollock.com/brick for nearly seven years. After the first year, the water warms up. Blogging is how I’ve coped [...]

President’s Message By Samantha Bennett NSNC President   Just a quick update this month, and an opportunity to connect and make a difference. Future of NSNC Task Force member Russ Lemmon represented NSNC at the CNJO (Conference of National Journalism Organizations) winter meeting in Florida, and he has come back to the board with a [...]

By Samantha Bennett NSNC President Happy New Year! I’ve said before that what you get out of NSNC depends on what you put into it. What do you get from your NSNC membership? I’d love to hear from you, at sambennett1@verizon.net . I’d like to hear why you joined, what you enjoy about being a [...]

By Samantha Bennett NSNC President      Just when we thought we were over our newspapers and turning our faces into the brisk wind of New Media to blog, learn HTML, Tweet or do whatever else is necessary to stay relevant and employed, the Newspaper Research Journal comes out with this: Print editions of newspapers [...]

By Samantha Bennett I don’t mean to gloat and make you feel bad if you weren’t there, but I have to say: Ventura kicked butt. It was a career seminar that was also a great party, a celebration that was also an education. Steve Lopez inspired us. Jeff Zaslow brought us to tears. Jon Carroll [...]

By Samantha Bennett NSNC President     Well, this is it. I hope your travel plans are made and your registration is paid, because this is going to be one hell of a conference — especially considering the air of austerity and nervousness permeating our nation and our industry. Conference chairs Bill Nash and Gretchen [...]

By Samantha Bennett NSNC President     We keep hearing that print journalism is dead, that no one reads it, that it’s irrelevant and dull and deservedly outmoded. And yet … somehow, your local multiplex didn’t get that memo.   In “State of Play,” Russell Crowe plays a crusty investigative reporter who goes after a [...]

By Samantha Bennett NSNC President      Hope you’re all getting registered and making your hotel and travel arrangements for the conference in Ventura! Now more than ever, we need our network and the professional advice that our speakers and panelists will provide.   I joined representatives of other groups at the Council of National Journalism Organizations’ [...]

Samanta Bennett NSNC President “We must, indeed, all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately.”       – Benjamin Franklin As the drumbeat of bad news pounds on, day after day, it’s hard not to become fearful. But we didn’t become columnists because we are fearful. We became columnists because of trust. We [...]

I’m taking the buyout. Taking a flying leap into the unknown of my own volition was marginally preferable to sticking it out and waiting for the ax.

The case could have been derailed had the columnist followed the basic standards of our profession. He should have done further checking of the allegations.

Have you considered a journalism workshop or fellowship? I always come back from conference feeling fresh, energized and even a little more hopeful. I come home with ideas I wouldn’t have gotten on my own.

Blogging is shifting the business toward a model where writing is uncompensated. Even for those on a payroll, our meager wages can’t keep up with rising prices.