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THE WASHINGTON NEWSPAPER Vol. 98, No. 6 June 2013
Journal of the Washington Newspaper Publishers Association and Allied Daily Newspapers of Washington • www.wnpa.com
AP scandal renews push for shield law Service chief points to breadth of breach into phone records Newspaper Association of America
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he Associated Press learned May 10 that the Justice Department had obtained more than two months’ worth of telephone records from April and May 2012. The call logs covered more than 20 telephone lines assigned to AP journalists and offices. These
The Associated Press
AP CEO Gary Pruitt (left) and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder included both home and cell phones, as well as AP offices in the press gallery at the U.S.
House of Representatives and in New York City; Hartford, Conn.; and Washington, D.C. In a scathing response to Attorney General Eric Holder, AP President and CEO Gary Pruitt estimated that more than 100 journalists could have been affected by the records seizure. Pruitt wrote: “There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal com-
munications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.” Deputy Attorney General James Cole immediately responded to Pruitt’s letter. Pruitt and others have called into question whether the Justice Department followed its own
JUST THE RIGHT MOMENT
regulations governing subpoenas to the news media and to service providers for telephone toll records of members of the news media. Those regulations require, among other things, notice and an opportunity to negotiate unless the notice would pose “a substantial threat to the integrity of the investigation.” Cole did not explain why notice was delayed, but simply stated that the investigation was related to the unauthorized disclosure of classified informaSee AP, page 3
SPJ honors reporters at P-I, TNT Connelly, Kamb speak at gala held in Seattle
Western Washington SPJ
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Damian Mulinix/Chinook Observer, Long Beach
With this high-summer photo, Damian Mulinix, 2012 Photographer of the Year, placed first in the General News Photography category for Circulation Groups I and II Combined for the Chinook Observer in Long Beach. Judges complimented Mulinix’s ability to capture just the right moment and strengthen the image by his choice of focus, creating a photograph that’s interesting at first glance and even more so on continued examination.
Shaw heads Mercer, Bellevue Promotion gives native Eastsider home-field edge
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illiam Shaw, a fourthgeneration Eastsider, has been named publisher of the Bellevue Reporter and Mercer Island Reporter, succeeding Janet Taylor, who retired. He continues to serve as publisher ofthe Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter and the
Snoqualmie Valley Record. Shaw’s longtime professional focus has been as a print media advertising consultant in the local retail, William major, national Shaw and real estate categories. Shaw started in 1998 as an advertising executive with the former Journal-American. From 2002 to 2006 he was
Advertising Sales and Special Projects Manager for Horvitz Newspapers (the former Eastside Journal and later King County Journal) and for Sound Publishing, where in 2007, he was designated as Marketing Director for the newly formed Reporter Newspaper Group division of Sound Publishing, including the then newly established Bellevue Reporter. In 2008, he was made publisher of the weekly Snoqualmie Valley Record, which will observe its 100th anniversary this
fall. In 2012, Shaw was named publisher of the Issaquah & Sammamish Reporter. “Shaw is great community builder that brings a high level of experience and proven performance to the group publishing role,” said Josh O’Connor, Vice President of East Sound Newspaper Operations. “Bill’s connection to the community will benefit both the newspaper and the city of Bellevue.” Shaw’s Eastside connection runs deep.
See SHAW, page 6
oel Connelly of seattlepi. com and the Seattle PostIntelligencer — where he has logged about 35 years — received the 2012 June Anderson Almquist Distinguished Service to Journalism Award last month from Society of Professional Journalists’ Region 10. He and other SPJ winners were honored May 18 in ceremonies in Seattle and Portland. Nominators noted “Local institution Joel Connelly is a walking encyclopedia of all things political and environmental in the Pacific Northwest,” and wrote that “…after four decades of reporting, writing and examining, Joel still uses his carefully chosen words to check those in power and to give documented reason for change.” Almquist was a columnist and assistant managing editor for the Seattle Times who successfully championed reporting of contemporary women’s issues over the high-society news typically covered on the women’s page during her era. She died in 2000.
Lewis Kamb, inaugural winner
SPJ Western Washington’s first Journalist of the Year collaborated on a five-part series on one of America’s largest immigration detention centers, challenged the Tacoma city council to be more transparent in its hiring process and covered — with characteristic thoroughness and persistence — the city’s budget crisis. The award recognized Lewis Kamb, a reporter at the News Tribune in Tacoma. “I was blown away by the See SPJ, page 2