Midwest Journalism Conference Special Guest Speakers

            

Rick Kupchella--BringMeTheNews

SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards Luncheon Speaker

Friday, April 16—11:30 a.m.

Rick Kupchella is the founder of BringMeTheNews, a new news media outlet, based in the Twin Cities, bringing local news content to people across Minnesota.  Rick has worked as an investigative reporter and television news anchor in Minneapolis and St. Paul for more than 20 years. He worked eight years before that – in New York, Washington, D.C., Michigan and Kentucky. Winner of more than a dozen Emmys, he’s also been recognized repeatedly by the New York International Film Festival, the “Best of Gannett,” the Edward R. Murrow Awards and the Eric Sevareid Awards (presented by the Minnesota Broadcasters Association). Rick has also served as president of the Minnesota chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and worked on campaigns to advance journalism at the state capital and Supreme Court. At BringMeTheNews, he continues to produce news stories of his own and works to advance journalism by helping the public find the best news stories in the state – every day.

 

                                             

Roxana Saberi

Minnesota Associated Press Banquet Speaker

Friday, April 16—7:00 p.m.

Roxana Saberi, 32, an Iranian-American journalist, was born in New Jersey and raised in North Dakota. She has a Master’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism from Northwestern University, and a second master’s degree from Cambridge, in International Relations. She has reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio, and Fox News.

 

Midwest Journalism Conference Program Panelists

       

Tom Crann                             Tom Hauser

 

Better Interviewing Techniques

Friday, April 16—1:15 p.m.

   

Tom Crann has been the host of All Things Considered for Minnesota Public Radio News since 2005. He has interviewed a wide range of public figures, including every member of Minnesota's congressional delegation, as well as politicians, experts, writers, and artists. He anchored Minnesota Public Radio's award-winning live coverage of the 35W bridge collapse. He has hosted other special coverage for MPR News, from election night webcasts and live events, to the live coverage when the Republican National Convention was held in Saint Paul. He has been a host, producer, and interviewer for Minnesota Public Radio since 1995. His work on MPR News has been recognized with an Eric Sevareid award, a regional Edward R. Murrow award, and a National Headliner award. He has also hosted the international cultural broadcasts "Sounds Irish" and "The Last Night of the Proms," a co-production with the BBC. In addition to his work in news, Crann has spent over 20 years hosting and producing classical music and cultural programs at public radio stations around the U.S, and for RTE/Lyric FM in Ireland, where he is still a contributor. 

 

Tom Hauser started at KSTP-TV in 1992 after reporting and news anchoring jobs in Austin, Minn., Fort Myers, Fla., and Des Moines, Iowa. After covering the law enforcement beat in the Twin Cities for several years, Hauser began covering Minnesota politics in 1997. He hosts KSTP-TV's "At Issue" public affairs program on Sunday mornings. In 2002, Hauser wrote "Inside the Ropes with Jesse Ventura," a book about the remarkable four-year term of Governor Jesse Ventura. He earned his bachelor's in journalism and political science from the University of St. Thomas in 1983, and his master's in journalism and mass communication from Drake University in 1992. Hauser has won Emmy awards including for his coverage of the plane crash of Sen. Paul Wellstone and his work hosting "At Issue."

 

           

Jim Gehrz

Making Better Pictures a Snap

Friday, April 16—2:45 p.m.

Jim Gehrz worked at the Worthington Daily Globe in southwestern Minnesota before becoming a staff photojournalist at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Jim joined the St. Paul Pioneer Press photo staff in 1999, and then moved across the river to the Star Tribune in 2004.  He has been named state Photographer of the Year 12 times in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Jim received the 2004 Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award for Photojournalism and in 2005, the NPPA (National Press Photographers Association) named him Newspaper Photographer Of The Year. Also in 2005, Gehrz was one of three finalists nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in feature photography. Jim has received four regional Emmy Awards for still photography and audio slide shows produced for the Web, and the NPPA recognized one of his stories as the Best of Photojournalism 2007 "Best Audio Slide Show."  Jim has three children, Michael, Casie and Alyssa.

 
           

Chris Hedges

Is Celebrity Culture Destroying the Culture of News?

Friday, April 16—4:15 p.m.

Chris Hedges is currently a senior fellow at The Nation Institute in New York City.  He spent nearly two decades as a foreign correspondent in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans.  He has reported from more than 50 countries and has worked for The Christian Science Monitor, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News, and The New York Times, where he was a foreign correspondent for 15 years.

 
           

MAIN SESSION
Nurturing the Social Newsgathering Child

Saturday, April 17—8:30 a.m.

Bob Ingrassia (MPR):
Bob developed newsbobber.com, a Minnesota news, blog and Twitter aggregator. He brought it with him to Minnesota Public Radio where he is rolling them into a new MPR project called Minnesota today. The site looks at thousands of blogs, news sources and Twitter feeds from around Minnesota and brings them to a dynamic front page that constantly updates without human intervention. The site also features a complete Minnesota blog directory and blog ranking system that continually weighs the value of blogs and pits them against each other. It’s candy for news/blog/social network junkies. Bob also spent many years as a newspaper reporter for the Pioneer Press and the CNN editor for St. Paul-based Internet Broadcasting. bingrassia@mpr.org

Michael Gay (Hearst Television):
Michael is the executive editor for the Web sites of the 27 Hearst Television stations around the country, including one of the largest local media properties in the country, WCVB.com in Boston.  He has helped Hearst TV stations around the country implement social networking onto their sites and can speak well on how social networking is actually playing out in newsrooms around the country. One of his stations even produced and sold a book completely based on user-generated submissions through their Web site. He also occasionally writes for the industry blog, lostremote.com.

Jason DeRusha (WCCO-TV):
Jason helped thrust social networking and reporting into the mainstream in the Twin Cities.  Jason has been at the forefront of social networking content at WCCO.  Last year, Jason used social networking and his normal TV segment "Good Question" to start a campaign to get his own day proclaimed in Minneapolis.  Jason also leads the way with TV reporters using multiple platforms throughout the work day by doing live web segments from the newsroom and from his desk.