As the country mourns the tragic shooting in a movie theater early Friday, July 20, 2012, in Aurora, Colo., we’re also trying to think it through. Twelve people died and 58 were injured in the shooting at a midnight showing of the new Batman movie; a lone gunman is suspected. We’re all talking about it.…
The Washington Post has reported today (Tuesday, July 17, 2012) that its longtime columnist William Raspberry died today of prostate cancer. He was 76. Raspberry was the 1995 recipient of the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, presented at that year’s conference, in Kansas City, Mo. The Post article…
Tuesday, July 3, 2012 — Syndicated political columnist Clarence Page, based at the Chicago Tribune, is under fire for giving a speech, having accepted a fee, at a event in France supporting an Iranian group that the U.S. State Department terms a terrorist organization. Page is the 2007 recipient of the Ernie Pyle Lifetime Achievement…
By Suzette Martinez Standring National Society of Newspaper Columnists Looking for new studies and experts to quote? Whatever type of column you write, professional authority and the latest research will bolster your position. One of the most valuable tips shared at a NSNC conference was the website, www.newswise.com. Now I use it daily to find…
Art of Column Writing By Suzette Martinez Standring Past President National Society of Newspaper Columnists I come late to the blogging party. This has been my reluctance: What, another deadline? I can’t compete with established, tech-savvy bloggers. Do I really need more emails to suck up all my writing time? Now I blog. What changed?…
President’s Message By Larry Cohen President National Society of Newspaper Columnists When Steve Lopez, the great L.A. Times columnist, spoke at an NSNC convention a number of years ago, he joked about being labeled a “local” columnist. What exactly did “local” mean in a Los Angeles metro area that sprawled for hundreds of miles, with…
Four-time NSNC column contest winner Saralee Perel has a new book, Cracked Nuts & Sentimental Journeys: Stories From a Life Out of Balance. To read about Cracked Nuts, including how to receive a signed copy, please visit her website: www.saraleeperel.com. Online, Saralee’s columns can be found at her blog. Information on her recent novel Raw…
Participants in the 2012 annual conference of the National Society of Newspaper Columnist are publishing columns and blogs about the weekend in Macon, Ga. Here are links to them. Contact us to submit your pieces; we will update this list. Samantha Bennett, Macon Telegraph, “Time to salute?” Bill Campbell’s Emerald Coast, “Her ‘Graciousness’ and some…
Longtime NSNC member Walt Brasch has received the Lifetime Communicator of Achievement award from the Pennsylvania Press Club, reported a newspaper that runs his column. The News Eagle said Walt received the honor June 3 in Gettysburg at the club’s annual dinner. The lifetime is the state press club’s highest award, recognizing both significant journalistic…
Niesielski publishes a humor column collection and a humor-fantasy novel, e-book and paper NSNC member Wolfgang Niesielski writes that he has two books published and available for sale at Amazon.com. The first one is a collection of some of his humor columns over the years, and it’s titled The Alien in my E-Mail and Other…
Love’s Columns’ Labor’s Lost? By Ben S. Pollock NSNC Director of Online Media What’s the value of a columnist writing for no pay for a city’s newspaper (rather, its website), which it terms “a labor of love”? It turns out to be a trick question, or at least with no easy answer. A highlight of…
Attribution is the antidote to plagiarism you, the columnist By Dave Lieber www.YankeeCowboy.com Angry as all get out, as Texans like to say. That’s how I feel when I think about what happened in recent months to many of our NSNC colleagues. More than their words were stolen when their columns were plagiarized in separate…
Longtime NSNC member, and multiple contest winner Smiley Anders has a new book, his second. It’s Smiley! A Laughing Matter. Anders, with the Advocate of Baton Rouge, La., explains it’s about half autobiography and half items from past columns. Here’s the blurb about it: “This book not only contains funny stories from his columns published…
President’s Message By Larry Cohen President National Society of Newspaper Columnists Larry Cohen With the financial help of my mysterious Political Action Committee in the Cayman Islands; with a last-minute surge of support from the National Rifle Association; and with my foreign policy promise to transform Syria into a Disney amusement park; I was able…
By Ben Pollock President National Society of Newspaper Columnists Updates on the topic follow the article, including: “Suspected Plagiarist Resigns” George Waters Longtime NSNC member George Waters, having read recently about a newspaperman stealing columns from a number of humor writers, “Googled” some of own better lines and found he was paid the compliment of…
On Monday (May 21), the Online News Association, journalists.org, opened its annual contest, according to its executive director, Jane McDonnell. ONA has a category for commentary, with three subcategories: Small, Media and Large websites, as well as a Student contest. The size differences, and all of the rules, are on a separate rules page. Rather…
Editor’s note: Mike Masterson published this column on May 5, the day he received the 2012 Will Rogers Humanitarian Award from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. He read this column during his thank-you at the awards banquet of its 36th annual conference, in Macon, Ga. By Mike Masterson Copyright © 2012 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette The late…
