Leadership, fairness & diversity: 
Freedom Forum topics at PA Press Conference
Sign up today for the 2004 Pennsylvania Press Conference, featuring a three-part session presented by the Freedom Forum. In Winning Strategies for Leadership, Fairness and Diversity, four distinguished members of the Freedom Forum faculty will discuss ways to improve news quality, Saturday May 22 from 9 a.m. to noon.

Press Conference also features the annual AP Wire Watch report, sessions sponsored by the Associated Press, the PNA Foundation and the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors, as well as the annual PAPME and Keystone Press Awards banquets. Printable registration forms are available online. Set your hotel reservations by April 28 to get special conference rates!

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Second U.S. senatorial debate cancelled
Contrary to what was reported in the April 2 Headlines & Deadlines, there will be no second debate between U.S. Senator Arlen Specter and U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey, candidates in the Republican primary election. 

While a second debate -- sponsored by The (Allentown) Morning Call and other organizations -- had been announced, it was cancelled by April 2. The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association regrets this error.

PWPA announces contest winners  
Winners of the Pennsylvania Women's Press Association's annual journalism contest have been announced. Click the link below for a complete list of winners. 

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Newspaper, PNA object to subpoena of reporter
The legal counsels of The Scranton Times/Tribune and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association have objected to the subpoena of a Scranton Times reporter, Jennifer Henn. 

The subpoena was issued as part of a grand jury inquiry in the alleged misconduct of prison officials that had been investigated by Scranton Times journalists.

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PNA staff celebrates April arrivals
Members of the PNA staff are celebrating new arrivals to their families this April.

Denise Ott, PNA's director of marketing and membership, and her husband Nathan welcomed baby Evan Miles to their family April 7.

Eric Wise, PNA's communications director, and his wife Deb celebrated Easter on April 11 with the birth of Carlton Russell.

Mike Shatto, PNA's production coordinator, continues this week on "baby watch" as his daughter Melissa and her husband Paul await the birth of their second child, due last week. This will be Mike's second grandchild.

Join us in wishing these families the best!

From the Hotline: Are there legal issues to consider when running a readership contest? 
Click the link below to read the answer from Teri Henning, PNA's media law counsel, to this week's question.

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Use this link to the new Headlines & Deadlines page which groups and archives Teri Henning's weekly 'From the Hotline' columns. 

[HOTLINE ARCHIVE]

Keystone Winners announced 
The PNA Foundation posted the winners of the 2004 Keystone Press Awards. Winning entries may be submitted to mikes@pa-news.org for publication in the annual winners tab, which will be distributed at the Keystone Banquet. Photos should be submitted as TIF or high quality JPG files; articles should be submitted in plain text, using the txt extension; and page design winners may be submitted in PDF format. Electronic files may be submitted on PC-readable CDs or 100 MB Zip disks and mailed to Mike Shatto, PNA, 3899 N. Front St., Harrisburg PA 17110. 

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Scranton student newspaper suspends publication following complaints 
The University of Scranton has shut down its student newspaper after an April Fool's Day edition parodied "The Passion of the Christ," college administrators and Georgetown University, a fellow Jesuit institution. 

"We received many complaints from students, not just over the April Fool's edition, but all year concerning The Aquinas," said student government President Timothy Gabrielli, 21, of Easton. "People did not think it was a correct representation of us as a college community." 

While some are crying censorship, college spokesman Gerry Zaboski said private institutions can limit free speech. He also said the issue raised libel concerns. 

In a campus e-mail sent April 2, Vincent Carilli, vice president for student affairs, said the newspaper would not resume publication until its staff publishes a statement of ethics. 

- Associated Press

CNHI to sell 22 newspapers to Heartland Publications  
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. said April 2 it was selling 22 newspapers in seven states to a new company based in Florida. No terms were disclosed. 

The buyer, Heartland Publications LLC, was created by longtime publishing executive James M. McGinnis specifically for this sale, according to a news release from the two companies. Heartland investors also include Wachovia Capital Partners of Charlotte, N.C., and The Wicks Group of Companies of New York. 

The newspapers sold were The Thomaston (Ga.) Times; The Harlan Daily Enterprise, The Hazard Herald, the Grayson County News Gazette, The (Middlesboro) Daily News, The Floyd County Times and the News Democrat Leader in Russellville, all in Kentucky; The Apex Herald, The Sampson Independent in Clinton, the Bladen Journal in Elizabethtown, the Fuquay-Varina Independent, The Garner News and The Robesonian in Lumberton, all in North Carolina; the Gallipolis Daily Tribune, the Portsmouth Daily Times and The (Pomeroy-Middleport) Daily Sentinel in Ohio; the Point Pleasant (W.Va.) Register; the Altus Times, the Durant Daily Democrat and the Frederick Leader, all in Oklahoma; and the Macon County Times and Claiborne Progress in Tazewell, both in Tennessee. 

After the sale, CNHI will operate 87 daily newspapers, 49 non-daily newspapers and 155 specialty publications in 20 states. The company's Pennsylvania holdings include daily newspapers in Johnstown, Sharon, Meadville, St. Marys, Kane, New Castle, Punxsutawney, Ridgway and Titusville. 

Readers protest student newspaper in response to cartoon with racial slur
The editor in chief and managing editor of a student newspaper at Carnegie Mellon University are considering resigning after the newspaper ran a comic strip that contained a racial slur. 

Alex Meseguer, editor in chief of The Tartan, will temporarily suspend the newspaper's operations in light of the publication's April Fool's Day edition, which not only contained the controversial comic strip, but also included depiction of female genitalia and poems about rape and mutilation. 

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Judge drops Internet defamation suit called first over online free speech 
In a case defense attorneys called the first to test the limits of Internet free speech, a judge asked a court to drop her defamation lawsuit against someone who criticized her in an Internet chat room. 

Judge Joan Orie Melvin no longer wants to know the identity of a critic who denounced her on the Internet in 1999, according to recently filed court documents. Melvin's attorney, Jack Orie, said he believes Melvin gave up the case because it would have taken years to resolve. 
 
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