The House of Representatives passed a version of the shield law (HR 985) last March and two weeks ago the the Senate Judiciary Committee reached an agreement on the Free Flow of Information Act (S 448) which is a compromise bill. An integral portion of the compromise was the approval of the White House which was given two weeks ago. The bill is scheduled for mark-up next Thursday and the NPPA is asking members to call the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and encourage them to either support the bill or allow it to be voted upon if they oppose it.

According to the NPPA Counsel Mickey Osterreicher, previous “national security concerns, expressed mostly by Republicans but also some Democrats, have been addressed and significant concessions were made in the compromise bill to take national security into account.”

To find a list of Senate Judiciary members, check here.

The NPPA is looking to the future and we want the leadership on the Board of individuals who are responsible. I am excited about the caliber of everyone who has decided to run. It is an impressive group and I believe we have some outstanding candidates. I look forward to working with the new Board beginning in January.

The candidates who are running for election for NPPA’s new national board are:

Mike Borland
Jeff Gritchen
Danny Gawlowski
Michael P. King
Todd Maisel
Merry Murray
Jim Michalowski
Smiley Pool
Greg Smith
Gerald S. Williams
Jack Zibluk

On Wednesday June 10, its the 20th annual Women in Photojournalism followed by the Photojournalism Workshops and Edit Foundry on Thursday through Saturday. Saturday night finishes the week with the annual NPPA Awards Banquet.

There’s still time to register for events. The workshops are “hands-on” and will help tailor your skills for today’s changing workplace. We’re offering such things as: shooting & editing video, starting up in multimedia, pricing your work, audio, marketing, and shooting panoramas to name just a few. Additionally, there are workshops to help you transition from a staff position to freelancing.

Remember, this year what happens in Vegas, goes home with you.

By the way, if you haven’t used it yet, you can also share stories on Facebook and other social networking sites. Look for the share box in the right hand column of every news story.

Do you Twitter? Well follow the latest news from the NPPA on Twitter.

This is a fascinating look at the way Souza works covering the President. As an educator, this is a great teaching piece on how Souza considers himself “a visual historian.” I am constantly looking for pieces to share with students on how visual journalists play an important role in society. This piece is one that will help make an impact on young photojournalists. Souza emphasizes the importance of visual journalism for society when he states:

The most important thing is to create a good visual archive for history, so 50 or a hundred years from now, people can go back and look at all these pictures.

You can view the video featuring Souza here.

Photojournalists interested in being notified about the return of Fallen Heros should write to the Air Force Mortuary Affairs Operations Center Public Affairs office: AFMAO.PA@Dover.af.mil. The DOD requires that the e-mail include their name, media organization and e-mail address, plus the name, phone number, and email address of their immediate supervisor.

In several of the stories, the DOD reports that they discussed the policy with

several military support organizations for a policy change that, under strictly delineated conditions, allows media filming of dignified transfer operations of fallen servicemembers’ remains at Dover Air Force Base.

Interestingly, the releases make no note of discussing the policy with media groups, although several press agencies were involved in a couple of conference calls on the policy.

Here are some other links related to the transfer policy:
Gates Signs Policy Change for Dignified Transfer Operations at Dover
Military Support Groups Provided Input for Dover Policy Change

Several weeks ago, Canon added some older bodies to the list, and this week has added some non-L lens to the list. I am excited that Canon has listened to us and responded positively for photographers. I am hoping that they will expand the list and even possibly reduce the number of bodies.

The expanded list for their three levels of membership is here.

NPPA General Counsel Mickey Osterreicher wrote to Amtrak offering to help them craft a revised policy that would address First Amendment considerations. Amtrak accepted the offer. Osterreicher and Advocacy Chair Alicia Calzada began a flurry of e-mail conversations about the policy and drafted changes they submitted to Amtrak Police General Counsel David. J. Domzalski.

One of their biggest concerns was wording that described photography in sinister terms. They rewrote the section and Amtrak agreed to the revisions. In fact, Domzalski wrote yesterday to tell Osterreicher, “all of your recommendations were incorporated into the guidelines …”

The end result, a change in Amtrak’s photo policies which now state:

‘It is the policy of Amtrak that the taking of photographs and/or videos is permitted within public access areas on Amtrak property.’”

Amtrak also issued Amtrak Police General Order 09-02 which gives direction to the police on how to handle situations involving photography. In the order, they state that:

Officers may request that an individual consent to release of a recording, film or picture. Any consent must be knowing and voluntary. Under no circumstances will officers delete, destroy or alter photographs/videos; nor shall they request that photographs/video be deleted, destroyed or deleted.

Read the full story in News Photographer.

This is a major victory for photography and First Amendment freedoms. I am proud of what the NPPA has accomplished with this work. I want to thank all of the people who helped with this issue, but especially Mickey, Alicia, Todd, News Photographer Editor Don Winslow, and NPPA Executive Director Jim Straight.

This career track will help photojournalists new to the world of academia, long time photojournalism educators and visual journalists who are thinking of entering the classroom as adjunct or full time faculty.

From syllabus planning to teaching tips, survival in the world of academia to sabbatical suggestions, the Northern Short Course’s Visual Journalism Educator’s Track is the place for everyone who teaches photojournalism.

• Roundtable Discussion: “Newsroom to Classroom”, Teaching Photojournalism 101 David Handschuh, moderator, Prof. Loret Steinberg, Prof. Jim MacMillan, Prof. Ken Kobre, Prof. John Kaplan

• “Talking about Trauma to our Students” Professor Jim MacMillan, Temple University and Dart Ochberg Fellow and Mike Walter, WUSA-TV, Washington and Dart Ochberg Fellow

• “Teaching the Photo Story” Prof. John Kaplan, University of Florida

• “Materials for increasing student skills while teaching Photojournalism” Prof. Ken Kobre, San Francisco State University

If you’re interested in teaching, you don’t want to miss this set of workshops.