Network with ASBPE all summer—and win an iPad mini!

Credit: Mark Rook, Director, Creative Services, WTWH Media

ASBPE is rolling out Third Thursdays, a great new way for editors and designers to network and learn a little bit, too. Our chapters are organizing happy hours across the country on the Third Thursdays of the month in June, July and August, a great chance to meet some of your peers and talk shop.

And this is 2013, after all, so there’s a virtual component, as well. We’re encouraging attendees to discuss a different topic each month and Tweet about the best ideas you come up with, using the hashtag #asbpe. This allows editors and designers everywhere the opportunity to learn from your conversations and even participate themselves. Our National Board will be selecting the best, most insightful tweet each Third Thursday, and the winner will receive an iPad mini! Plus, we’ll have on-site drawings for iTunes gift cards, to help keep your summer rockin’.

So mark your calendar now and we’ll save a place for you at the bar.

June 20 — How to conquer Twitter as an editor

Register for the June meet up — any location!

• Boston (5-7 p.m.): Sidney’s in the Le Meredien, 20 Sidney St., Cambridge, MA 02139, Contact: Alan Earls, 508-528-6930, alan.r.earls@gmail.com
• Cleveland (6-8 p.m.): Market Garden Brewery, 1947 W 25th St Cleveland, OH 44113, Cleveland at W. 25th St. (free parking behind the building next to the West Side Market), Contact: Stephanie Ricca, 216-245-2315, sricca@questex.com
• Kansas City (5-7 p.m.): Cooper Hawk Winery, 4686 Broadway St., Contact: Danica Tormohlen, 816-803-8103, danicat@tradeshowexecutive.com
• Washington, DC (6-8 p.m.): Redwood Restaurant and Bar, 7121 Bethesda Lane, Bethesda, MD, Contact: Kathleen Caggiano, 571-265-3538, kathleencaggiano@gmail.com

July 18 — SEO for editors

Register for the July meet up — any location!

• Cleveland (6-8 p.m.): The Winking Lizard, 14018 Detroit Rd., Lakewood, OH (free parking), Contact: Stephanie Ricca, 216-245-2315, sricca@questex.com
• Washington, DC (6-8 p.m.): Co Co Sala, 929 F St N.W., Washington, D.C., Contact: Kathleen Caggiano, 571-265-3538, kathleencaggiano@gmail.com
• New York City (5-7 p.m.): Location TBA, Contact: Ginger Conlon, 646-638-6184, ginger.conlon@dmnews.com

August 15 — Handling increased job responsibilities

Register for the August meet up — any location!

• Boston (5-7 p.m.): John Harvard’s Brew Pub, 1 Worcester Rd Framingham, MA 01701, Contact: Alan Earls, 508-528-6930, alan.r.earls@gmail.com
• Cleveland (6-8 p.m.): The Oak Barrel Brasserie & Taphouse, 5975 Canal Rd., Valley View, OH (free parking), Contact: Stephanie Ricca, 216-245-2315, sricca@questex.com
• Kansas City (5-7 p.m.): North, 4579 W 119th St., Leawood, KS, Contact: Amy Fischbach, 913-385-7725, amyfischbach@gmail.com
• Chicago: Location TBD, Contact: Debbie Cassell, 312-996-9135
• Washington, DC (6-8 p.m.): Kora, 2250 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA (Crystal City), Contact: Kathleen Caggiano, 571-265-3538, kathleencaggiano@gmail.com
• New York City (5-7 p.m.): Location TBA, Contact: Ginger Conlon, 646-638-6184, ginger.conlon@dmnews.com

The ASBPE’s editorial board recently met in Boston to discuss new and exciting developments of the American Society of Business Publication Editors. View a few photos of the meeting on our Flickr account!

Seattle, WA – Marguerite Casey Foundation is pleased to announce its 2013 Journalism Fellowship Program on Poverty. The program aims to increase the public’s and policymakers’ understanding of poverty through journalism. Application deadline May 24, 2013. Criteria and application to be found here: http://caseygrants.org/2013-journalism-fellowship-and-scholarship-award.

For questions, please contact: Rich Boswell at rboswell@caseygrants.org.

You can now fill out the Young Leaders Scholarship application on our website. No PDF downloads needed:
http://www.asbpe.org/young-leaders-scholarship-application

ASBPE started the annual Young Leaders Scholarship in 2001 in order to help young editors who are just starting their careers. The scholarship allows younger editors who might otherwise be unable to attend the ASBPE National Conference or Boot Camps. It is open to all business editors, including print and Web.

Get more information on qualifications and complete the application here.

Interested in learning more about the recent onslaught of plagiarism by professional journalists, and how it’s affecting the field? Below is a press release from the American Copy Editors Society describing their first ever Plagiarism and Fabrication Summit, to be held April 5, 2013 in St. Lous, MO.

NATIONAL JOURNALISM ORGANIZATIONS UNITE FOR SUMMIT TO STOP PLAGIARISM AND FABRICATION

April 5 summit to feature industry panel discussion, training sessions and e-book release

(January 23, 2013) – The year 2012 was arguably the worst for recorded cases of plagiarism and fabrication by professional journalists, prompting the nation’s leading journalism organizations to unite for the first time to collectively combat the problem.

On April 5, representatives of the American Copy Editors Society (ACES), Associated Press Media Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Online News Association, the American Society of News Editors, the Canadian Association of Journalists, the Radio-Television Digital News Association and Local Independent Online News Publishers will meet
in St. Louis for the National Summit on Plagiarism and Fabrication.

The summit will feature a panelist discussion on the common causes of plagiarism, steps to prevent it and how to handle incidents. The summit is free of charge and open to journalists, members of the media and others working in the communications industry. Following the summit, training sessions will be held on topics including aggregation versus plagiarism, social media plagiarism and plagiarism in the classroom. Registration for the afternoon sessions is $50.

“We are very excited to be playing an integral role in bringing this important summit to the communications industry,” said Teresa Schmedding, president of ACES, which is organizing the event.

The need for industry action was initially raised by Poynter Institute’s Craig Silverman in a blog last fall. Silverman cited cases in which journalists and media groups with good reputations were guilty of plagiarizing, falsifying information, faking bylines and reporting inaccurate or unverified information.

As a result, Schmedding called on other journalism organizations to join forces to fight the problem.

“These cases put a black eye on all of journalism,” Schmedding said. “Credibility has always been critical, but never more than now when media companies and trained journalists are telling readers their news is worth paying for because they are more reliable.” An e-book on the topic of plagiarism and fabrication is currently being developed by members of journalism organizations, as well as working journalists from all platforms, and industry experts and academics. The free e-book will be released during the summit in April and remain available for download following the event.

“Our goal with the e-book is to put tools in the hands of working journalists to help fight the problem,” said Schmedding, who also is the deputy managing editor/digital operations of the Daily Herald Media Group in suburban Chicago. “Our goal with the summit is to make sure this is the beginning of the conversation, not the end.”

“The timing couldn’t be better,” said Bob Heisse, past president of the Associated Press Media Editors and executive editor of the State Journal-Register in Springfield, Ill. “Our landscape has changed so much,” Heisse said. “Just from the newspaper perspective we don’t have many ombudsmen positions anymore and we don’t have as many people editing stories as copy desks have consolidated. All that combined with new ways to deliver information instantly makes this an important time to ensure industry standards and ethics.”

Summit Information:

What: National Summit on Plagiarism and Fabrication

When: 9 a.m. – noon on Friday, April 5

Where: Arch View Ballroom, Ballpark Hilton St. Louis, One South Broadway, St. Louis

Cost: Anyone may attend the summit free of charge, but you must RSVP. The conference is running in conjunction with the ACES national conference. Attendees can attend a welcome reception, banquet or additional sessions for a fee.

To register: https://secure.copydesk.org/summit/step1.php

For information on the ACES conference, see http://stl.copydesk.org

For a list of committee participants, see http://www.copydesk.org/3451/plagiarism-and-fabrication-group-hard-at-work.

For more information on the summit or interview opportunities, contact tschmedding@copydesk.org.

ABOUT AMERICAN COPY EDITORS SOCIETY
ACES, the American Copy Editors Society, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) education and membership organization working toward the advancement of copy editors. Our aim is to provide solutions to editing problems, training and a place to discuss common issues. ACES is an international members’ alliance of editors working at newspapers, magazines, online news sites, public relations and marketing agencies and corporations. ACES was started in 1997 by Pam Robinson of Long Island, N.Y., and Hank Glamann of Houston. Today, ACES has a presence throughout the U.S., as well as internationally. For more information, visit www.copydesk.org.

ASBPE members are welcome to enter a competition for two fellowship opportunities sponsored by The Society of Professional Journalists.

The Eugene C. Pulliam Fellowship for Editorial Writing awards $75,000 to an editorial writer to help broaden his or her journalistic horizons and knowledge of the world. The cash award can be used to cover the cost of study, research and/or travel in any field.

The Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award is presented to honor a person or persons who have fought to protect and preserve one or more of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. An individual, group of individuals or organization will be awarded $10,000 cash and an engraved crystal to honor those committed to the same goals and as a tribute to the professional contributions Pulliam made to journalism.

For more information, including application requirements and information about these awards, click here.

Applications for both awards are due June 22. For questions, please contact Awards Coordinator Lauren Rochester at lrochester@spj.org.

To reflect the shift to multi-platform publishing, ASBPE’s marketing committee recently sponsored a logo competition.

Designer Bonnie James, who has been working in B2B publishing since 1988, submitted the winning entry and earned a free one-year membership to ASBPE. James began in the industry as an illustrator for Gorman Publishing and is now working as a freelancer specializing in both print and Web design projects.

To create her modern, clean logo, James used ITC Officiana Sans. This font was released in 1990, and its design was influenced by the typewriter fonts, Letter Gothic and Courier.

“A font based on typewriter style fonts seemed an interesting choice for an editorial organization,” James said.

As a nod to the old logo, James used the pipe key, which is often used to separate items in Web site navigation bars.

“Sometimes it’s good to keep an element from the old design for continuity and recognizability,” she said.

The newly redesigned logo will soon be integrated into ASBPE’s Web site banner, placed on the Azbee award certificates and  used in the association’s new membership brochure.

To learn more about Bonnie James, please visit her Web site at www.bonniejamesdesign.com.

ASBPE Members can save $100 off the Publishing Business Full Conference Pass and receive a new Kindle Fire.

The Publishing Business Conference & Expo, March 19-21, 2012 at the New York Marriott Marquis, is the nation’s largest event for book and magazine publishing executives. The leading-edge program addresses pressing issues facing book and magazine publishing executives today.

Here are just a few of the topics that will be covered:

• How to reinvent your company for more profitable multiplatform publishing
• What the new way of thinking about content and discoverability is
• How to tap the mobile market
• How to create a social media game plan
• What are the best practices in app development
• How to build diversified revenue streams
• What to expect in the future of e-books
• How market shifts are impacting all industry constituents
• How to work toward a more profitable future for all

Check out the full agenda at http://www.publishingbusiness.com/agenda as well as the All-Star list of speakers lined up to date: http://www.publishingbusiness.com/conference-info/speakers/

Apply discount code: ASBPE-100 and you’ll pay only $1,075. This price also includes lunch on Monday and Tuesday and continental breakfast on Wednesday.

Register at http://publishingbusiness.cvent.com/d/0cqjky/4W

ASBPE is redesigning its logo, and we’re looking to you for help. Send us your concept for a new logo for a chance to win a free one-year membership to the organization.

An ideal new ASBPE logo would convey the shift to multi-platform publishing (i.e., print and digital) and take into consideration all of our members – editors, writers and art directors. It would also incorporate ASBPE’s new tagline, “Fostering B2B editorial excellence.”

Please keep all files less than 2 MB in size, and send only JPEGs, TIFs and GIFs. All logos must be received by March 14. Send your ideas to marketing@asbpe.org.

Good luck!

If you have any questions, please e-mail Zach Phillips at marketing@asbpe.org.

ASBPE and Trade Association and Business Publications International (TABPI) have relaunched the popular annual Magazine Critique Service (MCS). The MCS is a program intended as a first step for B2B magazines interested in gauging their current performance. It allows editors to get feedback from some of the most respected editors working in B2B journalism today, and benefit from their colleague-to-colleague analysis of what’s working and what can be improved.

Not all magazines — especially smaller ones — can afford a full-blown revamp. The MCS provides objective, outside analyses that can show the decision makers in an organization how to take content to the next level. Magazines participating in the MCS will have three reviewers selected give detailed feedback on specific editorial and design aspects of the publication. TABPI will provide a report to the editor or publisher, who can thoroughly review the results with the editorial and design staff.

The service is a good investment for magazines desiring a revamp or a refresh after years of covering an industry. This arduous period for the publishing world is an ideal time to step back and refocus. Magazines get to ride on the experts’ learning and minimize costly trial and error situations. More dynamic editorial and design equates to more credibility with readers and advertisers, who will recognize the publication as the voice for the industry it covers.

All submissions for the MCS must be received on or about Dec. 20, 2011. The average processing time will be 8-10 weeks from the time materials are received. Complete details on the program and sample critiques are available on the TABPI website, at www.tabpi.org/mcs.

Download the MCS informational brochure (1.9M PDF)
Download the MCS order form (193K PDF)

Major changes include membership category for art directors, new committees.

Oct. 13, 2011 — In an effort to improve ASBPE, its benefits, programs and educational and networking opportunities, the board of directors have worked for the last two years on restructuring the organization and revising the association’s bylaws to reflect this new, exciting direction.

Immediate past president Warren Hersch with newly elected president Amy Fischbach; secretary/treasurer Tina Grady Barbaccia; and vice president Erin Erickson.

The board unanimously voted to approve the new bylaws, which include three major changes:

1. ASBPE is adding a new membership category for art directors.

2. The association has created new national committees for membership, education, ethics, strategic planning/governance, communications, research, competition, and finance. The communications committee includes several subgroups for the Web site, newsletter, e-newsletter, social media, and marketing. The education committee also has a subcommittee for Webinars.

We are still looking for dynamic, hard working, and experienced members to volunteer for these committees. If you are interested in serving on a national committee, please e-mail national ASBPE president Amy Fischbach at amyfischbach@gmail.com with your resume as well as what committee you are interested in serving on.

Here are the leaders of our new national committees. They will each serve a two-year term.

Education: Jessica Zelmer
Membership: Paul Heney
Research: Robin Sherman
Finance: Tina Barbaccia
Communications: Erin Erickson and assistant chair: Monique Hitchings
Strategic Planning and Governance: Warren Hersch
Competition: Tonie Auer
Ethics: Howard Rauch

3. As part of the new bylaws, ASBPE is also creating a new chapter board. In the past, this board was created solely of chapter presidents, but moving forward, this board will consist of other members from the organization.

Here is our new national board:

Amy Fischbach, president
Erin Erickson, vice president
Tina Barbaccia, secretary/treasurer
Warren Hersch, immediate past president
Danica Tormohlen, regional director liaison
Tonie Auer
Paul Heney
Monique Hitchings
Roy Harris
Mark Schlack
Jessica Zemler
Harry McCracken
Zach Phillips

The board of directors will work on restructuring the current chapter program in order for ASBPE to offer more regional educational opportunities. From this point on, the chapters will also be working with Danica Tormohlen, the new Regional Director Liaison. Danica is the Kansas City chapter president and will work with the chapter presidents over the next two years to answer questions, arrange monthly conference calls, and provide support.

Business journalist honored for “Inside the Machine,” a first-person story on events leading to financial crash.

Aug. 12, 2011— Michael Peltz — now the editor of Institutional Investor magazine, overseeing all editorial operations, including its magazine and digital properties — from July 2009 to July 2011 was executive editor for II’s America’s Edition.

Mike joined Institutional Investor more than 20 years ago as a young copy editor fresh from Dartmouth. He later moved on to Worth magazine and Bloomberg Markets, where he wrote and edited a wide range of features. He was recruited back to II in the early 2000s to create a new magazine devoted to the hedge fund industry called Alpha.

Soon after the 2010 “flash crash,” the mysterious technical event that sent financial markets plummeting globally, Mike was assigned a cover story to explain how this could have happened. He immersed himself in the project, visiting trading centers, and learning the technology from inside. He boldly chose to write his piece in the first person. His editor at the time compared his exploration of the subject to the travels of Howard Kutz, the trader who ventured down a dark river in Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness.” In this case the river was technology. And the story was “Inside the Machine: A Journey Into the World of High-Frequency Trading,” in the June 2010 edition of Institutional Investor.

The story had an enormous impact, says Mike’s former editor, William H. Inman, reverberating throughout the Internet, and among specialty bloggers who called it “the bible.”

It is the sort of journalism that has defined Institutional Investor magazine over the years, says Inman. A tradition of excellence proudly embodied in the work of Michael Peltz.

Members elect Amy Fischbach as president, Erin Erickson as vice president, and Tina Grady Barbaccia as treasurer.

Aug. 15, 2011 — The American Society of Business Publication Editors (ASBPE) members have elected a new slate of officers for a two-year term. At the conclusion of the ASBPE national editorial conference in Chicago on Aug. 5, ASBPE named Amy Florence Fischbach as the president, Erin Erickson as the vice president, and Tina Grady Barbaccia as the secretary/treasurer.

Fischbach is a contributing editor for Transmission and Distribution World magazine and manages an award-winning monthly section called “Electric Utility Operations.” She worked for Primedia Business Magazines and Media (now Penton) for eight years, most recently as the managing editor of Club Industry magazine. She also worked as a staff writer for Electrical Construction and Maintenance magazine and CEE News. For the last four-and-a-half years, she has worked as a freelance writer and editor specializing in the B2B industry. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Kansas State University, and she studied abroad at the University of Sunderland in England. She joined ASBPE in 2002, when she was named a Young Leader Scholar. She then helped to start the Kansas City chapter of ASBPE and served as the vice president and president of the chapter. Fischbach then went on to serve a term as the national vice president of ASBPE.

During her two-year term as president of ASBPE, Fischbach plans on focusing on three key areas: increasing membership, developing a strategic marketing and communications plan, and offering valuable educational sessions for B2B professionals nationwide.

“This is a challenging, yet exciting, time for the B2B industry,” Fischbach said. “I am looking forward to recruiting new members, growing the organization, and embracing new opportunities for professional development.”

Fischbach is also planning to continue immediate past president Warren Hersch’s initiative to get more members involved at the national level. ASBPE is now recruiting volunteers for the following committees: governance, communications, program/education, strategic planning, competition, membership, nomination, finance, research, and ethics. She urges ASBPE members to download a Willingness to Serve form (37K Word doc).

“We encourage our members to get involved in helping us to shape the future of ASBPE,” she said.v

Erickson, the new vice president for ASBPE, recently chaired the conference committee for the national editorial conference Aug. 4-5 in downtown Chicago. She joined Putman Media in March of 2008. Erickson is responsible for posting all of the content as well as managing all of the social media applications for FoodProcessing.com. Prior to joining Putman Media, Erickson was the managing editor for a large B2B publisher. In addition to her work at Putman Media and on ASBPE’s national board, she is also a technical consultant for several online social networking ventures.

The new national secretary/treasurer, Tina Grady Barbaccia, is the executive editor of Randall-Reilly Publishing Co.’s Better Roads magazine and news/digital editor for Aggregates Manager magazine. Prior to joining her current company, in her professional career she has worked on publications including the following: Automotive Body Repair News (ABRN), Automotive Marketing, Appliance, Farm Chemicals and Farm Chemicals International, the Columbus Dispatch, the Record-Courier, The Gateway News and the Aurora Advocate. She has also contributed to The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer, Homestyles magazine, World Highways and other publications.

Barbaccia has bachelor’s degrees in journalism and mass communication and in theater studies from Kent State University and a master’s degree from Northwestern University’s Master of Science in Communication managerial program. She served as the president of the Chicago ASBPE chapter and just finished a term as the national vice president of ASBPE.

Like Fischbach, Barbaccia plans to focus on making ASBPE more valuable to its members and providing educational opportunities and training, with a particular focus on best practices in the current multimedia environment.

“In the current environment of ‘mobile journalism’ and the continued integration of print and digital media, it’s important to ensure our members understand the best practices and ethics of the merging mediums and the fuzzy line that has been created as we function as both journalists and marketers for our respective brands,” Barbaccia said. “I’m looking forward to a second term as a national officer to help move the organization forward and promote excellence in the business press.”