Minnesota AP Broadcasters Board Meeting

April 1, 2005

Holiday Inn Select, Bloomington

President Matt Crosby called the meeting to order at 12:22 p.m. Present: vice president J.P. Cola; southwestern Minnesota representative Aaron Ziemer; central Minnesota representative Mark Wodarczyk; northeastern Minnesota r epresentative Steve Goodspeed; incoming metro representative Steve Murphy; incoming southeastern Minnesota representative Leigh Geramanis-Hart; AP Chief of Bureau Dave Pyle; AP Chief of Communications Mark Nelson and AP Broadcast Editor Jeff Baenen. Also attending: Jim Monk of WDAY Radio, Fargo, and Laura Olson, KLGR Radio, Redwood Falls.

 

Crosby appointed Murphy metro representative, succeeding news director Bill Wareham of Minnesota Public Radio, and Geramanis-Hart southeastern representative, succeeding news director Dennis Grant of KTTC-TV/KXLT-TV, Rochester. Wareham, who was not present, was appointed noncommercial representative, succeeding news director Tom Bonar of KTIG-FM, Pequot Lakes/KCFB-FM, St. Cloud.

 

Minutes of the Oct. 16, 2004, board meeting were approved.

 

In his bureau report, Pyle said the Minneapolis and St. Paul bureaus were fully staffed for the first time since last May; six positions turned over during that period. Pyle said the bureau sent staffers to both political conventions last year to cover the Minnesota delegations. He asked whether members used their stories. Goodspeed said his station used network feeds. Ziemer said his station used some of the AP reports from the conventions and would still use localized Minnesota stories if the bureau didn't send anyone. Pyle said the bureau might not have any choice about sending staff in ‘08, particularly if Sen. Norm Coleman and Gov. Tim Pawlenty have significant roles in the national Republican Party convention.

 

Pyle also pointed out that the Minneapolis bureau became one of the first to attach broadcast member online credits to stories filed to the newspaper wire so readers are able to click on the contributing member’s site.

 

Nelson reported no imminent changes in AP's method of content delivery. Cola asked about the AP's ability to make audio clips available from broadcast members. Pyle said liability issues continue to prevent AP from developing an AP-hosted Web site where members could share audio cuts. Ziemer said having sound from other stations is good for a station's statewide report. Wodarczyk asked about the possibility of having an AP staffer gather sound. They do, but that sound is available only via AP Network News, Pyle said. Goodspeed asked if online clips would be available for TV, but Pyle said there was no way to provide access through AP.

 

Cola reviewed the Minnesota broadcast report survey. He said 17 stations responded, about the same as when the survey was last conducted two years ago. Geramanis-Hart asked for a clarification on the Minnesota AP's policy on one-person traffic fatals. Pyle said the policy adopted last year specifies that single-person traffic fatality stories are not put on the wire unless the accident occurs more than 100 miles from the victim’s home. That way, broadcasters are protected if someone dies far enough outside their coverage area that they otherwise would not be aware of it unless AP reported it. That frees AP staffers to focus on stories with more statewide impact. Baenen noted that Minnesota had already recorded 100 traffic deaths this year and on pace to record a high number of fatal accidents.

 

Other survey respondents noted a lack of sports pronouncers and errors in rewritten items for NewsMinutes. Pyle responded to one criticism of AP's coverage of a gay-marriage ban hearing in Grand Rapids for not including the name of the bill _ the Defense of Marriage Act. He noted that AP had done a story earlier this year about how bill sponsors use a bill's name for political ‘spin’ purposes. Other respondents asked for more outstate sports and more weekend news.

 

Crosby was re-elected to a second one-year term as president and Cola was re-elected to a second one-year term as vice president.

 

Crosby adjourned the meeting.