DELMARVA NOW
June 2005
DELMARVA NOW is a periodic advisory to member editors about AP developments in Maryland, Delaware and nationally.
FROM THE BALTIMORE BUREAU
BANQUET & BASEBALL
Make plans now to enjoy our traditional Maryland crab cake meal at the annual Chesapeake AP Editorial Awards Banquet on Monday, June 27, 2005. Then don your best black and orange outfit to cheer on the Baltimore Orioles as they take on the New York Yankees at the post-banquet game at Camden Yards.
NEW ON STAFF
Michael Feeney, who graduated with honors in May from Delaware State University with a bachelor’s degree in print journalism and political science, will be an intern in the Baltimore bureau for six months. Michael also served as editor of the DSU’s campus newspaper “The Hornet” during his senior year.
Also joining us for six weeks beginning June 20 will be Wanda Peters, an editing fellow chosen in a joint project of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the AP. The project brings educators back into newsrooms for the summer to give them hands-on exposure to daily news operations. Wanda comes to us from Grambling University in Louisiana, where she is an assistant professor and adviser to the student newspaper. She has worked at The ( Shreveport) Times and had an earlier fellowship at The Oregonian, working on the paper’s special projects team.
PRODUCT NEWS
NEW FEATURES ADDED TO AP PAGE-READY FOOTBALL
The Associated Press is adding a compact midweek stats package with information on teams and individuals to the AP Page-Ready Football package this fall. It will be available each Tuesday afternoon. Also, the service will be available in InDesign for the first time, as well as Quark. NFL preseason begins in August. The regular season begins the week of Sept. 5.
Dozens of AP member newspapers are saving time and effort and creating eye-catching pages this spring with AP Page-Ready: Baseball. The football service works the same way. AP delivers an agate presentation that’s ready to drag and drop onto your page -- on Sunday afternoon and evening, Monday night, Thursday and Saturdays – and now Tuesdays.
For more information or to register for a test of page-ready services, please contact bureau chief Denise Cabrera at dcabrera@ap.org at 410-837-8315.
AP SPECIAL EDITION PACKAGES
Here is the Special Edition schedule through the rest of the year. Beginning with the July edition, the packages will move on the wire. Each package runs about 7,500 to 10,000 words, with up to 10 accompanying pictures:
"OUT THERE" ADDS ADVENTURE SPORTS TO WEEKEND FEATURES
The AP has begun a weekly sports feature called Out There, focusing on adventure sports and non-traditional sports ranging from extreme skiing to camel racing to croquet. The stories move as part of the weekend features package.
In recent weeks, there have been stories on bouldering and snorkeling, on a donkey derby in Mexico and golfing in Afghanistan, and on a man hoping to celebrate his 100th birthday by climbing a mountain in Antarctica that bears his name. Oslo correspondent Doug Mellgren wrote a first-person account of being at the helm of an America's Cup yacht.
There is generally one Out There per week, accompanied by photos and sometimes by graphics. An Out There logo was created by the graphics department. To make these features easier to locate, we've added the sports designator OUT to the slug
(example: BC-OUT--Golf in Kabul).
AP WORD PUZZLES
There are just two weeks left to take advantage of a free trial of AP's new crosswords and word seek puzzles from Penny Press, the publisher of top-selling puzzle magazines and books. Both types of puzzles are available 6 days a week. Crosswords increase in difficulty as the week progresses, with a special themed puzzle each Thursday. Word seeks come in a variety of appealing themes and include an interesting fact-based blurb. Please contact me for details about the services and the extended trial period.
NEWS ABOUT AP
AP PRESIDENT: MEDIA MUST BUILD TRUST WITH PUBLIC IN FOI FIGHT Speaking at a conference sponsored by the National Freedom of Information Coalition, Associated Press President and CEO Tom Curley urged the news media to forge a stronger alliance with the public on the need for open government policies. "We all need to do a better job of persuading the public that freedom of information is not a media privilege but a key part of what keeps other freedoms alive for all," Curley said at a conference of open government organizations from across the country.
Curley's speech is available on the Sunshine Week Web site.
NOBLET ELECTED TO SABEW BOARD OF GOVERNORS
AP Business Editor Kevin Noblet has been elected to the board of governors of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW). SABEW is an independent, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to encourage comprehensive reporting of economic and financial events and to upgrade the craft's skills and knowledge through educational efforts. More information is available on the SABEW Web site.
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