New Hampshire Press Association Board of Directors
Meeting Minutes — Nov. 8, 2018
Board of Directors: Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018, a regular board meeting was called to order via phone conference call by President Vanessa Palange at 1:04 p.m.
In Attendance: In addition to Ms. Palange, the following board members were in attendance: Howard Altschiller, David Brooks, Heather Henline, David Saad, Trent Spiner and Dan Tuohy, participating for portions or all of the call, as individual schedules permitted.
Absent: Geoff Forester, Melanie Plenda, David Tirrell-Wysocki, Nancy West and Executive Director Phil Kincade, who filed a report via email prior to the meeting.
A quorum of membership was present.
Approval of Minutes: The previous meeting’s minutes were submitted for approval by Ms. Henline, secretary, pending any corrections from the board. Mr. Brooks made a motion to approve, and it was seconded by Mr. Altschiller. The motion carried unanimously, and any submitted changes would be made by Ms. Henline prior to the final filing of the minutes.
Treasurer’s Report by David Brooks: Mr. Brooks indicated we have a balance of $5,984, with a $200 payment coming in from the school and additional monies from memberships.
Executive Director’s Report Phil Kincade:
- Contest Update — Mr. Kincade’s email report read as follows: “I am working on finishing the instructions for the contest. I’m about 85 percent done. I will be back in town next Tuesday and should have them ready for contest committee review by Wednesday. Once those are signed off on, we can go live with the contest. It would be good if the contest committee can meet next week to discuss the instructions and rollout plan. Once that is done we can brief the entire board. For all to view here is a link to our splash page: http://www.newspapercontest.com/Contests/NewHampshirePressAssociation.aspx”
Committee Reports:
Legislative — Trent Spiner, chair: Mr. Spiner mentioned Tuesday’s general election and noted how the makeup of the state House and Senate will be impacted by the results. He said some legislators who historically had been supporters of strong Right to Know laws in the state were not re-elected to office. However, he said new advocates likely would emerge from among the newly elected candidates.
Mr. Altschiller made the recommendation there also should be a committee to keep track of news-industry-related lawsuits, such as the current filing by the ACLU and several NHPA member publications with regard to the state’s Laurie List. Ms. Palange asked to move this suggestion to the new-business portion of the meeting for further discussion and possible vote.
Contest — Heather Henline, chair: Ms. Henline deferred to Mr. Kincade’s written report. The contest committee will meet next week, with Tuesday and Thursday looking to be the most viable, based upon schedules. Ms. Palange was going to update Phil and then send out a meeting alert for the committee. The goal of this meeting will be to finalize the contest instructions and set a launch date for opening the contest site for use by the membership.
Motion to Accept Committee and Other Reports: This was made by Mr. Altschiller and seconded by Mr. Brooks. It carried unanimously.
Old Business:
- Event Co-Sponsorship — The New Hampshire Supreme Court Society will posthumously honor slain conflict journalist James “Jim” Foley with its Life and Liberty Award. The ceremony is set for 3 p.m. Nov. 13 at the state Supreme Court in Concord. No action had been taken by the board to co-sponsor the event, but any member media outlet is welcome to cover the ceremony. Ms. Palange was going to follow up with former NHPA board member Chuck Douglas, whom suggested we partner with this event in some way, to see whether we should have NHPA board representation there.
New Business:
- Legal Affairs Committee — Mr. Altschiller suggested the formation a Legal Affairs Committee to help monitor any lawsuit or court action that could impact the state’s reporting industry. Mr. Altschiller volunteered to chair this committee, and indicated he would be willing to write a press release for distribution through NHPA inviting the state’s media to voluntarily share updates about any such legal action. He further suggested editors and publishers could choose to collectively time editorials to help weigh in on important pending cases.
A motion in favor of this committee’s creation was made by Ms. Henline and seconded by Ms. Palange. It carried unanimously.
- Review of Goals Established at Annual Meeting — One of these goals was to develop an Education Committee. This discussion was deferred to the next board meeting, when additional board members would be available to participate.
Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at approximately 1:27 p.m., on a motion by Mr. Altschiller. It was seconded by Ms. Palange and carried unanimously.
Next meeting: Our next meeting is scheduled for a conference call at 1 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 13. An agenda will be forthcoming.
Respectfully submitted,
Heather Henline
New Hampshire Press Association
Secretary
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