From the NINA archives: President Ford’s 1976 visit

For NINA long-timers, here's a fun document from 1976, detailing President Gerald Ford's campaign visit to northern Illinois, including a news conference with NINA, which was then known as the Northern Illinois Editorial Association. Check out pages 19-23 for the list of news conference attendees, including one -- Roger Ruthhart -- who's still on the …

Notes from webinar: State of the News Media 2012

Here's a quick notebook dump from today's Poynter webinar: "State of the News Media 2012." Lots of good conversation starters here ... A discussion of key points in the new Pew Research Center report. You can find the entire report at http://stateofthemedia.org/ Presenter: Tom Rosentiel, who designed the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in …

Scholarship judges sought

Interested in helping to judge this year's NINA scholarship competition for graduating high-school seniors? Join us Thursday morning, April 5, at Waubonsee Community College.  For information, contact John Etheredge at the Ledger-Sentinel, 630-554-8573. UPDATE: We'll be meeting at the Northern Star office at NIU-DeKalb, not Waubonsee. Same day and time!

Call for nominations: Illinois Journalist of the Year

NIU seeks nominations for the 2012 Illinois Journalist of the Year. You can nominate someone online HERE. The award is presented annually by the Department of Communication of Northern Illinois University to a person who has made a significant contribution to the mass media or, through them, to the public they serve, either as a …

Board minutes, 3-16-12

Minutes of the NINA Board meeting Friday, March 16, 2012 Northern Star office, Campus Life Building, NIU-DeKalb   Board members present (12): Jason Schaumburg (president), Larry Lough (1st VP), Dirk Johnson (executive secretary), Kathy Gresey (2nd VP), Jim Slonoff (treasurer), Jim Killam (communications coordinator), John Etheredge, Sharon Boehlefeld, Roger Ruthhart, Lonny Cain, Randy Swikle, John …

Charting our course for the next 50 years

By Jason Schaumburg | NINA President Welcome to the 50th anniversary of the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association. I have the tremendous honor of serving as president of NINA during this landmark year. We started Dec. 1, 1962, as the Northern Illinois Editorial Association. In 1974, the name changed to the Northern Illinois Newspaper Association. While …

Mistakes were made: What we’re seeing in future journalists

By Jason Akst |  I get many opportunities to glimpse what college journalism students think about, so I like to think one of my “other duties as assigned” is to be a Catcher-in-the-Rye kind of kind of guy. It’s one thing to teach news writing, but quite another to alert tomorrow’s journalists about cliffs they …

Election 2012 Forum at NIU

Watch journalists Bruce Dold, Mark Brown, Bernie Schoenburg and Jason Schaumburg discuss the upcoming elections and what they mean for Illinois. The Feb. 25 event was sponsored by the Northern Star and Northern Star Alumni. Election 2012 Panel Discussion

High school seniors: Apply for our annual scholarships

Entry materials are here. Hurry. Application deadline is March 15.