The new site provides a user-friendly way to stay informed about PCLI news and events and workshops, while featuring videos, including clips from our 2008 Holiday Show and Party, photos, Twitter updates and much more.

Learn about upcoming events, such as “Tankleff: Did the press help the prosecution railroad an innocent man?”, a panel discussion on Jan. 28 about the press’s role in the Martin Tankleff case. Also, on Feb. 5, we’re hosting “Future of the News Media, Part II — The Business Side,” a follow-up to last fall’s panel that looked at the future of journalism on Long Island from the editorial side.

And find out all about the 2009 PCLI Media Awards. Make sure to download copies of the Entry Form and Rules & Categories.

Have suggestions or comments about the site? Shoot an e-mail to pressclubofli@gmail.com.

Thanks for your continued support of Press Club of Long Island and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Stay informed. Get involved. Keep in touch.

Date:

Wednesday, January 28 

Location:  

Newsday Auditorium

235 Pinelawn Road, NY 11747

Start Time: 6:30 p.m. 

Food: Pizza 

RSVP to Bob Lipper at 631-843-2075 or  at robert.lipper@island-pubs.com.

See more about this event and other upcoming programs  on our Facebook group.

Watch all the fun from the Press Club Holiday Show. You can start with the shortend version above, then go to the full playlist.

Here’s a snapshot of the “Video for Dummies II” workshop help Oct. 22 at Newsday. The panel included Michael DelGuidice of WNBC-TV, Ken Sawchuck of Newsday and Greg Smith of Hofstra University. It was moderated by Carol Pack of NYIT’s “LI News Tonight” program.

The No. 1 tip: Get good audio.

Please bring an unwrapped toy for needy Long Island children. RSVP to Flo Federman: (631) 719-3212; FFederman@hrrllp.com

We’ll combine this networking opportunity with an informal post-election wrap-up discussion. It should be a fun and interesting evening!  We’ll start around 6 p.m. with free appetizers and soda, and the discussion can begin about 7. Cash bar. Stop by and have a great time!

– John O’Connell

PCLI President

ABSURDIA IN ISLANDIA

Journalists and the general public on Long Island are scratching their heads after one municipal body, the Islandia Village Board, briefly considered banning audio and video recording and transmission of public meetings. The Press Club of Long Island, the local chapter of SPJ, strongly opposed the proposal. In an interesting twist, the day a public hearing was scheduled for the measure, the Board announced it would be tabled. The mayor later indicated to Newsday columnist Joye Brown that the proposal would not proceed.

From a legal perspective, New York case law specifically provides people the right to record public meetings as long as they aren’t disruptive. In fact, 43 states specifically allow people to record meetings as long as they are not causing a disruption. And of those seven states that don’t have specific provisions allowing recording, the common practice is to allow it.

From a practical perspective, it is unconscionable that a public agency would attempt to prevent recording of its meetings. What does it have to hide? If the purpose is to avoid disruptions to the meeting, there are ways to set accommodate tape records, cameras, video recorders and cell phones cameras in a way that won’t bother the proceedings. Islandia needs a reality check.

David Cuillier

Society of Professional Journalists Freedom of Information Chairman

Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism, University of Arizona

A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 7 by the Islandia Village Board in Suffolk County on a local ordinance that, if approved, would bar the audio or video recording and transmission of recordings of public meetings.

The Press Club of Long Island, the local chapter of the national Society of Professional Journalists, opposes restrictions on the public’s right to know what its public officials say and do in public meetings. The Press Club wishes to remind the village trustees that the public is fully entitled to know what goes on at all public municipal meetings, except in the few instances spelled out in the state public meetings law, and that audio and video recording – far from being the obstacle to good governance that the resolution’s sponsors contend – rather facilitates public participation in what their government is doing, and furthermore leads to greater accuracy and credibility in reporting, because the public hears and or sees their elected officials directly. We see any attempt to restrict public access to public decision-making as an interference with the process and an insult to a governmental system in which the people are sovereign.

The public hearing will be at Village Hall, 1100 Old Nichols Road in Islandia, and will start at 7:30 p.m. The Board of Trustees may vote on the resolution after the hearing. We encourage participation by all with an interest in preserving the public’s right to know.

Read a .pdf version of the resolution: Village of Islandia seeks to limit open access.

John O’Connell

President

Press Club of Long Island

Press Club Board

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