SPJ has a new board

Recent elections yielded two new board members and a new SPJ president.

Following elections last month, SPJ members reelected three board members and elected two new ones to fill five open seats on the board.

Reelected were freelancer Catherine Hockmuth, attorney Jodi Cleesattle and San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer Lori Weisberg.

New to the board are Hank Crook, a producer for "These Days" and the "Editors Roundtable" on KPBS radio, and Joe Guerin, editor of the San Diego DailyTranscript and former editor of the weekly Chula Vista Star-News.

Replacing Jennifer Croshaw as the new board president is Jodi Cleesattle, a former journalist who, throughout her legal career, has handled media law and First Amendment cases.

Joining her as an officer are voiceofsandiego.org's co-executive editor Scott Lewis, our new vice president; Hank Crook, secretary; and PBS correspondent Scott Horsley will continue as treasurer. Here are bios of each of the board members.

SPJ Board Member Bios

2007-08

Jodi Cleesattle, President

Jodi Cleesattle is a deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice. While in private practice, she handled media law and First Amendment cases, including libel defense, prepublication review, reporter’s shield issues, and newsgathering issues. She continues to assist reporters and the public with access and Freedom of Information issues, and she serves as SPJ national’s Project Sunshine chair for Southern California. Jodi previously worked as a daily news reporter for The Lancaster (Ohio) Eagle-Gazette, covering politics and legal issues, and as founding editor of The National Jurist, a national magazine for law students. She has been a member of SPJ for 20 years, and she organized and moderated the keynote panel discussion on reporter’s privilege featuring former New York Times reporter Judith Miller at the 2005 SPJ Convention and National Journalism Conference. Contact Jodi at jcleesattle@gmail.com.

Scott Lewis, Vice President

Scott Lewis is the co-editor of voiceofsandiego.org. He oversees the commentary section and production of the non-profit Web site. He also maintains a blog and writes a regular column on local politics. He covered politics for The San Diego Daily Transcript before his wife’s commitment as an officer in the Navy took him away from San Diego briefly. He returned in October 2005 to help voiceofsandiego.org reach its potential as a daily alternative source of in-depth, investigative and totally local news and opinion about San Diego. Contact Scott at scott.lewis@voiceofsandiego.org.

Scott Horsley, Treasurer

Scott Horsley is a business reporter for National Public Radio. He covers general economic issues with a special emphasis on energy. He’s also part of a team of reporters who will cover the 2008 presidential campaign, having failed to learn his lesson covering John Kerry’s campaign four years ago. Before joining NPR in 2001, Scott was a reporter for KPBS-FM in San Diego. He also worked as a reporter for WUSF-FM in Tampa, Florida, and as a news writer and reporter for commercial radio stations in Boston and Concord, New Hampshire. Scott began his professional career in 1987 as a production assistant for NPR in Washington. Contact Scott at shorsley@npr.org.

Hank Crook, Secretary

Hank Crook is a producer for “These Days” and the “Editors Roundtable” on KPBS-FM. He produces content on a wide variety of subjects, including local and national politics, the environment, real estate, healthcare, education and sports. Before his current stint at KPBS, Hank worked as an assignment editor at Fox 6 News. He earned a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from SDSU in 2003. Contact Hank at hcrook@kpbs.org.

Sue Atkins

Dr. Sue Atkins is serving her second year on the San Diego SPJ Board. She is a professor of journalism and literature at Point Loma Nazarene University. A graduate of the University of Missouri with a PhD from the University of Alabama, Sue teaches courses in media ethics, print and broadcast newswriting, and public relations writing, among others. Contact Sue at SueAtkins@pointloma.edu.

JW August, FOIA Chair

JW August has been involved in investigative reporting for 21 years at 10News. Before his current job, JW was senior producer for the “Troubleshooter,” which was primarily concerned with consumer fraud. Now, he oversees the expanded 10News Investigative Team, which investigates subject matter including the environment, inept or corrupt politicians, investment crimes, internet fraud, open records for citizens, criminal justice, service and product testing, air safety and more. JW won the national SPJ Sunshine Award for open government in 2006, as well as national awards for consumer and investigative reporting. The 10News I-Team has won many SPJ awards for investigative and enterprise reporting, and JW has won 15 Emmys, including six for investigative reporting. In 2006, JW coordinated statewide television news participation in Californians Aware’s audit of public records practices in local law enforcement agencies as well as directing his own station’s part of the project. The governing board of Californians Aware recently elected JW as the group’s second president, and JW recently was honored by the San Diego Press Club for lifetime achievement. JW also is president of Bilateral Safety Coalition Corridor, a non-profit involved in combating trafficking of men, women and children around the world. Contact JW at JW_August@10news.com.

Jennifer Croshaw

Jennifer is the entertainment and communities editor at SignOnSanDiego.com. She has been working as an online journalist since 1999. A San Diego State University alumna, she covered technology and Internet issues and acted as assistant copy chief for the student-run Daily Aztec. Jennifer also mentors college students interested in learning about online journalism and chats it up on AmplifySD.com, San Diego’s only all-local online radio station. Contact Jennifer at jennifer.croshaw@signonsandiego.com.

Joe Guerin, Diversity Chair

Joe Guerin joined The San Diego Daily Transcript in 2000 as managing editor and was named editor in the summer of 2006. Guerin was the editor of the weekly Chula Vista Star-News from 1996 to 2000. Prior to that, he served as editor of Neighbors, a weekly supplement to the San Diego Union-Tribune. Guerin started his journalism career at the San Diego Log newspapers in the 1980s. A graduate of San Diego State University, Guerin has lived in San Diego for 30 years. He presently lives with his wife and three children in the San Diego community of Tierrasanta. Contact Joe at joe.guerin@sddt.com.

Seth Hettena

Seth Hettena is a freelance journalist and author of Feasting on the Spoils about Randy “Duke” Cunningham, history’s most corrupt congressman. Seth spent several years with The Associated Press in Detroit, Sacramento, Baltimore and finally San Diego, where he was named a supervisory correspondent in charge of the news cooperative’s operations for the border region. He is a 1994 graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York. Contact Seth at shettena@sbcglobal.net.

Catherine Hockmuth

Catherine Hockmuth is a freelance writer specializing in military research and development. Catherine is a contributing editor at Defense Technology International magazine, which is published by McGraw-Hill and Aviation Week and Space Technology, and blogs daily for the magazine at www.aviationweek.com. Contact Catherine at cmhockmuth@yahoo.com.

Andrew Kleske, Membership Chair

Andrew Kleske is Online Editor for the North County Times and The Californian newspapers. He graduated from San Diego State University and has taught journalism courses at University of California-San Diego since 1998, where he developed the university’s first online journalism curriculum. He is a board member and past president of the San Diego Press Club and San Diego Chapter of SPJ. Previously he was the editor of The San Diego Daily Transcript, the first comprehensive online daily newspaper in Southern California. Contact Andrew at kleske@nctimes.com.

Joe Schneider

Joe Schneider’s journalism career stretches back to 1945 when he hawked extras on VJ Day. He worked on school papers and became a copyboy at the Louisville Courier-Journal. Later, he held reporting and editing positions in the southeastern United States. In 1962, he began a 10-year overseas stint with the Pacific and European editions of Stars and Stripes. He served as Southeast Asia Bureau chief, Philippines Bureau chief and Vietnam Bureau chief. He began working for The San Diego Union in 1972 and left the paper in 2003. He has taught journalism classes at San Diego State University since 1975 and continues to work on freelance assignments. He received a B.A. from the University of Louisville and M.A. from Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan. He lives in Clairemont. Lenore, his wife of more than 53 years, died in January 2007. Contact Joe at aztecjoes@aol.com.

Lori Weisberg

Lori Weisberg is a staff writer for The San Diego Union-Tribune, specializing in coverage of land use and development, affordable housing and demographics. She has won several national and local awards for her reporting during her time at the newspaper. She is a past president of the San Diego chapter of SPJ and as a board member has helped organize several SPJ programs, including panels on using the Internet for reporting and integrating multimedia into daily journalism, and a hands-on training session on how to produce an audio slideshow. During her tenure as president, the chapter was named best large SPJ chapter in the country. Lori looks forward to creating more inspiring, educational programs useful to members as they pursue their careers in journalism. Before coming to the Union-Tribune, Lori worked for the Orange County Register and The Vista Press. Contact Lori at lori.weisberg@uniontrib.com.

Jennifer McEntee, SPJ Journal Newsletter Editor

Jennifer McEntee is a freelance journalist, writing for local publications including San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles, voiceofsandiego.org and The San Diego Daily Transcript. Contact Jennifer at editorspjjournal@yahoo.com.