APME Conference Starts Wednesday In San Jose

By: Joe Strupp Issues ranging from coverage of Hurricane Katrina to public records access will be included in this year's Associated Press Managing Editors conference, which kicks off Wednesday in San Jose, Calif. The annual event runs through Saturday at the Fairmont Hotel.

Those set to appear are Michael Gartner (talking about his new book on the history of editorial writing), AP Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll, Knight Ridder CEO Tony Ridder, designer Mario Garcia -- and, hosting a panel on "Making the Tough Call," legendary National Football League coach Bill Walsh and star safety Ronnie Lott.

Nighttime events, meanwhile, include a reception with Grammy Award-winning band Los Tigres del Norte, the premiere of a Newseum film about Pulitzer Prize-winning photography, and even a local wine-tasting event.

On the serious side, sessions and panels will look at a range of issue, including Iraq War coverage, growing technological impacts on newsroom coverage, dealing with staff cutbacks, improving press access, and growing niche products.

Readership and ethics, as usual, will also be the focus of several events, including APME's ongoing Embedded Readers program, in which readers tell editors what they think of their papers.

Keynote Speaker John Geddes, managing editor of The New York Times, will address the convention on Thursday.

In addition, the APME foundation is opening up its annual fundraising auction to telephone bidders. To take part, bidders need only e-mail APME Foundation President Stuart Wilk at stuart@wilk.com to specify the item on which they wish to bid.

The merchandise can be viewed at www.apme.com/conferences/2005/apme_2005auction.shtml.

Items include seven days and six nights in St. Thomas, or a night in New York City for four.

E-mail bidders must also include a phone number where they can be reached during the auction at 8 p.m. PDT on Wednesday. Those who are among the first 10 e-mailers for each item will get a phone call during the live auction so they can be part of the bidding.

Proceeds from the auction go to the APME Foundation to support the association's educational and program activities. More information on the convention can be found at www.apme.com.