In the News

Benton earns Yankee Quill Award

Dave Olson — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:21:28 +0000

It’s a challenging time to be in the news business, so it’s always nice to see someone get the recognition they deserve. This item will be in tomorrow’s paper:

Salem News Editorial Page Editor Nelson Benton has been honored with a Yankee Quill Award for his contributions to the betterment of journalism in the region.

The award is presented annually by the Academy of New England Journalists through the auspices of the New England Society of Newspaper Editors. It is considered the highest individual honor awarded by fellow journalists in the region.

Benton was hired as a reporter at The Salem News in 1972. He has served as city editor and managing editor and became editorial page editor in 1995.

Benton’s work has been recognized by the New England Press Association, the New England Associated Press News Executives Association and the New England News Association, among others.

For the past quarter-century, he has written a weekly political column that is a must-read among both the elected and the electorate. For the past 20 years, he has overseen the Salem News Student-Athlete Award, a yearly highlight for local high school seniors.

In the past year he has launched an editorial writers’ blog on the paper’s Web site, salemnews.com, and moderated its first online debate.

Other honorees this year include John Howe, editor and general manager of The Citizen in Laconia, N.H., and Al Larkin, recently retired executive vice president of The Boston Globe. A posthumous award will be made to Ann Smith Franklin, one of the nation’s first woman printers and editors.

A ‘Picture Perfect’ internship

Dave Olson — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:57:57 +0000

Our Masconomet High School interns, Kristina Bond and Maria Costigan, have finished up for the summer (and will be graduating Friday).

You’ve probably seen their bylines in the paper, including an interesting point-counterpoint on voting in last Saturday’s paper.

They’ve also left us with a pretty cool video on the monetary costs of teen smoking.

We’re not the only ones who were impressed. The duo was awarded first prize at a statewide film-shorts festival. The 30-second film demonstrates why Kristina and Maria are a part of “The 84” statewide youth movement, representing the 84 percent of Massachusetts youth who do not smoke. Their video was selected from more than 125 film entries as one of three first prize winners of the contest co-sponsored by Mass Youth Against Tobacco and WCVB-TV Channel 5. Kristina and Maria’s short will be shown on movie theater screens across the state during the month of June.

For more on the ‘Picture Perfect’ project, go here.

It’s override season

Dave Olson — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:29:40 +0000

It’s override season, and the issue has raised a surprising amount of debate in communities that have never passed an override (Beverly) and those that seem to do it every year (Hamilton, Wenham).

Tomorrow (Saturday), we’ll be running several reader letters on the override proposal in Hamilton and Wenham. Town Meetings in those communities begin next week. They are worth a read, no matter where you live…