Press Club of L.I., Herald to host community newspaper forum

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The Press Club of Long Island will host a panel discussion, “Why a Community Newspaper Is a Great Place to Start — and Make — a Career in Journalism,” on Wednesday, March 15, at 6:30 p.m.

The free program will take place at Herald Community Newspapers, 2 Endo Blvd., Garden City. There will be pizza before the talk.

The event will be particularly helpful for student journalists and young reporters at the start of their careers who want to better understand the business and make industry connections. Bring resumes and clips!


RSVP or more information: Scott Brinton, sbrinton@liherald.com, after Feb. 26

The speakers will include:

• Steve Blank, past president and current board member of the New York Press Association, and editor and publisher of Blank Slate Media, which produces six award-winning weekly newspapers on Nassau County’s North Shore. Previously, he was a daily newspaper editor and reporter for the Daily Record of Morristown, N.J., the Post-Standard in Syracuse and the Kansas City Star. He purchased two newspapers — the Bayside Times and Little Neck Ledger — in 1989 and expanded the group to 16 papers. He sold it to News Corporation in 2006.

• Scott Brinton, a PCLI Hall of Famer and board member, and executive editor of Herald Community Newspapers, which publishes 18 award-winning weekly papers in Nassau County. He is also an adjunct journalism professor at Hofstra University and formerly a freelance feature writer for Newsday and photographer for The New York Times.

• Carolyn James, a PCLI Hall of Famer, past president of the organization, and editor and publisher of three award-winning weekly newspapers in Nassau and Suffolk counties. She is also an adjunct journalism instructor at Hofstra University and regional Freedom of Information chairwoman for the Society of Professional Journalists. She is a former SPJ regional director and freelance writer for The New York Times.

• Stephany Reyes, editor of the East Meadow Herald and formerly a reporter for the Merrick Herald. At Herald Community Newspapers, she makes ample use of her Spanish language skills. She is formerly the copy editor and a contributing writer for The Oswegonian, the student newspaper of SUNY Oswego, and an intern and contributing writer for I Heart Corp. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism, creative writing and English from SUNY Oswego.

Moderator: Bill Bleyer, a PCLI Hall of Famer and a former president of the group and currently its treasurer. He is a former regional director of the Society of Professional Journalists and runs job-hunting workshops for the organization. Bleyer began his four-decade career as editor of a community newspaper — the historic Oyster Bay Guardian — before becoming a prize-winning reporter at Newsday. Since n his retirement from the paper in 2014, Bleyer has published three books on Long Island history. He has been an adjunct journalism and economics professor at Hofstra University, his alma mater.