Oregon Media Insiders

SPJ honcho Wendy Culverwell writes to tell us about the big shindig at the end of the month:

SPJ Oregon returns to Eugene on Oct. 25 for its second Building a Better Journalist conference. If you're a professional journalist, or want to be a professional journalist, please join us for a day of programs that will boost your skills and shed light on the future of the news industry.

Steve Engelberg, managing editor of ProPublica.org, is our headliner. Mr. Engelberg was an editor at The Oregonian before returning to New York to lead ProPublica, a non-profit investigative newsroom that is testing the theory that news needn't depend on advertising. Too, Richard Hagar, the much-quoted Seattle-based expert on mortgage fraud will lead several sessions examining what went wrong in the real estate market and how reporters can make sense of events that change by the hour. Full program details will be posted on the SPJ Web site.

Cost: $10/students; $20/SPJ members; $30/nonmembers.

To register: www.spjoregon.org, or call Wendy Culverwell, 503-708-0223.

Scholarships: SPJ is awarding up to five $100 scholarships to working journalists who have to travel 100 miles or more to attend the conference and whose employers can't/won't cover their expenses. Send letter and resume (casual is fine) to: Oregon SPJ, P.O. Box 8974, Portland, OR 97207.