Gubernatorial candidate and 2013 Pulitzer Prize finalist Juliette Kayyem will be the featured speaker at the annual luncheon of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association on Thursday.

Until launching her campaign for governor, Kayyem was a columnist for the Boston Globe, analyst for CNN, and lecturer at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. In 2013, she was a Pulitzer finalist for her series urging the Pentagon to end its female combat exclusion rule – a prohibition the military has since lifted.

Kayyem began her professional career in the Clinton administration as a civil rights attorney, litigating cases involving the rights of children. She helped bring the first federal anti-bullying case and was part of the team that argued for The Citadel and VMI military institutions to open their doors to women.

She then moved into public safety and homeland security, serving as Gov. Deval Patrick’s homeland security adviser. After several years overseeing the 8,000-plus member Massachusetts National Guard, the Commonwealth’s strategic security planning, and the distribution of homeland security funds, she was tapped by President-elect Obama to be part of his transition team and then became assistant secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security.

As assistant secretary, Kayyem was responsible for coordinating planning between the federal government and all of its state, local, and territorial partners on issues as varied as immigration, intelligence sharing, military affairs, immigration reform, and the response to crises such as H1N1, the Dec. 25 attempted terrorist attack, the Haiti earthquake and the BP oil spill. For her exemplary leadership in the wake of the BP spill, coordinating 60 federal agencies over five states, Kayyem was awarded the Coast Guard’s highest civilian honor.

Please join us for the annual meeting of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013, at the Hyatt Boston Harbor in Boston. Our annual meeting and luncheon is you’re preeminent opportunity to meet with newspaper publishers, editors, reporters and business staff from throughout Massachusetts.

The day’s full agenda is as follows:

• 10 a.m. Annual business meeting and election of officers and executive board.
• 11 a.m. Panel discussion: The Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law and its Impact on Newspapers.
• Noon. Networking reception.
• 12:30 p.m. Luncheon and keynote (speaker to be announced).

The panel discussion of the independent contractor law will look at the impact of the law on newspapers. The panel will feature three speakers:

• Sen. Michael J. Rodrigues (D-Westport),  sponsor of a bill to correct the wording of the law.
• Mark W. Batten, a partner in the Boston office of Proskauer who represents newspapers and other businesses in labor and employment matters.
• Aaron Julien, MNPA president and president of Newspapers of New England, who will talk about measures his company has taken as a result of the law.

The meeting is open to anyone who would like to attend. Registration, which includes lunch, is $85 for MNPA member newspapers and their employees, $95 for all others.

The registration form may be downloaded by clicking here .

If you have any questions about the event, please address them to MNPA Executive Director Robert Ambrogi, (978) 546-3400, or info@masspublishers.org. Registration deadline is Friday, November 29.

Registrations should be sent to: MNPA Annual Meeting, c/o New England Newspaper & Press Association, 370 Common Street, Suite 319, Dedham, MA 02026, or by fax to: (781) 320-8055.

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court’s Judiciary-Media Committee is conducting a survey of judges, clerks, registers, court officers, associate court officers, and media representatives to determine how SJC Rule 1:19 is working since it became effective on Sept. 17, 2012. Your answers will be valuable in helping the committee to evaluate whether to recommend changes in the rule to the SJC.

The MNPA is a member fo the Judiciary-Media Committee.

Responses to survey are due by June 11, 2013.

Access the survey via this link: http://vovici.com/wsb.dll/s/130fbg53927

If you have any questions, please contact:

Joan Kenney
Public Information Office
Supreme Judicial Court
617-557-1113

Aaron Julien, president and CEO of Newspapers of New England, based in Concord, N.H., and publisher of seven daily and weekly newspapers, including the Daily Hampshire Gazette, The Recorder, the Valley Advocate and the Amherst Bulletin, has been elected president of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association.

A resident of Amherst, Mass., Julien is a graduate of Middlebury College and Cornell Law School.

Also elected as officers at the association’s annual meeting were:

• First vice president: William B. Ketter, vice president of news of Community Newspaper Holdings Inc., based in Montgomery, Ala., and owner of 15 New England newspapers, including the Eagle-Tribune of North Andover, Mass.
• Second vice president: George Arwady, publisher and chief executive officer of The Republican of Springfield, Mass.
• Treasurer: Sheila Smith, publisher of The Daily News of Newburyport, Mass.
• Secretary: Bruce Gaultney, publisher of the Telegram & Gazette of Worcester, Mass.

Elected to the association’s executive committee for three-year terms beginning Jan. 1 were Jim Foudy, publisher of the Daily Hampshire Gazette of Northampton, Mass.; William T. Kennedy, chief operating officer of the Dow Jones Local Media Group; and Peter Meyer, president of the Cape Cod Media Group and SouthCoast Media Group.

The annual meeting was held Nov. 29 at Anthony’s Pier Four in Boston.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick has issued a proclamation declaring today, June 28, to be Community Newspaper Day. See a PDF of the proclamation here: Community Newspaper Day.

The proclamation was issued, in part, to recognize the 175 birthday today of the Patriot Ledger in Quincy, one of the oldest continuously publishing newspapers in the United States.

The proclamation states:

Whereas Community newspapers have played an important role in the Commonwealth’s history by providing residents with a reliable source of relevant information and by helping them stay connected with the events and occurrences that affect their lives and those of their neighbors; and

Whereas Freedom of the Press, guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, is a cornerstone of our democracy; and

Whereas Community newspapers promote government transparency and provide residents with important information related to the business of their local governments; and

Whereas The printed word unites the common man in pursuit of education and information and allows us all to recognize a stake in the community; and

Whereas Newspapers encourage civic engagement and serve as a forum for dialogue on issues important to local cities and towns by covering topics of interest to the community as a whole; and

Whereas Community newspapers help build stronger communities by recognizing residents’ achievements, celebrating the births and weddings of loved ones and neighbors, and showcasing local cultural and social events; and

Whereas Massachusetts is home to some of the longest circulating newspapers in the country, including the Patriot Ledger which celebrates 175 years of service to the City of Quincy and the communities of the south shore; and

Whereas On this day we recognize community newspapers and their many contributions to the rich fabric of the Commonwealth,

Now, Therefore, I, Deval L. Patrick, Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, do hereby proclaim June 28th, 2012, to be ,

Community Newspaper Day

And urge all the citizens of the Commonwealth to take cognizance of this event and participate fittingly in its observance.

The Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association has joined with Harvard Law School’s Cyberlaw Clinic, the Citizen Media Law Project and a coalition of New England media and advocacy organizations to file an amicus curiae brief to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court seeking to unseal inquest documents in the Amy Bishop case. After a Superior Court judge refused the Boston Globe’s request to unseal the documents, the newspaper filed this appeal.

Bishop was a professor at the University of Alabama who allegedly shot and kiled three of her colleagues during a faculty meeting in 2010. The shooting sparked a new inquiry by prosecutors in Massachusetts into the 1986 fatal shooting of Bishop’s brother Seth. The Norfolk County district attorney initiated an inquest to investigate the shooting, which resulted in a grand jury issuing an indictment against Bishop for first-degree murder.

After the inquest was concluded, the Globe sought release of the inquest transcript and report. The Superior Court denied the request.

A more detailed description of the case and the legal issues it involves is available from the Citizen Media Law Project. A PDF copy of the brief is available for download.

Gov. Deval Patrick, who was recently elected to his second term as Massachusetts governor, will be the featured speaker at the annual luncheon of the Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Association Dec. 2.

This will be Gov. Patrick’s second appearance at the luncheon. Shortly after his election in 2006, the then governor-elect addressed the annual luncheon. It was his first major public appearance after the election.

The Dec. 2 luncheon takes place in conjunction with the MNPA’s annual meeting. The luncheon, which is held at Anthony’s Pier Four in Boston, is open to anyone who registers.

For information on registering, see the 2010 Annual Meeting page.