The need to knows on NDAs

Non-disclosure agreements are becoming increasingly commonplace in various situations across many Indiana communities. What rights and responsibilities do journalists face when they encounter these documents?

Kathleen Bartzen Culver, director of the Center for Jounalism Ethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Kris Cundiff, staff attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, Indiana, will talk through various scenarios, and offer tips for journalists facing those challenges.

Register for this free program here.

A-Mark winners gathering to share tips, insights to great reporting

The Indiana Professional Chapter of SPJ is hosting a Zoom gathering connecting this year’s A-Mark Investigative Reporting Award winners, with journalists around the state who want to learn more about how the stories came to life.

This free Zoom event, set for 11:30 a.m., Tuesday, June 16, will feature journalists who pursued stories over the course of several months, and brought attention to issues that one judge said exemplified watchdog journalism.

Journalists featured in this year’s A-Mark conversation include:
• Susan Batt, WTHR
• Peter Blanchard, Mirror Indy
• Leslie Bonilla Muñiz, Capital Chronicle
• Tony Cook, IndyStar
• Emily Hopkins, Mirror Indy
• Bob Segall, WTHR
• Jordan Smith, IndyStar
• Ryan Thedwall, WTHR

This event is free. Complete this form to register for the event and submit questions in advance before what’s sure to be an enlightening and informative discussion.

Indiana Pro SPJ honors 2025 Best in Indiana Journalism

On April 17, 2026, the Indiana Pro SPJ chapter honored the best Indiana journalists from across the state at its annual awards banquet. Top honors went to journalists from The Indianapolis Star and Mirror Indy for Story of the Year and Journalist of the Year.

It was the second year the Indiana Pro SPJ Chapter awarded A-Mark Prize for Investigative Journalism honors. A panel of retired Indiana journalists with investigative experience awarded a collaboration between The Indianapolis Star and Mirror Indy the top prize. Second place went to a trio of journalists from WTHR. A collaboration between The Capital Chronicle and The Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism received the third place prize.

The Indiana Pro SPJ Chapter awarded the First Amendment Award to Ed Feigenbaum & Emily Ketterer of Hannah News Service-Midwest. Students with Purdue Exponent and Indiana Daily Student received the Indiana Journalism Courage Award for their commitment to independence, fairness and the truth after the Daily Student’s publication was threatened.

Two journalists were honored with the Slaymaker Service to Journalism Award for 2025. Cathy Knapp of WFIU and WTIU and Tim Evans of The Indianapolis Star both received the award for their decades of service to journalism.

Students from Indiana University, Franklin College, and Ball State University received the chapter’s 2026-27 scholarships.

You can read more about the top awards and see a full list of winners in the awards winners section.

How Are We Doing?

The Indiana Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists promotes the development of current and future journalists.

We welcome your comments on how we may improve our programming, contest, and banquet.

Questionnaire

Resources for Journalists Experiencing Layoffs

In light of recent layoffs and company consolidations, the Indiana Pro Chapter of SPJ compiled this list of resources to support journalists who have been laid off. 

Webinar: How Newsrooms Can Build Trust Through Transparency About AI Use

As journalists experiment with AI, audiences are paying attention and they have questions. New research from Trusting News shows that news consumers want to know how and when AI is used in the reporting process.

For the past year, Trusting News has partnered with newsrooms to test ways of being transparent about AI — from brief notes in story footers to detailed explainers and recurring editor’s notes. In a webinar in December, Lynn Walsh, Assistant Director of TrustingNews.org, shared what the organization has learned from both newsroom experiments and audience surveys, including which disclosure styles strengthened trust and which ones raised new questions.

You can watch the presentation here.

You’ll learn:

  • How different newsrooms are disclosing AI use in stories

  • What types of language make AI disclosures clearer and more trustworthy

  • How audiences responded to various AI use disclosures

  • Practical tips for developing or improving your newsroom’s AI transparency strategy