Dear Members,

It’s election season, and an opportunity to bring your voice to the Orange County Press Club Board of Directors.

Voting will happen in the last week of September, but starting now you can add your name as a candidate.

Candidates are asked to email [email protected] with their name, employer/news organization, a short bio and candidate statement (laying out your ideas, values, or anything you think might connect with voters) by Sept. 22.

All candidates must be current on membership dues: $25 for journalists and $50 for PR professionals/non-journalists.

On top of planning the Press Club’s annual awards gala, board members also host networking and informational events throughout the year for members. The volunteer board works alongside groups throughout California to advocate for press freedom and other issues important to journalists in Orange County. The Board also stewards the next generation of journalists by sponsoring scholarships and fellowships for high school and college students.

The Press Club is looking for journalists from across a variety of mediums, publications and backgrounds to help further this mission. Freelancers and journalism educators are welcome to enter.

Please send any questions about the process to [email protected].

Best Regards,

Brandon Pho
Vice President, 2022-23 Orange County Press Club Board of Directors

Former Orange County Register staff photographer Bill Alkofer died in St. Paul, Minn., after a years-long fight with ALS on June 23.

Theresa Walker, a retired Register staff writer, shared the news about Alkofer on a Facebook group of the newspaper’s alumni. Her post has turned into a memorial with dozens of comments from Alkofer’s colleagues.

“Mindy Schauer and I visited Bill this past week at the assisted living center in St. Paul where he had been living. We reminisced, we laughed, we cursed, we talked about death, we drank several of the beers (Grain Belt) in Bill’s fridge and even got him to take a few sips with a straw,” Walker wrote.

Alkofer was born and raised in North Dakota. He received a degree in journalism from the University of North Dakota in 1985. Alkofer worked for 40 years as a photojournalist, including stints at Pioneer Press and the Register. He photographed popes, presidents and kings, two Olympics, a Super Bowl, a World Series and four Final Fours.

The Orange County Press Club Board of Directors extends its sincere condolences to his devoted family and friends. He was a consummate professional who went above and beyond to make the best photo possible.

Details about a memorial service haven’t been announced.

Bill Alkofer at his October 2021 “awake wake” with Mindy Schauer, Alma Fausto, Ian Wheeler, Jeff Gritchen and Greg Mellen in Minneapolis. (Photo courtesy of Jeff Gritchen)

The Orange County Press Club Board of Directors is honored to posthumously recognize Fred Swegles with the 2023 Sky Dunlap Award at the 2023 Excellence in Journalism Awards at 6 p.m. on June 15 at Anaheim Hills Golf Course.

The Press Club’s highest honor will be announced in conjunction with our “In Memorium” presentation of recently deceased journalists, which also includes nationally-recognized baseball writer Jean Hastings Ardell and Los Angeles Times reporter Greg Yee.

A longtime Orange County newsman who spent his career covering San Clemente and its neighboring towns, Swegles died on Oct. 23, 2022, after suffering health complications because of a brain tumor. He was 74.

Swegles’ portfolio of work spanned more than 50 years, having previously reported for the Daily Sun-Post and Orange County Register. In 2018, Swegles launched his CoastLines column with San Clemente Times.

“Fred Swegles is an institution in Orange County journalism. His tireless efforts over five decades to cover his beloved hometown of San Clemente are a testament to the impact one journalist can have on their readers. Our board’s decision to honor Fred was unanimous and we sincerely wish it had arrived before his passing,” said Daniel Langhorne, president of Orange County Press Club.

The Sky Dunlap Award is given out at the Press Club’s annual awards gala and honors someone for lifetime achievement and community service in Orange County journalism. It is named for John William “Sky” Dunlap, 1912-68, who owned and published the Globe, an independent newspaper.

The Orange County Press Club has signed on to the following joint action letter:

The National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ) in solidarity with a coalition of Southern California and national journalism organizations are calling on a California high school principal to immediately drop disciplinary action taken against teacher Adriana Chavira, a respected journalism mentor and NAHJ’s Academic At-Large Officer, for refusing to censor her students’ reporting.

The students at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School in the San Fernando Valley wrote a story published last fall about mandatory vaccinations for public school teachers. They named a teacher-librarian at their school who didn’t want to be vaccinated and didn’t show up for work.

The librarian asked Chavira to remove her name from the story. Chavira declined.  Students aren’t bound by federal HIPAA or by confidentiality/privacy laws to remove the librarian’s name. The story is factual, and Chavira has supported the students and their First Amendment right to name the teacher-librarian. California’s education code also upholds their right to exercise their freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

In response, Pearl High Principal Armen Petrossian notified Chavira last Thursday that she will be subject to a three-day, unpaid suspension. Chavira is appealing the action. The issue of censorship isn’t unique to Daniel Pearl High School. Over the years, attempts to censor student newspapers and punish educators who serve as news advisors have become far too common, mirroring the challenges facing journalists nationwide.

“The fear of repercussions from authorities can often cause emerging journalists to self-censor, producing a media landscape dominated by commentary and social media feeds rather than news stories that hold those in power to account,” said Yvette Cabrera, NAHJ President.  “Adriana Chavira has years of experience working with students to create journalism that matters. She is an invaluable resource to our next generation of journalists and a vital member of the NAHJ Board. She has our full support.”

High school is a foundational period in a student’s educational development. Attitudes toward democracy and how to engage in civil disagreement are forged within a school’s walls, and students should be nurtured and encouraged to  become active, engaged and responsible citizens. Principal Petrossian’s actions work contrary to this by attempting to silence the voices of student journalists and obstruct them from freely reporting a matter of public concern to their school community.

A 2022 Knight Foundation report on the First Amendment revealed that nearly 40% of high school students have not taken a single class on the First Amendment, despite its importance to all citizens, not just journalists. The report also found that while a majority of high school students believe that the First Amendment protects them personally, “they are far less likely to feel the protection of these rights than are college students, teachers and adults in America.”

The Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists also expressed its support for Chavira, and condemned Petrossian’s handling of the matter.

“SPJ/LA stands with our colleagues in the professional journalism community in protesting Daniel Pearl Magnet High School’s treatment of student newspaper adviser Adriana Chavira,” said Ashanti Blaize-Hopkins, president of SPJ/LA. “The administration’s conduct dishonors the man for whom the school is named, a journalist who literally gave his life to the cause of informing his readers and reporting the truth. We urge them to reconsider their actions, and instead reaffirm their support for their faculty member and for robust, independent student journalism.”

Other Southern California and national journalism organizations also spoke up in defense of Chavira.

“High school journalism advisors train the next generation of journalists, and they should not be penalized for defending their students’ First Amendment rights to free speech and freedom of the press,” said journalism professor Sharyn Obsatz, co-organizer of the Online News Association Los Angeles group.

Our organizations applaud Chavira’s commitment to the First Amendment and her students, and urge Principal Petrossian to do the right thing: rescind the suspension. We also call on the Los Angeles Unified School District, which is the second largest public school district in the country, to ensure that its administrators abide by the state education code and the Constitution to guarantee the rights of student journalists are protected.

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Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists

National Press Photographers Association

Online News Association Los Angeles

Orange County Press Club

Radio Television Digital News Association

Jeanne Wright, who covered courts at the Register in the 1980s, passed away this year after a long battle with early Alzheimer’s. Colleagues remember Jeanne as a smart, beautiful, loving woman and great journalist with an infectious laugh. She is survived by her husband, Ralph Vartabedian, and their two adult children.