By Clare Trapasso and Kris Turner
Insight Staff Writers

Part 3 of 3 

When Los Angeles Times sports columnist Michael Penner announced he would become Christine Daniels in April, news media rushed to cover the story.

Soon after Daniels's announcement, Ina Fried, a National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association board member and chair of NLGJA's transgender caucus, spoke with CBS News on Logo about Daniels's transformation. Now NLGJA members can download the interview on iTunes or the organization's Web site.

By pushing the multimedia envelope, NLGJA is attempting to increase its visibility, one of five objectives in the organization's 2005-07 strategic plan.  

"I would like to see the podcasts take on more journalism and professional-development issues," said Jason Lloyd Clement, NLGJA communications and marketing manager. "This is something members can download and take with them and share."

In the first and second parts of this three-part series, Insight reported on NLGJA's successes and failures in achieving membership, governance and administration objectives set by the organization in its strategic plan.  This report centers on how well NLGJA has fared in visibility and programming, and the reviews are mixed.

• Read Part 1
• Read Part 2 

Fried, of the transgender caucus, is working to add gender identity and expression protections to newsroom policies across the country as part of the "Newsroom for Everyone Campaign" outlined in the strategic plan. It's an issue many newsrooms don't know about, she said.

"We have an opportunity to get the project off the ground," said Fried, adding that Daniels's transition renewed interest in the issue.

But little progress has been made.

In addition, NLGJA has been slow to expand the newsroom-outreach program, which sends organization representatives to newsrooms to speak about covering LGBT issues.

"We are not coming in and criticizing them for what they are doing," NLGJA Deputy Executive Director Thomas Cashman Avila said. "[But] when 'Transamerica' came out, people who never thought they would be writing about the transgender community were writing about it."

The outreach program called for 30 newsroom sessions in 2005, 40 in 2006 and 50 in 2007. NLGJA failed to meet those goals.

But there are plenty of objectives NLGJA has achieved. The organization's Web site was upgraded, and space was allotted for individual chapters. Yearly LGBT media summits have been held, and professional-development programming has increased at national conventions.

One of the organization's big successes has been the creation of a Spanish-language version of the NLGJA stylebook supplement on LGBT terminology.

"A direct translation of the style guide doesn't get us to where we need to be," Avila said. "It's unique to the Spanish language."

Another accomplishment has been establishing the Leroy F. Aarons Journalism Education Program in honor of the organization's founder. The program encompasses organizing the Student Project, which sponsors college students to cover the national conference, and awarding journalism accolades, internships and scholarships.

Other objectives, such as hosting professional-development workshops across the nation, have not been as successful.
 "We started them, but they didn't take off," NLGJA President Eric Hegedus said. "The programs just did not attract enough attention."

Although the workshops didn't happen according to plan, Hegedus said NLGJA is working to offer its members other professional development opportunities.

They include workshops on digital photography, interviewing and the latest technology.

"It's imperative we offer our members training they can't get elsewhere," Hegedus said. "It's a part of the membership benefits."

But NLGJA has failed to increase the organization's visibility by attending 40 journalism conventions, and there is room for improvement in increasing NLGJA's visibility in news media companies and creating more opportunities for representatives to speak about the organization.

The organization is trying to increase the visibility of the Rapid Response Task Force, which contacts reporters and editors who don't accurately report on LGBT issues.

"It's about ensuring fair and accurate coverage," said Geoff Dankert, NLGJA vice president for broadcast and head of the task force, which relies on members and readers to report offensive stories. "I feel like it's a success, because we've done a great job of reaching journalists."

The task force also congratulates journalists for accurate coverage.

After news broke of Republican Sen. Larry Craig's arrest for allegedly soliciting an undercover officer in an airport bathroom stall, NLGJA's Board of Directors issued a public statement on ways to report the incident.

News organizations need to cover this event accurately and ask the right questions, NLGJA Board Member April Hunt said.

Although many of the goals NLGJA set out to accomplish in its 2005-07 strategic plan have been accomplished, the organization has a long way to go.

Hegedus and Avila say they realize there are more opportunities for the organization to grow.

"It's important to remember the strategic plan is an organic document," Avila said. "It's a little like a report card. It makes you ask, 'What can I do better next year?'"