Indianapolis, Aug. 17:
Jeanne and I began our last journey as the first family of SPJ last night. We drove to the JAX airport and stayed overnight so we could catch an early flight to Indianapolis today. We will wind up in Chicago next week for the SPJ national convention.

First, though, I am attending the National Association of Black Journalists convention, visiting the staff at SPJ headquarters in Indy and going to my daughter's wedding in Muncie, Ind.

Despite all the hype about additional airport security and the new ban against liquids in carry-on baggage, I don't think it took more than about five minutes longer to clear it than before the latest threat. The Starbucks beyond the security checkpoint was a very busy place at 7 a.m. though, and there was a great deal more space available in the overhead bins on the planes because everybody checked nearly all of their bags.

NABJ's convention is larger than SPJ's even though the membership is much smaller. There are more than 2,000 journalists, exhibitors and recruiters here, they say. I've met several people who have told me they've been to every NABJ convention for 10, 12 even 26 years. They truly seem to appreciate seeing an SPJ president here.

The opening reception is at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the convention sessions are in the Indianapolis Convention Center downtown. The exhibit hall is most impressive. It's packed with booths from dozens of newspapers and every major media company. Among newspapers, Scripps, McClatchey, Gannett, The Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and many more individual papers are recruiting. On the TV side, all the broadcast networks plus many cable stations including ESPN, the Weather Channel and Scripps Networks are represented.