Disclosures about Steve Buttry

I like what Amy Gahran wrote about transparency by journalists at All Things Digital. So I decided to write my own disclosure, telling you probably more than you want to know about me and my background. Some or all of this might affect my blogging about issues or might affect your perceptions of my blogging.

Career

Most of this has already been disclosed here, some of it repeatedly:

I work as director of community engagement and social media for Journal Register Co. I also teach part-time in the Master of Professional Studies in Journalism program at Georgetown University.

I have worked in the news business almost full-time since 1971, the start of my senior year of high school, when I took a sports-writing job with the Evening Sentinel in Shenandoah, Iowa. I’ve been an editor, reporter, writing coach and innovation coach for the Des Moines Register, Kansas City Star and Times, Minot Daily News, Omaha World-Herald and Cedar Rapids Gazette. I was director of community engagement at TBD, a local online, TV and mobile news operation covering Washington. Here’s a more extensive account of my journalism career and my journalism training career. This career map shows where I have worked, including organizations I have trained for.

For the past 13 years, I have also been involved in journalism training. I used to train journalists and media executives full-time for the American Press Institute. Now I speak several times a year to seminars, conferences, workshops and webinars relating to journalism and the news business.

This blog is mostly about issues of journalism and media innovation. If you want to see my views about those issues, check out the tags and categories on the blog and you’ll see plenty of my opinions.

I am a member of the Online News Association and the Society of Professional Journalists and have been a member of the American Society of News Editors, Investigative Reporters and Editors and Religion Newswriters Association (I was an RNA Board member).

Family

While this blog is generally about journalism and media issues, I sometimes address those issues from the perspective of family experience. And occasional blog posts are wholly personal, often related to family matters.

I have been married since 1974 to Mimi Johnson Buttry, a full-time writer. Mimi writes the blog Rubyeyedfox as well as fiction and non-fiction books. Mimi grew up an Iowa farm girl. She spent 11 years working for Creighton University and most recently worked  for ASNE.

Our oldest son, Mike, is vice president of corporate communications at Capella University in Minneapolis. Mike formerly worked for Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, as press secretary, communication director and chief of staff. When I was a reporter in Omaha, I mostly avoided stories dealing with Hagel, as I have previously explained in the blog. After Hagel retired from the Senate, Mike spent about a year working for Chlopak Leonard Schechter and Associates, a Washington public affairs firm. His clients included the government of Kenya and the American Dental Association. Mike is a graduate of Creighton. He and his wife, Susie Burke, have a daughter, our only grandchild, Julia. Susie is a school teacher whose career has been on pause since Julia’s birth.

Our middle son, Joe, manages staging for events at the Mandalay Bay Events Center. He previously worked for 4Wall Entertainment in Las Vegas, Opera Iowa, Des Moines Metro Opera and the Omaha Community Playhouse. He does some freelance lighting and theatrical production work. Joe is a graduate of Creighton. Joe and Kim Bagby, who also works in theatrical production, have been married since 2007.

Our youngest son, Tom, is a legislative correspondent for Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat. He took the job while I was in Cedar Rapids, and I stopped all involvement with Gazette coverage of Harkin. Tom formerly worked for the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves. Tom is a graduate of Marquette University.

My father, Luke Buttry, was an Air Force chaplain and American Baptist minister. He died of prostate cancer in 1978. My mother, Harriet Buttry, is a retired American Baptist minister. She lives in Lee’s Summit, Mo., and has Alzheimer’s disease. My older brother, Dan, is a missionary for the American Baptist Churches USA, based in Hamtramck, Mich. My younger brother, Don, is a lay minister living in Shenandoah, Iowa. My sister, Carol, works for the Vermont Family Network.

I should mention some other members of my extended family. My grandmother, Francena H. Arnold, was a successful novelist, author of Not My Will and other Christian novels. To whatever extent writing ability is genetic, I credit Grandma for whatever writing ability I have. My uncle, Chaplain Frank Arnold, kept a diary during World War II and I have published excerpts on this blog. I won’t list all my in-laws here, but in case anyone sees relevant conflicts or connections, they work for the Meyocks Group (an Iowa ad agency), St. Francis of Assisi School in West Des Moines, the Mayo Clinic, the University of Michigan, the Department of Veterans Affairs and Fujitsu. One sister-in-law tutors and I don’t know who her clients are.

Some issues in my extended family that may influence my perspective (all issues I would address only rarely):

• Peace. Dan works in peacemaking efforts around the world and has written several books about peacemaking. I noted one of his books in a blog post about the photos of the “tank man” of Tiananmen Square.
• Adoption. Don and his wife, Pam, have three biological and 11 adopted children. I have blogged about their oldest daughter, Mandy, and her adopted daughter, Maya, from Haiti (one of four children Mandy and her husband, Matt, have adopted). Dan and his wife, Sharon, also have an adopted son. Two of Mimi’s sisters also have adopted two daughters each.
• Leukemia and tissue transplants. Carol’s son, Patrick, died of leukemia last year. He received a bone-marrow transplant during nine months of treatment. I blogged about his illness and death. Patrick’s sister, Kathryn, underwent a stem-cell transplant for myelodysplasia, a blood disorder related to leukemia. Chuck Offenburger, who gave me my first job in journalism and remains a friend, underwent a stem-cell transplant in 2010.

Health

I have written a few times about health. I am a cancer survivor. My colon cancer was detected early and removed surgically along with a section of colon in 1999. Another section of colon (yes, I have a semicolon) was removed in 2006, along with my appendix and some lymph nodes, but the lumps that prompted that surgery were benign. I also had a basal cell skin cancer removed from my neck in 2005. I should lose a few pounds, but I am in good health now. I have allergies and mild asthma. My brother Dan is a prostate cancer survivor.

Education

I am a 1972 graduate of Shenandoah (Iowa) High School and a 1976 graduate of Texas Christian University. I have recently renewed relations with TCU, consulting on updating curriculum, leading workshops on campus in 2009 and 2010 and being inducted in 2010 into the Hall of Excellence at the Schieffer School of Journalism. I took some classes at Creighton in the 1990s but did not receive a degree. I was accepted into graduate school to study online for a master’s degree at the Missouri School of Journalism in 2009, but withdrew from my only course after accepting the TBD job.

Sports

I generally don’t write about sports here. My favorite sports team is the New York Yankees (check my Hated Yankees blog if you want to know about Yankees who should be in the Hall of Fame; I don’t write there very often). Other primary loyalties: Kansas City Chiefs, TCU Horned Frogs, Creighton Bluejays.

Politics

I generally don’t write about politics or social issues here, but I wouldn’t rule it out. Beyond voting, I have no political involvements or activities. I am not involved in any organizations that take partisan positions on political or social issues. As noted above, I have had sons working for senators in both parties. When I was writing a column for the Cedar Rapids Gazette, with those columns appearing on the blog, I occasionally wrote about local or state politics or about politics at all levels, relating to flood relief. I can think of only a couple times I’ve ventured toward national politics here. If I start writing more about politics, I may expand this section.

Other interests

As a youth, I was active in Boy Scouts and earned my Eagle award. I was an adult volunteer when my sons were in Scouts, serving as Cubmaster and in other roles. I generally don’t write about religion on this blog and don’t care to address it in depth here. I have no criminal record and nothing more serious than a few speeding tickets on my driving record. I have been sued a couple of times over traffic accidents, one of them dismissed and one settled by my insurance company. My primary current interest not disclosed here already is travel. Mimi and I like taking day trips in and around Washington. And when I travel for work, Mimi frequently comes along and we add some personal travel to the trip. Sometimes, like on our trips to Tofino and Siberia, I write about our travels, sometimes addressing media issues, but not always. I also enjoy cooking and dining, perhaps a bit too much.

That’s probably way more than you want or need to know about me. But I’d be happy to address anything else you’re curious about. I have argued on multiple occasions that journalists are people, not objects, and that we need to let our humanity into our journalism more honestly. I’ve argued for transparency in journalism. So I thought I’d follow Amy’s advice and AllThingsD’s example and disclose more of who I am.