This one is for news design geeks only: Charles Apple has a terrific report on the backstory behind the rift and turmoil at the Society for News Design that stemmed from the SND’s negotiations to move its headquarters to UNC-Chapel Hill. Apparently UNC wanted the current executive director to stay on after the move, while some members of the SND board did not. When designers collide, well … read Charles’ report, and be sure to check out the links in there. There’s a lot to digest. And when you are done with that, also check out Robb Montgomery’s ideas for redesigning SND.

I’ve never been a member of SND and really had no desire to join. The main reasons:

• My newspaper could rarely afford to let me take a few consecutive days off to attend an SND event. That, plus the cost of getting to and paying for these events — for instance, this year’s event is in Buenos Aires — pretty much eliminated any desire I had of going to one (I really can’t help but wonder why they don’t do a lot more online events and just put them behind members-only access). As one of the commenters on Charles’ post said, there are other, better avenues for getting training that cost less than SND.
• The annual contests held little appeal to me (not because I think the judging is crooked or anything; I just don’t care much about awards).
• The annual “The Best of Newspaper Design” book became an outdated notion the moment newspagedesigner.com became widely used.

That said, I am very interested in SND’s possible move to UNC, in great part due to the fact that it would be a 5-minute walk from my office. I was actually surprised to learn that SND’s headquarters are currently in a strip mall in Rhode Island. It just seems like something that belongs on a college campus, where it can work closely with journalism educators and students. I really hope the move to Chapel Hill will happen once the turmoil has settled. Heck, I know that if it does, I would definitely be interested in volunteering my time and services, if they are deemed acceptable. I think design still has a role in news, even as the emphasis shifts from print and broadcast to online, and a professional organization for news designers can make an impact if it stops tearing itself apart or pricing its events out of the reach of a big chunk of its membership and potential membership.