MUNCIE, Ind. - The 4th Annual Ball State University Associated Press Radio Television News Directors Association Fall Broadcast News Conference takes place Oct. 22 and 23.

The conference is one of the three largest regional broadcast news conferences in the country, along with those held in Boston and San Francisco, and offers sessions for broadcast news students and professionals.

Meetings featuring broadcast news producers, reporters and videographers from across the nation are held in the Ball Communication Building. All Friday sessions are free. Saturday's program costs $25 for professionals and $15 for students (including breakfast and lunch).

The first day of the conference focuses on the needs of future broadcast journalists. Starting at 9 a.m. students meet with many of the state's television and radio news directors about internships and what new directors look for in prospective employees. At 11 a.m. Don Fitzpatrick of Don Fitzpatrick & Associates, San Francisco, the leading talent headhunting company in the country and publisher of ShopTalk, the most widely read broadcast publication in the world, discusses getting that first job. Paul Dughi, vice president and executive director of The Producing School at the Broadcast Image Group in Dallas, speaks on careers in producing at 1 p.m.

Saturday sessions are open to students and news professionals, starting with a welcome and continental breakfastat 8:30 am.

John Gross from KSTP-TV in Minneapolis discusses "Great Photography and a Great Life" at 9 a.m. Gross works for NFL Films and has done more than 300 network sports reports for the "Today Show" and "Good Morning America."

Other 9 a.m. sessions include Don Fitzpatrick on getting noticed and preparing for a job in TV news, Paul Dughi on producing compelling TV news, and Mark Thalhimer from the Radio Television News Directors Foundation in Washington, D.C., on the future of news and information.

At 10:30 a.m., Dughi talks about how "Better Stories Start with Better Story Ideas" and Fitzpatrick looks at the changing marketplace, where the jobs will be, and what broadcasters will need to get them.

A full afternoon session on the art of storytelling begins at 1 p.m. with "The Simple Truths of Television News Storytelling" with Wayne Freedman of KGO-TV in San Francisco. Referred to as "probably the premier local TV news feature reporter in the country" by Electronic Media, Freedman has been a featured presenter at a number of RTNDA national conventions and countless state conferences.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information about this story contact Bob Papper at (765)285-1480.)