Four ISU students and one faculty member had to cancel plans to go to a news director conference in Nashville because of the shutdown on air travel after this week’s terrorist attacks.

The Radio and Television News Directors Association was scheduled to hold an annual convention Wednesday through Saturday.

Thomas Beell, professor of journalism and mass communication, said the Radio and Television News Directors Association is one of the largest and most prestigious organizations in the field of journalism.

“People from around the world come for this,” he said. “It is a big news gathering.

News people gather to talk about news from all around the world.”

The association was founded in 1947 by former ISU faculty member Jack Shelly.

Beell said Shelly was a news director at WHO-TV for 35 years.

After retiring, Shelly taught at Iowa State for a number of years.

“Shelly is considered one of the great pioneers of broadcasting,” Beell said. “He is 90 years old today.”

The Radio and Television News Directors Association organization has only been on campus since last January, Beell said.

The association is more focused for students who want to be more involved in news than the already-existing broadcast club on campus, he said.

“The number of students in the campus chapter is small, about six or seven,” Beell said. “There was a lot of excitement about going to the RTNDA conference, though.”

Beell said he and the association members were excited about the convention.

“You’re there rubbing elbows with these people you see on national TV,” Beell said.

“There was a lot of interesting news planned for the event, as well.”

Sam Donaldson, a 33-year veteran of ABC news, was the keynote speaker scheduled for the convention.

Other celebrity speakers included John Seigenthaler, anchor of the weekend edition of “NBC Nightly News” and host of “MSNBC Investigates,” and Maureen Maher, a correspondent for CBS News in the Dallas bureau.

David Busiek, KCCI news director, was named chairman-elect.

Tyler Hedrick, president of the ISU Broadcast Club, said he was looking forward to attending the event and seeing ABC sports icon Jim McKay receive the 2001 Paul White Award for lifetime achievement at the convention.

“I’m a huge sports fan,” said Hedrick, senior in journalism and mass communication. “It would have been interesting because he has been in the business a long time.”

As many as 4,000 attendees had been expected at the Nashville convention this year.

Beell said journalists must be on the job at a time of the national chaos after Tuesday’s terrorist attacks.

“News people simply can’t be gone at a convention,” he said. “They are busy.”

A decision has not been made at this point whether the convention will be rescheduled. Beell said part of the problem for rescheduling is the tight schedules of news people.

“It is hard to get everyone together,” he said. “News people are busy, so it is very carefully scheduled. It may not work out that it can be scheduled for another time.”