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May 2006
MEETINGS
Next at IABC/Fort Worth ...
Program to be announced.
Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, May 23
Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets
Cost: $20 members, $25 nonmembers
RSVP by noon May 19: Julie Trowbridge, julie.trowbridge@c-b.com
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Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ... Branded for Life (Unless You Change Agencies)
Branding can have more than one meaning (especially in Cowtown), but for PR pros and ranchers alike, it's a fundamental business tool. GCG VP Neil Foster; Carol Glover, creative director at the Balcom Agency; and a representative from Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations will share trade secrets at the May 10 Greater Fort Worth PRSA luncheon.
The highly sought branding experts will begin with an overview of today's marketplace and then compare competing brands and discuss methodologies. Supported by national and local examples, the panel will cover implementation of branding across all communication efforts.
Time & date: 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, May 10
Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
Parking: free valet in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets
Cost: $25 members, $30 nonmembers, $20 students
RSVP by noon May 5: rsvp@fortworthprsa.org; PRSA members will receive a C-vent invitation via e-mail
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Next at Fort Worth SPJ ... Water, Water Everywhere: It's Enough to Make You Think
It might be the hottest local election all year -- a no-runoff contest among 13 people for two seats on the governing board of the Tarrant Regional Water District. At stake, among other things, is the future of the massive and controversial Trinity River Vision project, which would dramatically reshape downtown and the North Side.
Your best shot at getting answers from the candidates, both well-known and unknown? A May 10 forum co-sponsored by SPJ and the League of Women Voters of Tarrant County.
Candidates will present opening statements starting at 6:30 p.m. After that, the would-be water moguls will answer questions, so come prepared with tough ones. The LWV will provide a moderator, and the event should wrap up by 9:30.
Along with SPJ and LWV members, the local American Association of University Women and the Women's Policy Forum are also invited, but the event is open to the public, so bring anyone interested in water issues -- flood, drought, wetlands, water development and, yikes, eminent domain.
Time & date: mingling and dinner 5:30-6:30 p.m., 6:30-9 program, Wednesday, May 10
Place: The Marquis on Magnolia, 1227 W. Magnolia Ave. at Fifth Street, about two blocks east of Benito's on the south side of the street
Cost: $20 to eat, $5 students, just to hear the program -- free
Menu: tossed garden salad, chicken lasagna, dinner rolls with whipped garlic butter, cookies and brownies for dessert, brewed iced tea and European blend coffee
RSVP by May 5 (specify if you're eating): Kay Pirtle, mkpirtle@yahoo.com
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STRAIGHT STUFF
Eric Naiman of Jumpin' Tex Media and Brian Oberkirch of Weblogs Work will explain the burgeoning world of blogging in plain English (no techno-talk) at the Fort Worth Chamber's Blogging 101 workshop, "Wikis and Blogs and Podcasts, Oh My!," Thursday, May 11. Expect a brainstorming session to hone skills and practical, affordable ideas on how to incorporate social media into the marketing mix. Star-Telegram oft-lauded business columnist Mitchell Schnurman will share anecdotes about the controversies and advantages of blogging, as well as how he has used online feedback to shape his opinions. Register here. More from Andra Bennett, APR, at (817) 336-2491, ext. 265. ...
Deadline is June 1 to submit works of nonfiction -- memoir, personal essay, travel, biography, particularly narratives involving people, places and events in the outside world rather than the inner world of the writer -- for inclusion in the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writers Conference of the Southwest, July 14-16 at the Hilton DFW Lakes in Grapevine. Judges will select the authors of the top 50 narrative articles or essays and the top 20 manuscripts to participate in conference workshops. The workshops run that Friday, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., and will not interfere with conference lectures or panels. The UNT Press will offer the winning manuscript writer a provisional book contract, and the top three article/essay writers will receive cash prizes of $3,000, $2,000 and $1,000. The workshops are but one facet of what Esquire editor David Granger calls "one of the most vital gatherings of writers in America." Among the writers on-site with whom one might rub elbows: Gay Talese, author of "The Kingdom and the Power," about the history and influence of The New York Times, and "Honor Thy Father," the inside story of a Mafia family; Hampton Sides, author of the nonfiction bestseller "Ghost Soldiers" and the new "Blood and Thunder," a narrative history about the controversial frontier hero Kit Carson and his role in the conquest of the West; Ron Powers, author of "Flags of Our Fathers," which Steven Spielberg developed into a movie that Clint Eastwood will direct, and "Mark Twain: A Life," a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award; and Melissa Fay Greene, author of "Praying for Sheetrock," a National Book Award finalist, and "Last Man Out: The Story of the Springhill Mine Disaster." New this year, the conference will feature a publishers panel, a session on the author-agent relationship, and small-group gatherings with editors and agents. For students on a budget, The Dallas Morning News is offering five minority student scholarships to the conference, sponsored by UNT's Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism, and UNT faculty and staff are offering five general scholarships for any high school, college or university student. More details, many more, are here. ...
The Fort Worth Chamber's 2006 media directory -- 60 pages of local print and broadcast contact minutiae -- is on sale to chamber members for $30 and to nonmembers for $40. A PDF disk also is available, or download the directory from the chamber web site. Call (817) 336-2491, ext. 242, or order at fortworthchamber.com.
IABC local update: An informal roundtable, "Connecting Communication with Business Value," will highlight the Tuesday, May 9, Dallas/IABC luncheon. More here.
PRSA local update: Anyone thinking of joining PRSA, now's the time. PRSA national will pay the chapter memberships of those who join in May and June in its annual "Spring Ahead" promotion. Membership applications are at prsa.org.
PRSA local update II: GFW PRSA is offering two more teleseminars this month, one on why PR pros need to pay attention to blogs and the other on how to learn to use web-based communication techniques from national and international award-winners. The seminars are free to chapter members. Marc Flake at mflake@tarrantcounty.com has details.
PRSA local update III: Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Edna Ruano and Dora Tovar, a contributing author of "Hispanic Marketing and Public Relations: Understanding and Targeting America's Largest Minority," will discuss "Hispanic Media Relations: Enhancing Corporate and Community Interest" at the Dallas PRSA luncheon Friday, May 19. More here.
SPJ national update: Congress? The Constitution? Who needs them?; tell the truth, hit the road; ABC suspends producer over Bush-bashing e-mail; and lobbying disclosure "glaringly unenforced." President Bush has quietly claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office, asserting that he has the power to set aside any statute when it conflicts with his interpretation of the Constitution. Among the laws Bush says he can ignore are military rules and regulations, affirmative-action provisions, requirements that Congress be told about immigration services problems, whistle-blower protections for nuclear regulatory officials and safeguards against political interference in federally funded research. More here. ... The CIA fired Mary McCarthy, who worked in its inspector general's office and had worked for the National Security Council in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, for leaking information pertaining to rumored secret prisons in Eastern Europe. The information was allegedly given to Dana Priest of The Washington Post, who wrote about CIA prisons in November and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize last month for her reporting. More here and here. ... The executive producer of the "Good Morning America" weekend edition was suspended April 2 over leaked e-mails in which he slammed President Bush and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. In one of the e-mails, written during the first presidential debate in 2004, John Green wrote a colleague: "Are you watching this? Bush makes me sick. If he uses the 'mixed messages' line one more time, I'm going to puke." More here. ... The Center for Public Integrity says that under the oversight of the Senate Ethics Committee nearly 14,000 lobbying documents that should have been filed with the Senate Office of Public Records are missing; nearly 300 individuals and entities lobbied without registering; 49 of the top 50 lobbying firms failed to file required forms; almost one in five companies has missing lobbying forms; and almost 20 percent of all forms are filed late. More here.
SPJ national update II: Were women better off under Saddam?; money changes everything for NPR; and newspaper execs liking new ideas. When Joan Kroc, the widow of the man who built the McDonald's chain, bequeathed NPR $230 million, "it was like Christmas and the lottery ... an enormous act of validation" for senior programming VP Jay Kernis. "We knew who we were. But suddenly this outside force was saying, 'Not only are you worth it, but we want you to continue for decades doing this.' " The interest alone has created nearly 70 jobs, many for reporters on new beats like police and prisons, labor, international economics, the environment, technology and the media. More here. ... Executives throughout the newspaper industry, which generated an estimated $65 billion in revenue last year, are opening their minds to a host of ideas, including new publications, TV and radio services, web sites, podcasts and transmissions to cellphones. "I don't think I've ever seen the sense of innovation and willingness to take risks that I'm seeing now," says John Kimball, chief marketing officer of the Newspaper Association of America. More here. ... A recent survey by local rights nongovernmental organizations finds that women were treated better during the Saddam Hussein era than they are now. According to the survey, women's basic rights under the Hussein regime were guaranteed in the constitution and, more importantly, respected, with women often occupying significant government positions. Today, women have lost almost all of their rights. More here.
SPJ national update III: Never let the truth ruin a good story; Pentagon admits spying on gay protests; and student newspaper editors removed after challenging prior review. When two small trailers were seized in Iraq in late May 2003, President Bush proclaimed a fresh victory, calling the trailers mobile "biological laboratories" and declaring: "We have found the weapons of mass destruction." Three years later, The Washington Post says the administration made that claim even though U.S. intelligence officials had strong evidence the trailers were not labs for making biological weapons. More here and here. ... The Pentagon confirmed April 11 that the Defense Department surveilled groups opposed to the military's "don't ask, don't tell" law banning openly lesbian, gay and bisexual service members, reports the news blog Raw Story. The confirmation came in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in January and seems to substantiate reports that the Defense Department has spied on anti-war groups. More here. ... North Central University removed a husband and wife from their editorial posts at a student newspaper after they refused to allow administrators at the Pentecostal institution in Minneapolis to vet the paper before publication. Hope and Chuck Bahr were dismissed after the seven-member senior editorial staff of The Northern Light voted unanimously to stop working rather than give administrators pre-publication editorial power. More here.
SPJ national update IV: Drug companies put $44 million into state lobbying efforts; Georgia Legislature increases access to campus police records; and TV stations disguising PR as news. The pharmaceutical industry spent more than $44 million in 2003 and 2004 fighting a flurry of initiatives aimed at reducing prices and slicing drug budgets, a Center for Public Integrity analysis of lobbying records has found. The industry also funneled more than $8 million to candidates for various state offices over the same period, according to a CPI analysis. More here. ... The public would gain unprecedented access to campus police records at private universities in Georgia thanks to legislation passed April 6. "With this law in place, police at private colleges will have to release to the public their initial crime incident reports and arrest records just like all other Georgia police departments already do," said Carolyn Carlson, a Georgia State U. professor who lobbied for the language on behalf of SPJ. A similar bill that would subject all campus police departments to open records laws is pending in the Massachusetts Legislature. A similar law was enacted in Virginia in 1994. More here. ... Many TV news stations, including some in the nation's largest markets, continue to broadcast stories as news without disclosing that the segments were produced by companies pitching products, according to a report released by a group that monitors the news media. News directors have said that the segments are almost never broadcast, but the Center for Media and Democracy assembled videotape from 69 stations that it said broadcast fake news segments in the past 10 months. More here.
SPJ national update V: Bush lampooned at his own dinner; unfair, unbalanced channels in Iraq; Schwarzenegger calls for public records training throughout executive branch; and Ohio open-records law trumps federal health-data secrecy. A blistering comedy "tribute" to President Bush by Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert at the White House correspondents dinner April 29 left George and Laura Bush unsmiling at its close. Colbert, speaking as his faux talk show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, "and reality has a well-known liberal bias." Colbert attacked those in the press who likened the recent shake-up at the White House to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. "This administration is soaring, not sinking," he said. "If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg." More here and here. ... The millions of dollars that the Bush administration has poured into creating Western-style news media in Iraq has launched more than a dozen Iraqi channels, but most are increasingly sectarian and often appear to be inflaming tensions. More here. ... Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on April 3 directed California's executive branch to ensure full compliance for information requests made under the California Public Records Act. The executive order directs state agencies to review guidelines and participate in training sessions within 30 days. ... Ohio's law guaranteeing access to government records outranks a federal law that shields personal health information, the state Supreme Court has ruled. John C. Greiner, who represented the Cincinnati Enquirer in the case, said the decision could have broad impact on the federal law, better known by its acronym, HIPAA. Since its passage in 1996, the law has been a source of confusion for health care providers, government officials and the news media.
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On a Thought-provoking Evening, the Greatest Acceptance Speech Ever
by Gayle Reaves-King
ARLINGTON -- The way to fix our business, Sreenath Sreenivasan says, is to get more uncomfortable.
Sreenivasan -- call him Sree, he said -- was the keynote speaker at Fort Worth SPJ's 3rd annual First Amendment Awards and Scholarship Dinner. The dean of students of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism was talking about the changes and pressures the news business faces, as more people turn from mainstream media to the Internet for their news.
He talked about the "polarizing effect of ignorance on both sides" in the nation's public discourse and the resulting need for journalists to "blow up their bookmarks" and go outside the "amen corner" of print and online journalism that fits their world view and instead visit sites that show them what others are thinking.
Granted, the 100 diners at the banquet were, physically, pretty comfortable. The dinner at Arlington's Cacharel Restaurant was excellent, the speakers were engaging, the crowd had great fun mingling, and the recipients of scholarships and journalism awards provided a brilliant view of the present and future of the profession. But the speakers and the topics also offered plenty of reason for healthy unease.
From Sree's challenge to journalists to leave their comfort zones, to Hadassah Schloss' moving speech to the challenges to our civil rights and open-government tradition revealed in the stories honored by the First Amendment Awards, the evening served up food for thought that was as intriguing as anything on the menu.
It also provided an inspiring showcase of the diversity and excellence within the profession.
Emcee Rebecca Bosquez of CBS 11, a graduate of the UTA journalism program, ran the show despite being 8 1/2 months pregnant. Former UTA Student Publications director Dorothy Estes and SPJ chapter vice president Angie Summers handed out $12,000 in Lina Davis Scholarships and $7,000 in Texas Gridiron Scholarships to 15 college and three high school students, including students at two Arlington high schools and seven universities.
Reporters at the Star-Telegram, Fort Worth Weekly and San Antonio Express News took home First Amendment Awards, recognizing journalism that highlights the threats to open government and open records in the U.S., helps open the corporate books and gives voice to the voiceless and downtrodden. An SMU student team, led by former Pulitzer Prize winner Craig Flournoy, took student honors for an investigative story, published by the Dallas Observer, on a dangerous and dilapidated dorm at UT Dallas.
Perhaps the most entertaining moments came from Schloss, this year's winner of the Open Doors Award (and 1996 recipient of the Foundation of Texas' James Madison Award). The Texas attorney general's cost rules administrator talked about her work helping citizens obtain government records as inexpensively as possible. But her remarks also included hints at her fascinating background, including meeting her husband after having him in her gunsights as a member of the Israeli army.
Open government, Schloss said, isn't about voting. True democracy, she said, consists of being able to stand up to government, and question it, and request answers, without fear of retribution.
"Never quit asking, 'Why?' " she said. "And never accept, 'Because.' "
It was, said Flournoy, a previous recipient of the Open Doors Award, the best acceptance speech he ever heard.
Lina Davis Scholarship winners:
Casandra Haynes, Arlington High School
Fatima Hirsi, Sam Houston High School
Kevin Duncan, Sam Houston High School
Andrew Lynch, University of Missouri
Daniel Johnson, UTA
Alicia Kania, UTA
Kevin Bueker, UTA
Marcela Gonzalez, UTA
Texas Gridiron Scholarship winners:
Sarah-Jane Sanders, Staley and Beverly McBrayer Scholarship, Mary Hardin Baylor U.
Hoon Ok, Jack Tinsley Scholarship, UTA
Lindsey Bever, Donna Darovich Scholarship, TCC
Kimberly Barrett, Joe Holstead Scholarship, Sam Houston State U.
Kevin Bueker, Texas Gridiron Scholarship, UTA
Chuck Kerr, Texas Gridiron Scholarship, St. Mary's U.
Christina Laney, Texas Gridiron Scholarship, Sam Houston State U.
Tracie Morales, Texas Gridiron Scholarship, UTA
Alfredo Valenzuela, Texas Gridiron Scholarship, Our Lady of the Lake U.
Melissa Winn, Texas Gridiron Scholarship, UTA
First Amendment Award winners:
Defending the Disadvantaged -- Yamil Berard, Star-Telegram
Use of Public Records, General News -- Peter Gorman, Fort Worth Weekly
Use of Public Records, Investigative -- John Tedesco, San Antonio Express-News
Reporting on Open Government -- Julian Aguilar and Dan Malone, Fort Worth Weekly
Opening the Books -- Mark Horvit, Star-Telegram
Student Work -- SMU Investigative Reporting class
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PEOPLE & PLACES
Count UTA Shorthorn exes Tom Fox, Michael Ainsworth and Brad Loper among the newsroom honorees toasting and being toasted when The Dallas Morning News won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in breaking news photography for its visual narrative of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina. The winning entry was a portfolio of 20 photos, depicting the storm's fury and its human aftermath, by Ainsworth, Fox, Loper, Melanie Burford, Barbara Davidson, Michael Mulvey, Smiley N. Pool and Irwin Thompson. Three of the photographers were waiting in the path of the hurricane when it struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29. Others replaced them as the drama unfolded, and the newspaper had a continuing presence there until November. The announcement marked the eighth time the newspaper has won journalism's most prestigious award, the fourth time it has done so for photography. ...
SPJ member Derik Moore's student Alexis Chernosky took first place in news writing, besting students from District 9-4A through 16-4A, and also placed second in editorial writing at Region II UIL competition. She advances to the state competition May 4 in both categories. ...
UTA Shorthorn copy editor Erika Nuñez received an American Copy Editors Society scholarship April 20 during the opening session of the ACES national conference in Cleveland. She and four other winners from the University of Missouri, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and UT Austin won out over nearly 30 applicants. The judges came from the Chicago Tribune, Newsday, Los Angeles Times, The Wichita Eagle and Contra Costa Times. "Erika understands the language, savors nuance, works to improve. Other students want to go to Padre Island for spring break. She'd rather go to ACES," wrote former Shorthorn newsroom adviser John Dycus. ...
1999 UTA grad and recent eChaser advertiser addition Jason Croft served as producer and director of photography for "Youngster," a film shown at the Mann Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and at the Deep Ellum Film Festival in November. ...
UTA's The Shorthorn has received top honors in the two state competitions that mean the most -- the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association and Texas Associated Press Managing Editors. Also, TIPA recognized Renegade as the best magazine in the state, and theshorthorn.com as the best online paper in the state. Individual UTA winners at TIPA included Mark Roberts, Sara Bookout, Drew Campbell, Megan Wright, Reneé Gatons, Kevin Bueker, Whitney Shropshire, Heather Ann White, Tracie Morales, Jordan Taylor, Alex Pierce, Tiffany Murphy and Brandon Wade. ...
The Star-Telegram's Mitchell Schnurman has been named one of the nation's top 2006 business columnists by the Society of American Business Editors and Writers. He was one of three columnists chosen from among newspapers with circulations of 250,000-375,000.
Baby daze! Star-Telegram Keller ISD reporter Kelly Melhart Richey and husband Todd welcomed Ethan James Richey at 3:50 a.m. April 26.
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GET A JOB
Partners Together for Health, the foundation for JPS Health Network, seeks a 10-hours-per-week grant writer who knows how to construct prize-winning proposals. Degree in journalism preferred, but PR, marketing and English majors welcome. Grant-writing experience preferred, too, but more important focus is interviewing and organizational skills to gather facts, then "sell" on paper in a clear, concise and convincing style. Plus do it on deadline without hemorrhaging. Apply at jpshealthnet.org, or send résumé to partners@jpshealth.org, fax (817) 534-2410. ...
The Sun News, a 50,000-circulation newspaper in Myrtle Beach, S.C., seeks a copy editor with one to three years of newspaper copy editing experience. Slot experience preferred. Send résumé and cover letter to Cassidy Strader, copy desk chief, at cstrader@thesunnews.com. ...
Rolling Stone magazine, in conjunction with MTV, seeks aspiring journalists to work as full-time, paid staff writers this summer in New York. MTV will tape the interns' experiences for a series. Working with the magazine's top editors, the young reporters will hone their writing skills and secure interviews with major musicians, politicians and power brokers. More at rollingstone.com.
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NEW MEMBERS
PRSA ... Lauren Becera, DFW International Airport ... Sajata J. Hale-Williams, OmniAmerican Bank ... Kathryn Kincaid, Fort Worth chapter, Texas Certified Public Accountants ... Jamie Meisenheimer, EECU ... Monisa Ringo, Arlington Memorial Hospital ... Jacqueline Smith, FUNimation Entertainment ... Annie Westmoreland Wood, Cash America International
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COMINGS & GOINGS
Exits ... at CBS 11 News: Todd Bensman, to the San Antonio Express News as an investigative reporter on the special projects unit ... Kim Leach, to UNT as executive director of news and media relations ... Scott Keenan, to CBS News bureau chief for the Southeast, based in Dallas and in charge of the Atlanta, Dallas and Miami bureaus ... at the S-T: features co-slot Cathy Frisinger, who joined the paper in 1992 as a Dallas Times Herald refugee, to devote more time to writing
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER Holly Ellman, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
The chapter had a wonderful experience in April at the first professional development seminar of the year, "The Write Stuff." Veteran journalists Paul Harral and J.R. Labbe of the Star-Telegram started with an AP style quiz -- ouch, no one had his stylebook handy -- and the rest of the time was filled with great tips on how to improve our news releases and pitch our stories. Harral and Labbe enjoyed the experience so much they're already working on another small-group workshop, perhaps at computers in the Star-Telegram, where attendees would do a writing assignment, receive a critique and then rewrite.
The May chapter meeting will tackle branding. Local branding gurus Neil Foster, vice president of GCG; Carol Glover, creative director at the Balcom Agency; and a player to be named from Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations will discuss the importance of branding in today's global marketplace and how it should integrate across all communications efforts.
Be sure to check the chapter web site for upcoming members-only teleseminars. We want to increase the value of PRSA affiliation, so sign up the next time something piques your interest. If we get enough responses for a topic, it will be offered free to members. Direct questions to Marc Flake, vice president/membership, at mflake@tarrantcounty.com.
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PRESIDENT'S COLUMN Richard Maxwell, IABC/Fort Worth
Greetings and happy festival season to you.
Our April meeting was Tom Kirkhart, executive producer and chief marketing officer of CRM Studios (formerly Circle R Media), who spoke on taking the mystery out of video production.
The 2006 IABC/Fort Worth membership directory is now available to members only. Pick yours up at the next meeting.
Save the date: Plan now to attend the World Series of Communication Bronze Quill Awards on June 27.
There's still time to register for IABC's 2006 International Conference, June 4-7 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Join more than 1,400 communicators from around the world for a career-altering program that's a true bargain for all that it delivers, including 80 targeted sessions, headline-grabbing keynotes and the latest best practices from the experts. Register by May 8 to receive early rates. Get information at iabc.com/ic.
Picture this: IABC Southern Region Conference, KC '06, Sept. 24-26. The conference will be great. And with you there, we've got a masterpiece in the making. See kciabc.org/southernconference/.
Member news. I'd like to welcome new member Annette Kearns with Countrywide Financial Corp. and cheer on Stephani Hawkins, Scott Hunt, Jill Goff, Kay Colley, April Eubanks, Jean Tips, Liesl Logan and Cynthia Cordova for renewing. In addition, four members have upcoming IABC anniversaries: Michelle Parker and Jeff Glover, two years; Scheretta Scott, six years; and Julie Trowbridge, 16 years. The last one must be a misprint from IABC national, or she joined in high school!
We hope you will join us at our next luncheon meeting Tuesday, May 23. Stay tuned for details.
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OVER & OUT John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
Welcome, new advertisers The Dallas Morning News, KXAS / NBC 5, the Tarrant County College District, the Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism, and Haynes and Boone, LLP. You folks are in good company -- and the party keeps getting bigger. ...
A Bible verse for you: "When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 19:33-34 ...
SPJ has updated its online guide to prison access policies. Expect to see CDs distributed at the national blowout in Chicago, Aug. 24-27. ... The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation will award $231,400 to fund several potentially exciting projects, including the Reporters Institute for new working journalists developing core skills; a library of digital recordings of chapter educational programs (SPJ will buy three iPods and sound editing software that chapters may request to use); and continued financial assistance for the annual National Freedom of Information Coalition conference, the minority writers seminar sponsored by the National Conference of Editorial Writers, and the diversity fellows program, which enables six non-white journalists to attend the SPJ National Convention and participate in a yearlong mentoring program. ...
Found this while while trying to find something else. Reuters reports that record debt is washing over the Treasury Department, recently breaching the $8 trillion mark in money owed to foreign governments, private investors and the Social Security retirement fund used to finance deficit spending. The debt has increased $2 trillion in just a little over four years. And this from Chris Edwards' new book, "Downsizing the Federal Government," the number of pork projects in federal spending bills: from 1995-99, 8,931; from 2000 to the present, more than 53,000. Emphasis added. More here. ...
Chicago Headline Club member Jon Marshall, a freelancer and instructor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, has launched a blog, "News Gems," highlighting the best in U.S. journalism. It features examples of stories with thorough, enterprising reporting and great writing from newspapers, TV, radio, magazines and web sites. Visit newsgems.blogspot.com.
Closing words: "The way to become famous fast is to throw a brick at someone who is famous." -- journalist and radio broadcaster Walter Winchell
Closing words II, G.W.B. & the Pharisees division: "The advance of freedom in the greater Middle East has given new rights and new hopes to women. And America will do its part to continue the spread of liberty." -- George W. Bush, March 12, 2004 ... "No one knows how many young women have been kidnapped and sold since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq, based in Baghdad, estimates from anecdotal evidence that more than 2,000 Iraqi women have gone missing in that period. A Western official in Baghdad who monitors the status of women in Iraq thinks that figure may be inflated but admits that sex trafficking, virtually nonexistent under Saddam, has become a serious issue. The collapse of law and order and the absence of a stable government have allowed criminal gangs, alongside terrorists, to run amuck. Meanwhile, some aid workers say, bureaucrats in the ministries have either paralyzed with red tape or frozen the assets of charities that might have provided refuge for these girls. As a result, sex trafficking has been allowed to fester unchecked." -- Time, April 22, 2006 ... "No president has looked this impotent this long when it comes to defending presidential powers and prerogatives." -- new White House press secretary Tony Snow on Sept. 30, 2005, when he was with Fox News