eChaser: March 2008 / p2

PRSA local update II: Disney Co. VP Duncan Wardle and Edelman CEO Richard Edelman will keynote “Public Relations in the New Media World,” this year’s PRSA Southwest District Conference, April 9-11 at the Peabody Little Rock in downtown Little Rock, Ark. The industry’s best and brightest will explain in a plethora of breakout sessions how PR practitioners can thrive in the new media world, then it’s on to a Wednesday-evening Dine Around the Town (Arkansas members hosting their visitors at favorite dinner spots) and a Thursday-evening guided tour and reception at the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum. Early registration ends March 17. E-mail info@arkprsa.org to join the conference e-mail list. Full particulars here.

PRSA local update III: The “Taste of PRSA” membership promotion is on. Are you in? Through the end of this month, national will waive the $65 initiation fee when regular members join for $225. Chapter dues are additional. More from membership@prsa.org.

PRSA local update IV: Entrepreneur Chuck Gallagher and Fort Worth PRSA and SPJ member Paige Hendricks, owner of Paige Hendricks Public Relations, will discuss “Ethics and Consequences: Help Your Organization Understand How Unethical Behavior Can Have Serious Consequences Regarding Its Reputation” at the Dallas PRSA meeting Thursday, March 13. Details here.

SPJ national update: The Iraq war has cost 50-60 times more than the Bush administration predicted and is a central cause of the sub-prime banking crisis threatening the world economy, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz asserts. The former World Bank vice president said Feb. 28 that the war has cost the U.S. $3.3 trillion compared with the $50 billion-$60 billion predicted in 2003. Stiglitz told the Chatham House think tank in London that the Bush White House’s current war-cost estimate of about $500 billion greatly understates factors such as the medical and welfare costs of military servicemen. The war is now the second most expensive in U.S. history after World War II and the second longest after Vietnam. Iraq spending is a hidden cause of the credit crunch because the U.S. central bank responded to the massive financial drain of the war by flooding the American economy with cheap credit, Stiglitz said. “The regulators were looking the other way, and money was being lent to anybody this side of a life-support system.” That led to a housing bubble and a consumption boom, and the fallout is plunging the U.S. economy into recession and saddling the next president with the biggest budget deficit in history, Stiglitz said. More here.

SPJ national update II: An exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states was supposed to be released last July, but the Bush administration kept it under wraps — reportedly because it contains such potentially alarming information as evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates. The Center for Public Integrity published key excerpts of the report that top officials of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention thought was too hot for the public to handle. More here. ... “Taxi to the Dark Side,” a documentary about an innocent Afghan taxi driver tortured to death by U.S. officials at Bagram Air Base, has received wide acclaim since its debut last April at the Tribeca Film Festival. Director Alex Gibney agreed to sell the rights to the Discovery Channel because executives convinced him they would “give the film a prominent broadcast.” Then Discovery dropped its plans to air the film because it’s too controversial. More here.

SPJ national update III: With an arsenal of technology — handheld digital video cameras, satellite dishes, laptops — seven ABC News journalists who took new posts around the world last fall may be set to change the definition of foreign correspondent. “We are fixers, shooters, reporters, producers and bureau chiefs,” ABC correspondent Dana Hughes said from her home office in Nairobi, Kenya. She and her colleagues in these one-reporter bureaus will record, edit and transmit their own audio and video from Nairobi; Jakarta, Indonesia; Mumbai and New Delhi, India; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Seoul, South Korea; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Their new assignments come at a time of ever-dwindling resources for foreign news and mark the network’s largest overseas expansion in 20 years. More here. ... An online project launched by citizen journalist advocates Global Voices aims to highlight censorship of social networking web sites around the world. More here.

SPJ national update IV: The “usual gang of idiots,” as the Mad magazine editorial staff calls itself, produces cultural and political parody every month. For March issue No. 487, however, the gang recruited some special help. “Why George W. Bush Is in Favor of Global Warming,” a two-page spread that the magazine calls an exposé, is illustrated by 10 Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonists. Among their observations: “His worries about how future generations will remember his presidency won’t matter if there are no future generations.” More here. ... When the president released his proposed FY09 budget Feb. 4, one item was noticeably absent: funding for the job of overseeing Freedom of Information Act disputes. The ombudsman position at the National Archives and Records Administration was considered one of the key provisions of the new FOIA bill, which Congress passed last year and Bush signed Dec. 31. More here.

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PEOPLE & PLACES

SPJ member and former Alvarado ISD public information officer Derik Moore earned a state-high four Best of Category awards and 11 Gold Star ratings at the Texas School Public Relations Association (TSPRA) convention Feb. 18-20 in Houston. Moore now heads the communications department at the Weatherford ISD. This is the fourth year in a row that he has won at least one Best of Category award at the convention. ...

The Fort Worth ad firms Balcom Agency and Concussion dominated the annual American Advertising Federation Fort Worth Addy awards gala Feb. 9, with Concussion hauling away the Best of Show hardware. Concussion received 56 awards: 10 gold, 26 silver and 16 bronze Addys, the Best of Show trophy and three judges’ awards of merit. Balcom took home 42 awards: 16 gold (the most in the competition), 15 silver and nine bronze Addys, a judges’ award of merit for design and a special judges’ award in the “unconventional award of distinction” category. Also winning big were GCG with 29 awards; Rassai Interactive, 16; the Eppstein Group, 14; and Design Works Studio, 13. The competition attracted 468 entries. The local award is the first of a three-tiered competition that culminates with national honors this summer.

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GET A JOB

They’re hiring at C. Pharr & Co. — a freelance, business-to-business writer specializing in electronics/technology, financial services and real estate, and

an account executive with 1-3 years PR agency experience with b2b clients. Send résumé and general fee guidelines to info@pharrpr.com. A description of the latter position is posted on the DFW Communicators job bank. ...

Partners Together for Health, the foundation for JPS Health Network, seeks a part-time grant writer, 40 hours biweekly with flexible scheduling. Bachelor’s degree and five years research and writing experience are required. See job description/make application on the JPS Health Network ”Join Our Team” page.

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