NPR senior news analyst Cokie Roberts, for nearly 20 years an ABC News reporter
on Congress, politics and public policy and the author of a new book, “Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation,” will headline the 3rd Annual Women’s Community Luncheon, Friday, May 9, at the Fort Worth Convention Center,
presented by the Center for Women and Infants’ Health at Harris Methodist Fort Worth Hospital. A ticket costs $20 and includes
a catered lunch, parking in the convention center parking garage off Commerce
Street and a gift bag. Men, it is noted, are welcome. More at
texashealth.org/Cokie, or call 1-888-4-HARRIS.
J.R. Labbe, left, with the Star-Telegram and Marsha McCartney with the Dallas chapter of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun
Violence represented opposite sides of the gun rights debate at the Fort Worth
SPJ meeting in March at Saltgrass Steak House in Arlington, to the
enlightenment of TCU student Ana Bak, far right.
Star-Telegram opinion writer Linda Campbell and new publisher Gary Wortel were
among 128 happy banqueteers April 11 at Fort Worth SPJ’s 5th annual First Amendment Awards and Scholarship Dinner. The chapter gave 12
awards of excellence for work championing the First Amendment and presented 27
journalism students with $24,500 in scholarships. Go here for a load of pictures.
“Where in the world are Richie and Tom?” A hat-in-hand statue and a signature roofline give clues to the April location
visited by Greater Fort Worth PRSA’s Tom Burke, left, and Richie Escovedo. If you think you know where they were,
tell them at tcburke@us.ibm.com or rescovedo@mansfieldisd.org. This location will be revealed in the June eChaser. In the March photo, the
mural the intrepid Metroplex trekkers were standing in front of graces a wall
of a Fort Worth South Side landmark, the Paris Coffee Shop at 704 W. Magnolia
St.
Greater Fort Worth PRSA was out in force — 21 enthusiastic members, family and co-workers — April 26 at the Tarrant County Komen Race for the Cure. “Everyone on the PRSA PINK Breast Cancer Combat Team appeared to enjoy the
beautiful, crisp weather and the incredibly energizing atmosphere,” reports organizer Carol Murray. “And yes, we did have the coolest shirts around!” PRSA raised more than $1,000 for the cause, and donations are still being
accepted at http://race.komentarrant.org/goto/PRSA. From left, back row: Elisa Werner, Becky Rojas, Laura Van Hoosier, Carol
Murray, Stephanie Mitchell, Joan Hunter, David Mueller and Michelle Hinkle
(with baby Reagan Hinkle); front row: Lauren Kwedar, Monta Noe, Brandy Thomas,
Cathy Mueller and Sarah Mueller.
SPJ national update: The Pentagon says it has suspended a propaganda program
featuring “analysts” who have ties to military contractors vested in the very policies they are
assessing on air. These business relationships were rarely disclosed to
viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks. More here and here. ... The Senate Commerce Committee voted April 24 to reverse a federal rule
that lets media companies like the Tribune Co. and News Corp. own a broadcast
station and daily newspaper in the 20 largest markets. The FCC’s Republican majority voted in December to allow such combinations. The sponsor,
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., says the resolution has enough support to pass the Senate and likely
the House. It won the committee’s support on a unanimous voice vote with members of both parties present. Asked
about a possible presidential veto, Dorgan said George W. Bush “makes a lot of threats. I would hope that he’d probably stand on the side of the American people, for a change.” More here.
SPJ national update II: Facing a possible White House veto, the Senate on April 23 passed legislation that would protect government watchdogs. Lawmakers say the measure, though watered down, shields inspectors general from undue influence by the government agencies they investigate and makes reports more accessible to the public. More here. ... Federal subpoenas demanding confidential information from journalists are more widespread than five years ago and aren’t limited to cases involving national security, according to the author of a survey of major TV stations and daily papers. “I want the study to be helpful, and now is the time that it can be helpful,” University of Arizona law professor RonNell Andersen Jones says, noting the shield law pending in the Senate, similar legislation passed in the House and harsh fines assessed recently against journalist Toni Locy for refusing to name her sources in stories she wrote for USA Today in 2003 about the post-9-11 anthrax attacks. More here.
SPJ national update III: The FCC and FEMA have won 2008 Jefferson Muzzles,
awards the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression gives
to those it considers the year’s most egregious First Amendment violators. The FCC even won a Lifetime Muzzle,
only the second time the honor has been bestowed in the award’s 17-year history (Rudy Giuliani, then-mayor of New York City, won the first in 1999). More here. ... The 10,000-circulation Vail (Colo.) Daily favors the fake tale or two
every April 1, but this year it published eight pages of phony stories around
the regular edition and placed even more made-up reports on its web site. The “Stale Daily” boasted numerous ads, too, including two full-pagers. More here. ... With print revenue down and online revenue growing, newspaper executives
are anticipating the day when big city dailies and national papers will abandon
their print versions. That day has arrived in Madison, Wis. More here.
SPJ national update IV: Web site news audiences are expanding, Scarborough
Research reports. The newspaper audience ratings service studied the top 50
local markets and discovered that a growing online presence is compensating in
part for the precipitous decline in print readership. More here. ... On the other hand, internet advertising may be more vulnerable to a
consumer slowdown than the industry had hoped. Search-ad data from the research
firm comScore shows a decline in the number of consumer clicks on Google search
ads in January. More here. ... Then there’s this. The newspaper industry has experienced the worst drop in ad revenue in
more than 50 years, according to data released by the Newspaper Association of
America. Print advertising revenue in 2007 plunged 9.4 percent (to $42 billion)
compared to 2006, the NAA says — the most severe percent decline since the association started measuring
advertising expenditures in 1950. More here.
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PEOPLE & PLACES
The Black Cow at Westlake Academy won more prizes at the 2008 Texas
Interscholastic Press Conference spring meeting than any other school newspaper
in the state, including 14 first-place finishes plus a state championship in
the artist category for seventh-grader Sarah Malik, who beat all high school students entered. Twenty students — Malik, Nick Ford, Margaret Ledak, Taylor Braun, Kelly Moran, Sarah Titus, Carrie Crossley, Taylor Jolissaint, Riley Rennhack, Brooke Awtry, Erik Herbst, Tyler Springer, Josh Frey, Katie Forbes, Nigel LaRue, Corey Timmerman, Anisha Chandra, Clementine Cosyns, Kent Bordelon and Alex Champagne — won for their work on the monthly paper, which gets mailed, at the paper’s expense, to every household in Westlake. “We are bursting with pride,” volunter adviser Dave Lieber said. “These wonderful and talented student journalists prove that age is no barrier
when it comes to doing great work for their community.” The paper also received the Merit Award from the ILPC. ...
