eChaser: April 2010 / p2

PRSA local update V: Standing reminder. The DFW Communicators Job Bank lists full-time, part-time and internship positions in PR, media affairs, advertising/sales, event planning, graphic design, marketing, and corporate and employee communications throughout North Texas. Employers who are members of the participating organizations may post a job listing for $50; the cost for nonmembers is $75. Nonprofits get a 50 percent discount. Each posting runs three weeks. Greater Fort Worth PRSA receives a portion of the proceeds when a member marks his or her membership status on the submission form. More from Jerrod Resweber at jresweber@webershandwick.com.

PRSA local update VI: It’s Pro-Am Day at Dallas PRSA, Friday, April 9, at the Park City Club, with a luncheon presentation by Stacy Cinatl, senior vice president of strategy and operations for the George W. Bush Institute. Info here.

Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas update: A coalition of labor unions should not have to disclose information about itself and its associates in order to obtain documents under the Texas Public Information Act, especially when the attorney general has ruled those documents to be public records. That’s the position of FOIFT, which has joined in a “friend of the court” brief with Public Citizen and Texans for Public Justice urging the state’s high court to overturn a lower court’s ruling. The dispute originated when the coalition Change to Win requested under the TPIA a copy of a contract and other documents between the Employee Retirement System of Texas and Caremark, a pharmacy benefit management group. Caremark later sued the Texas attorney general to block release of the information, claiming trade secrets, and is now making Change to Win provide the additional information as part of legal discovery.

SPJ national update: NY Times reporter confirms Obama made deal to kill public option. ... President Obama’s embrace of open government — the White House’s Open Government Initiative and the routine disclosure of White House visitor logs being two examples — only goes so far. When it comes to covering up the worst aspects of (or policies held over from) the Bush administration, the transparency falls short. More here. ... Is the president on drugs? Provigil perhaps? Provigil is the stimulant that keeps you awake and alert for days without the side effects of traditional stimulants. Or maybe it’s capillary osmosis from hugging Willie Nelson.

SPJ national update II: How ABC News’ Brian Ross staged his Toyota death ride. ... The earthquake that devastated Chile left several newspapers unable to publish because of damage to their offices or production facilities. The newspapers that escaped the worst damage face another problem — a shortage of newsprint. More here. ... The Golf Writers Association of America asked the PGA Tour to discipline John Daly for his actions against Florida Times-Union reporter Garry Smits. Daly, angry at a story that revealed some of his nearly 500-page PGA Tour file, asked his Twitter fans to complain to Smits, who subsequently said he received nearly 100 calls. Smits’ story reported that from 1991-2008, the PGA Tour ordered Daly to undergo counseling or enter alcohol rehabilitation seven times, suspended him five times and cited him 21 times for “failure to give best efforts” during PGA Tour events. More here. ...

SPJ national update III: Jock-miffed at the campus newspaper’s lead story Feb. 25 on two football players who had been arrested in a residence hall drug bust, some of the players’ Texas A&M-Commerce teammates took all copies of that East Texan issue out of the racks around campus. Football coach Guy Morriss, formerly the coach at Baylor, told campus police that he was proud of his players for swiping the papers. “This was the best team-building exercise we have ever done,” he said. More here. He later sort of apologized. ... ”The best thing that newspapers can do now is experiment, experiment, experiment.” ... Suggestion: Pay news anchors, morning hosts like journalists instead of money managers.

SPJ national update IV: SPJ blasts broadcast networks’ “checkbook journalism.” ... The Corporation for Public Broadcasting on March 25 announced funding for an initiative that aims to increase original reporting in seven regions around the country. The local journalism centers will combine CPB and participating stations’ resources for a “new approach to news gathering.” More here. ... Why newsrooms don’t use plagiarism detection services: cost, workflow, complicated contracts and Catch-22. ... Student newspaper defends Holocaust denial ad.

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PEOPLE & PLACES

TCU students Jordan Young, Rebecca Boeshaar, Kali Hunter, Sara Kayfus, Hannah Ernest, Sydney Sherow, Kyle Roderick and Oki Omikawa will be honored at the TCU Guild scholarship awards luncheon Thursday, April 15, at the Dee J. Kelly Alumni Center, 2820 Stadium Drive. Cost is $25. To RSVP contact Lois Powers, 817-249-7409 or tcuguild@gmail.com. Reservations will not be accepted at the door. The Guild funds eight scholarships in the TCU Colleges of Fine Arts and Communication. ...

Five student journalists from the TCU Daily Skiff and Image magazine — Julieta Chiquillo, Chance Welch, David Hall, Ronald Villegas and Chris Blake — won regional first-place SPJ Mark of Excellence Awards at the 2010 SPJ Region 8 Spring Conference in Austin and will contend for national MOE awards this fall. Saerom Yoo, Christina Durano, Travis Brown, Rose Baca, Katie Ruppel, Patty Espinosa and Jacob Brahce also received regional MOEs. Image won second place in four-year college/university best student magazine. Region 8 comprises colleges and universities from Texas and Oklahoma; the national winners and finalists will be selected from among the regional winners at the SPJ Convention and National Journalism Conference in Las Vegas on Oct. 3-5. ...

Star-Telegram staffers Darren Barbee, Jeremy Cannon, Ross Hailey, Jenny Davis, Sarah Brubaker, Gary West, Mark Hoffer, Andrea Ahles, Clif Bosler, Jeremy Cannon, Steve Wilson, Deanna Boyd, David Casstevens and Bob Cox took home one first place (Barbee), two seconds, three thirds and three honorable mentions at the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors convention last month in College Station. ...

Lynn Handley is the new regional chief marketing and communications officer for the American Red Cross Chisholm Trail Chapter in Fort Worth. She is rebuilding the chapter’s communications infrastructure and seeks PR and communications volunteers for the media action team and the editorial team. Contact her at 817-355-9137, ext. 280, or handleyl@usa.redcross.org. 

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