eChaser: February 2010 / p2

IABC local update: IABC Fort Worth’s Accreditation Boot Camp, a meticulous study of the portfolio process and the exams — everything it takes to put the ABC after your name — kicks off Tuesday, Feb. 2, at Euless City Hall, 201 N. Ector Drive. Sessions will be the first Tuesday of the month from noon to 1 p.m. “Bring your lunch and let’s get to work,” says lead instructor Lori De La Cruz, ABC. RSVP at 817-233-4093 or lori@bluemarblemedia.net. IABC’s peer-reviewed Accredited Business Communicator program is the global standard of achievement for business communicators.

IABC local update II: What’s in a name? It’s all about how you perceive yourself — and who you’re talking to. Daria Steigman believes that the language we use links to both our own perception of a term and to what we think will resonate with the person across the table. So she tends to talk about herself as a small business owner but think of herself as a solopreneur. ... What’s love got to do with it? People say they love their customers. Very few would openly admit they don’t. But liking customers and appreciating what they mean to you isn’t the same as loving them. And to reap the full benefits of the customer relationship, there needs to be a little love. ... What is a journalist? Does it matter? In an era where anybody with a keyboard can create a blog, can anyone be a journalist? What are the requisite credentials? Is there a difference between a journalist and a writer?

IABC local update III: A panel of top Dallas marketing talent will discuss “Navigating Your Way to a New Career in ’10” at the IABC Dallas luncheon meeting Tuesday, Feb. 9. Register here.

PRSA local update: You’ve attended the luncheons and heard a SIG presentation or two and read about the benefits of membership at prsa.org, but still you haven’t joined. What’s stopping you? A public relations practitioner with at least two years in the field is eligible for membership in the world’s leading organization for PR professionals. Those with fewer than two years experience or who recently graduated from college and were active in PRSSA may join as an associate member. And this month PRSA will waive the $65 initiation fee for all new members. More from Carol Murray, APR, at cmurray@fwmsh.org.

PRSA local update II: “Can’t think of anything that it is not doing. Very busy bunch.” That was just one of the quotes from a member of Greater Fort Worth PRSA in a nationwide survey conducted by PRSA last summer. Of the 45 Fort Worth members who replied (24 percent), 82 percent said they were satisfied with their membership and 87 percent said they’d recommend membership. They cited professional connections, social connections and learning about emerging trends as among the most important aspects of membership. The 2010 board will be looking at all of the comments when developing activities for the coming year.

PRSA local update III: Veteran strategic counselors Alan Hilburg and Margaret Ritsch will lead a session at the Southwest District Conference in Oklahoma City, April 15-17, on decision making and winning and keeping stakeholders’ trust. Using the interactive Global Café format, the session will be structured in small groups, with people moving about to consider new questions and problem solve. The conversations will build on each other as people shift to new groups and cross-pollinate ideas. Hilburg is president and CEO of Hilburg and Associates and the author of two New York Times best-sellers. He is perhaps best known as one of the world’s most sought-after strategic institutional branding counselors. Ritsch is senior public relations director at the Balcom Agency in Fort Worth and active in Greater Fort Worth PRSA. More on the district conference at prsasw.org.

PRSA local update IV: Hear Tony Fay, communications VP for the North Texas

Super Bowl Host Committee, expound on “Super Bowl, Super Opportunities for Communicators” at the Dallas PRSA meeting Thursday, Feb. 11, at the Park City Club. Info here.

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.

Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas update: When residents of Big Spring, Texas, were confronted with an alleged violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act, they didn’t know what to do — until they contacted the FOIFT legal hotline. The call was free, but it’s the last thing in this episode that was. After determining that Big Spring’s citizens may have been hit with a tax increase resulting from an illegal meeting, FOIFT applied for and received financial assistance from the National Freedom of Information Coalition. This is the first nationwide grant pledged under the new Knight Defense Fund provided by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The fund was created to help defer court costs, filing fees, depositions and initial consultation expenses for legal cases that might otherwise go unfiled. Concerned Big Spring residents are consulting with legal counsel about their options. Stay tuned at foift.org.

SPJ national update: Blog: How to help journalists in Haiti. ... E&P resumes operations. ... John Kiriakou, the former CIA operative who affirmed claims that waterboarding quickly unloosed the tongues of hard-core terrorists, now says he didn't know what he was talking about. On the next to last page of his new memoir, Kiriakou admits that he made up the story he told ABC in a much-ballyhooed interview that senior al Qaeda commando Abu Zubaydah cracked after only one application of the face cloth and water. "What I told Brian Ross in late 2007 was wrong on a couple counts," Kiriakou writes. "I suggested that Abu Zubaydah had lasted only 30 or 35 seconds during his waterboarding before he begged his interrogators to stop; after that, I said he opened up and gave the agency actionable intelligence. ... I wasn't there when the interrogation took place.” In fact, the report from the 9/11 Commission indicates Abu Zubaydah may have been waterboarded more than 80 times. More here. ... Rick Perry won't meet with newspapers seeking an endorsement.

SPJ national update II: Texas’ top five newspapers created an unprecedented polling partnership for the 2010 elections. Joining forces for the first time on a project of this scope, the Austin American-Statesman, The Dallas Morning News, the Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News will produce a series of polls that organizers say should deliver the most accurate results ever available. More here. ... Will newspapers cash in on Apple's tablet? ... In the app economy, newspapers are apps. ... Why not throw an iPad in with a multi-year subscription to a newspaper or magazine?

SPJ national update III: It's up to citizen journalists to uncover the face of homelessness in 2010. ... Remember the policies forbidding payment for news interviews? Three recent accidental celebrities — Jasper Schuringa, who helped thwart an attack on a Detroit-bound plane; David Goldman, who took a custody fight for his son to Brazil; and the White House party-crashing Tareq and Michaele Salahi — either sought or received goodies from TV networks eager to hear their stories. More here. ... How a tiny blog and a collective of climate enthusiasts broke the biggest story in the history of global warming science — but not without a gatekeeper of the climate establishment trying to halt its proliferation.