eChaser: November 2012 / p2

PRSA national update: Selected webinars, free for PRSA members. Public Trust and Confidence: Recent Study Results and Implications for Strategic Communications. Taught by Don Beck of Booz Allen Hamilton and Tim Tinker, director of the Center for Risk and Crisis Communication. Participants earn 1.0 APR maintenance credits. Register. • How to Grow Word-of-Mouth Movements. What does it take to build a movement of loud and proud brand ambassadors? Learn the seven lessons. Presented by Geno Church, Brains on Fire’s word-of-mouth inspiration officer. Register. • Preparing for the Unexpected. It doesn’t matter whether your crisis communications plan is in a binder or kept electronically in a smartphone, your organization must have one. Even with advances in digital technology and social media, a successful response depends on a solid plan built around teams, processes, audiences and messages. Presented by Ernest DelBuono, vice president, Levick Strategic Communications. Register.

PRSA local update: Chapter members will again support the Salvation Army Angel Tree at Hulen Mall on Saturday, Nov. 17, by signing up to work a three-hour shift. Volunteers will greet visitors, help them select a child’s name and record the name on a master list. Last year the program provided Christmas gifts for more than 50,000 area children and special-care adults and seniors. One PRSA member is still needed for the 2:45 p.m. shift and two for the 5:45 p.m. shift. E- beth.lamb@ftworthrmh.org to schedule a time.

PRSA local update II: Calling all independent PR practitioners. “If you haven’t joined us yet for one of our quarterly networking gigs, you’re just plain missing the boat,” e-’s Nancy Farrar, ringleader of the Independent Practitioners SIG. Next meeting is Thursday, Nov. 15, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Monty’s Corner in Montgomery Plaza. Think of it as Independents’ Day. Only cost is what you pay for your own lunch. “Great info. Great friends. Great food. Come join us — just need to know you’re coming,” Farrar says. RSVP to nancyfarrar@att.net.

PRSA local update III: This month in PR/marketing history. Nov. 29, 1775: The Continental Congress established the Committee of Secret Correspondence (you can’t make these things up) to gain the support of the French by providing war updates that were, in today’s parlance, managed. The delegation thus assured the Europeans that things were going well when they weren’t and that things weren’t going badly when they were. It was a brilliant campaign, led by the renowned public relations expert Benjamin Franklin, APR. • Nov. 15, 1957: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev challenged the United States to a shooting contest with — this one’s also true — missiles. Boasting that the U.S.S.R. had superior armaments, he declared, “Let’s have a peaceful rocket contest just like a rifle-shooting match, and they’ll see for themselves.” Real quote. The United States chose not to lay waste to the country, realizing the Soviets could do a perfectly good job of that on their own. • Nov. 18, 2006: Tom Cruise married Katie Holmes. Hollywood insiders report a documentary of their relationship is in the works, possibly with a storyline based on the titles from Cruise’s films, starting with “Endless Love” and “Someone to Watch Over Me,” proceeding with “Risky Business” and “Mission: Impossible” and concluding with “Days of Thunder” and, finally, “Taps.”

Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas update: When you file a request for public documents with a federal government agency, who decides if you receive the information? According to Bloomberg News, the decision might be made by a growing number of private contractors. “I’m very troubled by this example of offloading responsibility,” said Paul Light, a public service professor at New York University. “Once you put this in the hands of the contractors, you lose a degree of control in terms of goals like open government. That’s the real downside of it.” On his first full day in office, Bloomberg reminds, President Obama ordered federal officials to “usher in a new era of open government” and “act promptly” to make information public. Instead, during the first year of the administration, cabinet agencies employed exemptions 466,402 times, a 50 percent jump from the last year of George W. Bush’s presidency. • What began with a simple question about how business is conducted at Austin City Hall resulted in a 22-month criminal investigation that found proof of open meetings violations by the mayor, six current council members and one former member. Exactly how the final chapter ends will depend on how well the council members keep a two-year promise not to break the law. The investigation resulted in several significant changes that will benefit Austin citizens. • Anyone who files requests for government documents has experienced delays as the attorney general decides, if asked, whether the information can be kept confidential. However, some cities seem to file appeal requests almost instinctively even though the “Act requires the OAG to construe the Act liberally in favor of open government.” The Center for Public Integrity recently examined which areas of the state most often abuse that determination request privilege, and Dallas and several surrounding suburbs led the list.

First page