eChaser: October 2010 / p2

PRSA local update: The Education and Social Media SIGs will host “Rules of Engagement,” a seminar on developing and implementing social media policies for internal and external audiences, Wednesday, Nov. 3, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Balcom Agency. Panelists include Richie Escovedo, director of media and communications for the Mansfield ISD; Chip Hanna, director of interactive accounts at Balcom; and Dr. Chip Stewart, TCU. The seminar is free for PRSA members, $10 for nonmembers. RSVP by Nov. 1 to Shelley Wigley, shelley.wigley@uta.edu.

PRSA local update II: Again, those five officers to be voted on at the Oct. 13 annual membership meeting are president-elect/membership chair, Allyson Cross; VP programs, Chris Smith; treasurer-elect, Lara Kohl; secretary, Jahnae Stout; and director, Margaret Ritsch, APR. Six officers and directors have already have been elected to serve in 2011: president Carol Murray, APR; treasurer Diane Rhodes Bergman, APR; directors Joan Hunter and Lisa Starnes, APR; and assembly delegates Laura Van Hoosier, APR, and Andra Bennett, APR.

PRSA local update III: Standing reminders. Have something to say? Be a speaker at a North Texas PRSSA chapter meeting. E- Kevin Williams at kw757@yahoo.com. ... 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. ... Stay on top of emerging trends and industry news, extend your network while increasing your knowledge, and keep learning and stay competitive. Any 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. More from membership guru Carol Murray at cmurray@fwmsh.org or 817-255-9408.

PRSA local update IV: Dallas PRSA’s annual Communications Summit is designed to provide in-depth professional development. This year’s theme — “Engage. Educate. Elevate.” — was inspired by keynote speaker Brian Solis, whose newest book is titled “Engage.” It’s all here.

SPJ national update: What happens when newspapers cut their copy desks? You get pronounciation and prostrate cancer. ... A U.S. appeals court Sept. 28 allowed federal funding for human embryonic stem cell research to continue pending a full appeal, lifting an injunction issued by a federal judge who had said the Obama administration’s policy violated the law. Judge Royce Lamberth had ruled that the National Institutes of Health guidelines on the research violated the law because embryos were destroyed in the process and it put other researchers working with adult stem cells at a competitive disadvantage for federal grants. More here. ... How to save science journalism. ... Newspaper advertising decline tapers off in second quarter.

SPJ national update II: AP tells its reporters to avoid saying the Iraq War is over. ... The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press and 19 other media organizations filed a friend-of-the-court brief Sept. 7 asking the Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling that denied a federal Freedom of Information Act request for documents regarding ammunition storage procedures at a Washington state naval base. The brief argues that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (San Francisco) erred when it sanctioned the Navy’s refusal to disclose the requested information.

SPJ national update III: On Jon Stewart: “Jon has chronicled the death of shame in politics and journalism,” says Brian Williams, the NBC Nightly News anchor who is a frequent “Daily Show” guest. “Many of us on this side of the journalism tracks often wish we were on Jon’s side. I envy his platform to shout from the mountaintop. He’s a necessary branch of government.” ... Mexico’s powerful cartels have now become so threatening, one of the country’s biggest newspapers has said it will cut drug war coverage in an effort to keep journalists alive. El Diario, the largest newspaper in violence-riddled Ciudad Juarez, in a front-page editorial asked the cartels what it can and cannot publish after a journalist for the publication was brutally murdered — the second slain in less than two years. More here and here.