PRSA local update VII: This Month in PR/Marketing History (by Jeff Rodriguez). What Gaul! The French got all up in our bourgeoisie Sept. 1, 1966, when President Charles de Gaulle gave a speech in which he criticized U.S. intervention in Vietnam, calling it a
recipe for disaster. The Americans, he implied, would roux the day they cooked
up this idea. • Turning a Paige in the record books. On Sept. 25, 1965, famed baseball player Leroy “Satchel” Paige turned 59 years, 2 months and 18 days old then went out to pitch a major league
game. Taking the mound for the Kansas City Athletics, he was superb,
surrendering one hit and no runs over three innings. Paige had almost as much
PR savvy as baseball ability. He prepared for the game by having a nurse rub
liniment on his pitching arm while he was sitting in a rocking chair in the
bullpen. • Yu complete me. Still on baseball, on Sept. 1, 1964, Masanori Murakami pitched one scoreless inning for the San Francisco Giants, making history as
the first Japanese man to play in the major leagues. It was a PR coup for the
Land of the Rising Sun, because at the time, most Americans were certain the
Japanese could never compete in producing baseball players. Or automobiles. • What, no free cars? On Sept. 8, 1986, “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” which previously had been broadcast only in Chicago, debuted nationally. Winfrey had hoped to book Don Johnson, but the “Miami Vice” star wasn’t interested, apparently figuring he had cemented his superstar status. So
instead Winfrey did a program, now revered in the television industry as the
time-warp episode, on how to marry the right person. In a particularly moving
touch, the show opened with Tom Cruise, then 24, marrying Nicole Kidman and closed with him getting hitched to Katie Holmes.
PRSA local update VIII: Standing reminders. Note several improved features on the DFW Communicators Job Bank. A job listing can now be created, edited and removed directly on the site, and
page view counts show the level of interest. And job seekers can now push
alerts for specific keywords to their personal e-mails. The 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 for $75; the cost for nonmembers
is $100, for nonprofits $50. Each posting runs a month. 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, GFW PRSA job bank chair, at jresweber@webershandwick.com or 469-375-0216. ... 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 chapter president-elect Richie Escovedo at richieescovedo@misdmail.org.
PRSA local update IX: Dorothy Bland, dean of the UNT Mayborn School of Journalism, will discuss ethics in the
communications industry in light of digital communications at the PRSA Dallas
meeting Thursday, Sept. 12. Info here. She will focus on the recent Museum Tower flap and on how reporters are
adapting to the PR industry’s ability to bypass news organizations completely.
Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas update: Transparency hit a home run in the 83rd Legislature. “I think it was a really good session for transparency in government. It was kind
of the buzzword of the session,” said Donnis Baggett, executive vice president of the Texas Press Association. Texas is now the
first state allowing officials at all levels of government to communicate
between meetings using an internet message board maintained by the governing
body. The online forum will be accessible to the public; content will be
archived for six years and searchable. Under another law taking effect this
month, officials can use video conferencing technology to participate and even
vote in meetings they cannot physically attend, as long as the public can hear
and see them.
More here. • A Fort Worth lawmaker asked the attorney general to block a request for
information that could show her interactions with the American Legislative
Exchange Council, an influential conservative think tank. The Center for Media
and Democracy, a Wisconsin-based government watchdog, requested through Texas
public records laws in early July that state lawmakers release documents. All
complied with the request except Republican Rep. Stephanie Klick. Klick argues that the correspondence can remain confidential under the
deliberative process privilege, which often protects candid opinions among
lawmakers and other government officials. The privilege is rarely used to
protect a third party like the legislative council, commonly known as ALEC. More here.
