PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
Tom Burke, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
It’s great to return home after an incredible five weeks in Turkey.
Turkey is a hidden gem; at least it was to me. I’m glad I discovered this amazing country, full of the most genuine, happy,
caring, proud and fun-loving people you will ever meet. If the opportunity to
visit Turkey arises, seize it. Or just create the opportunity for yourself. You’ll be glad you did.
Not only is it good to be back in the U S of A, it’s good to be back during the holiday season, which is one of my favorite times
of the year. Especially when the TCU football team is undefeated and all
through the land there’s talk of the Horned Frogs perhaps playing in the national championship game!
But the end of this year also means that my term as president of Greater Fort
Worth PRSA is about over.
When you’re president of an organization like the Fort Worth PRSA chapter, time can move
very, very slowly, and your term can seem to go on and on. But time also flies.
In many ways, it seems only yesterday that I was entrusted with the leadership
of this incredible group. I am ready, however, to pass the torch to Carol Murray, APR. The chapter is in good hands.
Thank you to Carol, who presided over the board and chapter the nearly two
months I was in Turkey, and who was as fine a president-elect as a president
could hope for. Thanks, also, to the other officers and the board members, all
of whom made this a successful and unforgettable year. A special thanks to Andra Bennett, APR; Laura Van Hoosier, APR; and Marc Flake, former presidents who accepted other officer roles this year and always were
ready with feedback, guidance and recommendations. It says a lot about an
organization when leaders step forward year after year to contribute their
expertise. And thank you to the new members who assumed leadership roles. You
are our future, and the trust and respect you earned this year will serve you
well.
This has been one of the most energizing, fulfilling and amazing years of my
35-year career. I only hope that in some way I helped make 2010 as memorable
for others as it has been for me.
Thank you.
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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN
Laura Hanna, IABC Fort Worth
Our members turn their attention in December to making merry and, in the season’s spirit of giving, helping restock the readers library at John Peter Smith
Hospital.
IABC is combining the monthly member meeting and the communicators holiday party
Dec. 1 for an evening of good food, good company and good cheer. It’s a great bargain because admission is just $15 in cash or children’s books. Bring all of those appropriate magazines you’re through with and donate them, too. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the holidays than an evening of fun with
friends that helps make a sick child’s day a lot brighter. One of the best things about contributing to the book
supply is that the children can take a book home. So our contributions are
gifts that literally keep on giving.
December also marks the time when our leadership ramps up planning. Expect
dynamic professional development programs, mentoring opportunities with IABC’s student chapter at Texas Wesleyan University and, as always, IABC’s Bronze Quill awards. BQ is the only annual award competition for professional
communicators in Tarrant County. Stay tuned for details.
2011 promises to be an exciting and eventful time. We’re eager to get the year underway.
As part of their New Year’s resolutions, IABC members are encouraged to vow to get more involved with the
chapter. It is so easy to become active in IABC. Chapter members are eager to
share their knowledge on a variety of topics. Whether contributing to
programming, working with students, allocating scholarships, starting a special
interest group or heading a committee, there is a place for everyone. Contact
me at 817-531-5810 or lhanna@txwes.edu to discuss how the chapter can best work with you.
Happy holidays. Let’s party!
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
Carolyn Poirot has the last word, for now, on our friend Phil Record, who died Oct. 31. When Phil Record hired me at the Star-Telegram 30 years ago, he was the heart
and soul of one of the best newspapers in the country. My earliest memory of
him was the day I stepped into his office to thank “Mr. Record” for the opportunity to work for him. “Don’t ever call me Mr. Record,” he ordered in a booming voice. “There has only ever been one ‘Mr. Record’ around here, and that was my uncle, Mr. James R. Record.” Then he told me the story of Mr. Record and Phil North and the Star-Telegram. From then on I called him Phil, and he mostly called me “child of God.” Wow, what an honor!
He told my favorite story the day he made me medical writer. There was no
medical writer back in the late ‘50s when he was covering police, but he spent a lot of time in the emergency
room of the old St. Joseph’s Hospital, sometimes scrubbing in just to make his beat more exciting. One very
busy night several gunshot victims were brought in, with Phil and the police
close behind. The doctor in charge told Phil that if he wanted to stay on the
scene he needed to put his finger in one gunshot wound to keep that patient
from bleeding to death while the man was examined, loaded on an elevator and
taken up to surgery. Phil said he kept his finger in the wound for probably 30
minutes, but it seemed a lot longer. His only complaint was that he got blood
all over the suit he was wearing and had to get it cleaned — and the Star-Telegram refused to expense the cleaning bill.
Like most people who worked for him, I loved Phil Record. I still put him down
as my first reference when I was looking for a job, two weeks before he died.
...
Did you miss the 2010 SPJ Convention and National Journalism Conference in Las
Vegas? Yeah, you did. Relive what you never lived the first time at The Working Press online. And the DePaul campus chapter has produced a Project Watchdog video, “News Now,” that explores current issues and topics in journalism. The video was produced
from interviews with speakers and attendees at the convention. ...
This from unclebarky.com: Fox4’s spoof of itself as “The Social Media Station” at the Lone Star Emmy Awards in Dallas may have gone a bit far with its
straight-faced sendup of a hostage situation at City Hall. But man, props
anyway. Clarice Tinsley anchors, with social networking reports from the field by Matt Grubs, Sophia Reza, James Rose and Natalie Solis, who is caught in the act of taking “a picture of myself with one of the shooting victims” after promising to immediately post it on Facebook. Instant classic, Ed Bark calls it, and that it is. ...
The Pulliam/Kilgore Internship selects two young journalists and FOI advocates to write about and research
freedom of information issues. One intern will work at SPJ headquarters in
Indianapolis and the other in Washington, D.C., at the office of SPJ’s legal counsel. The interns make $400 a week for 10 weeks in the summer.
Applications are due Jan. 14.
Closing words: “There is no iron that can enter the human heart with such stupefying effect, as
a period placed at just the right moment.” — short-story writer Isaak Babel ... “Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There
was never a democracy that did not commit suicide.” — John Adams ... “Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one.” — journalist A.J. Liebling
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