eChaser: June 2011 / p3

PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Carol Murray, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA

Everyone likes to win awards, even if it’s a fishnet-stocking leg lamp. (Some of our guy chapter members might actually covet that one.) We appreciate being recognized for our knowledge, abilities and achievements. Recognition from our peers is even more gratifying.

If you’ve been in this profession any length of time, you’ve likely entered at least one communications-based awards program: Silver/Bronze Anvil, Addys, Best of Texas, Silver Spur, Gold/Bronze Quill. But you’ve never participated in a Greater Fort Worth PRSA awards program, because it didn’t exist. That could soon change.

Our board is exploring establishing an annual or biennial awards program for chapter members. In a recent chapter survey, 63 percent of respondents said they would definitely or very likely participate. More than 51 percent felt an awards program would increase membership. A whopping 80 percent thought it would boost visibility and the perception of our profession in the area. That’s certainly worth considering.

If you missed the survey and wish to give your two cents, it’s here. And if you feel strongly that we should pursue this, our awards chair, Margaret Ritsch, APR, would love to hear from you. The prize won’t be a leg lamp. Promise.

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PRESIDENT’S COLUMN

Laura Hanna, IABC Fort Worth

Now that we’re on the back side of Memorial Day, things will start accelerating Texas-style — but summer will have to hurry to catch up with IABC Fort Worth, where things already are going full blast. June brings a luncheon program guaranteed to sizzle for anyone involved in social media; a slate of officers for 2011-2012; and last-minute preparations for the Bronze Quill event in July.

First let me congratulate Dr. Kay Colley on behalf of her colleagues at IABC and at Texas Wesleyan University for being named 2011 Teacher of the Year by the Small Programs Interest Group (SPIG) of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.

Kay is a communications assistant professor and founder of IABC’s student chapter at Texas Wesleyan. An IABC board member, she does a lot of behind-the-scenes work that makes the chapter so effective. It’s easy for me to concur with SPIG head Ginger Carter Miller that Kay received the award because she “exemplifies everything SPIG stands for — excellent teaching, scholarly research, and devotion and dedication to her students.”

Job seekers from throughout Tarrant County should attend the monthly meeting Tuesday, June 28, at City Club in downtown Fort Worth to hear James Snider with Accelerant Marketing Alliance present ways that social media can aid your job hunt. James has a wealth of information on how LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are rewriting the rules. Check iabcfortworth.com for more information and to make your reservation.

Set aside Tuesday, July 26, as the date for the Bronze Quill awards luncheon. Themed “Communications to the Nth Degree,” the BQ extravaganza promises a surprise or two that discerning folks would be crazy to miss, including a guest who will make this year’s awards ceremony “SUPER.” Join us for the fun.

The next Board of Directors is shaping up well, but we still have a few opportunities for committee chairs and at-large directors. Contact me at 817-531-5810 or lhanna@txwes.edu for how the chapter can best work with you.

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OVER & OUT

John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ

Early-bird pricing ends Aug. 31 for the joint RTDNA/SPJ Excellence in Journalism 2011 conference, Sept. 25-27 in New Orleans. SPJ and the Radio Television Digital News Association promise cutting-edge professional development sessions; outstanding programs and opportunities to network, learn and share what you know. More here and here. ...

The Robert D.G. Lewis First Amendment Award goes each year to an SPJ student member who has demonstrated outstanding service to the First Amendment through journalism. The award scholarship includes registration and $350 toward travel expenses to the national convention. Applications are due June 13. E- Lauren Rochester, lrochester@spj.org, with questions. ...

Whether you’re recently unmoored from a traditional newsroom or have been working independently all along, if you’re a freelance journalist, the Newspaper Guild/Communications Workers of America wants to hear from you. Guild Freelancers, a growing subset of the Pacific Media Workers Guild and the Newspaper Guild/CWA, is surveying independent journalists — writers, multimedia producers, photographers, editors, illustrators, filmmakers, webmasters — on their needs, their work and the marketplace. The data will be used to help raise awareness about issues affecting freelancers and to create supports to meet freelancers’ needs. The survey is posted here and takes about 15 minutes to complete. E- questions to freelance@mediaworkers.org or Rebecca Rosen Lum, rrosenlum@gmail.com.

Caught my eye. How a Paris suburb went from impoverished city to green powerhouse. ... The Obama administration’s crusade to jail another journalist. ... Freedom of information laws are used to harass UK scientists, Nobel laureate says. ... New grant program funds investigative projects by unemployed journalists. ... Finally, buildings are going net-zero water with composting toilets. ... Are U.S. floods, fires linked to climate change? ... The White House can’t get its Bin Laden story straight; surveillance, not waterboarding, led to capture; papers mostly suspend skepticism about sourcing with news of death; UCLA students found him long before the CIA did. ... Muslims going to anti-prejudice conference kicked off plane. ... Climate change trims global crop yields, study finds. ... Man-made rock reef is part of a welcome seaweed change. ... PR industry fills vacuum left by shrinking newsrooms. ... ... A writer’s astounding self-obituary. ... More newspaper woes at A.H. Belo, McClatchy. ... U.N. proposes ‘climate services’ to help developing nations deal with extreme weather. ... Jon Stewart mocks coverage of the Mississippi River flood. ... More drilling and more subsidies won’t lower prices at the pump. ... In Philippine newsrooms, the women rule. ... Texas Observer: We have ‘the first non-puff piece’ about Texas Tribune.

Closing words: “Religious fundamentalism is dangerous because it cannot accept ambiguity and diversity and is therefore inherently intolerant. Such intolerance, in the name of virtue, is ruthless and uses political power to destroy what it cannot convert. — the Rev. Peter J. Gomes, a Harvard minister, theologian and author, in a New York Times essay published in 1992 ... “Philosophy is like trying to open a safe with a combination lock: Each little adjustment of the dials seems to achieve nothing; only when everything is in place does the door open.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein, whom his colleague Bertrand Russell called “the most perfect example I have known of genius as traditionally conceived: passionate, profound, intense and dominating”

Closing words II, juvenile doggerel division: “Osama Bin Laden was a very bad guy / He hurt many people, don’t ask me why / We shot him in the head, and now he is dead / Now close your eyes and go to bed” — Elisabeth Hasselbeck, co-host of “The View,” reading a poem she wrote while considering what to tell her young children if they ask about, you know, that man on all those front pages