eChaser: March 2005


	Welcome to our newsletter ... Society of Professional Journalists, Fort Worth Professional Chapter Public Relations Society of America, Greater Fort Worth Chapter International Association of Business Communicators, Fort Worth Chapter eChaser archive [graphics format] We appreciate our advertisers! Advanced Mobility Systems Barr Printing Bass Performance Hall DFW Printing Co. Esperanza's Bakery Fort Worth Business Press Fort Worth Zoo Helping Restore Ability Immotion Studios InterStar Marketing and Public Relations Joe T. Garcia's Mexican Food Restaurant Jubilee Theatre North Texas Daily Optimist, Abilene Christian University Pancho's Mexican Buffet PR Newswire PRSA Creative Consultants SIG The Shorthorn, UTA Star-Telegram TCU Daily Skiff Tony Roma's The University of Texas at Arlington VMS Weber Shandwick Worldwide Wise County Messenger Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations March 2005 MEETINGS Next at IABC/Fort Worth ... Your Message is Crucial -- Get It Right With 24-hour cable news and ever-increasing local coverage, the chances of falling under the media microscope are greater than ever. Poor media skills can break a company, and a career. Executives and other company representatives must know how to make the most of a TV appearance. Karen and Jim Barach have been there, said that. Now the husband-and-wife team behind the company Image & Communication Enhancement, they will discuss at the March meeting ways to get across the message you want, whether you are pushing a new product or dousing the flames during a crisis. With more than 20 years experience in TV news, Jim Barach will show how to stay in control during interviews, anticipate questions, speak in sound bites so your message makes the air, and build a media strategy. Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, March 1 Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket validated at Petroleum Club) Cost: $20 members, $25 nonmembers, $12 students RSVP: Julie Trowbridge at trowbridgeja@c-b.com ----- Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ... Moving the Cowboys West How do you convince voters that paying half of a $650 million stadium (plus interest) is good for them? Rob Allyn, the architect of the Arlington campaign that resulted in a Dallas Cowboys victory Nov. 2, will discuss the grassroots effort and the obstacles that had to be overcome at the GFW PRSA March meeting at the Texas Public Relations Association's annual conference in Dallas. The T has offered free passes on the Trinity Railway Express and DART for transportation to and from the March 4 luncheon. The "PR Express" will depart the T&P Station on Lancaster Avenue at 9:15 a.m., or riders can hop on at the Fort Worth ITC on Jones Street (9:20 a.m.), the Richland Hills station (9:37), Hurst/Bell (9:44) or CentrePort DFW (9:55). The train arrives at Dallas Union Station at 10:39; from there, it's DART light rail to the Pearl Street Station, across the street from the Adam's Mark Hotel. The return train leaves Union Station at 1:30 p.m. For more information or to be sure somebody's watching out for you (the TRE waits for no one), contact Marc Flake at mflake@tarrantcounty.com. Note that, for the second month in a row, the chapter meeting is on a Friday. The regular schedule -- second Wednesday of the month at the Petroleum Club in downtown Fort Worth -- resumes in April. Time & date: noon-1 p.m. Friday, March 4 Place: Adam's Mark Hotel, 400 N. Olive St., Dallas, (214) 922-8000 Cost: $35 RSVP/registration: begins at 11:30 a.m. at the door, or go to https://secure.qsigroup.com/tpra/conference/ ----- Next at Fort Worth SPJ ... A Shield for Free Speech The First Amendment has been taking a beating lately. An appeals court panel last month said that the information a special prosecutor wants from New York Times writer Judith Miller and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper has no First Amendment protection. What recourse do reporters have to protect sources? Does the country need a federal shield law? Haynes and Boone libel specialist Tom Williams, an FOI Foundation of Texas director and member of the State Bar of Texas public affairs committee, and Paul Watler, an attorney with Jenkens & Gilchrist and an FOIFT past president, will discuss shield laws and the First Amendment and what the recent federal court ruling means to journalists at the Fort Worth SPJ March meeting. Time & date: mingling 5:30 p.m., eats at 6, then the program Wednesday, March 23 Place: ballroom cantina at Joe T. Garcia's Mexican food restaurant, 2201 N. Commerce St., Fort Worth Cost: $13 members, $18 nonmembers, $5 students; cash bar; just to hear the program -- free Menu: Joe T.'s legendary family-style enchilada dinner RSVP: Kay Pirtle at mkpirtle@yahoo.com =================================================== STRAIGHT STUFF Print and broadcast skills-building workshops, a panel on weather-proofing yourself in a changing industry, and one-on-one critiques will highlight the Asian American Journalists Asociation's state meeting Saturday, April 16, in Houston. More from Sudeep Reddy, sreddy@dallasnews.com. ... Application postmark deadline is May 20 for a $1,000 AAJA college scholarship. Financial need will be considered but isn't required. More at aaja.org/Chapters/Texas/ or from Julie Tam, julietamtv@juno.com. ... Next at IABC/Dallas: KERA's Glenn Mitchell, one of the area's best-known interviewers, will tell how he gets it all on the record, Tuesday, March 8. More here. ... Washington Post Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Shadid and Al-Jazeera's senior producer, Samir Khader, will keynote the Journalism & the Arab World Conference, Friday-Sunday, April 22-24, at UT Austin, sponsored by the National Arab American Journalists Association and the SPJ UT Austin student chapter. Contact Joslyn Massad, (512) 826-5879, or visit journalismandthearabworld.com. ... Deadline is March 7 to apply for a Network of Hispanic Communicators scholarship. Awards go to qualifying students regardless of ethnicity and will be presented Saturday, April 23, at the annual scholarship reception, this year at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center in the Arts District. More from Derek Castillo, derek.castillo@nbc.com or (817) 654-6311. ... Friday, March 4, is the postmark deadline for the best features section and best feature writing contests sponsored by the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors. More at aasfe.org/contests/index.htm. PRSA local update: One practitioner's trash is another's treasure. Join the Independent Practitioners SIG for an office supplies swap at 11:15 a.m. Friday, March 4, at Central Market, I-30 and Hulen Street. Bring whatever you're no longer using that someone else might use. No money changes hands. RSVP: Sandra Brodnicki, (817) 572-1556, sandra@brodnickipr.com. ... Six months after launch, Speak Freely's list of experts willing to talk for free on humorous, motivational, wellness and business topics is approaching two dozen. More at speak-freely.info. PRSA local update II: Organizers led by Southside Preservation Hall Big Band singer Andra Bennett, APR, were full of gratitude for the companies that shared their expertise with 28 PRSSA students from TCU, ACU, UNT and UTA for Pro-Am Day Feb. 18. The Radisson Plaza's Alan Sims and Steve Wilson walked the students through the steps of planning events. XTO Energy's Joy Webster gave a brief tour of the historic Waggoner Building, and Kim Rhoads coordinated. XTO's Gary Simpson and Christi Huntington explained investor relations from the corporate view. The students then took the T (thanks, Richard Maxwell, for the passes) to LaGrave Field for a sports marketing presentation by Mark Presswood and the Fort Worth Cats staff. To cap it off, Barbara Griffith offered the "inside scoop" on the changing face of the media at the PRSA luncheon. SPJ national update: So many angles, so little time. The tawdry tale of how a conservative ringer could pose as a reporter, using a fake name, working for a dubious news organization, and enjoy access to White House briefings, not by going through the normal procedure most journalists face but by getting day passes, which require only an abbreviated background check. Daily passes month after month. For nearly two years. Oh, and he apparently recently worked as a male escort -- $200 an hour, $1,200 a weekend. More here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here. SPJ national update II: With a hush and a whisper, the White House drops a meeting with German citizens; can't get answers? call Phil, but don't all Bob; and more spin, captain! more spin! When the German government nixed an event with questions pre-approved, the White House canceled what was meant to be a highlight of President Bush's fence-mending trip to Europe, a town hall meeting with average Germans. More here. ... Locked in a lawsuit with the big paper in the state capital, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen told Tennessee Press Association members that if they have problems getting records from his administration, they should call him personally. In a less accommodating vein, a federal judge ruled Feb. 15 that Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich can freeze out two reporters from The (Baltimore) Sun by barring all state employees from talking to the journalists. Sun editor Tim Franklin said of the ruling: "It's not only unconstitutional, it's undemocratic." More here and here. ... The PR staffs at government agencies grew faster than the federal work force last year. "The role of public affairs officers is not to make information available to the public," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy for the nonpartisan Federation of American Scientists. "Rather, it is to regulate public access to information, which is something quite different." More here. SPJ national update III: Republicans' "hunger for dictatorship"; adviser down; web site up; bad behavior in Broward County; and low power to the people. Scott McConnell in The American Conservative writes of "several explicit warnings from the antiwar Right about the coming of an American fascism." More here. ... SPJ national president Irwin Gratz has appointed a task force to investigate Marquette U.'s decision to deny contract renewal to Thomas Mueller, adviser to The Marquette Tribune. More here. ... UC Santa Barbara has told the owner of a web site that criticizes the school that it will not seek legal action against him. The site, run by the father of a former UCSB student, lists among its goals to "substantially mitigate or eliminate the negative impact of the dark side of UCSB." More here. ... Sheriff Ken Jenne asked a subordinate to spread negative information about a Miami Herald reporter who exposed how his department allegedly falsified crime statistics, the subordinate has testified. More here. ... Fans of low-power FM radio say hundreds of new mini-stations are bringing localism and diversity back to America's airwaves. Opponents -- primarily big broadcasters -- say the stations, which can be established for less than $10,000, are amateurish and cause interference. More here. SPJ national update IV: Sounds like Ohio; really is Ohio; should've been Ohio; running the EPA as if it were Ohio; and not to be confused with Air Ohio. Some polling stations didn't open. Others ran out of ballots. A provincial governor's name was left off the candidates list. And some minorities complained of a plot to silence them. One week after Iraq's historic election, allegations of confusion and mismanagement surfaced. More here and here. ... A federal appeals court has upheld the right of Ohio journalists to refuse to identify confidential sources in noncriminal legal proceedings. More here. ... The Count Every Vote Act of 2005, introduced in the Senate by Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., with a version coming soon in the House of Representatives, provides a voter-verified paper ballot for every vote cast in electronic voting machines. Among its provisions, the bill mandates that this ballot be the official ballot in case of a recount and that election day be a federal holiday. More here. ... The EPA ignored scientific evidence and agency protocols in order to set limits on mercury pollution that jive with the administration's approaches to power plant pollution, according to a report released Feb. 2 by the agency's inspector general. EPA staff were told to set modest limits on mercury pollution, then they had to work backward to justify the proposal, the report says. More here. ... Political provocateur Al Franken says George W. Bush's reelection was bad for the country but good for his fledgling liberal radio network, Air America, as it strives to rebound from a rocky start. More here. SPJ national update V: Will someone just say no?; judge tells CIA no; yes to a shield law. Abstinence-only sex education may have had little impact in Texas. Despite taking courses emphasizing abstinence-only themes, teens in 29 high schools became increasingly sexually active anyway, mirroring overall state trends, according to a recent study by Texas A&M researchers. President Bush's FY06 budget cuts 25,000 kids from Head Start and Early Head Start programs and eliminates Upward Bound while increasing by $38 million funding for programs promoting sexual abstinence. More here and here. ... Citing the CIA's reluctance to comply with the FOI Act, a judge on Feb. 2 ordered the agency to release records about the treatment of detainees and prisoners in Iraq or explain better why it cannot. It was the second time in six months that U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein suggested that the government is hamstringing the ACLU's quest to monitor government actions in the war on terrorism. More here and here. ... Federal courts would have to meet strict national standards before they could issue subpoenas to reporters under legislation introduced Feb. 2 in the House. The bill also shields reporters from having to reveal confidential sources. Identical or similar bills were later introduced in the Senate. More here and here and here. Meanwhile, two reporters who have refused to name their sources to a grand jury investigating the disclosure of the identity of a covert CIA officer should be jailed for contempt, a unanimous three-judge panel ruled Feb. 15. Following the decision, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reiterated its support for a federal shield law. More here and here and here. SPJ national update VI: The march of the Stepford children; the march of the Iraqi voter; no democracy on the march for Iraqi women; and Fox News does it but Al Jazeera cannot? One in three U.S. high school students says the press should be restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a recent survey of 112,003 students on First Amendment rights. More here. ... "The crowd began streaming into the polling station near our hotel by 10 a.m. They lined up patiently behind rolls of barbed wire and submitted to being frisked and searched with metal detectors. Men smiled as they handed over personal belongings -- mobile phones, cameras and pens -- to the security guard. Women, many covering their hair with festive scarves, pulled along little kids in party dresses." More here and here. ... Nearly two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, women there are no better off, Amnesty International said in a report Feb. 21. The systematic repression under Saddam Hussein has been replaced by increased murders and by sexual abuse, including from U.S. forces, the report says. More here. ... Relations with Qatar, a crucial American ally in the Persian Gulf, are strained over Qatar's sponsorship of Al Jazeera, the TV station that the heaviest hitters in the Bush administration have complained broadcasts inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false stories, especially on Iraq. More here. =================================================== PEOPLE & PLACES The Tarrant County League of Women Voters' 2005 Citizen Participation Award, also known as the "Movers and Shapers" Award, went to Fort Worth Weekly for the paper's propensity for uncovering environmental abuses and government-related scandals, a recent example of the latter being in the Fort Worth school district. The award goes annually to a group that has "an outstanding record of informed and active participation in local government or [that] has influenced policy through education and advocacy." The presentation was made Feb. 22 at Fort Worth Botanic Garden. ... Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations will develop and execute ad/PR campaigns for Fort Worth Electric, a full-service electrical contractor with recent work at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, Fort Worth Botanic Garden, the Mansfield Law Enforcement Center and Spinks Airport in Fort Worth. Also at Witherspoon, Westwood Contractors has hired the company to help formulate strategy on all marketing and external communications. Westwood is a national general contractor specializing in retail stores and hospitality venues; clients range from Abercrombie & Fitch and Banana Republic, to Eddie Bauer and Holiday Inn, to Jared's Jewelers, The Gap and Victoria's Secret. =================================================== GET A JOB A Southwest-based company seeks a senior corporate communications specialist. Requirements include a bachelor's degree, concentration in journalism or communications preferred, and at least five years experience in internal corporate communications, communication planning and change management, and total compensation. APR or ABC credentials are preferred, as are media relations experience and proven news judgment. The company's businesses produce, gather, process and transport natural gas to heat homes and power electric generation nationwide. Contact Tanya Hinton, CPC, Diversified Search Services, (773) 714-2846, tanya@diverssvs.com. =================================================== NEW MEMBERS SPJ ... Jamie Jorgensen, TCU ... Cara West, Fort Worth Business Press =================================================== COMINGS & GOINGS Exits ... at the S-T: Javier Aldape, leaving Diario La Estrella to become editor for Hoy in Chicago =================================================== PRESIDENT'S CORNER Heather Senter, Greater Fort Worth PRSA We PR folks may have to defend our profession again following the launch of MTV's "PoweR Girls." Sandwiched between the Osbournes and "Pimp My Ride," we have no reason to be concerned, right? I'll admit, I get sucked into reality shows; this one caught my attention when I opened an advocacy alert e-mail from PRSA headquarters. "PoweR Girls" is based on Lizzie Grubman's New York PR firm and her four model-like associates. The e-mail encouraged us to consider the show's implications and to get ready to address issues with our colleagues and local media. I had never heard of the show, so I logged on to MTV's web site and read about the trials of New York agency life. Having worked at PR outposts in Memphis and Wichita, Kan., I couldn't relate. Maybe things are different in NYC. More, how we say, shallow. These five PR gals, based on their bios, surely don't measure up to my former colleagues. One woman equates success with being able to buy a Marc Jacobs purse. Another confesses that she loves trashy novels, and the owner touts her new role as gossip queen on a Manhattan radio station. If "PoweR Girls" puts a mascara-and-stiletto-heeled blemish on our profession (seriously, how many of our associates watch MTV?), it will fade like a sunset on the Hudson River. Organizations such as PRSA are constantly working to advance the profession and are much more powerful than a TV series. And that's reality. With more than 20,000 members worldwide, PRSA offers opportunities for professional development, a standardized code of ethics, national awards and recognitions, and a universal accreditation program. I encourage you to think of ways that we can move the industry forward. If you have an idea, send it to me at heathersenter@charter.net. And to the NYC agency, more PoweR to ya! ----- PRESIDENT'S COLUMN Tim Tune, IABC/Fort Worth If you've ever read a book on parenting, you probably found advice that goes something like this: "To understand your child, you have to get inside her head; you have to think the way a child thinks." It's not easy, but those who can do it become better parents. And get better results from their kids. Turns out this technique can be applied to other relationships, too, including the PR practitioner's relationship with journalists. And our next presenter -- a journalist himself -- has developed ways to accomplish this. Jim Barach will tell us "how to think like a reporter." It's crucial that spokesmen at all levels on the organization chart know how to work a media interview. If the interview is hostile, handling it skillfully can save a company -- or a job. Jim is a broadcaster with more than 20 years experience as an on-air personality. He's also a certified meteorologist. With credentials like that, I can confidently forecast that you will get your money's worth at this month's meeting, Tuesday, March 1. Please join us. ----- OVER & OUT John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ Second reminder -- there will be more -- that decorated investigative reporter Dan Christensen of the Miami Daily Business Review will keynote Fort Worth SPJ's First Amendment Dinner on Saturday, April 9, at Ridglea Country Club. His topic: "America's Underground Legal System." Dan received the 2004 Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award for reporting on secret court cases in the U.S. District Court in Miami. Dinner invitations are going out soon. If you don't get one, doesn't mean you can't be there. If you care about where this country's headed, you'll want to be. ... A scheduling problem at the Aladdin Resort & Casino has shifted the SPJ National Convention back a week, to Oct. 16-18. Perhaps feeling guilty for the inconvenience, the Aladdin lowered the room rate to $99 a night. Wait, guilt in Las Vegas? ... Sunshine Sunday kicks off Sunshine Week, March 13-19, a national campaign to raise awareness of the importance of open government. More at sunshineweek.org, or contact Larry Lutz, larrylutz@yahoo.com, to be on a team of newsgatherers who will conduct an FOI audit to determine how well local government bodies comply with freedom of information laws. ... Professional and student journalists will gather March 18-19 at the Drury Inn Riverwalk in San Antonio for the SPJ Region 8 conference. Expect sessions on FOI, ethics, convergence, interviewing, investigation for broadcast and more. More here or from Region 9 whizzeroo Travis Poling, 2114 Northcrest Drive, New Braunfels 78130, (210) 250-3241, tpoling@spj.org. ... The Ethics AdviceLine, spearheaded by the Chicago Headline Club and Loyola University Chicago's Center for Ethics and Social Justice, was featured recently on NPR's "On the Media" program. Transcript at onthemedia.org. ... National student representative Sonya Smith is working to launch a new student section on spj.org. What information would you like to see there? She's at sonyanews@yahoo.com. Closing words: "The Congress doesn't have to stick to these (White House) priorities. There are some programs in there I have heartburn about." -- Senate Budget Committee chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H. ... "Justice is better than chivalry if we cannot have both." -- Alice Stone Blackwell ... "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." -- Frederick Douglass ... "The trouble with super heroes is what to do between phone booths." -- Ken Kesey ... "Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something." -- Henry David Thoreau ... "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln Closing words II, world at war division: "He had time for golf and the ranch but not enough to sign a decent signature with a pen for his beloved hero soldiers. I was going to send the letter back but did not. I am sorry I didn't." -- Ted Smith, whose son, Eric, was among the first 100 killed in Iraq, on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signing military death notices with a stamp, a practice Rumsfeld says he has since changed ... "My son wasn't a person to these people, he was just an entity to play their war game. But where are their children? Not one of them knows how any of us feel, and they obviously aren't interested in finding out. None of them cares. And Rumsfeld depersonalizing his signature -- it's a slap in the face, don't you think?" -- Sue Niederer, whose son, Seth, was killed in Iraq ... "Why are our forces defending other countries' borders while ours remain vulnerable? Why is our own homeland virtually undefended while we have almost 200,000 regular, Guard and Reserve troops securing Japan, South Korea and Germany -- strong, prosperous countries that at this point would have no problem protecting themselves? And how long can our badly stretched defense team continue carrying this senseless heavy burden?" -- Col. (ret.) David Hackworth Closing words III, best Bush quote ever (until next time), Feb. 22, Brussels, Belgium: "This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. And having said that, all options are on the table."

Karen and Jim Barach have been there, said that. Now the husband-and-wife team behind the company Image & Communication Enhancement, they will discuss at the March meeting ways to get across the message you want, whether you are pushing a new product or dousing the flames during a crisis. With more than 20 years experience in TV news, Jim Barach will show how to stay in control during interviews, anticipate questions, speak in sound bites so your message makes the air, and build a media strategy.

Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, March 1

Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor

Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket validated at Petroleum Club)

Cost: $20 members, $25 nonmembers, $12 students

RSVP: Julie Trowbridge at trowbridgeja@c-b.com

Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ...

Moving the Cowboys West

How do you convince voters that paying half of a $650 million stadium (plus interest) is good for them? Rob Allyn, the architect of the Arlington campaign that resulted in a Dallas Cowboys victory Nov. 2, will discuss the grassroots effort and the obstacles that had to be overcome at the GFW PRSA March meeting at the Texas Public Relations Association's annual conference in Dallas.

The T has offered free passes on the Trinity Railway Express and DART for transportation to and from the March 4 luncheon. The "PR Express" will depart the T&P Station on Lancaster Avenue at 9:15 a.m., or riders can hop on at the Fort Worth ITC on Jones Street (9:20 a.m.), the Richland Hills station (9:37), Hurst/Bell (9:44) or CentrePort DFW (9:55). The train arrives at Dallas Union Station at 10:39; from there, it's DART light rail to the Pearl Street Station, across the street from the Adam's Mark Hotel. The return train leaves Union Station at 1:30 p.m. For more information or to be sure somebody's watching out for you (the TRE waits for no one), contact Marc Flake at mflake@tarrantcounty.com.

Time & date: noon-1 p.m. Friday, March 4

Place: Adam's Mark Hotel, 400 N. Olive St., Dallas, (214) 922-8000

RSVP/registration: begins at 11:30 a.m. at the door, or go to https://secure.qsigroup.com/tpra/conference/

Next at Fort Worth SPJ ...

A Shield for Free Speech

Haynes and Boone libel specialist Tom Williams, an FOI Foundation of Texas director and member of the State Bar of Texas public affairs committee, and Paul Watler, an attorney with Jenkens & Gilchrist and an FOIFT past president, will discuss shield laws and the First Amendment and what the recent federal court ruling means to journalists at the Fort Worth SPJ March meeting.

Time & date: mingling 5:30 p.m., eats at 6, then the program Wednesday, March 23

Place: ballroom cantina at Joe T. Garcia's Mexican food restaurant, 2201 N. Commerce St., Fort Worth

Cost: $13 members, $18 nonmembers, $5 students; cash bar; just to hear the program -- free

Menu: Joe T.'s legendary family-style enchilada dinner

RSVP: Kay Pirtle at mkpirtle@yahoo.com

===================================================

Print and broadcast skills-building workshops, a panel on weather-proofing yourself in a changing industry, and one-on-one critiques will highlight the Asian American Journalists Asociation's state meeting Saturday, April 16, in Houston. More from Sudeep Reddy, sreddy@dallasnews.com. ... Application postmark deadline is May 20 for a $1,000 AAJA college scholarship. Financial need will be considered but isn't required. More at aaja.org/Chapters/Texas/ or from Julie Tam, julietamtv@juno.com. ...

Next at IABC/Dallas: KERA's Glenn Mitchell, one of the area's best-known interviewers, will tell how he gets it all on the record, Tuesday, March 8. More here. ... Washington Post Pulitzer Prize winner Anthony Shadid and Al-Jazeera's senior producer, Samir Khader, will keynote the Journalism & the Arab World Conference, Friday-Sunday, April 22-24, at UT Austin, sponsored by the National Arab American Journalists Association and the SPJ UT Austin student chapter. Contact Joslyn Massad, (512) 826-5879, or visit journalismandthearabworld.com. ...

Deadline is March 7 to apply for a Network of Hispanic Communicators scholarship. Awards go to qualifying students regardless of ethnicity and will be presented Saturday, April 23, at the annual scholarship reception, this year at the Fort Worth Community Arts Center in the Arts District. More from Derek Castillo, derek.castillo@nbc.com or (817) 654-6311. ... Friday, March 4, is the postmark deadline for the best features section and best feature writing contests sponsored by the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors. More at aasfe.org/contests/index.htm.

PRSA local update: One practitioner's trash is another's treasure. Join the Independent Practitioners SIG for an office supplies swap at 11:15 a.m. Friday, March 4, at Central Market, I-30 and Hulen Street. Bring whatever you're no longer using that someone else might use. No money changes hands. RSVP: Sandra Brodnicki, (817) 572-1556, sandra@brodnickipr.com. ... Six months after launch, Speak Freely's list of experts willing to talk for free on humorous, motivational, wellness and business topics is approaching two dozen. More at speak-freely.info.

PRSA local update II: Organizers led by Southside Preservation Hall Big Band singer Andra Bennett, APR, were full of gratitude for the companies that shared their expertise with 28 PRSSA students from TCU, ACU, UNT and UTA for Pro-Am Day Feb. 18. The Radisson Plaza's Alan Sims and Steve Wilson walked the students through the steps of planning events. XTO Energy's Joy Webster gave a brief tour of the historic Waggoner Building, and Kim Rhoads coordinated. XTO's Gary Simpson and Christi Huntington explained investor relations from the corporate view. The students then took the T (thanks, Richard Maxwell, for the passes) to LaGrave Field for a sports marketing presentation by Mark Presswood and the Fort Worth Cats staff. To cap it off, Barbara Griffith offered the "inside scoop" on the changing face of the media at the PRSA luncheon.

SPJ national update: So many angles, so little time. The tawdry tale of how a conservative ringer could pose as a reporter, using a fake name, working for a dubious news organization, and enjoy access to White House briefings, not by going through the normal procedure most journalists face but by getting day passes, which require only an abbreviated background check. Daily passes month after month. For nearly two years. Oh, and he apparently recently worked as a male escort -- $200 an hour, $1,200 a weekend. More here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here.

SPJ national update II: With a hush and a whisper, the White House drops a meeting with German citizens; can't get answers? call Phil, but don't all Bob; and more spin, captain! more spin! When the German government nixed an event with questions pre-approved, the White House canceled what was meant to be a highlight of President Bush's fence-mending trip to Europe, a town hall meeting with average Germans. More here. ... Locked in a lawsuit with the big paper in the state capital, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen told Tennessee Press Association members that if they have problems getting records from his administration, they should call him personally. In a less accommodating vein, a federal judge ruled Feb. 15 that Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich can freeze out two reporters from The (Baltimore) Sun by barring all state employees from talking to the journalists. Sun editor Tim Franklin said of the ruling: "It's not only unconstitutional, it's undemocratic." More here and here. ... The PR staffs at government agencies grew faster than the federal work force last year. "The role of public affairs officers is not to make information available to the public," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy for the nonpartisan Federation of American Scientists. "Rather, it is to regulate public access to information, which is something quite different." More here.

SPJ national update III: Republicans' "hunger for dictatorship"; adviser down; web site up; bad behavior in Broward County; and low power to the people. Scott McConnell in The American Conservative writes of "several explicit warnings from the antiwar Right about the coming of an American fascism." More here. ... SPJ national president Irwin Gratz has appointed a task force to investigate Marquette U.'s decision to deny contract renewal to Thomas Mueller, adviser to The Marquette Tribune. More here. ... UC Santa Barbara has told the owner of a web site that criticizes the school that it will not seek legal action against him. The site, run by the father of a former UCSB student, lists among its goals to "substantially mitigate or eliminate the negative impact of the dark side of UCSB." More here. ... Sheriff Ken Jenne asked a subordinate to spread negative information about a Miami Herald reporter who exposed how his department allegedly falsified crime statistics, the subordinate has testified. More here. ... Fans of low-power FM radio say hundreds of new mini-stations are bringing localism and diversity back to America's airwaves. Opponents -- primarily big broadcasters -- say the stations, which can be established for less than $10,000, are amateurish and cause interference. More here.

SPJ national update IV: Sounds like Ohio; really is Ohio; should've been Ohio; running the EPA as if it were Ohio; and not to be confused with Air Ohio. Some polling stations didn't open. Others ran out of ballots. A provincial governor's name was left off the candidates list. And some minorities complained of a plot to silence them. One week after Iraq's historic election, allegations of confusion and mismanagement surfaced. More here and here. ... A federal appeals court has upheld the right of Ohio journalists to refuse to identify confidential sources in noncriminal legal proceedings. More here. ... The Count Every Vote Act of 2005, introduced in the Senate by Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., and Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., with a version coming soon in the House of Representatives, provides a voter-verified paper ballot for every vote cast in electronic voting machines. Among its provisions, the bill mandates that this ballot be the official ballot in case of a recount and that election day be a federal holiday. More here. ... The EPA ignored scientific evidence and agency protocols in order to set limits on mercury pollution that jive with the administration's approaches to power plant pollution, according to a report released Feb. 2 by the agency's inspector general. EPA staff were told to set modest limits on mercury pollution, then they had to work backward to justify the proposal, the report says. More here. ... Political provocateur Al Franken says George W. Bush's reelection was bad for the country but good for his fledgling liberal radio network, Air America, as it strives to rebound from a rocky start. More here.

SPJ national update V: Will someone just say no?; judge tells CIA no; yes to a shield law. Abstinence-only sex education may have had little impact in Texas. Despite taking courses emphasizing abstinence-only themes, teens in 29 high schools became increasingly sexually active anyway, mirroring overall state trends, according to a recent study by Texas A&M researchers. President Bush's FY06 budget cuts 25,000 kids from Head Start and Early Head Start programs and eliminates Upward Bound while increasing by $38 million funding for programs promoting sexual abstinence. More here and here. ... Citing the CIA's reluctance to comply with the FOI Act, a judge on Feb. 2 ordered the agency to release records about the treatment of detainees and prisoners in Iraq or explain better why it cannot. It was the second time in six months that U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein suggested that the government is hamstringing the ACLU's quest to monitor government actions in the war on terrorism. More here and here. ... Federal courts would have to meet strict national standards before they could issue subpoenas to reporters under legislation introduced Feb. 2 in the House. The bill also shields reporters from having to reveal confidential sources. Identical or similar bills were later introduced in the Senate. More here and here and here. Meanwhile, two reporters who have refused to name their sources to a grand jury investigating the disclosure of the identity of a covert CIA officer should be jailed for contempt, a unanimous three-judge panel ruled Feb. 15. Following the decision, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press reiterated its support for a federal shield law. More here and here and here.

SPJ national update VI: The march of the Stepford children; the march of the Iraqi voter; no democracy on the march for Iraqi women; and Fox News does it but Al Jazeera cannot? One in three U.S. high school students says the press should be restricted, and even more say the government should approve newspaper stories before readers see them, according to a recent survey of 112,003 students on First Amendment rights. More here. ... "The crowd began streaming into the polling station near our hotel by 10 a.m. They lined up patiently behind rolls of barbed wire and submitted to being frisked and searched with metal detectors. Men smiled as they handed over personal belongings -- mobile phones, cameras and pens -- to the security guard. Women, many covering their hair with festive scarves, pulled along little kids in party dresses." More here and here. ... Nearly two years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, women there are no better off, Amnesty International said in a report Feb. 21. The systematic repression under Saddam Hussein has been replaced by increased murders and by sexual abuse, including from U.S. forces, the report says. More here. ... Relations with Qatar, a crucial American ally in the Persian Gulf, are strained over Qatar's sponsorship of Al Jazeera, the TV station that the heaviest hitters in the Bush administration have complained broadcasts inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false stories, especially on Iraq. More here.

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The Tarrant County League of Women Voters' 2005 Citizen Participation Award, also known as the "Movers and Shapers" Award, went to Fort Worth Weekly for the paper's propensity for uncovering environmental abuses and government-related scandals, a recent example of the latter being in the Fort Worth school district. The award goes annually to a group that has "an outstanding record of informed and active participation in local government or [that] has influenced policy through education and advocacy." The presentation was made Feb. 22 at Fort Worth Botanic Garden. ...

Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations will develop and execute ad/PR campaigns for Fort Worth Electric, a full-service electrical contractor with recent work at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center, Fort Worth Botanic Garden, the Mansfield Law Enforcement Center and Spinks Airport in Fort Worth. Also at Witherspoon, Westwood Contractors has hired the company to help formulate strategy on all marketing and external communications. Westwood is a national general contractor specializing in retail stores and hospitality venues; clients range from Abercrombie & Fitch and Banana Republic, to Eddie Bauer and Holiday Inn, to Jared's Jewelers, The Gap and Victoria's Secret.

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A Southwest-based company seeks a senior corporate communications specialist. Requirements include a bachelor's degree, concentration in journalism or communications preferred, and at least five years experience in internal corporate communications, communication planning and change management, and total compensation. APR or ABC credentials are preferred, as are media relations experience and proven news judgment. The company's businesses produce, gather, process and transport natural gas to heat homes and power electric generation nationwide. Contact Tanya Hinton, CPC, Diversified Search Services, (773) 714-2846, tanya@diverssvs.com.

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SPJ ... Jamie Jorgensen, TCU ... Cara West, Fort Worth Business Press

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Exits ... at the S-T: Javier Aldape, leaving Diario La Estrella to become editor for Hoy in Chicago

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Heather Senter, Greater Fort Worth PRSA

We PR folks may have to defend our profession again following the launch of MTV's "PoweR Girls." Sandwiched between the Osbournes and "Pimp My Ride," we have no reason to be concerned, right? I'll admit, I get sucked into reality shows; this one caught my attention when I opened an advocacy alert e-mail from PRSA headquarters. "PoweR Girls" is based on Lizzie Grubman's New York PR firm and her four model-like associates. The e-mail encouraged us to consider the show's implications and to get ready to address issues with our colleagues and local media.

I had never heard of the show, so I logged on to MTV's web site and read about the trials of New York agency life. Having worked at PR outposts in Memphis and Wichita, Kan., I couldn't relate. Maybe things are different in NYC. More, how we say, shallow. These five PR gals, based on their bios, surely don't measure up to my former colleagues. One woman equates success with being able to buy a Marc Jacobs purse. Another confesses that she loves trashy novels, and the owner touts her new role as gossip queen on a Manhattan radio station.

Tim Tune, IABC/Fort Worth

John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ

Second reminder -- there will be more -- that decorated investigative reporter Dan Christensen of the Miami Daily Business Review will keynote Fort Worth SPJ's First Amendment Dinner on Saturday, April 9, at Ridglea Country Club. His topic: "America's Underground Legal System." Dan received the 2004 Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award for reporting on secret court cases in the U.S. District Court in Miami. Dinner invitations are going out soon. If you don't get one, doesn't mean you can't be there. If you care about where this country's headed, you'll want to be. ...

A scheduling problem at the Aladdin Resort & Casino has shifted the SPJ National Convention back a week, to Oct. 16-18. Perhaps feeling guilty for the inconvenience, the Aladdin lowered the room rate to $99 a night. Wait, guilt in Las Vegas? ... Sunshine Sunday kicks off Sunshine Week, March 13-19, a national campaign to raise awareness of the importance of open government. More at sunshineweek.org, or contact Larry Lutz, larrylutz@yahoo.com, to be on a team of newsgatherers who will conduct an FOI audit to determine how well local government bodies comply with freedom of information laws. ...

Professional and student journalists will gather March 18-19 at the Drury Inn Riverwalk in San Antonio for the SPJ Region 8 conference. Expect sessions on FOI, ethics, convergence, interviewing, investigation for broadcast and more. More here or from Region 9 whizzeroo Travis Poling, 2114 Northcrest Drive, New Braunfels 78130, (210) 250-3241, tpoling@spj.org. ... The Ethics AdviceLine, spearheaded by the Chicago Headline Club and Loyola University Chicago's Center for Ethics and Social Justice, was featured recently on NPR's "On the Media" program. Transcript at onthemedia.org. ... National student representative Sonya Smith is working to launch a new student section on spj.org. What information would you like to see there? She's at sonyanews@yahoo.com.

Closing words: "The Congress doesn't have to stick to these (White House) priorities. There are some programs in there I have heartburn about." -- Senate Budget Committee chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H. ... "Justice is better than chivalry if we cannot have both." -- Alice Stone Blackwell ... "If there is no struggle, there is no progress." -- Frederick Douglass ... "The trouble with super heroes is what to do between phone booths." -- Ken Kesey ... "Do not be too moral. You may cheat yourself out of much life. Aim above morality. Be not simply good; be good for something." -- Henry David Thoreau ... "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power." -- Abraham Lincoln

Closing words II, world at war division: "He had time for golf and the ranch but not enough to sign a decent signature with a pen for his beloved hero soldiers. I was going to send the letter back but did not. I am sorry I didn't." -- Ted Smith, whose son, Eric, was among the first 100 killed in Iraq, on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld signing military death notices with a stamp, a practice Rumsfeld says he has since changed ... "My son wasn't a person to these people, he was just an entity to play their war game. But where are their children? Not one of them knows how any of us feel, and they obviously aren't interested in finding out. None of them cares. And Rumsfeld depersonalizing his signature -- it's a slap in the face, don't you think?" -- Sue Niederer, whose son, Seth, was killed in Iraq ... "Why are our forces defending other countries' borders while ours remain vulnerable? Why is our own homeland virtually undefended while we have almost 200,000 regular, Guard and Reserve troops securing Japan, South Korea and Germany -- strong, prosperous countries that at this point would have no problem protecting themselves? And how long can our badly stretched defense team continue carrying this senseless heavy burden?" -- Col. (ret.) David Hackworth