PRSA local update: Friday, March 4, GFW PRSA will hold its monthly meeting at the Texas Public Relations Association's 2005 conference, "Challenge of Culture, Chaos and Change," at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Dallas. The T has offered free passes on the Trinity Railway Express and DART light rail for transportation to and from. The "PR Express" will depart the majestic T&P Station on Lancaster at 9:15 a.m. and leave that afternoon from Dallas' Union Station at 1:30; the trip takes about an hour. Park free at the T&P. More from Marc Flake at mflake@tarrantcounty.com or (817) 884-2535. And for more on the March 4-6 conference, visit TPRA.com. Rob Allyn, the architect of the Dallas Cowboys' Arlington campaign, is the featured speaker.
PRSA local update II: The Education SIG will meet for lunch (dutch treat) at 11:45 a.m. Friday, Feb. 4, at Crescent City Beignets off I-30 and Hulen Street to plan this year's meetings and for everyone to get to know each other outside a formal program setting. ... Then there's happy hour at Pegasus restaurant, 2443 Forest Park Blvd., 5:30ish Friday, Feb. 25, to celebrate Mary Dulle's retirement. ... The PRSA Southwest District conference will be Feb. 10 and 11 in Albuquerque, N.M. More from Chad Perry, APR, (505) 925-8547 or cperry@unm.edu.
PRSA local update III: Concerning the chapter's special interest groups, ever wonder who's in charge of what? Here's the list: Education SIG, Chris Smith, chris.smith@tccd.edu; Health Care SIG, Kelly Strzinek, kelly.strzinek@heart.org; Independent Practitioners SIG, Sandra Brodnicki, sandra@brodnickipr.com, and Nancy Farrar, nancyh829@aol.com; Master's SIG (for PR practitioners who are APR or have 15-plus years experience), Andra Bennett, APR, abennett@fortworthchamber.org; Nu Pros (PR practitioners with up to five years experience), Phil Beckman, pbeckman@star-telegram.com.
SPJ national update: Almost too painful to see; can't report what you're too scared to see; the United States is losing ground in Iraq; and if we don't talk about it, maybe they'll forget it's there. Within minutes of the monster tsunami striking land, news coverage flooded TV screens around the world, revealing the depth of professionalism in the South Asian Journalists Association, CNN's staying power at disaster reporting, the heartache of an internet search for loved ones. Days later, the images linger. More here and here and here and here and here and here. ... A year ago, reporters generally were able to interview Iraqis on the capital's streets and travel across the nation. Now, because of deteriorating security, they can hardly go out in Baghdad, much less the rest of the country. More here. ... Have some numbers from Knight Ridder: U.S. military fatalities in Iraq, up from about 17 a month just after President Bush declared major combat over May 1, 2003, to 82 per month now; U.S. soldiers wounded by hostile acts per month, up from 142 to 808, same time period; mass-casualty bombings, up from zero in the first four months of the American occupation to 13 per month now; electricity production, below pre-war levels since October, largely because of sabotage, with 6.7 hours of power daily in Baghdad in early January, according to the State Department. "The trend lines we can identify are all in the wrong direction," said Michael O'Hanlon of the Brookings Institution, a Washington policy research organization. "We are not winning, and the security trend lines could almost lead you to believe that we are losing." But there are bright spots. In the Sadr City section of Baghdad and the southern town of Najaf, the scene of intense fighting last year with Shiite Muslim rebels, millions of dollars are pouring into reconstruction. Both places are now relatively peaceful. More here. ... Not a word on Iraq. The president's inaugural address Jan. 20 contained 2,000 words of passion and promise for his second term, but no direct mention of the war that could sink it. More here.
SPJ national update II: Surf's down; yep, that could be a distraction; and it's our party, you'll pay if we tell you. A group that defends civil liberties on the internet has filed an FOI request with the Department of Justice to determine if the government is secretly gathering information on citizens' surfing habits. The request states: "The DOJ has refused to answer the public's very simple question: 'Can the government see what I'm reading on the web without having to show probable cause?' Yet the public's interest in an answer to that question, which implicates the most profound constitutional rights, is inestimable." More here. ... Lloyd Brown, the Florida editorial page editor who resigned Nov. 2 after being accused of plagiarism and sexual harassment, has quit his new job as a speech writer for Gov. Jeb Bush. In a resignation letter, Brown said he didn't want to be "a distraction from the important work" Bush is doing. A Times-Union internal review found plagiarism in editorials that Brown, 65, wrote. More here. ... District of Columbia officials say the administration is refusing to reimburse for most of the costs associated with the inauguration, forcing the city to divert $11.9 million from the $240 million in homeland security grants awarded because the city is among the places at highest risk of a terrorist attack. A spokesman for Republican Rep. Thomas M. Davis of Virginia: "It's an unfunded mandate of the most odious kind. How can the District be asked to take funds from important homeland security projects to pay for this instead?" More here.
SPJ national update III: Media rules unchanged; a petri dish for terrorism; and third columnist caught with hand in Bush till. The administration will not ask the Supreme Court to allow a set of controversial rules to take effect that would have loosened restrictions on how large media conglomerates can grow. The decision disappointed big media companies that had lobbied heavily in support of the rules and pleased those who had fought to keep tighter rein on how much control one company should have over TV, newspapers and radio stations in individual markets. More here and here. ... The Iraq war has created a training and recruitment ground for a new generation of "professionalized" jihadists, and the risk of a germ weapon attack is steadily growing, an in-house CIA think tank said in January. The dispersion to other countries "of the experienced survivors of the conflict in Iraq" will mutate al Qaeda into a volatile brew of extremist cells and individuals, according to the report by the National Intelligence Council. More here and here. ... One day after the president ordered his Cabinet secretaries to stop hiring commentators to push administration initiatives, and one day after the second high-profile conservative pundit was found to be on the federal payroll, a third embarrassing hire emerged. Michael McManus, a marriage advocate with a column appearing in 50 newspapers, was hired by the Department of Health and Human Services to foster a Bush-approved marriage plan. More here and here and here.
