PRSA local update II: If Shakespeare were to describe what 14 PRSA members learned at a teleseminar Sept. 20 on crafting press releases, it might go something like this (from Nu Pros ringleader Linda Jacobson):
What's in a lead? That which we call story speed.
By any other name would still precede
The body main. And when thou art done with this,
Package it well for a journalist's eye; for if you miss
You'll find your news at the bottom of a black abyss.
Media trainer Ann Wylie also shared what journalists don't like to see in their e-mails: a PR person's entire address book when pitching! The Nu Pros SIG hosted the meeting at Immotion Studios in Fort Worth.
PRSA update III: NBC 5 assignment manager Stephen Wright will go "Behind the Scenes at the Assignment Desk" for the Independent Practitioners PR SIG at the group's monthly meeting Wednesday, Oct. 17, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Four Star Coffee Bar, 3324 W. 7th St. Grab a bite, network and get smarter.
PRSA update IV: Think career growth. Fort Worth chapter membership comes free for a year for anyone who joins PRSA this month. The national member rate is $290 ($225 national dues, $65 initiation fee). Visit prsa.org and enter promotion code AUTUMN2007.
PRSA local update V: Heather Senter, APR, and Andra Bennett, APR, are headed to the PRSA International Conference on Oct. 19, representing the Greater Fort Worth chapter as assembly delegates. E-mail them at heathersenter@charter.net or abennett@fortworthchamber.com with any concerns or suggestions to be conveyed to the PRSA Assembly and leadership.
PRSA local update VI: Dallas Morning News managing editor George Rodrigue; Tara Green, CSEE, sports marketing VP at the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau; and Dallas Cowboys PR director Brett Daniels will keynote the Dallas PRSA Communications Summit (formerly PRSA Media Day) Friday, Oct. 12, at Las Colinas Country Club, 4400 N. O'Connor Blvd., Irving. More here.
SPJ national update: Students keep California free-speech victory; and Cal State, Long Beach considers scrapping paper's print version. The California Supreme Court has upheld a lower court's decision in favor of a high school student's free speech. The case involved the publication of racially charged editorials written by high school student Andrew Smith in 2001 and 2002. Smith was a senior at Novato High School, a public school 30 miles north of San Francisco, when the case began. His opinion piece in November 2001 argued against illegal immigration, calling on government agents to detain people who could not speak English: "If a person looks suspicious then just stop them and ask a few questions, and if they answer 'que?' detain them and see if they are legal." More here. ... The liberal arts dean's proposal to scrap the print edition of the California State University, Long Beach campus paper might have led to the removal of the chairman of the journalism department. Dean Gerry Riposa will evaluate four alternative production models, including an online-only publication, to help the struggling paper save money through reduced printing costs. Riposa discontinued subsidies to the paper ($30,000-$50,000 a year) last month. The paper, funded almost solely through ad revenue, hasn't covered expenses since it went independent in 2003. More here.
SPJ national update II: University paper loses advertisers over Bush editorial; journal rejects controversial anti-climate change consensus paper; and NYT pay wall comes down. Colorado State University's student newspaper lost $30,000 in advertising and had to cut pay and other budgets by 10 percent because of fallout from the use of a four-letter word in an editorial about President Bush. More here. ... A paper claiming to show that the scientific consensus on climate change is not, in fact, a consensus has been rejected by the journal Energy & Environment. More here. ... The New York Times ended the paid section of its web site, giving users access to thousands of articles. The move to deep-six Times Select had been anticipated for weeks, after it was reported in early August by the rival New York Post. More here.
SPJ national update III: Indianapolis school paper to rely on submissions from English classes (because the j-class was disbanded); and welcome to the Chinese internet. English class assignments, not journalistic pieces, will fill the pages of the Woodlan Junior-Senior High School newspaper this year, the latest twist in a scrap that started over an editorial advocating tolerance for gay people. The yearbook will operate as an extracurricular activity meeting before or after school. Both publications had been advised by Amy Sorrell, who left to teach journalism at a private school. English teachers will have students respond to a given topic using various styles of writing, including persuasion, opinion and perspective pieces. Cortney Carpenter, The Tomahawk's editor last year, said she does not want anything she writes for English class printed in the newspaper. "It really wouldn't be a paper anymore," she said. The changes to the newspaper were necessary because only four students signed up for the journalism class. More here. ... The ban began sometime after Aug. 22, when retired Maj. Gen. John Batiste was guest blogger on ThinkProgress. He posted an op-ed that strongly criticized the president's policies and advocated a "responsible and deliberate redeployment from Iraq." Both the National Review and Fox News are still accessible. More here.
SPJ national update IV: The teleprompter pixie comes clean. CBS News anchor Katie Couric, reporting in early September from Iraq, told Bob Schieffer on CBS's "Face the Nation" that in the Allawi market, which is near Haifa, the scene of a bloody gun battle back in January, "You do see signs of life that seem to be normal. Of course, that's what the U.S. military wants me to see, so you have to keep that in mind as well." Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Cal., who recently returned from Iraq, told the web site ThinkProgress that it's "very, very easy to be influenced, from their [the military's] point of view, that things are better. ... I will tell you that when you get in the Green Zone, there is a physiological phenomenon I think called Green Zone fog. It's death by Powerpoint. It's always that their argument is winning." More here.
