STRAIGHT STUFF
The Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce has released its 2007 Media Directory -- 60 pages of print and broadcast media, networks and wire services primarily in Tarrant County, but also listings for Dallas, Johnson, Hood and Parker counties. Contact names, titles, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, circulation numbers and deadlines are included. A printed version is available to Fort Worth Chamber members for $30 and to nonmembers for $40. A CD-ROM with a PDF and an Excel file also is available. Call the Chamber at 817-336-2491 ext. 242, or order at fortworthchamber.com. ...
The National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Lone Star Chapter, is forming an advisory committee of area PR and media pros to assist in packaging stories and spreading awareness. An informational meeting will be 6:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 12, at the chapter office, 2105 Luna Road, Suite 390, Carrollton. RSVP to Lee Kilborn, 214-373-1400 or lkilborn@nmsslonestar.org. ...
She's a wonder with words, is Paula LaRocque, and she'll share her "Secrets of Good Writing" at the American Society of Business Publication Editors meeting Wednesday, Sept. 19, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. at Southern Recipes Grill, 2715 N. Collins St. in Arlington. LaRocque, a former Dallas Morning News editor, will discuss the most common errors in workplace writing and offer easy-to-apply tips for making all writing accurate, clear, warm and interesting. Cost is $20 for the meeting and lunch. The regional ASBPE Azbee Award winners also will be honored. RSVP to Tonie Auer, 817-925-2013 or tonieauer@gmail.com. ...
What's the difference between pitching a book idea to an agent and to an editor/publisher? Where do pitches fall in the publishing process? What are the three things even your friends won't tell you? Answers will be forthcoming at Carol Woods' two-hour "Pitch It!" workshop for the Writers' Guild of Texas (new name, no longer affiliated with the Writer's League of Texas) starting at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 15, at the Richardson Public Library, 900 Civic Center Drive. Woods, a former senior editor at a local publishing house and self-described "longtime little fish swimming in the big pond of the Dallas-area writing world," promises a holistic look at real pitches from real writers, complete with critiques. Two days later, in the second half of a power-packed WGT September doubleheader, 20-year Marine veteran and thrice-published author William F. Lee will profile "The Selling Author" at the regular WGT meeting, 7-8:30 p.m., same location. Lee's second book, "The Light Side of Damnation" (July 2006), earned a five-star review by the Military Writers' Society of America and was the winning entry in the North Texas Book Festival. His third book, "The Boys in Blue White Dress," was published this year. More on both events from Woods at shurlock@flash.net.
IABC local update: IABC Research Foundation trustee Robin McCasland will discuss "It's Not About You! It's About the Employees" -- a sometimes simple (sometimes funny) and useful approach to developing more compelling, effective communication -- at the Dallas IABC meeting Tuesday, Sept. 11. Info here.
PRSA local update: The Nu Pros SIG will host a media relations teleseminar, "Anatomy of a News Release," from 2 to 3 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20, at Immotion Studios, 4717 Fletcher Ave., Fort Worth, open to all new professionals and anyone wanting to hone a few skills. Cost is $10 prepaid. RSVP to Linda Jacobson at ljacobson@quepr.com.
PRSA update II: The always informative and entertaining Dr. Joe Trahan will discuss PR measurement and tracking at the fall GFW PRSA professional development seminar Wednesday, Nov. 14. Details next month.
PRSA local update III: Chapter leaders Drenda Witt and Laura Van Hoosier have recently been honored in the PR biz. Read of their triumphs on p. 3.
PRSA local update IV: "Best Practices in Crisis Communications" is the tentative topic at the Dallas PRSA meeting Friday, Sept. 21, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Midway Road at LBJ. More here.
SPJ national update: A riveting -- and suppressed -- account of nuclear devastation. On the 62nd anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, HBO aired "White Light/Black Rain," Steven Okazaki's documentary on a few survivors of the attack Aug. 6, 1945, which took at least 150,000 lives. The film features extremely graphic footage, shot by an American military film crew but kept from the public for decades. "Suppressing film footage shot in Hiroshima and Nagasaki was quite significant, as this country rushed into the nuclear age with its citizens having neither a true understanding of the effects of the bomb on human beings, nor why the atomic attacks drew condemnation around the world," writes author Greg Mitchell, who played a role in bringing the footage to light. Adds Lt. Col. (ret.) Daniel McGovern, who directed the U.S. military filmmakers in 1945-46: "I always had the sense that people in the Atomic Energy Commission were sorry we had dropped the bomb. The Air Force -- it was also sorry. I was told by people in the Pentagon that they didn't want those images out because they showed effects on man, woman and child. ... They didn't want the general public to know what their weapons had done -- at a time they were planning on more bomb tests." More here.
SPJ national update II: Blistering accounts of the Iraq war from Sig Christenson and, in the 82nd Airborne Division, four Army sergeants, two staff sergeants and an Army specialist. "Everybody knows there's a war on in Iraq. What they don't realize is there are actually four wars -- the one to defeat insurgents and terrorists, another to win support for America's occupation among a majority of Iraqis, and yet a third for hearts and minds among the president's supporters in the United States. The fourth is a war for reporters and editors: It is to find and report the truth while staying alive to file another day in Iraq. If we lose this war, you lose, too. Instead of seeing Iraq as it is, you'll see it the way someone with an agenda wants." More here. "Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence. When the primary preoccupation of average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out care packages." More here.
SPJ national update III: Feds pay over T-shirt arrests; and survey finds stagnant market for j-grads. A Corpus Christi couple arrested at a West Virginia rally after refusing to cover T-shirts that bore anti-President Bush slogans settled their lawsuit against the government for $80,000. Nicole and Jeffery Rank were handcuffed and removed from the July 4, 2004, rally, where Bush gave a speech. A judge dismissed trespassing charges, and an order closing the case was filed Aug. 16 in U.S. District Court in Charleston. "This settlement is a real victory, not only for our clients but for the First Amendment," said Andrew Schneider, executive director of the ACLU of West Virginia. More here. ... The job market recovery that began two years ago for graduates of U.S. journalism and mass communication programs seems to have stalled, according to findings released by the University of Georgia's James M. Cox Jr. Center for International Mass Communication Training and Research. More here.
