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NEW MEMBERS
PRSA ... Lauren Becera, DFW International Airport ... Sajata J. Hale-Williams, OmniAmerican Bank ... Kathryn Kincaid, Fort Worth chapter, Texas Certified Public Accountants ... Jamie Meisenheimer, EECU ... Monisa Ringo, Arlington Memorial Hospital ... Jacqueline Smith, FUNimation Entertainment ... Annie Westmoreland Wood, Cash America International
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COMINGS & GOINGS
Exits ... at CBS 11 News: Todd Bensman, to the San Antonio Express News as an investigative reporter on the special projects unit ... Kim Leach, to UNT as executive director of news and media relations ... Scott Keenan, to CBS News bureau chief for the Southeast, based in Dallas and in charge of the Atlanta, Dallas and Miami bureaus ... at the S-T: features co-slot Cathy Frisinger, who joined the paper in 1992 as a Dallas Times Herald refugee, to devote more time to writing
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Holly Ellman, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
The chapter had a wonderful experience in April at the first professional development seminar of the year, "The Write Stuff." Veteran journalists Paul Harral and J.R. Labbe of the Star-Telegram started with an AP style quiz -- ouch, no one had his stylebook handy -- and the rest of the time was filled with great tips on how to improve our news releases and pitch our stories. Harral and Labbe enjoyed the experience so much they're already working on another small-group workshop, perhaps at computers in the Star-Telegram, where attendees would do a writing assignment, receive a critique and then rewrite.
The May chapter meeting will tackle branding. Local branding gurus Neil Foster, vice president of GCG; Carol Glover, creative director at the Balcom Agency; and a player to be named from Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations will discuss the importance of branding in today's global marketplace and how it should integrate across all communications efforts.
Be sure to check the chapter web site for upcoming members-only teleseminars. We want to increase the value of PRSA affiliation, so sign up the next time something piques your interest. If we get enough responses for a topic, it will be offered free to members. Direct questions to Marc Flake, vice president/membership, at mflake@tarrantcounty.com.
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PRESIDENT'S COLUMN
Richard Maxwell, IABC/Fort Worth
Greetings and happy festival season to you.
Our April meeting was Tom Kirkhart, executive producer and chief marketing officer of CRM Studios (formerly Circle R Media), who spoke on taking the mystery out of video production.
The 2006 IABC/Fort Worth membership directory is now available to members only. Pick yours up at the next meeting.
Save the date: Plan now to attend the World Series of Communication Bronze Quill Awards on June 27.
There's still time to register for IABC's 2006 International Conference, June 4-7 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Join more than 1,400 communicators from around the world for a career-altering program that's a true bargain for all that it delivers, including 80 targeted sessions, headline-grabbing keynotes and the latest best practices from the experts. Register by May 8 to receive early rates. Get information at iabc.com/ic.
Picture this: IABC Southern Region Conference, KC '06, Sept. 24-26. The conference will be great. And with you there, we've got a masterpiece in the making. See kciabc.org/southernconference/.
Member news. I'd like to welcome new member Annette Kearns with Countrywide Financial Corp. and cheer on Stephani Hawkins, Scott Hunt, Jill Goff, Kay Colley, April Eubanks, Jean Tips, Liesl Logan and Cynthia Cordova for renewing. In addition, four members have upcoming IABC anniversaries: Michelle Parker and Jeff Glover, two years; Scheretta Scott, six years; and Julie Trowbridge, 16 years. The last one must be a misprint from IABC national, or she joined in high school!
We hope you will join us at our next luncheon meeting Tuesday, May 23. Stay tuned for details.
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
Welcome, new advertisers The Dallas Morning News, KXAS / NBC 5, the Tarrant County College District, the Mayborn Graduate Institute of Journalism, and Haynes and Boone, LLP. You folks are in good company -- and the party keeps getting bigger. ...
A Bible verse for you: "When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the LORD your God." Leviticus 19:33-34 ...
SPJ has updated its online guide to prison access policies. Expect to see CDs distributed at the national blowout in Chicago, Aug. 24-27. ... The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation will award $231,400 to fund several potentially exciting projects, including the Reporters Institute for new working journalists developing core skills; a library of digital recordings of chapter educational programs (SPJ will buy three iPods and sound editing software that chapters may request to use); and continued financial assistance for the annual National Freedom of Information Coalition conference, the minority writers seminar sponsored by the National Conference of Editorial Writers, and the diversity fellows program, which enables six non-white journalists to attend the SPJ National Convention and participate in a yearlong mentoring program. ...
Found this while trying to find something else. Reuters reports that record debt is washing over the Treasury Department, recently breaching the $8 trillion mark in money owed to foreign governments, private investors and the Social Security retirement fund used to finance deficit spending. The debt has increased $2 trillion in just a little over four years. And this from Chris Edwards' new book, "Downsizing the Federal Government," the number of pork projects in federal spending bills: from 1995-99, 8,931; from 2000 to the present, more than 53,000. Emphasis added. More here. ...
Chicago Headline Club member Jon Marshall, a freelancer and instructor at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, has launched a blog, "News Gems," highlighting the best in U.S. journalism. It features examples of stories with thorough, enterprising reporting and great writing from newspapers, TV, radio, magazines and web sites. Visit newsgems.blogspot.com.
Closing words: "The way to become famous fast is to throw a brick at someone who is famous." -- journalist and radio broadcaster Walter Winchell
Closing words II, G.W.B. & the Pharisees division: "The advance of freedom in the greater Middle East has given new rights and new hopes to women. And America will do its part to continue the spread of liberty." -- George W. Bush, March 12, 2004 ... "No one knows how many young women have been kidnapped and sold since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The Organization for Women's Freedom in Iraq, based in Baghdad, estimates from anecdotal evidence that more than 2,000 Iraqi women have gone missing in that period. A Western official in Baghdad who monitors the status of women in Iraq thinks that figure may be inflated but admits that sex trafficking, virtually nonexistent under Saddam, has become a serious issue. The collapse of law and order and the absence of a stable government have allowed criminal gangs, alongside terrorists, to run amuck. Meanwhile, some aid workers say, bureaucrats in the ministries have either paralyzed with red tape or frozen the assets of charities that might have provided refuge for these girls. As a result, sex trafficking has been allowed to fester unchecked." -- Time, April 22, 2006 ... "No president has looked this impotent this long when it comes to defending presidential powers and prerogatives." -- new White House press secretary Tony Snow on Sept. 30, 2005, when he was with Fox News
