eChaser: January 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 Bass Performance Hall Business Wire DFW Printing Co. Esperanza's Bakery Fort Worth Business Press Fort Worth Zoo Friends of the Fort Worth Public Library Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center 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 Texas Wesleyan University Tony Roma's The University of Texas at Arlington Weber Shandwick Worldwide Wise County Messenger Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations January 2005 MEETINGS Next at IABC/Fort Worth ... So What's It Worth to You? Plenty The January luncheon will detail IABC resources, with an overview of upcoming programs and discussions on becoming an accredited business communicator, the Bronze Quill awards and the online benefits available to members. Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 4 Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets Cost: $17 members, $25 nonmembers, $12 students RSVP: Julie Trowbridge at trowbridgeja@c-b.com ----- Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ... Everything You Want to Know about PRSA, Without Even Asking Kelly Albanese, national PRSA representative and chapter/district relationship coordinator, will explain "What PRSA can do for you" at the January GFW PRSA luncheon. Besides spotlighting PRSA's 2005 plans, she will tell how best to utilize national PRSA resources, including the variety of professional interest sections like Corporate, Employee and Financial Communications. Tables at the meeting will feature representatives of the services and programs that the chapter offers its members. Those in attendance will learn more about the NuPros, Higher Education, Health Care and Creative Consultants SIGs as well as the chapter's newest group, the Masters, for PR pros with more than 15 years experience. Time & date: 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, with an information fair from 11:30 a.m. to noon Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor Parking: free valet in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets Cost: $20 members, $23 nonmembers, $18 students RSVP by noon Jan. 7: rsvp@fortworthprsa.org ----- Next at Fort Worth SPJ ... Finding Time for Long-term Projects Meet two journalists who do find the time: Nanci Wilson and Scott Streater. Both cover major beats but still do investigative work they consider vital to good journalism -- and to personal growth. They will share their tips at the January meeting for putting project time in your already busy daily schedule. You'll even go home with a handout. Wilson, an investigative reporter for KEYE-TV in Austin, recently won the National Journalism Award and the Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting. While at the Pensacola News Journal, Streater won a 2002 Society of Environmental Journalists first place, the 2001 Waldo Proffitt Award for environmental journalism in Florida and the 2001 Edward J. Meeman Award for environmental reporting from the Scripps-Howard Foundation. He has produced close to 40 stories for the Star-Telegram since joining the paper in October 2003, including in-depth reports on "Byzantine" federal air quality regulations, obfuscation at the EPA and discarded prescription drugs trashing Texas waterways. Date & time: Wednesday, Jan. 12; mingling and eats start at 5:30, program at 7 Place: Texas Land & Cattle Steak House, 2009 E. Copeland Road in Arlington, (817) 461-1500; from Dallas, exit Collins Street off I-30, cross the I-30 bridge and turn left (go east) on Copeland Road (immediately south of I-30); about a mile down the road, just past the Howard Johnson, turn left into the parking lot that both Texas Land & Cattle and On the Border share; from Fort Worth, exit Nolan Ryan Expressway off I-30 and turn left on to Copeland Road at the light Cost: you decide -- order off the menu RSVP: Kay Pirtle at mkpirtle@yahoo.com =================================================== STRAIGHT STUFF IABC/Dallas' seventh annual networking luncheon launches '05 in a business card and buffet sort of way Tuesday, Jan. 11. More here. ... Watch fortworthchamber.com/ for details on Anita Vanetti's Feb. 15 seminar on how to pitch to the media. ... Ten student journalists will be selected to attend the 2005 Sports Journalism Institute, a training program for college sophomores and juniors (any major) interested in a sports journalism career, June 18-Aug. 13. Application deadline is Jan. 4. The students will receive an expenses-paid crash course in sports journalism at the APSE annual convention in Orlando, June 22-25; a seven-week paid internship in the sports department of a daily newspaper; and a $500 scholarship for those who return to school. More here. ... Application deadline is Jan. 14 for the five-day Diverse Voices multicultural workshop pairing aspiring student journalists with AP writers and editors as mentors. The workshop, tentatively set for May 16-20, is open to full-time college sophomores or juniors; up to 12 will be chosen. The AP pays expenses. Send a résumé, at least three writing samples, a 500-word essay on why you'd like to participate and two letters of recommendation, at least one from a teacher or faculty adviser, to Robert Naylor, director of career development/news, The Associated Press, 450 W. 33rd St., New York, N.Y. 10001. More at ap.org/apjobs/diverse.html. ... Deadline is Jan. 28 to submit an entry illuminating diversity (broadly defined as "a point of respect in which things differ") in the AIGA World Day of Design poster competition. The competition is not limited to AIGA members or professional designers. Fifty winning posters will be exhibited in venues around the nation April 27. The next day, all posters submitted will be posted online. More at aiga.org/worlddayofdesign. ... The International Women's Media Foundation invites applications for the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship, a new program that supports women journalists who report on human rights and social justice issues. The fellowship combines research opportunities at MIT's Center for International Studies and other Boston-area universities with reporting at The New York Times and The Boston Globe. Application deadline is Feb. 25. More at iwmf.org/programs/neuffer. ... The East-West Center in Honolulu is accepting applications -- deadline Jan. 24 -- for its spring 2005 Jefferson Fellowships, a travel-study fellowship for mid-career journalists from Asia, the Pacific and the United States. Fellows spend a week at the East-West Center discussing regional issues with experts. The Americans then travel to Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing for 16 days, while the Asians and Pacific islanders go to Washington, D.C., Minneapolis and Dallas. More at eastwestcenter.org. PRSA local update: NuPros coordinator Phil Beckman reports: "Hello, everyone, and Happy 'News' Year! I invite everyone to join NuPros on Wednesday, Jan. 19 (and every third Wednesday of the month), at Cafe Express, 1540 S. University Drive, for food, fun and networking. Note the new time: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. It's a new year, and we have lots to talk about. Please e-mail me at pbeckman@star-telegram.com so that I have an approximate idea of how big a group we'll have. See you soon!" ... Dallas Morning News arts critic Tom Sime, Pat Porter with the Dallas Business Committee for the Arts and Michelle Bleiberg, PR director for the Dallas Museum of Art, will address "Even Beethoven, Picasso and Shakespeare Need PR: Promoting the Arts in Dallas" at the Dallas PRSA meeting Thursday, Jan. 13. More here. The TCU journalism department, founded in 1927, will be named the Schieffer School of Journalism in recognition of Bob Schieffer, internationally known CBS newsman and 1959 TCU journalism graduate. The name will become official with a dedication ceremony March 8. * Schieffer parlayed his experience on the TCU Skiff into stints at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and then WBAP-TV (now KXAS) before settling at CBS News in 1969. One of the few reporters to have worked all four major beats in the capital -- the White House, the State Department, the Pentagon and Capitol Hill -- he is perhaps best known as moderator of CBS's "Face the Nation" and as the network's chief Washington correspondent. * "The technology of journalism has changed dramatically, but its purpose and core values remain the same -- to find the truth and report it," he said when the naming was announced. "In an increasingly complicated world, the need for good journalism has never been greater." * TCU offers undergraduate degrees in news-editorial and broadcast journalism, photojournalism, publication design, advertising and public relations, and international communication and master's degrees in journalism and advertising and public relations. Schieffer's involvement includes serving in 1999 as chairman of a yearlong strategic planning process called The Commission on the Future of TCU. Twenty years after he got his start at Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations, UNT grad and band singer (The Groove Therapists) Bill Johnson has rejoined the agency as director, creative services. He worked at Witherspoon from 1980 to 1985 as an art director and most recently served as creative director of Fort Worth-based Maverick Advertising & Public Relations. SPJ national update: Do as I say, not as I do; "I hope it saves a life"; and there are more allegations where this came from. On Christmas Day, President Bush called for compassion toward the sick and suffering, urging Americans to volunteer to help the neediest among their fellow citizens. "The Christmas season fills our hearts with gratitude for the many blessings in our lives, and with those blessings comes a responsibility to reach out to others," he said in his weekly radio address. But in the two months leading up to Christmas Day, the Bush administration reduced by $600 million its contributions to global food aid programs aimed at helping millions of people climb out of poverty. Lisa Kuennen, a food aid expert at Catholic Relief Services, said 5 million-7 million people in Indonesia, Malawi and Madagascar, among other countries, will be affected. "We hired staff, signed agreements with governments and with local partners," she said. "We had approval for all of these programs, often a year in advance." More here. ... Spc. Thomas Wilson of Tennessee's 278th Regiment in the National Guard says he came up with the now-famous "armor" question for Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld himself, without the help of embed reporter Lee Pitts of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. And he adds, "If this is my 15 minutes of fame, I hope it saves a life." More here. ... Electoral problems prevented many thousands of Ohioans from voting Nov. 2. In Columbus, bipartisan estimates say that 5,000-15,000 frustrated voters turned away without casting ballots. The foul-ups appeared particularly acute in Democratic-leaning districts. More here and here. SPJ national update II: More FCC values; political correctness trumps values at networks; and war trumps "values" in poll. The FCC recently punished Fox for its "sexually suggestive" flop "Married by America," saying it received 159 complaints. Except an FOI request revealed that there were only 90 complaints filed by 23 individuals, and 20 were copies of another complaint. So three people filed original complaints about a show, and the network got fined $1.2 million. More here. ... The United Church of Christ, a Protestant denomination with 1.3 million members, asked the federal government Dec. 9 to deny license renewals for Florida TV stations WFOR, a CBS affiliate, and NBC's WTVJ, whose parent companies refused to air a 30-second ad that highlights the church's acceptance of people regardless of race and sexual orientation. The networks said the ad is too controversial; the church says the stations are failing to provide viewers "suitable access" to an array of "social, political, esthetic, moral and other ideas and experiences." Last spring, when the spot was tested on a number of stations, including CBS and NBC affiliates, it produced no raging angst. See the ad at stillspeaking.com. More here and here. ... Exit polls Nov. 2 suggested that voters were most concerned with "moral values" as they re-elected George W. Bush president. However, in a nationwide Gallup Poll released Dec. 14, only one in 10 respondents answered values when asked what they consider "the most important problem facing this country today." Far ahead, with 23 percent, was the war in Iraq, followed by terrorism and the economy, both at 12 percent, followed by unemployment and values. More here. SPJ national update III: Misinformation at the Pentagon; libel protection in California; and embarrassed silence at DOA. A two-part Washington Post probe Dec. 5 and 6 depicts the Pentagon as conducting a deliberate misinformation campaign surrounding the friendly-fire death of former football star Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. David Zucchino in the Dec. 6 Los Angeles Times also notes the changing Pentagon story and adds that even the "amended Pentagon conclusion is contradicted by Afghans who were there the night of April 22." Zucchino quotes Tillman's father: "The investigation is a lie. It's insulting to Pat." More here. ... Media outlets cannot be sued for defamation and libel for reporting stories based on public court records, even if the documents are old, the California Supreme Court ruled in a case concerning a man who sued a TV channel for dredging up his past. Thirteen years after pleading guilty to being an accessory to murder, the Discovery Channel aired a program in 2001 that retold the story behind the shooting of Steve Gates' employer. Gates sued for invasion of privacy and libel, saying he is no longer a public figure. More here. ... Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman had no immediate explanation of how Bush administration policies have taken American agriculture from a $13.6 billion trade surplus in 2001 to a flat line in four years. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates released Nov. 22, 2005 will be the first year in nearly 50 that America will not turn an agricultural trade surplus. More here. SPJ national update IV: Doing business in the daylight; those who would keep that from happening; and taking a stand. The "Sunshine Sunday" campaign that papers in Florida, South Carolina and Alabama have conducted to bolster open-government measures is going national and expanding to a full week beginning March 13. Newspapers, broadcasters and online news groups nationwide will present commentary, cartoons and news stories to encourage a discussion on why transparency in government benefits all citizens, not just journalists. AP president Tom Curley said a national campaign is needed to fight government secrecy "that seems to be growing at an epidemic rate." More here. ... Thanksgiving week marked the 30th anniversary of a bitter Washington battle that produced, over a presidential veto, the landmark Freedom of Information Act. It also warns of new threats to that law, as the leading losers in 1974 now dominate the vice presidency, the Pentagon and the Supreme Court. More here and here and here. ... SPJ supports a Rhode Island TV reporter's decision not to identify a confidential source; the reporter faces six months in jail after a federal judge found him guilty of contempt. SPJ also encouraged a positive outcome at Brigham Young U., where charges were dropped recently against a student journalist; asked Congress to reconsider post-Sept. 11 provisions that would repeal financial reporting requirements for senior government officials; has aided reporter Miles Moffeit as he fights a military court subpoena for his Denver Post notes; and joined the NPPA to protest the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority's effort to ban photography on New York's buses and subways. More here and here and here and here. SPJ national update V: Superintendent backs adviser; trustees back student newspaper staff; and judge condemns censorship. Chad Tuley, newspaper adviser at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis, was suspended in November over a published story, but he received support from the superintendent and likely won't be fired. Principal Kevin Koers told Tuley that the story about an 11th-grade student charged with murder in connection with the stabbing and beating of a 67-year-old man was too sensitive for a student paper. ... A Southern heritage group urged the East Carolina University board of trustees to sanction the East Carolinian for an opinion column that called the Confederate flag a racist symbol. School officials declined, saying that the East Carolinian is controlled by ECU students and does not speak for the school. More here. ... Student journalists "must be allowed to publish viewpoints contrary to those of state authorities without intervention or censorship by the authorities themselves," U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Tarnow ruled Nov. 17. Tarnow earlier called "indefensible" officials' censorship of a 2002 story in the Utica (N.Y.) High School Arrow about a lawsuit filed against Utica Community Schools by a local man and his wife who maintained that diesel exhaust from a school bus garage, owned by the district and located near their home, worsened the man's lung cancer. More here. =================================================== PEOPLE & PLACES After 11 years with the Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors, Fort Worth SPJ stalwart Verlie Edwards has left to become chief of staff for Rep.-elect Rob Orr, R-District 58, in the Texas House of Representatives. She was SPJ chapter president in 1995-96. =================================================== GET A JOB The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas seeks a content management coordinator for its web sites. Requirements include a bachelor's degree in business, at least five years in corporate communications, PR or marketing and experience with content management software, preferably Documentum, as well as Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Adobe Acrobat. Knowledge of banking products and services is a plus. Apply through the web site at www.fhlb.com. ... Fort Worth Country Day School seeks a fund-raising director for Summerbridge, an outreach to FWISD middle school students. Must have a college degree. More from advancement director Anne Robillard, (817) 302-3223, arobillard@fwcds.org. ... The Dallas office of Burson-Marsteller is hiring. Must have at least five years in PR, corporate or not-for-profit environment. Ability to speak Spanish is a plus. E- glen_orr@dal.bm.com. ... EDS in Plano seeks a corporate PR director. Must have 10 years PR experience with a large public company or global agency and a B.A. in journalism or related discipline. Graduate degree and a technology background are pluses. E- résumé to dana.scott@eds.com. ... The Margulies Communications Group has an immediate need for an account executive "with a strong track record of writing media materials and pitching media." E- pidge@prexperts.net. ... The travel commerce company Sabre Holdings is hiring a web designer. Must have a bachelor's degree, at least three years experience in web-based graphic design and advanced knowledge of JavaScript and CSS, DreamWeaver, Fireworks and Photoshop, Flash and ActionScript. Apply online at Sabre-Holdings.com or Monster.com, or e- andrea.scott@sabre-holdings.com. =================================================== COMINGS & GOINGS Additions ... at the S-T: Ehren Meditz, a May 2004 Kansas U. j-grad and recipient of KU's John Bremner Award for copy editing, on the news copy desk; he worked as an intern this summer at The Philadelphia Inquirer Exits ... at the S-T: Ilene Aleshire, who worked as both an editor and reporter in business news for nearly seven years, to The Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore., as business team leader =================================================== RESOURCES SPJ's Rainbow Source Book (spj.org/rainbowsourcebook) is an online database of experts on populations historically underrepresented in the news: people of color, women, gays and lesbians, and people with disabilities. A companion "Diversity Toolbox" provides links to diversity resources and institutions on the web. ==================================================== PRESIDENT'S CORNER Heather Senter, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA It's that time again when we scramble to set New Year's resolutions, and as I can attest, most are short-lived. How much easier they would be to keep if 32 individuals were supporting us each month. Well, your PRSA chapter has developed goals for 2005 that I know we can keep because of the 32 talented and ambitious professionals on the board who will make sure they are all carried through. Here's a look at some of the things we will accomplish this year: -- Establish the Masters special interest group for seasoned pros with 15-plus years experience or APR designation. Andra Bennett, APR, is chairing this SIG. -- Focus on diversity. It's a national PRSA priority and one of ours, too. We'll devote an entire month, and a special program, to diversity issues. -- Increase our number of APRs. With national making the APR exam more convenient to take, including eliminating the minimum five years work experience, we have no excuse. Two of our most distinguished members, Mary Dulle, APR, Fellow PRSA, and Carolyn Bobo, APR, Fellow PRSA, are leading the charge. -- Provide more value to our members. Look for an improved job bank, with a new online intern section; more exceptional programs and professional development series; the continuation of free teleseminars; and additional networking events. Feel free to e-mail any board member with ideas. To start off the year, we're turning the tables at our January program. So many times we ask what you can do for PRSA, but this month we answer the question, "What can PRSA do for you?" Think of your membership as a knowledge bank of 20,000 PR professionals. Kelly Albanese with national PRSA will preview what's on the horizon in 2005. She will also address how PRSA works with different member groups, including corporate practitioners, independent practitioners, nonprofits and agencies. Bring questions for a Q&A session. And come early to meet your 2005 board and committee chairs. This is a great time to talk with colleagues about the APR examination or one of our special interest groups -- Health Care, Higher Education, Creative Consultants, NuPros or the Masters. Here's to a successful and prosperous 2005. Happy New Year! ----- PRESIDENT'S COLUMN Tim Tune, IABC/Fort Worth When January rolls around, it's hard to avoid overloading our minds, daytimers and PDAs with all the things we want to accomplish over the next 12 months. Topping my goals for 2005 is to make sure that I take advantage of all of the resources offered by IABC: Communication World magazine; an international network of 15,000 communicators; iabc.com with its invaluable members-only area; the all-member monthly electronic newsletter; the Customer Service Centre; international conference; IABC seminar series; Gold Quill awards program; IABC Knowledge Centre, including manuals with exclusive original material; the Next Generation Fund (conference and seminar scholarships and membership assistance offered twice a year to members); accreditation (test offered in five languages); and the biennial profile salary survey. Whew. And, of course, we're proud of how the Fort Worth chapter adds value by providing members with even more opportunities for professional development and networking through the monthly programs and special workshops. On Tuesday, Jan. 4, at our networking luncheon we'll discuss just how you can take advantage of these resources. We will review upcoming programs, explain how you can become an accredited business communicator and win a Bronze Quill, and outline the online resources and services available to members. We'd love to see you. Come join us. And don't forget to bring your to-do list. ----- OVER & OUT John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ The Jan. 12 meeting promises to be enlightening, with investigative reporters Nanci Wilson and Scott Streater telling how they crowbar in-depth projects into their daily beat schedule and actually have a life, too. Successful reporters, proven techniques -- bring a notepad, you'll learn something. It's why we're here. And good job, revelers and revelees, as 65 of you hit the holiday party in December at Coors, and the JPS Health Network took home 275 books, four puzzles, one game, four stuffed animals and five multiple book sets -- $1,375 worth of Christmas cheer -- for its children's library. You loved the room so much, we've already reserved it for this year -- Dec. 8. ... They're standing in line to make you look good at SPJ national. Postmark deadline is Feb. 7 for this year's Sigma Delta Chi Awards. Entries may be submitted in 49 print, magazine, radio, TV, newsletter, research and online categories. More at spj.org/awards_sdx.asp, or e- awards@spj.org. ... Defrocked ministers for Bush. On Dec. 7, Des Moines, Iowa, TV station KCCI reported that the Rev. Mike Hintz, married father of four, was fired Oct. 30 as a First Assembly of God youth pastor after acknowledging to church officials that he started an affair with a 17-year-old woman in the church youth group last spring. He turned himself in to police and was charged with sexual exploitation by a counselor. This would be the same Mike Hintz who on Dec. 6 appeared in Des Moines with George W. Bush touting the administration's tax cuts. "The American people are starting to see what kind of leader President Bush is," Hintz said. And, he said, he supports Bush's values. ... How better to start the New Year than with a definitive list of stripper names, courtesy of BONG Bull. As wordsmiths, we have much here to admire. BB editor and objets d'art marketeer Charley Stough of the San Antonio Express-News has friends and they have friends, and recalling the ecdysiast moniker is a thing they like to do, from Bang-Bang LaDesh and Virginia Hams and the Gaza Stripper to Melba, the Toast of the Town, and Freda Slaves (performing in Buffalo, N.Y., years ago on Abraham Lincoln's birthday) and Anna Cyn, Miss Painkiller of 1970. One fellow wrote stage names for the Trocadero, built in 1898 and once Philadelphia's premiere burlesque house. (A Troc ad touted "Russian" bombshell Takya Vestoff: "She's gone from Steppes to Stares!") By the late '70s the past-its-prime Troc was down to three dancers ("You can't say Zelda Schwartz is coming in next week!" reasoned the manager, "Slapsie" Maxie Furman), so they regularly got different names: Bea Cupp, Carlotta Tendant, Rhoda Rooter, Anne Chovy, Claire Voyant, Ophelia Pulse, Penny Saved, Helen Earth, Tess Tickle, Crystal Chandelier, Lena Genst, April Fifteenth, Rita Book, Della Catessen, Cora Nary (no pacemakers allowed), Ruth Less, Pat Pending, Ella Vator, Hedy Brew, Faith Healer, Alison Wonderland, Polly Ester and, at holiday time, Beth Le Hem, the new star in the East. Police raided the Troc on Dec. 7, 1971; local veterans reportedly were in arms over the headline act that day: Pearl Harbor. Closing words: "We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people." -- Bill Moyers, 70, who on Dec. 17 signed off from "Now," the weekly PBS newsmagazine he began in 2002, as he retired from television ... "At least I have been spared the sight of television." -- humorist James Thurber, who suffered from poor eyesight for most of his life and eventually went completely blind Closing words II, world at war division: "I have a very strong sense that the mental health consequences are going to be the medical story of this war." -- Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, 1994-97 (through September, the Army had evacuated nearly 900 troops from Iraq for psychiatric reasons, including attempts or threatened attempts at suicide) ... "Iraq is heading for civil war and total chaos, and the Jan. 30 election is like putting a Flintstones Band-Aid on a gushing femoral artery." -- retired military intelligence Sgt. Maj. J. David Gallant, an instructor at the Army Military Intelligence Center and School at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. ... "Iraq is just three people away from democratic success. Unfortunately, the three are George Washington, James Madison and John Marshall." -- columnist George Will

Kelly Albanese, national PRSA representative and chapter/district relationship coordinator, will explain "What PRSA can do for you" at the January GFW PRSA luncheon. Besides spotlighting PRSA's 2005 plans, she will tell how best to utilize national PRSA resources, including the variety of professional interest sections like Corporate, Employee and Financial Communications.

Time & date: 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 12, with an information fair from 11:30 a.m. to noon

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

Parking: free valet in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets

Cost: $20 members, $23 nonmembers, $18 students

RSVP by noon Jan. 7: rsvp@fortworthprsa.org

Next at Fort Worth SPJ ...

Finding Time for Long-term Projects

Meet two journalists who do find the time: Nanci Wilson and Scott Streater. Both cover major beats but still do investigative work they consider vital to good journalism -- and to personal growth. They will share their tips at the January meeting for putting project time in your already busy daily schedule. You'll even go home with a handout.

Wilson, an investigative reporter for KEYE-TV in Austin, recently won the National Journalism Award and the Edward R. Murrow Award for Investigative Reporting. While at the Pensacola News Journal, Streater won a 2002 Society of Environmental Journalists first place, the 2001 Waldo Proffitt Award for environmental journalism in Florida and the 2001 Edward J. Meeman Award for environmental reporting from the Scripps-Howard Foundation. He has produced close to 40 stories for the Star-Telegram since joining the paper in October 2003, including in-depth reports on "Byzantine" federal air quality regulations, obfuscation at the EPA and discarded prescription drugs trashing Texas waterways.

Date & time: Wednesday, Jan. 12; mingling and eats start at 5:30, program at 7

Place: Texas Land & Cattle Steak House, 2009 E. Copeland Road in Arlington, (817) 461-1500; from Dallas, exit Collins Street off I-30, cross the I-30 bridge and turn left (go east) on Copeland Road (immediately south of I-30); about a mile down the road, just past the Howard Johnson, turn left into the parking lot that both Texas Land & Cattle and On the Border share; from Fort Worth, exit Nolan Ryan Expressway off I-30 and turn left on to Copeland Road at the light

Cost: you decide -- order off the menu

RSVP: Kay Pirtle at mkpirtle@yahoo.com

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

IABC/Dallas' seventh annual networking luncheon launches '05 in a business card and buffet sort of way Tuesday, Jan. 11. More here. ... Watch fortworthchamber.com/ for details on Anita Vanetti's Feb. 15 seminar on how to pitch to the media. ...

Ten student journalists will be selected to attend the 2005 Sports Journalism Institute, a training program for college sophomores and juniors (any major) interested in a sports journalism career, June 18-Aug. 13. Application deadline is Jan. 4. The students will receive an expenses-paid crash course in sports journalism at the APSE annual convention in Orlando, June 22-25; a seven-week paid internship in the sports department of a daily newspaper; and a $500 scholarship for those who return to school. More here. ...

Application deadline is Jan. 14 for the five-day Diverse Voices multicultural workshop pairing aspiring student journalists with AP writers and editors as mentors. The workshop, tentatively set for May 16-20, is open to full-time college sophomores or juniors; up to 12 will be chosen. The AP pays expenses. Send a résumé, at least three writing samples, a 500-word essay on why you'd like to participate and two letters of recommendation, at least one from a teacher or faculty adviser, to Robert Naylor, director of career development/news, The Associated Press, 450 W. 33rd St., New York, N.Y. 10001. More at ap.org/apjobs/diverse.html. ... Deadline is Jan. 28 to submit an entry illuminating diversity (broadly defined as "a point of respect in which things differ") in the AIGA World Day of Design poster competition. The competition is not limited to AIGA members or professional designers. Fifty winning posters will be exhibited in venues around the nation April 27. The next day, all posters submitted will be posted online. More at aiga.org/worlddayofdesign. ...

The International Women's Media Foundation invites applications for the Elizabeth Neuffer Fellowship, a new program that supports women journalists who report on human rights and social justice issues. The fellowship combines research opportunities at MIT's Center for International Studies and other Boston-area universities with reporting at The New York Times and The Boston Globe. Application deadline is Feb. 25. More at iwmf.org/programs/neuffer. ... The East-West Center in Honolulu is accepting applications -- deadline Jan. 24 -- for its spring 2005 Jefferson Fellowships, a travel-study fellowship for mid-career journalists from Asia, the Pacific and the United States. Fellows spend a week at the East-West Center discussing regional issues with experts. The Americans then travel to Jakarta, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Beijing for 16 days, while the Asians and Pacific islanders go to Washington, D.C., Minneapolis and Dallas. More at eastwestcenter.org.

PRSA local update: NuPros coordinator Phil Beckman reports: "Hello, everyone, and Happy 'News' Year! I invite everyone to join NuPros on Wednesday, Jan. 19 (and every third Wednesday of the month), at Cafe Express, 1540 S. University Drive, for food, fun and networking. Note the new time: 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. It's a new year, and we have lots to talk about. Please e-mail me at pbeckman@star-telegram.com so that I have an approximate idea of how big a group we'll have. See you soon!" ... Dallas Morning News arts critic Tom Sime, Pat Porter with the Dallas Business Committee for the Arts and Michelle Bleiberg, PR director for the Dallas Museum of Art, will address "Even Beethoven, Picasso and Shakespeare Need PR: Promoting the Arts in Dallas" at the Dallas PRSA meeting Thursday, Jan. 13. More here.

The TCU journalism department, founded in 1927, will be named the Schieffer School of Journalism in recognition of Bob Schieffer, internationally known CBS newsman and 1959 TCU journalism graduate. The name will become official with a dedication ceremony March 8. * Schieffer parlayed his experience on the TCU Skiff into stints at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and then WBAP-TV (now KXAS) before settling at CBS News in 1969. One of the few reporters to have worked all four major beats in the capital -- the White House, the State Department, the Pentagon and Capitol Hill -- he is perhaps best known as moderator of CBS's "Face the Nation" and as the network's chief Washington correspondent. * "The technology of journalism has changed dramatically, but its purpose and core values remain the same -- to find the truth and report it," he said when the naming was announced. "In an increasingly complicated world, the need for good journalism has never been greater." * TCU offers undergraduate degrees in news-editorial and broadcast journalism, photojournalism, publication design, advertising and public relations, and international communication and master's degrees in journalism and advertising and public relations. Schieffer's involvement includes serving in 1999 as chairman of a yearlong strategic planning process called The Commission on the Future of TCU.

Twenty years after he got his start at Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations, UNT grad and band singer (The Groove Therapists) Bill Johnson has rejoined the agency as director, creative services. He worked at Witherspoon from 1980 to 1985 as an art director and most recently served as creative director of Fort Worth-based Maverick Advertising & Public Relations.

SPJ national update: Do as I say, not as I do; "I hope it saves a life"; and there are more allegations where this came from. On Christmas Day, President Bush called for compassion toward the sick and suffering, urging Americans to volunteer to help the neediest among their fellow citizens. "The Christmas season fills our hearts with gratitude for the many blessings in our lives, and with those blessings comes a responsibility to reach out to others," he said in his weekly radio address. But in the two months leading up to Christmas Day, the Bush administration reduced by $600 million its contributions to global food aid programs aimed at helping millions of people climb out of poverty. Lisa Kuennen, a food aid expert at Catholic Relief Services, said 5 million-7 million people in Indonesia, Malawi and Madagascar, among other countries, will be affected. "We hired staff, signed agreements with governments and with local partners," she said. "We had approval for all of these programs, often a year in advance." More here. ... Spc. Thomas Wilson of Tennessee's 278th Regiment in the National Guard says he came up with the now-famous "armor" question for Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld himself, without the help of embed reporter Lee Pitts of the Chattanooga Times Free Press. And he adds, "If this is my 15 minutes of fame, I hope it saves a life." More here. ... Electoral problems prevented many thousands of Ohioans from voting Nov. 2. In Columbus, bipartisan estimates say that 5,000-15,000 frustrated voters turned away without casting ballots. The foul-ups appeared particularly acute in Democratic-leaning districts. More here and here.

SPJ national update II: More FCC values; political correctness trumps values at networks; and war trumps "values" in poll. The FCC recently punished Fox for its "sexually suggestive" flop "Married by America," saying it received 159 complaints. Except an FOI request revealed that there were only 90 complaints filed by 23 individuals, and 20 were copies of another complaint. So three people filed original complaints about a show, and the network got fined $1.2 million. More here. ... The United Church of Christ, a Protestant denomination with 1.3 million members, asked the federal government Dec. 9 to deny license renewals for Florida TV stations WFOR, a CBS affiliate, and NBC's WTVJ, whose parent companies refused to air a 30-second ad that highlights the church's acceptance of people regardless of race and sexual orientation. The networks said the ad is too controversial; the church says the stations are failing to provide viewers "suitable access" to an array of "social, political, esthetic, moral and other ideas and experiences." Last spring, when the spot was tested on a number of stations, including CBS and NBC affiliates, it produced no raging angst. See the ad at stillspeaking.com. More here and here. ... Exit polls Nov. 2 suggested that voters were most concerned with "moral values" as they re-elected George W. Bush president. However, in a nationwide Gallup Poll released Dec. 14, only one in 10 respondents answered values when asked what they consider "the most important problem facing this country today." Far ahead, with 23 percent, was the war in Iraq, followed by terrorism and the economy, both at 12 percent, followed by unemployment and values. More here.

SPJ national update III: Misinformation at the Pentagon; libel protection in California; and embarrassed silence at DOA. A two-part Washington Post probe Dec. 5 and 6 depicts the Pentagon as conducting a deliberate misinformation campaign surrounding the friendly-fire death of former football star Pat Tillman in Afghanistan. David Zucchino in the Dec. 6 Los Angeles Times also notes the changing Pentagon story and adds that even the "amended Pentagon conclusion is contradicted by Afghans who were there the night of April 22." Zucchino quotes Tillman's father: "The investigation is a lie. It's insulting to Pat." More here. ... Media outlets cannot be sued for defamation and libel for reporting stories based on public court records, even if the documents are old, the California Supreme Court ruled in a case concerning a man who sued a TV channel for dredging up his past. Thirteen years after pleading guilty to being an accessory to murder, the Discovery Channel aired a program in 2001 that retold the story behind the shooting of Steve Gates' employer. Gates sued for invasion of privacy and libel, saying he is no longer a public figure. More here. ... Secretary of Agriculture Ann Veneman had no immediate explanation of how Bush administration policies have taken American agriculture from a $13.6 billion trade surplus in 2001 to a flat line in four years. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates released Nov. 22, 2005 will be the first year in nearly 50 that America will not turn an agricultural trade surplus. More here.

SPJ national update IV: Doing business in the daylight; those who would keep that from happening; and taking a stand. The "Sunshine Sunday" campaign that papers in Florida, South Carolina and Alabama have conducted to bolster open-government measures is going national and expanding to a full week beginning March 13. Newspapers, broadcasters and online news groups nationwide will present commentary, cartoons and news stories to encourage a discussion on why transparency in government benefits all citizens, not just journalists. AP president Tom Curley said a national campaign is needed to fight government secrecy "that seems to be growing at an epidemic rate." More here. ... Thanksgiving week marked the 30th anniversary of a bitter Washington battle that produced, over a presidential veto, the landmark Freedom of Information Act. It also warns of new threats to that law, as the leading losers in 1974 now dominate the vice presidency, the Pentagon and the Supreme Court. More here and here and here. ... SPJ supports a Rhode Island TV reporter's decision not to identify a confidential source; the reporter faces six months in jail after a federal judge found him guilty of contempt. SPJ also encouraged a positive outcome at Brigham Young U., where charges were dropped recently against a student journalist; asked Congress to reconsider post-Sept. 11 provisions that would repeal financial reporting requirements for senior government officials; has aided reporter Miles Moffeit as he fights a military court subpoena for his Denver Post notes; and joined the NPPA to protest the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority's effort to ban photography on New York's buses and subways. More here and here and here and here.

SPJ national update V: Superintendent backs adviser; trustees back student newspaper staff; and judge condemns censorship. Chad Tuley, newspaper adviser at Franklin Central High School in Indianapolis, was suspended in November over a published story, but he received support from the superintendent and likely won't be fired. Principal Kevin Koers told Tuley that the story about an 11th-grade student charged with murder in connection with the stabbing and beating of a 67-year-old man was too sensitive for a student paper. ... A Southern heritage group urged the East Carolina University board of trustees to sanction the East Carolinian for an opinion column that called the Confederate flag a racist symbol. School officials declined, saying that the East Carolinian is controlled by ECU students and does not speak for the school. More here. ... Student journalists "must be allowed to publish viewpoints contrary to those of state authorities without intervention or censorship by the authorities themselves," U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Tarnow ruled Nov. 17. Tarnow earlier called "indefensible" officials' censorship of a 2002 story in the Utica (N.Y.) High School Arrow about a lawsuit filed against Utica Community Schools by a local man and his wife who maintained that diesel exhaust from a school bus garage, owned by the district and located near their home, worsened the man's lung cancer. More here.

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After 11 years with the Greater Fort Worth Association of Realtors, Fort Worth SPJ stalwart Verlie Edwards has left to become chief of staff for Rep.-elect Rob Orr, R-District 58, in the Texas House of Representatives. She was SPJ chapter president in 1995-96.

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The Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas seeks a content management coordinator for its web sites. Requirements include a bachelor's degree in business, at least five years in corporate communications, PR or marketing and experience with content management software, preferably Documentum, as well as Word, Excel, Powerpoint and Adobe Acrobat. Knowledge of banking products and services is a plus. Apply through the web site at www.fhlb.com. ... Fort Worth Country Day School seeks a fund-raising director for Summerbridge, an outreach to FWISD middle school students. Must have a college degree. More from advancement director Anne Robillard, (817) 302-3223, arobillard@fwcds.org. ...

The Dallas office of Burson-Marsteller is hiring. Must have at least five years in PR, corporate or not-for-profit environment. Ability to speak Spanish is a plus. E- glen_orr@dal.bm.com. ... EDS in Plano seeks a corporate PR director. Must have 10 years PR experience with a large public company or global agency and a B.A. in journalism or related discipline. Graduate degree and a technology background are pluses. E- résumé to dana.scott@eds.com. ... The Margulies Communications Group has an immediate need for an account executive "with a strong track record of writing media materials and pitching media." E- pidge@prexperts.net. ...

The travel commerce company Sabre Holdings is hiring a web designer. Must have a bachelor's degree, at least three years experience in web-based graphic design and advanced knowledge of JavaScript and CSS, DreamWeaver, Fireworks and Photoshop, Flash and ActionScript. Apply online at Sabre-Holdings.com or Monster.com, or e- andrea.scott@sabre-holdings.com.

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Additions ... at the S-T: Ehren Meditz, a May 2004 Kansas U. j-grad and recipient of KU's John Bremner Award for copy editing, on the news copy desk; he worked as an intern this summer at The Philadelphia Inquirer

Exits ... at the S-T: Ilene Aleshire, who worked as both an editor and reporter in business news for nearly seven years, to The Register-Guard in Eugene, Ore., as business team leader

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SPJ's Rainbow Source Book (spj.org/rainbowsourcebook) is an online database of experts on populations historically underrepresented in the news: people of color, women, gays and lesbians, and people with disabilities. A companion "Diversity Toolbox" provides links to diversity resources and institutions on the web.

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Heather Senter, APR, Greater Fort Worth PRSA

It's that time again when we scramble to set New Year's resolutions, and as I can attest, most are short-lived. How much easier they would be to keep if 32 individuals were supporting us each month. Well, your PRSA chapter has developed goals for 2005 that I know we can keep because of the 32 talented and ambitious professionals on the board who will make sure they are all carried through. Here's a look at some of the things we will accomplish this year:

To start off the year, we're turning the tables at our January program. So many times we ask what you can do for PRSA, but this month we answer the question, "What can PRSA do for you?" Think of your membership as a knowledge bank of 20,000 PR professionals. Kelly Albanese with national PRSA will preview what's on the horizon in 2005. She will also address how PRSA works with different member groups, including corporate practitioners, independent practitioners, nonprofits and agencies. Bring questions for a Q&A session.

Tim Tune, IABC/Fort Worth

When January rolls around, it's hard to avoid overloading our minds, daytimers and PDAs with all the things we want to accomplish over the next 12 months. Topping my goals for 2005 is to make sure that I take advantage of all of the resources offered by IABC: Communication World magazine; an international network of 15,000 communicators; iabc.com with its invaluable members-only area; the all-member monthly electronic newsletter; the Customer Service Centre; international conference; IABC seminar series; Gold Quill awards program; IABC Knowledge Centre, including manuals with exclusive original material; the Next Generation Fund (conference and seminar scholarships and membership assistance offered twice a year to members); accreditation (test offered in five languages); and the biennial profile salary survey.

John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ

The Jan. 12 meeting promises to be enlightening, with investigative reporters Nanci Wilson and Scott Streater telling how they crowbar in-depth projects into their daily beat schedule and actually have a life, too. Successful reporters, proven techniques -- bring a notepad, you'll learn something. It's why we're here. And good job, revelers and revelees, as 65 of you hit the holiday party in December at Coors, and the JPS Health Network took home 275 books, four puzzles, one game, four stuffed animals and five multiple book sets -- $1,375 worth of Christmas cheer -- for its children's library. You loved the room so much, we've already reserved it for this year -- Dec. 8. ...

Defrocked ministers for Bush. On Dec. 7, Des Moines, Iowa, TV station KCCI reported that the Rev. Mike Hintz, married father of four, was fired Oct. 30 as a First Assembly of God youth pastor after acknowledging to church officials that he started an affair with a 17-year-old woman in the church youth group last spring. He turned himself in to police and was charged with sexual exploitation by a counselor. This would be the same Mike Hintz who on Dec. 6 appeared in Des Moines with George W. Bush touting the administration's tax cuts. "The American people are starting to see what kind of leader President Bush is," Hintz said. And, he said, he supports Bush's values. ...

How better to start the New Year than with a definitive list of stripper names, courtesy of BONG Bull. As wordsmiths, we have much here to admire. BB editor and objets d'art marketeer Charley Stough of the San Antonio Express-News has friends and they have friends, and recalling the ecdysiast moniker is a thing they like to do, from Bang-Bang LaDesh and Virginia Hams and the Gaza Stripper to Melba, the Toast of the Town, and Freda Slaves (performing in Buffalo, N.Y., years ago on Abraham Lincoln's birthday) and Anna Cyn, Miss Painkiller of 1970. One fellow wrote stage names for the Trocadero, built in 1898 and once Philadelphia's premiere burlesque house. (A Troc ad touted "Russian" bombshell Takya Vestoff: "She's gone from Steppes to Stares!") By the late '70s the past-its-prime Troc was down to three dancers ("You can't say Zelda Schwartz is coming in next week!" reasoned the manager, "Slapsie" Maxie Furman), so they regularly got different names: Bea Cupp, Carlotta Tendant, Rhoda Rooter, Anne Chovy, Claire Voyant, Ophelia Pulse, Penny Saved, Helen Earth, Tess Tickle, Crystal Chandelier, Lena Genst, April Fifteenth, Rita Book, Della Catessen, Cora Nary (no pacemakers allowed), Ruth Less, Pat Pending, Ella Vator, Hedy Brew, Faith Healer, Alison Wonderland, Polly Ester and, at holiday time, Beth Le Hem, the new star in the East. Police raided the Troc on Dec. 7, 1971; local veterans reportedly were in arms over the headline act that day: Pearl Harbor.

Closing words: "We have an ideological press that's interested in the election of Republicans, and a mainstream press that's interested in the bottom line. Therefore, we don't have a vigilant, independent press whose interest is the American people." -- Bill Moyers, 70, who on Dec. 17 signed off from "Now," the weekly PBS newsmagazine he began in 2002, as he retired from television ... "At least I have been spared the sight of television." -- humorist James Thurber, who suffered from poor eyesight for most of his life and eventually went completely blind

Closing words II, world at war division: "I have a very strong sense that the mental health consequences are going to be the medical story of this war." -- Dr. Stephen C. Joseph, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, 1994-97 (through September, the Army had evacuated nearly 900 troops from Iraq for psychiatric reasons, including attempts or threatened attempts at suicide) ... "Iraq is heading for civil war and total chaos, and the Jan. 30 election is like putting a Flintstones Band-Aid on a gushing femoral artery." -- retired military intelligence Sgt. Maj. J. David Gallant, an instructor at the Army Military Intelligence Center and School at Fort Huachuca, Ariz. ... "Iraq is just three people away from democratic success. Unfortunately, the three are George Washington, James Madison and John Marshall." -- columnist George Will