July 2002
2002 SPJ National Convention
Staking New Frontiers
Headquartered at the four-diamond Renaissance Worthington Hotel in downtown Fort Worth, the convention will pulse with discussions on everything from FOI, to internships, to the art of interviewing, to ... face reading! Close to a thousand journalists and industry observers will come together for a whirlwind three days of career development, networking and good times. For an hour-by-hour session overview, full list of presenters and registration details, go to spj.org/convention.asp.
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MEETINGS
Next at IABC/Fort Worth ...
Preparing for Crisis Mode
Knowing how to communicate during a crisis can make or break a company. Kelli Horst, TCU director of communications, will offer tips at the July IABC meeting to increase effectiveness.
* Time, date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, July 9
* Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
* Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket validated)
* Cost: $17 members, $22 nonmembers, $12 students
* RSVP by noon July 5: Dan Frost at (817) 735-6157 or frostdg@c-b.com
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Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ...
Get Those Creative Juices Flowing
The Creative Juice Bar professional development seminar will offer a fun look at several nonprofit and for-profit campaigns and the approaches that garnered award-winning results. John Armato, senior vice president and partner, Fleishman-Hillard Kansas City, and Tricia Coghlan, account supervisor, Richards/Gravelle Dallas, have scads of information to present at the July meeting.
Armato's clients include Hewlett-Packard, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the Iams Company and H&R Block, and he heads the firm's agency-of-record relationship with Hallmark. He led the team that launched Hallmark's "Warm Wishes" greeting cards line in 1999, resulting in record-setting media attention for a new product. In January 2000, he helped turn Wall Street into "All Street" as part of a brand repositioning for H&R Block.
Coghlan's successes since joining Richards/Gravelle in 1995 include hosting a celebrity charity cyber surf-off for BigFatWow!, a company providing high-speed Internet access in shopping malls, and coordinating all-day shoots for "20/20" on behalf of Children's Medical Center of Dallas. She has honed her epicurean skills with programs for HEB's Central Market, the Corner Bakery Café and Schweppes party mixers.
* Time & date: registration 8 a.m., seminar 8:30-11:30, luncheon 11:45-1 p.m. Wednesday, July 10
* Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
* Parking: $2.50 in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket validated)
* Cost: seminar and lunch $50 PRSA, IABC and SPJ members, $60 nonmembers, $35 students; lunch only $20 members, $23 nonmembers, $18 students
* RSVP by noon July 8: Lisa Albert at lalbert@ymcafw.org
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Next at Fort Worth SPJ ...
It's a Party; How Much More Do You Need to Know?
Here is what's set. Barbecue baron Ronnie Holcomb, a catering fixture of Fort Worth SPJ's most memorable occasions, will provide the food for a midsummer do in the gentrified Berkeley enclave (this is uptown; finally, you can drive through and actually get out of the car). Song stylist Annie Golightly, another SPJ favorite, has been invited to perform but is not expected, as she has officially retired. If it's like Dorothy Estes' retirement, she might show up anyway.
One organizer suggested, "Why don't you just say the Annual (or somewhere thereabouts) Summertime Beer Bust, Grape Gala and Burnt & Barbecued Ribfest will be July 27 at Max Faulkner's seaside villa overlooking the nude beach." That's close enough.
* Date: Saturday, July 27
* Time: bar opens at 6 p.m., dinner 7, structured merriment after that maybe, maybe not
* Place: Max and Helena Faulkner's, 2205 Windsor Place
* Cost: $15 SPJ members, $20 nonmembers, $10 students; any new member who joins on the spot eats free
* Menu: ribs, chicken, sausage and all the trimmings from rib wrangler Ronnie Holcomb; tea, soft drinks, beer, wine and something a bit different from Miller Brewing
* RSVP: Kay Pirtle at mkpirtle@yahoo.com
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STRAIGHT STUFF
PRSA's community service project, Sister Cities' People to People for Peace, still needs volunteers to help with on-site media needs during the conference, July 22-24. Contact Kelli Horst, k.horst@tcu.edu. ... The Counselors Academy of PRSA will present a 90-minute teleseminar, "Client Retention and Creating Clients for Life," with John Gamble, founder and president of Tenacity, Inc., at 1 p.m. Tuesday, July 9. At least 10 people committing $25 to participate would reduce everyone's cost if signing on separately. E-mail Nancy Farrar at nancyh829@aol.com. ... The officers and directors selection process for the SPJ and PRSA chapters fires up in July. To submit a name for consideration, e-mail Gary Hardee for SPJ at ghardee@star-telegram.com and Mary Dulle for PRSA (no later than July 12) at mary.dulle@alconlabs.com. ... The National Association of Hispanic Communicators needs volunteers from 10 a.m. to noon and 1:30-3 p.m. Sept. 28 to assist with its annual journalism workshop at UTA. More info closer to the date. E-mail Carmen Alvarado Vasquez at cgalvarado12@hotmail.com. ...
Lt. Col. Rivers Johnson, Pentagon press operations officer, will discuss crisis communications and strategic planning at the Dallas PRSA monthly meeting Thursday, July 11, at the Park City Club, 5956 Sherry Lane. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m. Cost for members with reservations is $25, guests and members without reservations $30. Call (817) 858-6088 or register online at prsadallas.org/lunregistration.html by 5 p.m. July 8. Identify if you are a member when making reservations. Seating will be first come, first served.
SPJ national update: 1 alarm sounded, 1 win ... The two major newspaper editor associations are joining to express alarm over government secrecy, particularly after Sept. 11, and to help the public better understand the values of an informed society. "The FOI issue has grown significantly in importance since 9/11," said Douglas Clifton, editor of The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and head of the Freedom of Information Committee of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. "Yet in times such as these, an informed public is essential to the democratic process." Leaders of ASNE and the Associated Press Managing Editors met last month to consider ways to deal with the increasing tendency of governments -- federal, state and local, even school boards and town councils -- to withhold information. ... The Bush administration lost a round in its fight to censor a book about China's nuclear weapons program when a federal judge said the court has the authority to review its decision. The government wants to delete 20 percent of a manuscript written by Danny Stillman, retired chief intelligence officer at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. Stillman sued the Defense Department and the CIA, claiming they violated his First Amendment rights. U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan turned down the argument that the court doesn't have jurisdiction to review executive branch decisions about classifying information. Government lawyers said the Constitution gives the executive branch authority to control access to classified information, an argument Sullivan rejected.
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Bronze Quills Honor Communicators
Outgoing IABC president Cecilia Jacobs had a suggestion for those in the crowd at the 2002 Bronze Quill luncheon June 11: Whenever the inclination strikes, give a hearty "Yee-hah!" So they did, through her remarks and those of Star-Telegram columnist Bud Kennedy and the awarding of IABC/Fort Worth's top honor in 16 written and visual communication categories.
Kennedy, a Fort Worth native in his 15th year with the Star-Telegram, glanced off several topics, including some west siders' ire over public-housing residents moving into the Stonegate Villas apartments. RadioShack bought the Ripley Arnold land for expansion. "I have a suggestion for the mayor," Kennedy said, addressing Mayor Kenneth Barr at a nearby table. "He should study and emulate (Dallas Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones' style when Jones said, 'Did you like those three Super Bowls?' The mayor should say, 'Did you like keeping RadioShack in Fort Worth?' "
Kennedy had an idea for how another government entity could follow the Fort Worth Housing Authority's example. What if The T provided a limousine service to and from the airport -- the profits would pay for the more populist bus system. Airlines, he said, "put the expensive seats in the front and the cheap seats in the back. The housing authority has adopted the airlines' pricing plan."
In the awards presentation, snappily emceed by Janet Zipperlen, Cecilia Jacobs with the City of Fort Worth took home the most accolades -- eight -- while Krista Brown with Maverick Advertising and PR garnered three, and Pam Fry, Freese and Nichols; Stuart Bacon Advertising-Public Relations and Catherine Burch Graham, LifeGift Organ Donation Center; Keith C. Rinehart, City of Bedford; and Patrick Grady, RadioShack, each had two. Other winners: Hattie Peterson, Freese and Nichols; Marilyn Gilbert, Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce; the TCU Writing Class; Kristy Libotte Keener; Tom Peck, Texas Health Resources; Bill Lawrence, Lawrence & Associates; Lori De La Cruz, City of Euless; John Dycus, Society of Professional Journalists, Fort Worth Professional Chapter; Sally Ridgway, The Gladney Fund; Debbie Young, Freese and Nichols; Jill Goff, Crescent Real Estate; Brad Stafford, Fort Worth Fire Department; Derek West, TCU Journalism Department; Greg Conover, Freese and Nichols; Holly Fox, Freese and Nichols; and Kent Worley and Glen Ellman, Fort Worth Fire Department.
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A Weekend to Remember: Cowtown Rolls Out
the Carpet for SPJ National Convention
Organizers of the 2002 SPJ National Convention have a forecast for participants. They will gain at least one fresh newsgathering skill. Refine the skills they already have. Be updated on a mile-long list of topics vital to the practice of journalism. Laugh heartily, and often. Eat well. Learn to line dance (if they don't already know how). Expand their networking database.
The mind stretching appears there for the taking, and it's just a registration form away.
"We're putting together the best professional -- and social -- program of any SPJ convention to date," said convention chair Kay Pirtle, editor of the Wedgwood News on Fort Worth's west side. "We're going to show our visitors the many faces of Fort Worth. Even for those who call this area home, I think they'll find a lot of pleasant surprises."
The Renaissance Worthington Hotel in the heart of Sundance Square will host the convention Sept. 12-14. An opening night reception at Billy Bob's Texas will kick-start the affair, then it's down to business as professional development sessions fronted by a diverse array of experts explore the journalist's world in pinpoint, sometimes sobering detail. Topic titles like "Spaceship Earth: the Changing Role of Environmental Reporting," "The Art of Interviewing: Establishing Trust Without Losing Control," "The Nation and the Press at War: an Ethical Minefield," "From Kentucky to Ground Zero: a Student News Team Looks at Terror," "Planning for the Unthinkable: Biowarfare at Home," "Privacy Hysteria: Coming to a State Near You" and "Face Reading: Is There Guile Behind the Smile?" ring with the promise of knowledge shared.
Retired UTA Student Publications director Dorothy Estes and a speakers team have spent the last three months crafting the program. It's still being fine-tuned, but what's in place, she said, is top-notch fare.
"Working on this convention has renewed my faith in our profession," she said. "We had more outstanding speakers and more topics than we could crowd into the three-day program. I am in awe of the talent and intellect of our speakers. They care about the media and the country, and they accept their responsibilities as conduits of accurate information."
Early-bird registration ends July 12. Preregister deadline is Aug. 19. On-site rates apply after Aug. 19. After every deadline, the price goes up. For the specifics of registering and more reasons why someone would want to, see spj.org/convention.asp.
Jack Raskopf in the TCU Journalism Department produced a seven-minute video previewing the social side of the weekend, and it's perfect for showing at area civic groups. It's worth it for the scene of Raskopf portraying a crestfallen tourist, suitcase in hand, thinking he was headed for a classy hotel but instead landing in Log Cabin Village. Contact Raskopf at j.raskopf@tcu.edu or (817) 257-6541 for a loaner copy.
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PEOPLE & PLACES
Star-Telegram photographer Tom Pennington was named Photojournalist of the Year in the Houston Press Club's 2002 Lone Star Awards. Pennington, a former UTA student and Shorthorn staff photographer, was recognized for his work in Texas and also for photos he took in more than three months in Afghanistan. Wrote the judges: "His work overall evoked strong emotion and caused one to look for hidden detail." Pennington also won a first in sports photo. Other Star-T firsts were taken by Darren Barbee, Miles Moffeit, Gordon Dickson, Charlotte Huff, Catherine Newton and Kathy Harris. ... TCU grad and Abilene native Rebekah LaMontagne has been promoted to account executive at Stuart Bacon Advertising-Public Relations. Prior to joining Stuart Bacon as an intern in 2000, she worked with Witherspoon as a client services associate and Wheeler Advertising as a PR/Internet specialist. ... Gary Morey with KCBI, Pier 1 Imports' Ann Short and Amy Swayne with the Salvation Army of Tarrant County are new members on the PRSA Board of Directors. ... The Star-Telegram's Dianna Hunt has been elected to the board of Investigative Reporters and Editors.
Baby daze! Adrián Salvador, future forward for the U.S. soccer team, was born at 3:36 a.m. June 3 at All Saints Hospital. Adrián and his mother, La Estrella reporter Adriana Torrez, rushed out of the hospital the next afternoon to watch the rest of the World Cup.
Kudos & Contracts ... The Star-Telegram's Dave Lieber received one of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists' highest honors, the Will Rogers Humanitarian Award, for columns on Summer Santa, a charitable organization he cofounded. In its six years, Summer Santa has become the largest children's charity in Northeast Tarrant County. ... Miller Brewing Co. has selected InterStar Marketing & Public Relations as community and media relations counsel and marketing adviser for the North Texas market. InterStar will coordinate specialized public relations activities and will work to broaden awareness of Miller's community involvement. ... LifeGift Organ Donation Center received a Silver Excalibur Award from the Houston PRSA chapter for a combined calendar and annual report designed by Stuart Bacon Advertising-Public Relations. The calendar/annual report also won a Bronze Quill from IABC/Fort Worth and a bronze medal at the 2002 Healthcare Advertising Awards.
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WELCOME, NEW MEMBERS
PRSA ... Amy Swayne, public relations manager, Salvation Army of Tarrant County
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COMINGS & GOINGS
Additions ... at the S-T: veteran wordsmith David Casstevens, a career newsman in Waco and Dallas and Houston and for the past 11 years a columnist at The Arizona Republic, as a senior writer ... faculty intern Lewis Smith, who teaches reporting and media law at Prairie View A&M University; a native of Ghana and graduate of the University of Ghana, he was the editor of Footprints Today, a daily newspaper in Liberia, before leaving the country after an editorial ruffled governmental feathers; he has worked as a correspondent for Time magazine in Washington, D.C., and was a communication consultant for the United Nations Children's Fund ... Dow Jones intern Brooke Sherrard, who will be a senior and editor-in-chief of the school paper at Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., in the fall.
Exits ... at the S-T: Ken Parish Perkins, accepted for a Knight fellowship at Stanford University; he'll pack up his family and leave in August and return nine months later ... Dan Reed, leaving the paper after 21 years to cover the airline industry for USA Today; he will be the lead reporter on a nine-person team
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Kristie Aylett, APR; GFW PRSA
I've received a number of disturbing calls recently from PR professionals -- a few of them recent college grads, others ready for a change, some desperate for a position. They all ask if I've heard of any job openings. The answer, unfortunately, is not many. If you haven't personally been impacted by the tightening job market, then you probably know someone who has. Layoffs, budget cuts and hiring freezes no longer surprise me, and the forecast isn't encouraging.
I tell these callers that I can't offer them a job, but I can give them three things: access to a network of professionals, opportunities for experience through volunteer service or internships, and a chance to develop references. It's all there for them through PRSA.
I was out of a job a few years ago and scared about the future. My first three calls went to PRSA members who affirmed my abilities and offered hope. I have never forgotten their guidance and support. I've also never forgotten that it was through my PRSA membership that I even had those connections to turn to.
The next time a PR friend calls seeking referrals or encouragement, direct her to the Job Bank, invite her to a meeting, tell her about our special interest groups. Most of all, just listen. Take the time to chat, perhaps about topics not related to the job search. It's tough out there. Help her feel connected.
One way we can assist future PR pros is to work with student chapters at local universities. We already fund scholarships at TCU, Abilene Christian and Hardin-Simmons, and we need to reach out to UTA, UNT, Weatherford College, Tarleton State, Texas Wesleyan, TWU in Denton and Tarrant County College. I'd like to form a committee of our members to act as a liaison with PRSSA chapters and academic journalism programs. It would be a great way to discover talent, recruit eager volunteers and give back to the profession. Sound like fun? E-mail me at aylettk@yahoo.com to volunteer.
I'm crossing my fingers that the job market opens up soon and I start getting calls asking if I know of any talented professionals looking for a job. I know plenty of those.
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PRESIDENT'S PERSIFLAGE
Patrick Grady, IABC/Fort Worth
Wow. It's hard to believe another IABC year is gone. We've experienced 10 meetings, a great holiday event and the always-wonderful Bronze Quill luncheon.
Our board was exceptional last year -- Cecilia Jacobs, Lori De La Cruz, Julie Trowbridge, Dan Frost, Debbie Young, Pam Fry, Lydia Murphy, Arden Dufilho and me -- and we're proud to add Lauren Reis this year as marketing communications VP. So it's time to start again. Happy New Year!
If it's a New Year for the chapter, then it should be a New Year for each and every one of us. IABC should be a part of that. Professionals network with professionals in order to grow. Doctors network with doctors. Lawyers network with lawyers. Accountants network with accountants (lately, they network with lawyers, too). Networking is just as important for professional communicators.
Where else can you have a great time ... a great meal ... and learn at least one new technique, one new perspective or one new idea in just an hour and a half? Where else can you help others through your experience and perspective? We have a strong turnout already, but in IABC membership (especially in Texas), more is better. That's why we need to be committed to grow our chapter this year. We need more of our members and more new members to attend -- each month. Period.
I hope you'll come each month and that you'll share IABC with your colleagues and friends. If you're not coming for a reason (programming, timing, that new goofy president), please tell a board member so that we can try to respond and better serve you.
And the next time someone asks you to do anything at lunchtime on the second Tuesday of the month, you tell 'em, "No way! That's IABC Tuesday!"
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
That was a jolly band, 30 strong, of drinkers, grazers, gazers and near-geezers who made the excursion June 22 to peruse the Pulitzers at the Sixth Floor Museum in Dallas. It was like the senior trip to play Odessa Permian, except the tuba section didn't grope the color guard. Instant charter-bus chums, the riders drank most of the soft drinks and bottled water and Henry Stewart's Miller beer on board, ate all the pretzels and Goldfish that Kay Pirtle packaged in little Ziploc bags, uniformly pronounced the pictures stunning and still were back at their cars with two hours of daylight left. What a time. Surely we will do this again. ...
Many thanks to Principia College grad Christy Bushnell, who was just minding her own business at the June IABC luncheon when conscripted to take notes on Bud Kennedy's speech and write that part of the story. Without her, it would've been one big "Yee-hah!" and cut to the winners. ... And a hearty howdy to Rose Moses, deputy features editor at Champion Newspapers in Lagos, Nigeria, who will be with the Star-Telegram this summer as an Alfred Friendly Fellow. Rose edits as well as reports and writes a column for her paper. One story helped force former President Ibrahim Babangida from office and elicited a dreaded summons to Aso Rock, equivalent to the White House, for a meeting with the country's first lady after the story ran. Rose arrives July 1, no doubt with stories to tell. ...
The discriminating citizens of Jonestown returned chapter ex-prez Doug Jumper to alderman Place 5 for two more years -- just in time for budget season. Doug, a man prone to exclamations, writes: "Ouch! I am also still on the board of directors of the Jonestown Chamber of Commerce. Nothing has changed. I still can't say no. Kirsten asked the other day if I was ever going to get involved with an 'extracurricular activity' that had a paycheck attached to it. Knowing me, never! Kirsten and I can't wait to see all y'all at convention! My best to the old gang! Hoist a cold one for me!"
Historians and the merely curious might have a ball spelunking through FW SPJ records -- plaques, old Yellow Jaundices, Gridiron tapes, ledgers -- housed in UTA Special Collections. The largest block of SPJabilia this side of Donna Darovich's office or my garage, the material was donated by former executive secretary Ann Gilliland in 1996. For an idea of what's there, go to http://libraries.uta.edu/SpecColl/findaids/AR392.html. ...