September 2002
2002 SPJ National Convention
Staking New Frontiers
Mac Fulfer can discern your mental outlook by the slant of your ears, gauge your reaction to a question by the cut of your jaw, know how stressed you are by how much white surrounds the iris in your eyes. Call it seeing the life behind the facade. What an ability for a reporter to have.
Usufel tools for working journalists.
And he's just one presenter at the convention.
spjfw.org/convention/resources1.html
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MEETINGS
Next at IABC/Fort Worth ...
On Sizzling Brands and Power-packed Networking
Jim Young collects people -- 6,500 of them in his corporate address book -- and helping them connect is a thing he likes to do. The philosophy fueled a successful 34 years at EDS (he was the company's 40th employee), and it has brought him this month to IABC/ Fort Worth, where he will discuss at the luncheon meeting how to "Make Your Branding Sizzle."
Young likes to operate "in the white spaces between the boxes on the organization chart." A member of the National Speakers Association and a fervent proponent of lifelong learning, he now chairs both The Margate Group and Teleportec, a world leader in human-centered distance communication. While at EDS, he fostered a partnership with Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard that led to creation of the JASON Project, a distance learning approach that reaches almost three million students and teachers around the world each year.
* Time, date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 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: $17 members, $22 nonmembers, $12 students
* RSVP by noon Sept. 6: Dan Frost at (817) 735-6157 or frostdg@c-b.com
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Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ...
Crisis Remembered: A Look Back at Sept. 11, 2001
PR pros are trained to handle crisis situations. But no amount of training or array of experiences could have prepared two local professionals for the biggest challenge of their careers: responding to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
At the September PRSA luncheon -- note this month's different location and date -- Anita Foster of the American Red Cross and Gus Whitcomb of American Airlines will relive their experiences during that harrowing time and relate how it changed their organizations. They'll share moving stories from hours spent at Ground Zero, lessons learned in firsthand crisis communications and long-term organizational plans to regain the trust of valued donors and customers.
* Time & date: 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18
* Place: Joe T. Garcia's, 2201 N. Commerce St.
* Cost: $20 members, $23 nonmembers, $18 students
* RSVP by noon Sept. 16: Lisa Albert at albert_lisa@hotmail.com
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Next at Fort Worth SPJ ...
Build Your Own Meeting at National Convention
Build Your Own Meeting at National Convention
For those who can't make the full SPJ National Convention, Sept. 12-14 at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel, opportunities still abound -- at least four big ones -- to participate. Project Watchdog heads the serious list, with a party at Billy Bob's Texas its counterpart for fun. They bookend the Legal Defense Fund auction and a tour of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in the Stockyards. Only Billy Bob's has an admission fee.
"Project Watchdog: The First Amendment in a Time of War," sponsored by the Houston Chronicle, will be at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 13, in the hotel's West Fork I & II rooms. A Pentagon reporter, moderator Glenn Mitchell of KERA 90.1 and several journalists, including the Star-Telegram's Barry Shlachter, who has covered the fighting in Afghanistan, will compare opinions about the media-military relationship. How balanced should coverage really be? Should the media report civilian deaths or air the opposition's propaganda? The public is invited to participate in the discussion.
Panelist Ed Offley, a longtime military reporter and author of "Pen and Sword," a new book on press coverage of military operations, notes that after the press revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency had been monitoring Osama bin Laden's satellite phone calls, Bin Laden immediately switched his communication methods. "The news media was at least a co-partner in this intelligence failure," Offley said. "We gave away what should have been the deepest secret in the U.S. intelligence community."
Maj. Robert Bateman, U.S. Army assigned to the Pentagon, is expected to weigh in with the belief that competent reporters belong on the battlefield, but he questions the wisdom of sending poorly trained journalists to combat zones. Another panelist, Peter Y. Sussman, warns that war reporters walk a thin line between right to know and stories that aid the enemy. "When the country goes to war, the press does, too," he said. "For journalists in a democratic society, wartime issues are highly charged and ambiguous." A co-author of the SPJ Code of Ethics, he added:
"Never is the public more in need of journalists' unbiased information than when we are in a war, especially one as ill-defined as this one. Never is the public more in need of the press' constitutionally guaranteed independence and its access to government information. And never does the press have an obligation to be more responsible with the information it publishes than when the lives of our young people are at risk. Yet wartime is precisely the time when the press has the most difficulty maintaining its independence. At highly charged times like these, popular patriotic passions, the government's strategic interests and our journalistic responsibilities are often on a collision course."
SPJ president-elect Robert Leger, editorial page editor at the Springfield (Mo.) News-Leader, said discussions such as this one are important so that "the public can understand why reporters ask those questions, and reporters and editors can hear and understand the concerns of readers and viewers."
No ethical debate should be required on whether to attend the auction from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, in Elm Fork I & II, supporting the SPJ Legal Defense Fund. Sponsored by the Fort Worth law offices of Steven C. Laird, the auction will offer a crack at, among various exotica, keepsakes from Bobby Kennedy's presidential campaign, a Maddie Powers purse, a Babe Ruth Louisville Slugger bat, "secret Microsoft documents" drawn and signed by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and a package cryptically described only as "a few items donated by John Travolta." Again, the public is invited.
Then there's the big-hair fandango at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 12, at Billy Bob's: barbecue (of course), beer (naturally), a Wild West show and free line-dancing lessons, all in honky-tonk heaven, for $35. Tickets will not be sold at the door. Call Kevin Mohl at SPJ headquarters, (317) 927-8000 ext 200.
That afternoon before Billy Bob's, the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame at 128 E. Exchange Ave. (Barn A) has packaged a special open house for conventioneers from 5 to 7 p.m. Say that you're with SPJ for free admission and 15 percent off in the gift shop. Docents will detail the fine points of the western heritage showplace, which salutes 44 of the state's top cowboys and cowgirls in photos, video and memorabilia -- names like Ty Murray, Tuff Hedeman, Charmayne James and Don Gay -- and features a remarkable collection of more than 60 antique wagons, carriages and sleighs, including a Sicilian cart dating to the 1750s, with dramatic painted scenes and intricate iron work, and a Welsh funeral hearse.
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A Roast, a Recognition and Precise Reporting: Convention Highlights Just Keep Coming
Bob Schieffer, who every Sunday morning grills senators, congressmen and cabinet secretaries, will find his friends lighting the matches at the SPJ National Convention. Schieffer will be the subject of a luncheon roast Friday, Sept. 13, in the Renaissance Worthington Brazos I and II, sponsored by Haynes and Boone LLP.
NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw will take his swipes via video, and Sports Illustrated writer Dan Jenkins will skewer his longtime friend with the written word. Former Star-Telegram editor and ombudsman Phil Record, who hired Schieffer at the Star-Telegram, and Wise County Messenger publisher Roy Eaton, who hired him at radio station KXOL, will join in.
Schieffer, host of CBS's "Face the Nation" since 1991, worked in radio, newspaper and television in Fort Worth, his hometown, before moving to CBS News. He has covered Washington for 35 years, assigned to the White House, Pentagon, State Department and Capitol Hill beats. He notes that the three men who had the biggest impact on his career -- Record, Texas broadcaster James A. Bryon and CBS's Bill Small -- were all national SPJ presidents.
Helen Thomas, 82, the queen of the White House press corps and now supposedly retired, will present a few choice words at the Sunshine/First Amendment Awards breakfast Saturday, Sept. 14, in the Grand Ballroom. She and Rena Pederson, Dallas Morning News editor at-large, will help the U.S. Postal Service unveil a set of 37-cent stamps honoring four accomplished women in journalism: Nellie Bly, Ida M. Tarbell, Marguerite Higgins and Ethel L. Payne. A ceremony will mark the first day of issue. The stamps will only be available at Fort Worth post offices that day, then throughout the country after that.
Leonard Downie Jr., executive editor of The Washington Post, and Robert Kaiser, the paper's former managing editor and now associate editor and senior correspondent, will discuss their book, "The News About the News: American Journalism in Peril," at a headline session at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in Brazos I & II. Drawing on the authors' 77 years at the Post plus their first-hand reporting in print, broadcast and Internet newsrooms, the book explores the corrosive effects of news outlets' preoccupation with celebrities, entertainment and profits while showing how important stories can be skillfully reported, written, edited and presented. The book recounts a tense debate at the Post about whether to publicize a presidential aspirant's long-ago affair and features surprisingly candid interviews with the major network news anchors. At the banquet Saturday evening, the pair will be named SPJ fellows, the top honor that SPJ bestows.
More than 800 professional journalists and college journalism students are expected to attend the convention. To register, go to spj.org/convention.asp. For tickets to individual events such as the Legal Defense Fund roast and the Sunshine/First Amendment Awards breakfast, call Kevin Mohl at SPJ headquarters, (317) 927-8000 ext 200. Tickets will not be sold at the door.
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STRAIGHT STUFF
Star-T photographer and UTA Shorthorn ex Tom Pennington's "Afghanistan: A War-Torn Land" will be on display Sept. 5-Oct. 11 in the upstairs art corridor in the main building at Tarrant County College Southeast. The large-scale exhibit will also be a part of Gallery Night, Sept. 7. Pennington covered the war in Afghanistan for the Star-Telegram and Knight Ridder from November last year through March. ... The only comprehensive media directory for the Fort Worth area, covering print media for Tarrant, Johnson, Parker and Hood counties as well as radio-TV contacts for the entire Metroplex, has been updated. Listings include e-mail addresses, fax numbers, circulation figures and distribution areas. Prices are $20 for Chamber members ($10 if you're a Chamber Gold) and $30 nonmembers. Contact Jennifer Vuduris at (817) 336-2491 ext. 222 or jvuduris@fortworthchamber.com. ...
Voting continues through Sept. 10 for inductees in the Texas Radio Hall of Fame. To cast a ballot or to join the organization, hit its beyond-colorful Web site, texasradiohalloffame.com. Employment in radio is not a membership requirement, given the clever "Emeritus" ($15) and "Associate" ($20) categories. The induction banquet will be Saturday evening, Oct. 26, at Joe T. Garcia's. ... Nominations deadline is Sept. 13 for the Small Business of the Year Awards, presented by the Fort Worth Chamber and the James A. Ryffel Center for Entrepreneurial Studies in TCU's Neely School of Business. Ross Perot Jr. will address an awards luncheon Tuesday, Nov. 12, hosted by TCU and the Ryffel center. More info at fortworthchamber.com/sbawards/index.html, or call Lydia Hall-Benson at (817) 336-2491 ext. 272. ...
PR pros Reyes Abila, Children's Medical Center of Dallas; Mike Breslin, Ketchum; Linda Rutherford, Southwest Airlines; and Helen Vollmer, Vollmer PR, will discuss management styles in agency, corporate and nonprofit settings at the Dallas PRSA lunch meeting Thursday, Sept. 12, at the Park City Club, 5956 Sherry Lane. Cost is $25 for members with reservations, $30 for guests and members without reservations. Call (817) 858-6088 or register at prsadallas.org/lunregistration.html by 5 p.m. Sept. 9. Say if you are a member when making reservations. No-shows will be billed.
SPJ national update: 1 win in Little Rock, 1 loss in the ER. Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will not support efforts to exempt some records from public disclosure in the name of homeland security. In an Aug. 8 e-mail to the director of the Department of Emergency Management, Jim Harris, the governor's liaison to the department, wrote: "I was shocked to see your presentation today on amending the Freedom of Information Act. I had told you earlier to drop that idea. Since you did not, let me be clear on this: Your efforts to amend the FOI are NOT authorized by the governor." A draft had called for some state agency e-mail and meeting records to be kept secret if deemed to jeopardize agency safety and would have exempted from disclosure infrastructure information for hospitals, public utilities, schools, airports and government buildings. ... Journalists who cover incidents in which people require medical care will have a harder time determining the number and nature of injuries, or even if someone has been admitted to a hospital, because of new federal rules on health-care privacy. In most cases, the rules take effect April 14. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 requires medical privacy rules. The Clinton administration issued an initial set in 2000, and the Bush administration revisited the matter in 2001 following complaints from lobbying interests. In both rounds, SPJ and other access groups submitted comments. The rules allow "limited data sets" (patients' birth dates, admission and discharge dates, and geographic addresses) to be given to research and public health entities, but specifically not to journalists. A health facility may confirm that an individual is in the hospital; a journalist may get information on the person's general condition by checking the patient directory, but the journalist must have the name -- something that may be difficult in a breaking emergency. "This will have a broad impact on day-to-day journalism in this country," said SPJ president Al Cross, who began his journalism career reporting hospital admissions in southern Kentucky. "I hope journalists will point out to their elected representatives the problems that this will cause for news outlets large and small."
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Make It Clear, Simple, Accurate, Quick and Early:
Newsmen Tell How to Get the Message Out
Three leading Metroplex media professionals gave 47 members and guests practical suggestions on working their stories into print and on the air at the IABC/Fort Worth meeting in August. While noting differences in their operations, Richard Connor, Clint Bond and Mark Watkins all stressed that news gatherers and presenters respond better to people they know.
It's easier to ignore someone you've never met, they agreed, and they encouraged face-to-face dialog. They also agreed that, in Watkins' words, "reporters don't dig things out, usually -- basically they report what they're told." Watkins is KRLD 1080 assignments editor.
Connor, editor and publisher of the Fort Worth Business Press, said his paper provides an outlet for small businesses that might not be covered by other media. He defined his audience as "narrow but deep" and preferring "how-to" articles. Being a weekly publication, "timeliness is not that important with us," he said. "We're interested in people in business and how they do things." Best way to contact him: a short e-mail.
Bond, assignments editor for KXAS-TV NBC 5, emphasized his need to get basic information quickly in a straightforward release. He wants his listeners to be proactive in telling their story. "The system is designed so that we will find out the bad stuff," he said. "What you need to do is get out legitimate good stuff. But please give us advance notice, at least a day or two." Best way to contact: e-mail.
While Bond wants two days notice, Watkins at KRLD prefers two weeks. Make initial contact via e-mail. And he added this: "Don't use an attachment if we don't know you. We will delete it without looking. And when you send something, send it to an individual, with the name spelled correctly. Remember, you just have one shot to sell the media person on the merits of your story, so make it clear." He advised hiring someone part time to update the company Rolodex -- "the best $200 you'll ever spend," he said.
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PEOPLE & PLACES
A tremendous thank you from PRSA community service chair Kelli Horst, APR, to the more than 20 volunteers who helped make People to People for Peace a success. The project was good for Sister Cities, as it garnered respectable coverage of the conference. And it was good for PRSA: Volunteers learned new skills and got to know each other better as colleagues and friends. ... Bob Howald, a local pioneer in production methods, retired in June after 33 years at Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations. He joined Witherspoon in 1969 as perhaps the city's first ad agency production manager, negotiating contracts and overseeing print quality. He was promoted to vice president in 1979. "While the technologys changed, you still need a true perfectionist to ensure production quality, and Bob's never let us down," said Witherspoon CEO Roger Rienstra. "He's one of the very best people I know." Howald plans to spend his new free time traveling. ...
Baby daze! UTA Public Affairs information writer and editor Laura Hanna, wife of Star-Telegram staff writer Bill Hanna, has taken a leave of absence to get to know the new man in her life, Luke Jose, the baby she and Bill adopted. Back at her desk in Public Affairs is Stacey Dudzinski, who gave birth in May to a son, Cameron. ... Star-T national/international editor John Yearwood and wife Robin are the new proud parents of Asha Marie, born at 4:16 p.m. Aug. 21, weighing 6 pounds 6 ounces. ... Rick Herrin in the S-T Northeast Sports Zone and wife Brooke have a daughter, Haley Brooke, who debuted Aug. 22 at 9 pounds 1 ounce.
Kudos & Contracts ... The Milan Gallery has selected Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations for local support during an appearance Oct. 25-27 by pop artist Peter Max. Witherspoon's responsibilities will include developing cross-media projects and arranging local and regional media interviews. Max burst upon the art world in the 1960s with his bold lines and blended colors. He has been the official artist for five Super Bowls, the 2000 World Series, World Cup USA and five Grammy Award shows. ... Witherspoon also will coordinate a nationwide campaign for Fort Worth-based Quorum International, the world's largest manufacturer of lighting fixtures and ceiling fans. The campaign will focus on the affordably priced Quorum line, the design of the groundbreaking Jellyfish fan, and the contemporary Oxygen line.
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WELCOME, NEW MEMBERS
PRSA ... Gary Morey, announcer, KCBI
IABC ... Charlie Dierker, Web content editor, Texas Health Resources ... Victoria J. Desair, communications representative, Lockheed Martin
SPJ ... John Sparks, night assignments editor, KTVT-Channel 11
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COMINGS & GOINGS
Exits ... at the S-T: page designer Kathleen Bynum to The Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y., as a graphic artist ... page designer Anne Drabicky Burdette to Austin, where she and husband Will will work for AmeriCorps
Additions ... at Bestfares.com, UTA Shorthorn ex Roy Hayhurst Jr. as media relations representative ... at the S-T: schools reporter Gustavo Reveles, who covered education in El Paso for the last two years ... community affairs reporter John Meir, signing on Sept. 9; he covered communities and religion in San Antonio for the last five years ... national/international desk assistant editor Richard Kessler, most recently an Argentina correspondent for OsterDowJones Newswires; previously, he was BridgeNews' chief Latin America correspondent
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Kristie Aylett, APR; GFW PRSA
It's been a year since we watched the world change on live television. Last year, we were preparing for our monthly meeting, Sept. 12, and an informative session with local agencies on how best to work with them. After the morning of Sept. 11, the topic didn't seem that crucial. It was more important to spend time with our friends and family than to network with colleagues, so we canceled the meeting.
This year, we changed our September meeting from its regular second-Wednesday date to the 18th. We knew our members would be involved in workplace and community events Sept. 11. We also recognized that some local PR professionals would not be available that day to share the insights gained this past year, until after the anniversary of the terrorist attacks had passed. I hope you'll join us Sept. 18 in Joe T. Garcia's community room to hear PRSA member Anita Foster and Gus Whitcomb of American Airlines. Their insider perspectives are sure to be thought-provoking.
The aftermath of Sept. 11 and last fall's anthrax incidents will be discussed in several sessions during the SPJ National Convention, Sept. 12-14 at the Renaissance Worthington Hotel. Have you wondered how you can gain behind-the-scenes access to the speakers? It's simple: staff the PRSA-sponsored hospitality suite and accompany high-level journalists around the convention. Note the full agenda elsewhere in this issue and find the speakers who interest you. Then e-mail me -- aylettk@yahoo.com -- to let me know which morning or afternoon shifts you'd like. Only have a couple of hours to spare? No problem, but you still need to officially volunteer so we can have a badge ready for you. I'll be at the hospitality suite at least Thursday afternoon and Saturday morning. If the suite is empty of VIPs, I plan to bring some work, but if it's not, I'll be getting to know reporters and editors.
Finally, mark your calendars for the annual PRSA/IABC/SPJ holiday party. We'll celebrate the season at Miller Marketplace and Brew Kettle Museum from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11. Volunteers from all three groups are needed to organize the event and gather door prizes and raffle items.
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PRESIDENT'S PERSIFLAGE
Patrick Grady, IABC/Fort Worth
It's inconceivable. Another summer is nearly over. Another season almost gone. A favorite song has lyrics about the number of minutes in a year: 525,600. That seems like so much time, in which so much can happen. But how much really does?
For many of us, months pass and we're no closer to where we want to be. We've made lunches for the kids, helped with homework, coached soccer and done well at our jobs -- all important -- but what about writing the great American novel? Or becoming a gourmet chef? Or finally taking that trip to Paris (not Texas, baby). There's always tomorrow. And tomorrow's tomorrow.
Well, at IABC/Fort Worth, tomorrow is upon us -- our next meeting, Sept. 10. We've brainstormed and modeled and processed and surveyed, and we're rolling out a few changes that I hope you'll LOVE. We'll still do the meeting in 90 minutes, starting with lunch at 11:30 and saying thanks and farewell at 1, but in between you'll find some additions. What are we doing? Come see for yourself. It involves professional development, personal goals, inspiration, networking and good old-fashioned (new-fangled) fun. And we won't even raise the price!
Starting in September, things will be a little different. A little better. Call Dan Frost and tell him you're coming, or e-mail him. And bring friends. It's always better when there are a bunch of us. Just look at our August meeting.
You've probably already noticed: The printed newsletter is new. And that's just the beginning. Check out this great thing getting better, your IABC/Fort Worth. When is it again? You know, the second Tuesday of every month. Sept. 10 should already be on your calendar. After all, "it's IABC Tuesday!" Can't wait to see you there.
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
I read with dismay that Stuart Bacon Advertising-Public Relations, highly ranked by Adweek and a multi-Addy Award winner, will close Sept. 30. The agency's Kim Speairs and Elizabeth Nash enthusiastically supported the SPJ/PRSA/IABC eChaser alliance and could not have been more professional or helpful. Kim's organization of the holiday party/JPS book benefit a couple of years ago was a study in precision thinking and follow-through. CEO Jim Stuart blamed the decision to call it quits on the slowing economy and reduced ad spending after the terrorist attacks a year ago. It came one week shy of Stuart Bacon's 15th anniversary. Best wishes to everyone on Wingate Street.