eChaser: December 2003


	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] December 2003 *Holiday Book Benefit and Barn Raising!* when 5-7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 13. where Fort Worth Rail Market (next to the new train station downtown), north end. Free parking; best on the east side of the building. invitees Area journalists and PR types. cost $15 or the equivalent (or more) in new or good-condition-used children's books. The cash will buy more books, and all will go to the JPS Health Network children's library. let's talk food Variety abounds. There's no charge, but you must have a party name tag, and you must sign the back of the receipt. Anything consumed on-site is paid for so you can plow into the raffle what you would have spent to eat and drink. what raffle? Winners announced at 7. Quite the crowd pleaser in years past, with back-by-popular-demand emcee Bob Ray Sanders. Buy raffle tickets at the check-in table or from strolling raffleteers. how important is the r.s.v.p.? Very, so the Rail Market can know how many to expect. Do it here. Deadline noon Dec. 10. if i miss the deadline, may i come anyway? Brink extra books as penance. what's with the rowdy hounds? You can't beat dogs in Santa hats. but will there be a santa who's not a labrador retriever or billy bob thornton accompanied by a smart-mouthed elf? Yes, at British Attic near the front door in the middle of the building. so is this venue suitable for children? You bring 'em, you watch 'em. Absolutely. will there really be a barn raising? It's a figure of speech. Think Amish in a rail yard. questions? Contact Fort Worth SPJ chief Larry Lutz. It was his idea to get the local journalism groups together -- Association for Women Journalists, Network of Hispanic Communicators, Asian American Journalists Association, DFW Association of Black Communicators, Native American Journalists Association, National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, and SPJ, plus PRSA, plus IABC -- for a "polyjournalism party." He's an outside-the-box kind of guy. Underwriting graciously provided by Allan Saxe. ================================================= MEETINGS Next at IABC/Fort Worth and Fort Worth SPJ ... No December meeting. ----- Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ... Get to Know Your Neighbor There's no program this month, but count on lively table conversation with other PR pros at the Christmas networking luncheon. Proceeds go to The WARM Place. * Time & date: 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10 * Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St. * Parking: free valet in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket validated) * Cost: $20 members, $23 nonmembers, $18 students * RSVP by noon Dec. 8: rsvp@fortworthprsa.org ================================================= STRAIGHT STUFF Fort Worth SPJ member Dawn Reiss returned from the national convention in September as co-chair of national's freelancing committee. She and Wendy Hoke of Ohio have begun an online database that they hope will grow into an encyclopedia of freelance resources, perhaps including an online forum and leading to an SPJ freelancing handbook. They will also write a monthly Quill column and help develop the freelancing topics for the 2004 convention in New York. "Wendy and I have been interviewing editors around the country to find out what they want. Surprisingly, many want freelancers but can't seem to find ones who fit their specific needs. We're interested in radio, TV, public relations, online, weekly, magazines, newspaper freelancers who are reporters, and writers, editors, photographers, anchors, copy editors or contract PR/marketing people." To make the database, send name, address, phone numbers, e-mail, best time to be contacted, job title, short biography, specialties and anything else that makes you look good to dreiss100@hotmail.com. As for those specialties, she says, "editors want people who are experts in their field -- the more specific you are, the more likely you are to get a call." ... The Fort Worth and Dallas PRSA chapters are co-hosting the 2004 Southwest District Conference in Las Colinas, March 25-26. Anyone who would like to make a presentation at the conference or serve on the planning committee should contact Krista Brown at krista@maverickad.com or (817) 740-0777 by Dec. 12. ... Furthermore, anyone who recruits members this month to Greater Fort Worth PRSA will be entered in a drawing for prizes from the new PRSA store. He or she who recruits the most members wins a year of free chapter luncheons. Winners will be announced at the January meeting. Active members except the 2003 chapter president and president-elect may participate. National must accept the applicant as a full, associate or reinstated member, and all new-member applications must be delivered and processed (including payment of $45 chapter dues) by Dec. 31. Contact president-elect Pamela Smith at pamela.smith@tccd.edu. ... Bring a gift suitable for Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) and receive a coupon for a free drink at the Dallas PRSA holiday party at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, at Blue Mesa Grill in Addison. Cost: $15 members, $20 nonmembers, $10 students. Add $5 if attending without a reservation. E-mail Liz Kennedy at lkennedy79@aol.com. ... For the first time, you don't have to be a member of the National Association of Science Writers to attend its annual workshops. The applications of up to 50 nonmember journalists will be accepted to the Thursday, Feb. 12, conference ("Science in the New World Order/ Disorder") at the Seattle Convention Center. Cost is $260, with no sign-ups after Jan. 15. Contact NASW executive director Diane McGurgan at diane72@earthlink.net. More at nasw.org/mem-maint/workshops/nasw_2004. SPJ national update: Still feel like America to you? When the Justice Department tried earlier this year to write a bill to expand the Patriot Act, a draft -- dubbed Patriot II -- was leaked and caused such an uproar that Justice officials backed down. So the most controversial aspects of Patriot II migrated to a bill passed by Congress on Nov. 21 that reduces oversight of the FBI and intelligence agencies and, according to critics, shifts the balance of power away from the legislature and the courts. A provision of the intelligence spending bill enables the FBI to subpoena documents from an expanded range of businesses -- everything from libraries to travel agencies to eBay -- without first seeking approval from a judge. Under the Patriot Act, the FBI can acquire bank records and Internet or phone logs simply by issuing itself a so-called national security letter saying that the records are relevant to an investigation into terrorism. More here. ... But then there's "Resistance to the Patriot Act is Growing in the American Heartland" by Newsweek columnist Christopher Dickey. It begins: "Geuda Springs is a little town in southern Kansas, not too far from the Oklahoma border. About 200 decent, proud and sometimes kind of ornery people live there, and precisely because they're so independent-minded there's a whiff of outlaw about the reputation of the place. Earlier this month, just to raise some eyebrows, the Geuda Springs town council passed an ordinance requiring every head of family to own a gun, and ammunition, and be ready to use it." Read it all here. ... And this. The Austin City Council earlier in the year joined the more than 170 cities and counties nationwide in adopting resolutions critical of the Patriot Act. The Austin measure expresses concern that the act, lauded by the Bush administration as a tool in fighting terrorism, has the potential to violate fundamental liberties. SPJ national update II: What accountability? SPJ has criticized the use of a voice vote to approve the administration's $87 billion Iraq operations and reconstruction spending request. Also, members of the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee are calling each U.S. senator, asking him or her to state a vote for the record; results will be posted at spj.org. In a letter to Vice President Dick Cheney, SPJ president Mac McKerral wrote: "No legislative body in the 50 states, from the smallest city council or school board to the state legislatures themselves, would be allowed to approve the most modest appropriation off the record, much less one of historic proportions and consequence. The United States Senate's approach to the Iraq spending approval flies in the face of traditions we have come to regard as fundamental: that Congress serves at the mercy of the people, and that people have a civic duty to monitor the actions of their elected representatives." In the letter McKerral quotes National Public Radio's Daniel Schorr that majority and minority leaders Bill Frist and Tom Daschle arranged in advance for no recorded vote to provide some safeguard against future embarrassment. The senators who voted publicly on the bill were Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.; Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I.; Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.; Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii; Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. All but Byrd voted yes. SPJ national update III: The 12th Typesetter makes a comeback, the energy bill runs out of gas, and half a loaf is still dough. Aggies could still earn a revamped journalism degree under a plan offered by the Texas A&M liberal arts dean. Charles Johnson's recommendation to create an interdisciplinary major in journalism with a minor and certificate option comes a month after a study he commissioned advised how the university could restructure the j-program rather than eliminate it. Minors and certificates, which require fewer course hours than a degree, likely would be available in the fall. ... After nearly three months of negotiations and deal-making, Congress gave up on energy legislation for this year, falling two Senate votes short of sending a bill to the president. Republican leaders vowed to return to the $31 billion measure early next year. A dispute over a gasoline additive that has been found to poison groundwater, MTBE, could not be resolved, nor could two additional Senate votes needed to overcome a filibuster by opponents be found. ... President Bush and Senate Republicans apparently compromised on their dispute over media ownership rules, eliminating a major stumbling block to approval of a $330 billion catch-all spending measure covering a third of all federal programs. The dispute revolved around the much-debated FCC proposal to allow the major networks to own television stations reaching 45 percent of the nation's audiences. Some in Congress wanted to roll the rule back to 35 percent, but a deal struck Nov. 24 sets the figure at 39 percent. More here. SPJ national update IV: Free the paper! Free the reindeer! Dallas Morning News executives may have blanched when they learned that the paper's former president, Jeremy Halbreich, had been planning a free daily right under their noses for more than a year, with the launch date just two weeks away. What to do? The Morning News already had a prototype in place, so it rushed out its own free daily, Quick, and ended up getting a two-day jump on the A.M. Journal Express. "The fact that they're reacting so quickly is rather flattering," Halbreich told the Star-Telegram's Barry Shlachter. "I can't think of a faster or better way to gain instant credibility and validate our product ideas than for The Dallas Morning News to come out with a me-too product." More here. ... In its second world press freedom ranking, Reporters Without Borders puts the United States in a tie with Greece at No. 31. No. 1 is a tie between Finland and Iceland. At the bottom of the barrel: North Korea. The complete ranking is at rsf.fr. SPJ national update V: APME protests, and unreported deaths. In two letters to the Pentagon, the press asserts that U.S. troops are harassing journalists in Iraq and sometimes confiscating equipment, digital camera disks and videotapes. The Associated Press Managing Editors wrote Larry Di Rita, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, that some soldiers' actions appear intended to discourage journalists from doing their jobs. "These actions are unacceptable and contrary to the Pentagon's own guidelines distributed to troops in the field," wrote APME president Stuart Wilk, vice president/managing editor at The Dallas Morning News. The harassment has deprived "the American public of crucial images from Iraq in newspapers, broadcast stations and online news operations." More here. ... One group in Iraq whose deaths often go unreported are independent contractors from American corporations working in the country. These fatalities, often from mines and ambushes, are rarely reported by newspapers and are not listed in the Pentagon's official death toll. "I know contractors are not reported there," Pentagon spokesman Maj. Joe Yoswa said of the official death toll. "I can tell you the contractors' names are not listed in the roll-up." As of Nov. 13, for example, three employees of Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Houston-based Halliburton and the largest military contractor in Iraq, have been killed in Iraq since the war began. More here. ----- The Day Journalism Changed Forever by Brenda Davis Nothing in history, including 9-11, has commanded the attention and curiosity of the world like the John F. Kennedy assassination. For then-Dallas Morning News science and aviation reporter Hugh Aynesworth, the event triggered a 40-year assignment. "I wasn't assigned a story during the Kennedy visit" to Texas, he told 80 Fort Worth SPJ members and guests at the Nov. 22 meeting on the anniversary of the assassination. "I decided to go out and watch the motorcade anyway." His decision landed him a place in history and led to his writing a book about his experiences. "JFK: Breaking the News," published last month, details many of the occurrences that have enthralled readers, young and old, for years. "If any one event has impacted the American media more that this, I don't recall it," he said. "I agree with Bob Schieffer [then a Fort Worth reporter and now host of CBS's "Face the Nation"] that TV came into its own after this. Before then, if you didn't read it in the newspaper then you didn't believe it." Aynesworth related how he wasn't prepared for what unfolded as he stood amid the hundreds lining the motorcade route. "I heard a popping sound. At first I thought it was a motorcycle backfiring. When the second shot sounded, utter chaos happened." He needed to start taking notes but realized that he didn't have paper or anything to write with. From a little boy he paid 50 cents for a really fat pencil with an American flag on the eraser end, and he took notes on the back of two utility payments he hadn't mailed yet and a letter from Empire State Bank thanking him for opening an account. In the following frantic hours, Aynesworth eye-witnessed Lee Harvey Oswald's arrest, interviewed Oswald's family and was in the police station basement when Jack Ruby shot and killed the alleged assassin. Throughout the many interviews and countless stories, Aynesworth remains convinced that Oswald acted alone. Conspiracy theorists believe that he's part of a cover-up surrounding the assassination. "As recently as today, Hugh and I have been called the 'Jayson Blairs of the Kennedy era,' " Mike Cochran, Aynesworth's friend and colleague, said during his introduction. Blair is the reporter fired by The New York Times for fabricating stories. Aynesworth challenges the scores of individuals who buy into the numerous conspiracy angles to prove their allegations. "If any of the conspiracy theorists, including [filmmaker] Oliver Stone, can prove their theories, I'll be the first to admit I was wrong," he said. After the meeting, Aynesworth signed copies of his new book, published by International Focus Press in Richardson, then hurried off to another interview. ================================================= PEOPLE & PLACES The Star-Telegram travel section produced by the lively and moved-to-the Bahamas Trish Rodriguez, designer Clif Bosler and the copy desk crew recently won third place in the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation competition for newspapers with 200,000-349,000 circulation. "Strong headlines and design make this section shine,'' the judges said. National Geographic won the most awards with nine; the Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post won five each. ... The Star-T's Class Acts section, nurtured by youth editor Amanda Rogers, and writer Riley Patterson, a McLean Middle School eighth-grader, won honorable mentions in overall excellence and best writing, respectively, in the Newspaper Association of America Foundation's Youth Editorial Alliance awards announced at the recent YEA conference in Reading, Pa. ... SPJ member Julian Haber, a developmental behavioral pediatrician for Cook Children's Physicians Network at the Fort Worth Child Study Center, just keeps selling copies of "ADHD: The Great Misdiagnosis," revised edition. Literary critics, practitioners and parents praised the first edition as timely and with a long-overdue message, that the label of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has been too-easily applied to children with completely different problems. The new edition references treatment drugs that have been marketed since the previous book and offers insight on who should evaluate a child, how to negotiate the school legal system if a child needs help, and colleges for students with ADHD or learning disabilities. More from Elizabeth Weiss at publishers Taylor/Rowman and Littlefield, eweiss@rowman.com, or from Haber at (817) 390-2926, julianhaber@aol.com. ... Pat Svacina, the city's longtime public information officer, will become U.S. Rep. Kay Granger's press secretary Jan. 5, working out of her Fort Worth office. Granger, R-Fort Worth, was the city's mayor from 1991-95. Before joining the city in 1980, Svacina was a reporter for The Dallas Morning News covering urban affairs in Fort Worth. He also served in the Army from 1969-71, editing the 3rd Armored Division newspaper based in Frankfurt, Germany. He stepped to the fore in the city's biggest recent crises, providing nearly around-the-clock information on a shooting at Wedgwood Baptist Church in 1999 in which a gunman killed eight, including himself, and injured seven. The next year, tornadoes struck downtown and elsewhere in Tarrant County, causing an estimated $450 million in damage and killing at least four people. ... Sandra Brodnicki of Brodnicki Public Relations Consultants (srbcom@attbi.com) is the new chair of the PR Consultants Special Interest Group, taking over from Nancy Farrar, who next year will be public relations chair for Greater Fort Worth PRSA. It's been a good 12 months for the consultants crowd, Farrar says. "We've now got a database of about 30 individuals and have a very regular group at our monthly meetings. We've formed a very nice network of professionals who share common goals and interests, and we've all learned a lot from each other. We've shared marketing strategies, contract negotiation practices, tough client stories and how to keep the books." The final meeting of the year will be a holiday get-together with the Dallas-based Freelance Alliance. Baby daze! Emily Margarete Paul was born at 4:05 p.m. Nov. 13 -- the four-year anniversary, to the day, of the first date of mom Pam McClain, office manager at the Star-Telegram Northeast, and dad Eric Paul. Half-sisters Jessica and Ashley were at the hospital and very excited to welcome their little sister. ================================================= GET A JOB Irving-based Temerlin McClain has created an in-house PR position. Send resumés to James Hering at jhering@temmc.com. ... Promoting happiness on the "yellow and blue brick road," Blockbuster is hiring a community affairs project manager for the Dallas corporate office. A minimum of a bachelor's degree in advertising, marketing, communications or similar curriculum is required plus five years experience. PR agency experience and retail or multi-chain experience a plus. Apply at blockbuster.com. ... The Airport Authority of Washoe County, Reno, Nev., needs a public affairs manager. Contact Paul Fillo at pfillo@renoairport.com. ... Texas Health Resources, parent company of the Harris and Presbyterian hospital systems, has an opening for a PR director, a leadership position for strategy and counsel, issues and crisis management and department operations. Supervises 4.5 FTEs with a budget exceeding half a million dollars. Minimum of seven years experience and bachelor's degree required. Info at texashealth.org. ================================================= NEW MEMBERS SPJ ... Jennifer Acosta, journalist and U. of Alabama grad ================================================= COMINGS & GOINGS Additions ... at the S-T: Bobby White, previously at The Daily Record, a business and law daily in Baltimore, covering the area phone and cable companies -- SBC, Verizon, Nokia, Motorola -- plus the telecom equipment firms in north Dallas Exits ... at the S-T: night cops/general assignment writer Peyton Woodson, moving with new husband David Cooper to Bristol, Conn., where he's an editor for ESPN.com ... op-ed/Sunday editor Bob Davis, 11 years at the Star-Telegram and developer of the Weekly Review section, going home to Alabama as editorial page editor at The Anniston Star ================================================= READING MATTERS "The Flyers: In Search of Wilbur & Orville Wright" / Noah Adams / Crown Publishing On Dec. 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, N.C., the Wright brothers became the first people in history to fly a heavier-than-air machine. Adams, the longtime host of "All Things Considered" and a correspondent for National Public Radio, takes readers along as he travels the route of Wilbur's first trip, by train and boat, to North Carolina's then-desolate Outer Banks. In Ohio, Adams explores Huffman Prairie, the Wrights' flying field (and the country's first airport) at the edge of Dayton. In France, he finds the dirt horse-racing track where the Wright Flyer, circling high above, smashed records and amazed the European aviation community. He visits the parade grounds of Fort Myer, Va., where Orville made test flights for the Army, and Governor's Island in New York Harbor, Wilbur's takeoff point for a daring 20-mile round trip up the Hudson River as a million people watched. Through scores of letters, diaries and oral histories, Adams explores the talent and intensity of the Wright family, offering a rich account of their lives and of the brothers' remarkable achievement. ================================================= RESOURCES Finding the actual texts that are sacred to the world's religions can be daunting, even with access to a world-class library. How many libraries can provide shelf space for the Akaranga Sutra and Kalpa Sutra of Jainism, the Zend-Avesta of Zoroastrianism, the Kitab-i-Aqdas of Baha'i or even the early books of Christianity? The home page at sacred-texts.com/index.htm lists dozens of topics, including all the major religions as well as an intriguing collection of related subjects. ================================================= PRESIDENT'S CORNER Roger Partridge, Greater Fort Worth PRSA It's time to wrap up another successful year for our PRSA chapter. Activities varied from judging awards for another PRSA chapter to participating with TPRA on its awards program. We partnered with TCU for a professional development seminar on integrated marketing, then followed that with "Measurement and Evaluation on a Limited Budget," a session derived from member responses.We hosted the PRSSA chapters for a PR Mystery Tour, and thanks to the chapter's financial stability we presented $500 scholarships to a TCU and ACU PRSSA student. Attendance was great at all of the luncheons because of the interesting and varied programs. Take some credit for that. Your input is always welcomed by the board and program chairman. The Board of Directors has been a great group to work with this year. The directors have my appreciation for performing their duties so diligently. It has been a privilege to be the chapter president. Thanks for giving me the opportunity. ----- OVER & OUT John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ Tackle those goat-cheese tamales or designer pizza and kill the Corona at the journalists' and happy flacks' hoo-ha Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Fort Worth Rail Market. Bring books for the JPS children's library, buy tickets for the raffle, and make your own fun. It's a different concept for us -- throwing a party in a public place. You'll want to tell your grandkids you were at the first one. ... Laura Perkins Cox reports that daddy Frank has an apartment and a decided spring in his step, the latter put there, in part, by the Fort Worth SPJ family. "I couldn't believe the stack of cards he got! I am CONVINCED that these cards, etc. greatly helped his recovery," she writes. "He was simply stunned and honored to be the focus of so much love." Frank has rallied like Joe Louis against Billy Conn from a stroke Oct. 3. He is expected to again fire up the word processor, and last month he hand-wrote me this: "Dear Jawn, ... Appreciate your concerns, and am continuing to improve. Very few black holes left. ... Drop by anytime. Deeply and sincerely yours, Frank Perkins" I may frame it. Reach Frank at 5100 Randol Mill Road #5101, Fort Worth 76112, (817) 253-6747. ... The drumbeaters at CareerJournal.com, a division of The Wall Street Journal, see the tight job market for print journalists starting to loosen, with some recruiters, the ones over in the corner hyperventilating, predicting talent shortages beginning in 2004. "A labor shortage is being masked by the recession. When things pick up, you will see expansions of staffs, and people who are ready to move will make a move," says Joe Grimm, a recruiter for the Detroit Free Press and other Knight Ridder papers. "A lot of the turnover we should have had in 2002 and 2003 will really slam us in 2004 and 2005." Put your hands on the screen and say you believe. Let's all do that now. More here. ... Journalism equal-opportunity needler and Lone Star transplant Charley Stough notes that California headline writers loved out-on-his-ear Gray Davis because his last name counted 4.5 while the new governor's moniker tips the scales at 15. Charley proceeds: "In the headlong disregard for birth-certificate formalities that gave us 'Ike,' 'JFK,' 'LBJ' and 'That burglarizing Republican stumblebum, the lying Richard Nixon,' let us consider some California gubernatorial headline pseudonyms for Arnold Alios Schwarzenegger and their head counts: Gov, 3.5; AAS, 4.5; KGC (for 'Kindergarten Cop,' predictably an apt metaphor when he meets the Legislature), 4.5; SWZ, 5; Actor, 5; 'Nator, 5.5; Grope, 5.5; SWZNGR, 9.5. In all choices, add a half for italic." Closing words: "Support for Saddam, including within his military organization, will collapse at the first whiff of gunpowder." -- Bush administration figure Richard Perle on PBS in 2002 ... "I never had any idea the new president would take such good care of me." -- Bill Clinton, blasting the Bush tax cuts on USNews.com

questions? Contact Fort Worth SPJ chief Larry Lutz. It was his idea to get the local journalism groups together -- Association for Women Journalists, Network of Hispanic Communicators, Asian American Journalists Association, DFW Association of Black Communicators, Native American Journalists Association, National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, and SPJ, plus PRSA, plus IABC -- for a "polyjournalism party." He's an outside-the-box kind of guy.

Underwriting graciously provided by Allan Saxe.

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

Next at IABC/Fort Worth and Fort Worth SPJ ...

No December meeting.

Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ...

Get to Know Your Neighbor

* Time & date: 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10

* Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St.

* Parking: free valet in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket validated)

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

* RSVP by noon Dec. 8: rsvp@fortworthprsa.org

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

Fort Worth SPJ member Dawn Reiss returned from the national convention in September as co-chair of national's freelancing committee. She and Wendy Hoke of Ohio have begun an online database that they hope will grow into an encyclopedia of freelance resources, perhaps including an online forum and leading to an SPJ freelancing handbook. They will also write a monthly Quill column and help develop the freelancing topics for the 2004 convention in New York. "Wendy and I have been interviewing editors around the country to find out what they want. Surprisingly, many want freelancers but can't seem to find ones who fit their specific needs. We're interested in radio, TV, public relations, online, weekly, magazines, newspaper freelancers who are reporters, and writers, editors, photographers, anchors, copy editors or contract PR/marketing people." To make the database, send name, address, phone numbers, e-mail, best time to be contacted, job title, short biography, specialties and anything else that makes you look good to dreiss100@hotmail.com. As for those specialties, she says, "editors want people who are experts in their field -- the more specific you are, the more likely you are to get a call." ...

The Fort Worth and Dallas PRSA chapters are co-hosting the 2004 Southwest District Conference in Las Colinas, March 25-26. Anyone who would like to make a presentation at the conference or serve on the planning committee should contact Krista Brown at krista@maverickad.com or (817) 740-0777 by Dec. 12. ... Furthermore, anyone who recruits members this month to Greater Fort Worth PRSA will be entered in a drawing for prizes from the new PRSA store. He or she who recruits the most members wins a year of free chapter luncheons. Winners will be announced at the January meeting. Active members except the 2003 chapter president and president-elect may participate. National must accept the applicant as a full, associate or reinstated member, and all new-member applications must be delivered and processed (including payment of $45 chapter dues) by Dec. 31. Contact president-elect Pamela Smith at pamela.smith@tccd.edu. ...

Bring a gift suitable for Dallas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) and receive a coupon for a free drink at the Dallas PRSA holiday party at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, at Blue Mesa Grill in Addison. Cost: $15 members, $20 nonmembers, $10 students. Add $5 if attending without a reservation. E-mail Liz Kennedy at lkennedy79@aol.com. ...

For the first time, you don't have to be a member of the National Association of Science Writers to attend its annual workshops. The applications of up to 50 nonmember journalists will be accepted to the Thursday, Feb. 12, conference ("Science in the New World Order/ Disorder") at the Seattle Convention Center. Cost is $260, with no sign-ups after Jan. 15. Contact NASW executive director Diane McGurgan at diane72@earthlink.net. More at nasw.org/mem-maint/workshops/nasw_2004.

SPJ national update: Still feel like America to you? When the Justice Department tried earlier this year to write a bill to expand the Patriot Act, a draft -- dubbed Patriot II -- was leaked and caused such an uproar that Justice officials backed down. So the most controversial aspects of Patriot II migrated to a bill passed by Congress on Nov. 21 that reduces oversight of the FBI and intelligence agencies and, according to critics, shifts the balance of power away from the legislature and the courts. A provision of the intelligence spending bill enables the FBI to subpoena documents from an expanded range of businesses -- everything from libraries to travel agencies to eBay -- without first seeking approval from a judge. Under the Patriot Act, the FBI can acquire bank records and Internet or phone logs simply by issuing itself a so-called national security letter saying that the records are relevant to an investigation into terrorism. More here. ... But then there's "Resistance to the Patriot Act is Growing in the American Heartland" by Newsweek columnist Christopher Dickey. It begins: "Geuda Springs is a little town in southern Kansas, not too far from the Oklahoma border. About 200 decent, proud and sometimes kind of ornery people live there, and precisely because they're so independent-minded there's a whiff of outlaw about the reputation of the place. Earlier this month, just to raise some eyebrows, the Geuda Springs town council passed an ordinance requiring every head of family to own a gun, and ammunition, and be ready to use it." Read it all here. ... And this. The Austin City Council earlier in the year joined the more than 170 cities and counties nationwide in adopting resolutions critical of the Patriot Act. The Austin measure expresses concern that the act, lauded by the Bush administration as a tool in fighting terrorism, has the potential to violate fundamental liberties.

SPJ national update II: What accountability? SPJ has criticized the use of a voice vote to approve the administration's $87 billion Iraq operations and reconstruction spending request. Also, members of the SPJ Freedom of Information Committee are calling each U.S. senator, asking him or her to state a vote for the record; results will be posted at spj.org. In a letter to Vice President Dick Cheney, SPJ president Mac McKerral wrote: "No legislative body in the 50 states, from the smallest city council or school board to the state legislatures themselves, would be allowed to approve the most modest appropriation off the record, much less one of historic proportions and consequence. The United States Senate's approach to the Iraq spending approval flies in the face of traditions we have come to regard as fundamental: that Congress serves at the mercy of the people, and that people have a civic duty to monitor the actions of their elected representatives." In the letter McKerral quotes National Public Radio's Daniel Schorr that majority and minority leaders Bill Frist and Tom Daschle arranged in advance for no recorded vote to provide some safeguard against future embarrassment. The senators who voted publicly on the bill were Robert Byrd, D-W.Va.; Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I.; Byron Dorgan, D-N.D.; Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii; Harry Reid, D-Nev.; and Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. All but Byrd voted yes.

SPJ national update III: The 12th Typesetter makes a comeback, the energy bill runs out of gas, and half a loaf is still dough. Aggies could still earn a revamped journalism degree under a plan offered by the Texas A&M liberal arts dean. Charles Johnson's recommendation to create an interdisciplinary major in journalism with a minor and certificate option comes a month after a study he commissioned advised how the university could restructure the j-program rather than eliminate it. Minors and certificates, which require fewer course hours than a degree, likely would be available in the fall. ... After nearly three months of negotiations and deal-making, Congress gave up on energy legislation for this year, falling two Senate votes short of sending a bill to the president. Republican leaders vowed to return to the $31 billion measure early next year. A dispute over a gasoline additive that has been found to poison groundwater, MTBE, could not be resolved, nor could two additional Senate votes needed to overcome a filibuster by opponents be found. ... President Bush and Senate Republicans apparently compromised on their dispute over media ownership rules, eliminating a major stumbling block to approval of a $330 billion catch-all spending measure covering a third of all federal programs. The dispute revolved around the much-debated FCC proposal to allow the major networks to own television stations reaching 45 percent of the nation's audiences. Some in Congress wanted to roll the rule back to 35 percent, but a deal struck Nov. 24 sets the figure at 39 percent. More here.

SPJ national update IV: Free the paper! Free the reindeer! Dallas Morning News executives may have blanched when they learned that the paper's former president, Jeremy Halbreich, had been planning a free daily right under their noses for more than a year, with the launch date just two weeks away. What to do? The Morning News already had a prototype in place, so it rushed out its own free daily, Quick, and ended up getting a two-day jump on the A.M. Journal Express. "The fact that they're reacting so quickly is rather flattering," Halbreich told the Star-Telegram's Barry Shlachter. "I can't think of a faster or better way to gain instant credibility and validate our product ideas than for The Dallas Morning News to come out with a me-too product." More here. ... In its second world press freedom ranking, Reporters Without Borders puts the United States in a tie with Greece at No. 31. No. 1 is a tie between Finland and Iceland. At the bottom of the barrel: North Korea. The complete ranking is at rsf.fr.

SPJ national update V: APME protests, and unreported deaths. In two letters to the Pentagon, the press asserts that U.S. troops are harassing journalists in Iraq and sometimes confiscating equipment, digital camera disks and videotapes. The Associated Press Managing Editors wrote Larry Di Rita, acting assistant secretary of defense for public affairs, that some soldiers' actions appear intended to discourage journalists from doing their jobs. "These actions are unacceptable and contrary to the Pentagon's own guidelines distributed to troops in the field," wrote APME president Stuart Wilk, vice president/managing editor at The Dallas Morning News. The harassment has deprived "the American public of crucial images from Iraq in newspapers, broadcast stations and online news operations." More here. ... One group in Iraq whose deaths often go unreported are independent contractors from American corporations working in the country. These fatalities, often from mines and ambushes, are rarely reported by newspapers and are not listed in the Pentagon's official death toll. "I know contractors are not reported there," Pentagon spokesman Maj. Joe Yoswa said of the official death toll. "I can tell you the contractors' names are not listed in the roll-up." As of Nov. 13, for example, three employees of Kellogg, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Houston-based Halliburton and the largest military contractor in Iraq, have been killed in Iraq since the war began. More here.

The Day Journalism Changed Forever

His decision landed him a place in history and led to his writing a book about his experiences. "JFK: Breaking the News," published last month, details many of the occurrences that have enthralled readers, young and old, for years. "If any one event has impacted the American media more that this, I don't recall it," he said. "I agree with Bob Schieffer [then a Fort Worth reporter and now host of CBS's "Face the Nation"] that TV came into its own after this. Before then, if you
didn't read it in the newspaper then you didn't believe it."

In the following frantic hours, Aynesworth eye-witnessed Lee Harvey Oswald's arrest, interviewed Oswald's family and was in the police station basement when Jack Ruby shot and killed the alleged assassin. Throughout the many interviews and countless stories, Aynesworth remains convinced that Oswald acted alone. Conspiracy theorists believe that he's part of a cover-up surrounding the assassination.

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The Star-Telegram travel section produced by the lively and moved-to-the Bahamas Trish Rodriguez, designer Clif Bosler and the copy desk crew recently won third place in the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation competition for newspapers with 200,000-349,000 circulation. "Strong headlines and design make this section shine,'' the judges said. National Geographic won the most awards with nine; the Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post won five each. ... The Star-T's Class Acts section, nurtured by youth editor Amanda Rogers, and writer Riley Patterson, a McLean Middle School eighth-grader, won honorable mentions in overall excellence and best writing, respectively, in the Newspaper Association of America Foundation's Youth Editorial Alliance awards announced at the recent YEA conference in Reading, Pa. ...

SPJ member Julian Haber, a developmental behavioral pediatrician for Cook Children's Physicians Network at the Fort Worth Child Study Center, just keeps selling copies of "ADHD: The Great Misdiagnosis," revised edition. Literary critics, practitioners and parents praised the first edition as timely and with a long-overdue message, that the label of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder has been too-easily applied to children with completely different problems. The new edition references treatment drugs that have been marketed since the previous book and offers insight on who should evaluate a child, how to negotiate the school legal system if a child needs help, and colleges for students with ADHD or learning disabilities. More from Elizabeth Weiss at publishers Taylor/Rowman and Littlefield, eweiss@rowman.com, or from Haber at (817) 390-2926, julianhaber@aol.com. ...

Pat Svacina, the city's longtime public information officer, will become U.S. Rep. Kay Granger's press secretary Jan. 5, working out of her Fort Worth office. Granger, R-Fort Worth, was the city's mayor from 1991-95. Before joining the city in 1980, Svacina was a reporter for The Dallas Morning News covering urban affairs in Fort Worth. He also served in the Army from 1969-71, editing the 3rd Armored Division newspaper based in Frankfurt, Germany. He stepped to the fore in the city's biggest recent crises, providing nearly around-the-clock information on a shooting at Wedgwood Baptist Church in 1999 in which a gunman killed eight, including himself, and injured seven. The next year, tornadoes struck downtown and elsewhere in Tarrant County, causing an estimated $450 million in damage and killing at least four people. ...

Sandra Brodnicki of Brodnicki Public Relations Consultants (srbcom@attbi.com) is the new chair of the PR Consultants Special Interest Group, taking over from Nancy Farrar, who next year will be public relations chair for Greater Fort Worth PRSA. It's been a good 12 months for the consultants crowd, Farrar says. "We've now got a database of about 30 individuals and have a very regular group at our monthly meetings. We've formed a very nice network of professionals who share common goals and interests, and we've all learned a lot from each other. We've shared marketing strategies, contract negotiation practices, tough client stories and how to keep the books." The final meeting of the year will be a holiday get-together with the Dallas-based Freelance Alliance.

Baby daze! Emily Margarete Paul was born at 4:05 p.m. Nov. 13 -- the four-year anniversary, to the day, of the first date of mom Pam McClain, office manager at the Star-Telegram Northeast, and dad Eric Paul. Half-sisters Jessica and Ashley were at the hospital and very excited to welcome their little sister.

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Irving-based Temerlin McClain has created an in-house PR position. Send resumés to James Hering at jhering@temmc.com. ... Promoting happiness on the "yellow and blue brick road," Blockbuster is hiring a community affairs project manager for the Dallas corporate office. A minimum of a bachelor's degree in advertising, marketing, communications or similar curriculum is required plus five years experience. PR agency experience and retail or multi-chain experience a plus. Apply at blockbuster.com. ...

The Airport Authority of Washoe County, Reno, Nev., needs a public affairs manager. Contact Paul Fillo at pfillo@renoairport.com. ... Texas Health Resources, parent company of the Harris and Presbyterian hospital systems, has an opening for a PR director, a leadership position for strategy and counsel, issues and crisis management and department operations. Supervises 4.5 FTEs with a budget exceeding half a million dollars. Minimum of seven years experience and bachelor's degree required. Info at texashealth.org.

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SPJ ... Jennifer Acosta, journalist and U. of Alabama grad

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Additions ... at the S-T: Bobby White, previously at The Daily Record, a business and law daily in Baltimore, covering the area phone and cable companies -- SBC, Verizon, Nokia, Motorola -- plus the telecom equipment firms in north Dallas

Exits ... at the S-T: night cops/general assignment writer Peyton Woodson, moving with new husband David Cooper to Bristol, Conn., where he's an editor for ESPN.com ... op-ed/Sunday editor Bob Davis, 11 years at the Star-Telegram and developer of the Weekly Review section, going home to Alabama as editorial page editor at The Anniston Star

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"The Flyers: In Search of Wilbur & Orville Wright" /

Noah Adams / Crown Publishing

On Dec. 17, 1903, at Kitty Hawk, N.C., the Wright brothers became the first people in history to fly a heavier-than-air machine. Adams, the longtime host of "All Things Considered" and a correspondent for National Public Radio, takes readers along as he travels the route of Wilbur's first trip, by train and boat, to North Carolina's then-desolate Outer Banks. In Ohio, Adams explores Huffman Prairie, the Wrights' flying field (and the country's first airport) at the edge of Dayton. In France, he finds the dirt horse-racing track where the Wright Flyer, circling high above, smashed records and amazed the European aviation community. He visits the parade grounds of Fort Myer, Va., where Orville made test flights for the Army, and Governor's Island in New York Harbor, Wilbur's takeoff point for a daring 20-mile round trip up the Hudson River as a million people watched. Through scores of letters, diaries and oral histories, Adams explores the talent and intensity of the Wright family, offering a rich account of their lives and of the brothers' remarkable achievement.

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Finding the actual texts that are sacred to the world's religions can be daunting, even with access to a world-class library. How many libraries can provide shelf space for the Akaranga Sutra and Kalpa Sutra of Jainism, the Zend-Avesta of Zoroastrianism, the Kitab-i-Aqdas of Baha'i or even the early books of Christianity? The home page at sacred-texts.com/index.htm lists dozens of topics, including all the major religions as well as an intriguing collection of related subjects.

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Roger Partridge, Greater Fort Worth PRSA

It's time to wrap up another successful year for our PRSA chapter. Activities varied from judging awards for another PRSA chapter to participating with TPRA on its awards program. We partnered with TCU for a professional development seminar on integrated marketing, then followed that with "Measurement and Evaluation on a Limited Budget," a session derived from member responses.We hosted the PRSSA chapters for a PR Mystery Tour, and thanks to the chapter's financial stability we presented $500 scholarships to a TCU and ACU PRSSA student.

John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ

Tackle those goat-cheese tamales or designer pizza and kill the Corona at the journalists' and happy flacks' hoo-ha Saturday, Dec. 13, at the Fort Worth Rail Market. Bring books for the JPS children's library, buy tickets for the raffle, and make your own fun. It's a different concept for us -- throwing a party in a public place. You'll want to tell your grandkids you were at the first one. ...

Laura Perkins Cox reports that daddy Frank has an apartment and a decided spring in his step, the latter put there, in part, by the Fort Worth SPJ family. "I couldn't believe the stack of cards he got! I am CONVINCED that these cards, etc. greatly helped his recovery," she writes. "He was simply stunned and honored to be the focus of so much love." Frank has rallied like Joe Louis against Billy Conn from a stroke Oct. 3. He is expected to again fire up the word processor, and last month he hand-wrote me this: "Dear Jawn, ... Appreciate your concerns, and am continuing to improve. Very few black holes left. ... Drop by anytime. Deeply and sincerely yours, Frank Perkins" I may frame it. Reach Frank at 5100 Randol Mill Road #5101, Fort Worth 76112, (817) 253-6747. ...

The drumbeaters at CareerJournal.com, a division of The Wall Street Journal, see the tight job market for print journalists starting to loosen, with some recruiters, the ones over in the corner hyperventilating, predicting talent shortages beginning in 2004. "A labor shortage is being masked by the recession. When things pick up, you will see expansions of staffs, and people who are ready to move will make a move," says Joe Grimm, a recruiter for the Detroit Free Press and other Knight Ridder papers. "A lot of the turnover we should have had in 2002 and 2003 will really slam us in 2004 and 2005." Put your hands on the screen and say you believe. Let's all do that now. More here. ...

Journalism equal-opportunity needler and Lone Star transplant Charley Stough notes that California headline writers loved out-on-his-ear Gray Davis because his last name counted 4.5 while the new governor's moniker tips the scales at 15. Charley proceeds: "In the headlong disregard for birth-certificate formalities that gave us 'Ike,' 'JFK,' 'LBJ' and 'That burglarizing Republican stumblebum, the lying Richard Nixon,' let us consider some California gubernatorial headline pseudonyms for Arnold Alios Schwarzenegger and their head counts: Gov, 3.5; AAS, 4.5; KGC (for 'Kindergarten Cop,' predictably an apt metaphor when he meets the Legislature), 4.5; SWZ, 5; Actor, 5; 'Nator, 5.5; Grope, 5.5; SWZNGR, 9.5. In all choices, add a half for italic."