July 2003
MEETINGS
Next at IABC/Fort Worth ...
Annika and the Media Frenzy: A Volunteer Looks at the Links
Even if you don't know the difference between a waggle and a wormburner, here's the golf tale that every North Texas communications professional wants to hear.
Just what did it take to organize all those news and sports media reps attracted to Fort Worth's Bank of America Colonial in mid-May during Annika Sorenstam's appearance in the PGA tournament? David Walker, volunteer(!) media chairman for the event, was charged with the task and will regale the July IABC meeting with how, and how well, he and his team pulled it off.
* Time, date: lunch 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesday, July 8
* 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 3: Julie Trowbridge at trowbridgeja@c-b.com
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Next at Greater Fort Worth PRSA ...
Merging PR and Social Marketing to Create Change
What do you do when your campaign has a 20-year timeframe and the formidable goal of changing the public health behaviors of an entire state? Nationally known speakers Vera Bother, APR, communications program manager for the Kansas Health Foundation, and Lathi de Silva, public relations account supervisor for Sullivan Higdon & Sink, will describe at the July PRSA meeting how they're accomplishing this mammoth task by merging public relations and social marketing strategies.
They will address what is social marketing and why it works; "complex messages in a sound-bite world"; the evolution of a message throughout a multi-year campaign; lessons learned and changes made. Also, Reed Byrum, APR, president and CEO of PRSA, will share news from the national chapter.
* Time & date: 11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Wednesday, July 9
* Place: Petroleum Club, Carter-Burgess Plaza, 777 Main St., 39th floor
* Parking: free valet in parking garage at Seventh and Commerce streets (get ticket validated)
* Cost: $20 members, $23 nonmembers, $18 students
* RSVP by noon July 7: rsvp@fortworthprsa.org
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Next at Fort Worth SPJ ...
Summertime, Summertime, Sum-sum-summertime
Summertime, Summertime, Sum-sum-summertime
The SPJ Summertime Beer Bust, Grape Gala and Burnt & Barbecued Ribfest Overlooking the Nude Beach II unfurls (uncorks?) Saturday, July 26, featuring no nudity and no beach but a worthy cause -- proceeds go to scholarships -- and just a splendid time in Max and Helena Faulkner's tree-shaded backyard.
Grilling guru Ron Holcomb will work his outdoor-food magic, with entertainment by Yellow Rose, a six-piece band with the Stockyards on its resume, notably the Stockyards Opry, and a zest for Elvis, Loretta Lynn, Lyle Lovett and Chuck Berry -- '50s and '60s rock meets country swing. No reasonable request denied. "Honey," says manager Kathy Stumpel, "you're going to love us."
* Date: Saturday, July 26
* Time: mingling 6 p.m., dinner 7
* Place: the Faulkners', 2205 Windsor Place
* Cost: $20
* Menu: ribs, chicken, sausage and all the trimmings; soft drinks, beer, wine
* RSVP: Kay Pirtle at mkpirtle@yahoo.com
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STRAIGHT STUFF
Bryan Peterson of Dallas-based Peterson & Co. will share his philosophy on how to make life in the office and elsewhere more fun at the Dallas IABC meeting Tuesday, July 8. Two days later, Reed Byrum, president and CEO of the Public Relations Society of America, will address the Dallas PRSA monthly meeting. More at dallasiabc.com/programs/attendourluncheons.htm and prsadallas.org/calendar.html, respectively. ...
SPJ national update: 1 request, fat-chance category, and 1 clarification. SPJ has asked federal authorities to make it as easy for foreign journalists to enter the United States as for any other traveler. Visitors from 27 countries may come over without a visa if they intend to stay less than 90 days; journalists need a visa. In incidents May 10 and 11 in Los Angeles, six French journalists on their way to cover a video-game trade show were denied entry. Four were initially allowed through customs but were detained after they returned to inquire about their colleagues. The journalists were handcuffed, fingerprinted, searched and held overnight before being sent back to France. The Department of Homeland Security says three British journalists were similarly sent home. ... On the new rules required as part of the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, unless a patient objects to being listed in the care facility directory, the facility may still release his condition and location (e.g., ICU, CCU) -- but only if the requester asks for the patient by name and not simply the person "just shown on the 6 o'clock news." SPJ and other news organizations contend that the rules, which went into effect April 14, make it harder for journalists to follow up on accident victims or disease outbreaks.
SPJ national update II: 2 wins, albino and geriatric divisions. The California Supreme Court on June 2 rejected on First Amendment grounds a violation-of-publicity-rights claim brought by albino guitarists Johnny and Edgar Winter, whom DC Comics caricatured in 1995 as "villainous half-worm, half-human" beings with long white hair and albino features. The caricature characters, bad guys Johnny and Edgar Autumn, appeared in three issues of DC Comics and were snuffed by hero Jonah Hex. ... Pen in hand and already steamed -- on "our bellicose military policy; our arrogant foreign policy; our domestic security policy that threatens our freedom of speech, press and person; and our financial policy that many if not most economists believe threatens a national deficit deep into this century" -- Walter Cronkite, 86, is writing an opinion column that King Features Syndicate will start distributing in early August. The respected former CBS News anchor will plumb administration policies as well as the 2004 elections, the media and other topics.
SPJ national update III: protected speech in Cajun country and free speech in Iraq. An economics prof's allegedly defamatory Internet postings are protected speech under a state law that makes pursuing frivolous defamation suits difficult. A Shreveport appeals court dismissed the suit against former University of Louisiana at Monroe professor John Scott, who had maintained an anonymous Web site dubbed "Truth at ULM" that criticized the administration. Richard Baxter, the university's former vice president for external affairs, sued Scott for several online postings, including one calling Baxter the "Vice-President of Excremental Affairs." ... Iraq is deemed too fragile for a journalistic free-for-all, so its U.S. occupiers are devising a media code of conduct. The State Department assembled media people the first week of June in Athens, Greece, to devise a rule book. Coalition spokeswoman Naheed Mehta said occupation officials didn't know about the Athens meeting. Representatives of the Athens group said they didn't know about a similar code being drawn up in Baghdad. Regardless, Iraqi journalists fumed that the code could lead to censorship. "How can they say we have a democracy?" demanded Eshta Jassem Ali Yasseri, 25, editor of the new satirical weekly Habezbooz. "That's not democracy. It sounds like the same old thing."
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When Wars Collide: Differing Backgrounds, Constituents
Don't Keep Journalists from Calling It Like They See It
by Frank Perkins
The life and times of embedded war correspondents brought a new dimension to the term "war stories" at the June 28 afternoon meeting of Fort Worth SPJ.
Almost 60 people packed Joe T. Garcia's ballroom cantina to hear the BBC's David Willis offer a European take on the war, KTVT-Channel 11's Sarah Dodd recall a hair-raising midnight bus ride through an ambush zone with soldiers who had guns but no bullets (the ammunition supply ship had run aground), and Ed Timms of The Dallas Morning News tell of firefights and filing dispatches by hooking up his gear to a Humvee battery. For starters.
All felt the idea of embedding correspondents in units down to company size was a good one, but with drawbacks. "I was embedded a month with the 5th U.S. Marines and found it the most frightening experience of my life," said Willis, who's based in Los Angeles. "It was long periods of fear punctuated by moments of sheer terror." On Timms' assertion that the phrase "fierce fighting" was overused and more appropriate for battles in World War II or Vietnam, Willis said, "Well, I thought some of the firefights were very fierce, and I live in LA!"
The Marines didn't care for Willis describing their hard-charging combat style in less than glowing terms. "They didn't like 'gung ho' or 'trigger happy' and thought I should be more like Fox News, which was definitely pro-American. The BBC thinks such patriotism hinders the reporters' objectivity." Nor did the Marines appreciate the distinction that he was writing for a European audience predominantly opposed to the war.
In comparing European and U.S. news approaches, Timms called the BBC "the pearl among the swill" and reminded Willis that when a British nuclear submarine sank the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano well outside the British exclusionary zone during the Falklands War, a London tabloid, The Sun, printed a p. 1 picture of the sinking ship under the headline "GOTCHA."
The correspondents had scorn, albeit good-natured, for Geraldo Rivera, who was unembedded after he sketched a crude maneuver map in the sand for a televised report. Timms, who was with a reconnaissance troop of the Fort Hood-based 4th Infantry, had even less regard for longtime war journalist Peter Arnett, whom NBC fired after he said on state-run Iraqi TV that the American-led coalition's initial plans had failed because of Iraq's resistance.
Willis, Dodd and Timms all underwent some form of basic training before going overseas, including how to recognize mines and don chemical-protection gear. "This training made it much safer for us," said Timms, who added that during the Vietnam War, reporters just hooked a ride on an outbound helicopter, and their ignorance of things military often led to their deaths.
None of the three reported censorship attempts by the military. Dodd, who was embedded with a 4th Infantry Apache helicopter unit, noted applying certain filters to her own work. "I didn't report on the early shortage of ammunition in the 4th Infantry because had I reported some units were without ammo, they would have become targets. I tried to do my job by reporting sensibly."
The meeting ended with Timms challenging national U.S. news organizations to do their job by asking the tough question. "The American media can be very slow off the mark to question the government about war," he said. "I just hope that serious questions on the absence of weapons of mass destruction will be asked."
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Race Not the Cure: Times' Troubles Transcend Issue
of Plagiarist Reporter's Skin Color, Panel Finds
The flap surrounding Jayson Blair's plagiarism and dismissal from The New York Times drew varied opinions at a June 3 panel at The Dallas Morning News, with the consensus being that race played a part, but not a vital part, in the failings of both Blair and his Times editors.
The panelists -- the Star-Telegram's Bob Ray Sanders and Larry Lutz; Lorraine Branham, director of the UT Austin journalism department; the DMN's Tom Huang, past state president of the Asian American Journalists Association; TCU journalism professor Ernest Perry; and DMN managing editor Stu Wilk, vice president of Associated Press Managing Editors -- called Blair an extreme example of an unethical person but said the fact that his flaws were so overlooked for so long indicates deep-seated problems at the Times. Top managers, the panelists said, must communicate better with line editors and department heads, and not just at the Times but in newsrooms throughout the nation.
Many of the more than 50 in attendance said they're worried that the scandal will hurt the industry. Will the sins of a few punish all in loss of credibility, a decline in readership or reprisals by news executives? And do journalism students get sufficient guidance in ethics? The agreement was that there can't be too much ethics training and that most students fall far short of pushing the mark.
A major focus of the discussion -- the panelists were bombarded with good questions -- was on the perceived existence of a star system. Such a system does exist, it was suggested, and has many pluses: The most talented people do the best work, and their experience and talent provide the basis for creative writing and strong reporting. The panel was sponsored by the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators.
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PEOPLE & PLACES
TCU communications director Kelli Horst is moving to Michigan where her husband, Scott, an emergency room physician, has accepted a position with a hospital. A board member of Greater Fort Worth PRSA and the South Area Council of the Chamber of Commerce, she began at TCU in May 1999 after moving to Fort Worth in 1995 to join Witherspoon and Associates. She is a member of Leadership Fort Worth, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and the communications committee of Lena Pope Home and is a long-time worker with the Davey O'Brien Foundation. "Kelli has always been a wonderful volunteer, willing to help out when we need her the most," noted PRSA colleague Kim Speairs. "She wowed everyone at the May meeting when she openly shared the biggest PR blunders she has made." ...
The Wise County Messenger won sweepstakes in its circulation category -- for the second consecutive year -- and a first place for photos by Brian Knox and Joe Duty in Texas Press Association competition. ...
Torrents of praise rained down June 10 at IABC/Fort Worth's Bronze Quill presentation -- "a huge success," new president Lori De La Cruz called it -- as a roomful of winners took home awards large and larger. The list: most improved publication, Award of Excellence, the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (Annette Wesley Gunter) and the city of Bedford (Keith Rinehart); Web site, Award of Merit, IABC/Fort Worth (Lori De La Cruz); special events/meetings, Award of Merit, Pavlik and Associates, and Award of Excellence, Freese and Nichols, and honorable mention, Crescent Real Estate Equities (Jill E. Goff); annual reports, Award of Merit, city of Mansfield public information office and the LifeGift Organ Donation Center; one-time publications, Award of Merit, Crescent Real Estate Equities (Jill E. Goff) and AmeriCredit Corp. (Jean Devero, Gala Trimble, Stu Burge); newsletters, Award of Merit, city of Bedford, and honorable mention, AmeriCredit Corp.; magazines, honorable mention, Automotive Service Association (Angie Wilson); speeches and scripts, Award of Merit, AmeriCredit Corp. (Stu Burge); magazine feature/human interest/profile, two Awards of Merit, city of Fort Worth (Petra Carey); campaigns/displays/ invitations, Award of Merit, JPS Health Network (Theresa Davis), and honorable mention, AmeriCredit Corp. (Mark Hernandez); graphics for annual reports, Award of Merit, LifeGift Organ Donation Center; logos and graphic identity, Award of Excellence, Kristy Libotte Keener; brochures and one-time publications, Award of Excellence, Pier 1 Imports; communication programs/campaigns, Award of Excellence, Freese and Nichols (Pam Fry) and JPS Health Network, and Award of Merit, city of Arlington (Gerald Urbantke), the McAllen Cable Network, Pier 1 Imports and AmeriCredit Corp.; city slogan/campaign, Award of Excellence, Pavlik and Associates, and honorable mention, city of Bedford. ...
Maria Recio won honorable mention as Best Washington Correspondent in the Dateline Awards given June 10 at SPJ's annual dinner at the National Press Club. The award lauds the Star-Telegram's D.C. writer for "reporting that humanizes the oftentimes drab details of government activity." ... The Star-T cleaned up at the Houston Press Club's Lone Star Awards with Print Journalist of the Year Jennifer Autrey, Photojournalist of the Year Rodger Mallison and first-placers Mary Rogers, Miles Moffeit, Jennifer Radcliffe, J.R. Labbe, Mitchell Schnurman, Wayne Lee Gay, Jennifer Hart, Ron Ennis, Khampha Bouaphanh, everyone involved with "The Color of Hate" and the investigative team of Jeff Claassen, Autrey and Moffeit. Linda Campbell, Jeffery Washington, Rick Press, Bouaphanh and the team of Trebor Banstetter, Bob Cox, Maria Perotin and Todd Mason took second-place awards and Jeff Guinn, Yamil Berard, Ron Jenkins, Tom Pennington and Mallison thirds. ...
TCU Faculty Scholar Heather Cohen, a junior ad/PR major from Plano, and April Hicks, an Abilene Christian University junior from Lake Jackson, each received a $500 scholarship from Greater Fort Worth PRSA. Both students are active in their PRSSA chapters; Heather won the scholarship last year. The money comes from donations the chapter makes on behalf of the luncheon speakers. ...
Salam Pax, the irreverent Iraqi whose online tirades skewered Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush in equal measure, is real, after all, a 29-year-old architect who worked as a translator for freelance journalist Peter Maass. Maass verified Salam's existence in a column posted at Slate.com. Salam became the digital voice of Iraqis torn between the grimness of Saddam's dictatorship and fear of U.S. bombs. His Web diary, or "blog," riveted Internet users, but he never revealed enough personal details to prove that he was more than a hoax. ...
Baby daze! Star-T Northeast reporter Kelly Melhart Richey and husband Todd are the new proud parents of Elizabeth "Lizzy" St. Amour Richey, born at 4:11 p.m. June 18.
Kudos & Contracts ... The LifeGift Organ Donation Center, working with Witherspoon Advertising and Public Relations and graphic designer David Sims, received a PRSA 2003 Bronze Anvil Award for its annual report, which doubles as a calendar. Of more than 1,000 entries, only 37 earned a Bronze Anvil. In its 15th year of operation, LifeGift is a not-for-profit organ procurement organization dedicated to assisting individuals needing transplants in 109 counties in West, Southeast and North Texas. The award was presented June 5 in New York City.
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GET A JOB
Partners Together for Health, the foundation for JPS Health Network, seeks a grant writer. Must have excellent writing skills, including ability to prioritize not only copy but schedule. Understands what deadlines are and doesn't panic. Experience preferred. Contact Kimberly Britton with the foundation, (817) 920-7331, or Bruce Smith in JPS Human Resources, (817) 920-7371.
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NEW MEMBERS
SPJ ... Pat d'Agrella, Star-Telegram copy desk
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READING MATTERS
"Lily Dale: The True Story of the Town that Talks to the Dead" /
Christine Wicker / HarperCollins
In Lily Dale, N.Y., spirits of the dead flit among the elms and stroll along the streets, sometimes in garb common 120 years ago, when the town was founded and suffragette Susan B. Anthony visited frequently. Every summer, 20,000 come to consult the mediums, who may hang out a shingle only after passing a test that confirms their link to the spirit world. Reporter Wicker (a UTA graduate) follows a happily married wife whose visit brings a warning, a mother whose son killed himself, and a recent widow to the world's oldest and largest Spiritualist community as she moves beyond the front parlors and into the lives that tourists never see. HarperCollins puts it this way: "She follows the mediums to a place where what we know and how we know it is the greatest mystery of all."
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RESOURCES
How toxic is our town? A new pollution locator service at uspirg.org/uspirg.asp?id2=8822&id3=USPIRG& gives state-by-state U.S. Public Interest Research Group reports on toxic substances released by industrial operations. The reports summarize air and water pollution reported by industry from 1987 to 2000. The reports emphasize material thought to cause neurological, developmental and reproductive problems. ... More than 6,000 books are downloadable through Project Gutenberg (promo.net/pg/), and more sites are joining the mix. Bartleby.com offers thousands of classics of reference, literature and nonfiction to the Internet Public Library, with links to online text and Dewey Decimal System searchability. ClassicReader.com enables a keyword search of works by authors like Dickens, Tolstoy and Shakespeare.
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PRESIDENT'S CORNER
Roger Partridge, Greater Fort Worth PRSA
Congratulations to Kelli and Scott Horst on the birth of Collin Robert on June 15. Collin was welcomed home by big brother Jed. If the Horsts don't have enough excitement in their lives, they're also preparing for that move to Michigan. Scott's family lives in the Flint area, so they shouldn't have to scramble for babysitters. Kelli serves on the chapter board of directors, and we wish her well. She'll be missed.
Chapter president-elect Pamela Smith just returned from the annual leadership rally in New York. It was a great time to learn what's going on with other PRSA chapters and to meet the movers in the national office.
Don't forget to contact Holly Ellman to offer your help with the Fort Worth Fire Department community service project. This will be a terrific way to meet other chapter members and use your PR skills to give something back. Holly can be reached at holly@lachapelleagency.com.
Hope you're having a great summer. Remember to give yourself a little R&R.
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PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
Lori De La Cruz, IABC/Fort Worth
The Bronze Quill Award is the highlight of our year, capping the great programming and professional development opportunities at IABC/Fort Worth, and congratulations to all who earned one in June. For that matter, anyone who even submitted an entry deserves applause. (I'm standing up and clapping. OK, now I'm sitting back down.)
The next step is the regional Silver Quill, and the Cowtown winners qualify to compete against other standouts in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma. What a terrific way to show off your work. Early-bird deadline is July 11, with information at iabcusd5.com/iabcd5silverquill.htm. Awards will be presented at the IABC District 5 conference in Austin on Thursday, Oct. 2.
I encourage you to attend this tremendous conference. A great thing about IABC is that membership covers the spectrum of careers in strategic business communication and management, and the breakout sessions -- techniques for tying communication to the bottom line, tapping into the power of customer insights, maximizing your ROI, internationalizing your message -- reflect that diversity. See imprintmall.com/iabcd5/ for details.
Remember to RSVP for our July 8 program, "Annika and the Media Frenzy: A Volunteer Looks at the Links." Super-volunteer David Walker will tell how he organized the reporters who hit Fort Worth in May to witness Annika Sorenstam take on the PGA tour.
Oh, one more thing. We're changing IABC Tuesday to the first Tuesday of the month beginning in August. Same great pie on the second Tuesday, but you'll be eatin' by yourself.
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OVER & OUT
John Dycus, Fort Worth SPJ
If you can free up three weeks this summer, you might model your get-away after this little junket. June 11 New York. June 13 Helsinki, Finland. June 15 Copenhagen, Denmark. June 18 overnight cruise. June 19 Oslo, Norway. June 22 Bergen, Norway. June 25 Stockholm, Sweden. June 28 New York. Jennifer and Brad? J. Lo and Ben? Nah, Dorothy and Emory. Makes me tired. Most admiring, too. ... So Dorothy Estes missed the embedded reporters meeting. She had a pass. An intriguing aside on the meeting from Immotion Studios' Marija Gluscevic: "I used to work with foreign journalists in Montenegro back in times of the crisis in Kosovo, Serbia, and it was interesting to work one day with the French crew who only wanted the faces of refugees, and the next day with the British reporter who wanted pictures of the weapons, then an American team who wanted to interview 'everybody' in the government." ...
Big news from '02 Staley and Beverly McBrayer Scholarshipper Zenobia Harris. She won the collegiate national speech title in April over more than 800 fast talkers, and she now has a fellowship to the University of Alabama -- all expenses paid for her master's degree and doctorate. "I will never forget the night I drove to Fort Worth to be in the company of so many inspiring people," she writes. "Thank you again for believing in me." That drive was from West Texas A&M at Canyon through a tornado watch. Remember the name. We may be working for her someday. ...
After a civics presentation at an elementary school, Attorney General Ashcroft announces that he'll answer any questions. Bobby raises his hand and says, "I have three questions: 1. How did President Bush win the election with fewer votes than Vice President Gore? 2. Why are you using the Patriot Act to limit Americans' civil liberties? 3. Why hasn't the U.S. caught Osama bin Laden?" Just then the bell sounds, and the kids run outside. Ten minutes later, they return, and Ashcroft says, "I'm sorry we were interrupted. Now let's hear those questions!" A girl named Charlene raises her hand and says, "I have five questions: 1. How did President Bush win the election with fewer votes than Vice President Gore? 2. Why are you using the Patriot Act to limit Americans' civil liberties? 3. Why hasn't the U.S. caught Osama bin Laden? 4. Why did the bell go off 20 minutes early? 5. Where's Bobby?" ...
Let's assume, up front, that the same visionary outfit that is now affixing "U-shaped blinders" to the covers of Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Marie Claire and Redbook in the checkout line is not also teaming with E&J Gallo Winery to produce house spirits in the $2-$5 range. That said, we cast aside the long-standing eChaser prohibition on cheap regional humor to present the top 12 suggested names (wish I'd thought of them) for Wal-Mart wine:
12. Chateau Traileur Parc
11. White Trashfindel
10. Big Red Gulp
9. Grape Expectations
8. Domaine Wal-Mart "Merde du Pays"
7. NASCARbernet
6. Chef Boyardeaux
5. Peanut Noir
4. Chateau des Moines
3. I Can't Believe It's Not Vinegar!
2. World Championship Riesling
And the No. 1 name for Wal-Mart wine: Nasti Spumante.