STRAIGHT STUFF
Carole Rylander, CFRE, Rylander & Associates, will present a grant writing workshop, "Tried and True Keys to Fundraising Success," Wednesday, Nov. 10, at the North Dallas Chamber of Commerce, 10707 Preston Road. More at awcdallas.org. ... The RSVP deadline has passed for the 3rd Annual Dallas Press Club Reunion on Thursday, Nov. 4, but don't you figure they'll let you sit in the hall? Info here.
PRSA local update: Fort Worth now boasts three jolly good Fellows with the induction of Mary Dulle, APR, Fellow PRSA, into the national PRSA College of Fellows, a group of only 430 practitioners and educators. Sensing the excuse for a party, the chapter will toast Mary; Carolyn Bobo, APR, Fellow PRSA; and Doug Newsom, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, on Thursday, Nov. 11, in the lounge at Café Aspen, 6103 Camp Bowie Blvd. Enjoy savory hors d'oeuvres and scintillating conversation -- and your first drink is on the chapter. The soirée begins at 5:30 p.m., with a brief ceremony at 6:30. RSVP by Nov. 5 to rsvp@fortworthprsa.org. Info from Kim Speairs, APR, at kspeairs@witherspoon.com.
SPJ national update: Terror in the boardroom; separate realities; and out of touch, out of mind. The Bush administration has consistently ignored or opposed measures to prevent terror attacks, reflecting an aversion to regulating private industry and allegiance to key campaign contributors, a new Public Citizen report shows. More here. ... Analyzing national polls, a report from the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland finds that a majority of Bush supporters believe things about the world that are objectively untrue, while Kerry supporters tend to dwell in the reality-based community. More here. ... The founder of the U.S. Christian Coalition says he told President Bush before the invasion of Iraq that he should prepare Americans for the likelihood of heavy casualties but the president replied, "Oh no, we're not going to have any casualties." Pat Robertson, an ardent Bush supporter, said the conversation occurred in Nashville in March 2003; he described Bush in the meeting as "the most self-assured man I've ever met in my life." More here.
SPJ national update II: Layoffs hit home; redistricting revisited; and our game, our rules. Of the Dallas Morning News' 60-70 newsroom layoffs Oct. 27, at least 10 were people of color, including Ira Hadnot, president of the Dallas/Fort Worth Association of Black Communicators. "I was the only African American laid off on the religion desk," where she had begun to cover black megachurches, an overlooked area, she said. "If this is the climate of the times, that we don't care about diversity, then there's no point in my going back into the newsroom." More here and here. ... The Supreme Court on Oct. 18 ordered a lower court to reconsider a Texas redistricting plan designed to give Republicans six more seats in the House of Representatives. The decision won't affect this month's elections, though any GOP gains could be wiped out if the plan ultimately is deemed unconstitutional. More here and here. ... President Bush rebuffed a plan in September for a Muslim peacekeeping force that would have helped the United Nations organize elections in Iraq, Saudi and Iraqi officials say. As a result, the U.N. presence in Iraq remains skeletal, only four staff members working to prepare for elections set for the end of January. Bush objected because the special force would have been controlled by the U.N. and not the U.S. military. More here.
SPJ national update III: Are we safer now?; a journalist of conscience; we're all to blame; and anchors away. The Iraqi interim government warned the United States and international nuclear inspectors that nearly 380 tons of conventional explosives -- used to demolish buildings, produce missile warheads and detonate nuclear weapons -- are missing from one of Iraq's most sensitive former military installations. The huge facility was supposed to be under American military control but is now a no-man's land. More here, here, here, here and here. ... Publisher Leon Smith says he lost about 18 advertisers and a few subscriptions when the Lone Star Iconoclast, the small Clifton weekly that bills itself as President Bush's hometown paper, endorsed John Kerry for president. "But we have had a few people who have offered to buy some ads to make up for the ones lost, and a few people who have offered to subscribe to make up for the subscriptions that were lost," Smith said. "They appreciate that we did what our conscience told us to do." More here. ... In its 10,000-word indictment of the Bush administration's inaccurate assessment of Iraq's nuclear capabilities, The New York Times did not spare itself in apportioning blame. More here. ... When The New Yorker magazine, planning months ago for its annual festival weekend, booked Dan Rather, Peter Jennings and Tom Brokaw for a panel discussion on the presidential campaign, the topic seemed innocuous enough. But as the network news anchors convened Oct. 2, a subject closer to home had intruded: Rather's admission that he had erred, first in broadcasting and later in defending a flawed report about the president's National Guard service. More here.
