SPJ national update III: If you needed to know, we'd tell you; if we do it again, will we be wrong then, too?; and insurance costs are enough to make you sick. New rules that aim to keep transportation security information away from terrorists could as easily keep the public in the dark about environmental or safety hazards, The Miami Herald says in urging the Coast Guard and Transportation Security Administration to narrowly define the ''sensitive security information'' to be kept secret. More here. ... The government concedes that the U.S. Marshals Service broke the law when a marshal ordered reporters with the AP and the Hattiesburg American to erase their recordings of a speech by Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. The Department of Justice also said the reporters and their employers are each entitled to $1,000 in damages and attorneys' fees but not to an injunction that would bar the Marshals Service from a repeat of the incident. More here. ... Health insurance premiums rose five times faster than U.S. workers' salaries this year, according to a survey released Sept. 9; it also showed slippage in the percentage of workers covered by employer health plans. More here.
SPJ national update IV: Once lost, lost forever?; numbers too big to count; and documents? what documents? Under the Bush administration, instead of becoming more available, information critical to public health and safety is disappearing. The Homeland Security Act, passed in 2002, makes material that companies label "critical infrastructure information" and voluntarily submit to the Department of Homeland Security off-limits, even under the Freedom of Information Act. More here. ... The U.S. budget deficit will balloon to $2.29 trillion over the next decade, congressional analysts said Sept. 7, a worse outlook than the $2.01 trillion deficit for 2005-14 that it provided in March. ... U.S. District Judge Harold Baer Jr. ordered the Pentagon to make public any unreleased files about President Bush's Vietnam-era Air National Guard service to resolve an FOI lawsuit filed by the AP. The suit already has led to the disclosure of previously unreleased flight logs from Bush's days piloting F-102A fighters and other jets. More here.
SPJ national update V: Connecting the dots; droning on; and banned in Baghdad. Two of the 2001 hijackers had a support network in the United States that included agents of the Saudi government, and the Bush administration and FBI blocked an investigation into that relationship, Sen. Bob Graham writes in his new book, "Intelligence Matters." Graham, a Florida Democrat, chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee from June 2001 through the buildup to the Iraq war. More here. ... U.N. inspectors said they had no evidence that Iraq developed drones capable of delivering chemical or biological weapons, as Bush contended in making his case for war. ... The International Federation of Journalists condemned the Iraqi interim government's decision to impose an indefinite ban on the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera after a raid on its offices Sept. 4. "Journalists inside and outside Iraq will be dismayed at this significant blow to hopes for democracy and free expression," said Aidan White, IFJ general secretary. More here.
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Listening: the Other Side of Communication
by Kenneth Roberts
Why is being an alert listener important? "Because 80 percent of your salary can be traced back to listening," Weslynn Martin told the September IABC meeting. Put another way, "80 percent of what you earn is earned by listening."
Martin, professor emeritus at Kansas City's Rockhurst University and holder of the world's first endowed academic chair in listening, said people communicate in four ways: speaking, writing, reading and listening. Only with listening is no formal training provided, she noted, despite how vital it is to effective communications.
"Listening is not a natural ability. It's a skill you can learn to do better," she said. "Be a good listener yourself and see what helps you listen. This will help others be able to listen to you."
Martin drew a distinction between hearing and listening. The latter requires conscious involvement in receiving both verbal and nonverbal messages. When communicating vocally, up to 90 percent of the meaning is received via secondary messages -- facial and hand expressions, voice inflections, even the speaker's clothes.
Also at the meeting, IABC/Fort Worth hosted students from South Hills High School who are participating in the TEAM Fort Worth mentoring program.
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PEOPLE & PLACES
Donna Darovich has announced her retirement as UTA Public Affairs director, effective Oct. 31. As a UTA alumna and university leader, she made a number of lasting contributions in 23 years at the school, including development of the e-mail update UTA Today and the university's community cable television show. An avid fan of UTA athletics and a member of the Maverick Club, she earned her B.A. in English from UTA in 1971 and was editor of The Shorthorn.
The Wise County Messenger topped all Texas newspapers in the National Newspaper Association's better newspaper contest (more than 3,000 non-dailies competing) with 13 awards representing the work of production manager Todd Griffith, ad sales manager Lisa Davis, special projects manager Denny Deady, photographer Joe Duty and reporter Brian Knox. Publisher Roy Eaton received the Gen. James O. Amos Award, the NNA's highest honor given men. Eaton was NNA president in 1997. He and wife Jeannine have owned the Messenger since 1973, during which time it has won more than 150 awards for journalism excellence. ...
The Star-Telegram and Diario La Estrella captured 13 Katies in the annual Press Club of Dallas competition, including one for best major market newspaper and the Legacy Award, for an organization whose work has contributed to the public good. Individual winners included Jennifer Autrey, Barry Shlachter, Wayne Lee Gay, Christopher Kelly, David Casstevens, Khampha Bouaphanh and UTA Shorthorn exes Linda P. Campbell and Tom Pennington. Fort Worth SPJ member Penny Cockerell also won a Katie, as did UTA Shorthorn ex Reese Dunklin. ... The Star-T's Mary Rogers and Andrew Marton were finalists in the 2004 Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards. Dan Cooper received the Texas Christmas Tree Growers Association's 2003 Daily Media Award. Matt Pinkney is a finalist in the NABJ Salute to Excellence awards contest; winners will be announced Oct. 9. ...
UTA's Renegade needed only one issue to take SPJ's top student magazine honor. The premiere issue, published in April 2003, swept 3,200 other publications to win the Mark of Excellence Award at the national convention last month in New York. And when Pacemakers are announced at the National College Media Convention in Nashville in November, both of UTA's student publications will be up for university journalism's top award. The editors involved were Caren Penland and Amber Tafoya (The Shorthorn) and Steven Morris (Renegade). This is the second time in three years that The Shorthorn has been a Pacemaker finalist. ...
Former Dallas Morning News reporter Tracy Everbach has joined UNT as North Texas Daily faculty adviser. ... Blue Marble Media has been approved by the Texas State Board for Educator Certification to give environmental workshops. Participating science teachers will receive lesson plans, training materials, assessment questions and enrichment activities and come away with hands-on composting/vermicomposting and recycling lessons for their students. To schedule a workshop, contact Lori De La Cruz at (817) 233-4093 or info@bluemarblemedia.net.
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