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The Fort Worth SPJ chapter has a mid-career grant of up to $500 available for journalists who want some type of mid-career training.
 
The award is open to newspeople with at last five years experience and must be used on journalism-related training.  You do not have to be currently employed by a news organization to be eligible – so freelancers and laid-off people would qualify.  You do have to be specific about the training you want to receive.  You could use this for courses, workshops, even attending a convention if that convention offered a specific strand of workshops, like investigative reporting or photojournalism.
 
The application form can be found at http://www.spjfw.org/awards/mcgapp12.pdf, which also offers more information on the grant.

The short answer is yes, you should be able to get a copy of the council packet. Council packets are routinely handed out to reporters – just ask any of the big cities such as Fort Worth.

The long answer is that these documents are subject to the open records act like any other document. Therefore, if they are providing council members with copies of legal opinions or details of real estate transactions, they may be able to withhold those items. A request for a zoning change, however, would not fall under the real estate transaction – the types of real estate transactions exempted under the open records act are generally the sale or purchase of real estate. A request for a zoning change, and specifications of that request, would be public.

If the city is refusing to give you a copy of the council packet, make a formal written request for the documents. They will probably seek an attorney general's opinion. You may have to make requests every week until you get them accustomed to releasing these details to you. If you don't want them to charge you for copies, ask for access to read the packet. You would only have to pay for the pages you actually want.

The capital murder trial had been under way three and a half days when the gag order arrived, handed out after lunch by uniformed bailiffs to the media and other spectators seated in the courtroom.

Much of it was typical of what you’d find in a gag order issued during a tense trial:

• No media interviews with the witnesses, attorneys, prosecutors or court personnel
• No audio or visual recording equipment allowed in the courtroom
• No photographing of jurors
• No communication with any member of the jury
• No computers in the courtroom without prior approval of the judge

But the gag order issued on Jan. 6 by Visiting Judge Elizabeth Berry in Tarrant County Criminal District Court #4 did not stop there.

Berry ordered that media interviews could only be done in the courthouse lobby or outside the building. And nothing, the order stated, should be disseminated by the media unless it had occured in open court, presented in evidence or in argument with the jury present.

In other words, the media was being told they couldn’t report anything that happened in court outside the jury’s presence.

There were to be no blogs about court rulings on evidence. No testimony given without the jury to help the judge determine whether something should be admitted into evidence. No reporting even on the dressing-down the judge had given prosecutors and defense attorneys for their ongoing sniping.

Violation of the order could result in automatic expulsion from the courtroom or contempt of court, which carries a fine of up to $500 or six months in jail.

I stepped outside and called my editors at the Star-Telegram. It was time to get the lawyers involved.

Gag orders are not uncommon in high-profile cases such as the recent capital murder case against Kwame Rockwell, accused of killing two men — including a Mrs. Baird’s deliveryman — during a 2010 convenience store robbery.

Death penalty cases get intense scrutiny during the appeals process, and trial publicity can adversely affect the justice system if the jury panel becomes aware of the hooplah.

Most defense lawyers and prosecutors avoid discussing an ongoing case anyway, and in this case, the family members of the victims had already indicated to the Star-Telegram that they didn’t want to talk until after the trial.

But this gag order crossed the line. By prohibiting reporters from reporting on actions that occurred in open court, but outside the jury’s presence, the court had initiated a censorship policy known as prior restraint — telling the media that it cannot print something that occurs in a public forum.

Prior restraint was at the heart of the Pentagon Papers case in 1971, when the Nixon administration tried to stop The New York Times and Washington Post from publishing portions of top-secret documents related to the Vietnam War.  

In a later case in Nebraska in 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out a gag order that had imposed prior restraint on the media, saying such censorship was a violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

So what should you do if you’re hit with such a gag order? Take the lead from Star-Telegram attorney Tom Williams of Fort Worth, a noted First Amendment lawyer.

1. Try to reason with the judge. Williams arrived in court within a few hours of the order being issued to talk with the judge about the decision. The Star-Telegram agreed immediately not to approach witnesses or attorneys for comment, but asked for permission to ask questions about routine information, such as the spelling of a witness’ name or confirmation of a date.
2. Be polite. Make the judge aware that you are not trying to interfere with the justice system, and that you are willing to cooperate fully with her efforts to protect witnesses and court officials.
3. Don’t back down on the big stuff. Judge Berry agreed to soften the order somewhat but initially refused to back down on the prior restraint order. Williams then indicated he would like a hearing on that issue, and it was scheduled for the following Monday. Before the hearing could begin, however, Berry had issued a new order revising the prior restraint requirement.

The key point to remember is this: Open court is a public forum, and no one can control reporting of what happens in open court.

So take a break from reporting and editing and enjoy some jokes only a copyeditor or an English professor could appreciate – bar jokes that hinge on the finer points of grammar, punctuation or linguistics.

Don’t let anyone see you reading these or your newsroom nerd status will be set in stone.

These were circulated on a national grammar listserv.

Here goes:

• A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves.
• A dangling modifier walks into a bar. After finishing a drink, the bartender asks it to leave.
• A question mark walks into a bar?
• Two quotation marks “walk into” a bar.
• The bar was walked into by the passive voice.
• Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They drink. They leave.
• What would have happened had a subjunctive walked into a bar?
• An antecedent walked into a bar, and they ordered a drink.  
• An ellipsis walked into a bar…
• Bartender asks a woman what she wants. “An entendre,” she says. “Make it a double.”  So he gives it to her.
• An alliteration traipsed into a tavern, where it tangled tempestuously with an insistent, illiterate intern.
• A typo wakled into a bar. 
• A rabbi, a priest, and a cliché walk into a bar.
• Two possessive apostrophe's walk into the bar as if they owned the place.
• A subject and a verb have a disagreement in a bar, and one of them pull out a pistol.
• A heedless homonym walks into a bar.  You think he wood of scene it write in front of him.
• The Oxford Comma joined in a high-spirited debate at the bar that included his parents, Ayn Rand and the Bishop of Canterbury.

Even though it can sometimes be difficult to get a decent exposure in a high school gym, no matter what high school you’re at, I’ve found one thing remains constant: Unbelievable access.
If you’ve ever shot college or professional basketball, you know you’re told where you can shoot, or more specifically the long list of where you can’t.
With high school basketball, the only direction I’ve ever received from any official body is to be aware of where the referees are and give them space to move around the baseline.
As a photographer, that opens up a wide variety of angles and opportunities to make images.
I’m going to share my process to approaching basketball games.
As a point of reference, I’ll shoot with two camera bodies (Canon 7D as my primary body and a 30D as a backup) with two-of-three lens (Canon 18-35mm, 70-200mm or 300mm) attached at any given point.
I’ll get my safe shots out of the way.
If I’m covering both teams, I’ll start with my 70-200mm f2.8 lens and split the first eight-minute half, so I’m on both sides of the floor in the first quarter, allowing me to get shots of the both teams’ offenses and defenses.
Typically, I’m stationed behind the basket, at either corner where the paint and court meet.
Once I’ve gotten some offensive shots, I’ll mix things up by using my 300mm to grab shots that are too far away for a 70-200.
Without switching to the other side of the court, I’ll use the 300mm to get defensive shots, both out on the perimeter and up in the air rebounding, of the team that was just on offense.
You can also get a nice shots of offensive turnovers.
If you don’t have a long lens, you can get a similar shot — you just have to move your feet to get close.
There should be a sizable gap between the scorer’s table and the row of chairs for either team.
If you shoot on either side of the scorers table, you should be able to get close enough to get defensive shots, just be aware of where coaches and players are, as some coaches will like to pace around and players will check-in at the table to sub-in.
Now that you have your safe shots, it’s time to play.
Unlike my safe shots, I’m going for low-probability, high-yielding positions.
By this I mean I’m looking for shots that I may have to be patient to get.
Remember, I already have my safe shots, so I know if I go a quarter and a half with nothing decent to show, I’m all right.
I’ll go for a couple of different shots: low-angle shot below the basket, high shot from the stands, long lens at mid court, etc.

Below basket

This type of shot can give you a sense of place, as well as an appreciation for the athleticism players have.
I’ll point the focus of my camera with my wide-angle lens at a usually a foot or so in front of the basket. I’ll turn the lens focus from automatic to manual so the focus won’t change and lay my camera on the ground at a slight upward angle. I’ll shoot a photo to check the composition and wait for a rebound, fast-break layup, etc., to happen in front of me.

In the stands

The great thing about shooting from the stands is how it cleans up your backgrounds and helps with your exposure, and you don’t have to necessarily have a 300mm to get shots from higher up. Even a 70-200mm lens from even a few rows up can help give you a difference vantage point.
As a bonus for shooting higher up, you can get the light from the gym shinning more directly on players’ faces as they look toward the basket filling in shadows you might have seen if you shot from the floor level.
You also see expressions as players go up for shots and rebounds that you may not see from the floor level.
From this point of view, I’m looking for expression and to some degree a variation of shots I get from the floor.
The other thing that can help you from this angle is you can see beyond just the pile of bodies in front of you.
In addition, it’s easier to understand plays and defensive schemes from that angle, allowing you to anticipate what will happen when and get a feel for players’ tendencies.
Images, such as player’s diving out of bounds, can be enhanced depending on your vantage point.
From higher up, you can see that play develop easier than you can from the floor.
If you get bored, you can always try other things, such as shooting completely wide angle for a while, or going super-tight from the baseline.
Mix it up, have fun and enjoy the freedom.

As many small town newspapers know, when a major news events happens, you become the center of information. The demise of Dublin Dr Pepper was not as big an event as many towns have had to deal with (such as ElDorado) but it was major news and attracted a lot of attention from large dailies as well as metro TV stations.

Many use the newspaper as a source of background information as well as a prop for their newscast. Having been with major dailies as well as one TV station, I like to help out as I want them to have the right information.

Unfortunately, some strike out on their own and somehow don’t get all the information. Many of the out-of-towners sought information before it was available and kept calling, but that also helped me trace down rumors so I could keep on top of the situation.

I don’t know how big this news cycle will continue – of course, for us it will be a story for some time to come as we deal with the fallout of losing our “brand” name and identity.

It’s a story most of us have not had to deal with as it is unusual due to the “branding” of Dublin.

First, an economic downtown.  Then competition from digital media.  Then classified all but disappeared and all ad revenues plummeted.  Then layoffs.  Then more of the same.

Journalists have certainly had enough to sing the blues about.

But maybe they haven’t a great blues song to sing, one that reflected what was happening in journalism, and especially community journalism.

But now they do, courtesy of the Texas Center for Community journalism.

It started with a blues song written by veteran journalist Donna Darovich, a lyricist well-known for her work in the Fort Worth SPJ Gridiron shows, which were discontinued in 1996.

I saw Darovich’s lyrics and urged her to add more references to the unique world of community journalism, and The Journalism Blues was born.

To make the video, we enlisted a faculty blues band from the TCU Schieffer School of Journalism – The South Moudy Blues (so named from the Moudy Building South  at TCU where most of them have offices) – and audio and video help from the Department of Film, Television and Digital Media at the university.

We wanted a blues song that really reflected some of the dilemmas of today’s community journalist.  The song talks about everything from competition with Craigslist and Patch to the problems many long-time journalists have in adapting to a digital world.  It’s the real-world journalism blues, pure and simple.

The video  and its lyrics can be accessed at /journalism-blues.

“We tried newspapers. They don’t work!”

“We tried your newspaper. It didn’t work!”

“I tried advertising on your newspaper’s web site a few years ago and really didn't get any new business from it.”

You have probably heard the above refrains — not once, not twice, but a few times too many. How do you answer these objections?  They are tough to overcome … but not impossible! 

Consider this strategy:

First and foremost, acknowledge that you have heard your potential advertiser’s objection … show some empathy!  Remember, too, that objections are not problems. They are opportunities to excel!

After acknowledging that you have heard them, resist going on the defensive. Rather, ask this simple question: How do you know? In most cases, retailers, service providers or small businesses simply don’t know whether their advertising has worked, in terms of generating sales results, regardless of the investment cost or its nature.

As you know, many reasons could contribute to a less-than-successful ad or promotional effort: An initial error in identifying the target audience which, in turn, may have lead to incorrect media selection; poor merchandise or sale offered; weather; poorly designed ad copy.  Also, the retailer may believe but cannot confirm poor performance or the ad tracking results may not be available. Or there may have been poor positioning on the newspaper’s web site.  Or a better competitive offer from some other retailer offered at the same time. It is not always possible to review a past unsuccessful advertising investment and determine the reasons it was not a success.

Inasmuch as many small businesses may not know how to effectively determine whether their advertising investment generated results or not, you have an opportunity for a teachable moment and an opportunity to build your integrity and relationship with your potential client.

Help your current and potential advertisers understand the value of tracking their advertising investment and its effectiveness – the results of the ad. Tracking results helps to identify which media best reach their target audience, which product or service promotion yields the best results, and when is the best timing (daily, weekly or monthly) for ad placement.

A relatively easy method is to track revenue changes. Two weeks prior to scheduling the first ad in an advertising campaign, the retailer should review total revenue for the entire store in a given time period (e.g. each day). The retailer should then monitor total revenue during the advertising campaign (e.g. while the ads are running).  And finally, the retailer should analyze total revenue for the entire store in the same given time period (e.g. each day) two weeks after the ad campaign is completed. In addition to tracking revenue, number of transactions, overall inventory changes and changes in advertised inventory are additional means of tracking ad effectiveness in a similar manner.

Ask your potential advertisers for a couple of minutes to allow you help them to map out the future rather than redesigning the past! Explore with your potential client some strategic initiatives (where are you now? what do you want to move away from? what do you want to move to?) by asking questions … and more questions (how do they plan to grow their business, describe your best customer, etc.).

Once you have clarified your potential advertiser’s goals and introduced a tracking method, begin rebuilding the value of newspaper products and your newspaper’s various products. Who reads newspapers? Who reads your newspaper or visits your newspaper’s web site? Back up your value statements with proof positive — testimonials, both from your readers and your advertisers.

Walk your prospect through your newspaper, pointing out some successful and campaign-orientated advertisers. Let them hold your newspaper and watch how they interact with it. What do they like or dislike about it?

Visit your newspaper’s web site. Point out its everyday strengths and ongoing resources (breaking news, local and current reference tools, obits, community information and events). Then just listen. “Nothing I say today will teach me anything. If I am going to learn anything I need to listen!” What valuable feedback is being shared with you? What short term and long term potential exists based on this new client information?

Last but not least, always encourage your current and potential advertisers to invest in an advertising campaign. A single, one-time promotion or ad puts your newspaper franchise and you at risk and, more importantly, wastes your advertisers’ ad dollars and time.

One-time coupons to track response should be refused! Again, don’t put your newspaper franchise and you at risk. Coupons are a promotional vehicle.  They also bring in a less profitable customer for your advertiser.  

Once you have acknowledged your prospect’s objection, outlined the benefits of tracking their advertising investment response and rebuilt your newspaper product’s value, then demonstrate proof-positive — offer a different point of view or a solution or a proposal and close the sale.  Ask for the business!

Advertising campaigns + Methods to track their effectiveness (Results) = Advertiser success (Growth) and ongoing investment in you and your newspaper products.