AWC Des Moines

Fellowships Available for Science Journalists

The Society of Environmental Journalist has announced that the Marine Biological Laboratory is accepting applications for fellowships to its Science Journalism Program.

Take one of two hands-on courses: biomedical science (in Woods Hole, MA, June 4-14, 2008) or polar science (in Toolik Lake, Alaska, June 29 - July 12, 2008). A limited number of fellows will spend an additional month at Palmer Station, Antarctica.

Since 1888, the MBL in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, has been the summer home of experimental biology. Scientists from all over the world have come to teach, to learn, and to do research at the MBL, drawn here by the abundance of research specimens from the waters of Cape Cod.

The MBL Science Journalism Program, now in its 23rd year, provides professional science journalists, editors, and broadcast journalists with a chance to forget about story deadlines and the latest breakthroughs, and instead immerse themselves in the process of basic biomedical and environmental research.

The experience is intensive: Journalists work hand in hand with laboratory investigators, and in many cases are given research projects of their own. They return to their jobs with a fuller sense of what it means to be a scientist, and a renewed sense of their mission as science journalists.

The deadline is March 1, 2008. To download an application click here.

Trail-blazing Journalist Dies

CNN reported today that "Frances Lewine, who covered the White House for the Associated Press during the administrations of six presidents and spent nearly three decades as a CNN assignment editor and field producer, died Saturday of an apparent stroke. She was 86."

The report went on to say, "Lewine was regarded as a trailblazer who battled for women's rights in journalism, fighting to open the National Press Club and the Gridiron Club -- a Washington journalists' organization -- to women."
>> Read the full story.

December News Briefs

64 Journalists Killed  in 2007

“The year 2007 registered the highest level of journalist deaths worldwide since 1994, up to 64, according to a report from the Committee to Protect Journalists, which has been tracking journalist deaths since 1981.” That's the word as reported in the Editors Weblog which also noted that “the most lethal year for journalists was 1994, when conflicts in Rwanda, Bosnia and Algeria contributed to the deaths of 66 journalists, reported the New York Times.”

Outsourcing Communications

According to Business Week magazine online, the Miami Herald will outsource copyediting
“of a weekly community news section and some advertising production work to India. “In May, news Web site, pasadenanow.com, was widely criticized after editors hired two reporters in India to cover the Los Angeles suburb.”

Writers Guild of America Strike

The Writers Guild of America strike continues. As of December 28, 2007, Wikipedia notes that the current strike has lasted 7 weeks and 4 days. The last such strike in 1988 lasted 21 weeks and 6 days, costing the American entertainment industry an estimated 500 million dollars.

Plan Your Marketing Now

Al Lautenslager at Entrepreneur.com says “there are two good times for marketing planning: yesterday and now.” Check out his straight-forward planning template.

November News Briefs: the Business of Communications

Writers’ Strike Opens New Window on Hollywood
According to The New York Times, "When the Hollywood writers’ strike pulled back the curtain on the world of television, what Americans saw was not a cashmere-wrapped actress alighting from her Escalade, but rather a bunch of middle-aged writers in ill-fitting red T-shirts standing on a picket line on Pico Boulevard."

As the strike continues in its second week, communicators in the midwest may feel several degrees of separation from these west coast writers -- or who we perceive them to be. But are we really that different?

The bulk of the writers "are paid far less than high-profile strikers like Larry David," writes Jennifer Steinhauer. They are middle-class workers. She sites Kimberbly Mercado as an example. “I’ve got big N.Y.U. loans and health insurance that I have to pay for,” said Kimberly, a new writer at Fox. She does have a safety net, however. The Writers Guild of America West has a $13 million fund that will provide loans to “members who face financial hardship because their income is demonstrably affected” by the strike.

GetBackInThatRoom is keeping a running tally of industry workers who have been laid off -- almost 250 as of Thursday afternoon.

>> Continue to read November News ...

• A Call for Small, Women, Disabled, and Diversity-owned Businesses
• Apex Awards Now Accepting Entries
• Download Free Chapters of New SitePoint Marketing Book
• Email Survey Results Released: Do Email Marketers Measure What Counts?
• Changing Consumer Behavior Fuels Mobile Advertising Industry:
• Free Mobile Advertising Whitepaper Issued

-- compiled by Brenda Friedrich, Independent Communications Consultant 

Chimp Remembered for Ground-Breaking Communication

The chimpanzee Washoe, the first great ape to acquire human language, died of natural causes on Oct. 30, at Central Washington University’s Chimpanzee-Human Communication Institute in Ellensburg. Washoe, born in the wild in Africa and captured as an infant, was believed to be 42.

Scientists at Great Ape Trust of Iowa, a scientific research facility dedicated to understanding the origins and future of culture, language, tools and intelligence, joined scientists around the globe in mourning the loss of Washoe, the first ape to break the species barrier in human-chimpanzee relations. In their work with Washoe, Drs. Beatrix and Allen Gardner, both psychologists, made the first major breakthrough in understanding the limits of the chimpanzee mind and the influence of language in 1966.

Among the scientists collaborating with Washoe was Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh a scientist at Great Ape Trust. Her early work with Washoe led to subsequent work with chimpanzees now living at The Trust. Rumbaugh and William M. Fields, director of bonobo research at Great Ape Trust, are the only scientists in the world conducting language research with bonobos.

Washoe was born in Africa in September 1965, captured as an infant when her mother was killed by hunters, and taken to market and sold to a dealer. She was brought to the United States by the Air Force for space research and was later adopted.

The young female chimpanzee was reared in a home-like environment and was exposed to American Sign Language rather than spoken language. Those interacting with Washoe were forbidden to speak in her presence and were instead asked to use ASL.

When she died, Washoe  had a vocabulary of about 250 words.

October News Briefs: the Business of Communications

SBA Advances Women-owned Small Business Contracting -- The U.S. Small Business Administration recently announced steps to increase federal contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses. In early October, the agency submitted a comprehensive new rule for inter-agency review and anticipates its publication in coming months.

More details >>

‘Word-of-mouth’ the Most Powerful Selling Tool -– According to a Nielsen Global Survey, traditional media advertising remains more credible worldwide than ads on search engines, web site banners and mobile phones. Despite an ever-expanding array of advertising platforms and sources, consumers around the world still place their highest levels of trust in other consumers, according to the Internet survey.

What does this mean for business communicators ... or communicators in business for themselves? Your most important content might be testimonials.

More details >>

-- Compiled by Brenda Friedrich, Independent Communications Consultant and Des Moines Alliance Co-Webmaster

AWC Member In Register Article

Did you see the wonderful article about Mary Mendenhall-Core in the Des Moines Register this week? It's a great photo of her and Sherry Barrett, both AWC members.

Congratulations Mary on a great story on such a selfless gift! You're an inspiration!

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