UNT's official WaterWays release

Let's talk about each part, in turn. First, there's a date and contact information, which goes on every news release. The first part of this release is a kind of "media alert." Because of the media alert (which takes care of the 5Ws and 1H), Nancy Kolsti was able to write a different sort of lead for her main release. At the end of the release, note the "boilerplate" about UNT, which goes on every news release distributed by the university.

Feb. 21, 2007

Contact: Nancy Kolsti

University of North Texas News Service

(940) 565-3509

or metro (817) 267-0651

nkolsti@unt.edu

UNT to host conference on water issues

What: "WaterWays: The Confluence of Art, Science, Policy & Philosophy" -A conference to bring scientists, philosophers, artists, water managers and water specialists together to discuss crucial water issues and raise a broad awareness of water basin issues. Featured speakers include Robert F. Kennedy Jr., president of Waterkeeper Alliance.

When: March 13-15 (Tuesday-Thursday)

Where: Environmental Education, Science and Technology Building, located on the northwest corner of Avenue C and West Mulberry (1704 W. Mulberry Street), UNT campus

Cost: Free. Go to www.water.unt.edu/waterways.htm for a schedule of events

Contact: Dr. Irene J. Klaver, UNT associate professor of philosophy, (940) 565-2266.

DENTON (UNT), Texas - More than half a billion people - nearly a tenth of the worlds' population - reside in the Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna Basin, which is bordered by North India, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and part of Tibet. The GBM Basin system, as it is commonly known, is one of the most fertile river basins in the world and carries the most water in the world after the Amazon and Congo river basins.

Because the GBM Basin is in a highly populated area, water engineers and water managers responsible for building dams and other methods of flood control should consider the culture of the area and involve those who live along the Ganga, Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers, said Dr. Irene Klaver, a University of North Texas associate professor who teaches in the university's environmental philosophy graduate programs.

"Instead of the master planning approach, water managers need to get input from the population and have a priority approach," she said.

"WaterWays: The Confluence of Art, Science, Policy & Philosophy," a conference at UNT March 13-15 (Tuesday- Thursday) will bring together scientists, philosophers, artists, water managers and water specialists to discuss issues of the GBM and the world's other river basins. The conference, first held at UNT in 2005, is free and open to the public.

Klaver said WaterWays 2007 will focus on the GBM because the Philosophy of Water Program, which she started to approach water issues with a cultural, social-political, economic, ethical, philosophical and scientific focus, is starting a new initiative called River Cultures and Ecological Futures. The initiative will be co-directed by Klaver and Dr. Natarajan Ishwaran, director of UNESCO's Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences. Klaver and Ishwaran will develop a cultural component in transnational ecosystem-based water management that will be used in water policy practices and in educational curricula of engineering and water management institutes.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late senator and president of Waterkeeper Alliance, will be one of WaterWays' featured speakers this year. He will discuss river issues at 1 p.m. March 14 (Wednesday) in Room 130 of UNT's Environmental Education, Science and Technology Building. The building is located on the northwest corner of Avenue C and West Mulberry Street.

Waterkeeper Alliance is an environmental organization founded in 1999 to unite all organizations that work to protect rivers, lakes, bays, sounds and other waterbodies around the world. Waterkeeper organizations focus on local water quality issues that impact the health and well-being of nearby bodies of water and residents living near them, and are committing to enforcing the U.S. Clean Water Act and other laws.

Kennedy serves as the senior attorney for the National Resources Defense Council. He was named one of Time magazine's "Heroes for the Planet" for winning many lawsuits against companies and governments guilty of polluting the Hudson River and Long Island Sound. He is credited with leading the fight to protect New York City's water supply by negotiating the city's watershed agreement, and has worked on environmental issues in Latin America and Canada, assisting indigenous tribes in successfully negotiating treaties to protect traditional homelands. Kennedy has published several books, including "Crimes Against Nature" in 2004.

John A. McLachlan, Weatherhead Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, will be the featured speaker on March 15 (Thursday). His talk, "Mississippi RiverSphere - Reconnecting People and River," begins at 9 a.m. in Room 130 of the Environmental Education, Science and Technology Building.

Richard Sparks, director of research for the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Ill., will continue the Mississippi theme with his lecture, "Mississippi and Living with Great Rivers: Floods, the Birth of Civilizations and Contemporary Disasters." Sparks' lecture will follow McLachlan's.

WaterWays will also include performing and visual art focusing on water. "Rainmaker's Workshop and Daniel Bozhkov - Recent Works," an exhibit by artist Daniel Bozhkov, will open during the conference on March 14 (Wednesday). Bozhkov will give a public lecture to introduce his exhibit March 13 (Tuesday).

In addition, the conference will have a screening of "Water," an Academy-award nominated film examining the plight of impoverished widows at an institution in India; and "WaterWays of India" and "Water on the Edge: Six Photographers," two photography exhibits containing images of water. A reception with Indian food and live music by Trio Montuno will take place during the opening of the exhibits in the Environmental Education, Science and Technology Building.

For a complete schedule of events, go to www.water.unt.edu/waterways.htm. For more information, call Klaver at (940) 565-2266.

**UNT**

The University of North Texas is a student-centered public research university and is the flagship of the UNT System. It is the most comprehensive university in the Dallas-Fort Worth region, offering 93 bachelor's, 111 master's and 50 doctoral degree programs, many nationally recognized. UNT is also one of the largest universities in Texas, enrolling more than 33,500 students.

Samples of online media kits

Links provided to online media kits, including backgrounders, news releases, case studies, and more.

http://www.usr.com/press/pr-kit.asp

http://www.nestle.co.uk/PressOffice/MediaKit/

http://cms.komen.org/komen/NewsEvents/index.htm

This next link tells you how to prepare a media or press kit:

http://www.market-impact.com/htmlfiles/articles/kit.htm

Two of three parts of your media kit

We talked in class today about your media kit project. You'll be writing a one-page news release about the conference itself, and you'll be preparing a background sheet on two of the conference's main speakers: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Natarajan Ishwaran.

For Wednesday, you'll just need a lead for your news release; you'll also start researching the two main speakers.

Also, set up a blog where you can store your notes and complete other assignments later in the semester. Go to blogger.com to do this.

Assignment for media packet

We'll be building a media packet for WaterWays 2007 conference. Please visit that web site at www.water.unt.edu/waterways.htm. Think about the conference as a whole, and write a lead for a general news release for the conference.

For the research assignment, you'll find out background information on Natarajan Ishwaran and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., two of the speakers at the conference. You'll use this information to compile a paragraph of background information on these two water advocates.

More for Wednesday test

This is especially for those stuck in the horrific traffic jam on I-35E today. We spent the entire class on chapter 5 from the textbook, and here are some of the main points from the chapter that are likely to show up on the test.

Be able to draw and explain the communication model: source, message, channel, receiver, etc.

What are some of the older, one-way theories that tried to explain how media disseminate messages to audiences (magic bullet, 2-step, etc.), and what's the difference between these theories and the agenda-setting theory? What is the uses and gratification theory, and why does it fit well with newer digital media?

Propaganda, spinning, framing, and manipulation are all defined in this chapter--be sure to know the differences since we've been talking about these things all semester.

How is Maslow's hierarchy of needs related to public relations and public opinion?

Ethos, pathos, logos--why do we care what Aristotle had to say?

Public opinion, defined. Be sure to connect ideas from chapter four about latent, aware, and active publics to latent, aware and active public opinion. Check out the process of how public opinion becomes public opinion, leading to actions or behavior changes, starting on p. 161.

Email me with questions. See you Wednesday.

Tips for studying for test No. 1

You’ll have a T/F portion and multiple guess, each worth two or three points. Also, five or six short-answer questions will be included.

To best prepare, use the quizzes included on the web site provided by our textbook's publishers. Broad areas to study include definitions of public relations, marketing, advertising, propaganda and spin.

Chapter 5--We'll discuss this in class Monday, and we'll see how much we are able to cover before I finish making up the test.

Chapter 4: Public in public relations—learn about many types of publics and what needs to be known about them. What’s different about the employee as a public? Consider the chart we discussed in class, from page 96. Should news media be considered a special public and why? Be ready to define resource dependency theory, coorientation, latent/intervening publics and other key terms from our discussion and the chapter itself.

Chapter 3: History— Think about development of PR profession over time—what did it look like?; what general historical developments affected the profession? How does history fit with the models of PR from chapter 1?

Chapter 2: Jobs in PR—think about the scope of PR and the jobs in the profession; how do professionals spend their time?; where do PR professionals work?; what’s the difference between a technician and a manager?; how should a PR manager be integrated into an organization?

Chapter 1: What is PR?—think about spin and PR and be able to explain the difference; if you could draw a picture of a dynamic PR process, what would it look like?

Other questions will concern: The Red Cross Case Study from chapter 3; Blake Morgan's presentation about Biodiesel Industries, and more that we'll discuss Monday.

Link to space speech for class discussion

Here's a link to a speech about the idea of "space," basically a well-contructed, emotional argument for space exploration. It ties in with our discussion next week of public opinion and how to shape it.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=23189