Hi Nadine,
Thank you for clarifying ESA's embargo policy. I wondered if that was a big
factor, and hope to see more coverage by the media as the meeting really gets
going tomorrow. I was a bit surprised though not to find any mention of the
opening plenary nor the benefit concert in the local papers - not even their
event calendars? - especially because they are open to the public.
Madhu
__
Dr. Madhusudan Katti
Associate Professor, Dept of Biology
California State University, Fresno
On Aug 7, 2011, at 4:18 PM, Nadine Lymn wrote:
> Hi All:
>
> In response to Madhu's query--
>
> Because most scientific organizations such as ESA work under embargoes, you
> are unlikely to see advance news stories about the meeting. Once the
> embargoes begin to lift (the day a presentation is made at the Annual
> Meeting), the media will begin to cover the meeting. The exception was the
> belly button microbe story, where a reporter broke the embargo and we lifted
> it for everyone; hence the story is already out well before the research is
> presented at the ESA Meeting.
>
> Organizations use embargoes for both scientific meetings where new research
> is presented as well as for their journals. The idea is to give reporters
> advance time to learn about the topic, interview the researchers and put
> together a good story. The embargo gives all reporters the same amount of
> time to prepare their story. For a meeting, the embargo lists on the day the
> research is presented; for a journal, it is usually when the journal article
> is published.
>
> ESA distributed several embargoed press releases to all its trusted media
> contacts, as well as worked with many institutions' public information
> offices to encourage them to send out their own releases about the meeting if
> they have researchers from their institution presenting in Austin.
>
> About a dozen press are registered to attend and cover the Annual Meeting and
> we expect more to cover it remotely.
>
> The Society's Opening Plenary and Thursday's benefit concert are open to the
> general public free of charge and we sent out Public Service Announcements to
> all local news outlets. Austin EcoNetwork did this short blog promoting the
> these two events:
>
>
> http://www.austineconetwork.com/blog/ecological-society-america-rockin%E2%80%99-austin-night-nature-acl-%E2%80%93-live-concert-benefit-austin-enviro
>
>
> So, stay tuned, press coverage about the meeting will start rolling in once
> the meeting actually starts.
>
> If you have more questions and are attending the ESA meeting in Austin, you
> are welcome to stop by our Press Room, room 2 at the Convention Center.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Nadine
>
> Nadine Lymn
> ESA Director of Public Affairs
>
>
>
> Hello from Austin, folks!
>
> I would like to share some thoughts from my blog as I prepare for the ESA
> 2011 meeting starting here today, and wonder why this big meeting isn't in
> the news - anywhere:
>
> http://leafwarbler.posterous.com/a-few-thousand-ecologists-meet-in-the-city-to
>
> I would appreciate any feedback, on why ESA isn't more in the news, or
> whether it is just my misperception.
>
> Madhu
>
>
> ~
> Madhusudan Katti
> Associate Professor of Vertebrate Biology
> Department of Biology, M/S SB73
> California State University, Fresno
> Fresno, CA 93740-8034
>
> Email: mka...@csufresno.edu
> Tel: 559.278.2460
> Fax: 559.278.3963
> Lab: http://www.reconciliationecology.org/
> ULTRA: http://urban-faces.org/
> Blog: http://leafwarbler.posterous.com/
> ~
