Something Positive from NOTF

[Skyray]

Here is something from today's News of the Force.  I think it will be intersting to some of you.

Free Ham radio classes set in Florida
     The Marco Island (Fla.) Civil Air Patrol squadron, in cooperation with the K5MI Marco Island Ham Club, will conduct two free FCC amateur radio license courses for the public.
    The only costs are exam fees and an optional cost of $20 for books and supplies, if an attendee chooses to purchase them.
    Applicants can be of any age, but must have a legal ID and Social Security number to qualify for licensing. All training will include hands-on operation of VHF amateur radio equipment and actual radio contact with other seasoned "Hams" (licensed amateur radio operators). FCC regulations no longer require Morse Code proficiency.
    All classes will be held at Marco Island's CAP hangar at the Marco Island Airport.
    The technician course will begin Saturday, Oct. 13, from 8 a.m. - noon. Classes will start promptly at 8 a.m., on the 13th and 20th, with the technician exam given Oct. 27. Exam fees are $14.
    The general class training will be at the same location and start on Saturday, Nov. 3, with four classes every Saturday until technician and general class testing on Dec. 1.
    Enrollment will be on a first-come, first-served basis. If over-subscribed, a waiting list will be maintained. More courses are planned for early next year.
    To enroll for attendance in either of these two classes, please contact Jim Carrender at k3avr@comcast.net or call (239) 389-1486 and give your name, mailing address, including zip code, e-mail address and phone number.
    For further Information, contact CAP Lt. Col Richard C. Niess, the squadron's public affairs officer, at (239) 530-0786.

[Skyray]

The most interesting thing about this was not that it was announced in NOTF, but that it seems like an innovative way to get CAP in the public eye.  The classes will be going on for a month, and there should be plenty of opportunity to sing the praises of CAP to the students.

[SDF_Specialist]

This would also be a good way to get more Communicators in CAP. I was pleased to see this when I read it.

[Pylon]

Also published in the Marco Island Sun Times: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18869782&BRD=2256&PAG=461&dept_id=455823&rfi=6

[Skyray]

Also published in the Marco Island Sun Times: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18869782&BRD=2256&PAG=461&dept_id=455823&rfi=6

Which may well be where NOTF picked it up.  Given TP's restriction on sending them press releases, they have to try to achieve balance somewhere.

Anyway, I was recruited as a communicator twenty years ago, so I know it works.  Good luck, Marco Island.

[RiverAux]

NOTF has always illegally copied ALL of their material, except for their anti-CAP editorials from real newspapers. 

[Al Sayre]

I have noticed that NOTF frequently reprints the good news stories about CAP especially at the Squadron Level as well as the bad in their editorials.  In my humble opinion, while they may have a real hard spot for TP and some of the upper managment, they at least seem to support the folks at the squadron level... (puts on flame suit)

[RiverAux]

They may be helping spread some good news, but doing it by breaking copyright laws helps no one. 

[Pylon]

They may be helping spread some good news, but doing it by breaking copyright laws helps no one. 

In their defense, media releases aren't copyrighted - they're put out there for free distribution and publication.  Generally, the person pushing out the release wants the greatest amount of coverage possible (that's how PR is supposed to work at least), so there are no restricts on reprinting.  Many publications pay for rights to reprint stories that AP writers and reporters have put on the wire; sometimes AP writes them, sometimes they take a press release, modify it for length and push it out practically verbatim.  Nothing wrong there.

On the other hand, taking it straight from another publication (for example, copying a story from your local rag, or from a website blog) without permission to reprint/republish is a violation.  It depends on how you get the story and who you've received rights from or paid for rights.

What is odd, however, is that most of the "good" news are the cookie-cutter, republished stories while almost 100% of the "bad" CAP news is home written stuff. 

[floridacyclist]

You don't have to dig up good stuff...our PIOs serve it to you on a platter...it's the bad stuff that you have to write up on your own.

Most of the bad stuff was never released officially...it was dug up through investigative journalism, guessing at clues, or maybe even stretching the truth where need be - some call it lying, some call it embellishing, while others might call it "filling in the holes".

[RiverAux]

In their defense, media releases aren't copyrighted - they're put out there for free distribution and publication.

Yes, if they want to copy a press release from somebody that is perfectly fine.  But that is not what they do.  They copy stories directly from the newspapers.