Organized by the Fort Worth chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, the quarterly events serve the dual purpose of providing networking opportunities for folks in media while raising public awareness of SPJ’s important role in advocating for First Amendment rights at the national level and of the Fort Worth chapter’s journalism scholarships and awards.

The event centered around a Q&A discussion with Fort Worth Magazine executive editor Brian Kendall and award-winning writer Shilo Urban about their March feature story on Texas whiskey.

“We were very pleased with the turnout and the excitement surrounding the discussion with Shilo and Brian,” said Edward Brown, SPJFW VP for Membership and board member. “The Fort Worth chapter of SPJ is focused on broadening our reach to people who work in PR, publicity, marketing, and communications. Many people in those fields are former journalists, and working writers and reporters rely on that community for fact-checking, press releases, and other important services.”

photo credit: Walt Burns

SPJFW is currently celebrating 80 years of serving local journalists. Current board members include Gayle Reaves, the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Dallas Morning News journalist who went on to become editor of multiple publications. Former Fort Worth Report CEO Christ Cobler remains an active board member, along with Fort Worth Report newsletter editor Tommy Cummings. Following the Q&A sessions, Cobler told the crowd that the future of journalism lies in building trust with the community.

“We’re still working on the details of our summer mixer,” Brown says. “We think a panel discussion on food writing could help us turn out another large crowd. This is an exciting time for our chapter of SPJ.”

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