PR Society of America appears to have a new policy of not posting minutes of meetings of its board of directors. The last minutes posted, say members, are those of board meetings from April 25, 2008 to Oct. 14-15, 2010. There are no minutes of any board meetings in 2011 although there have been four of them.

Also not posted are the minutes of the 2011 Assembly that took place Oct. 15. Reporters, for the first time in the Society's history, were not allowed to attend the 2011 Assembly.

Minutes of non-profit and governmental bodies are normally posted within a couple of weeks of the meeting. New York State requires its
governmental bodies to publish minutes within two weeks of a meeting that is open to the public or whose actions require public notice.

PRS bylaws passed in 2009 allow the board to meet by telephone. Previous bylaws called for the first meeting to be "in person" by the end of January.

Society teleconferences this year have been told that board meetings by telephone have saved money. Paying for transportation, hotels and meals for the 17 directors who hail from all parts of the country plus staff members was a considerable expense, teleconferences on the dues hike were told this year.

Part of the minutes would be announcement of future sites of the national conference. Boards have to approve such sites. Minutes are a
record of actions rather than dialogue.

San Francisco will be the site of the 2012 conference and Philadelphia the site of the 2013 conference. Conference cities beyond that have not been revealed. Philadelphia was also the site of the 2007 conference.

Only one conference will have been in New York City in 23 years--the 2004 conference. Previous New York conference was in 1990.

SPJ Denies Ethical Charges vs. O'Dwyer

A director of the Society of Professional Journalists e-mailed that what the SPJ said about this reporter was "a far cry" from asking me
to resign because of violations of the SPJ's Code of Ethics, a charge that has been made by the PR Society.

VP-PR Arthur Yann had said on the PR Society website Oct. 19 that: "We have also provided Mr. O'Dwyer with a 23-page document that outlines our concerns with his professional conduct. His conduct prompted the SPJ to invite Mr. O'Dwyer to resign his membership in that
organization."

SPJ executive director Joe Skeel had actually e-mailed this reporter that SPJ will not get involved in discussing the "situation" between
PRS and the O'Dwyer Co. and if I don't like that I can resign. No charges of unethical or unprofessional behavior were made.

Yann had also e-mailed to Anne Landman of PR Watch: "Of course, your bigger mistake is championing a journalist whom the Society of
Professional Journalists invited to resign his membership. How ironic and convenient that you attack public relations ethics, while turning
a blind eye to journalistic ethics, including your own."