Subject: GLAAD communications
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 1995 15:00:04 -0400

A Report on GLAAD's Communications/Publications Network

Publications Sub-Committee Report
by Carl Matthes, Chair

The Publications Sub-Committee (PSC) of the National Board is
a great committee, and under the wing of Administration,
Loretha Jones and Mary T. Nealon, Co-Chairs.  The committee
is composed of members from the national board: Ken Bukowski
(San Francisco), Jeanie Keeny (Kansas City), David Ivers
(Little Rock), Loretha Jones (Los Angeles); non-board members
Kathleen Wilkinson (co-editor San Francisco newsletter), Wally
Smith (e-mail, BBS editor); and staff members Cathy Che (New
York) and Nancy Perez (Los Angeles).  And the PSC has been a
hot-bed of activity since GLAAD announced its "New National
Vision."

During the first meeting of the new GLAAD National Board in
Dallas, the PSC was charged with the duty of producing "a
national newsletter."  And, since Dallas, newsletters have
been produced each month, using the former GLAAD/LA newsletter
as a model.  (Producing sensational reactions were the January
and March issues.  The March, April and May issues mushroomed
to 32 pages, due mainly to Media Awards coverage.  Each month,
almost 9,000 copies are delivered to individual members and
Chapters.  In March, almost 12,000 copies were produced to
allow for distribution at the New York and Los Angeles Media
Awards.)

And input from all around the country keeps growing.

A recent survey of GLAAD Chapters produced the information
that each Chapter approaches communicating with its membership
and the community-at-large in various ways.  The publications
themselves can be placed within three categories: "Media
Alert," "Media Watch," and "Newsletter."  The names of the
publications are quite varied: GLAAD Bulletin, GLAAD Dispatch,
GLAAD Monitor, GLAAD News, Images, GLAAD Rag, GLAAD Reports,
GLAAD Update, GLAAD Tidings and Justice Bulletin.  Among the
newsletters, the amount of money, the personnel available, and
the amount of GLAAD monitoring, dictates the newsletter's
size, quantity and publication frequency.  During the last
year, the range of circulation among the newsletters has been
from a few hundred to several thousand; the number of pages
from 2 to 28; with frequency of publication varying from four
times to twelve times a year.  The committee is currently
gathering samples of each publication so that committee
members may gain an overview of what each Chapter has been
doing.

Articles for the national newsletter have been submitted from
a tremendously wide number of people and places.  Electronic
input from all around the country is rapidly increasing.
Articles that are being developed and written in Atlanta,
Chicago, Dallas, Kansas City, Los Angeles, New York City, San
Diego, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. are routinely vying
for space with articles arriving from Portland, St. Louis,
San Antonio, British Columbia, and many other points on the
compass.

One of the most important areas currently under discussion and
development is the use of modems for e-mail and BBS contacts.
This type of communication allows direct input from each
Chapter quickly to the newsletter from any person in any part
of the country.  At this moment, you may send articles for the
newsletter via e-mail to: [email-masked] In addition, the PSC
is establishing contact with BBS entities such as
"Mediaopolis" of New York City, establishing a world-wide
electronic presence.

And finally, I would like to take this opportunity to
encourage each of you to become a part of building GLAAD's
grassroot's communications/publications network.  Your input,
monitoring, and activism is the most integral part of this
effort.  We are now including on a monthly basis, reports from
each Chapter, but I would like to receive reports from
individuals, also.

Are you writing letters?  Have you discovered cases of
homophobia, bigotry and discrimination in your local area?
Have you received responses to any of your communications?  I
would like to encourage each of you to write letters, and then
send a copy, or a copy of a reply, to the newsletter.  Also of
interest would be any articles or timely material you've seen
or generated.  My fax number is (213) 257-5878.