Contents of this message:

1. Press conferences planned
2. Attention PIOs: Sending press releases to Joint Assembly
3. The Press Room
4. Update: Field trip to National Aquarium
5. News Media Registration Information
6. News Media Registration Form
7. Who's coming

Note: This advisory does not repeat important information from previous advisories. For links to these advisories, please go to http://www.agu.org/meetings/ja06/?content=media

1. Press conferences planned

Following is a list of press conferences in the planning stage, with the usual caveats: press conferences may be added, dropped, or changed in title or emphasis. The next advisory, shortly before Joint Assembly, will have a full description of each press conference, including names and affiliations of participants. Any changes after that will be announced in the Press Room at Joint Assembly. At present, we expect that all press conferences will be held Tuesday-Thursday, 23-25 May. Press conferences take place in the Press Briefing Room, Room 323 of the Baltimore Convention Center, adjacent to the Press Room.

• Overview of Joint Assembly
• Earthshine: what it tells us about Earth and the search for life on extrasolar planets
• Impact of urbanization on environmental systems--in Baltimore and elsewhere
• Voyagers I and II probe the edges of the solar system, which is north-south asymmetrical
• New cyberinfrastructures foster international exchanges of critical data
• The upcoming "International Years of": How do they mesh, and what will we learn?
• Biogeophysics: the emerging science of life below the surface
• Saving lives by detecting and analyzing landslides and floods from satellites
• Revolutionary space exploration concepts using onboard computing
• Workshop on the upcoming AIM and THEMIS missions to study Earth's atmosphere

2. Attention PIOs: Sending press releases to Joint Assembly

Public information officers are urged to work with scientists from their institutions to produce press releases and other materials for the media, related to their research, regardless of whether the scientists will be participating in press conferences. We suggest around 40 copies of printed materials and three copies of any video for broadcast, which should be in commercial Beta format.

The simplest way to send such materials is with the scientists themselves, asking them to drop them off in the Press Room (Room 322, Baltimore Convention Center). If that is not feasible, you may send them by overnight express service, for delivery on Monday, 23 May or after. The address will be provided in our next media advisory.

Remaining copies of press materials may be collected up to 1300h on Friday, 26 May, after which they will be scrapped.

3. The Press Room

The Press Room is Room 322 of the Baltimore Convention Center. Its phone number is +1 410-649-7373; give thus number to anyone who may have to call you there. There are additional phones for outgoing calls, at no charge to you for business calls.

If you preregistered, your News Media badge will be waiting for you in the Press Room. You may also register onsite in the Press Room (not at the main registration booths in the lobby).

The Press Room is equipped with wi-fi for use with your own laptop and also has two Internet-connected computers for shared use, with a shared printer.

Continental breakfast and lunch are served daily, Tuesday-Friday, for News Media registrants. Breakfast is 0730h. Lunch is 1130h.

4. Update: Field trip to National Aquarium

The planned field trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore has been cancelled, due to insufficient registration.

5. News Media Registration Information

International reporters: If you are neither a citizen nor a permanent resident of the United States, you need a visa to cover meetings in the U.S. This applies also to reporters from countries in the Visa Waiver Program, who do not need visas to visit the U.S. as tourists. For current information, see the official State Department web site:

http://travel.state.gov/visa/temp/types/types_1276.html.

Please apply for your visa early.

News Media registrants receive a badge that provides access to any of the scientific sessions of the meeting, as well as to the Press Room and Briefing Room. No one will be admitted to press conferences, sessions, or the exhibition hall without a valid badge.

News Media registrants who have preregistered will pick up their badges in the Press Room (Room 322) upon arrival at the convention center. Be prepared to show identification (see below).

If you have not preregistered, you may fill out a News Media Registration Form in the Press Room (Room 322), presenting appropriate identification (see below). Your badge will be made while you wait.

Eligibility for press registration is limited to the following persons:

• Working press employed by bona fide news media: must present a press card, business card, or letter of introduction from an editor of a recognized publication.
• Freelance science writers: must present a current membership card from NASW, a regional affiliate of NASW, CSWA, ISWA, or SEJ; or evidence of by lined work pertaining to science intended for the general public and published in 2005 or 2006; or a letter from the editor of a recognized publication assigning you to cover 2006 Joint Assembly.
• Public information officers of scientific societies, educational institutions, and government agencies: must present a business card.

Scientists who are also reporters and who are presenting at this meeting (oral or poster session) may receive News Media credentials if they qualify (see above), but must also register for the meeting and pay the appropriate fee as a presenter.

6. News Media Registration Form

The News Media Registration Form is set up for online submission, but includes a link to a version that can be printed and faxed or mailed. Go to: http://www.agu.org/meetings/ja06/?content=media&show=pressReg_online

The last day for advance News Media registration, assuring that your badge will be waiting for you when you arrive, is Monday, 15 May 2006. You may also register onsite.

7. Who's coming

The following have registered for News Media credentials as of the date of this message. If you have submitted the News Media Registration Form, but your name does not appear below, please resubmit the form (see Item 6, above).

Last Name, First Name		Publication/Organization
Achenbach, Joel		The Washington Post
Amos, Jonathan		BBC News Interactive
Berardelli, Phil		SciXpress.com
Boyd, Robert		Knight Ridder
Buckley, Michael		Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab
Castelvecchi, Davide		Inside Science News Service
Cole, Steve		NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Corsiglia, Jon		Joint Oceanographic Institutions
Dewar, Heather		Freelance
Dimick, Dennis		National Geographic Magazine
Dybas, Cheryl		National Science Foundation
Foust, Jeff		The Space Review
Gutro, Rob		NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Hansen, Amy		Freelance
Hansen, Kathryn		Geotimes
Hansgardh, Agnetha		Discoveries & Breakthroughs
Hanson, Brooks		Science
Heineman, Karin		Inside Science TV
Hotz, Robert Lee		Los Angeles Times
Hyder, James		LF Newsletter
Jones, Nancy Neal		NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Kerr, Dick		Science
Krieger, Kim		Freelance
Leck, John		NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Lee, Carolyn		Freelance
Lorditch, Emilie		Discoveries & Breakthroughs
Lubick, Naomi		Environmental Science & Technology
Maran, Sally		Smithsonian magazine
Maran, Steve		American Astronomical Society
Monastersky, Rich		Chronicle of Higher Education
Nijhuis, Michelle		High Country News
Perkins, Sid		Science News
Pratt, Sara		Freelance
Rankin, Moira		Soundprint Media Center
Reed, Christina		Freelance
Revkin, Andrew		The New York Times
Sawyer, Kathy		Freelance
Schleifstein, Mark		The Times-Picayune
Sever, Megan		Geotimes
Siegfried, Tom		Freelance
Sisler, Wade		NASA Television
Vergano, Dan		USA Today
Wald, Chelsea		Science Update
Witze, Alexandra		Nature
Yauck, Jennifer		Johns Hopkins Univ. Journalism Student

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