B-M REPS 'CHERNOBYL-ON-HUDSON'

Burson-Marsteller is handling the public and media uproar over the safety of New York's Indian Point nuclear plant for the facility's owner Entergy Corp.

Activist groups and the media have criticized the safety record of the plant and its potential vulnerability to an attack by an airplane in the wake of the Sept. 11 World Trade Center tragedy.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in its annual review of the nation's 103 reactors released last month, gave the Indian Point 2 reactor its lowest performance rating.

Larry Gottlieb, director of communications for New Orleans-based Entergy, said B-M was hired "mainly for the Indian Point issues, but its work now includes handling the overall image of the company."

Gottlieb, who is based in the company's new White Plains, N.Y., office, said a team at B-M is handling PR, media issues, advertising and web work for Entergy.

Jim Cunningham is B-M's managing director and head of its power group. He is a former senior VP-PA for the New York Power Authority.

People within a 50-mile "peak injury" zone of the site have stepped up campaigns to shut down the reactors, citing its potential as a terror target and questioning the feasability of a federally approved evacuation plan for the area.

The New York Observer covered the Indian Point debate in an editorial April 15 ("Indian Point: A Disaster Awaits") and front page article headlined "Chernobyl-on-Hudson?".

GIULIANI BUFFS MERRILL'S IMAGE

Merrill Lynch has hired former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to counter the threat posed by New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who is mulling filing civil and possible criminal actions against the firm over alleged conflicts with its research.

Giuliani Partners was hired by Merrill following a high profile Spitzer press conference last month in which he released e-mails from Merrill analysts who doubted the prospects of some of the stocks touted by the firm.

Giuliani, a former Justice Dept. prosecutor, met with Spitzer and has provided his own legal analysis to Merrill. His key pitch is that Merrill is a good corporate citizen which returned to its World Financial Center headquarters across the street from the World Trade Center site, as soon as possible.

H&K DELIVERS PA PITCH FOR ENRON

CEO Howard Paster spearheads a seven-member Hill and Knowlton team that is trying to salvage Enron Corp. The firm is managing the flow of information between new management and Capitol Hill.

Paster, the White House lobbyist for former President Clinton, is assisted on the account by H&K vice chairman Gary Hymel, who worked for ex-House Speaker Democrat Tip O'Neill; Paul Clarke, a staffer in the first Bush Administration, and Brian Hart, an ex-staffer to Republican Senator Judd Gregg of New Hampshire.

Enron CEO Ken Lay resigned on Jan. 23, and left the board on Feb. 4. President Jeff McMahon stepped down on April 19. The Houston company is headed by interim CEO Stephen Cooper, the managing partner of Zolfo Cooper.

Harlan Teller, H&K's global chief client officer, said his firm has a "team on the ground in Houston" working with Enron's corporate PR department. The goal is to position a "new Enron based on its pipeline and electricity assets," he said.

G/HI PICKS UP $400K ANTI-SMOKING WORK

Golin/Harris International, which recently acquired anti-tobacco specialist Nixon Group, has picked up grassroots no-smoking campaigns in Indiana, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. The combined work is worth $400,000.

Miami-based NG handled the "national truth" campaign, and has worked with about a dozen states on anti-smoking initiatives during the past five years. G/HI has run anti-smoking efforts in IL and GA.

SAPIENZA, EX-WS TECH GURU, OPENS SHOP

Tony Sapienza, the one-time Miller/Shandwick Technologies president, has launched Topaz Partners with Paula Slotkin, who was VP-marketing at Plaut Consulting. Slotkin said the duo is taking advantage of the economic downturn to recruit available high-tech PR talent in the Boston area.

The Lexington-based firm plans to offer clients a "total partnership" and "business development mindset." Clients include Touch International, Vemics, Candeos, The Bay Tower, Mediation Advantage Services, Angel Strategies, Roving.com, Ethos Technology and Generics.

Sapienza, who also was global technology practice leader for Weber Shandwick Worldwide, has counseled Compaq Computer and Hewlett-Packard.

PORTER NOVELLI UNIT STUNS HIAA

The Health Insurance Assn. of America is "stunned" that Goddard Claussen Porter Novelli has staged a comeback for the "Harry and Louise" characters in a new campaign that broke April 24 for CuresNow, an advocacy group that wants to stop a federal bill to ban stem cell research.

HIAA featured H&L in a $20 million 1993 campaign that defeated then-First Lady Hillary Clinton's healthcare reform bill. Their earnest dinner table chat focused on the specter of a huge bureaucracy if the Clinton plan was approved.

The same actors are now fretting that a bill introduced by Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) would restrict development of life-saving cures for Alzheimer's or heart disease if it became law.

HIAA president Donald Young said the group is "stunned to learn that characters so closely associated with HIAA are now being used in other ways without our foreknowledge and without our permission. In the public mind, Harry and Louise represent the views of HIAA and the health insurance industry. To co-opt them for another client and another purpose is at best sleight-of-hand and at worst identity theft," said his statement.

He noted that it was HIAA that brought 'Harry & Louise' to national attention in 1993 and reinforced their role as the public face of the health insurance industry with additional ads in 2000. "Given the importance of 'Harry & Louise' to HIAA, we intend to use every means at our disposal to stop this misappropriation of our image," he said.

GCPN responds that HIAA did not trademark the characters, and that the actors were under contract with HIAA for only two years.

IPG PAYS DOONER $500K BONUS

Interpublic paid CEO John Dooner a $500,000 bonus last year, according to its proxy statement. The firm lost $505 million in 2001 compared to earning $420 million in net income for the year earlier period. IPG revenues slipped 1.3 percent to $6.7B.

The company, which has announced layoffs of 6,000 staffers, notes that Donner's 2001 bonus was 66.7 percent less than the one he received in 2000.

The compensation committee, which is headed by former Time Inc. CEO Reg Brack, "took into consideration Interpublic's 2001 operating results (11.5 percent operating profit margin on $6.7 billion revenue excluding non-recurring items) which was a 24.4 percent decline in operating profits compared to 2000.

"The combination of operating performance and the adverse general business conditions during 2001, the Committee believed, warranted the payment of a limited bonus," according to the proxy.

Dooner received a base salary of $1,250,000 last year, up slightly from the $1,155,000 that he earned in 2000.

IPG also paid $40,976 for Dooner's wife's travel expenses.

PM CALLED 'ALBATROSS' FOR KRAFT UNIT

Philip Morris is an "albatross around the neck of Kraft Foods," Infact representatives told the food company's co-CEOs at its annual meeting last week. [PM sold a 16% Kraft stake via an IPO last year.]

"Philip Morris depends on Kraft for political cover, hiding behind the food subsidiary's wholesome image even as it drives a global tobacco epidemic which claims four million lives a year," said Infact's Patti Lynn.

She called on Kraft co-CEOs Betsy Holden and Roger Deromedi to help Infact's effort to end the "Marlboro Man's global rampage." To Lynn, PM is leveraging its charitable giving and Kraft's wholesome image to provide PR cover for its tobacco marketing practices. Infact also is demanding that PM butt out of public policy debate concerning the sale and regulation of tobacco.

Riptide Communications, a New York-based firm, handles Infact's PR.

EX-GRAND UNION PR CHIEF GOES TO JAIL

Donald Vaillancourt, 58, who was head of PR for the Grand Union supermarket chain, was sentenced April 18 to nearly three years in federal prison and ordered to pay as much restitution as he can for embezzling more than $2 million from the now defunct Wayne, N.J.-based company.

According to the charges, Vaillancourt, who was also an attorney, stole the money through three dummy companies-a PR firm called Patricia Nabors, and two graphic arts services.

His wife, Dianne Vaillancourt, who created the companies, billed the firms for services never performed from 1983 until early 2000. Payments went to post office boxes and a mail drop.

She has also pleaded guilty for her role in the scam, and is scheduled for sentencing this week.

Vaillancourt's attorney Robert Reed told U.S. District Judge Alfred Wolin that his client's motive for stealing was revenge for being excluded from an executive compensation plan. Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Resnik, who called for the maximum sentence, said Vaillancourt's actions were based on vengeance and greed so he could enjoy a lifestyle "he had not earned himself."

Wolin said Vaillancourt's rationale for his crimes "is not one that is very sympathetic with this court," especially for an attorney.

Besides prison time at the Allenwood federal prison in Pennsylvania, Vaillancourt was ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution, although the amount will likely be reduced to $630,000 as part of a negotiated settlement with the insurance company that had to cover the loss.

Vaillancourt, a onetime reporter for The Newark Star-Ledger, was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1985, but will be disbarred. He is expected to start his sentence in about six weeks.

Grand Union filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2000, and has ceased active operations.

GQ TO RESTORE TRAVEL FEATURES

Editors from GQ and Men's Journal greeted 102 attendees at the Publicity Club of New York luncheon April 24 with the news that travel coverage is back in style.

Jim Nelson, who is assistant managing editor of GQ, said travel coverage, which was dropped after Sept. 11, has been restored. "We will probably be doing more travel articles," said Nelson, who also is the magazine's travel editor.

Nelson also disclosed GQ is expanding its automotive coverage. He said Mark Healy, who is a senior editor, was just assigned to write features about cars.

Jack Wright, who is executive editor of Men's Journal, said travel will be expanded to include more coverage of American-based travel destinations.

Wright, who distributed copies of MJ's new May issue, which has a cover story on 20 "secret places" in the U.S., said he would like to get information from publicists on "new places to visit in America."

The magazine will continue to run articles about exotic adventure destinations that are located anyplace in the world, he said.

Dawn Yanek, a senior editor of Stuff, a new magazine aimed at young adult males, said the upfront sections and themed issues offer the best placement opportunities.

She looks for information about "offbeat, quirky things" to use in the sections, which cover a range of areas, including new products and survey results.

Send Gadgets

A.J. Jacobs, senior editor of Esquire, urged publicists to send him samples of "any new gadgets you are promoting." He likes to get pitches that are presented with an expert.

Nelson stressed the importance of developing relationships with certain editors. "That way you can call them to find out what stories they are working on, and if they need anything," said Nelson.

Wright said publicists should not bother trying to pitch stories for the "feature well," which are usually suggested by freelancers. He said publicists stand a better chance of targeting their pitches to the department editors.

In the case of new products, he advised the publicists to call the tech editor to make a date to bring the product to the office for a demonstration.
Jacobs dislikes e-mail and wants to get all information through the Post Office, while the other three editors said they preferred e-mail pitches. Only Yanek indicated she likes to get press kits.

SURVEY: TECH REPORTERS RELY ON PR PROS

Technology reporters get the majority of their ideas from PR pitches and press releases, according to a survey by ShowStoppers, the Los Angeles-based firm that produces media receptions at technology tradeshows.

The survey, which is based on e-mail interviews with 277 technology reporters, also found they prefer to get story pitches and other information from PR pros by e-mail, not by phone or fax.

Steve Bass, contributing editor to PC World magazine, said the survey results are "right on target."

LOCAL A.M. TV NEWS HAS MORE VIEWERS

The trend toward large and growing audiences for local morning news programs is evident in large and small market cities across the U.S., according to a panel of broadcast news professionals who spoke at a recent U.S. Newswire Workshop that was held at the National Press Club, in Washington, D.C.

The meeting, which attracted nearly 200 PR pros, featured Elliott Francis and Andrea McCarren, who are co-anchors of "Good Morning Washington," along with Brie Rizzo, GMW's producer.

GMW airs every weekday from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., and also does live "cut-ins" on the network morning show ("Good Morning America") until 9 a.m. This same schedule/format for local morning shows takes in hundreds of markets nationwide.

McCarren said audience numbers for local morning news shows, like GMW, often rival or even exceed the audience for the station's 6 and 11 p.m. news programs.

"This was unheard of even two years ago, but with the growing trend toward morning news and the recent changes in viewing habits post-Sept. 11, morning news now has a major impact and captures a significant audience," she said.

Francis said research shows viewers want to check first thing in the morning to see what has happened overnight that might impact their world.

Both anchors are involved in the editorial process, along with their producer, and they welcome pitches for stories related to the everyday life of viewers at that time of day-commuting, exercise/health, nutrition, children, school, coffee, sleep, pets, or gardening, to go along with the hard news of the day.

"One post-Sept. 11 trend we have seen in our audience is that they want to see more good news- particularly in the morning," said McCarren.

The best time to call Francis and McCarren is between 9:30 and 11 a.m. Rizzo can be reached after 10:30 p.m.

EX-EDITOR OF HARVARD BIZ REVIEW QUITS

Suzy Wetlaufer has resigned from Harvard Business Review.

Wetlaufer, who had been editor of the business magazine, was appointed editor-at-large in early March after acknowledging she had developed a close relationship with Jack Welch while working on an interview with the former chairman/CEO of General Electric.

In her resignation statement, Wetlaufer said the continuing distraction over the controversy could be resolved only by her departure from the magazine.

(Media news continued on next page)

STAR TO EDIT NEW BOSTON GLOBE SECTION

Alex Star, 34, formerly editor of Linqua Franca, which folded last October, is joining The Boston Globe to start a new "Ideas" section for the Sunday edition.

Ideas, which will debut in September, will replace the "Focus" section.

Star said the section will cover "the creation of ideas and the clash of ideas with unprecedented vigor. It will be committed to the belief that the hard thinking that goes on in Boston's excellent institutions of higher education and elsewhere can be written about with both journalistic vigor and academic rigor."

BURDON IS HOME EDITOR OF REAL SIMPLE

Jane Burdon has joined Real Simple magazine as home editor. She was at Martha Living Omnimedia, where she developed and styled features for the magazine and its extensions.

Burdon replaces Kelly Tagore, who is no longer at the magazine.

Cathy Tuhy, who is managing editor, said Burdon's job is to provide readers with ideas that are "practical and actionable-and add beauty to their homes as well."

Deborah Kozloff is leaving Us Weekly to become associate photo editor of RS.

FRIEDMAN TO HOST CURRENT EVENTS SERIES

The Discovery Channel and New York Times Television have agreed to produce a series of documentaries together on current events.

Thomas Friedman, a political columnist for The New York Times, will host the programs.

The programs, to be broadcast quarterly on the Discovey Channel beginning in 2003, will feature on-site reporting, interviews with world leaders and political and social experts, and commentary from Friedman.

The Times Co. and Discovery Communications Inc. earlier this month formed a joint venture to co-own and develop the Discovery Civilization Channel.

LARMER HEADS NEWSWEEK'S NEW BUREAU

Newsweek has opened a news bureau in Shanghai, with Brook Larmer as bureau chief and East Asia correspondent.

Larmer, who was previously Hong Kong bureau chief, will cover Shanghai and oversee coverage in other parts of the East and southeast Asia, according to Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek International's editor.

No replacement was named for the Hong Kong bureau.

PEOPLE

Lauren Ramsby, previously deputy editor of The New York Observer, was named Sunday editor of The New York Post, succeeding Maralyn Matlick.

Paul Grimes, 77, who started and wrote the "Practical Traveler" column in The New York Times and helped establish Conde Nast Traveler, where he was founding news editor, died April 23.

Virginia Moseley, previously executive producer of "This Week with Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts," was named to a new position, where she will oversee guest appearances.

Joseph Steuer, a former editor of Gotham magazine, has joined Us Weekly as deputy editor.

MEDIA BRIEFS

Budget Living, a bimonthly magazine, will start publishing in September, with Sarah Miller, who helped start Rodale's Organic Style, as editor-in-chief, and Caroline Miller, a former top editor of Money, as a contributing editor on personal finance.

The magazine is the brainchild of Don Welsh, who launched Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel and other magazines.

Prosumer Media, in San Francisco, is launching a new magazine this fall, called Dig_It.

The magazine was created by Fred Davis, a former editor of PC Magazine, PC Week, and MacUser, and David Bunnell, who launched PC Magazine, PC World and Macworld.

Dig_It will be targeted at tech enthusiasts who are using cutting-edge digital lifestyle products. More information is available at 415/641-4841.

Chicago Foodie is a new quarterly magazine that is available to consumers in Northern Illinois, Southern Wisconsin and Northwest Indiana.

The magazine will feature articles about new foods, cookware, kitchen gadgets, dream kitchens, cookbook and video reviews, wine, gourmet foods, chefs and restaurants.

Its editorial office is located at 108 S. Main st., Lombard, IL 60148. 630/930-6001; E-mail: chef@ bestchefs.com.

Lubbock Illustrated will start in September as a bimonthly, before becoming monthly in January.
Blake Judkins, a Dallas-based publisher, said LI will be a "New Yorker-style city magazine." Local writers and experts will cover the "waterfront of life in Lubbock," including business, education, agriculture, recreation, style, culture, social and community affairs.

The magazine's offices are located at 1212 13th st., #201, Lubbock, TX 79401. 806/790/5680; [email protected], or [email protected].

"Nova Minutes," which started airing on April 26 on about 200 ABC-TV affiliate stations, features news stories based on Boston-based WGBH-TV's science documentary series "Nova."

The producer is ScienCentral, a news and video production company in New York, which got a $2.2 million grant for the National Science Foundation to develop the programs.

IPRA REBOUNDS FROM 1995 SLIDE

The International PR Assn., which will be 50 years old in 2004, has rebounded from the financial problems that had exhausted its treasury at the end of 1995.

The 900-member group, representing 90 different countries, had 231,366 British pounds ($336,000) in cash and bank deposits as of Dec. 31, 2001, according to an audit by Stapely Benfold, U.K. Chartered Accountants.

Liabilities included £129,978 in deferred dues representing services owed to members over the next year. Retained funds were £94,216 ($135,000).

Membership dues brought in £129,473 over the past 16 months. Dai Nippon Printing Co. of Japan contributed £115,299 over the same period. DNP is one of the largest printing companies in the world with more than 14,000 employees.

The company became a major sponsor of IPRA several years ago. Nissan had contributed $100,000 in 1990 and 1991 to help fund the awards program and pay general expenses. NEC and Voltas of India made $100K contributions in succeeding years.

Dues Were Reduced

IPRA dues, which were $294 in 1995, were reduced to about $225 (£160).

Ray Argyle, Canadian counselor and treasurer in 1995, said cash and investments had fallen from $336,000 at the end of 1992 to "about zero" at the end of 1995.

The IPRA h.q. was moved from Geneva to London. (www.ipra.org).

Jacques Dinan, president of IPRA, based in Mauritius, off the east coast of Africa, said that membership had grown 20% in 2001, the second year in a row of such growth.

HUGHES EXITS WHITE HOUSE

President Bush's communications chief Karen Hughes plans to leave the White House this summer to return to her home in Texas. Hughes told reporters last week she's returning to Austin so she can spend time with her family, but plans to continue to offer advice to Bush. The President and First Lady are very supportive of her decision, said Hughes, who is expected to be replaced in Washington by her deputy, Dan Bartlett. He was named White House communications director in October.

Hughes was responsible for the White House's communications, press secretary, media affairs and speechwriting offices. The former television reporter served as Texas press coordinator for the 1984 Reagan-Bush campaign. She signed up for President Bush's campaign for Texas governor in 1994, worked as his communications director from 1995 to 1999, and then joined his Presidential campaign.

Bartlett was senior spokesman and the director of rapid response for the Bush Presidential campaign in Austin. He worked on both Bush gubernatorial campaigns, and for Bush's political counselor Karl Rove's consulting firm in Austin prior to that.

IS WPP REALLY NO. 1?

Interpublic executives are grumbling about the No. 1 ranking that Ad Age gave to its archrival WPP Group. The U.K.-based firm recorded $8.165 billion in "worldwide gross income in 2001 from all marketing-related activities," according to the trade publication's April 22 issue. It said IPG chalked up $7.981B, while Omnicom recorded $7.404B.

Ad Age's numbers differ from those reported by the companies. The magazine allows agencies to "claim gross income and billings equal to their ownership percentage, counter to generally accepted accounting principles. GAAP allows companies to claim the revenue stream only when ownership exceeds 50%."

According to the "real financials," IPG had revenues of $6.726B while WPP had $5.791B. Omnicom stacks up as the true top dog with revenues of $6.889B.

WPP, ironically, tried to back out of last year's acquisition of the Tempus Group, a deal which propelled it to the top of AA's list.
The top three firms, according to AA, "became more dominant in 2001, claiming a collective 43.7% of the world's advertising and marketing services gross income of $39.28B, up nearly six share points from 38% in 2000."

WS PLACES PRODUCTS FOR TRAVEL CLIENTS

Weber Shandwick's travel marketing practice in New York is partnering with Rogers Cowan/WS to create promotional tie-ins and product placement opportunities for travel clients.

The Interpublic units plan is called "Destination: Entertainment Marketing," and features tie-ins and placements on high profile TV shows, movies and entertainment events.

The initiative taps into and expands relationships with the entertainment industry to position destinations and their entertainment-related attributes, according to Laura Bachrach, WS/N.Y., who is working with Tracy Thompson of RC/WS.

"We see an increasing need from our clients to integrate the worlds of entertainment and travel marketing," said Rene Mack, president, travel marketing practice. "Our practice groups are interconnecting to collaborate and provide clients with enhanced or new services and opportunities."

The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism is WS's first client to implement the new program, which includes outreach to entertainment location managers and producers, fam trips for studio executives, entertainment sponsorships (premier parties, celebrity charity events, industry functions, etc.), sitcom and soap opera vacation placement, catalog shoots and story scripting.

The Bahamas is working with "NYPD Blue" and "Ally McBeal." Results include placements on this season's "Judging Army" and "Dawson's Creek," and a multimedia promotion with the Fox show, "Grounded for Life."

We reviewed the first quarterly earnings report of Diebold, North Canton, Ohio, which makes and services ATMs and similar equipment, and give it a C- for clarity, accuracy and completeness.

This is not just any earnings report but the report of the employer of Don Eagon, the new chair of the National Investor Relations Institute.

He recently gave the IR industry ten standards starting with communicating in "plain English" and putting "real" earnings before pro-forma (hypothetical) earnings in releases.

The DBD report puts misleading earnings figures in the first two sentences; fails to supply a balance sheet (a few "balance sheet items" are given); mentions three failed entities (Mosler, MedSelect and InnoVentry) without any further explanation, and does not have contacts on the PR Newswire release posted on Yahoo!

A reporter not familiar with DBD would have a hard time telling what the company does from its press release and DBD's website.

It says it provides "integrated self-service delivery systems and services" (which could mean it sells food and beverages via machines) and provides "security solutions" (which could mean it provides guards or sells some kind of drinkable mixture that makes people feel secure). This is not exactly "a hot stock." It was $50 four years ago and is $37 now.

Although the media we looked at said DBD earnings more than tripled, they were actually down slightly on a comparable basis-from $29.4M, or 41 cents a share in the 2001 Q1, to $26.5M, or 37 cents, in 2002 Q1.

DBD, via PR Newswire, said its Q1 net was $26.5M, or 37 cents a share, and compared it with the previous year's results of $7.5M and 11 cents.

In the next paragraph, it explained that the 2001 quarter included exceptional items while the 2002 quarter did not.
Reuters therefore had the misleading headline, "Diebold Profit Rises." But it pointed out in the first sentence that DBD "reported higher Q1 profit aided by comparisons from a year ago, which included several charges."

The problem with putting the rosy earnings first and explaining it later is that many media will just report the first figures. This is exactly what was done for DBD by the Canton Repository, the local daily. It said Q1 net was $26.5M and compared it with 2001 Q1's $7.4M. There was no mention at all of the relevant figure of $29.4M. The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported the tripling of net income first and later pointed out the more accurate comparison.

DBD's release on the web should have linked the Mosler, MedSelect and InnoVentry mentions to more details. There was a link to the DBD logo.

The issue raised by the DBD release is what influence, if any, IR people have on the earnings releases of their companies. Eleven of the 14 companies represented on the NIRI board put the much-maligned pro forma earnings first in their Q4 2001 releases...BellSouth (whose IR director Nancy Humphries is on the NIRI board), made the "five dumbest" list of TheStreet.com's George Mannes last week. He said BLS, intending to post a recording of its April 19 conference call, instead posted on its website a private conversation between two BLS staffers deciding what analysts would get on the call. Analyst John Hodulik of UBS Warburg kept getting pushed to the end of the line and never got to ask any questions. One analyst told Mannes that many big companies practice the same sort of triage, favoring certain analysts. If questions were taken on a random basis, "there would be more probing questions asked rather than analysts congratulating companies on the quarter," wrote Mannes...the "family reasons" cited by White House communications chief Karen Hughes for her sudden departure strike us as bogus. She scripted much of what President Bush has been saying and his popularity has been dropping. An ardent supporter of Bush, she was known for her policies of tight secrecy. Super-loyal is just what PR people should not be. They're supposed to be in touch with the outside world and sock the truth to their clients...flat-fee PR wire services have been getting publicity lately, Internet Wire pointing out that for $325 it satisfies disclosure requirements. PrimeZone has a similar national wire for $325. PR Newswire and Business Wire, which charge by the word, have been asked to discuss this challenge but have not responded...NASDAQ continues to duck the question raised by its full-page newspaper ads that proclaim opposition to "obfuscation." We found the recent earnings report of the WPP Group (headed by Martin Sorrell, one of the signers of the NASDAQ pledge) to be anything but clear. The problem has now been given to Bethany Sherman, former chief of client services of Middleberg Euro RSCG, who has joined NASDAQ as VP-CC. WPP is also refusing to explain further the 12.8% dip in PR revenues in Q1...in an historic first, Omnicom said it will allow reporters to ask questions at its conference call April 30. WPP Group does not even let reporters listen in on its calls. Interpublic lets them listen but not ask questions. OMC barred reporters from its annual meeting unless they were stockholders. IPG recently started giving advance notice of conference calls to reporters. OMC has not done this until now.
--Jack O'Dwyer