O'Dwyer's, in a further move aimed at busting the PRSA boycott against it, has lodged a complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Justice Antitrust division.
A complaint had been filed Aug. 20 with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman asking his department to consider antitrust charges against the Society because of its refusal to allow an O'Dwyer exhibit at its annual conference in Washington, D.C., Oct. 11-14.
The Society has shown in the past that it takes government action to correct its behavior.
The Federal Trade Commission in 1976, having been sent a copy of the Society's Code of Ethics by O'Dwyer's, visited the Society in the fall of that year and told it that two of the articles in the Code were in violation of antitrust laws—the bar against members competing for each other's accounts and the bar against contingency fees.
Society leaders and staff put the issue before the 1976 Assembly which spent two hours arguing over whether the Code, created in 1954, should be revised. Delegates said they feared that "open warfare” over accounts would result and tabled the motion.
O.K. to Pitch Non-Members' Accounts
We felt the non-compete article was particularly unethical because the bar was only against pitching other members' accounts. It was O.K. to pitch non-members' accounts.
As for contingency fees, that was standard in the legal field and seemed logical for the PR counseling industry where media placements could be planned but there was no guarantee any of them would be obtained.
Society members wanted to be paid for their efforts irrespective of the number of placements made.
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FTC said the Society for many years was engaged in "a combination, conspiracy and common course of action to restrain interstate commerce."
It said prices of members' services "have been or have a dangerous tendency to be tampered, stabilized, fixed or otherwise interfered with."
The full text of the FTC order is in this link: http://tinyurl.com/8pv46kf.
The Society was ordered to ditch the two articles and publicize it. It was ordered in the future not to interfere with members and their business relationships with clients.
Volunteers Lack Power
Appeals to co-chairs of past conferences for access by O'Dwyer staffers have fallen on deaf ears. The co-chairs appear to be mainly ceremonial titles with little if any say over what takes place at the conference.
O'Dwyer staffers were banned from the 2013 conference in Philadelphia in spite of pleas made to co-chairs Oscar Suris, executive VP and head of corporate communications for Wells Fargo, and Patrice Tanaka, chief counselor, PadillaCRT.
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Suris did not respond to phone calls and e-mails and while Tanaka responded and was sympathetic to our requests, she was unable to change policy set by the Society's staff.
Conference co-chairs this year are James Olson, VP, global corporate communications and Americas public affairs, Starbucks Coffee Co., and Elise Mitchell, CEO of Mitchell Communications Group, Fayetteville, Ark., and CEO, Dentsu PR Network.
They have not responded thus far to requests by the O'Dwyer Co. for a booth at the conference and access to all conference events for O'Dwyer staffers.
PRSA Has Stubborn Streak
Government action at the federal or state levels may be needed to break the Society's boycott against the O'Dwyer Co.
Reformers since 1999 have been trying to erase the monopoly on national offices and the Ethics Board that is held by Accredited members. Currently this bars 82% of the members from running for such offices.
Text of the complaint to the Justice Dept. Antitrust Division is below.
To U.S. Dept. of Justice, Antitrust Division
From Jack O'Dwyer, Editor, O'Dwyer Co.
271 Madison Ave., #600
New York, NY 10016
646/843-2090
August 21, 2014
PR Society of America, a New York State chartered 501/c/6 non-profit corporation based in New York City, is refusing to rent a booth in the exhibit hall at its 2014 national annual conference Oct. 11-14, 2014 in Washington, D.C., to the O'Dwyer Co., New York, whose six news and informational products compete with the products of PRSA including its monthly Tactics newspaper and monthly quarterly magazine Strategist.
This decision was told to Publisher Jack O'Dwyer by e-mail Aug. 11, 2014 from Stephanie Cegielski, VP-PR, of the Society. Her phone is 212/460-1495. Elected chair of the Society is Joseph Cohen of the MWW Group, New York City, 212/704-9727; 304 Park Ave. South, NY NY 10010.
Cegielski has offered no explanation of the refusal of the board of PRSA to rent the O'Dwyer Co. a booth. There will be more than 40 other booths, some of them competitors to the O'Dwyer Co. Attendance will be about 3,000 including 1,000 students.
Refusal to rent to the O'Dwyer Co. blocks competition with PRSA products. O'Dwyer news and information products have been called the "bible of PR” by both the New York Times and Washington Post. Here are links to those mentions:
http://tinyurl.com/7ygqjzn (NY Times)
http://tinyurl.com/bjoeubw (Wash. Post).
The O'Dwyer Co. has been in business since 1968 and has more than 500 advertisers on our website (www.odwyerpr.com) and in our publications. Many of the leading companies and educational institutions advertise.
As an indication of our importance in the industry, O'Dwyer's monthly magazine published 612 pages in the 12 months to August 2014. This included not only news and information but 430 profiles of PR firms by their specialties in 12 categories (healthcare, financial, tech, etc.) which helps to bring them business. In addition, the magazine carried 202 ads including 142 full pages, all in color.
We are a major informational factor in PR that PRSA does not want its members to know about. We publish the only printed directory in the PR industry—O'Dwyer's Directory of PR Firms listing more than 1,400 PR firms.
The National Press Club and New York State Senator Liz Krueger have urged PRSA to drop its boycott of the O'Dwyer Co. to no avail which is why this complaint is being filed with Dept. of Justice. Links to these stories are: http://tinyurl.com/d9y42dl and http://tinyurl.com/7dhdy3g.
The O'Dwyer website has more than 50,000 unique visitors monthly. Other products and services are the weekly printed and online O'Dwyer's newsletter, annual O'Dwyer's PR Buyer's Guide, and O'Dwyer's PR Library with more than 700 volumes and other informational materials collected since 1968. It is open to the public.
We appreciate the interest of the U. S. Dept. of Justice in helping free competition to flourish at the PRSA annual conference Oct. 11-14 in Washington, D.C., the seat of our democracy.
Cordially,
Jack O'Dwyer
PRSA-NY today announced its five honorary co-chairs for its Big Apple Awards ceremony gala slated for TAO Downtown on Nov. 15.
PRSA-NY president Carmella Glover today issued a "heartfelt apology" on behalf of the chapter for her Oct. 14 message that "caused disappointment and hurt to some of our valued members."
The leadership of Public Relations Society of America is backing a move to change the current “must-have” APR accreditation to “strongly preferred” as a requirement for a seat on its board of directors.
Public Relations Society of American today named Linda Thomas Brooks CEO, succeeding CFO Phil Bonaventura, interim chief since July 2019.
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