NEA Should Know about PRSA O'Dwyer Boycott

Below is an email that has been sent to Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of NEA, and John S. Stocks, Executive Director:

Hello Ms. Garcia and Mr. Stocks:
This is reporter Jack O’Dwyer of www.odwyerpr.com whose publishing company is being boycotted by PR Society of America.

The connection with NEA is that Nance Larsen, communications director of NEA-Alaska, is on the Board of Ethics and Professional Development of the Society which has a formal, written and well-publicized boycott against the O’Dwyer Co.

That boycott has been denounced by the National Press Club, NY State Senator Liz Krueger and numerous others because there is no logical foundation for it except that the six O’Dwyer informational and news products compete with the Society’s.

I don’t think the NEA, dedicated to education and knowledge, or any of its people should be associated in any way with a press boycott. One expression of that boycott is in this email from former CEO Bill Murray who resigned March 7 effective June 1, 2014.

I would like to talk to a PR staffer about this. I would like Ms. Lily Eskelsen Garcia and Mr. John S. Stocks to know all about this situation.

Adding to the drama of this regrettable situation is that the national conference of the Society takes place Oct. 11-14 in D.C. and the Society, thus far, is refusing us press credentials or the right to have a booth to display our products at the exhibit center.

All reporters have been banned from its annual legislative Assembly for the past three years. The Society refuses to webcast this event although inexpensive technology, used by its NY Chapter, is available. The roster of nearly 300 delegates is not available to non-delegates. The last transcript of the Assembly was published in 2004. Members don’t know who is in the Assembly, what they say, or how they vote unless they physically go to the Assembly. Only about 4% of members attend a national conference.

The last time the Society met in D.C., 2010, I was threatened with being “beaten to a pulp” by an Assembly delegate. I reported this assault, witnessed by a group of Society leaders, to the police but they said I had to be touched to have the person arrested. What he did was scream obscenities about one inch from my face.

Here is a story on that assault.

I hope someone on the PR staff will call me at 631/288-0850. The Society’s approach to the O’Dwyer Co. is to have as little as possible to do with us. No elected head has talked to us since 2005. VP-PR Stephanie Cegielski ([email protected]) does not talk to me on the phone or meet with me.

Email of Nance is [email protected].

The Society, from 1978 to 1994, sold hundreds of thousands of copies of authors’ articles without their permission. The Society refused to talk to 13 authors who organized a committee and hired a law firm. No law firm could be found that would handle the case because the Society had millions to spend while the authors were of modest means. Here is one story on that massive theft of copyrighted materials.

I hope someone from NEA will call. This is a continuing story especially since this is “Ethics Month” at the PR Society. Larsen was featured on one of the events and her name was mistakenly posted as participating in another event.

Cordially,

Jack O’Dwyer
Publisher & Editor