H&K HANDLES GULF AIR CRASH

Hill and Knowlton is doing crisis PR for Gulf Air, whose Airbus A320 crashed Aug. 23 off the coast of Bahrain killing all 143 on board.

Staffers in New York, Hong Kong, London, Dubai and Bahrain are handling the crisis, according to Art Forster, senior managing director in H&K's corporate group.

Nigel Perry, Director of H&K's Persian Gulf unit, is coordinating the work.

H&K, said Forster, contacted Gulf Air, a former client, immediately after the crash, and went to work for it 14 hours after the plane went down into the Persian Gulf.

Reuters reported Aug. 30 that excessive speed during the landing attempt may have caused the crash.

Gulf Air is the national carrier of Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

H&K also handled PR for the Swissair Flight 111 crash that killed 229 people in 1998, and last year's EgyptAir Flight 990 disaster that killed 217.

PAC/WEST LIQUIDATION PLAN HITS SNAG

Pacific/West Communications Group will file a motion on Sept. 18 in Los Angeles bankruptcy court to have its Chapter 11 case dismissed.

Troop Steuber Pasich Reddick & Tobey, Pac/ West's new law firm, says its client is unable to confirm a plan of reorganization because it can't reach an agreement with its largest secured creditor.

Stephen Tobia Jr. and his wife, Maureen, who owned Pac/West, filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition in 1998, claiming the PR firm lost clients following a dispute with the California Dept. of Transportation, which was a client.

Liz Smith was named VP of communications for the International Copper Assn. She succeeds Catherine Bolton who joined PRSA as chief PR officer. Smith has 20+ years' experience at York International, Timken Co. and B. F. Goodrich... Karen Crowe, chief spokesperson for New York City Schools Chancellor Harold Levy, has joined Scholastic, publisher of children's books, classroom magazines and instructional materials, as director, corp. communications... David Henderson, Edelman PR Worldwide senior VP and former TV newsman, established HendersonComm in Washington, D.C.

OMNICOM TAKES STAKE IN SPORTS FIRM

Omnicom bought an equity stake in Horrow SportsVentures, which is headed by the "Sports Professor" Rick Horrow.
HSV helps arrange public/private financing of sports/entertainment complexes. Its clients include the NFL, PGA Tour, International Speedway Corp. and New York City's bid to host the 2012 Olympics.

Horrow teaches a sports and law class at Harvard University and is a commentator for Fox Sports Network, ESPN, and CBS Sportsline

EGYPT TAPS GKMG FOR TRADE PR

Egypt has hired GKMG Consulting Services, Arlington, Va., for a one-year investment and trade promotion program that will be worth more than $200,000.

The country believes its six percent annual economic growth merits more than $2B investment that U.S. firms have made there.

GKMG will coordinate trade PR efforts with Egyptian commercial offices in New York, Chicago, Atlanta, Detroit and San Francisco.

The firm also is in line for $100,000K+ for creating the EgyptInc.com website, and $5,000+ for its monthly upkeep, according to GKMG.

SPETNER JOINS KORN/FERRY INT'L.

Don Spetner, who resigned in May as VP of corporate communications at Sun America, has joined Korn/Ferry International, Los Angeles, as senior VP-global marketing and communications.

He will oversee a staff of six worldwide for the executive recruiting firm, which has 70+ offices in 40 countries. Bob Woodrum, managing director of K/FI's CC practice recruited Spetner.

Linden Alschuler & Kaplan is behind Preferred Hotels & Resorts Worldwide's PR effort to build brand awareness for its more than 110 luxury properties. Steve Alschuler said PH&RW wants to show it has more to offer than huge hotel chain competitors... Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America believes its members are being unfairly attacked by VP Al Gore for ripping off consumers... Publicis Dialog is launching a PR campaign for VoiceStream Wireless featuring actor Jamie Lee Curtis... Sy Schwartz, exec. VP at Rubenstein Assocs., died Aug. 31 following a more than 50-year career in PR. Howard Rubenstein said he hired Schwartz, who was 70, as his first employee 40+ years ago.

PRSA INFECTED O'DWYER'S COMPUTER

The image of three cows used to illustrate the "Cows on PR-ade" fundraising drive of the PR Society of America Foundation was infected with the "ILOVEYOU" computer virus that wreaked havoc with the world's computers several months ago.

The graphic was sent via e-mail by David Grossman & Assocs., Chicago, to the O'Dwyer Co. Monday, Aug. 28, for use on its website.

The Grossman firm, headed by David Grossman, former director of (internal) communications for McDonald's, had sent out a release dated Aug. 23 publicizing the fundraising drive.

An O'Dwyer staffer called by phone asking for an E-mail with the "cows" graphic to do a story on it. When an attempt was made to download it, a virus alarm (flashing red warning sign) went off.

Despite the warning sign, the O'Dwyer computer was infected with the "Lovebug" and within several hours it had spread to 4,000 files on the computer on which it had been downloaded.

O'Dwyer computer consultant Justin Cristaldi cleaned the computer.

Kelly Womer, senior thought partner at Grossman, said a computer repairman was called after the O'Dwyer Co. told the Grossman firm about the virus and that a virus was removed from the Grossman computer.

She said the O'Dwyer Co. was the only one that called Grossman requesting the graphic and that to her knowledge only the O'Dwyer Co. complained of the infection. A hard copy of the "cow" release was sent to other media and not via E-mails, she said. Womer, who recently joined Grossman, was formerly a senior manager at McDonald's.

She is the current accreditation chair of the Chicago chapter, serving the second of a two-year term. Grossman, former president of the Chicago chapter of PRSA, could not be reached for comment.

He is a member of the Universal Accreditation Board created by PRSA and eight other groups and is a former APR chair of the Chicago chapter.

PR EDUCATOR, SCOTT CUTLIP, DIES

Scott Cutlip, 85, a PR educator who helped write a top selling PR textbook, died Aug. 18.

Cutlip had been dean of the Univ. of Georgia school (now college) of journalism and mass communications from 1976 until 1983, when he became a professor. After he retired in 1985, Cutlip was named dean emeritus.

He graduated from Syracuse Univ. in 1939 with a B.A. in journalism and political science.

After a stint as PR director for the West Virginia Road Commission, he joined the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942, serving in counter-intelligence. He advanced from private to major in three years.

Cutlip is the author (with Allen Center and Glen Broom) of Effective Public Relations, now in its eighth edition. The book was first published in 1952.

Cutlip received many awards for his PR work, including the Golden Anvil, PRSA's highest individual honor, 1995; the Paul J. Deutschmann Award from the Assn. for Journalism Education and Mass Communication, 1991, and IABC's 25th Anniversary Award, 1995.

He is survived by his son, George, who runs his own PR firm in Madison, Wisc.

RETAILERS COMBAT `CASUAL DRESS' FAD

The Tailored Men's Clothing Industry, a non-profit group, is fighting back against the "Casual Friday" trend with ads in fall's men's fashion magazines that promote "Dress Up Thursdays."

The ads state that "Recent research has found emerging evidence that dress-down workdays do not, as professed by some casual wear companies, increase worker productivity.
"In fact, the surveys have found evidence of: decreases in productivity and quality of work, relaxed manners and morals, decreases in commitment, increases in tardiness, and even, increases in litigation."

The TMCI, which is backed by Men's Warehouse and Today's Man, has a website, www.dressup.com, to entice people to "join the crusade."

On the casual front, Lee Co. is holding a casual Friday of its own called "Lee National Denim Day," the nation's largest single-day fundraiser for breast cancer, on Oct. 6. Thousands of organizations nationwide will be helping to raise more than $6 million in one day. Participants are asked to wear jeans and donate $5 for that privilege.

Tommy Hilfiger has named Peter Connolly-a marketing executive with more than 20 years of experience-president of worldwide marketing and communications of Tommy Hilfiger U.S.A., a unit of Tommy Hilfiger Corp.

JUDGES RULE RUMORS ARE BAD BUSINESS

An appeals court has ruled that Procter & Gamble can pursue its business defamation lawsuit against Amway.

P&G had accused several distributors of Amway of using an electronic voicemail system to disseminate rumors that P&G was associated with the Church of Satan in an effort to get people to buy Amway products instead of P&G goods.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver reversed a U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball's March 1999 decision to dismiss the case.

Kimball ruled that the business defamation claim did not apply because the distributors never disparaged P&G's products.

The three-judge panel ruled such a rumor could affect P&G's commercial activities and might constitute business defamation. The appellate panel found the distributors were neither employees nor agents of Amway.

The alleged rumors started after P&G's president discussed Satanism on the "Phil Donahue Show," a nationally televised talk show.

GONZALEZ JOINS NOTICAS 41 AS M.E.

J.J. Gonzalez, 68, has joined "Noticas 41," the t<%-2>hree-times-a-day Spanish-language newscast on Univison 41 (WXTV) in New York, as managing editor.

Gonzalez, who spent 28 years at Channel 2 (WCBS- TV), will oversee a staff of seven on-air reporters.

He told The New York Post that he wants to expand coverage to include the human side of news stories-beyond the nuts and bolts of daily disasters and City Hall press conferences.

After leaving Ch. 2 in 1995, Gonzalez spent two years as press secretary for Bronx Borough president Fernando Ferrer. He has since been news director at local cable TV's Bronxnet Community Programming.

ON THE MOVE: By November, The Parenting Group of Time Inc., which includes Parenting, Baby Talk and Healthy Pregnancy, is due to move to 530 Fifth ave. from 1325 6th ave. Family Life, which is currently in Time's headquarters building at 1271 6th ave., will also move to the new offices on the third, fourth and seventh floors... Al Roker Productions, which produces a travel series called "Going Places" for PBS and does specials for the Food Network, is moving to the Fisk Building at 250 W. 57th st... CNBC's new headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., is targeted for a July 2002 opening. The 22-acre site will have a heliport.

PEOPLE ____________________________

Patrice O'Shaughnessy, who covers crime for The New York Daily News, is joining Newsday, which is expanding its coverage of New York City. The paper is adding 12 people to its Kew Gardens news bureau, headed by Les Payne.

Anne Alexander, editor-in-chief of Rodale's Prevention<D> magazine, is joining America Online in London as group publication director in Britain.

Steve Perrine, currently co-executive editor at Maxim, is joining Men's Health as executive editor, replacing Peter Moore, who was reportedly demoted to managing editor for running a letter from recently fired editor Greg Gutfeld.

Margaret Russell, 42, was elevated to editor-in-chief of Elle Decor magazine. She had been design and decoration editor.

Emily Listfield, 43, who was executive editor at McCall's, now editor-in-chief of Fitness magazine.

Sidney Zion is now writing a column for The New York Post. Zion left The Daily News after a column he wrote about Israel irritated management.

Murray Allen, who is the new president of the Society of Silurians, said Zion has accepted an invitation to "tell us about his shouting match" with owner and publisher Mort Zuckerman at a lunch Sept. 21 at The Players Club.

MEDIA BRIEFS _______________________

Bergdorf Goodman, the New York-based luxury retailer, has published the first issue of its fashion magazine.

Although Bergdorf is calling it a magazine, Peter Rizzo, president of the store, told Women's Wear Daily it's closer to a magalog since vendors subsidize the cost of producing the editorial pages.

Bergdorf charged about $24,000 for an ad in the magazine. The co-op price for a vendor-subsidized page was $14,000. The issue has 23 ad pages.

Free copies will be sent to 300,000 customers immediately after Labor Day, and they will also be sold for $10 at Rizzoli bookstore.

The magazine was created and produced by Bergdorf and Assouline, a Paris-based custom publisher.

Bergdorf hopes to publish four magazines over the next 12 months, featuring women's and men's fashions, accessories and home, using high quality fashion shoots.

It intends to dispense with store catalogs after the holiday catalog this year. Currently, Bergdorf publishes 13 catalogs a year.

The National Post, which has been publishing for 21 months in Canada, is out-selling its primary competitor, The Toronto Globe and Mail, according to the publisher's three-month interim circulation statement released by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

The report shows the National Post averaged a net paid Monday to Friday circulation of 324,333, and a Saturday circulation of 389,972, for a six-day average of 335,415.
The Globe and Mail's most recent circulation figures show a 1999 six-day average of 335,090. The total was produced by an accounting firm hired by the Globe's publisher.

LightingNews.com, the first website to provide a news portal for the commercial lighting industry, has scored nearly 100,000 hits in its first month of operation, according to WebTrends.

PR firms may submit press releases and technical articles for free posting on the website.

Paul Haddlesey is editor of the site, which has four categories: product news, corporate news, trade shows & events, and feature articles. He is based in the U.K. at 44-1707/665088, or fax: 8700/562476.

eYada.com, an entertainment website, will hold a gossip summit and awards presentation on Oct. 17 in New York, featuring syndicated columnist Liz Smith of Newsday, Michael Musto of the Village Voice, and MSNBC's Jeannette Walls.

George Rush will preside over the summit with the help of Richard Johnson, editor of The New York Post's "Page Six," and Rush's wife, Joanna Molloy, who shares the "Rush and Molloy" syndicated gossip column in The New York Daily News. They also host a live celebrity talk show on eyada

(Media news continued on next page)

NEW MAG. FOR WEB SAVVY TRAVELERS

Ziff Davis Media will launch Expedia travels as a user's guide to the Internet this fall.

The magazine will be published as a bimonthly magazine through July/August 2001, and monthly beginning September 2001, reports Susan Magrino Agency, which is handling PR for the publisher.

The first issue, which will appear at the end of October, will have a rate base of 200,000. It will be sold on newsstands, by subscription and through the Internet, with a close association with Expedia.com, which is one of the most visited travel websites.

Gary Walther, who was formerly editor-in-chief of Departures and senior editor of Travel & Leisure, is editor-in-chief of ET, and Rosemary Ellis, who had been executive editor of Time Inc. Interactive, is executive editor of ET and the magazine's website (www.etravelsmag.com).

The editorial offices are in New York at 28 E. 28th st. 212/503-4630; fax: 4346.

"Our editorial mission is to integrate real world and Internet travel coverage and provide readers with an upscale, travel service magazine, plus a dynamic, interactive travel website," said Walther.

"Our job is to tell readers how to use the Internet to make their travels more rewarding, and how to use their travels to become more sophisticated users of the Internet," said Walther.

The target audience is 25-34 year old travelers with a median household income of $74,000.

While the magazine will use top-flight photographers and writers, the publication's foundation stone will be service journalism, said Walther. "We will entice readers by being a beautiful book, and keep them by being a useful one," said Walther, who hired Amy Koblenzer, formerly photo editor of Departures, to be photo editor of ET.

ET will also run feature articles about such things as art and culture, restaurants and hotels, and regular coverage of style, food, business travel, adventure travel, and essential websites.

The continuing columnists are: Jim Dodson (golf), Aimee Lee Ball (spas), David Rosengarten (restaurants), and Richard Nalley (wine).

LEWIS TO EDIT FORTUNE'S TECH SECTION

Peter Lewis is joining Fortune this month as senior editor of the magazine's new "Personal Technology" section, which will debut in October.

Lewis, who is based in Austin, Tex., will edit the section and will contribute regular columns to Fortune and its sister publication, eCompany Now.

Lewis comes to Fortune from The New York Times, where he has been writing about computers and consumer technologies since 1984, as a reporter and editor and as writer of the weekly "Personal Computers" and "Executive Computer" columns.

John Huey, managing editor of Fortune, said "There's no area our readers are more interested in than in how technology directly affects their lives, and nobody covers personal technology better than Pete."

Lewis said the focus of the new Fortune section will be "product-oriented" like his columns have been in the Times.

Asked how he got along with PR people, especially high technology publicists, Lewis replied: "I could not do my job without them."

Lewis and his wife, Kathryn, who is an artist, will continue to reside near Austin.

PLACEMENT TIPS ______________________

Powerful Media, which is the parent company of Inside.com, has joined Boston-based International Data Group's Industry Standard magazine to produce a weekly magazine covering entertainment and media.

The print magazine, which will start later this year, will use some material from Inside.com and Industry Standard.

National Geographic Society, Washington, D.C., has taken a minority interest in iExplore.com, a new travel-related website that offers an array of high-end "adventure and experimental" trips.

NG will incorporate iExplore's database of 50,000 trips into its own website, and iExplore will add National Geographic Expeditions to its offerings, set up chats with NG's experts and use some of NG's photography and art on its site.

Ad Age International, a magazine published by Crain Communications, has been renamed adageglobal - same as the website. The first issue will appear Sept. 18.

Stefano Hatfield, who is managing and editorial director of adageglobal, said both outlets will offer more news, analysis, media coverage, Internet coverage, features and columnists.

Editorial offices are in New York and London. The New York contact is Ellen Corey (212/210-0789).

Steven Alschuler, a principal in the PR firm of Linden Alschuler & Kaplan, gives advice for getting placements in the July/August issue of Netcommerce magazine (www.netcommercemag.com).

GREAT IRISH FAIR TO FETE NEWSMEN

Three newsmen and a PR consultant will be given awards at this year's Great Irish Fair to be held Sept. 9-10 at Dreir Offerman Park on Coney Island.

Ed Wilkinson, editor of The Tablet, the Catholic newspaper for the diocese of Brooklyn and Queens, will be honored as Chief Brehon, or principal leader of the fair, which raises money for Catholic Charities.

Jack Shanahan, an AP reporter and editor for 35 >years, and currently a proofreader at The Tablet, will receive the Bard Award for his stories about Ireland.

Terry Golway, city editor of The New York Observer, will get the Round Tower Award.

SIEGEL RESEARCHES FOR NEW APR TEST

The Gary Siegel Organization, Chicago, has sent a questionnaire to 3,500 PR pros to lay the groundwork for a new examination to be used by the "Universal Accreditation Board" organized by PR Society of America and eight other U.S. PR groups.

The four-page questionnaire and cover letter by UAB chair Philip Wescott was mailed Aug. 21 with Sept. 8 given as the deadline for a response.

PRSA is paying the entire cost of the research.
The questionnaire describes 11 types of "work categories" that PR pros engage in: account/client management; strategic planning; PR program planning; project management; media relations; relations with special audiences; issues management; crisis management; internal relations; special events, conferences and meetings, and community relations.

The indication is that creation of the new UAB test, on which PRSA has budgeted $240,000 this year, will focus on "work categories" that are common to all forms of PR practice and will not test the knowledge of PR pros in specializations such as high-tech, healthcare and financial PR.

PR pros are asked to state which three of the 11 work categories "are most critical for a PR practitioner to master in order to be considered a `PR professional.'"

They are also asked which of the 11 will increase the most in importance over the next 2-3 years.

PRSA has spent a net of $2,005,760 on its APR program in the past ten years.

PR PRO RAPS PR TRADE ASSNS

Toronto-based PR professional Brian Kilgore is starting an online publication, called the BAK Report<D>, to promote the PR practice.

Kilgore will provide a "mini-lesson" in PR and corporate communications several days a week at www.BrianKilgore.com.

Kilgore, who held PR positions at Northern Telecom and CNCP Telecommunications before opening his own firm in 1986, said he is starting the website because his "frustration has been growing over the years as he noticed the International Assn. of Business Communicators, PR Society of America, and the Canadian PR Society have all looked exclusively inward."

"No one was telling the PR story, except to themselves. Most of the public and a lot of reporters and editors thought PR was only publicity, or, even worse, giving away samples in shopping center parking lots or lying when making speeches," said Kilgore.

"Lawyers were running news conferences, accountants were taking over IR communications and speaking in tongues, confusing investors and even themselves, and computer technicians were deciding what should appear on websites," said Kilgore.

"If you go to the PR association websites, you can't find much of anything that helps clients and potential clients take communications-related actions to the benefits of their members, which is what PR is all about.

"The sites, with rare exception, seem to concentrate on selling lunches, lectures and books to members.

"As a profession, PR has virtually no profile. You can't find speeches by the association presidents, nor decent news releases about the important papers delivered at their annual conferences," said Kilgore.

While he won't use his report to pick on people who do a poor job. he said he will "ruffle some feathers."

L.A. POLICE ARREST EMULEX SUSPECT

F.B.I. agents in Los Angeles have arrested and charged a suspect with one count of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud in connection with a fake press release sent to Internet Wire which caused shares of Emulex to plunge from $113 to $45 on Aug. 25.

Federal prosecutors said Mark Jakob, a 23-year-old former student at El Camino Community College in Torrance, enriched himself to the tune of $240,000 in one day by perpetrating the fraud against Emulex, a manufacturer of communications equipment, and IW, a Los Angeles-based news service, which immediately distributed Jakob's fake press release over the Internet to news organizations across the U.S. Jakob had worked for IW for about a year before his resignation on Aug. 18.

Shareholders of Emulex lost an estimated $2.5 billion in stock value in one day following the dissemination and publication of Jakob's news release, according to Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. Numerous investors panicked and sold the stock. Many others lost money when they had sell orders automatically executed at pre-set prices. Prosecutors said most of the losses would never be recovered.

Bet the Farm

On Aug. 17 and 18, according to prosecutors, Jakob had used Datek Online to place a huge bet that shares of Emulex would decline. Instead, when shares of Emulex soared, Jakob was faced with a paper loss of over $100,000 in just one week. Prosecutors charged that Jakob then conceived the idea of sending a phony press release by E-mail to IW, which said Emulex's chief executive had resigned and that its earnings had been overstated and would need to be restated. IW distributed the damaging release just as financial markets opened.

Once the damage had been done, Emulex issued a statement denying that its CEO had resigned and contending that it had never issued any such press release on its earnings.

F.B.I. agents arrested Jakob Aug. 31 at his parents' home in El Segundo. If convicted, Jakob faces up to 15 years in jail and a fine of $500,000. Jakob did not have an attorney at the time of his arrest and was represented by a public defender.

The Securities and Exchange Commission simultaneously filed a civil complaint against Jakob, seeking to freeze his assets and recoup the illegal profits.

The false report about Emulex that temporarily cut its price by 60% Aug. 25 focused attention on the PR wire services and financial news media that carry their releases.

Internet Wire, which was duped by the release, is a six-year-old service that is far smaller than PR Newswire and Business Wire, both of which have revenues of well over $100 million.

Both the Bloomberg and Dow Jones newswires carried the false report, casting doubt on their fact-checking processes.

One excuse given was that since Emulex was on the West Coast and the release went out at 9:30 a.m., there was no one available at that time to confirm or deny the report.

The New York Times editorialized that a company should not be penalized just because it is in California and three hours out of step with New York.

Some companies have 24-hour press lines but they are few and far between.

With today's technologies, including cell phones, call forwarding, and beepers, PR people should be instantly reachable by reporters.

Our experience is that they're not.

We recently called 60 PRSA members at random from the PRSA members' directory and found only 11 at their stations. Only nine of 59 members of IABC were there to take the call.

The odds of calling someone and being greeted by a recording are high and going higher. Chicago PR counselor Tom Harris' voice mail recording is, "Hi, like everyone else you tried to reach today, I'm not here...leave a message."

Technology is being used by both the press and PR to block calls. Some PR people have caller I.D. that lets them screen out people they don't want to talk to.

Many financial press releases are spinning wildly. One-time charges are often buried several pages from the beginning. British companies report earnings before taxes and U.S. companies are in the habit of using EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). Only after an onslaught on woulda, coulda, shoulda claims are the true earnings stated. A bad quarter may be buried as part of a six-months' earnings report. The reporter has to look up the previous year. Companies can juggle earnings-per-share by varying the amount of stock in circulation.

Misleading financial press releases are only the tip of the iceberg. Media reporter Howard Kurtz, in his new book, The Fortune Tellers, claims there is a secret code among analysts, traders, CEOs and the press that bars the public from much of what is happening. The most obvious evidence that analysts are too close to the companies they cover is that only 0.3% of analyst recommendations in 1999 were to sell a stock. An installment on the book is in the Sept. 4 Newsweek.

David Gergen, an at-large editor of U.S. News & World Report, claims in Eyewitness to Power that, " Spin has spun out of control and we need to put it back in its box." Gergen, who worked for President Reagan as well as for President Clinton, regrets that he, himself has contributed so much to the culture of spin. New York Times reviewer Michiko Kakutani said Gergen's book mentions the importance of character a lot but most of Gergen's advice "resolves around strategy and stagecraft as the best way to play the game." For instance, Gergen claims that President Ford's pardon of President Nixon would have gone over better with the public if Ford had laid more groundwork for it.

Scott Cutlip, who died Aug. 18 at the age of 85, was praised by PRSA chair Steve Pisinski as a "PR pioneer and one of the most influential figures in PR education." Effective PR, co-authored initially with Allen Center and later with Glen Broom, is the recommended text for PRSA's accreditation exam. Pisinski hailed Cutlip's "life-long efforts to establish PR as a legitimate field of academic study and to enhance the profession overall"... PRSA is currently polling both member and non-member PR pros to determine the content of the new APR exam which will be administered to PRSA members and members of eight other U.S. groups. PRSA is paying for the cost of the survey that went to 3,500 PR pros in late August. The other members of the Universal Accreditation Board do not have the funds for such a study, said Philip Wescott, UAB chair. He said the entire PR field will benefit from the study.