IPG OVERHAULS PR UNITS

Interpublic Group is set to streamline its Weber Group, Shandwick International, and Golin/Harris International units into a PR powerhouse with more than $300 million in fee income.

Larry Weber, chairman of Weber PR Worldwide, is set to make the announcement this week. He could not be reached for comment.

IPG, last year, made a similar consolidation move by merging ad unit Lowe and Partners with Ammirati Puris Lintas to form Lowe Lintas Worldwide.

That resulted in job cuts of about 900 staffers from the combined 13,000 workforce.

Stock sags

The IPG consolidation is seen as a way for the company to bolster its faltering stock price, which hit a 52-week low at 34.78 on Sept. 18.

The New York Times cited IPG's stock as one of the "losers" in the media category for the week of Sept. 11-15. It sank 6.4 percent to 35.56.

The ad giant has gone on an acquisition binge. It bought 56 companies last year, but would not identify them in SEC documents.

Not included in that list is the $500 million in stock (and assumption of debt of $180 million) that IPG paid for NFO Worldwide this year.

Investors have panned IPG management for the lackluster performance of the company's stock price in Internet chatrooms.

B-M PROMOTES CHINA'S CULTURE

Burson-Marsteller has registered the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Culture as a client with the Justice Dept.
The Ministry of Culture and China's State Council Information Office are sponsoring a $7 million art show that is touring the U.S.

Critics say the show is nothing more than a tool to build support for trade relations with China, and to deflect attacks from human rights groups who are angry at China for a wide range of issues.

WILLIAMS IS FENTON COMMS. PRESIDENT

Maggie Williams, who was chief of staff to First Lady Hillary Clinton, is now president of Fenton Comms., the Washington, D.C.-based firm.

Her recruitment enables David Fenton to focus on developing the shop's Internet PR capability, and oversee the opening of an office in San Francisco next year. FC has 45 staffers in D.C., and 30 in New York.

KRUPNICK JOINS MS&L

Manning, Selvage & Lee has recruited financial PR pro Elizabeth Krupnick as senior VP and director of its U.S. Corporate Practice.

Krupnick was senior VP-corporate affairs at Aetna Life, and CCO at Prudential before being appointed president of Dewe Rogerson in 1997.

OMNICOM BUYS STEINER SPORTS

The Omnicom Group has acquired Steiner Sports Marketing, which has exclusive contracts with several pro athletes, for about $25 million.

Steiner has exclusive collectibles contracts with New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter and women's soccer star Mia Hamm.

Jeff Julin, president of MGA Comms., Denver, at press time was seeking signatures of ten >Assembly delegates of PRSA in order to run as a write-in candidate for the PRSA board as the director from the Western district. This would be the fourth time in PRSA's 53-year history that official candidates face opposition. Treasurer Joann Killeen, who faces being dropped from the board, has not yet said whether she will oppose Art Stevens for chair-elect. Deadline for filing is Sept. 21. PRSA leaders for the third time in four years want to break up the Oct. 21 annual Assembly into a dozen or more "focus groups." A "town hall" for open discussion at 4:30 p.m. is the last item on the agenda of a meeting that starts at 8 a.m. Some members of the Assembly say they may seek to overturn the schedule... Deborah Harrington, PR manager of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, Stamford, Conn., and with FASB 22 years, joined Deloitte & Touche as national director<%0> of PR. Bob Ferrante of The Cantor Concern is doing a search on the $100K job at FASB ([email protected]). Gary Gerard, who was national director of marketing comms. at D&T, joined Stroock & Stroock & Lavan in May... Martin Arnold, director of corporate communications at Rayonier, which moved in June from Stamford, Conn., to Jacksonville, Fla., has opened his own firm. He was a 33-year veteran at Rayonier. About 30 of the 80 staffers moved with the company. Other PR people leaving Rayonier were Barbara Fisher, manager of corporate communications, and Rosa Puza, corporate communications assistant. Jay A. Frederickson, a 20-year veteran, continues as VP, corp. relations.

LAZIO WAS TOO MUCH ON ATTACK

Senatorial candidate Rick Lazio spent too much time attacking his opponent, Hillary Clinton, and not enough time addressing the TV audience of millions, said Joyce Newman of The Newman Group, New York, in analyzing last week's debate.

Newman has been counseling executives on public speaking and making presentations for 25 years.

"Lazio did not know how to use the camera," she said. "He spent too much time looking directly at Hillary while she spent her time addressing the camera."

"Despite his unremitting attacks, Hillary remained cool and unwavering," said Newman. "He didn't know where to look, which diluted his message."

Newman also faulted the appearance of Lazio, saying his hair looked "plastered down." He "definitely needs a hair stylist," she added.

She said Lazio's attempt to get Clinton to sign a paper was a "gross play" that backfired on him.

Newman also noted that Clinton smiled frequently while Lazio had a grumpy facial expression. She felt Clinton looked and acted "more senatorial" than Lazio.

KETCHUM WORKS TO SAVE FIRESTONE

Ketchum must quickly educate Bridgestone/Firestone executives how badly the company's image has been hurt by the tread separation problem on tires used by Ford Motor Co.'s Explorer, say PR pros.

The survival of the 100-year-old Firestone brand is at stake.
The recall has dealt a "near fatal blow to the Firestone brand," Yoichiro Kaizaki, president of Bridgestone, told a press conference in Tokyo.

He said Bridgestone must tighten controls over its U.S. operation, and apply Japanese manufacturing techniques here.

Misread public furor

B/F's Japanese managers admit they misread the tire debacle.

Masatoshi Ono, CEO of B/F, said the company "underestimated the intensity of the situation," and was slow to respond to the public's concern about driving with B/F tires.

USA Today reported last week how Americans have soured on B/F. More than 77 percent of people polled by the paper say they are less likely to buy Firestone tires because of the recall.

The recall also has grabbed the attention of Americans. Seventy-eight percent of respondents told USA Today they followed the story closely.

The financial markets have taken a dim view of the B/F problem.

Shares of Bridgestone stock have fallen more than 45 percent since the recall of 6.5 million tires.

Mark Schannon, head of Ketchum/D.C., said he will coordinate the B/F work with Ketchum offices worldwide. The firm may also have "one or two executives on the ground" at B/F offices in Nashville, he added.

HILLARY'S ALLY ARRESTED IN BRIBE BUST

Federal prosecutors have charged Paul Adler, who is the Democratic Party chairman in Rockland County, N.Y., with taking bribes and fraud in connection with business dealings with developers.

Adler, 42, who is a fund raiser for Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Senate candidate for New York, was arrested with Haverstraw town attorney Sean Purdy on separate federal complaints of alleged misuse of their public offices and stealing from taxpayers.

Adler was released without bail. His lawyer, Murray Richman, called the charges an "absurd" attack.

Adler, who also is a leader in pro-Israel and Jewish charities and causes, was charged with eight federal counts involving accusations of fraud, extortion, bribery, mail fraud and receiving bribes.

He is accused of using his power as party boss in three real estate deals-including the controversial Palisades Center mall-to enrich himself by $375,000 at the expense of taxpayers.

Purdy has admitted to the F.B.I. that he took at least $25,000 in bribes from Israel Herskowitz and his two sons, who were the developers.

Adler is also accused of not reporting to the Rockland Board of Ethics that he was paid $135,000 over three years by the Pyramid Cos. for PR work and hiding the fees through a non-active corporation, Turnpike Management, owned by his accountant.

GAO SAYS MARKETERS TARGET KIDS

"In-school marketing has become a growing industry," according to a report issued recently by the General Accounting Office.

"Some marketing professionals are increasingly targeting children in schools, companies are becoming known for their success in negotiating contracts between school districts and beverage companies, and both educators and corporate managers are attending conferences to learn how to increase revenue from in-school marketing for their schools and companies," the report said.

Many school districts have signed exclusivity contracts with Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, in which vending machines are placed in hallways and serve as billboards for their brands.
Coke's contract in Madison, Wisc., was recently voted down for renewal (NL, 9/13).

Companies like Zap Me offer schools free computers with screens that include flashing ads.

The GAO report cites textbook covers distributed by Clairol, Ralph Lauren, Reebok and Philip Morris with company names and logos fully displayed.

"Rambling With Gambling," which had been heard on New York's WOR-AM since 1925, went off the air Sept. 11 because it was not attracting younger listeners.

Several thousand fans of the show have protested the move with calls to the station, and four advertisers told John R. Gambling, the show's last host, they would stop buying time on the station.

CNN NEWSOURCE TO PROVIDE BIZ NEWS

CNN Newsource, which goes to more than 650 stations in the U.S., is starting a new financial news service based at the New York Stock Exchange.

The newsfeed service also is opening bureaus next month in Seattle and Denver. They will give Newsource, which is headquartered in Atlanta, a total of six bureaus staffed by 11 correspondents.

Lillian Kim, currently with KCRA-TV, Sacramento, was named Seattle correspondent, and Gina London will relocate from Atlanta to Denver.

CNN Newsource is also adding people and resources in its Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., bureaus.

CNN will cover Wall Street 13 hours a day through a new service called CNN Marketsource, which is based at the NYSE.

Jane King, formerly of WPVI-TV Philadelphia, and Claire Leka, formerly of Reuters TV, will serve as Marketsource s two correspondents. They will give stations live updates from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. and will do custom shots for an extra fee.

CNN Newsource, which is known for its hard news coverage, will also produce more features and news analysis by identifying important news stories and developing "a theme of the week" around them. Such themes will be identified ahead of time so stations can promote them.

The new effort comes as CBS, ABC and Fox have formed a joint-venture newsfeed service for their affiliates called NNS.

CBS MARKETWATCH MAKES PRINT DEBUT

CBS MarketWatch.com made its print debut on Sept. 11 as the primary business news provider to The Daily News Express, the new evening edition of The New York Daily News.

The DNE s four-page business section contains CBS MarketWatch.com's breaking market news, as well as personal finance, IPO and mutual fund coverage, and many of the site s weekly columns, including Thom Calandra s "StockWatch," Tom Kilgore s "market Map," Bambi Francisco s "Net Sense," Mike Tarsala s "Tech Watch," Mike Molinski s "FundWatch," and Jon Friedman s "Media Web," along with commentary from Irwin Kellner and Marshall Loeb.

DNE is distributed free at bus, subway and train stations in Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn.

PEOPLE ___________________________

Peter Larsen has transferred from London to the New York bureau of The Financial Times to cover mergers and acquisitions.

Matt Heimer has joined Smart Money to cover the consumer electronics beat, replacing Amy Gunderson, who left.

Dr. Sean Kenniff, a "Survivor" show participant, has joined "Extra" as its new medical correspondent.

Cyrus Afzali, previously managing editor of Internetnews.com, has joined Makovsky & Co. His replacement is Bob Liu.

Larry Martz has succeeded Roy Rowan as president of the Overseas Press Club in New York.

Lavinel Savu, previously at O, The Oprah Magazine, where he was founding managing editor of the startup title, has joined In Style as editorial manager.

Carrie Tuhy, previously acting managing editor for Time Inc.'s new lifestyle magazine since May, was named managing editor of Real Simple.

TRIB CO. TO OPEN CUBA BUREAU

Tribune Co., Chicago, will open one of the first U.S. newspaper bureaus in Cuba since the 1960s.

The publisher was informed by Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque that the Cuban government had approved the opening of the bureau.

The Tribune company publishes 11 newspapers, including The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, The Baltimore Sun, Sun-Sentinel in Florida, The Orlando Sentinel, The Hartford Courant, The Morning Call, based in Allentown, Pa., and The (Stamford) Advocate and Greenwich (Conn.) Time.

Details of the bureau, including who will staff it and when it will open, remain to be determined.

MEDIA BRIEFS ________________________

The American Spectator, a political magazine that was started 33 years ago by Emmett Tyrell Jr., has been acquired by Gilder Publishing. GP is headed by George Gilder, a former economist, who publishes the 60,000-circulation Gilder Technology Report, which frequently boosts high-tech company stocks.

Richard Vigilante, a senior executive with GP, said the new Spectator will focus on technology issues instead of just covering politicians and politics.

The magazine s circulation, which rose to 300,000 while it was covering the sexual allegations against President Clinton, has dropped to 100,000.

Late show host David Letterman created the "Top 10 Signs The New York Times Is Slipping" after the newspaper ran a correction in which it said a front page article on Aug. 19 about the sighting of open water at the North Pole had "misstated the normal conditions of the sea ice there."

"The lack of ice at the pole is not necessarily related to global warming," the Times stated in the correction, which ran Aug. 29. "A clear spot has probably opened at the pole before, scientists say, because about 10% of the Arctic Ocean is clear of ice in a typical summer." Letterman said the Times should change its slogan from "All The News That s Fit to Print" to "Stuff We Heard From a Guy Who Says His Friend Heard About It." Post a notice on the sports page that "All scores are approximate."

A spokeswoman for the paper said "The Times has always believed in correcting its errors as promptly as we learn about them. That s one of the top 10 reasons why we ve been around for nearly 150 years."

(Media news continued on next page)

ATLANTA REPORTER ON INSURANCE BEAT

Chris Oster, who is in The Wall Street Journal's Atlanta bureau, has been assigned to cover the life and property casualty insurance beat.

The beat had been handled in New York for two years by Deborah Lohse, who joined The San Jose Mercury News on Aug. 7 as a marketing reporter.

Leslie Scism, a New York-based "Heard on the Street" editor, will continue to oversee the insurance beat on an interim basis.

Oster, who joined the Journal four months ago, said he spent about three years at Smart Money magazine in New York, where he mainly covered mutual funds. He got the magazine to transfer him to Atlanta so he could be closer to his girlfriend, whom he recently married.

Oster, who just started covering the beat on Sept. 11, said he finds PR people are "helpful" and welcomes getting phone calls and E-mail from them. His direct number is 404/865-4324; E-mail [email protected].

REPORTER'S 'NORMAL' DAY IS HECTIC

Claudia Deutsch, a veteran financial news reporter for The New York Times, said a normal work day for her is when "all hell breaks loose with a breaking news story."

Deutsch described her beat as "basic industries, defined by me as, if EPA or OSHA went after them in the ‘70s, they re mine." Her description appeared in a new feature in the New York Financial Writers Assn.'s August newsletter, which was edited by Susan Rodetis.

Deutsch, who gets to her desk in the newsroom at around 10:15 a.m, said she starts "hitting the phones" when the news desk asks for 650 words on something big that has just happened. She makes "calls to the company, calls to the competitors, calls to security analysts and investors."

Her deadline is usually 5 or 5:30 p.m. "I normally beat it by an hour or so," said Deutsch, who at that point switches to "hurry-up-and-wait; wait for the backfield and copy desk to read the story and ask their questions, then hustle on out."
The veteran reporter said it is "quite different" when there is no breaking news. "That s when I have coffee with visiting news sources, catch up on reading, report features, set up interviews (and plane tickets and hotel reservations) for stories out of town. "It s also when phone calls get returned and editors cajole me into writing features for their sections."
In her spare time, Deutsch plays tennis and squash, and is an "avid theater-goer."

PLACEMENT TIPS ______________________

American Banker has appointed several new editors and reporters recently. Marc Hochstein was promoted to deputy editor of the mortgage section; Lisa Fickenscher was upped to deputy editor, with responsibility for credit card coverage; Jennifer Bloom was elevated to senior editor, overseeing coverage of both technology and credit cards, and Stephen Kleege has taken on new responsibilities as senior editor of AB's investment products coverage.

Veronica Agosta joined AB's New York office to cover community banks, and David Reich-Hale, previously at National Underwriter, also joined the New York office to cover insurance products and companies.

The New York Press Club is looking for companies and/or organizations to donate items for a "goody bag" to be distributed at its Eighth Annual Conference on Journalism to be held Nov. 11 at the Columbia Univ. school of journalism.

The conference is attended by reporters, editors, producers, and other members of the media.

Debra Caruso of DJC Comms., who is the club's spokesperson, can provide more information at 212/227-7793; [email protected].

Space.com has launched Space Illustrated as a bimonthly consumer magazine, with an initial print run of 150,000 copies.
The magazine, which is edited by Andrew Chaikin ([email protected]), who is executive editor of the website, will feature a mix of photography, news, features and original science fiction stories.

Lou Dobbs, the former managing editor of CNN s "Moneyline," who started Space.com, has acquired London-based Space Business International, a quarterly trade publication.

Yoga Journal, which was relaunched last January by John Abbott, a former investment banker for Citicorp, is projecting circulation will reach 200,000 by first quarter of 2001.

A survey conducted by Roper Starch Worldwide found over 18 million Americans practiced yoga an average of one to two times per week in 1998.

The magazine, whose readership is composed of 80% women, has begun covering fashion and finance, and will name Christy Turlington as its new editor-at-large at the 25th Anniversary Yoga Journal Conference that will be held Sept. 20 in New York.

Sidewalk Santa, a copyrighted program run by the Volunteers of America, is seeking corporate sponsors and celebrities for this year s annual Food and Hunger campaign that runs from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve.

Companies and celebrities can benefit from TV, radio and print coverage by aligning their corporate name with Sidewalk Santa, according to Amster-Young PR, New York, which is again handling PR for the campaign.

Dorothy Kellogg is available to provide more information about the sponsorship opportunities at 212/496-4346.

SCHERING-PLOUGH REBUTS PR CHARGE

Schering-Plough openly provides "seed money" to many non-profit groups supporting various disease categories, said Bob Consalvo, its director of external communications.

There's no secrecy or deception involved, he added.

He made those remarks in response to a front-page story in the Sept. 12 Washington Post that accused S-P of running an "astroturf" campaign to educate people about the dangers of hepatitis C.

The company uses Shandwick International to help organize coalitions that have called hepatitis C the "silent killer."

Hepatitis groups in 11 states, said the Post, "are not spontaneous gatherings of concerned citizens. They are instead a key part of a carefully orchestrated marketing campaign funded by Schering-Plough to sell its primary therapy for hepatitis C, Rebetron, which costs $18,000 a year."

Reaching out to potential patient groups is a standard operating practice in pharmaceutical company PR, according to Consalvo.

Shandwick helps S-P in that outreach effort.

Consalvo said materials used by hepatitis coalitions carry notices that they were created with money from S-P.

They are informational kits about hepatitis, said Consalvo, and do not promote Rebetron as a preferred treatment.

S-P is one of three drug companies, according to Consalvo, that markets a treatment for hepatitis C.

We don't run groups'

Consalvo made it clear that the coalitions are independent of S-P. "We don't run the groups," he said.

The company, however, plays a "logistical" role in helping to arrange these "informal meetings" of people interested in finding out information about hepatitis C, which affects four million Americans a year.

Coalition members belong to public health groups, veteran associations, unions, and other community organizations.

S-P's goal, explained Consalvo, is to get coalitions up and running, and then move on to other things.

Shandwick creates hepatitis materials and provides scripts for operators at 800- hotlines used by various hepatitis groups.

The firm has put together a database of potential coalition volunteers, and trains hepatitis patients how to deal with the media.

Shandwick deputy chairman Don Riegle, who was Michigan's Senator, is co-chairman of that state's hepatitis coalition.

The Post reported that Riegle pitched the Detroit News a story on hepatitis without informing the reporter that he was employed by Shandwick.

That identification wasn't necessary, according to Riegle, because he was there on his own behalf.

"This is a medical issue I happen to believe in," he said.
Nancy Longley, senior VP at Shandwick, said S-P's hepatitis outreach is a valid PR effort to raise awareness of a very important health issue, she said.

S-P's coalition work, said Consalvo, is well within current Food and Drug Administration guidelines about the promotion of prescription drugs.

N.Y. TIMES PUTS BUSINESS ON PAGE 1

The New York Times is putting more economic and business news on the front page, according to an article in the September issue of Across the Board, the Conference Board's magazine.

"Once considered too dull for words, business and financial news is jostling with sex, scandal and politics for front page prominence," says Randall Poe, author of the article.

A driving force is "a record-breaking economic boom and stock market" and Internet fever.

Poe notes that nearly half of all American households now own stock and one in three owns mutual funds, up from one in 18 in 1980. Rising competition from a galaxy of other media are also spurring increased business coverage.

He cites a range of business-focused stories that have made recent front pages at the Times and describes the Times' ritualized page one meetings where "the best stories are culled from the rest."

MAGS RAP BUSH'S REMARK

The remark Gov. George Bush made about a New York Times reporter Sept. 4 (calling him "a major league a-hole") carries major implications, said articles in Sept. 18 Time and The New Yorker. Newsweek put less weight on the remark, saying it was just "a glimpse of Bush's less appealing frat-boy side."

Running mate Dick Cheney was also caught on the live mike agreeing with the remark about the NYT's Adam Clymer.

The New Yorker found it doubly damaging to Bush because he was smiling and waving to a crowd, pretending to be friendly when he was actually being very hostile.

Time's Margaret Carlson used the remark as the jumping point for a lengthy analysis of the Bush and Al Gore attitudes to the press.

"Bush got caught doing publicly what he usually does privately," wrote Carlson. She said the Bush charm with reporters vanishes when tough questions are asked and that the Bush team keeps score on good and bad mentions. George W. was the "loyalty enforcer" in the 1988 campaign for his father and if a reporter was not loyal, "you fell off the list for interviews, horseshoes and movies in the family quarters." Gore is not "chummy" but he's not "petty," either, wrote Carlson.

She also faulted Bush for only being sorry that he was overheard and not for being vindictive.

Bush is well known for his salty language. Columnist Bill Buckley devoted a column to this subject last year, urging Bush to stop his frequent use of the "f" word.

A collection of about 150 cliches commonly found in presentation and corporate writing is at www.dack.com, an irreverent website that is "the 2 cents of a guy living in Minneapolis." The list has such terms as "grow," "incubate," "integrate," "strategic," "bricks-and-clicks," "global," "portals," and "vortals." The list can also be used by those writing proposals who want to sound very "state-of-the-art." One person wrote Dack he was thinking of suing Dack on the basis of "copyright infringement of my last 12 RFPs." Dack blasts the "branding mania," including "those little stickers on every piece of fruit I buy"... the insider selling at Omnicom and Interpublic has hit a raw nerve among investors, who have long heard nothing but good news from these two companies. As noted in the Aug. 30 NL, OMC insiders since last September have sold ten times as much stock as they acquired and insiders at IPG have sold three times as much. Said one posting on Yahoo!: "When you see insiders selling like these are, it s time to get out." Another wondered if the executives are "trading on inside info." IPG is currently near its 52-week low, having lost about $5 billion of its $17B market capitalization. The lower stock prices make it very costly and even too costly for the conglomerates to buy other companies. It would be hard for the ad agency execs to say they are "diversifying their portfolios" since OMC and IPG are practically mutual funds of hundreds of ad/PR/production firms serving hundreds of the biggest companies in all industries... the "instant poll" on the O'Dwyer website asking whether or not APR should be required for PRSA offices is now running three-to-one against continued mandatory APR... reports are that the PRSA board censured a member who also became a fellow this year. There s no way to check this out since all ethics board matters are confidential. But insiders are asking, "What s the use of a private censure?" A censure is supposed to be public, we agree, but this is just another instance of illogic at PRSA. "Universal" APR is anything but universal and an "Assembly" meets once a year for the purpose of assembling, not being broken up (PRSA leaders are again breaking up the Assembly into "focus groups" at this year s conference)... the argument over what constitutes an "open" director of PRSA and a "district" director is at the heart of Jeff Julin s candidacy for the board (page one). Julin reportedly tried three times to be district director and each time was blocked. This year he thought it was available because David Simon had been serving as "open" director, meaning not tied to any district since it would be unfair for one district to have two representatives. It s similar to states having Representatives for its districts and Senators who represent the whole state. The Representatives cannot switch to Senator or vice versa... Art Stevens, CEO of Publicis Dialog/New York, while declining to answer any questions from the press about his candidacy for chair-elect of PRSA, has sent Assembly delegates a two-page letter on Publicis stationery pointing out that Publicis is the fifth largest ad/marketing communications firm in the world and describing his qualifications. He says the management of Publicis "fully supports my nomination." Stevens says he has "run a profitable organization with revenues the size of PRSA s." However, when Stevens sold Lobsenz-Stevens to Publicis last year, he had reported revenues of $4.6 million for L-S in 1998, considerably lower than PRSA s $7.8M volume in 1999. Stevens says he will give "high priority to making new generations of PRSA members understand the value of accreditation." The APR program is opposed by the great bulk of PRSA s members, with virtually all of the eligibles ignoring the APR test each time it s given. The small group of APRs who control PRSA have cost the general membership $2,005,760 in the past ten years for a test that is generally reviled in the business world and especially in New York. The opponents of APR are powerless since only the APRs can vote at PRSA. Stevens, although asked several times by this NL last year to renounce the board s year-long boycott against the O Dwyer publications, refused to do so, saying his loyalties were with the board.

September is "Be Kind to Editors and Writers Month," an observance started in 1984 by Lonestar Publications of Humor, San Antonio. Purposes of the month are for editors and writers to show courtesy to each other and to enhance awareness of the importance of writing and editing. Journalism is the institution (although imperfect, itself) that seeks to keep all the other institutions on the up-and-up.

James Cramer, co-founder of TheStreet.com, argues in the Sept. 11 New York that Democrats are better than Republicans for the economy because the former keep inflation and interest down and balance the budget, while the latter have policies that cause budget deficits and interest rates to rise. Al Gore has proposed a $500 billion tax cut while George Bush has proposed cuts totaling $1.3 billion. The government, argues Cramer, winds up financing the debt with bonds rather than tax dollars. If consumer spending rises and the budget surplus turns into a deficit, the Fed s Alan Greenspan will boost interest rates and create "the first real competition for stocks since this bull market began," says Cramer.