PAN HANDLES EDGEWATER CRISIS

PAN Communications helped Edgewater Technology deal with its crisis triggered by the Dec. 26 shooting deaths of seven fellow employees by Michael McDermott at its Wakefield, Mass., office.

Linda Miller, director and senior account manager at the PR firm, was among PAN staffers dealing with the worldwide press.

PAN, which is in Andover, Mass., issued a statement from Edgewater CEO Shirley Singleton, at 9:06 p.m. on the night of the 11 a.m. massacre that expressed condolences to family members of the victims.

It also took issue with reports that McDermott was the employee most likely to go off the deep end, and that Edgewater faced financial difficulties.

F-H ACQUIRES GREER, MARGOLIS

Fleishman-Hillard has acquired Greer, Margolis, Mitchell, Burns & Assocs., the Washington, D.C.-based Democratic PA firm with more than 100 staffers.

Paul Johnson, head of F-H's Washington office, said GMMB&A will add political consulting and advertising to the PR firm's product mix.

Frank Greer, who has advised President Clinton, as well as South Africa's Nelson Mandela, said his firm and F-H got to know each other because they both work for AARP. He said access to F-H's global network was the key reason for making the deal.

GMMB&A, which has offices in Los Angeles and Seattle, counts United Auto Workers, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Johnson & Johnson, DaimlerChrysler, Cisco, People for the American Way and Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids as clients.

H&K GOT $600K FROM BOO BEFORE FLOP

Hill and Knowlton received $600,000 from Boo.com before the E-tailer of "urban chic" apparel became the most spectacular flop in last year's dot-com crash.

H&K mainly set up lunches with fashion editors for Boo's founders Ernest Malmsten and Kajsa Leander.

The E-tailer, which had 420 staffers at its peak, burned through $185 million in 18 months before going out of business.

The New York Times on Dec. 13 called Boo's bankruptcy "the end of the ultimate parable of the new economy run amok."

The company existed on "loads of hype, luxury living, a penchant for partying and a seemingly unlimited expense account," it added.

BOLTON SUCCEEDS GAULKE AT PRSA

Catherine Bolton, 48, who joined PR Society of America in July as chief PR officer, became acting president and COO as of Jan. 1, succeeding Ray Gaulke, who is setting up his own firm.

Gaulke will also be working on raising funds for the PRSA Foundation and Kids in a Drug Free Society (KIDS). He will no longer be an employee of the Society although he had four years to go on his contract (to Dec. 31, 2004). He was paid $250,000 a year plus pension and medical benefits.

The original plan was to have Gaulke remain on as COO until mid-2001. However, Gaulke said he realized continuing as COO took too much time away from his fund-raising activities.

Steve Pisinski, who announced the changes during a telephone press conference, said a new deal has been struck with Gaulke but that it remains confidential.

PRSA was closed Dec. 22 until Jan. 2, 2001 to reward the staff for its "exceptional work," the first such closing in its history.

SUITS HIT OMC-BACKED RAZORFISH

Five class-actino stockholder suits charging improper insider trading have hit Razorfish, a dot-com company with 1,800 employees and $270 milion in sales that was originally 32% owned by Omnicom.

The value of OMC's investment has gone from $785M as of Dec. 31, 1999 to less than $20M as the stock plummeted from $55 to less than $1.50.

OMC sold some stock in the fourth quarter of 1999, cutting its share below 20%. It then sold 4 million shares at $35 each on March 14, 2000 for a profit of $110M. OMC is still the biggest shareholder with 11.9 million shares or 12.8% of the 98 million outstanding.

The March 14 sales falls within the "class period" of the lawsuits of Feb. 15 - Oct. 5, 2000.

OMC has not been named in any of the suits but a plaintiffs' lawyer said further filings are planned.

Defendants in a suit filed by Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach, which describes itself as the largest specialist in class-action stockholder suits, are RAZF, four executives and one ex-executive.

It's alleged that insiders sold 1.2M shares for $12.7M before disclosing the "truth" about RAZF.

Enthusiastic statements by RAZF executives in releases via PR Newswire and Business Wire are cited as well as an interview on CNNfn. (continued on page 7)

STOSSEL RAPS WALL ST. SPIN MACHINE

The financial media is nothing more than an important cog in the Wall Street promotional machine designed to separate amateur investors from their money, according to ABC's John Stossel.

In his "20/20'' segment that aired Dec. 22, Stossel said viewers of CNBC and competitor programs dish out "financial information and plenty of hype."

That hype encourages people to trade stocks only because they thought they were getting dispassionate advice from the guests on the various programs.

What viewers don't know, said Stossel, is that many of the guests work for firms that do business with the stocks they are promoting as sure things. "Sometimes, they hype stocks only to make it easier to dump them on you," said Stossel.

Suckering is part of the process

Jim Cramer, of Thestreet.com, told Stossel that during the bull market there was an "incredible number of people who went on TV, hyped stocks that their companies had brought public just to bring in another big piece of change for their brokerage house."

While Wall Street players know how the hype machine works, Cramer feels amateur investors fall for the air of impartiality that financial analysts present on TV.

Raps milk mustache hype

Stossel also took issue with the hype surrounding the milk mustache and other ad campaigns.

Lee Weinblatt, who heads an ad research company, told Stossel that while everyone raves about the milk mustache campaign from the dairy board, milk sales keep going down.

"The main reason why girls don't drink milk is they claim it's fattening. None of the ads address that issue," he said. The ads only run, according to Weinblatt, because creatives in Hollywood and the ad business love the campaign. "There isn't a celebrity who doesn't want to have a milk mustache," he said.

The ads get attention but don't work, according to Weinblatt, because the creative community "thinks they know what the public wants without even speaking to the public."

O&M MAY HAVE BEEN LAX WITH BOOKS

Ogilvy & Mather has turned to PricewaterhouseCoopers to review its billing practices on work for the White House Office of National Drug Policy.

Congressional critics, such as Rep. John Mica (R-FL), believe O&M may have overcharged the government $15 million for its anti-drug campaign.

O&M, in a statement distributed by Hill and Knowlton's Washington, D.C., office, admits as a "first-time government contractor" it may have failed to do the rigorous bookkeeping required on federal contracts.

The firm's staffers met with Justice Dept. investigators on Nov. 29.

O&M also has hired rear admiral Robert Ravitz, who was a Navy PA official, to oversee work with the government.
Retired General Barry McCaffrey, who heads the drug office, has called O&M's ad campaign the crown jewel of the anti-drug drive. He is stepping down from his post on Jan. 6.

F-H handles anti-drug site re-launch

Fleishman-Hillard has just re-launched a "comprehensive" website (theantidrug.com) for the White House drug office to give parents tips on how to help them keep their children off drugs, says Ellen Besner, at F-H's Washington, D.C., office.

The site also is meant to foster communication between parents and kids about drugs.

Besner said the site was developed in conjunction with Oxygen Media's momsonline site to reach the "modern woman." Material will be updated frequently to keep the site fresh. She said there are versions of the site in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Cambodian to reflect today's multicultural society.

EDELMAN PITCHES HONG KONG FOR $500K

Edelman PR Worldwide is working to position Hong Kong as a world class commercial center on par with New York and London, according to a two-year promotion contract inked with China's government.

The pitch is to reassure Americans that Hong Kong retains a "high degree of autonomy" under Communist rule, and there are "Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong." "One country, two systems" is another PR line for Hong Kong.
The contract with the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is worth $500,000 to Edelman.

Robert Rehr, GM of Edelman/D.C., directs the account. He is assisted by Bret Walrath, SVP in New York, and Sydney Bernier, sr. A/S in San Francisco.

Edelman vice chairmen Michael Deaver and Leslie Dach are available on an as-needed basis.

WEBER SHANDWICK PUTS TEAM IN PLACE

Weber Shandwick Worldwide, which came to life on Jan. 1, has named the executive team that will manage what it calls PR's biggest firm.

Tom Tardio, who is Rogers & Cowan's CEO and head of Shandwick America West, is CEO of R&C and WSW North America. Bruce Rubin, who headed Weber RBB in Miami, assumes the CEO/Latin America post. Martin Spurrier and Alison Clarke divvy up Asia-Pacific responsibilities. Spurrier oversees acquisitions and finance, while Clarke handles business development. Lutz Meyer is CEO/Europe.

Shandwick's Jill Murphy gets the executive VP slot at McCann WorldGroup Development, where she will coordinate activities between the PR firm and ad agency. Weber's Jackie Lustig becomes executive VP/marketing and business development handling global branding initiatives.

As announced in September, Larry Weber is WSW's CEO, Scott Meyer, its chairman, and Marijean Lauzier, president/COO.

WSJ SPOT NEWS EDITOR STEPS DOWN

Ann Podd is leaving as spot news editor at The Wall Street Journal. She was named national TV editor to oversee daily and feature news coverage for CNBC and other NBC outlets. She will work from the ninth floor Dow Jones/CNBC newsroom at the Journal.

Podd started her new job on Jan. 2.

SWARTZ TO RUN HEARST'S NEWSPAPERS

Steven Swartz, who was editor-in-chief and president of Smart Money magazine and its website (www.SmartMoney.com), has been named executive VP of Hearst Newspapers.

Peter Finch, who is editor of SM, and senior VP/publisher Christopher Lambiase will take over Swartz's positions at Smart Money, which is jointly owned by Dow Jones and Hearst.

BLOOMBERG TV HIRES EXEC PRODUCER

Veteran news producer, Beatrice Myers, has joined Bloomberg Television, New York, as executive producer of the North American channel. She will direct its programming, staff and operations.

Myers had been a consultant at CNBC, and was the senior producer for NBC's "The Today Show-Weekend Edition" from 1992 to 1999.

She joined StockTalkLive.com in 1999 as senior VP for programming and production, creating the site's radio and financial news programs for live streaming over the Internet.

HAYES ELEVATED TO NEW MEDIA EDITOR

Kevin Hayes was appointed new media editor of The New York Daily News. He will be responsible for editorial content of nydailynews.com, the soon-to-be-launched, newly designed website.

Hayes, 45, who has been with the paper since 1992, was recently the deputy features editor for arts and entertainment.

TECHNOLOGY REVIEW NAMES WEB EDITOR

Eric Bender has joined Technology Review magazine, Cambridge, Mass., as editor of technologyreview.com. He was formerly an executive editor of PC World magazine, and played a role in the relaunch of pcworld.com, the magazine's website.

Kristy Robinson, previously with Hughes Supply, Orlando, Fla., was named content manager for the website, and Alan Leo, who was webmaster for MeetU.com, has joined as staff editor.

Technology Review, which claims to be the world's oldest technology magazine, was relaunched in 1998 as "MIT's Magazine of Innovation." The magazine, whose circulation has more than doubled, from 92,000 to 250,000, will publish on a monthly basis starting this year (NL, 12/20/00).

ENTREPRENEUR PROTECTS ITS NAME

Sacramento, Calif.-based PR pro Scott Smith has changed the name of his firm to BixStarz after a Los Angeles Federal District Court ordered him in June to stop using the name EntrepreneurPR.

Judge Florence-Marie Cooper also ordered Smith to pay Entrepreneur Media, the publisher of Entrepreneur magazine, damages of $337,280 for using entrepreneur. Smith is appealing the court ruling.

EM, which is located in Irvine, Calif., has sent cease-and-desist letters to other companies.

Young Entrepreneur newsletter, based in Atlanta, changed its named to Y&E rather than fight Entrepreneur Media, and Asian Entrepreneur became Asian Enterprise after it got a letter from EM.

PEOPLE _______________________

John Liscio, 51, a former reporter for U.S. News & World Report and Barron's, who started a bond market newsletter in 1992, died Nov. 29.

Ed Marshall was promoted to managing editor at WBBM-TV, Chicago. He has been with the station for 20 years.

Christopher Sawyer, previously an account director with Campbell & Co., a Michigan-based PR firm, has joined Automotive Manufacturing & Production magazine, Plymouth, Mich., as executive editor.

MEDIA BRIEFS _______________________

Reed Elsevier has leased the entire building at 360 Park ave., South, in midtown New York.

The 454,000 square foot building will house more than 1,000 employees at Cahners Business Information, Elsevier Science, and Schnell Publishing.
The move is scheduled to start in the spring.

Martha Stewart Living has moved to 601 W. 26 st., 9th flr., New York, NY 10001. 212/389-4000.

The Industry Standard is shutting Grok, an entertainment spinoff, after the February issue.

Tech Week, a three-year-old San Francisco-based magazine, has folded along with its website.

Salon.com is eliminating 25 jobs in an effort to cut expenses. The money-losing web news magazine went public for $10.50 a share on June 22, 1999. The share price has since fallen 90%.

Mortimer Zuckerman, publisher of The New York Daily News and editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report, is giving part of his profit from the sale of Fast Company to an educational trust fund he founded.

FC was sold to Grunar & Jahr USA Publishing for $360 million, with a bonus of up to $150 million, depending on ad revenue.

(Media news continued on next page)

NEW MAG TO TARGET LATINO MARKET

Time Inc.'s Birmingham, Ala.-based Cooking Light is starting a new lifestyle and health magazine for the American-Hispanic market, called Gusto.

About 350,000 copies of the first two issues of the English-language magazine will be sold on newsstands across the U.S. If successful, Gusto will be published six times in 2002.

The premier issue is due out in April, followed by a holiday issue in November.

"Gusto will showcase the Latin way to eat well, live better, and look your very best," said Raquel Navarez-Rosado, who is an ad rep in the magazine's New York offices at 100 Park ave.

She said Gusto will be no mere Spanish translation of Cooking Light, but its own dedicated concept with a distinct editorial mission.

Viviana Carballo, who is editor of Gusto, sees the magazine as "the chance of a lifetime to do something of consequence for mi gente."

Gusto will offer recipes that are accessible, authentic, and bursting with bold flavors, she said.

The magazine will also cover "relationships, family, beauty, health, our spiritual and emotional sides, and even some exercise," said Carballo.

Gusto will be targeted to second and third generation Hispanics, who are more affluent, educated and English speaking.

Carballo's articles appear regularly in The Miami Herald, and its Spanish-language edition, El Nuevo Herald, and other national publications. She earned a degree from Cordon Bleu, the Paris cooking school.

She is also an Hispanic-market food consultant for such companies as Nestle, Kraft, General Mills, Bacardi, Dial and various California commodity boards.

Carballo, who is based in Miami, said Gusto's editorial content will be provided by freelancers and Cooking Light's staff. Her number is 305/347-4330.

SPONSORSHIP SPENDING TO SLOW IN 2001

The IEG Sponsorship Report predicts sponsorship spending in 2001 will see its slowest rate of expansion in four years, experiencing single-digit growth for only the second time since it began its annual projections 16 years ago.

IEG SR said the expected 9.6% increase in spending by North American companies from $8.7 billion to slightly more than $9.5 billion is "rosy compared with other marketing-industry and economic indicators."

The newsletter said one of the reasons for the dip in sponsorship spending is the "dot-coms that became not-coms" over the past 12 months.

"A year ago, many Internet companies couldn't write checks fast enough as they sought branding opportunities that were supposed to lead them to profitability. Now many that remain are having trouble paying for the pens," said the Chicago-based publication.

The annual forecast predicts a slight shift in allocation of sponsorship spending across five major property categories.

Sports will increase its share one point to 69% of the $9.548 billion. Entertainment tours and attractions will still attract 9%, while flat spending on festivals, fairs and annual events will drop the category one point to 8%, joining causes. The arts will again attract 6% on North American spending, IEG SR said.

Projected dollar amounts for the categories are sports: $6.51 billion, up 10% from $5.92 billion; entertainment tours and attractions: $893 million, up 9.3%; festivals, fairs and annual events: $777 million, up 5.1%; causes: $769 million, up 9.9%, and arts: $599 million, up 9.3%.

PLACEMENT TIPS __________________

The Atlantic Monthly has hired contributing writer Benjamin Schwarz to expand the books section.
Schwarz, who has been a foreign-policy analyst at The Brookings Institution and at the Rand Corp., and was the executive editor of World Policy Journal, won the 1999 National Book Critics Circle award for excellence in book criticism.

Schwarz said he will continue to "devote the same care and attention to fiction and literary biographies. And we'll also be giving readers thoughtful, clever, sometimes barbed, culturally oriented criticism that speculates on the social causes and contexts of literary phenomena-focusing on what George Orwell, the master of such criticism, called `the external conditions that make certain writers popular at certain times.'"

He said the reviews are "going to be fresher than those in a quarterly, which too often are engaged in debates already tabled."

Schwarz, who will be senior editor, is moving from his home near Los Angeles to Boston so he can be closer to The Atlantic's editorial offices, which are located at 77 North Washington st., Boston.

Esquire has named A.J. Jacobs as senior editor to cover personal finance and medical health topics. Jacobs was formerly with Entertainment Weekly.

Philadelphia magazine has hired Loren Feldman, formerly executive editor of George magazine, as editor-in-chief.

Browser magazine was acquired by Redwood Custom Communication, Toronto, for its client, Dell Computers, Round Rock, Tex.

The magazine will be relaunched in March as a quarterly with a circulation that is expected to reach 3.2 million by the end of 2001.

Matthew Church is editor. 416/360-7339; fax: 640-6165.

SUITS HIT RAZORFISH
(continued from page one)

One reason for RAZF's stock weakness was a Dec. 19 announcement that there would be a pro forma net loss of 17-22 cents in the last quarter when Wall Street had predicted a profit of two cents a share.

The company said it is "confident that the situation [lawsuit] will be resolved to our satisfaction." It issued a press release Dec. 19 saying it has been named by Coca-Cola to develop Coke's website in the Nordic region and another one the next day saying it is working on a project for Ford Motor Co.

The suit by Milberg Weiss contends that Wall Street-type executives at i-Cube, the biggest of RAZF's 14 acquisitions, did not get along with the "flamboyant" types at RAZF. i-Cube, with sales of $57M and 435 employees, was acquired for $547M in stock on Nov. 2, 1999.

CFO Laurence C. Begley, who had been CFO of i-Cube, resigned Feb. 15, 2000, three months after the acquisition, and president Michael Pehl, who had been chairman and CFO of i-Cube, resigned Aug. 29.

The suit says that the "abrupt resignations placed the company under enormous pressure to convince the investment community that the company's operations remained stable and earnings growth prospects were still strong."

Although releases said Begley and Pehl resigned for "family" reasons, the real reason was differing management styles, says the suit.

Part of the suit is a passage in the September 2000Wired magazine describing RAZF co-founders Craig Kanarick, co-chairman, and Jeffrey Dachis, co-chairman, who are both 33, as "flamboyant" creative types.

In contrast, says the suit, Pehl and Begley were "well-known corporate insiders, who were highly regarded by the financial community and widely respected for their business acumen and organizational skills, largely due to their success in operating i-Cube."

Press Releases Cited

Cited in the action are releases sent via Business Wire on April 25, May 23, June 28, and June 30 that talked about RAZF having "successfully integrated" its 14 acquisitions; that it had "global capabilities," and that it was "hitting on all cylinders."

Also cited was this statement by Dachis on CNNfn on July 26, 2000: "We don't typically make forward looking statements, but in general our outlook in business is extremely robust. We continue to believe that we can meet or exceed analyst expectations. And we think that the stock should perform over the long term, along with the forms of the company right now which I believe is excellent."

Such statements were "materially false," says the Milberg Weiss suit, because the company had problems controlling costs and integrating its acquisitions, and had "far more employees than it could possibly utilize" and there were "conflicts" between Pehl and Dachis and Kanarick.

A copy of the 43-page lawsuit in read-only format is on www.milberg.com/razorfish.

The truth about the company began to emerge, says the suit, on Oct. 5, 2000 when RAZF issued a release warning that revenue and earnings in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 would fall "far short of defendants' previous projections."

Besides Dachis and Kanarick, also named in the Milberg Weiss suit are Jean-Philippe Maheu, 36, COO, and John J. Roberts, 33, CFO. Class action lawsuits charging improper inside trading were also lodged by Cauley & Geller; Bernstein Liebhard & Lifshitz; Scott & Scott, and Shiffrin & Barroway.

Five research services downgraded RAZF on Dec. 13. ING Barings changed its advice from "strong buy" to "hold" and J.P. Morgan went from "buy" to "long-term buy."

SORRELL SEES WPP UNITS AS TRIBES

Martin Sorrell, chairman of the WPP Group, said being the largest ad agency company does "not necessarily" make the company better.

In an interview with The New York Times, Sorrell said the "benefits of scale, the problems of scale, are exactly the issues our clients worry about..."

To overcome these problems, Sorrell said "the way we organize our parent company is on a tribal basis, so WPP is not one homogenous, elephantine company. It's a group of a hundred or so tribes."

Sorrell said the group is seeking to "capitalize on the benefits of scale, with the heart, mind, soul and energy of a small company."

He told the Times his goal is not to be the biggest. "That's a mistake, a misconception. If it's said what will be my epitaph, it would be: 'The person who initiated the growth of the best advertising and marketing services company in the world.'

"It's very easy to be the biggest," said Sorrell. "It's very easy to do the deals, spend the money. But it's very difficult to make it all work on a qualitative basis. I don't think size is the issue.

"The real issue is how you make sure all the talent and resources we have work effectively together."

Sorrell said WPP's businesses are not advertising, media services management, PR, PA, etc.

"I think we're in the talent business, trying to assemble talent and resources to help clients solve problems and achieve opportunities," he said.

He gets nervous when people start talking about WPP as a brand because "I think WPP's health depends on the health and strength of the individual tribes, not WPP."

"When I put up slide No. 7 in our presentation to prospective clients, listing our brands, no one can compete with that," he said. "You have access to WPP through the tribe that works with the client."

Larry Dobrow, who spent two years at PR Week before leaving in August, is one of three new staffers in the corporate practice of WPP's Ogilvy PR Worldwide, New York. He will work on the BP and MasterCard business. Other new members are Janice Starace, who was at A.B. Isacson Assocs., and Josh Lefkowitz, who was with TSI Comms.

PR OPINION/ITEMS

This is a review of Steve Pisinski's leadership of PRSA in 2000.

The year started off good with the first board meeting voting to end the year-long boycott against this newsletter passed by the previous board.

Pisinski led the axing of CFO Joe Cussick in mid-year and the removal of Ray Gaulke as president and COO late in the year.

He brought back the exhibit hall to the national conference after five years and got PRSA finally to acknowledge that it should have a substantial deferred dues account. He set up an open, staffed press room at the national conference.

He hired Catherine Bolton to head PR and much more info is now coming from PRSA.

While Pisinski showed resolve in some areas, he was AWOL in others.

Last year was the worst ever for the Society in terms of its finances. It was unable or unwilling to produce the main tangible benefit of membership- the 800-page Blue Book of members. Members got almost no financial information in the first half. Renewals, perhaps as a result of this, dropped to 69% in June and 66% in July, a dangerously low rate.

Pisinski appointed a committee to study the nominating process early in the year but it dragged its feet and did nothing to prevent the most rancorous nominations in PRSA's history.

Joann Killeen, the treasurer who presided over PRSA's disastrous finances and told the members almost nothing about them, nevertheless defeated New York's Art Stevens for chair-elect.

APRs Showed Raw Power

The election of Killeen showed the raw power of the APR fanatics at PRSA. She is a former APR chair with unbridled enthusiasm for APR.

Pisinski was powerless against this bloc (maybe he's a member of it). It spent $359,000 on APR in 2000 but virtually nothing on PRSA's website. Pisinski was silent when nine members of the board interfered with the nominating process and backed Killeen, violating both the spirit and letter of PRSA's bylaws.

Pisinski headed a committee in 1999 that urged that decoupling APR from office-holding be put on the Assembly agenda. It didn't happen. He failed again in 2000 to get this topic on the Assembly floor.

Probably the worst thing that happened under Pisinski was the erasure, after 50 years, of PRSA's code. The new Bob Frause code positions PR pros as salespeople flogging for clients rather than acting as educators and information specialists. They're advocates for clients, not the public and press.

Pisinski continued the policy of resort destinations for board meetings, even going to London, a meeting skipped by a record five directors (who no doubt felt pangs of guilt). The editor of PR Tactics was not invited so members learned little about it.

Pisinski showed no leadership in the general PR community. He made no speeches on the issues of the day such as marketing's dominance of PR. Relations with PRSA/New York hit a new low with Stevens being crushed by the APRs. PRSA continued to make weak feints in the direction of international, ignoring, because of politics, the 10,000+ member prospects in New York.

Nothing was done about chucking one of PRSA's two money-losing, 20,000-circulation publications. Financial reports continued to state the two make money. With IABC also in a financial bind, 2001 could be the year when PRSA and IABC merge.

One offshoot of marketing's domination of PR is that PR pros are constantly hounded to produce numerical proofs of PR's efficacy. A PR pro cannot say, "We put out all these truthful facts about the company which increased the public's understanding of us...we showed we're good eggs with nothing to hide...we were helpful when the press and public called because it's the right thing to do," etc. Now the PR pros have to rack their brains (and waste their time and energy) trying to find some impact on sales, store traffic, stock price, bottom line, web hits, etc., for accomplishments such as an op ed piece in the Washington Post or a mention in Time mag...with PRSA showing almost no leadership in ethics, a corporate group has sprung up to fill this vacuum. The Ethics Officer Assn., said the Oct. 19 New York Times, has grown from 12 members in 1992 to 706. It is based in Belmont, Mass. Among those quoted are Martin Taylor, VP for corporate services, Institute for Global Ethics, Camden, Me., and Gale Andrews, VP of ethics and business conduct at Boeing. A 1999 DePaul University study found that companies with public ethics statements did better financially than those without them...Chris Byron, as profiled in The Fortune Tellers by Howard Kurtz, is an example of the new type of investigative journalist. He writes for Bloomberg, MSNBC and The New York Observer. He doesn't mind if top execs at big companies are inaccessible. Unreturned phone calls only whet his appetite. He works the web and especially SEC reports where a false statement or even failure to state something can get a company in lots of trouble. Though some view him as a "caustic crank," he feels there are many investors who don't remember the way some stocks plummeted in the 1960s and 1970s. He's there to warn them. Byron recently wrote at length about a company that wouldn't answer his questions. The company had demanded "something to read" from him. "Here," he said at the end of the expose, "read this!"