C&W SUES, IS SUED BY BREAKAWAY EXECS.

Cohn & Wolfe has sued its former Atlanta executives who left to start the Titan Network charging them with "unfair competition, misappropriation of trade secrets and other confidential information."

Parent company, Young & Rubicam, filed a separate action against Tony DeMartino, who had headed C&W's Atlanta office, alleging that he breached provisions in his contract mandating that he neither work for C&W clients nor hire its employees.

DeMartino told this newsletter that he filed his own suit against C&W.

That action seeks to have the "alleged non-compete contract declared overbroad" under Georgia law.

Neither he nor his lawyers have seen the C&W action, so he could not comment on that suit.

Titan, he said, is going full steam ahead despite the legal actions.

WEBER GROUP 'REBRANDS' CA

Computer Assocs. has picked The Weber Group as its PR firm to help increase awareness of the $6 billion software giant's "corporate rebranding" campaign.

Keith Lindenburg, executive VP and eastern region general manager at Weber, handles the account.

He is a former director of corporate communications at IBM, and GM/North and Latin America for then Brodeur Porter Novelli.

CA has just launched a $100 million ad campaign via Young & Rubicam in 165 countries to position itself as marketing the software that manages e-businesses.
The company, which is based in Islandia, N.Y., earned $161 million for the six-month period ended Sept. 30. Its stock trades around $24. The 52-week range is $79.44 and $18.13.

Black & Decker's appeal of the $1 million award to PR firm Image Dynamics, which was owned by Phyllis Brotman, was heard on Jan. 8 in Baltimore's Court of Special Appeals. A decision is expected within a few months...David Brain, previously mng. dir., Burson-Marsteller's European marketing unit, becomes CEO of BSMG Worldwide's U.K. unit at the end of the month. At B-M, Brain worked on Unilever, Ford and Jim Beam. He joins from eLogistics, where he handled IR and marketing duties. BSMG/U.K. also promoted Pamela Fieldhouse to deputy chief exec. She joined BSMG in 1989.

B-M's HUNT RETURNS TO TEXAS ROOTS

Jeff Hunt, who was Burson-Marsteller's Europe COO in London and vice chairman/client services in New York, is now president/COO of Read-Poland in Austin, Tex. He is to lead R-P's "southern strategy."

After a 16-year stint at B-M, which included head of its Latin American region, Hunt said it was time for a change.

The Houston native jumped at the chance to return to his Texas roots. He has known Julian Read, founder of R-P in 1951, for about 20 years. Read is a mover and shaker in Texas politics, having advised former House Speaker Jim Wright and Gov./Treasury Secretary and presidential candidate John Connally.

Hunt expects big things for Texas with George Bush in the White House, and a resurgent Mexico under its new leader, Vicente Fox.

POTOMAC HUDSON OPENS IN D.C., N.Y.

Potomac Hudson Group, a firm with connections to the incoming Bush Administration, has just been opened by Lorine Card and Valerie LoCascio.

Card is sister-in-law to Andy Card, who is President-elect Bush's chief of staff.

She was director in MediaOne's Washington, D.C., office, and held jobs at U S West and Continental Cablevision. She also worked in the White House press office while Reagan was in office.

LoCascio is a former director at Bozell Sawyer Miller Group, where she handled campaigns for Motion Picture Assn. of America, Fox Family Channel and Columbia Tri-Star Television.

PHG has offices in Washington and New York and specializes in media, entertainment and telecommunications categories. It counts Comcast, Lightningcast, and National Geographic TV as charter clients.

JACKSON FIRM HAS $200K KIDS PROJECT

Jackson, Jackson & Wagner, Exeter, N.H., is working on a pilot program for Kids in a Drug-Free Society, which asks parents to urge their children not to use drugs, alcohol or tobacco.

Work started last year and was worth around $60,000 or $10,000 a month, said Patrick Jackson, principal in the firm. Budget for 2001 is reported to be about $145,000. He said his firm's normal fee for such a program could be as much as three times what it is charging KIDS.

(cont. page 7)

PETA TARGETS BURGER KING

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals launched its boycott last week of Burger King, which it depicts as "Murder King."

PETA has established a murderking.com website to spell out the various alleged atrocities among BK suppliers. Those include farms that overcrowd hens, and starve chickens to increase egg production. Other suppliers confine pregnant and nursing pigs to stalls so small they cannot move.

PETA wants its 700,000 members to "adopt" a local BK by distributing MK posters there and conducting noisy "street theater" events there. The group promises to provide support with media lists and sample press releases to get local coverage.

Three Stages Removed From Slaughter

Rob Doughty, VP-PR and communications at BK, told this NL that his company is "three stages removed from the slaughterhouses."

Nevertheless, he said BK is committed to the welfare of animals. The company has set up an animal welfare advisory council that will meet for the first time next month.

He noted that associations covering egg and meat producers have new guidelines that will improve the treatment of animals.

Those rules have either just been announced or are in the development stages, said Doughty.

PETA wants BK to adopt the animal welfare guidelines that McDonald's put into place last year.

That followed an 11-month PETA "McCruelty" and "Unhappy Meal" campaign against the No. 1 fast-food chain.

WSJ's STEIGER KNOCKS INSURANCE PRESS

Paul Steiger, managing editor of The Wall Street Journal, told a forum of insurance executives that the media has not done an "acceptable job with the nuts and bolts of your industry."

"In crises we do okay, whether they are hurricanes, floods or managed care, but we need to do much better communicating the industry's role in the economy and the products and services it offers," Steiger told the Fifth Annual Property/Casualty Insurance Joint Industry Forum, held Jan. 10 in New York.

Steiger said the insurance beat terrifies most reporters: "They know it's important but are not sure what the rules are. Your industry's products and services at some level are simple, but in terms of details are complex and abstract and hard to make interesting. The typical reporter would much rather be covering the entertainment industry," he said.

'CROUCHING TIGER' GETS PR BUZZ

New York publicists Peggy Siegel and Lizzie Grubman created the "buzz" that has made Sony Pictures' "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" an Academy Award contender, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The paper credits their "grassroots stealth marketing" campaign for propelling the Chinese-language martial arts film-with largely unknown actors- from "art-house obscurity to breakout film."

Tom Bernard, co-president of Sony Pictures, says he hired Siegel because of her 20,000-name database of people in the New York film and media community.

He told her to branch out by "inviting people to screenings that you do not know."

Siegel arranged a screening in New York for on-air newscasters that was hosted by NBC anchor Chuck Scarborough and attended by NBC staffers Sue Simmons and Dan Abrams; CNN fashion reporter Elsa Klensch and ABC's John Stossel.

Bernard wanted on-air personalities at the screenings because he wanted them to feel they had "discovered" the film themselves.

Siegel asked Joe Kernen, of CNBC's "Squawk Box," to host a screening for financial reporters.

All of Siegel efforts, however, did not pay off, according to the Journal.

She sent tapes of Crouching Tiger to the New York Yankees, hoping the team would play them on the plane during the playoffs. That didn't happen.

Grubman, the daughter of music-industry lawyer Alan Grubman, was hired by Sony because of her connections to the "hip-hop" community.

She arranged for rap group Wu-Tang Clan to host two screenings of the film at Sony's headquarters in New York.

CHICK-FIL-A EXITS C&W

Chick-fil-A has moved its PR account to Atlanta-based 360 after 20 years with Cohn & Wolfe/Atlanta.

The move by the College Park, Ga.-based fast food chain, which has been a key account for C&W, reunites it with Bob Cohn, who founded C&W, and is now chairman of 360. Jim Overstreet, another ex-C&W executive, is also now at 360.

Jim Johnston, a spokesman for Chick-fil-A, said the move was unrelated to the present turmoil at C&W's Atlanta office.

MS&L HANDLES SATELLITE LAUNCH

Manning, Selvage & Lee is doing PR for New Skies Satellites, the Dutch company that just completed its initial public offering.

Emil Hill, VP at MS&L, says Don Hannaford, senior VP, and Joe Gleason, head of the firm's corporate practice, are working on the account with him.

The firm is to position NSS as the "premier global satellite company" for transmission of voice, data, video and Internet communications.

It also will pitch NSS as a model of economic stability by playing up its solid cash flow and little debt. The company earned $17.6 million on $66.8 million revenues for the three-month period ended Sept. 30.

NSS raised more than $250 million via the stock, and got its shares listed on the Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges.

Elizabeth Hess is VP-corporate comms. at NSS.

CHEFS COOK UP NEW TV SHOWS

A new TV cooking show based on Cook's Illustrated, a bimonthly magazine, debuted Jan. 6.

"America's Test Kitchen," a 13-part PBS series, features a cast of six editors, writers and staff chefs from CI, which has 400,000 paid subscribers.

Christopher Kimball, who founded the magazine and has written several cookbooks, including the new Dessert Bible (Little, Brown), hosts the half-hour program. He starts each episode by showing worst-case cooking scenarios.

Kimball hosts the program from the magazine's kitchen at Boston Common Press in Brookline, Mass.

He demonstrates cooking techniques, and tests equipment and ingredients.

The show also features food science segments and comparative tastings and kitchen products.

Two top U.S. chefs launched weekly food shows in January on the Food Network.

Wolfgang Puck reveals how he entertains Hollywood's elite on "Wolfgang Puck," which premiered Jan. 12.

The half-hour show combines taped segments of Puck hobnobbing with celebrities and cooking in a studio kitchen before a small audience.

Mario Batali, host of the Food Network's "Molto Mario" series, got another half-hour show, "Mario Eats Italy," starting Jan. 8.

Batali, a New York chef/restaurateur, will roam Italy with actor Steve Rooney in search of each region's best food and hot spots.

PEOPLE EN ESPANOL EXPANDS COVERAGE

Genevieve Fernandez was appointed entertainment editor of People En Espanol. She had been chief of reporters.
In her new position, Fernandez will handle the magazine's celebrity coverage, a staple of the publication's editorial mix.

In the past several months, the publication has increased coverage of both mainstream and Hispanic celebrities and started fashion sections.

Alfredo Arango, who is based in Miami, was named entertainment reporter.

Daniela Torres, who is based in the magazine's Mexico City office, has been assigned to cover Mexican entertainment news and celebrities.

Donal Hernandez was promoted to chief of reporters, responsible for the day-to-day supervision of editorial staff and stories in development.

Ursula Caranza and Isis Artze are the newly appointed fashion and beauty writers, reporting to Lucy Lara, who is fashion and beauty editor.

Robert Lohrer has resigned as editor of DNR, which was once known as the Daily News Record.

Peg Tyre, who was a CNN correspondent, has joined Newsweek to cover media and social trends.

BY GEORGE, IT'S OVER

Hachette Filipacchi will publish the final issue of George magazine in March.

The political magazine, which lost between $8 million and $10 million last year, was started in 1995 by John F. Kennedy Jr.

Hachette bought George in October 1999, about three months after Kennedy was killed in a plane crash. Despite a gain in circulation in the past year, ad pages were off, especially in the magazine's two biggest ad categories, automotive and opinion leaders (i.e., foundations).

George ran 691 ad pages in 1998; 485 ad pages in 1999 and 302 ad pages in 2000 (with two fewer issues), according to Media Industry Newsletter.

Currently, its circulation rate base is 500,000, a 25% increase in a little over a year.

SPOT NEWS EDITOR NAMED AT WSJ

Francine Pope Huff has succeeded Ann Podd as The Wall Street Journal's spot news editor. Huff had been deputy editor.

As previously reported, Podd was named national TV editor of the Dow Jones/CNBC unit, overseeing daily and feature news coverage for CNBC and other NBC outlets.

Huff can be reached at 212/416-3131.

PEOPLE _________________________

Christina Ferrari, the founding editor of Teen People, has resigned. Her successor has not been named. Ferrari, who will remain at the magazine until next month, plans to move to Europe.

Rupert Thomas was named editor of Conde Nast International's World of Interior's. Thomas had been deputy to the magazine's editor-in-chief and founder, Min Hogg, who retired last month after 19 years of running the monthly magazine.

Nancy Laboz, previously accessories and home editor at Mademoiselle, was appointed accessories editor at Real Simple.

PLACEMENT TIPS _____________________

Teen People, which kicked off the New Year by releasing two individual February covers as part of its annual Reader's Choice Awards, has expanded the "Trendspotting" section.

That section, which is designed to highlight the latest teen lifestyle trends, will appear regularly with photos of real teens and their picks for the latest hot styles, likes and dislikes.

Isabel Gonzalez, who is editor of the section, said she has access to more than 9,000 Teen People Trendspotters, who correspond with her through polling, surveys, e-mail dialogue and monthly meetings.

"These teens keep me in the loop about fashion, TV, sports, movies, music and life in general," she said.

The Events Register 2001, a guide and clearinghouse for major fund-raising charity galas and special events, is accepting listing information for inclusion in the June issue for events of June, July and August 2001.

ER is published three times a year (January, June and September).

Marilou S. Doyle is editor and publisher of ER.

She is based in Hastings on Hudson, N.Y., at P.O. Box 98, 10706; 914/478-3094.

(Media news continued on next page)

AP's DAYBOOK EDITOR SETS NEWS AGENDA

The Associated Press's New York-based daybook editor, Tom McElroy, helps set the news agenda for journalists.

Chris Hedges, a reporter for the New York Times, said McElroy, who is 39, does it by putting together a schedule of daily events in the city that often determines what gets covered in New York and what does not.

"Groggy editors and reporters at newspapers and at radio and TV stations check the daybook daily as they start work," wrote Hedges Jan. 6. "And PR people, knowing that it is the holy grail of city journalism, sit dog-faced in their offices if their clients' events are not posted on it," continued Hedges in his report.

"If an event is not listed on the AP daybook it is not worth doing," said Edward Skyler, who handles PR for Bloomberg, "But if we don't get on it, it is usually our fault," Skylar told Hedges. "You need to follow up. A fax is not enough. And following up is a lot better than calling TV stations the next day and hearing them say, `Sorry, it is not on the daybook.' Those words make your heart sink," said Skylar.

All those who subscribe to the AP metro or broadcast wires, including the Times, get the daybook.

Polly Kreisman, a reporter for WPIX-TV, told Hedges that she covers one event a week for the daybook. "Things get covered because they are on the daybook, but the events may not warrant news coverage," said Kreisman. "It is just easier. Reporters don't have to do as much work. If you have to be on the air at 5, no matter what, a daybook event is perfect."

DRUG COS. PUSH CELEBRITY MESSAGE

Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly turning to a tactic that gets their drugs and the conditions they treat in the news-paying celebrities to tell reporters about their own struggles with illnesses, according to The Associated Press.

The campaign produces human interest stories that have raised some concern about the further blurring of the old line between news and commercial messages, reports Seth Sutel of the AP.

The recent campaigns have aimed at the news sections of newspapers and TV, where personalities like former gymnast Bart Connor or former Olympic gold medalist skater Dorothy Hamill speak favorably about products for arthritis and other ailments.

Some of the celebrity appearances resemble public service campaigns about common and treatable medical conditions, such as high cholesterol, without referring to a specific drug the company makes.

"In other cases, celebrities are hired to mention specific drugs in the interview," Sutel said.

Celeste Torello, who is manager of corporate media relations for Pfizer, told Sutel that the commercial relationship between the company and their celebrity hires is "made very clear to the journalists...It's really then up to the journalists to decide how much of that relationship to mention."

Connor Was Paid

In one such campaign, Connor was paid to discuss how he was treating his osteoarthritis with Celebrex, made by Pfizer and G.D. Searle & Co.

Sutel said several news stories resulting from the campaign, including articles in The New York Daily News and the AP and an appearance on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America" did not make clear that Connor was paid.

Merck & Co., in another campaign, paid former athletes Bruce Jenner and Hamill to give interviews to news organizations last fall to discuss Vioxx, an anti-inflammatory medicine that they both use to treat arthritis.

Several newspapers and TV news shows did stories on one or both of them.

Chris Fanelle, director of PA for the human health services division of Merck, said several sports celebrities were used in public education campaigns last year to raise awareness of health issues.

Fanelle said the media interviews with the celebrities were handled by Ogilvy PR Worldwide.

Other celebrities used in campaigns were coach Bill Parcells and quarterback Joe Montana for a high cholesterol awareness campaign; an osteoporosis campaign by actress Rita Moreno, and a campaign, featuring seven current major league baseball players who used Propecia, a hair growing drug, for a year.

Atlanta Falcons coach Dan Reeves was also used as an ad and PR spokesperson for a new heart drug.

Norm Ostrove, an official at the Food and Drug Administration's division of drug marketing, advertising and commercials, said it has received no complaints about lack of disclosure by celebrities working as spokespeople.

MIAMI HERALD M.E. IS PROMOTED

Larry Olmstead, 43, who has been managing editor of The Miami Herald for the last four years, was promoted to assistant VP of news for Knight-Ridder, the parent company.

David Satterfield, who was the Herald's assistant managing editor for business/new ventures, was named business editor of the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, which is also owned by K-R.

No replacements have been named for them.

MATALIN NAMED TO WHITE HOUSE STAFF

Mary Matalin is giving up her job as a co-host of "Crossfire" on CNN to begin her new duties to join the White House as an assistant to the president and counselor to the VP in the new Bush Administration. She will start Feb. 1. Her duties include keeping the office of the VP coordinated with the White House on matters of politics and communication.

JACKSON FIRM HAS KIDS PROJECT (cont'd from page 1)

KIDS started off as a program within the PRSA Foundation, which in 1999 received a grant of $2.6 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for KIDS.

The Foundation was given $592,000 in July 1999 and the remaining $1.8M is expected to be received and spent by June 2001.

The Johnson funds will no longer be provided to KIDS via the PRSA Foundation because KIDS has now set up its own 501(c)(3) corporation.

RFP went out in September 1999

Ron Sconyers, president and CEO of KIDS, said that an RFP went out in September 1999 and that about four other firms besides JJ&W submitted bids.

He said the PRSA Foundation board reviewed the proposals, heard pitches from the firms, and picked JJ&W for the pilot project involving five cities including Indianapolis, Atlanta and Dallas.

Counselor Joseph Curley was president of the PRSA Foundation in 1999; Jean Farinelli was president in 2000, and David Grossman is 2001 president.

A description of the KIDS program is contained in a 17-page white paper under the name of JJ&W.

The program is mostly aimed at the parents of children from nine to 13 years old, or "tweenagers." Research has shown that parents are still the "major influencers" of children in this group, says the JJ&W program.

Training to Be Done in Workplace

Participation by employers will be sought since the PR effort will be directed to parents in their workplaces.

Parents are used to undergoing training in the workplace, it is stated. Partnerships will also be sought with many of the 50 or so other anti-drug groups.

Help from local PRSA chapters will be sought with one goal being to enlist as many volunteers as possible including retireds, fellows and senior members. Each volunteer will be given "small, concrete assignments" which will help to avoid "burnout" and assure that the work gets done.

"Surprise" awards may be used to motivate the volunteers. These can include free admissions to a science museum or tickets for a family to attend an event.

Research will be done to see if parents are actually carrying the anti-drug messages to their children but not whether the children are obeying the messages.

The JJ&W paper said the KIDS initiative is a "case study in the effective use of PR in the full sense of the term because it involves strategic audience targeting, research, communication, opinion leader networks, ambassadors, behavioral training techniques and participative group activities-all at the highest skill levels for PR practitioners."

Jackson Active in PRSA

Jackson was 1980 president of PRSA and has continued as an active leader in it. He is almost always on the program of PRSA national conferences and was on the 2000 nominating committee.

Ray Gaulke, former president and COO of PRSA, is now working full time on fundraising for the PRSA Foundation and KIDS.

Sconyers announced the KIDS board last June. Members, besides himself and Gaulke, are counselor Farinelli; Stephen Pisinski of The Montgomery Group; Louis Capozzi, Manning, Selvage & Lee; David Drobis, Ketchum; Christopher Komisarjevsky, Burson-Marsteller; Willard Nielsen, Johnson & Johnson, and Michael O'Neill, American Express.

Catherine Bolton, acting president and COO of PRSA, said the Society does not get involved in the activities of KIDS, noting it is a separate corporation.

The PRSA Foundation had contributions of $110,715 in 1999 (not including the J&J restricted funds), up from $93,066.

END OF INTERNET-ONLY FIRMS SEEN

By the end of 2001, there will be no stand-alone Internet businesses but only those that are connected with traditional businesses, said New York magazine columnist Michael Wolff in his Jan. 1 column.

Wolff, who described his own Internet company's demise in Burn Rate, said "cottage industries" such as pornography and literary websites may remain on the web.

He described downturns suffered in 2000 by the "Four Horsemen of the Internet-Amazon, Yahoo, eBay and Priceline."

Yahoo lost 85% of its market capitalization and Amazon lost 80%.

He also expressed misgivings about the just approved, but not yet implemented, acquisition of Time Warner by AOL, saying TW stockholders would never have gone for the deal at AOL's current price. Without the TW deal, AOL would probably have lost 85% of its market cap, he said.
Some of those who hyped the "New Economy fantasies" in the form of public companies will face SEC indictments, according to Wolff.

Broadband Flops

A keen technological disappointment, according to the writer, is the failure of the dot-com industry to produce the much-heralded "broadband" upgrade in Internet transmission (providing, among other things, TV-quality sound and pictures).

"Herculean" efforts are needed to get this function up and running and then it's "too slow," he said.

"But the tech breakdown goes well beyond that," he added. "The whole web of technology-aided solutions and services and salvation is a disappointment. We control our deep frustration only because we've been brainwashed to believe it will soon get better." This won't happen, he said, if the stock market drops, tech companies fail, and tech support becomes "even more difficult to get on the phone."

The collapse of the dot-com world is providing "a certain pleasure," he said, because they were "such unappealing people."

PR OPINION/ITEMS

New York columnist Michael Wolff, who has spent years in the dot-com arena including several as head of a dot-com firm, predicts an end in 2001 to any such businesses unless they're tied with traditional bricks-and-mortar firms (page 7).

Too much hype was generated for the field and the dot-coms are currently failing to deliver on their biggest promise-broadband-says Wolff.

Broadband (TV quality sound and video via computers) takes a "Herculean" effort to get installed and then doesn't work too well, he added. He feels the technical problems are only going to get worse (especially for anyone trying to get tech support on the phone).

Wolff's negative view about dot-comdom is far from the only one appearing in the media.

Lisa Napoli, Internet correspondent for MSNBC, wrote in the New York Times Dec. 25 that it is now reporters who are calling up the dot-coms "to ask about all the gory details."

Previously, she noted, reporters were inundated with pitches from e-businesses. Last fall she saved up one month's pitches and e-mails and found there were 2,170 e-mails and enough trinkets, books and gadgets to fill four "crates." She tried, but couldn't keep track of, the huge number of phone calls.

But the tide has now turned, she wrote, "as many high-tech companies consolidate or just plain go out of business."

We called three major dot-com firms for a rebuttal of the above or at least an explanation of what is going on with broadband.

None of them had seen either article so we faxed both to them. One firm said the Wolff article was "too inflammatory" to merit a response. Another said there are lots of problems with broadband and very few, if any, e-businesses can offer it. The second firm promised to read the articles and craft a response. That was a few days ago.

All three of these firms had people with "PR" or "communications" in their titles but none had seen the articles. Lots of negative stories are now appearing about the dot-com field but we know of no articulate dot-com spokespeople who can discuss what's happening or offer rebuttals in an editorial format to some of the doom and gloom statements. One big PR firm, an informed source told us, has lost 100 of its 120 high-tech clients.

The Council of PR Firms is again trying to hijack the PR firm rankings. It's asking its members and even non-members to submit fee income and employee totals only to it and not to any PR publication. O'Dwyer Co. staffers calling up the big ad agency-owned firms have been told that the Council has asked the firms only to submit materials to the Council. Such materials include no proofs of income or employee totals and no account lists. The firms are allowed to count ad commissions, research, website building and many other activities. The CPRF, headed by Jack Bergen, has become a rogue organization flying a false flag (it should call itself the "Council of Integrated Marketing Firms"). It is poisoning key statistics in the very field that is dedicated to correct information.

Why is it so important that IR pros respond equally to the press as well as to security analysts? Because pro-active corporate PR has nearly disappeared. One piece of evidence is the huge decline in corporate participation in PR Society of America. The corporate section is barely alive, having no officers or board for 2001 as of this writing. The section's listing on the PRSA website provides no e-mail or website address, as do many of the other sections. Only about 10% or so of those at PRSA conferences are from corporations...proactive PR is when the PR pro "protects" beat reporters by sending them all the news of his or her company (calling with important news), and follows all media mentions of the company and its competitors and makes sure the beat reporters have seen them...several readers have heatedly objected to the quote of PRSA chair Kathy Lewton in last week's NL to the effect that media relations is the "last stage of a PR program." We have since heard that Lewton is also in favor of ongoing media relations and that she was only referring to formal programs rather than day-to-day PR. Our respondents say that with them, media relations is the first thing they do for clients. They introduce the clients to their press contacts and work on getting the clients established as the "leading authorities" in their fields, available for quotes and analysis when reporters need them. Speeches, letters-to-the editor and op-ed articles are prepared further underscoring the expertise (and good will) of the clients. This approach is not only quicker and a lot cheaper than drawing up elaborate programs and "strategies," but empowers the client rather than the PR firm, said the press-oriented PR pros. As for measurement of results, they say an educational article or TV segment "is its own reward" and that clients should save their money...the real culprit in the IABC financial debacle is the 1999 board which voted to spend $1.4 million on an e-business called "TalkingBusinessNow" which an IABC publication later said would be "the most comprehensive organizational communication resource on the Net-or anywhere else." What?! Just for openers, anyone who would put three words in a row like "comprehensive," "organizational," and "communication" knows nothing about writing or communicating...many associations are undergoing mergers these days, says an article in the Dec. 2000 Executive Update.