OMNICOM ACQUIRES 150-MEMBER MMG

Omnicom has acquired Matthews Media Group, a healthcare PR firm with 150 staffers in Rockville, Md., founded by Molly Matthews in 1987.

MMG is a leader in patient recruitment and a developer of public education programs for the federal government.

Tom Harrison, chairman of Omnicom's diversified agency services unit, cited MMG's recruitment expertise-a new area for the holding company-as a reason for the acquisition.

MMG counts National Cancer Institute, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, American Trauma Society, Virginia Dept. of Mental Health and Nicole Johnson (Miss America 1999 and spokesperson for the American Diabetes Assn.) as clients.

Matthews, a teacher by training, was formerly director of education/special projects at Children's Hospital in Washington, D.C.

EDELMAN WINS $1M SINGAPORE PROMO

Edelman PR Worldwide is encouraging U.S. telecommunications and information technology companies to set up shop in Singapore under a $1 million-plus contract with that city-state's Infocomm Development Authority.

Miller Bonner, executive VP and co-chair of Edelman's global technology practice, is pitching prospects about Singapore's educated population and advanced telecom infrastructure.

Singapore, according to a survey released Feb. 8 by International Data Corp., ranks as the world's ninth most advanced technology economy, and No. 1 in Asia. It also has the world's second-highest rate of Internet users, following Sweden.

Leo Burnett sacked 200 staffers (nearly 10 percent of U.S. workforce) in aftermath of loss of $300 million Oldsmobile account...Martha Boudreau, the tenth person hired by Fleishman-Hillard in 1986 to staff its Washington, D.C., office, is now its general manager. She succeeds Paul Johnson, who is regional president in charge of D.C., Atlanta, R. Duffy Wall & Assocs. and Greer, Margolis, Mitchell, Burns & Assocs...Louie Perry, a National Cotton Council of America lobbyist for the past seven years, has joined Cassidy & Assocs. as VP. He also was an aide to Rep. Jerry Huckaby (D-LA).

DATABASE OF 18,000 PR CLIENTS "ONLINE"

The database of 18,000 PR clients in O'Dwyer's Directory of PR Firms is now online in the O'Dwyer website (www.odwyerpr.com).

Clients, journalists, PR pros and others who want to know what PR firms are handling a company can enter the company name and have a complete listing of the PR firms immediately appear.

"This is a tremendous research tool for a host of reasons," said Jack O'Dwyer, NL editor. "Journalists doing a story can now find out relevant PR firms with little fuss and no cost," he said.

The database, the only one of its type in PR, can be updated to keep abreast of account changes.

O'Dwyer's Directory is currently collecting account lists and financial information for the 2001 Edition.

EPB SAVORS RUTH'S CHRIS ACCOUNT

Ruth's Chris Steak House has awarded its $8 million ad/PR account to Earle Palmer Brown following a three-month review.

Deborah Hinson, a RCSH spokesperson, said $2 million of outlay is slated for PR.

The chain of 76 upscale steak houses in 55 cities had used Duke Creative Marketing Solutions (New Orleans) as its communications firm.

EPB's Bethesda, Md., unit is handling the account. Mike Carberry, the office's chairman, and Jack Powers, director of client services, oversee the business.

PRSA's MILLER JOINS SINICKAS COMMS

Debra Miller, a past president of PRSA, has joined Sinickas Communications, Costa Mesa, Calif., as senior communication consultant.

Angela Sinickas calls Miller a "perfect fit" for her firm which helps companies develop PR, and measure the effectiveness of campaigns.

"I was looking since June for somebody with a strong research background when Debby's letter crossed by desk," Sinickas told this NL.

The firm has worked for 3M, Lockheed Martin, GE Medical Systems, Consolidated Freightways, Nordstrom and Merck.

Miller, who was PR director at the University of Portland, said she was attracted to SC because it is a research-based consultancy that helps clients find practical solutions to their communications problems.

CARDINAL PRAISES WORK OF PHILLY PR PRO

Philadelphia Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua said counselor Brian Tierney has been "a great help to us" in getting The Philadelphia Inquirer to put a more positive slant on its coverage of the archdiocese.

Ever since Tierney, who runs Tierney Comms., a Philadelphia-based ad/PR firm, dealt with the editors, "The Inquirer has been very positive in their stories, much more than they have ever been," the cardinal told Editor & Publisher, which interviewed him for a story about the recently settled libel suit won by Ralph Cipriano, a former religion reporter for the paper.

Cipriano filed a lawsuit against Robert Rosenthal, the Inquirer's editor; the Inquirer, and parent company Knight-Ridder.

Last month the publisher settled with Cipriano for an undisclosed sum. He had been fired for "breach of loyalty."

Tierney Allegedly Berated Editors

According to case documents obtained by E&P, Tierney allegedly berated Inquirer editors at three meetings at the archdiocese headquarters during one stretch of several months in late 1996 and 1997.

At a time when churches and schools in poor neighborhoods were being closed by Bevilacqua, Tierney supposedly was alarmed by Cipriano's efforts to report that the 73-year-old cardinal was renovating his 30-room mansion and fixing up his oceanfront house in New Jersey.

When archdiocese officers refused to reply to Cipriano's questions, Inquirer editors met with Tierney. One editor said Tierney demanded the right to select which reporters would cover the archdiocese and warned that Bevilacqua was prepared to launch a public campaign against The Inquirer.

While the cardinal could not recall what took place in the three meetings with The Inquirer in 1996 and 1997, he told E&P that Tierney had "stopped the story. That was the important thing."

Phillip Dixon, deputy managing editor, said no top editor at the Inquirer had ordered facts deleted to neuter a story that the archdiocese might find offensive.

PONDEL/WILKINSON GOES WITH MS&L

Manning, Selvage & Lee has acquired Pondel/ Wilkinson Group, a Los Angeles-based IR/financial communications firm with 25 staffers.

Roger Pondel said P/WG was courted by several international PR agencies.

His firm will operate as Pondel/Wilkinson MS&L, and serve as MS&L's IR brand.

Pondel is to serve as managing director, while Cecilia Wilkinson becomes deputy managing director.

P/WG principals Gary Maier and Robert Whetstone assume senior VP titles. P/WMS&L New York will be headed by Richard Simonelli, who recently joined MS&L from Citigate Dewe Rogerson to be its SVP of global corporate practice.

KEKST DENIES N.Y. TIMES REPORT ON RICH

Gershon Kekst, the New York IR counselor, denies a report in the Feb. 12 New York Times that he contacted Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel to win his support for a pardon for fugitive financier Marc Rich.

"I never represented Marc Rich," he told this NL. "I never represented his Foundation."

Kekst said Rich has legal rather than PR problems.

He described Wiesel as a "good friend," and stressed that he never talked to him about Rich.

The NYT reported that Rich and his advisors contacted Wiesel because they were "looking for someone with high moral authority to make their case to the White House."

Wiesel, a frequent guest at the Clinton White House, won the Nobel Prize in 1986 for his accounts of the Holocaust.

The NYT said that Rich's team sent Wiesel a stack of testimonials on Rich's behalf.

Wiesel, however, decided not to contact Clinton on behalf of Rich. Instead, he supports a pardon for Jonathan Pollard, the former Navy intelligence analyst who was convicted of spying for Israel.

Clinton pardoned Rich and more than 100 others on Jan. 20, which was his last day in office.

GE TOPS FORTUNE'S MOST ADMIRED LIST

General Electric is the Most Admired Company in the U.S. for the fourth straight year, according to Fortune's annual survey of the country's leading business people.

Nine of the companies that made last year's top 10 also repeat the feat, with the one newcomer being Charles Schwab.

Following GE is Cisco (2), Wal-Mart Stores (3), Southwest Airlines (4), Microsoft (5), Home Depot (6), Berkshire Hathaway (7), Charles Schwab (8), Intel (9) and Dell Computer (10).

Omnicom Group nudged out Interpublic Group, Young & Rubicam and True North to top the list of most admired advertising and marketing companies.

In the publishing category, The New York Times topped the Tribune Co., The Washington Post, Dow Jones and Gannett as the most admired company.

Robert Zito, 47, was promoted to executive VP of communications at the New York Stock Exchange. He reports to Richard Grasso, chairman and CEO of the Exchange. Michael Cohen, 38, previously a managing director, was promoted to VP of marketing communications... Dan Klores Assocs., New York, founded in 1991, has changed its name to Dan Klores Communications...Ranny Cooper was promoted to vice chair for PA, BSMG Worldwide, New York...Kathryn Murray St. John was promoted to CEO of Cohn & Wolfe/Washington, D.C. She succeeds Terry Wade, now EVP-worldwide/head of global PA practice...Patrice Tanaka & Co., New York, is again closed for Valentine's Day to allow staffers to "commit acts of love and kindness" through volunteer activities.

HEALTH/SCIENCE REPORTERS SEEK PR INPUT

A panel of four New York-based health and science beat reporters said the information and assistance they get from PR professionals helps them get their stories.

Kathy Robinson, who is PA director for New York-Presbyterian Hospital, was moderated of the Feb. 2 breakfast meeting of the Health PR and Marketing Society, which featured Hallie Levine, medical/health editor of The New York Post; Paul Moniz, health and science correpondent at WCBS-TV; Barbara Durkin, a reporter for Newsday,and Judith Messina, medical reporter at Crain's New York Business.

Levine said the paper is giving more news space to cover science-related stories. She can use information to do news features that are worthy of one or two pages of coverage.

She expects PR people to give her their client lists, which show specialists to call for information, and to help her on a story, even if it's not their own spokesperson. It will pay off in the long run, said Levine, who prefers to take calls from publicists before 9:30 a.m. and after 6:30 p.m.
Moniz likes to cover topics that are consumer driven, such as stories dealing with insurance. Heart disease is another topic of interest.

He does not want to get video news releases and he prefers to get tips and information from publicists by e-mail.

Be Available

Durkin believes PR pros should develop relationships with reporters and be available around the clock. She wants to have the PR person's home numbers and weekend access numbers.

When pitching a story, a PR person should "know the story-be the reporter-develop the story," said Durkin.
Messina wants to get breaking news about the business of healthcare. She is looking for anything that has an economic angle, and falls within the arena of healthcare in New York.

She would also like to get new appointments at institutions and hospitals. Financial evidence, including debt, revenue, and historical information, is also useful to Messina, who does not want to be called more than once about a given-story or to get new product news.
If she is interested in covering something, she will call back.

The breakfast meeting was held at Griffis Faculty Club at the N.Y. Cornell Medical Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

AMAZON.COM TO SELL PLUGS

Amazon.com plans to set up a new system under which publishers will pay a fee to get their books recommended in electronic mailings sent to customers of the online retailer.

Previously, Amazon's book editors were responsible for picking e-mail recommendations.

In the new system, company officials said books nominated by publishers would be reviewed by the editors, who would make the final decisions. The editors will continue to recommend some books without charging a fee.

Kristin Schaefer, Amazon spokeswoman, said the new program represents the evolution of an existing program that allows publishers to pay to nominate books for special placement on the company's site.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon would charge up to $10,000 for the chance to be included in the mailings, which target customers who have already ordered or expressed interest in a similar type of book.

The payments will come out of a so-called "co-op" ad fund that publishers pay into at the beginning of the year based on sales with a bookseller the year before.

Customer Reviews Continue

From its inception five years ago, Amazon has encouraged its customers to post their own reviews of books, records and other merchandise on its website. Schaefer said the paid promotions would not involve such customer reviews, only the recommendations Amazon makes itself.

Barnesandnoble.com, one of Amazon's competitors online, does not ask publishers to pay for recommendations.
Many booksellers fear the new program may affect the credibility of recommendations.

PEOPLE

James O'Shea, 57 was named managing editor of The Chicago Tribune, succeeding Ann Marie Lipinski, who was promoted to editor on Feb. 5.

David Andelman, previously at The New York Times, CNN, Bloomberg and smallcapcenter.com, was named deputy business editor of the New York Daily News. Michael Segell was named deputy features editor/Lifestyle and will edit the "LifeLine" section as well as health and fitness.

Gersh Kuntzman has joined Newsweek's web-site (Newsweek.MSNBC.com) as a contributing writer and will write a column every Monday on the news called "American Beat."

Dirk Johnson was named Newsweek's Chicago bureau chief. He had been at The New York Times for 16 years, most recently as a national correspondent based in Chicago.

John Affleck, correspondent for The Associated Press in Cleveland, has been named editor of AP's national reporting team. Affleck, 36, will move to AP's headquarters in New York to direct a team of national beat reporters and feature writers.

He succeeds Alice Krement, who resigned to return to teaching.

(Media news continued on next page)

PUBLICISTS GET RADIO PLACEMENT TIPS

More than half of the phone calls to Margot Adler, New York bureau chief for National Public Radio, are from PR people who have not listened to shows on the station.

"We are flooded with calls from PR people who have no clue of what NPR is about," Adler told about 150 people at a Publicity Club of New York "Meet the Media" luncheon on Jan. 31, which featured a panel of New York-based radio producers and reporters.

Adler said most callers have the mistaken notion NPR is WNYC, which is a Manhattan radio station, and only covers stories about New York and interviews book authors.

Adler said her staff of five reporters are assigned to cover various beats, including business news and cultural issues, for programs that are produced by NPR's Washington, D.C.-based producers.

Many callers to NPR also try to book a guest or interview on a show by pitching the reporter. "Call the show's producer in Washington. Reporters don't do bookings," said Adler, who urged the audience to find out the "basic facts about NPR and where to go" before making a call. She offered to give a "walk through" to publicists who are not sure.

Adler, who welcomes suggestions from publicists, still prefers to get written pitches sent to her through the regular mail.

Cohen Is Receptive to PR

Steve Cohen, news planning editor for ABC Radio Network, welcomes news and timely feature story tips from publicists.

Cohen, who is "always very receptive to PR ideas and ways to work together," said publicists can rely on him to direct the story to the right reporter.

Frank Lanza, assistant news director, WCBS-AM, said his work schedule, which starts every day at 4 a.m. and ends at 1 p.m., prevents him from responding to every call, but he listens to all of his voice mail messages and reads all of his mail.

"If I am interested, I will call," said Lanza, who is annoyed when he gets an 18-page fax from a publicist. "Brevity is important. Keep it to one page and tell me why people should care."

Lanza said publicists should also be interested and familiar with the subject and know who they want to reach at WCBS.

Levinson Doesn't Want to Yell

Warren Levinson, news correspondent for The Associated Press broadcast services, said he has a "little trepidation" about speaking to publicists at meetings because "all we do is yell at you about all the things you should be doing."

Levinson, who is the only AP radio reporter in New York, said he answers his phone, and does not have a fax machine at his AP office. He covers breaking news in New York.

"When I don't have a breaking story to cover, I will do features that are interesting to me. It all comes down to: Is it a good yarn?"

He also likes to get "anything that makes noise." He believes too many publcists either forget or don't bother to provide audios with their stories.
Levinson advised the publicists to "pitch stories and not clients."

TOY FAIR IS BECOMING A MEDIA EVENT

The American International Toy Fair, the nation's largest, which opened in New York on Feb. 11, is becoming a "more formidable be-in for the media" and less focused on buyers, according to a report that ran Feb. 8 on the front page of the "Metro" section of The New York Times.

Mattel and Hasbro, which each spent $10 million on their presentations and showrooms in 2000, had cut back for this year's show, but both companies are putting a major focus on attracting print reporters and video news crews instead of buyers.

Ruder Finn is again handling media relations for the Toy Manufacturers of America. TMA held its first Toy Fair 98 years ago.

More than 40,000 visitors are expected to attend this year's Toy Fair at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Toy District showroom. About 2,000 toy manufacturers from 106 countries will have exhibits. The Toy Fair is open only to the trade and press.

At the annual "State of the Industry" press briefing Feb. 8 in New York, Patrick Feely, chairman of TMA, predicted the traditional toy market in the U.S. will grow by 6% this year.

MEDIA BRIEFS

Oprah Winfrey will host 12 half-hour segments of a show that will make its debut on Oxygen Media's cable-TV channel this summer. Winfrey, who is an investor in Oxygen, will profile "real-life heroes."

Oxygen also has ordered 20 segments of a personal finance show hosted by New York Times contributor Laura Pedersen called "Your Money and Your Life."

The Silicon Alley Daily, an e-mail newsletter produced by Rising Tide Studios that covers the Internet industry in New York, has begun to expand its coverage of "the media, finance and technology firms that are leveraging the 'Net."

Jason Calacanis, the newsletter's editor, said the focus on more traditional companies stems from the takeover of so many dot-coms by such concerns.

IVillage is buying Women.com for $25 million in stock and cash.

Hearst Corp., Women.com's largest shareholder, is giving iVillage a $20 million cash infusion and promising to buy at least $15 million in production and advertising services over the next three years.

NETWORK OF SMALL PR FIRMS PROPOSED

Ray Scroggins, Watertown, Wis., PR counselor, is investigating the possibility of small PR firms getting together to help market themselves.

Scroggins mailed a survey to individual practitioners and small firms to determine their interest in an informal group that would communicate mostly by e-mail. Dues, if any, would be minimal.

Scroggins and other PR pros who work mostly on their own said they have a wealth of experience to offer clients but don't have the promotional budgets of the giant PR firms.

"If you hire a small firm you get the principal," said Scroggins.

He also said that the small PR firms have stuck to the traditional strengths of PR-obtaining third party endorsement and seeking to establish the client as an expert in whatever field is involved.

Scroggins' form is available from him at 920/261-7968 or e-mail: [email protected].

Several counselors voiced their support for such a group.

Michael F. Austin, of Austin PR, New York, said, "The individual PR consultant has a tough time competing against the multi-million dollar influence campaigns of corporate controlled PR/advertising conglomerates, busy feeding that insatiable corporate-owned monster that passes for the press these days."

"What may yet save us," he continued, "is a cadre of small and independent PR firms that still provide a measure of credibility and value to the public dialogue through honest representation and professionalism."

New York counselor April Klimley said such a network would help companies to find the right smaller PR firm and save money. The big programs proposed by major PR firms are often carried out by junior people, she said.

Klimley's firm produces a range of editorial services from annual reports to speeches and web consulting.

Counselor Malcolm Petrook said, "At the end of the day, clients want old-fashioned exposure in print and broadcast media no matter how you have dressed up your program with advertising and sales promotion. Third parties must be involved for PR to work. The current approach of many big firms is to seek complete control over whatever message is put out and avoid review by third parties."

Counselor Judith Carrington said she would certainly support such a group. "The best thing you can do for a client is obtain third party recognition-get other people to say something good about the client."

To help independent counselors to promote themselves, the O'Dwyer website is starting a separate listing of individual counselors and their biographies. Bios and pictures may be e-mailed to [email protected]. Jack O'Dwyer is speaking to the Wednesday PR Group in New York Feb. 28 on how small firms can promote themselves. Reservations by Judith Carrington (212/317-0710; [email protected]). Lunch is at San Culottes, Second and 57th.

ANTI-DRUG GROUPS HIT NY TIMES STORY

Anti-drug groups including Partnership for a Drug-Free America and Kids in a Drug-Free Society blasted the New York Times for its Jan. 21 Sunday magazine cover story that said many positive things about the drug Ecstasy.

Partnership called the article an "ode" to the drug and said it sends "a disturbing message of false hope."

KIDS, founded by the PRSA Foundation and which is still linked to the Foundation, supported the PDFA statement made by Richard Bonnette, president of PDFA and a director of KIDS.

The magazine cover story, which covered four-and-a-half pages, told of writer Matt Klam's mostly positive experience with the drug from 1984-86, when he was in college.

Among other things, Klam feels Ecstasy is a better drug for the depressed than Prozac.

Wrote Klam: "Ecstasy does not disrupt your basic sense of who you are...you barely feel weird... with Ecstasy, I had simply stepped outside the worn paths in my brain, and in the process, gained some perspective on my life. It was an amazing feeling...my emotions, my memory, my sense of smell-they were all as accessible as a photo album on my lap...Ecstasy creates not just a rush but a singular kind of emotional elevation-you are launched on a hot-air balloon ride that floats over the pitfalls of typical humanity...a subtle purifying something descends like a cool cotton blanket."

Message of `False Hope' Was Given

Bonnette said the cover story sent "a disturbing message of false hope." Klam's "foray into self-medication tells us there's peace and hope and better living thanks to a magic little pill," wrote Bonnette.

Voicing support of Bonnette's statement were David Grossman, president of the Foundation, and Ron Sconyers, CEO of KIDS.

Said Grossman: "Anything that appears to glorify drug use or that could be misunderstood by young readers as an endorsement of drug use, is harmful."

The KIDS program is demonstrating the power of PR by training parents to educate their children about the perils of drug use, said Grossman.

Other Media Also Cover Topic

Newsweek magazine had a cover story Feb. 12 about drug use including Ecstasy; U.S. News & World Report had a feature called, "Cracking down on Ecstasy," and the New York Daily News Feb. 7 had a feature starting on page one with the headline, "Ecstasy Breeds Violence."

Drugs like Ecstasy "medicate and seduce, quietly stealing mind and body before destroying both," said the Bonnette letter.

Newsweek said that drug users experience a brief high but then find that common experiences like "a good meal" or "a good chat" no longer bring pleasure.

The initial high is never duplicated and chronic users find they need drugs, not for pleasure, but to avoid "distress and despair," it adds.

PR OPINION/ITEMS

Former Vice President Al Gore's "off-the-record" first class at the Columbia University J-School Feb. 6 was a PR disaster that can only be blamed on Gore himself. He should have allowed a "pool" reporter or two to cover and tape the first class and then declared succeeding classes off-limits in the interests of avoiding a continuing circus.

Both Gore and the J-School ended up getting pummeled in the press for hypocrisy. It's like PRSA not having a PR director (the position is again open and candidates are being sought).

Something about the Columbia J-School seems to stick in the craw of reporters.

New York Post columnist Steve Dunleavy, who tried to cover the Gore debut, recalled he almost punched out some of the J-School students when he was invited to speak to them in 1984. He described the students as "little punks trying to be rude to me during their much-needed lecture."

Author Michael Lewis wrote a New Republic cover story in 1993 after spending a few days at the school. The headline was: "J-School Ate My Brain."

Our beef with the school is that it ignored the TJFR lawsuit against this Newsletter in 1994 even though the story got the lead in the New York Law Journal. The case was dismissed in Federal Court and our lawyer said it broke new ground for a reporter critically covering another reporter.

Postscript: The J-School later in the week denied it forbade students to talk about Gore's class. But the Post said that's what students had told reporters.

Columnist Liz Smith, trying to help President Clinton in his PR woes, said he might get someone like John Scanlon (who is helping Jesse Jackson); Paul Wilmot ("a classy independent success story, a counselor of note and very much in demand"), and fundraiser George Trescher ("he knows everybody who is anyone in the upper echelons and has improved both people and corporate entities by his taste and wisdom"). Smith does not recommend "powerful PR flack" Pat Kingsley of PMK PR, who she calls "a loyalist protector and press demonizer." Rather, she said, clients need "someone who'll give them frank and honest, back-up-to-the-hairbrush kind of non-sugar-coated advice"...with the words "loyalist protector and press demonizer," Smith has just described a large part of the current PR counseling business. She has given good advice: don't hire press haters but rather wise individuals who have standing with the press...PMK, a unit of Interpublic, put out the release that said the breakup of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman was "inevitable" because their work schedules keep them apart too much. No one (Liz Smith included) believes that... Razorfish, the dot-com whose biggest shareholder is Omnicom, will lay off 400 of its 1,800 employees. OMC owns 11.9 million shares or 12.8%. Stock price was $1.50 Feb. 9 after reaching $56.94 a year ago... Gavin Anderson's website says its Hong Kong office is staffed by "14 females and two token men"...we have not heard from the three women authors of Women in PR, whose finding that women PR pros make less than men was rebutted by nine PR recruiters ...hard drugs and especially Ecstasy were in the news last week (page 7). Kids in a Drug-Free Society, which works with the PRSA Foundation, joined others in condemning the New York Times for writing too glowingly about the effects of Ecstasy. KIDS, with a budget of $2.6M, could afford a full-time PR pro to work itself into the ongoing national dialogue on drugs. It now has a $200K "PR" program that will reach a handful of parents at their jobs...a question has now arisen about the very basis of the KIDS approach. An article by Justice Policy Institute researcher Mike Males in the Los Angeles Times says that teenagers are being "scapegoated" by their drug-taking parents. The drug-abuse crisis chiefly concerns aging "Baby Boomers" rather than their children, he writes. These stats are presented: only 700 of 84,500 hospital treatments for heroin abuse in 1999 were teenagers; only 33 of the 4,800 Americans who died from heroin that year were under 18; a study in Seattle and Portland found the average age of overdose victims was 40; four-fifths of California's heroin deaths are over 30. A teenager's parents, not the teenager, are five times more likely to be addicted to heroin, cocaine or Ecstasy-type drugs. Klam is right about one thing: the film "Traffic" is the drug scene "circa 1970"...neither side will talk to us in the Cohn & Wolfe (WPP) vs. Titan lawsuits in Atlanta. The suits are being waged in two courts by the world's biggest ad agency and the costs could be huge. A stray word here or there could only add to the bills. Lawsuits are war short of bullets...the network of independent sole PR practitioners that Ray Scroggins is organizing (page 7) is much needed. There are numerous PR pros with extensive backgrounds who make a good living without ever promoting themselves. The well-informed know who they are. Clients need a way to find such figures (a few of whom are named in the Liz Smith column above)... No Logo, by Canadian Naomi Klein, who visited slave-labor camps of teenage girls in 18 countries (4/12/00 NL), was briefly banned from Switzerland last month. No Logo and Captive State were found in books being brought to the World Economic Forum by booksellers. Guards at the border rejected the books as too subversive. "A public outcry set the books and sellers free," said Newsweek Feb. 12.