H&K LOSES GRIP ON $1M PUERTO RICO ACCT.

The Puerto Rico Tourism business, which is a $1 million PR account for Hill and Knowlton, is said to be loose.

Joan Brower, senior managing director of H&K's travel and tourism group, would only say that H&K has not received an official termination notice from Puerto Rico.

Another staffer, however, said the firm wrapped up its Puerto Rico work at the end of last year in the aftermath of November's election for governor.

That race saw Sila Maria Calderon of the Popular Democratic Party beat Carlos Pesquera of the ruling New Progressive Party.

Her election resulted in a re-shuffling of the ranks in the tourism office.

H&K does (or has done) travel PR work for Celebrity Cruises, Palm Beach County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Mirage Resorts, Nice Convention & Visitors Bureau and Detroit Marriott Renaissance Center.

C&W/TITAN DEPOSITIONS CANCELLED

Depositions for ten defendants and witnesses in the lawsuit of Cohn & Wolfe vs. the Titan Network, Atlanta, scheduled for March 5 through March 19, have been cancelled for the planned dates.

A lawyer for the Cohn & Wolfe side gave no reason and would not say whether other dates have been set. Executives at Titan (Anthony DeMartino, Michael Gavenchak and Matthew Coleman), did not return calls.

C&W is accusing those former firm employees of improperly soliciting C&W accounts. Reports that mediation is taking place could not be confirmed.

Philip Lader, outgoing U.S. Ambassador to the U.K., has been named non-executive chairman at WPP Group, succeeding Hamish Maxwell. Lader was White House deputy chief of staff for President Clinton, and deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget before joining WPP....Edelman PR Worldwide was named by Major League Baseball to promote the 2001 John Hancock All-Star Fan Fest slated for July 6-10 at Seattle's SAFECO Field. Mark Sage, MLB's director of special marketing, said Edelman's role is to create a "baseball heaven on earth." Plans call for more than 30 interactive exhibits, and such MLB mainstays as the home run derby, which will be sponsored by Century 21.

QORVIS LEADS $4M ARCTIC POWER PUSH

Arctic Power has hired Qorvis Communications to promote oil drilling in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The pact is worth about $4 million to Qorvis, which is headed by Michael Petruzzello, the former president of Shandwick PA.

AP, on its website, bills itself as a "grassroots, non-profit citizens' organization with 10,000 members."

Its board members include representatives from the Alaska Oil & Gas Assn., Resource Development Cncl., Alaska Miner's Assn., and Alaska Forest Assn.

AP says it has the support of Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles, a Democrat, and the state's legislature for opening up the coastal plain.

Asks for 'Unprecedented Business Support'

The Wall Street Journal reported that President Bush will ask "business for unprecedented help" in support of his economic and energy agenda.

He presents drilling in the ANWR as a major component of his energy program.

Environmental organizations and many Democrats bitterly oppose drilling in the ANWR.

Qorvis, which has a staff of 25, works closely with its legal partner, Patton Boggs.

'INDIES' HAD BANNER YEAR IN 2000

Independent PR firms supplying documentation to the O'Dwyer Co. had a banner year in 2000 with 112 of 144 firms showing double-digit growth and 18 of the top 25 showing increases of 25%+.

The 144 firms participating in the O'Dwyer rankings, which require proofs that include a W-3 statement of total payroll, copy of the top page of the latest income tax return, and CPA verification of total employees, is a gain from the 130 firms ranked last year.

See table of 144 independents on page 7.

Nine of the ten biggest firms had gains of more than 25%, with the largest gain (108%) recorded by the PR 21 unit of Edelman PR Worldwide.

The parent company, the No. 1 independent by a large margin, had a 25.5% growth to $233.4 million.

Ruder Finn, No. 2, had a 41.6% increase to $84.1M.

Other leading gainers in the top ten were MWW Group, up 39.7% to $37.7M; Schwartz Comms., up 57.7% to $33.1M; FitzGerald Comms., up 59.7% to $21.4M; Chandler Chicco, up 24% to $14.4M, and Neale-May & Partners, up 67% to $14M.

(continued on page 6)

SURVEY: MANY COS. DISCLOSE LESS INFO.

Almost one out of four companies is providing less information to investors than it did before the Securities and Exchange Commission passed Regulation Fair Disclosure.

In a recent survey on the impact of the new rule on corporate disclosure practices, the National Investor Relations Institute found 28% of 577 member companies surveyed by Rivel Research say they are providing more information to investors than before the new rule went into effect last October, and 48% are issuing about the same amount.

"We are concerned that 24% say they are providing less information," said NIRI president/CEO Louis M. Thompson Jr.

"Our survey suggests Regulation FD is largely working as the SEC envisioned to provide more equal access to information," said Thompson, who noted that prior to the adoption of the disclosure rule, 60% of NIRI's members were providing full public access to their conference calls to discuss quarterly earnings results and guidance.

Today, 89% are doing so-mostly through webcasts, one percent is conducting calls restricted to analysts and major investors and 10% don't hold conference calls since there is no requirement to do so," said Thompson.

Other Findings Cited

-84% of companies are notifying investors and the media of their upcoming conference calls in a news release.

-75% post a notice on their companies' website.

-55% are using "push technology" whereby interested investors who want an e-mail alert are notified directly.

-Of those companies that provide quarterly earnings guidance, 67% are putting it in a news release and 33% are filing it with SEC.

-75% of companies are providing some form of earnings guidance and 56% are updating their guidance in a news release, should material facts or circumstances change during the quarter.

-74% of companies are still conducting the same number of one-on-one meetings with analysts.

McCURRY: GOVT'S PR SYSTEM IS BROKEN

Former White House press secretary Mike McCurry said the "political information system" of the nation needs to be fixed.

McCurry, who was former President Clinton's spokesman from 1995 to 1998, spoke Feb. 23 at the University of Delaware. His remarks were reported by The Wilmington News Journal.

McCurry said political dialog in the U.S. began to break down after the end of the Cold War and the rise of the information age.

The fight against communism often led Democrats and Republicans to unite on foreign policy objectives. "But since 1989...the climate in Washington, D.C., has gotten worse and worse because there is nothing to bring us together," he said.

People are "swarmed by information" and, as a result, tend to run away unless they are stung by a certain story, "like O.J. Simpson...Princess Di... Monica Lewinsky...chads," he said.

He believes networks and newspapers were doing this because it is more cost effective to add more resources to the story of the moment than to invest in a new story.

The "political ruling class and the media ruling class haven't forged out a way to work collaboratively," said McCurry, who said there is reason to hope.

He believes right now is a moment between eras and he sees many young people who are ready to take up the challenge of public service.

He also believes the media system realizes there is a problem and is attempting to fix itself.

PENNIE, VETERAN PR PRO, DIES

Jeanne Pennie, whose PR career spanned more than 40 years, died Feb. 21 in New York. Burial took place in Chicago on Feb. 25.

Pennie had been a senior VPt/group director at Creamer Dickson Basford, where she worked from June 1978 to May 1998.

Mitch Kozikowski, former chairman of CDB (now Magnet Communications), said "Jeanne always steered everyone around her to be their best. She will be missed." Kathleen Nolan, a colleague of Pennie at CDB, remembered "Jeanne as both a friend and mentor, not just to me but to so many young people in the early stages of PR careers."

Among her clients at CDB were Hershey Foods, Dannon Yogurt, McDonald's Operators, Nestle Foods, and Frozen Food Institute.

She is survived by her husband, Martin Goldstein.

G-P SEEKS INVESTORS THROUGH ADS

Georgia-Pacific, the $1.3 billion forest products company based in Atlanta, is buying full page ads in national business publications to sell itself as a consumer products company to investors.

After more than 70 years of producing pulp, lumber and other commodities, the company will put a focus on promoting products sold in supermarkets and outlets such as Wal-Mart and K-Mart.

G-P recently acquired Fort James, the maker of Brawny paper towels, Quilted Northern toilet tissue and Dixie cups. The deal made G-P the largest maker of tissue products in the world, topping Kimberly-Clark.

The ads, which started running Feb. 28 in The Wall Street Journal and Investor's Business Daily, show three identical businessmen "planted" knee-deep in the ground in front of a tree.

"All those forest products companies that think progress is a good thing, please step forward," reads the headline. The ad implies only G-P is moving away from the pack.

Richard Good, director of IR, sees the ad campaign as a way to attract a different set of investors.

CLINTON MAKES PITCH FOR FOREIGN NEWS

Former President Bill Clinton said the media should pay more attention to foreign affairs in a speech he delivered Feb. 27 at Variety's conference for media and entertainment leaders.

The speech stirred up controversy even before it was given, owing to Clinton's $100,000 speaking fee and reluctance of some corporate executives to pay such fees while Clinton faces possible criminal investigation.

The Boston Globe said the conference's main sponsor, Credit Suisse-First Boston, took its name off all the publicity materials and corporate logos surrounding the event, which was held in a New York midtown hotel.

Cameras and tape recorders were barred from the ballroom.

Clinton, who wondered whether TV networks can make public service profitable, noted there were 24,528 stories about the TV show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," but only 8,365 on his initiative to reduce global debt.

He praised a few news stories that have shown it is possible to solve global problems such as an article in The New York Times Magazine, about how Brazil has nearly wiped out AIDS.

"We are at the dawn of a whole new era of human affairs," said Clinton, citing benefits of combining democracy, human rights, and the global economy.

"I am absolutely convinced it will not happen unless the American people know more, care more and understand more about how it will affect their lives," he said.

SURVEY: TV NEWS VIEWERS DISTRUSTFUL

A new survey from a Columbus, Oh.-based research firm found 54.8% of 9,079 respondents disagreed or strongly disagreed that the reporting of news is objective.

Bigresearch on Public Policy and Media Influence's survey also found 50.8% of respondents chose TV as their primary source of news, with 19.5% selecting online as their authoritative source of news, and 17.3% selecting newspapers.

When asked what media influences their political opinion the most, 48.2% said TV, with 17.5% and 12.3% indicating newspaper and online, respectively.

"It appears that people have become cynical of media news, but are still willing to engage in the parasocial activity of inviting the market researcher anchor into the home as a guest, regardless of their ambivalence toward the reporting," said Joe Pilotta, VP of research for Bigresearch.

ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS TRAINING OFFERED

A training program to improve the media's coverage of the environment has been established by the Washington, D.C.-based National Safety Council's Environmental Health Center, and The Conservation Fund, a nonprofit group that does leadership develop<%-2>ment as well as land acquisition.

The hope is to conduct actual training programs as early as the fall of 2001 or spring of 2002.

"This training will empower print and broadcast journalists to better understand complex data and trends underlying these issues," the groups said in a prospectus on the new program.

A journalism advisory committee has been appointed. It includes Allen Carroll, chief cartographer of National Geographic Maps; Jim Detjen, director of the Knight Center for Environmental Journalism at Michigan State University; Paul Dolan, executive director, Cable and International Business Development, with ABC News in New York; Tony Lugo Jr., cartographic editor for The Associated Press and manager of AP's MapShop map service; Scott Miller, environmental reporter for King 5 News, Seattle; Kathryn Phillips, a freelance journalist, and Bruno Tedeschi, bureau chief of The Bergen Record, Hackensack, N.J.

N.Y. NEWS NAMES EDITORIAL PAGE ED.

Richard Schwartz, 42, was named editorial page editor of The New York Daily News.

Schwartz was a senior advisor to Mayor Rudy Giuliani from 1994 through 1997, and helped create and implement the city's welfare reform program.

After leaving City Hall, Schwartz founded Opportunity America, a firm that provides training and job placements for people on welfare.

Schwartz, who takes over March 26, will replace Brian Kates, who was interim editor. Kates will join the paper's enterprise team.

Howard Kissel has resumed his role as principal drama critic at the Daily News. Kissel, who was previously the daily's drama critic from 1986 to 1997, will also continue to write on the arts for the daily and Sunday News.

PEOPLE _________________________

Bill Hamilton, 50, was promoted to assistant managing editor of enterprise at The Washington Post. He will focus on financial and national reporting.

Kevin Merida, 44, a columnist and "Style" section writer, was elevated to associate editor. He will continue to write stories for Style and other sections of the paper as well as a biweekly column in the Sunday magazine.

Jane Healy, who has been The Orlando Sentinel's managing editor for the past eight years, was named editorial page editor, replacing Manning Pynn, who was named public editor.

Kim Marcum, formerly features editor of The Baltimore Sun, is joining the Sentinel as associate editor for features, including entertainment and lifestyle coverage, replacing Steve Doyle.

Gail Rayos, now Orange County editor, was named associate managing editor for business news.

(Media news continued on next page)

CFO MAG TO PROFILE AWARD WINNERS

Winners of the 2001 CFO Excellence Awards, which are sponsored by CFO Publishing Corp., Boston, and Arthur Andersen, will be profiled and "prominently featured" in the October issue of CFO magazine, according to Alexandra Ballantine, who is director of operations for the competition.

Past winners include Judy Lewent of Merck, Joseph Martin of Fairchild Semiconductor International, Jeffrey Henley of Oracle, Chris Davis of Gulfstream Aerospace, Dennis Dammerman of General Electric, and Andrew Fastow of Enron.

The eligibility rules for the awards program have been expanded and 10 new categories have been added. CFOs of public and private companies with annual revenues of $300 million and above are now eligible to enter the contest.

Julia Homer, editor-in-chief of CFO magazine, which is part of The Economist Group, will chair the judging panel, which will consist of experts, including CEOs.

Nomination forms are available in the February and March issue of CFO magazine and on www.cfoexcellence.com. Applications are due on April 30.

Publicists may get additional information about the contest by calling Ballantine at 845/279-5808.

PLACEMENT TIPS ________________

CNN has named Kathy Slobogin to its newly expanded beats focusing on medical, education, family and religious issues. She is based in Washington, D.C.

Oxygen Media's "SheCommerce," a TV show that airs daily, has started taping on the third floor of New York's Saks Fifth Avenue store. It had been taped at the Starbucks on Park ave. and 29th st.

The show's hosts-Wendy Shanker, Letica Castillo and Janine Marino-interview fashion personalities and discuss what's new in the world of online shopping, fashion and commerce.

SheCommerce will be taped at Saks every Friday, with new episodes scheduled to make their debut during the first week in April.

Gourmet magazine has added a new food feature, called "Gourmet Every Day." The goal is to show readers how to get a dinner on the table in 15 minutes using the same kind of cooking equipment the reader has. Ruth Cousineau is food editor.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has introduced a small business feature, written by Christine Van Dusen. It will report on the personalities behind new start-up ventures in the Atlanta area. "Business on a Small Scale" will appear in the "Business News" section every other Tuesday. The companies will be at least a year old.

Victoria's March issue, which just hit newsstands, has increased coverage of fashion, travel and beauty. Peggy Kennedy, who was hired as editor-in-chief last August after 19 years at House Beautiful, another Hearst magazine, is responsible for the new look of the 14-year-old publication, which has a higher circulation (950,000) than Architectural Digest, House & Garden or House Beautiful.

MEDIA BRIEFS _____________________

Thomson Corp., Toronto, is selling the Bond Buyer and American Banker, which are both based in New York, to focus on delivering financial information electronically to readers.

American Banker's circulation is 14,500 Monday-Friday, and Bond Buyer has 40,000 readers daily, the company said.

The Industry Standard, a magazine that covers the Internet economy, has filed 20 lawsuits seeking to collect more than $1.5 million for nearly 100 unpaid ads that were mostly bought by former dot-com companies.

The suits, which were filed in San Francisco Superior Court, show most of the ads were worth more than $10,000 and many took up a full page, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

The magazine also contends it is owed for several unpaid banner ads on its website. Most of the suits allege breach of contract.

Walt Disney Co. has been given a 50% stake in US Weekly, a magazine published by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner's Wenner Media. The new company, called US Weekly LLC, aims to merge the content from Disney's entertainment and media holdings-including the ABC TV network-with US Weekly reporting.

US Weekly will have several tie-ins to ABC broadcast and online activities. ABC will develop annual US Weekly entertainment awares, include a segment featuring a US Weekly reporter on ABC's morning program "Good Morning America," and ABC-owned TV stations will include segments from US Weekly in their news programs.

US Weekly, which began as a bimonthly publication in 1977 and was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986, will continue to be based in New York.

The Associated Press has begun new entertainment and Spanish-language news services on the Internet.

AP Entertainment Online will offer news and photo coverage of film, music, celebrities, TV, the entertainment industry and special events. AP also has teamed with Fashion Wire Daily to offer the latest news from the fashion world.

AP Online en Espanol will provide coverage of the U.S., Latin America and the world. The service features breaking news, as well as stories of special interest to Spanish-speaking audiences.

Both services are available in web-ready formats via the Internet.

PR OPINION/ITEMS

The 143 independent PR firms ranked on page 7 represent an increase from the 130 ranked in the previous year.

The independents, unlike the ad agency owned PR wings, have no trouble submitting simple documentation of their size such as a W-3 form showing total payroll, top page of the most recent income tax return, and total full-time employees as verified by an outside CPA.

This NL told a group of about 50 independent PR counselors in New York last week (The Wednesday Group) that they have a good story to tell even though they can't match the millions in advertising being spent by the ad agency-owned PR operations.

With a small or medium-sized independent firm, the client deals with the principal or principals. The work is not shifted down to juniors.

The independents are under no lash by a parent company to make sizable profits or grow at a rapid rate. They are under no pressure to recommend services of sister companies. They can give advice without worrying whether it might jeopardize a major ad client of the parent.

They have expense accounts that allow them to build press relationships. Some of them spend most of their time with the press. They see themselves as "story brokers," taking on clients who have a story to tell and who will make themselves available to the press. They know that nothing can substitute for a CEO who is open and articulate.

The independents are under no pressure to sell expensive and time-consuming research programs to clients. They know the average company already has lots of research on hand. Trade and general media, if the PR pro is on good terms with them, can supply plenty of research on almost any company or issue quickly and at no cost (that's their business).

A practiced writer familiar with what the press wants can interview a CEO and find numerous possible stories in short order without drawing up elaborate D-Day level plans. He or she knows there is no need for the client to undergo psychoanalysis in order for stories to be produced.

The O'Dwyer website now lists biographies of leading independent PR counselors along with their e-mail addresses. Clients should talk to independents as well as big firms before making a choice.

Interpublic net for 2000 fell from $382M, or $1.24 a share, to $358M, or $1.15 a share. Fourth quarter net was 34 cents a share vs. 36 cents. That's what the financial tables show on the last page of a six-page report. The press release started out with IPG announcing a 31% gain in fourth quarter EPS "before acquisition costs." No balance sheet was provided which makes the earnings report woefully incomplete because investors are not told the debt situation, receivables, payables, etc. The stock fell several points last week mostly on fears that ad budgets for 2001 are shrinking, as acknowledged by IPG. Credit Suisse First Boston upgraded IPG to buy from hold while Salomon downgraded it to outperform from buy...here's Gore Vidal's advice to George Bush: "Use your first term to break the Pentagon." Vidal feels that the U.S. has become the "largest rogue state" in that we spurn international courts, give orders to the U.N. but fail to pay our dues, and that "our Congress has been hijacked by corporate America and its enforcer, the imperial military machine...our institutions taken over in a globalized American empire that is totally alien in concept to anything our founders had in mind" (from the December Vanity Fair)...IABC, undergoing financial rehab, has received pledges of $1,000 from 188 members so far (goal is 500). The group hopes for 2,000 attendees at its annual conference in New York June 24-27 (www.iabc.com). That is very close to the July 4 vacation period and people may be already away or making plans. The eight-member executive committee of the board cancelled a meeting in Sydney, Australia in April but chairman Charles Pizzo will make the trip on IABC's tab, visiting several chapters. Another board member is going at his own expense...an "instant poll" on the O'Dwyer website has 58 votes in favor of an IABC/PRSA merger and 31 against it...members of the new and much needed PRSA audit committee are PRSA treasurer Reed Byrum, chair; board members Michael Jackson and Del Galloway, and non-board members Bob Stack and Michael McDermott...while PRSA is having its financial problems, the New York chapter is financially healthy with $138K in cash and investments. It does not defer any of its $57K in dues income although national has just adopted that policy after fighting it for many years. The chapter had $290K in income and $281K in expenses in 2000. There's little sentiment among current chapter leadership for fighting for decoupling APR from office-holding. The feeling is the all-APR Assembly won't vote themselves out of power. Chapter growth is impeded by the $215 in dues owed to national. Some chapters have "shadow chapters" in which non-national members belong to the local only.