VIRGINIA ISSUES $30M ANTI-SMOKING RFP

The Virginia Tobacco Settlement Foundation has issued a $30 million RFP for a three-year advertising/PR campaign to discourage minors from smoking.

The Foundation also wants to educate retailers about penalties involved in selling tobacco products to minors.
Direct marketing, ethnic outreach, promotion, Internet communications and merchandising are also part of the communications mix.

The Foundation encourages firms pitching to include Virginia-based subcontractors that are minority and/or women-owned on their communications teams.

Proposals are due April 16, and oral presentations will be heard May 14-18. The winner will be notified June 6 and the compaign is to begin Nov. 1.

NIKON FOCUSES ON MWW FOR PR

Nikon Inc. has selected MWW Group to handle its more than $500,000 annual PR account.

"Everything just clicked" with MWW, said Anna Marie Bakker, general manager-communications at Nikon, when she reviewed the credentials of the Golin/Harris International unit.

MWW is to build Nikon's brand awareness, increase its Internet visibility and help launch new products. It also will handle sponsorships, photo competitions, workshops and Nikon's photography school.

Nikon had used Earle Palmer Brown for PR. Bakker made the switch because she wanted "new blood" on the account and the fresh PR perspective that a new firm would offer.

Edelman PR Worldwide sliced 60 staffers from its 2,300-member payroll in an effort to cope with the economic slowdown. Neither a practice area nor office was singled out for major cuts, Pam Talbott, president, told this NL. The Houston office, however, was closed down...Russia is considering a multimillion dollar image campaign to improve its stature in the U.S. Andre Sitov, a Washington, D.C., correspondent for ITAR-TASS, told this NL the idea had been kicking around in Moscow for a while. "When there was a Soviet Union, the government had its own propaganda unit in Washington," he said. "That is no longer the case." Sitov, however, downplayed reports that Russia is willing to spend up to $50 million for a communications program. "That number is way too high," he said.

IPG BUYS TN TO CREATE NO. 1 AGENCY

Interpublic Group is buying True North for $2.1 billion in stock, a deal that creates the world's No. 1 ad/PR agency with revenues of more than $7.1 billion.

IPG is offering stock worth $40.24 for each TN share. That represents a 2.4 percent premium over TN's Friday closing price of $39.31, according to Susan Watson, an IPG spokesperson.

The deal joins TN's BSMG Worldwide PR brand with IPG's Weber Shandwick and Golin/Harris units.

TN became a takeover target following the loss of its Chrysler ad account last year. That represented about 10 percent of its annual revenues.

Publicis, which owns nine percent of TN, had been viewed as a suitor of TN, until its CEO Maurice Levy ruled out such a deal during a press conference last week. WPP Group and Havas Advertising also were seen as bidders.

TN's fourth quarter net income plunged 75 percent to $9.9 million following charges for Chrysler and its investment in Modem Media.

BSMG Worldwide is handling Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co.'s Surpass, an antacid gum. Wrigley Healthcare is to spend $40 million in PR/ads to launch Surpass.

GRISWOLD'S 'PRISON' BARRED BY LAW

The blockage of contact between the late Denny Griswold and her many friends that took place in the last five years of her life at a healthcare facility appears to be barred by Federal law.

Griswold, the founder of PR News, died Feb. 7 after a stay of more than five years at Wilton Meadows Health Care Center, Wilton, Conn.

Federal regulations say residents at long term facilities have the right to "communication with and access to persons and services inside and outside the facility" and that the facility itself "must protect and promote the rights of each resident..." The residents also have the right to "send and promptly receive mail that is unopened" and to use the telephone.

An ombudsman who visited Griswold on May 13, 1996 found her sleeping "in restraints" and lacking her hearing aid. The ombudsman said Griswold was also being restrained while in her wheelchair. Griswold asked that the restraints be removed.

Her townhouse at 127 E. 80th st. in New York reportedly was sold for $3M+ several years ago. It contained antiques, art and 50 years of PR memorabilia.

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RAYTHEON IS SUBJECT OF REG FD PROBE

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating to see if Raytheon Co. gave information to analysts in the past month about its profit outlook without making it public, unnamed sources told Bloomberg News.

Raytheon may become a test case for how the SEC enforces Regulation FD that prohibits companies from selectively disclosing information. Since the rule was enacted last October, the SEC has not taken enforcement action against any company for violating the rule.

The SEC could issue a warning or levy fines for each violation of up to $100,000 per individual and $500,000 for companies, an SEC spokesman said.

Scott Tagliarino, 47, who was appointed managing director of Gavin Anderson & Co. in 1999, has been named VP-corporate and marketing communications at PanAmSat, a division of Hughes Electronics which distributes video and data broadcasting services via satellite. He was president of Hill and Knowlton's New York office for a year before joining G&A...Mark Cown, president, The Columbus Group, to Patton Boggs LLP, Washington, D.C., as a partner. He was previously president/COO, Newmyer Assocs. and CEO, The Jefferson Group.

BOOK PUBLICISTS ALSO WRITE BOOKS

Planned Television Arts, a New York-based book publicity firm, which is a division of Ruder-Finn, now boasts four published authors on its staff.

-Rick Frishman, who is president of PTA, is co-author with Jay C. Levinson of the just-published Guerilla Marketing for Writers (Writer's Digest Books).

-Brian Feinblum, PTA's associate publicity manager, is author of The Florida Homeowners Condo and Co-Op Assn. Handbook (Lifetime Books).

-Sandy Trupp, who heads PTA's Washington, D.C., office, recently published with co-author Maureen Chase, Office Emails That Really Click (Aegis Publishing), and

-Stefan Feller, a publicist for PTA, is author of How To Juggle Women: Without Getting Killed or Going Broke (BSB Publishing).


PUBLICIST STILL PAYS CLIENTS FOR FAILURES

Roger Brown, who is 81, claims his PR firm was the first one to compensate clients for failures or mistakes.

Brown said he started offering the "guaranteed" concept about 40 years ago when he opened his PR firm in New York. About six years ago, he moved his business to Fort Lauderdale.

He was on the way to deliver the first of four separate Reader's Digest articles about the inventor of Scotch tape when he happened to see a small room in the administration building where every magazine and newspaper clipping and every TV and radio placement had been counted and judged.

"It was relatively easy to determine how much money had been paid for how much approved-by-management publicity-and Proved Publicity was born," recalled Brown.

The firm's original clients were 3M, Motorola and Kroger. He handled all three clients for 20 years each.

Brown, who has no plans of retiring, still charges clients one-third down, one-third upon media acceptance and the final one-third when the project is on the air or in the publication.

SPOKESPEOPLE PLAY CRUCIAL PR ROLE

"It's often not what the spokesperson says, but the impression that reporters or members of an audience take with them that really counts," Dick Kulp, who is a media trainer at Virgil Scudder & Assocs., told a PRSA/N.Y. media relations workshop Feb. 28.

Kulp told the 30 people attending the workshop that PR professionals play a critical role in finding the right spokesperson for their company or client, and in getting that spokesperson trained for media and other public appearances.

He cited the Ford-Firestone tire safety crisis as an example of how crucial the spokesperson can prove to be when there are questions about product liability and safety.

He polled the audience, asking whether the chief executives of Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone were believable in the aftermath of the tire crisis. Nearly everyone said no.

Kulp, a former broadcaster at NBC and ABC who is the lead trainer at VS&A, said the ideal spokesperson is a man or woman who is knowledgeable, media-savvy, likable, caring, concerned, and above all, believable.

"In a media interview or a speech, the reporter or audience may not agree with everything your spokesperson says. But if they see the spokesperson as credible and sincere, you've made the right impression," said Kulp.

COKE REDUCES SCHOOL TIES

Coca-Cola announced last week it would end its practice of demanding that schools only sell its sodas in return for cash.

The company also promised to remove its logo from vending machines, and stock them with water, juices and calcium-rich drinks.

Coke, which has sold soda in schools for 50 years, also will comply with wishes of educators who want to restrict the sale of beverages during certain parts of the day.

Jeffrey Dunn, president of Coca-Cola Americas, announced those plans in response to concerns about "commercialism" in schools.

"The classroom is a clean zone-and we've always been committed to promoting a learning environment that does not become commercialized," he said.

BUFFETT RAPS MEDIA IN ANNUAL REPORT

Warren Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is highly critical of the news media in his company's annual report.
Buffett's harsh comments on the media stem from a report about Berkshire that was distributed in December by several news outlets.

That report, first published by The Wall Street Journal, quoted unnamed "people familiar with the matter" as saying Berkshire had bought securities issued by two financially troubled companies, Finova and Conseco.

Although Buffett later confirmed the Finova purchase, he complains in his annual report that the Journal's article was "widely inaccurate" regarding the size of the purchase.

Buffett said he had never invested in any Conseco securities, and expressed anger at how the report in the Journal was soon repeated on CNBC. "Immediately, in lemming-like manner, other respected news organizations, relying solely on the Journal, began relating the same `facts,'" said Buffett.

Fortune later reported the Journal had been wrong in an article written by Carol Loomis, who is a friend of Buffett and helps edit his annual report.

Wouldn't Label It 'Rumor'

In all the reports that picked up the Journal's account, "I never heard or read the word `rumor,'" said Buffett.

"Apparently reporters and editors, who generally pride themselves on their careful use of language, just can't bring themselves to attach this word to their accounts. But what description would fit more precisely? Certainly not the usual `sources say' or `it has been reported.'

"A column entitled `Today's Rumor,' however, would not equate with the self-image of the many news organizations that think themselves above such stuff," wrote Buffett.

"But rumors are what these organizations often publish and broadcast, whatever euphemism they duck behind. At a minimum, readers deserve honest terminology-a warning label that will protect their financial health in the same way that smokers whose physical health is at risk are given a warning.

"The Constitution's First Amendment allows the media to print or say almost anything. Journalism's first principle should require that the media be scrupulous in deciding what that will be," said Buffett.

NEW YORK HAS 10,000 JOURNALISTS

More than 10,000 journalists-writers, editors, producers, photographers, and freelancers-are working on the island of Manhattan, according to the new issue of Columbia Journalism Review.

David Laventhol, who is publisher and editorial director of CJR, said this has resulted in an "unparalleled concentration of media power, even in the age of the Internet."

CJR said 2,800 of New York's journalists work for magazines, 2,000 for newspapers and 2,000 at the broadcast TV networks. Another 1,000 work at news services, 750 at cable networks, 750 in local TV and radio and 200 in new media, while about 500 freelance.

CJR said New York's media power declined in the 1980s when Washington emerged as an intellectual center for the media.

Hudson's Washington News Media Contacts Diretory listed 4,684 correspondents and editors based in D.C. in its 2001 edition, up from 4,287 in 2000.

MOST CEOs GET UNFAVORABLE COVERAGE

Daily analysis of major news media in the U.S. shows CEOs and management from a small number of companies have gotten positive news coverage during the past year while most companies have had neutral or negative coverage on CEO/management topics.

The data results are based on an ongoing analysis conducted by CARMA imMEDIAte, a Washington, D.C.-based company that analyzes media coverage for 700 large companies.

Sixteen of the top news and business publications in the U.S. are read and analyzed for key topics including analysts comments, product coverage, earnings and other issue areas that may impact a company's public perception and share price.

Every news article is rated on a scale of 0 to 100. If an article gets a rating over 50 it is favorable for the company, under 50 is unfavorable.

The companies with the greatest volume of coverage of their CEO and management were DaimlerChrysler, General Electric, General Motors, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, and Lucent.

The data shows companies got greater volumes of coverage when they were going through management changes, a crisis or had fallen on hard times. Companies with the best CEO/management coverage usually had CEOs with a proven track record or were going through a positive period of growth through acquisitions.

Albert Barr, CEO of CARMA, said "Our data seems to indicate that with a few exceptions, management doesn't get a large amount of coverage and when it does the coverage is generally not that favorable."

Nokia Got Best Coverage

The companies whose executives generated the most favorable press coverage were Nokia (70 rating), Nissan (67), Alcoa (64), General Electric (60), PepsiCo (60), J.P. Morgan Chase (60) and the Reuters Group (60).

The most unfavorable coverage was earned by Sotheby's (35), Xerox (38), Bridgestone/Firestone (39), DaimlerChrysler (41), AT&T (42) and Network Assocs. (43).

The average management favorability rating for all 700 companies was 51, which signifies nearly neutral coverage.

(Media news continued on next page)

TRAVEL INDUSTRY TARGETS WRITERS

Several ministers of tourism and directors of hotels and spa owners are expected at the Caribbean Marketplace for Journalists meeting, which will take place April 3 in the Marriott Marquis Hotel, New York.

They will make themselves available for interviews to the journalists-only meeting, and will put together media lists for press trips and individual journalist visits.

Richard Kahn, Kahn Travel Communications, is handling registrations at 516/594-4104.

Another meeting for travel journalists is the Travel & Tourism Marketplace, sponsored by PRSA.

It will be held on April 5 at the Roosevelt Hotel, New York.

Travel writers will be able to find out what's new and what's hot with airlines, cruise lines, tour operators, casinos, attractions, hotels and resorts, conventions, and visitors bureaus, government tourist offices and more.

198 ETHNIC OUTLETS REACH 52 GROUPS

A directory published by the Independent Press Assn., New York, lists 198 magazines and newspapers for 52 ethnic and national groups published in 36 languages.

"Many Voices, One City: The IPA Guide to the Ethnic Press of New York City" provides descriptions and contact information for each of the publications.

"There has never been one extensive resource compiling all of New York's ethnic press in one place," according to Abby Scher, IPA's New York director and a co-editor of the directory. "Many of these publications are national in scope and deserve to be read and considered seriously as the voices of their communities," she said.

New York is experiencing a boom period for the ethnic press as immigrants launch their own newspapers. Forty percent of New York's residents are immigrants, 30% are Hispanic and 24% are African American. The directory sells for $15. 415/643-0041.

PEOPLE _____________________________

Adam Moss, editor of The New York Times Magazine, was named "Editor of the Year" by Advertising Age. Moss became editor of the Sunday magazine in April 1998.

William Holstein, 49, previously a senior writer for U.S. News & World Report left Feb. 26 to become editor-at-large for San Francisco-based Business 2.0, a biweekly magazine with a circulation of 350,000. Holstein is based in the magazine's New York bureau on Fifth ave. at 42nd st.

Paul Maidment, who was founding editor of FT.com, website of the Financial Times in London, is the new editor of Forbes.com and executive editor of Forbes magazine.

Jackson Diehl, 44, a former Washington Post bureau chief in South America, Eastern Europe and Israel, became deputy editorial page editor of the newspaper on Jan. 31.

HERON QUITS AS EDITOR OF WIRED

Katrina Heron, who has been editor-in-chief of San Francisco-based Wired magazine since Dec. 1997, is leaving in June. No successor has been named.

Heron told a reporter she is leaving on her own accord to spend more time with her 3-year-old twin daughters.

The monthly print meetings at Conde Nast headquarters in New York were also a problem for Heron, who is a former writer for Vanity Fair and the New Yorker.

Wired, which was started in 1991, was acquired by Conde Nast for about $80 million in May 1998. The magazine has a current circulation of more than 500,000.

VARNEY QUITS AS 'MONEYLINE' ANCHOR

Stuart Varney has resigned as co-anchor of "Moneyline News Hour," a daily business news program on CNN.

The New York Daily News said Varney, who has been feuding with network founder Ted Turner and news executives over the direction of the show, quit March 1 after hearing Turner had called CNN employees in the Washington, D.C., bureau, who observed Ash Wednesday, "Jesus freaks." Varney is a devout Christian.

John King, who is CNN's White House correspondent, is also mad at the network.

King, whose contract expires next month, said he felt "shame and horror" while watching Larry King hug President Bush at a pre-inaugural party where the talk show host was serving as master of ceremonies.

CNN said later it was a mistake to let Larry King participate in the event, which was telecast live Jan. 18 on CNN.

LALLI REJOINS NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Frank Lalli, who was previously editor-in-chief of George magazine, has rejoined The New York Daily News as Sunday editor.

Lalli, who was top editor of Money magazine before joining George, will also oversee daily business coverage along with the business editor, Scott Wenger, and his deputy, David Andelman.

From 1980 to 1982, Lalli was associate editor at the Daily News, where he was in charge of business coverage.

Herbert Kupferberg, 83, a senior editor and "What's Up This Week" columnist at Parade, died Feb. 22. He and his wife became ill after eating out on New Year's Eve. His wife, Barbara, recovered.

GRISWOLD TREATMENT BARRED (cont'd)

She owned a house on 18 acres in Weston, Conn., assessed at $1.26 million. Friends said they were unable to reach Griswold by phone, letter or visits since 1995.

A large silver plate signed by board members of PRSA and other friends was created in 1995 for presentation to her at a dinner. Ray Gaulke, former president of PRSA, said that when she was unable to attend the dinner the plate was sent via UPS to Wilton Meadows but the facility wouldn't take it. He said the plate is probably still at PRSA.

Federal rules say that only if a resident is judged incompetent can their rights be exercised by another person appointed under state law.

Griswold was at "a very high functioning level," said the ombudsman.

Gave Power of Attorney to Niece

Griswold, according to filings in the Norwalk, Conn., Probate Court, gave power of attorney to her niece, Susan Garrett. This allowed Garrett to act for her but did not mean Griswold gave up any rights.

The ombudsman told Griswold that Garrett was not allowing her stepdaughter Margot Grosvenor to visit her and was withholding her mail. Griswold said she did not believe that Garrett would do that.

Wilton Meadows is owned by TransCon Builders, Cleveland, which owns medical facilities and buildings there and The Greens at Cannondale in Wilton, for 86 seniors; Greenwich Woods Health Care Center in Greenwich, and Hamden Health Care Center in Hamden, Conn.

Wilton Meadows is licensed by Medicare/Medicaid and is subject to Federal rules. Rates at Wilton Meadows are $257 per day for a semi-private room (about $94,000 yearly). A call to Peter Rzepka, chairman of TransCon, was not returned.

Robert Kurzman, of Kurzman & Eisenberg, White Plains, N.Y., told this NL March 14 that he represented Susan Garrett and her husband, Russell Garrett, and that the NL should not make any further attempts to contact the Garretts.

Russell Garrett was reached by this NL in 1998 (4/29/98 NL) after it received complaints that access to Griswold was being blocked. He asked that any mail for Griswold be sent to her home in Weston and that he would give it to her. He said she was "fine" but recuperating from a broken hip.

Pedersen Recounts Meeting with Garrett

Wes Pedersen, longtime friend of Griswold, recalled meeting Susan Garrett around mid-1995 when he and his wife, Angela, had lunch with Griswold in New York. He said that while Susan Garrett had been friendly in previous encounters at various PR News social events, he found her to be "cold" when he and his wife met Griswold at her townhouse. Garrett did not accompany the threesome to lunch at a nearby restaurant. "Maybe she thought we were there about donating the townhouse to PRSA, which we weren't," theorized Pedersen.

Once Griswold went into Wilton Meadows, Pedersen said, he never made contact with her again. Phyllis Berlowe, a Griswold friend who died Feb. 9, 2000, became "distraught" when all her efforts also failed, said Pedersen.

Sheila Kelley, a member of Women Executives in PR, said Berlowe led attempts to reach Griswold in behalf of WEPR. Griswold was described in the 50th anniversary brochure of WEPR as its "mother." Kelley said Berlowe "tried and tried and tried" to reach Griswold but failed.

New York counselor Terry Mayer, who attended the "ThanksXmas" parties that Denny and her husband Langdon Sullivan threw each year at the townhouse, said she recalled Griswold talking about making gifts of antiques to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and that she hoped Philippe deMontebello, director of the Met, might one day live at her townhouse.

Mayer said she was present when two officials of the Met catalogued items that might be donated.

Mayer provided copies of about 20 notes from Griswold to Mayer on various topics. "She loved to send letters and notes to friends," said Mayer.

John Paulus, retired SVP of PR/PA at Allegheny International, said he was one of her best friends and "constantly" exchanged cards and letters with her until this "suddenly stopped" about mid-1995.

Neither Paulus, Mayer nor Kelley said they remember Griswold having any trouble hearing although Mayer and Kelley knew Griswold used a hearing aid.

Budd Says Griswold Was Undecided

Budd, who with Gaulke and Harold Burson talked with Griswold at least three times about her donating her townhouse to PRSA, said Griswold had not made up her mind about it. She was wondering whether donating the building to PRSA or selling it would bring more money, he said.

The building would have become PRSA's h.q. and would have been used for conferences, training and as a library. A plaque might have identified it as the "Denny Griswold Memorial PR Center," Budd said.

Then, he added, "she suddenly disappeared" and he never had contact with her again. "I never got any response to phone calls or letters," he said.

The 1996 ombudsman's report had said that Griswold was "extremely hard of hearing" and that communication was done "through writing on a pad." Griswold complained that her hearing aid was at home and broken and that "when she gets home" she would have it fixed. Asked if she would like a new one, Griswold responded, "I'd love to."

A state-appointed lawyer who interviewed her also found her to be "extremely hard of hearing" and that "almost everything" had to be written down.

The lawyer, Nora Treschitta, said that when she asked why Griswold did not have her hearing aid the nurse said "the staff has a strict policy on handling the hearing aid to prevent misplacement of it."

Treschitta, who found that Griswold "seemed to fully understand the matters we discussed," told this NL that Griswold was "a delightful woman" and "fully alert." Treschitta said she had no knowledge of Griswold's occupation or any details of her life.

PR OPINION/ITEMS

A horrible conclusion is starting to form in our mind about the last years of Denny Griswold's life.

She spent them thinking that her many friends had abandoned her when the opposite was true. They were desperately trying to reach her.

The smoking gun in this case is the large silver plate that PRSA leaders and others had made up and signed as a tribute to her leadership.

Receiving this would have cheered her up. She loved to give awards and receive them (her bio states she received more than 130 awards). Yet delivery of this plate to her nursing home was blocked as were all phone calls and letters to her.
Examiners found Denny had lost none of her marbles. She had trouble hearing because she didn't have her hearing aid. Policy, at least when an advocate visited her, was to strap her in bed and in her wheelchair. Nursing home advocates say such restraints are not to be used "for the convenience of the staff." There is much literature on this subject.

Friends of Denny are mystified as to how the law could allow the "queen of communications" to be held incommunicado for about five years. We're all in trouble if such a thing is possible.

Another clue here (in a situation in which certain key players are not talking) is the failure of Griswold's niece, Susan Garrett, to come forward and explain her role in Griswold's life in recent years. She became the steward of one of the icons of PR but is herself not practicing PR.

Griswold believed that people and organizations must be truthful and open and live up to their obligations to the public. She called on them to be "socially responsible." She once said that "business and industry had long been shrouded in a cloak of mystery" but that the "the fullest possible disclosure is infinitely more valuable than secrecy."

Griswold hailed the appointment of PR pros "with talent, training and experience to serve the public interests of the modern world." In 1992 she created an annual scholarship in her name via PRSA.

Another smoking gun is the request in 1998 by Russell Garrett, husband of Susan, for Denny's friends to send mail to her house in Weston with the promise that he would give it to her. Why wasn't Denny allowed to get and send her own mail as required by federal law? She was mentally competent as officials have testified.

A case involving reporters' ethics is being hotly debated in India. Reporters pretended to be arms merchants and caught on video and audiotape numerous bureaucrats and politicians accepting cash bribes. Defense minister George Fernandes resigned as did Jay Jaitley, president of the party to which both belong (New York Times 3/16). The reporters broadcast the tapes on their own web magazine, tehelka.com. Some Indian newspapers debated whether the muckrakers violated journalistic ethics in their eight-month scam. But the Times of India argued that the ethics issue "pales before the sleaze their team has dug up." The issue came up in the U.S. when ABC-TV had its reporters pose as employees in order to report from the inside at the Food Lion chain (3/14 NL). Many PR pros and newspeople believe that reporters should never falsely identify themselves. An ethics panel at the West/Fair chapter of PRSA March 7 posed the question, If reporters can practice deception, why can't PR people?...a ringing endorsement of the U.S. press was made in USA Today Feb. 19 by Nigerian journalist Sunday Dare, who wrote, "Americans must realize that they have the best of journalism." Dare told of "severe repression" of the media in Nigeria "ranging from assassinations and jailing to the seizure of newspapers and physical occupation of media premises." Dare said U.S. journalism thrives because journalists have "access to information." Dare expressed bafflement that U.S. media "are so often the target of so much criticism by Americans...yes, media made mistakes...(but) Americans don't know how good they really have it." Catherine Bolton, president of PRSA, said she agreed American journalism is the best although she thinks some "sensationalist" TV newsfeature programs are more entertainment than news. "I am a big believer in the U.S. press," said Bolton, noting her father was a journalist. Kathy Lewton, chair of PRSA, and James Lukaszewski, who writes about the press (3/14 NL) were faxed the Dare article but had not responded by press time ...March 4 was the fourth anniversary of the $5M+ lawsuit Paul Holmes and Editorial Media & Mktg. Int'l launched against Colorado printing broker Robert Bell when Bell refused to return ad mechanicals of big PR firms until EMMI paid $56,000 for two issues of the former Reputation Management magazine. Holmes, who now publishes The Holmes Report e-mail NL, said EMMI was in court last week for a motion to dissolve it and there might therefore be no more EMMI to pursue the suit against Bell. However, still active is Bell's personal counterclaim against Holmes for about $111,000 (printing bill plus interest)...Omnicom's investment in Agency.com, once worth a high of $1.8B and worth $944M on Dec. 31, 2000, is now worth $22M. Razorfish (72 cents per share) is worth $8.56M to OMC vs. a high of $677M...a good project for WEPR would be getting an obit of Denny Griswold in any paper and having the paper investigate why friends couldn't reach her for five years.