PUBLICIS ACQUIRES BCOM3 FOR $3B IN STOCK

Publicis Groupe is acquiring Bcom3, parent company of Manning, Selvage & Lee, for stock worth $3 billion, a deal that creates the No. 4 ad/PR combine.

Lou Capozzi, CEO of MS&L, said he is "invigorated" by the news. The key benefit, to Capozzi, is the ability to provide clients, "truly multicultural" PR services. He noted that MS&L will be owned by the No. 1 firm in Europe, and have access to the important Japanese market. Tokyo-based Dentsu, which owned 21 percent of Bcom3, will own 15 percent of Publicis.

Of PR management following the merger, Capozzi said nothing has been discussed other than MS&L will be a "business unit" of Publicis, and the Bcom3 structure will disappear. There has been no decision on whether the MS&L name will survive. Publicis, however, maintained the Rowland brand following the acquisition of its Saatchi & Saatchi parent.

Publicis, when the deal is completed on June 30, will have annual revenues of $4 billion and 38,000 employees. Its CEO Maurice Levy will remain in the top spot, while Roger Haupt, Bcom3 chief, is to become president.

KETCHUM UNIT HANGS UP ON AT&T

The Washington Group has resigned its $20,000-a-month AT&T lobbying account due to a client conflict with Cingular Wireless, which is handled by its parent company, Ketchum.

TWG chairman John Raffaelli said dropping AT&T was the logical thing to do. Cingular, a joint-venture of BellSouth and SBC Communications, is a multi-million dollar client at Ketchum, Raffaelli told Influenceonline.

Omnicom's Ketchum acquired TWG in January of last year. It named former New York Rep. Susan Molinari as CEO in October.

OGILVY SETS UP NUKE RESPONSE UNIT

WPP Group's Ogilvy PR Worldwide has established Counter Threat to help companies deal with disruptions caused by nuclear, chemical or other terror attacks.

Chairman Bob Seltzer, in setting up the unit, noted that potential clients are more likely to face an external, rather than a specific corporate attack especially in light of the news of the past six months.

The "I Have a Dream" Foundation, New York, which helps disadvantaged children, is seeking a PR firm at a $10,000 monthly retainer. It is based at 330 Seventh ave. Edwin Rosado wants proposals by March 21 ([email protected])...Shepardson Stern + Kaminsky is counseling NBC, which is facing spirited opposition from its plan to air hard liquor ads. Rep. Frank Wolf vows to tighten rules on broadcasting.

TRG GOT $100M FROM CIA

The Rendon Group received close to $100 million over a five-year period from the Central Intelligence Agency, according to investigative reporter Seymour Hersh. TRG, which signed a $100,000-a-month contract with the Defense Dept. in October to advise it on how to handle the war on terror, was hired by the spy agency in 1991 to provide media relations for the Iraqi National Congress.

TRG, at that time, represented the Citizens for a Free Kuwait, which was a front group for the exiled royal family that was booted out of their country by Iraq.

Hersh, writing in the March 11 New Yorker, says TRG also hired Linda Flohr, a 27-year veteran of the agency's clandestine service, after she retired in 1994. Her last assignment was for the "top-secret" Iraqi Operations Group. Recently, Flohr was named director of security for the Office of Homeland Security and director of counter-terrorism for the National Security Council.

A TRG spokeswoman, who wished to remain unidentified, said : "We have nondisclosure clauses in our government contracts, so I can't comment on either the CIA or State Department work." Anya Guilsher, from the CIA's PA office, said, "I don't have anything on that for you."

RFP SOUNDS LIKE SET-UP FOR ANVIL

A current RFP for a New York educational foundation mirrors almost exactly the requirements for winning a Silver Anvil of PR Society of America.

The RFP sets out a four-step process that includes assessment of needs, collecting and analyzing data; developing strategies and creating a time-table; executing the plan, and evaluating what took place.

The Lund Group, which received the RFP, wrote the foundation that it would not pitch the account because most PR work by agencies does not fall into such a four-part format.

There were 736 entries last year but four PR firms walked off with 18 of the 46 Anvils or more than a third of them. Non-member entry fee is $350.

Ketchum, F-H Are Big Winners

Ketchum has won 45 Anvils in the past eight years (including a record 10 of the 46 awarded last year) while Fleishman-Hillard has won 32 in six years.

Burson-Marsteller, the biggest PR firm, has taken home only one in the past five years. Edelman PR Worldwide, the leading independent and which has 103 members of PRSA, has won four in five years. (Continued on page 2)

RFP SOUNDS LIKE ANVIL (continued from page 1)

In 1992, 22 of the 403 Anvil entries were tossed because their binders were over three inches when measured from the outside. That's the outside measurement of the standard "three-inch" binder. The next size is a two-inch binder.

Contestants who went out and bought a "three-inch" binder were eliminated since PRSA measures the binder from the outside rather than the inside. On the outside, the measurement is 3.5 inches.

Hundreds of Entries Tossed

This rule is in the extensive instructions for submitting an entry but was missed by many contestants for many years. It's probable that more than 200 entries were tossed because of this rule. PRSA kept the entry fees and did not tell the contestants the reason for the rejection.

Starting in 1993, the reason or reasons for rejection were told to the contestants. Lou Capozzi of Manning, Selvage & Lee instituted the reform.

Contestants who obeyed all of the rules could get 44 points in the judging process while those who broke some rules could get a maximum of 40 points.

Judy Rich, former Ketchum executive, and counselor Amanda Brown, who conducted a class on how to win an Anvil in 1990, said that 31 entries were dumped that year just because of the three-inch rule.

They advised devotion to the four-part rule: an entry should give equal space to each part. A 100-page entry, for instance, would have 25 pages on each.

The official Anvil advice on PRSA's website states: "Media clips alone are insufficient!" (PRSA's exclamation point.)

Rich and Brown said that one entry that was 90% clips was tossed because it broke the four-part rule. Leaving out any part automatically disqualifies an entry, they said.

Entries in the wrong category are also rejected since judges don't have the authority to shift the entry to the proper category, Rich and Brown noted.

JOANN VISITS JOHANNESBURG

Joann Killeen, president of PR Society of America, was in Johannesburg, South Africa, for about a week for a meeting of the new "Global Alliance for PR and Communications Management" that was formed at the PR World Congress in Chicago Oct. 25, 2000.

The meeting took place March 1-3. Killeen, reached by e-mail upon her return home March 6, said she would have nothing to report about the meeting for several weeks.

About 24 PR groups are members of the Global Alliance including the Canadian PR Assn., the Confederation of European PR Societies, and PR groups from Mexico, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India, Romania and Slovenia.

A statement by the Alliance says it was formed because, "In this new century, more and more PR practitioners represent organizations that transcend national boundaries... everyone is increasingly affected by global trends and issues."

PR people and their associations, it further said, "have felt a need to share ideas and best practices, seek common interests and standards, and better understand the unique aspects of each culture in which practitioners operate." Executive assistant of the Alliance (PRISA) is Susan Richardson ([email protected]).

The notice of the meeting said, "If you are going to make this a business and pleasure event, talk to your travel agent because you can fly from Sun City direct to Cape Town." Also a website is www. saconvention.co.za.

PURDUE PHARMA BEGINS ANTI-DRUG PUSH

Purdue Pharma has begun a PR push to raise awareness of prescription drug abuse amid widespread reports of abuse and overdoses of its own popular painkiller OxyContin.

"Abuse of prescription drugs is painfully obvious and has become more apparent in the last 18 months," Merle Spiegel, director of corporate communications for Purdue Pharma, told this NL.

She said a six-month, 10-state PSA campaign, a website called "Painfully Obvious," and classroom campaigns aimed at "tweens" are all part of the drug maker's plan to raise awareness of the issue. She said PP's goal is to get other drug companies and organizations involved in a coalition to fight prescription drug abuse.

Fern and King Communications, a Washington, D.C.-based political consulting firm, and Stamford, Conn.-based North Castle Partners, a marketing firm which targets teens, are handling the campaign, which will focus on Appalachian states where abuse of prescription drugs is at its worst.

OxyContin rings up $1 billion in sales annually for Purdue Pharma.

Purdue's PSAs, which do not mention OxyContin, are running in publications with "opinion readers," such as The Washington Post, Boston Globe and other Beltway papers, she said.

H&K PUTS DOCTOR IN CHARGE OF HEALTH

Hill and Knowlton, which is owned by WPP Group, has tapped Reyn Archer, a medical doctor, to head its Washington, D.C., healthcare practice as a managing director.

Archer, an obstetrician, served as the commissioner of health for the Texas Department of Health from 1997-2000, when he chaired a committee of 10 border states on U.S./Mexico health issues. He previously spent two years in Kazakhstan developing a tuberculosis eradication program for Millwood, Va.-based Project HOPE, and was U.S. Deputy Asst. Secretary for Health, Population Affairs at the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

BOSTON REPORTERS WELCOME NEWS TIPS

The lifestyle and entertainment editors and reporters at three Boston-based trendy publications and the city's two daily newspapers said they depend on PR practitioners to keep them informed.

The panelists at a Feb. 26 meeting hosted by the Publicity Club of New England in Boston, said the key to getting coverage is for PR pros to stay on top of the entertainment and lifestyle circuits and current music trends. They stressed the need for timely and newsworthy information.

The panelists were: Lauren Falcone, features writer, The Boston Herald; Carly Carioli, event editor, Boston Phoenix; Jeff Lawrence, publisher/editor, Weekly Dig; Julie Short, managing editor, Improper Bostonian, and Jim Sullivan, music reporter, Boston Globe.

Don't Pitch Bad Stories

All of the panelists stressed the need to know the publication and know the writer before calling to pitch them "Make sure you pitch the right person," said Short. "Read the magazine or ask."

"Don't pitch bad stories," Sullivan said. "If you don't believe what you're pitching is great, neither will I. I can't be fooled. It's better to admit it's not great, but put an interesting spin on it and hope you hit me on a slow week."

"Don't call me after you have read one of my stories with a similar angle," said Falcone. "Wait at least six months and be time sensitive to the cycles of the year, holidays, etc."

'Be Outrageous'

Lawrence stressed the need to make the story stand out from the rest of the pack. The Weekly Dig strives to have content unlike anything else available in Boston. "Avoid the normal," Lawrence said. "Be outrageous to get noticed."

It's imperative to know the deadlines of each editor before pitching them.

"I don't mind being deluged with faxes, e-mails, phone calls, just make sure I get the info when it's timely," Carioli said. "My stories are slotted eight days out so make sure you get me the info in time."

Lawrence: 617/426-8942; fax: 426-8944; jeff@ weeklydig.com.

Sullivan: 617/929-2820; fax: 929-3186; jimsullivan @globe.com.

Short: 617/859-1400; fax: 859-1446; Julie_Short @improper.com.

Carioli: 617/536-5390; fax: 859-8201; ccarioli@ phx.com.

Falcone: 617/426-3000; fax: 542-1315; lbfalcone @bostonherald.com.

AJC AIMS NEW SECTION AT IMMIGRANTS

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has launched a global news section that is aimed at the city's immigrant population, which grew by 82% between 1990 and 2000.

The eight-page weekly section, called "Atlanta & The World," will feature global news with a local angle. The first section appeared Feb. 20.

Raman Narayanan, who was with CNN International for two years as a senior writer and editor, joined AJC in January as editor of the section.

Susan Stevenson is deputy managing editor in charge of the new section, which has a staff of four fulltime reporters with specific beats-Moni Basu (Global Connections), Mark Bixler (Immigration), Shelia Poole (International Communities) and David Goldberg (Business/Globalization).

Narayanan, a native of Malaysia, said the section will seek a balance between traditional "hard" news and "soft" news.

The first issue had a story about a Muslim family in Atlanta heading off on the Hajj, a story on the city's changing international mix and an essay by Secretary of State Colin Powell.

KOPPEL STRIKES BACK IN OP-ED PIECE

"Nightline" host Ted Koppel said in his first public comments on ABC's effort to replace his program with David Letterman's entertainment show, "Late Night," that his news program "ought to have a place in TV's expanding universe, and I am confident that it will."

In an op-ed piece that appeared in The New York Times on March 5, Koppel said he hopes to stay with the network, but criticized an ABC executive for questioning the show's relevance.

Koppel called it "perfectly understandable that Disney would jump at the opportunity to increase earnings by replacing 'Nightline' with the more profitable David Letterman show."

In the op-ed piece, Koppel criticized the unnamed ABC executive, whom, he said, was quoted in an earlier Times article questioning the show's relevance.

With terrorism fears at home and U.S. troops in action abroad, "the regular and thoughtful analysis of national and foreign policy is more essential than ever," Koppel wrote. He said at times like these "it is, at best, inappropriate and, at worst, malicious to describe what my colleagues and I are doing as lacking relevance."

MEDIA BRIEFS

New Choices magazine will cease publication after the May/June issue. The lifestyle magazine, which was targeted at the mature market, was published by Reader's Digest Assn.

Consumer Reports.org has exceeded the 800,000-paid subscriber mark, making it the largest paid site on the Internet, according to John Sateja, who is VP of multimedia publishing at Consumers Union.

"Good Day Live," a syndicated morning TV program produced by Twentieth Century Fox TV, is going into national distribution.

(Media news continued on next page)

NAT'L GEO TRAVELER OFFERS PITCH TIPS

The National Geographic Traveler's writer's guidelines, which are posted on its website (nationalgeographic.com/media/traveler), say a good story pitch has "a headline that suggests what the story is, a deck that amplifies on that, a strong lead and not much more than a page that sets out the premise and approach."

The magazine, which publishes eight issues a year, is 99% written and photographed by freelancers.

Each issue has five or more features, roughly balanced between U.S. and foreign subjects. "Generally, we are interested in places accessible to most travelers, not just the intrepid or wealthy," state the guidelines. "The types of destinations we cover vary widely from mainstream to adventure travel."

Subjects of particular interest to NGT are national and state parks, historic places, train trips, cruises, and driving trips.

Paul Martin, executive editor of the Washington, D.C.-based magazine, is especially interested in pitches that have a new angle or story.

Although regular contributors are used to write the main feature articles, there are regular departments, such as "Smart Traveler;" "48 Hours," and "Travelwise," whose editors use information submitted by publicists and new writers.

The magazine does not want phone calls, and does not accept proposals about trips that are subsidized in any way.

Keith Bellows, who is editor, and Martin are located at 1145 17th st., N.W., Washington, DC 20036-4688; [email protected].

PLACEMENT TIPS

Equal Justice Magazine makes its debut March 13 at a launch party in the Rayburn House Office Building, in Washington, D.C.

The magazine will be published quarterly by the D.C.-based Legal Services Corp., a nonprofit organization chartered by Congress in 1974 to promote the work of legal aid lawyers.

Articles in EJM will "capture the heroism of public advocates and pro bono attorneys striving to make the legal system work for everyone," said Eric Kleiman, who is the LSC's press secretary.

By telling their stories, LSC hopes more lawmakers, judges, lawyers, and community leaders will join in the struggle for justice.

Copies of the premier issue are available by calling 202/336-6939 or e-mailing [email protected].

Amy Friedman has turned to freelance writing since leaving American Banker, where she had been editor of investment/insurance products for more than a year.

Friedman said two of her freelance pieces have recently appeared on the front page of AB.

She can be reached at 212/942-3323.

The Washington Post has added two new technology columns to its revamped consumer/personal technology section, which now appears in the Sunday "Business" section. The section name has been changed from "Fast Forward" to "Personal Tech."

Leslie Walker is writing a new column, called "Web Watch," that features three or four short items about new web content and services.

The other new column, called "Selling Us," which is written by Margaret Pressler, will offer a consumer's look at retailing.

Rob Pegoraro, who is consumer tech editor, can be reached at [email protected].

BUSINESS REVIEW'S EDITOR RESIGNS

Suzy Wetlaufer, the editor of the Harvard Business Review, said (March 8) that she would resign after at least six top editors raised questions about her handling of an interview with former General Electric chairman and CEO Jack Welch.

Wetlaufer said she would resign as editor immediately but remain on the Review staff as an editor-at-large.

Executive editors Nicholas Carr and Sarah Cliffe were asked to take charge of the Review's editorial operations by Walter Kiechel, who is editorial director of Harvard Business School Publishing. They will be in charge until a new top editor is named.

Two Review editors, Harris Collingwood and Alden Hayashi, also resigned to protest Wetlaufer's new arrangement.

At least six top editors wrote to Kiechel, calling for Wetlaufer's resignation because they said her interview with Welch had been compromised by her personal relationship with him.

Wetlaufer joined the Review as a senior editor in 1996. She was named editor in October 2000. A former reporter for The Miami (Fla.) Herald, she worked as a consultant at Bain & Co. before joining the Review.

Eileen McNamara, who writes a column for The Boston Globe, said HBR would be "more credible if the publication did not, as a matter of policy, cede control of its editorial content to the corporate hotshots it writes about."

McNamara said the magazine's policy that allows the subjects of its regular feature, "The HBR Interview," to read, edit and rewrite the article before publication is not a standard journalistic practice.

PEOPLE

Rich Jaroslovsky, a senior editor for The Wall Street Journal, and before that managing editor of The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, is leaving to join Ziff Brothers Investments in New York.

He was the founding president of the Online News Assn.

Cokie Roberts, 58, plans to leave "This Week," which she co-hosts with Sam Donaldson on ABC, after the fall elections.

WPP, IPG BATTLE IN COURT, AGAIN

WPP Group and Interpublic Group of Cos. are in court again over a personnel matter.

In the new lawsuit, as reported in Richard Linnett's column in the March 4 Advertising Age, Brian Brooks late last year gave WPP one-year's notice that he was leaving to join Interpublic as HR director.

However, WPP filed a claim in the U.K. High Court of Justice in February seeking to enforce a two-year non-compete clause in Brooks' contract.

Brooks, who is based in New York, did not return a phone call. WPP representatives in New York said they had no immediate comment on the matter.
In an initial skirmish, WPP sought to have IPG's lawyers, who are representing Brooks, dismissed from the case. A hearing on that was scheduled for last week in London.

WPP, IPG Fought in 1994-97

The two ad conglomerates locked horns from 1994-97 over the switching of WPP execs to IPG.

WPP sued in 1994, charging IPG was hiring employees of WPP when it had agreed in writing not to do so. IPG was at that time buying Scali, McCabe, Sloves from WPP and allegedly promised, for a one-year period, not to offer salaries or stock worth $175K+ to WPP employees in attempting to hire them.

IPG hired Bruce Kelley of WPP's J. Walter Thompson unit for $250,000; Nina DiSesa of JWT for $500,000 plus stock, and offered $240,000 to Richard Fitz-Simon of JWT.

Two other JWT executives had previously joined IPG units-Peter Kim and James Heekin.

WPP won a $750,000 settlement from IPG in 1997.

ELLIOTT SEES PLACEMENT BACKLASH

Stuart Elliott, ad columnist for The New York Times, believes consumers will eventually rebel at watching TV shows and reading articles where the ad messages have been integrated into the content.

"The more you compromise the quality or the integrity of the content, the more you run the risk of making it worthless and queuing the consumers so they can't believe anything," Elliott told Tim McHale, who is chief media officer of Tribal DDB Worldwide.

"If consumers think they can't get away from advertising anywhere, I think eventually all advertising is going to be suspect," Elliott told McHale, whose interview with the ad columnist appears in the March 4 online issue of Media Life.

"If everything is nothing but pushing and pushing and selling and selling, you are sort of breaking that covenant with the consumer," said Elliott. "I don't think that is going to be good in the long term because the content is why people are watching or reading-not to see more ads."

Elliott said PR has also helped blur the boundaries between editorial and advertising.

"I don't think 20 or 30 years ago there was a concept of a celebrity being sent around by a drug company to talk about an ailment," said Elliott.

AMERICAN SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL SLIPS

American support for Israel slipped to 43% from 55% after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to a March 8-9 USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll.

Gallup also followed up on its earlier poll of nine Muslim countries, which found that most respondents had an unfavorable view of the U.S.

Most Americans (63 percent) believe Muslims view the U.S. unfavorably because this country is perceived as siding with Israel in its conflict with the Palestinians. Sixty-two percent say the "U.S. interferes in the affairs of Muslim countries," while another 51 percent feel the "U.S. is too willing to use military force in Muslim countries."

Gallup surveyed 863 people on March 1-3.

PR Leaders Comment

New York counselor Robert Dilenschneider, who was one of a number of PR leaders asked what should be done about the Mid-East fighting, said the "finest minds of the world" should convene and seek a solution to the problem, which he said appears to be beyond the ability of either the Israelis or Palestinians.

Harris Diamond, CEO of Weber Shandwick, the biggest PR operation, said that the solution can only come from the two parties themselves.

Attempts by outsiders to impose a solution have failed thus far, he said.

Al Golin, founder of Golin/Harris, said the Bush Administration must send in higher-level people as peace brokers. People with the stature of Vice President Dick Cheney or Secretary of State Colin Powell are needed, he said.

Providing economic aid to the Palestinians is also necessary, added Golin. "Since the Palestinians feel they have nothing to lose, they don't mind blowing themselves up," he said.

He noted that economic devastation in Germany gave rise to Hitler.

Abhors Killing Children

Daniel Edelman, founder of Edelman PR Worldwide, was especially displeased with the killing of women and children by each side. He said the U.S. is the only country that can broker a peace.

He said the Saudi initiative in which Arab countries would establish full relations with Israel in return for establishment of a Palestinian state is a good starting point for talks.

U.S. leaders with "knowledge, experience and credibility" who are not identified with one side or another should be brought together on the problem, said Edelman.

Asked about a U.S. or U.N. peacekeeping force, Edelman said the U.S. is already "spread thin" by engagements in a number of places in the world.
The U.N., he added, has for long been identified with the Palestinian cause.

Dilenschneider said his high-level panel would not include generals, political leaders or journalists, who have failed thus far in attempts to halt the fighting, but academics, scientists, business and religious leaders, like the World Economic Forum.

Since generals, politicians and journalists have failed to halt the violence in Israel/Palestine, we asked some PR leaders what their solution would be.

Dan Edelman said that peace talks must start right now and not wait for a period of non-violence.

"That could take five years," he said.

With violence escalating in the Mid-East, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who had previously demanded seven days of quiet, announced the next day that talks might begin before the killing ends. The violence, however, continued unabated.

Counselor Bob Dilenschneider said that the greatest minds of the world, such as academics, authors, scientists and business leaders but excluding generals, politicians and journalists, should be brought together and their advice taken.

Most PR leaders we called ducked the topic as "too hot" to handle. The U.K.'s Guardian, which headlined March 9, "Israel Descends into Chaos," says one of the causes of Mid-East violence is failure of the U.S. press and public to openly discuss it.

We tracked how eight other publications handled the nearly impenetrable 2001 "earnings" report of the WPP Group.

Only one of the eight publications, the U.K.'s Financial Times, mentioned the key statistic in the report: per share earnings were down 20% to $1.71. The Times also noted that revenues fell 3%-not counting acquisitions. But it failed to note the 45 times ballooning of debt to $1.52 billion nor the 33% jump in U.K. shares outstanding to 1.15 billion.

Advertising Age missed the drop in per share net, the rise in stock outstanding, and the debt situation. Ditto for AdWeek, PR Week (U.S.), Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Independent and Evening Standard. PR Week reported "gross profits" rose 38% to $5.5B, a mistake of $5B+. The "gross profits" of WPP are actually its gross revenues.

This inadequate reporting is both the fault and not the fault of these publications. There's no one from WPP helping the reporters to make their way through the 26-page thicket of confusing numbers and claims. But, with a little time, anyone could crack this "code." Reporters need to take the mess home and work it out.

The Daily Telegraph, jumping at the infinitesimal increase in the WPP dividend (about a nickel on a $50 stock), headlined: "WPP Payout Rise Stuns City" (financial district). It gushed: "Sir Martin Sorrell...thrilled investors with a surprise 20% increase in the final dividend." An editorial went further, saying the hike "is a sign of confidence from the tough little guy" and that, "Who knows, Macho Martin might be starting a trend." The Financial Times said WPP "performed a lot worse" than Omnicom and Publicis in terms of revenues. The New York Times, as far as we can tell, never covered the WPP report.

The WPP approach is now in violation of official U.S. IR policy as declared by Louis Thompson, president, National IR Institute. Thompson, responding to pressure by President Bush who last week demanded reforms in financial reporting by companies, said NIRI is recommending that real earnings be put first in a press release. NIRI had previously said they could be reported after pro forma earnings. The majority of the NIRI board, by the way, is in violation of the "real earnings first" rule. Bush also wants faster disclosure of insider stock sales. Allan Sloan of Newsweek (3/11) noted such disclosures can take up to a year.

The accountants and lawyers who crafted the WPP earnings bramble are the same ones supplying fee income figures for Hill and Knowlton, Ogilvy PR and Burson-Marsteller. Given their bent for twisting numbers until they almost scream, how believable can they be? WPP supplies no proofs such as income tax returns and W-3s nor any CPA statements. It only gives its numbers to the Council of Firms (we have removed the term "PR" from the Council's name because it has dishonored PR by interfering with the media's information-gathering).

The purchase of Bcom3, parent of Manning, Selvage & Lee, by Publicis puts 60% of the world's advertising in the hands of five agencies. Further consolidation of the big ad agencies has been predicted by analysts who said the agencies have nothing left to buy but each other. MS&L will be a sister company of Publicis Dialog, which reported $32 million in fees and 234 employees for 2000. It includes the former Lobsenz-Stevens PR and Geltzer & Co. in New York; Selz/Seabolt in Chicago, and Evans Group PR in Seattle. Andy Hopson, who was with Evans, is president. PR acquisitions of Publicis thus far have taken the Publicis name...PRSA president Joann Killeen went to the meeting of the "Global Alliance of PR and Communications Mgmt. Assns." in Johannesburg, South Africa, March 1-3. This new group of about 22 PR associations was created at the PRSA conference in Chicago in 2000. The trip was not disclosed as it should have been on the PRSA website. Killeen has not uttered a peep so far on any of the problems facing PR (Enron, the earnings report mess, PR for the U.S. war effort, etc.) or PRSA's own many problems such as the obvious corruption of the Silver Anvils (page one), stonewalling on finances, and undemocratic rule of PRSA by the inner sanctum of APRs.
--Jack O'Dwyer