HD SEARCHES FOR INDEPENDENCE TOUR FIRM

Home Depot is looking for a PR firm to promote its sponsorship of, and handle logistics for the upcoming national tour of the Declaration of Independence. An original copy of the Declaration, which was purchased by Hollywood's Norman Lear, is currently on display at the Carter Library in Atlanta, which is HD's headquarters city.

HD's Richard Marshall, VP-external communications, is overseeing the tour activities for the do-it-yourself chain.

Jerry Swerling, Malibu, Calif.-based consultant, is handling the search. He expects to have finalists for the account lined up by mid-month. The budget for the account has not yet been determined.

BROWN & PTRS. AT CENTER OF YUCCA FIGHT

Brown & Partners, Las Vegas, is handling PR for Nevada's opposition to the Bush Administration-approved plan to store nuclear waste at a site inside that state's Yucca Mountain.

The firm was tapped by Gov. Kenny Guinn, who has established the $4 million Nevada Protection Fund to fight the Yucca project. B&P has a million-dollar PR and ad contract to bring national attention to Nevada's opposition by highlighting the fact that nuclear waste would be transported through several states en route to Yucca Mountain, Greg Bortolin, press secretary for the governor, told this NL.

B&P is currently advising on a proposed $10 million national TV ad campaign. The state is seeking to fund those ads with the help of local and county governments, as well as the casino industry and private business.

WILSON McHENRY WINDS DOWN

Wilson McHenry, Foster City, Calif., is "winding down" its business following the collapse of acquisition talks with GCI Group, according to Julie McHenry and Larry Wilson. "We just couldn't come to a meeting of the minds," McHenry said of the takeover discussion. Their focus now is to "transition" staffers and clients to other PR firms.

Wilson said he plans to "take some time off," while McHenry is ready to explore other opportunities. The high-tech firm had a high of 75 employees as of 18 months ago, according to Wilson. It counted Maxtor, Convergys, Plantronics, Lucent, American Express and Pioneer Electronics as clients.

WATT LEAVES WATT/FLEISHMAN-HILLARD

Ron Watt, 58, has retired from Watt/Fleishman-Hillard, and joined Hybrid Marketing in Cleveland as a senior counselor, he told this NL.

Watt plans to keep busy as CEO of Ronald Watt Cos., a company engaged in areas such as airport book publishing and discounted value cards for medical devices. He also will share PR duties with F-H for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Greater Cleveland Port Authority.

Ron Watt Jr., who also was at W/F-H, joined HM in October. Michael Zimmerman was president, and an 18-year veteran of Watt Roop & Co. before setting up HM in August.

Jay Lawrence, general manager of W/F-H, said Watt's departure was a planned one and emphasized that F-H is committed to the Cleveland market. The office posted fees of $3.4M in 2001, according to Lawrence. That's down from the $4.3M in fees that WR&C had when it was sold to F-H in 1999.

IABC, PRSA REVAMP TIES TO RAGAN, PRW

The International Assn. of Business Communicators has decided against giving special help to Ragan Communications on an employee PR manual that is competitive with an IABC manual.

PR Society of America, which has had formal relations with both Ragan and PR Week/U.S. for years, said it has discontinued such ties.

The Society, which urged its members to subscribe to PRW and advertise in it and then rented its 19,000-member list to PRW for a year to help it get started in 1998, no longer allows PRW to use its list.

PRSA was co-sponsor with Ragan of a media relations conference in Chicago in March 2001, its name displayed at the top of a Ragan flyer.

But from now on, PRSA will not lend its name to any conference that it is not putting on itself.

John D. Robinson, who joined PRSA as marketing director last year, decided that the PR trade publications are too competitive with PRSA.

The Society lost $1.1 million in 1999-2000. Its awards program, which once made money, lost $71,998 in 2000 on a gross of $457,295. Its two publications, Tactics and Strategist, lost $441,467.

PRW, after about a year in the U.S., launched a major awards program that is now about triple the size of PRSA's Silver Anvils in terms of entries.

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ANTI-TERROR DRIVE SLOWS GLOBALIZATION

President Bush's "worldwide war" against terror will pose a "significant disruption" to the economic globalization trend, Jeffrey Garten, dean at the Yale School of Management, told the Arthur Page Society's Spring Seminar in New York on April 4.

The Administration, said the former investment banker who served in the Clinton White House, has made it plain that the anti-terror war will not end until the "complete utter destruction of the terror network."

Garten said the U.S. preoccupation with the military could spur the "balkanization of the world's economy," as regional trading blocks in Europe, Asia/Pacific and Latin America cement their ties.

Trade Drove Clinton's Foreign Policy

The "militarization" of U.S. foreign policy is a far cry from the free trade agenda that was promoted by President Clinton. Garten said Clinton's Commerce Dept. and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative pushed for openness and unfettered markets throughout the world.

That push for transparency isn't possible when the CIA, FBI and Special Forces are key drivers of Bush's foreign policy, said Garten.

On the domestic front, Garten sees an expansion of government regulation and control over private sector assets under the guise of protecting those facilities from terrorists. He named telecommunications facilities, energy plants, and transportation hubs as those that will come under U.S. control.

The private sector, said Garten, must accept an expanded government as it did during WWII when "there was no free enterprise" in the U.S. The private sector successfully helped government relax controls as the war wound down, which helped "demobilize the 20 million U.S. soldiers" who found jobs in the civilian economy, noted Garten, author of "The Mind of the CEO."

Brash Images of U.S. Export Well

Jonathan Wootliff, managing director of Edelman PR Worldwide's stakeholder relations practice, told how "brash images of the U.S. export well overseas."

He cited O.J. Simpson, Hollywood glitz and rampant materialism during his talk on April 5 at the Palace Hotel. More sophisticated images of America like democracy and freedom "don't travel well," he noted.

The former Greenpeace International communications director said most foreigners are hopping mad at the U.S., which has four percent of the world's population and consumes 27 percent of its energy. Global warming and climate change are the key environment challenges facing the U.S., said Wootliffe.

Kirk Stewart, VP/corporate communications of Nike, told how his company has dealt with being the poster child of the anti-globalization movement.

Nike has contracted 830 factories in 51 countries to make its footwear and apparel. He showed a video featuring a spanking clean Chinese factory. Employees there earn $865 a year compared to an average $650 salary earned by others, according to the video.

General Motors' Steve Harris said the automaker's long experience in international markets has helped it blend into foreign lands.

GM was founded in 1908, and began exporting in 1911, he noted.

AT&T PR UNIT HIRED VIETNAM PROTESTORS

AT&T hired protestors against the Vietnam War during the `60s to gain intelligence on the youth market, Ed Block, the former Ma Ball communications executive, said during a Q&A at the Arthur Page Seminar on April 4.

"While other companies dismissed protestors as anarchists, and the White House wanted to shoot them, we hired members of the movement," said the retired Block.

Block, 74, brought up the point as one way to gain insights into the minds of current globalization protestors.

He began his career as a reporter at the Brenham (Tex). Banner-Press in 1959, and did stints at Southwestern Bell and Illinois Bell.

H&K REPS U.K. DISASTER FUND

Hill and Knowlton is handling PR for the U.K.'s $7 million World Trade Center Disaster Fund, which is awarding 70 scholarships to students directly affected by the Sept. 11 attacks in New York who want to study in England.

Those scholarships, which exceed $3 million and cover a maximum of three years of study, will go to students whose parent or guardian was killed or permanently disabled in the attacks.

H&K's London and New York offices are handling the account. They coordinated for the recent visit to New York of the fund's founder and chairman, Peter Levene, H&K's Jannette Esguerra told this NL.

Levene presented a testimonial of the fund's mission and pledge of support to the U.K.'s "American friends" to ex-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in February when he visited London.

HONEYWELL TAPS WEBER'S HARRISON

Dan Harrison, managing director for Weber Shandwick's St. Louis and Houston offices, was tapped by Honeywell's Automation & Control Solutions unit as VP of communications.

Harrison will handle PR and media relations, employee communications and crisis issues and management for the unit.

Prior to WS, he was VP of corporate affairs for Whirlpool Corp. and held PR posts at Phillips Petroleum and United Technologies.

A&CS, an $8 billion unit of Honeywell, produces aerospace products, control technologies for buildings and homes, and plastics, fibers, chemicals and electronic components. Honeywell employs 115,000 people and has $24 billion in revenues.

Heyman Assocs., New York, handled the search for Honeywell.

CNN's DOBBS DEFENDS ANDERSEN

Lou Dobbs, who anchors CNN's "Moneyline," said his on-air criticisms of the Justice Department's indictment of Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm, were not out-of-line from a journalistic standpoint.

During his April 3 program, Dobbs took issue with suggestions that anchors should be totally un- biased. It is a fact of journalism that opinions "are insinuated into broadcasts, either consciously or unconsciously," said Dobbs, whose critiques of the Andersen indictment on his program have been questioned in articles in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

In his case, Dobbs said he was being critical of the Justice Department of an administration he supported. "I donated money to President Bush's campaign. I have been a lifelong Republican."

Dobbs believes it's part of his role to interpret, analyze, provide contest and perspective and insight into the day's news. "I'm not a traditional network anchor," Dobbs said at the end of his program.

"I analyze and I interpret. I put in perspective and context each evening. I don't simply report the news, and I haven't for many years. That's why CNN hired me for this job."

Dobbs also disclosed on the program that Andersen is an auditor of Space Holdings Inc., which runs Space.com, a website that Dobbs founded after he left CNN two years ago. Dobbs, who owns a minority stake in the company, gave up control last spring. He remains its nonexecutive chairman.

A CNN spokeswoman said the network had no concerns about the arrangement.

Dobbs has had other business connections with Andersen. In the 1990s Andersen sponsored his program "Business Unusual." In January 2000 (a time when he was not working at CNN), he made a paid appearance at an Andersen-sponsored business forum. He said neither had an influence on his coverage.

GALLAGHER NAMED EXEC ED OF USA TODAY

Brian Gallagher will take over as executive editor of USA Today on June 1, replacing Bob Dubill, who is retiring.

Gallagher has been the paper's editorial page editor for the past three years, and from 1983-1986, he was managing editor of the Gannett News Service.

Karen Jurgenson, who is editor of Today, said a search for a new editorial page editor is underway.

PAWELL OVERSEES STATE AND LOCAL NEWS

Miriam Pawell was named assistant managing editor for state and local news at The Los Angeles Times.

Pawel, who was editor of the "California" section, will manage the staffs responsible for four daily regional editions and state coverage as well as the "California" section, formerly the "Metro" section.

She also will coordinate region-wide beat reporting on Southern California trends and issues.

SEYMOURE GETS CONSULTING DUTIES

James Seymoure Jr., managing editor of Time Inc.'s Entertainment Weekly magazine, will take on additional responsibilities as a consultant for Time4 Media. That unit includes more than 20 magazines such as Golf, Popular Science and Field & Stream.

"TALK OF THE TOWN" WELCOMES N.Y. SUN

Hendrik Hertzberg, who writes for The New Yorker, believes The New York Sun, which starts publishing on April 16, will be a niche paper.

"It will be a second (or third, or fourth) read for a few tens of thousands of New Yorkers," Hertzberg writes in his "Talk of the Town."

"It will be the equivalent of a mimeographed shipboard newspaper for passengers who long ago booked staterooms on the S.S. New York Times. Its backers expect to lose money.

"For them, it's enough that expression will at last be given to political views that-apart from a few lonely voices at The New York Post, The Wall Street Journal, two or three score nationally syndicated columns, a couple of dozen magazines, a few hundred 24/7 talk radio stations, the Fox News cable network, the Bush Administration, the Supreme Court, and half of Congress-have been ruthlessly supressed by the liberal establishment," writes Hertzberg.

"The rising of the new Sun is a happy fact. It is to be welcomed as a voice in the choir, whether or not that's what it'll be preaching to," he wrote.

PEOPLE

Caroline Waxler, 31, will write a business column for The New York Sun. Based in San Francisco, she had worked for Forbes magazine and helped start up eCompany Now magazine, now known as Business 2.0.

George Anders of Fast Company magazine got a contract to write a book about the Hewlett-Packard proxy fight for the Portfolio imprint of Penguin Putnam. Anders recently wrote an article for FC about how HP CEO Carly Fiorina is held to a different standard because she is a woman.

Reed Kroloff, editor-in-chief of Architecture magazine, is resigning on May 31. The monthly magazine, which has a circulation of 90,000, is changing from a design report to focus coverage on products and services.

Jake Tapper is joining VH-1 News as an on-camera reporter who will host and report VH-1's long-form news specials.

Tapper, who will also cover breaking news stories in addition to his reporting on issues in the music and pop culture world, had been Washington, D.C., correspondent for Salon.com.

(Media news continued on next page)

VIEWERS TURN TO FOX NEWS CHANNEL

The Fox News Channel increased its ratings lead over CNN in March for the third straight month, according to the latest report from Nielsen Media Research.

Despite being available in eight million fewer homes than CNN, Fox News drew an average of 666,000 total viewers during the first three months of 2002, up 116% from the same period in 2001, according to The New York Times.

CNN attracted 546,000 total viewers, up 55%, while MSNBC had 290,000 viewers, followed by CNBC and CNN Headline News, with 270,000 and 220,000, respectively.

Fox, once dismissed as a right-wing niche, is also winning with a prime time lineup, led by Bill O'Reilly, who attracts about 2.1 million viewers a night. By comparison, Larry King's show on CNN averages 1.3 million.

Donahue Returns

MSNBC is bringing back Phil Donahue, who has been out of TV since retiring from his syndicated talk show in 1996.

Donahue will host a live issue-oriented talk show, which will be on each weeknight at 8.

The new program, which is expected to start before June 17, will compete against Reilly. CNN has previously said it will put Connie Chung on at the same hour.

With the Donahue program at 8, the MSNBC newscast anchored by Brian Williams will move to 7 p.m. "Hard Ball with Chris Matthews," now at 7, will move to 9 p.m., and will no longer be repeated on NBC's other cable channel CNBC.

MSNBC's other talk shows, with Ashley Banfield and Alan Keyes, will move back an hour, to 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.

WHAT'S AMERICA WATCHING ON TV?

More than a quarter of American adults (18 and over) say they watch TV news programs more than anything else, while 20% of teens say their choice is a sitcom, according to a study by Opinion Research Corp.

The study, which found virtually the entire population-87% of adults and 96% of teenagers-admit to watching some TV every week, showed the other top watched TV programs by adults were sports (14%) and sitcoms (14%), movies and drama (12% each), cartoons and reality shows (4% each), and soap operas, game shows and talk shows (2% each).

Teenagers spend their hours watching sitcoms (20%), movies (18%) and cartoons (18%). Comparatively, only 3% of teens say they spend their viewing time watching TV news, yet about the same number of teens and adults watch sports programs (13% vs. 14%).
The study also revealed that while adults confessed to watching an average of 17 hours of TV each week, 25% watch more than 20 hours and in some cases over 30 hours (12%) of TV each week.

This was more than teenagers, who said they watch an average of only 11 hours of TV each week.

The study was conducted Oct. 26-29, 2001 by OPC among a nationally representative sample of 1,008 adults. The Teen Caravan survey was conducted Oct. 25-28, 2001 among a national sample of 513 teens aged 12-17.

WALL STREET JOURNAL HAS A NEW LOOK

The Wall Street Journal's front page has been redesigned to make more space available for exclusives. The new look made its debut on April 9.

The Journal is also committing more resources to consumer-oriented reporting by expanding its coverage of health, automotive, technology and personal finance, and putting many of them in a new section, called "Personal Journal," which will appear on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

One of the goals of the new look and section is to expand the paper's readership, especially among women.

The New York Times said the impending changes have raised mild anxiety among reporters and some editors of other sections.

"Would reporters be expected to continue tracking down exclusive corporate news, or now scale back in favor of pieces evaluating various cellular phone plans? Would editors of existing sections like "Marketplace" and "Money & Investing" lose features or space or both?

One person briefed on the redesign discussions, who, like several Journal newsroom employees, spoke on condition of anonymity, told the Times: "The question is, how to cover the same area in two different parts of the paper without appearing disjointed to the readers."

New options, this person said, could mean new confusion. "Where does an article about a recall of Ford Explorers go? On Page 1? Page 3? Personal Journal?"

AUTHOR: MEDIA IS 'COLORING THE NEWS'

Author William McGowan claims in his new book, entitled, "Coloring the News," that the "elite" media have been skewing news coverage of race, gay rights, and immigration in its pursuit of diversity.

McGowan, who has reported for Newsweek International, and the BBC and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post and other publications, said one of the latest examples is the Catholic Church sex scandal.

"The press has presented this story as one of pedophilia, rather than reporting that the vast majority of the abuse cases involve gay priests exploiting adolescent boys," said McGowan, who currently is a fellow at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center and at the Manhattan Institute in New York.

IABC, PRSA REVAMP TIES
(continued from page 1)

PRW's awards dinner draws nearly 1,000 PR pros, more than double the audience at the Anvil event.

IABC Worries About Ragan

IABCers have now expressed concern about the extensive ties IABC has with Ragan, which has seminars, conferences, books, publications and an awards program that are in competition with IABC, which lost $2.18M in the past three years.

Income from conferences, seminars and awards dropped $369,412 to $1,920,201 in 2001.

IABC had $1 million in payables as of Sept. 30, 2001, according to an unaudited report by Deloitte & Touche. The "review" by D&T, dated Dec. 13, 2001, and addressed to the IABC board, involved no verification of figures. IABC said it opted for a review instead of an audit to save money. It refuses to provide any current figures to members although the board receives a monthly report. The board did not release the Dec. 13 review until late February.

Ragan Ties to Continue, Says Freeman

A limit to IABC's cooperation with Ragan was reached in late March when 2000-01 chairman Charles Pizzo asked for help in doing a chapter on crises for a new edition of Ragan's $329 employee communication manual. President Julie Freeman blocked such help but said IABC will continue to work with Ragan where both can benefit. "Where our objectives are different, we will work independently," she said.

Some IABCers feel that Ragan is too competitive for IABC to be cooperating with it. Mark Ragan, CEO of the publisher, said he could understand the feelings of IABC and that he only wants to help the financially troubled group.

As an example of the competition between IABC and Ragan, both are putting on two-day conferences focusing on employee communications in May.

The Ragan conference, May 12-14 in Chicago, features six prominent IABCers: Pizzo, who is moderator of an opening day panel (he is described in Ragan promotions as 2000-01 chair of IABC); Les Potter, 1991-92 chair of IABC; Ned Lundquist, a current director of IABC; Robert Holland, past director; Suzanne Salvo, district director and former president, IABC/Houston, and Shel Holtz, consultant and Internet expert, who received $83,330 for counseling IABC in 2000. Holtz is on the program three times.

IABC Meeting Is May 2-3

The IABC conference, also focusing on employee communications, is May 2-3 in San Francisco. Co-sponsor is the Council of Communication Mgmt., a group with several hundred members that focuses on employee communications. IABC is handling the logistics and CCM, the speakers' program. The one IABC leader speaking at the event is Wilma Mathews, chair, IABC Research Foundation. Both meetings cost $795. Ragan expects 400+ at its conference while IABC/CCM expects 70.

The Ragan Report weekly newsletter, Ragan's Journal of Employee Communications Management, and Ragan's Intranet Report are offered for sale on the IABC website. Mark Ragan said he offered last year to publish the IABC magazine, Communication World, in order to help the financially troubled group, but the offer was rejected.

Gloria Gordon, editor of the magazine and an 18-year veteran of IABC, is quitting in September to start her own business. Natasha Spring, director, IABC Research Foundation, will succeed her.

Ragan Communications has just donated $10,000 to IABC to help fund a salary survey. Ragan hosts nearly 50 seminars and a dozen two-day workshops a year. IABC's schedule for the first half of 2002 is ten one-day seminars, three "webinars," two two-day conferences and its annual conference in June.

Ragan three years ago started an awards program for employee publications and intranet websites. Winners will be announced at a luncheon at the May 12-14 conference.

EAGON ASKS FOR REAL EARNINGS FIRST

Don Eagon, newly elected chairman of the National Investor Relations Institute, has asked that companies put their "GAAP earnings before pro-forma information in public filings and earnings releases."

His own company, Diebold, North Canton, Ohio, which makes ATM machines, safes and other products, puts pro-forma earnings first in its releases. Eagon is head of corporate communications at Diebold.

Eagon could not be reached on whether his own company would follow his advice.

GAAP refers to "generally accepted accounting principles." This is a large body of precedent in the accounting field and can vary from industry to industry.

There is no written volume containing "GAAP" rules. With reference to earnings, it generally means profit after taxes, depreciation and any exceptional items.

Some accountants say GAAP is flexible and they sometimes say the initials actually stand for "Got Away with it in the Past."

If a company has reported its figures in a certain way for many years, it could continue to do so even though other companies might find it misleading.

Eagon, who was elected chairman last month, said in the IR Update of NIRI published April 1 that the Enron scandal has given the IR profession "an enviable opportunity to seize a leadership position in our companies and with our clients by setting an example of high ethical standards of conduct."

Diebold, in its report for the fourth quarter of 2001, started off its release saying it had "record net income of $43.8 million, or diluted earnings per share of 61 cents, excluding realignment and special charges on record revenue of $508 million." Real (GAAP) net was $17.2 million, or 24 cents a share.

BOSOX OWNER CLASHES WITH R/BG

Rasky/Baerlein Group is trying to get John Henry & Co., which won the right to spend $700 million to buy the Boston Red Sox, to pay the firm $950K in fees and expenses for 10 months of work, according to Steve Bailey, columnist for The Boston Globe.

The International Assn. of Business Communicators and PR Society of America are members of what can be called the "Little Red Riding Hood" school of business management.

Both got into bed with direct competitors much bigger and more powerful than them.

Both trade groups are now losing money in large amounts and wonder why. IABC is in particularly bad straits, having lost $2.1 million in the past three years.

They obviously never read the tale of Red Riding Hood, who had the sense to realize at the last moment that the hairy figure in her grandmother's nightgown was not her grandmother (who had been eaten).

Besides the $1 million loss on its abortive e-business "TalkingBusinessNow," IABC last year saw its conference, seminar and awards income fall $369,412. It is in stiff competition with Ragan Communications, which puts on a dozen two-day workshops and nearly 50 one-day seminars a year. The two-day seminars are expensive, running from $795 to $1,295. IABC puts on about two dozen conferences and seminars. Both IABC and Ragan target the same audience-employee communicators.

IABC and Ragan are each putting on two-day conferences in May and the contrasts between the two meetings are eye-opening. Both cost $795.

Ragan expects 400+ while IABC and its co-sponsor, the Council of Communication Mgmt., expect 70.

If you look at the Ragan conference, it sounds like an IABC event. Charles Pizzo, 2000-01 IABC chair, is moderator of the opening Monday panel from 8:30 to 9:45. He then talks from 10:45 to noon on "workplace safety and security issues."

Shel Holtz, one of the architects of TalkingBusinessNow (paid $83,330 as a consultant to IABC in 2000) and who put on about 18 full-day workshops for IABC in 2000, speaks from 1:30 to 3 p.m. about the intranet. He also speaks for an hour on Tuesday and gives one of three half day post-meeting seminars which are an extra $295.

Other IABC figures speaking on the program include 1991-92 chair Les Potter; current national director Ned Lundquist, and Robert Holland, past director. Potter and Holland are also giving special morning sessions on "How to network without feeling silly, insincere-or both." Besides the post-conference seminars, there are three pre-conference one-day workshops at $395 each.

The IABC/CCM meeting sounds dull by comparison. There are no special sessions on how to network; no pre and post-meeting workshops, and no awards lunch. The only speaker familiar to IABCers is Wilma Mathews of the IABC Foundation. None of the Ragan "stars" such as writers Dave Murray and Steve Crescenzo are on the program. No wonder only 70 are expected.

The IABC website, meanwhile, lists three Ragan and three Melcrum (U.K.) publications for sale. The websites of Ragan and Melcrum don't list any IABC publications. IABC should be selling its own materials.

PRSA, after a long and deep love affair with PR Week, has decided that PRW is a competitor. Of course it is-with PRSA's Tactics and Strategist publications and the Silver Anvil awards. PRW is put out by Haymarket, the biggest private publisher in the U.K. with a couple of hundred million pounds in sales.

With $11.5 million in sales, Ragan is more than twice the size of IABC. The company last year purchased two "Bits & Pieces" inspirational publications. About 250,000 copies of the booklets are printed 14 times a year.

Trade associations should not be involved in any way with the trade publications covering them. It's a conflict of interest for both. The trade groups have lost lots of advertising and conference/seminar dollars to these private companies and can ill afford to lose more.

There's a big flap in Minneapolis over the use or non-use of the word "terrorist." The Star Tribune used the words "suicide bomber" to describe the perpetrator of the Netanya Seder massacre of 25 Israelis. Readers who wanted the word "terrorist" used were enraged. They were further incensed when the paper quoted its stylebook as saying that "gunmen," "suicide bomber," etc., were often preferred over "terrorist" because the former words were "more precise." The paper does use the word "terrorist" at times. A group of citizens and "prominent" political leaders, using the name, "Minnesotans Against Terrorism," took out an ad April 2 accusing the paper of what the paper feels is "horrible bias against Israel." The Trib, calling the politicians, "craven, every one of them," said it would not be "bullied" into using the word "terrorism" as demanded by MAT. The paper called the ad an "intemperate and incorrect name-calling exercise...they (politicians) appear not to have had a clue about what they were doing"...news item: Interpublic to lay off another 1,200. Actually, IPG is fulfilling its schedule of dropping 6,800 employees as of mid-2002, as it announced in mid-2001. This is slightly over 10% of its workforce. But what will these 6,800 people do besides start new ad agencies, PR firms, graphics houses, etc.? These new shops will not have the tremendous overhead that IPG has nor the huge expense of being public.
--Jack O'Dwyer