L.A. ARCHDIOCESE TURNS TO SITRICK & CO.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has hired Sitrick & Co. for PR because "it was not doing so well in the press," according to its newly hired attorney Michael Hennigan, who worked with that firm on the Orange County backruptcy case.

Weber Shandwick had been advising Cardinal Roger Mahony. More than 30 priests are under investigation for alleged sexual misconduct with minors.

Sitrick has met a couple of times with Mahony to "determine the facts." His goal is to try to get perceptions of the Church to match reality.

S&C has handled Enron, Global Crossing, comedian Paula Poundstone after her child endangerment case and actress Halle Berry following her traffic accident. Sitrick is co-author of "Spin: How to Turn the Power of the Press to Your Advantage."

QORVIS DOES PR FOR LEVY FAMILY

Qorvis Communications founding partner Judy Smith handled media for Robert and Susan Levy, and dealt with the flood of media calls in the aftermath of the discovery of the body of their daughter, Chandra, in a remote section of Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Park.

"The focus now is to help the family get its arms around their grief and on the continued investigation," Smith said. Jonathan Arden, D.C.'s medical examiner, ruled May 28 that the death of the missing Congressional intern was a homicide. The Levy family held a memorial service for Rep. Gary Condit's former intern last week.

Family attorney Billy Martin also does press for the Levys, Smith told this NL. Martin is the Dyer Ellis & Joseph lawyer who is responsible for hiring Qorvis, which is 15 percent owned by rival Patton Boggs, for overall media strategy.

Smith also did PR for Monica Lewinsky, following the Bill Clinton sex scandal, and the Marion Berry cocaine case.

Mike Carberry, the former CEO of Henry J. Kaufman and partner at Earle Palmer Brown, is now at Burson-Marsteller's Direct Impact unit. Carberry is senior VP at DI, which is involved in "third-party ally recruitment," grassroots media campaigns, database management, list development and "high-end" telephone outreach. The Business Roundtable, American Assn. of Health Plans, U.S. Treasury and Wyeth are clients.

EDELMAN, B-M VIE FOR 9/11 NYC REBIRTH

Edelman PR Worldwide and WPP's Burson-Marsteller are finalists for the $2 million account to revitalize downtown Manhattan. The New York City Economic Development Corp. sent RFPs to 75 firms. The job is to provide information to businesses, employees and residents of the area affected by the World Trade Center terror attacks. The Corp. cited "experience in the community" as one of the criterion in the selection process. That led some bidders to believe the Corp. would have favored a small or mid-sized downtown firm to handle the business, rather than a multinational PR firm.

Congress, according to the lead story in the May 27 Crain's New York Business, is probing whether small businesses are getting "short shrift" when it comes to getting 9/11 disaster funds.

MERRILL LYNCH DOWNGRADES OMNICOM

Merrill Lynch has cut Omnicom from "strong buy" to "buy," citing the $1.75 billion in convertible bonds it issued that could dilute the stock; the issuance of a "staggering" total of 5.7 million shares for new stock options for employees (on top of 19 million already out) and failure of OMC to identify its acquisitions.

The May 30 downgrading took about $3 off OMC's price. The stock gained back a small part of this.
OMC purchased 39 companies in 2001 for $844 million after spending $849M in 2000 on acquisitions and $748M in 1999.

It will not supply a list of these acquisitions, which have been accounting for more than half of its recent revenue growth (52% of 2001's growth and 60% of the growth in the first quarter of 2002).

The ML analyst team, headed by first VP Lauren Fine and VP Eve Glatt, was only able to track down about 20 of the 2001 purchases.

"Investors are constantly asking for the names of those acquisitions," said the ML report.

"Transparency" Now Big Wall St. Value

Some analysts and brokers said that in this "post-Enron" era, "transparency is a supreme value and companies that don't provide it will be punished in the marketplace.

ML was just hit with a $100 million fine for being too sanguine about stock issues and this may be a factor in its "no-holds-barred" assessment of OMC.
ML does not expect OMC to return to its peak 35-45% premium to the general market that it en-

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BEERS GOES 'VIRTUAL REALITY' ROUTE

The State Dept.'s propaganda unit expects to develop a prototype for its "America Room" within three months, undersecretary Charlotte Beers said during a speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

Her goal is to present a "virtual reality" of U.S. as a way to pitch America's moral values "especially in the Middle East where we have such a limited or nonexistent dialogue," she said. Beers envisions banks of electronic equipment that will allow visitors to "listen to someone recite the Declaration of Independence or hear a beautiful piece of music." She has people from the Smithsonian Institution and Hollywood working on various visuals that will show scenes such as life in a small town in America. The former ad woman wants to show those images in libraries, shopping malls and universities.

Forget About 'Winning Hearts and Minds'

The propaganda czar warned against using the term "winning the hearts and minds" of foreigners to describe her mission. Beers has a "more modest and substantive goal," which she described as creating a dialogue or engaging in a "productive debate that allows anger and frustration and disagreements, but not hate-hate that's used to justify the killing of innocents."

Beers also lauded the recently formed Council of American Muslims for Understanding. According to Beers, CAMU will "educate both Americans and people outside the U.S. about the many important achievements of Muslims in America and throughout history."

Ken Lerer, who is executive VP, corporate communications at AOL Time Warner, is getting a new job in the company, which has gotten negative news coverage and watched its stock price drop over the last year. Lerer will work with COO Robert Pittman, who was recently assigned to fix several problems at the AOL unit where subscription growth is slowing and ad revenues are down.

DAN KLORES HANDLES CF's POST- 9/11 ADS

Dan Klores Communications, New York, is handling media calls surrounding Cantor Fitzgerald's controversial new ad campaign, which features CF employees talking about Sept. 11 in an attempt to drum up business at the firm and its eSpeed unit.

CF lost 658 employees in the attacks on the World Trade Center last year and had been criticized for cutting benefits to the families of those victims in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks. CF has since pledged 25 percent of its profits over the next five years to those families.

Julie Horn, an account supervisor at DKC, said the firm has received "quite a bit" of media inquiries and requests for broadcast footage of the ads, which debuted last week on CNBC, Fox and CNN. She said that DKC promoted the campaign's launch by arranging an exclusive article on the ads in USA Today.

The nine TV ads, put together by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, New York, to promote eSpeed and CF's new website, feature CF employees talking about their experiences during and after the attacks. CF showed the ads to some families of victims in advance.

FITZ-PEGADO REPS CAYMAN ISLANDS

Lauri Fitz-Pegado, the former Hill and Knowlton staffer who promoted the story about armed Iraqi troops tossing Kuwaiti babies out of their incubators-one of the biggest PR stories of the `90s- is now handling PR for the Cayman Islands Cultural Center in New York.

H&K, on behalf of the Citizens for a Free Kuwait front group of exiled royals, produced a 15-year-old girl "Nayirah" who testified that she saw Iraqi troops committing the atrocity in a Kuwaiti hospital. She testified before the Congressional Human Rights caucus in Oct. 1990 that Iraqis took 15 babies from incubators, which they then stole, and left premature infants "on the cold floor to die." H&K made a VNR with Nayirah that was shown on "NBC Nightly News." The story also was pitched to the United Nations Security Council to build global support for war with Iraq.

Fitz-Pegado provided media coaching skills to Nayirah, who as it turned out, was the daughter of Kuwait's Ambassador to the U.S.

Fitz-Pegado, who began her PR career at Bob Gray's Gray & Co., now leads the Livingston/Moffett Global Consultants team that wants business and political leaders to visit the CI Center. The firm is working on a pro-bono basis, a deal arranged by former Congressman Bob Livingston and McKeeva Bush, CI's Leader of Government Business.

AL FLEISHMAN DIES AT 96

Alfred Fleishman, who along with the late Robert Hillard founded Fleishman-Hillard in 1946, died May 28. He was 96. Hillard died in 2000.

Fleishman was a chief deputy circuit clerk for the city of St. Louis when he developed a friendship with St. Louis Star-Times reporter Bob Hillard prior to World War II.

After a stint as chief information officer for the Air Force Rehabilitation Division during the war, Fleishman later invited Hillard to partner with him in starting a PR firm in three rented rooms above a Woolworth's Five and Dime store in St. Louis.

The two built up the firm on clients which included the city's largest companies, Anheuser-Busch, Emerson Electric and May Department Stores.

Fleishman retired in 1975 and wrote a column entitled "Common Sense Communications" for the St. Louis Business Journal until recently and authored three books. He was a long time member of the Assembly of the Jewish Agency in Israel and was involved with various Jewish causes and minority affairs.

Fleishman is survived by a sister, two nephews and a niece.

NEW MAG TO COVER POLITICS AND PA

Helen O'Donnell, daughter of Kenneth O'Donnell, who was an advisor to the late President Kennedy, is planning to start a monthly magazine called Common Good.

The Boston Globe said O'Donnell needs to raise about $25 million for the New York-based magazine, which will focus on political life and public affairs. The first issue may make its debut late this year.

Jim Bellows, a former editor of the now-defunct New York Herald Tribune, will be executive editor of the magazine, which bears a resemblance to John Kennedy Jr.'s George magazine, which went out of business.

O'Donnell has contracted with Rubenstein Assocs., New York, to help promote the magazine with pre-launch parties with the media, political groups, and citizens.

SRAEEL NAMED EDITOR OF U.S. BANKER

Holly Sraeel was named editor-in-chief of U.S. Banker and Bank Technology News, which are published in New York by Thomson Media.

She will oversee the editorial expansion, repositioning and redesign of both publications, which continue to be published as independent titles.

NEUHAUS JOINS FOLIO AS EDITOR

Cable Neuhaus was named editor-in-chief of Folio: Magazine, a monthly publication for the magazine industry, published by Primedia.

He was previously at Time Inc. for more than 20 years, where he was People magazine's bureau chief in several cities, and then general editor of Entertainment Weekly, where he has written a weekly column and edited the magazine's coverage of digital media for the past two years.

Neuhaus, who starts June 17, will also oversee Folio: First Day, a twice-weekly newsletter, and four associated regional and national Folio conferences.

AP NAMES CARROLL EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Kathleen Carroll, 46, who is the Washington, D.C., bureau chief of Knight Ridder, will rejoin The Associated Press on July 15 as its executive editor.

A former reporter and editor in four AP bureaus, Carroll will replace and report to Jonathan Wolman, who was appointed a SVP of the AP in February.

Carroll is married to Steve Twomey, a reporter for The Washington Post.

TIME SHUTS MEXICO CITY BUREAU

Time Inc. has closed its Mexico City news bureau. Bureau chief Peter Katel, who covered Latin America, was laid off along with some 15 other staffers in the bureau.

Miami, Fla., bureau chief Tim Padgett, now covers Latin America in addition to other stringers.

HEALTHCARE VNR AND SMT USAGE UP

DS Simon Productions reports 88% of the 75 stations who responded to its recent nationwide survey said they use healthcare video news releases, and 50% said they use healthcare satellite media tours.

The respondents in the survey included producers, medical reporters, and morning show bookers, said Doug Simon.

Of the stations polled, 82% of TV stations are using the same or more medical VNRs than a year ago, and 71% of TV stations are airing the same or more health-focused SMTs than a year ago, according to Simon.

Healthcare VNRs are most likely to air on evening newscasts, as 42% of stations responded that is when they typically air them.

For SMTs, 55% of interviews air live, with 35% airing on morning newscasts, and 30% airing on midday newscasts. Thirty-five percent of the stations edit the interviews for other news programs.

In terms of what stations look for in a medical story, 68% of stations said having doctors and patients together is important, and 52% reported that patients are more important than doctors.

While celebrities can be effective, 47% of stations said celebrities are not important when deciding whether to cover a medical story.

Sixty-five percent want a local angle to the story.

CORRECTION: It was reported in the May 29 NL that Patrice Tanaka & Co. had organized a May 2000 press trip to the Sandals and Beaches Resort in Negril, Jamaica. The firm's involvement began after Claudia Kirschhoch, an assistant editor for Frommer's travel guides, was reported missing on May 28, 2000.

PEOPLE

Anita Busch, former editor of The Hollywood Reporter, is joining the "Calendar" section of The Los Angeles Times.

Karyl Scott was named executive editor of CMP Media's Optimize magazine, a monthly aimed at business technology executives.

Richard Berke, formerly national political correspondent, was promoted to Washington, D.C., editor of The New York Times. John Tierney, a "Metro" section columnist, was moved to the paper's D.C. bureau, and Charles LeDuff, a reporter, was transferred to the Los Angeles bureau.

Nancy White, 85, who was editor of Harper's Bazaar from 1958 to 1972, died May 25.

Julia Wallace, managing editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, will become editor on July 1, replacing Ron Martin, who moves into a senior editor position at Cox Enterprises, which owns the AJC. John Walter, executive editor, is leaving the paper.

(Media news continued on next page)

'YOUTH FRIENDLY' NEWSPAPERS NEEDED

An MTV Networks survey of 570 people ages 14 to 24 found the stories important to young readers to be, in order, about music, local news, current events, international news, national news and politics.

Newspapers have a far different emphasis, according to those polled, with politics of greatest importance, and news about young people and music at the bottom of the list.

When young people do read a newspaper, they prefer a local one, perceiving it as less biased toward their generation and more understandable.

Betsy Franks, EVP for research and planning at MTV Networks, a Viacom company that includes the youth-oriented cable channel MTV, said teenagers and young adults should not be seen as uninterested in the world.

Franks said newspapers can take steps to attract younger readers by making papers more "youth friendly," eliminate what they perceive as bias, add more color & pictures and more entertainment news.

Newspapers should "minimize the old, white dudes on the front page," respondents said.

She also said papers need to overhaul their Internet sites. Internet-savvy youngsters complain that newspaper sites present everything at "the same visual volume."

Fifty-seven percent of those surveyed say newspapers are important, but only 38 percent say they often read one.

Asked where they get most of their news, respondents picked broadcast and cable TV.

GIVE TV PRODUCERS 'LEAD TIME.'

When pitching TV producers for an interview, it is important to provide enough lead time, says Adam Bello, head of A.B. Communications, Toronto.

"Lead time can be viewed as good manners in media relations, demonstrating courtesy when courting TV producers," says Bello, who writes a column for eReleases.com.

"Notifying a local talk show a month before your event, followed by a handful of telephone calls will be an appreciated interaction," advises Bello.

Since coverage and format varies, Bello said determining lead time for an interview is ultimately a judgment call, aided by research on producer preferences.

"Assuming your proposal has merit, daily programs featuring several guests may require weeks or months to schedule," he said. "Producers of weekly news magazines and special interest shows may set the season's editorial calendar during the preceding summer, requiring publicists to propose profile interviews at that time," he said.

"On the other hand, local news producers may need roughly a week's notice, as decisions for coverage of events and happenings is generally not made until that on-air date," he said.

PLACEMENT TIPS

Donna Peltier, former PR manager for PRSA, who is working for the LVM Group, a New York-based PR firm headed by David Grant, is editor of The LVM Letter, the firm's quarterly publication.

She also writes a restaurant review column, called "Out To Lunch." Her comments and ratings are based on input provided by staffers and friends who frequent the eateries.

She gave a favorable review ("six forks") to Ulrika's, a Swedish restaurant located at 115 E. 60th st., in the Summer number.

"Six upright forks means all LVMers give the restaurant a favorable review," said Peltier, who can be reached at 212/751-2800; [email protected].

The New York Sun's feature editor, Ellen Umansky, is looking for offbeat leisure-oriented information and stories to fill the style, travel, and health and fitness pages.

The Sun publishes health and fitness features on Mondays; while Wednesdays are food and drink; Thursdays are for style, and travel is featured in the Friday edition.

Umansky is especially interested in trend stories for the health page, and pieces on travel destinations which are within easy reach of New York are more likely to get her attention than foreign ones.

There is also room for news about new store openings; profiles on unusual New Yorkers with something specific to say about the city, and trends that say something larger about the culture.

She prefers to be pitched by e-mail. Her address is [email protected].

MEDIA BRIEFS

San Diego Soccer Development Corp., which does business as Soccer Development of America, will publish the first issue of 90:00 Minutes Soccer Magazine on June 1 to coincide with the 2002 World Cup.

The magazine will be published by LiveWire Corporate Communications, a custom publisher in Anaheim, Calif.

Bill Hodson, editor of 90:00 Minutes Soccer, can be reached at 714/777-7850.

"B. Smith With Style," a nationally syndicated, weekly half-hour TV show hosted by Barbara Smith, will return for a sixth season this fall.

The lifestyle program is slated to go on-location to Canada for the first time, as well as 10 other North American cities.

Smith, who owns restaurants in New York, Washington, D.C., and Sag Harbor, N.Y., likes to hobnob with celebrities, important designers, artists and chefs.

Dan Gasby is executive producer of the show, which is distributed by Hearst Entertainment to stations in more than 200 markets representing 90% of the U.S.

ML DOWNGRADES OMC
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joyed in the late 1990s.

The "rampant growth" in advertising that took place in the late 1990's appears to be over, says ML, adding that there might not be enough new business to feed "behemoths" like OMC.

About $10 of the share price of OMC, said ML, came from the "froth" of OMC's Internet stakes, which has dissipated.

The report addresses some of the "noise" around OMC caused by its convertible issues, incentive plan and acquisitions.

It believes the convertible issues ($850M in February of 2001 and $900M in March 2002) are "beneficial to shareholders."

The issues "reduce/delay cash interest payments, lower the overall cost of financing in part due to tax benefits, and essentially should be viewed as the issuance of equity (upon conversion) at a price which is considerably higher than the current stock price (theoretically over $200 a share)."

These "zero-coupon" liquid yield option notes (LYONS) are a complicated form of debt instrument that was created by ML.

Investors are concerned that conversion would dilute the stock. If all are converted, the total outstanding would rise by about 15.9 million shares to 203.7 million. The LYONS give owners the right to convert them to shares worth $110.

Investors "shouldn't worry as the appreciation on the stock would have to be quite dramatic to make the security dilutive," it adds.

There are numerous other aspects of the LYONs, a number of which are explained in the ML report.

OMC's current debt is a record $2.9 billion.

Incentive Plan "Woos Young New Crew"

OMC is undergoing many changes in management in a short period of time and has issued 5.7 million shares in options and restricted stock "to woo this new young crew and keep them interested for the next six years," says ML. About 600 employees would be eligible.

A total of 7.7M shares could be issued including up to 1.2M in "restricted" stock (stock transferred regardless of its price).

The options were mostly issued in early October when the entire market including OMC took a dive after 9/11. Average exercise price is $66.84, says ML, adding it agrees the new managers need incentives, "but the amount of shares issued seems staggering to us, all at once." Options to buy 19.2 million shares remain outstanding. Another 2.2M in unvested restricted shares are also outstanding.

OMC Boosts Directors' Pay

OMC has boosted its base remuneration to outside directors from $24,000 a year to $60,000, a jump of 150%. The company, under pressure from Wall Street, switched to more outside directors this year, dropping several OMC employees and adding one new outside director, Robert C. Clark, 58, dean of the Harvard Law School. The board now has 11 directors, nine of them non-employees.

Directors also get 250 shares after each annual meeting (worth about $22,000 currently); $2,000 for attending a meeting; $1,000 for attending by phone, and $2,000 for attending a special meeting by phone.

Total remuneration could top $100K, which would be well above the median director pay of $66,018 for service companies in the $5-$9.9 billion revenue range, according to a survey of 2001 director pay scales by The Conference Board.

Some analysts say that if pay to "independent" directors reaches a certain level, stockholders can ask whether the directors have become de facto employees, beholden to management.

U.S. BRANDS BOYCOTTED IN MIDEAST

Famous U.S. brands such as McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola and Burger King are being boycotted by citizens of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and other Middle East countries to protest U.S. policies in that area.

Walter Riker, assistant VP of media relations of McDonald's, said the company is stressing the local ownership of its restaurants in the Middle East.

They are locally owned and staffed and buy their supplies from regional suppliers, he told this NL.

Graham Fuller, a consultant who went to a number of Middle East countries for the U.S. State Dept., reported there is a virtual boycott of U.S. fast food outlets in that area of the world. "The places are empty," he said.

Fuller, formerly vice chairman, National Intelligence Council of the CIA, said Americans have no idea of how the Israel/Palestine conflict is playing in the Middle East and urged Americans to use the Internet to access such media as haaretzdaily.com, Jerusalempost.com, arabnews.com, and palestinechronicle.com.

He gave his findings to the U.S. Advisory Commission on Public Diplomacy at its monthly meeting in Washington, D.C., May 24.

He said Americans can't get "a full sense of the realities in the Middle East from our media" and added, "This is the greatest isolation by our media that I have ever seen."

Middle East media stress the violence being experienced by the Palestinians, he noted, re-running images of dead children and destroyed buildings.

McDonald's Has Many Outlets

McDonald's has 45 restaurants in Saudi Arabia, six in Bahrain, and two in Egypt. It has more than 80 in Israel employing 3,000.

"Yasser Arafat Potato Chips" are being sold in Egypt in what the Associated Press called "the latest display of intense anti-Israel sentiments." The bag is green, red, black and white and has a picture of Arafat with his checkered headdress.

Zamzam-Cola from Iran is being sold in Bahrain in place of Coca-Cola. It takes its name from a spring in the Saudi holy city of Mecca. There are also reports that U.S. prescription drugs are being boycotted.

Merrill Lynch has taken Omnicom out to the woodshed and given it a few whacks (page 1).

ML, like many analysts, brokers, investors and reporters, is fed up with the non-communicating ways of this "communications" giant.

Since OMC refused to supply a list of its 39 acquisitions in 2001, ML went out and scoured trade publications and others sources (foraging among the 1,500 entities that make up OMC) in order to find about 20 of the purchases.

OMC execs, meanwhile, are sitting there with the complete list in front of them including the amount of stock and cash paid for each.

Oddly, Interpublic, which is about the same size as OMC, reveals the financial details of all its recent 200+ acquisitions in SEC filings. It just won t provide the names of them. This is an indication of how arbitrary SEC rules can be.

We know what happens to some ad agency PR acquisitions. The principals soon depart when the units can no longer afford their salaries. The burnt-out husks are then discarded or folded into something else. A new round of acquisitions takes place.

ML researchers have better things to do with their time than chase after information that is readily available and should be public. Out of simple politeness, the OMC leaders should provide the data and save everyone a lot of time and work. PR includes being polite to outsiders. As is well known, the OMC brass has no use for PR for itself (although it owns firms handling $709 million in PR fees).

After all this unnecessary work (which failed to find about half the acquisitions), ML analysts led by Lauren Fine undoubtedly were in no great mood when it came to write up the stock. In the background is the fact that ML has just paid a $100 million fine for being too upbeat about stocks. Its analysts are not now about to pull punches.

OMC was called to task not only for hiding most of its acquisitions but for setting aside a "staggering" amount of stock (5.73 million shares) for about 600 favored staffers among its 57,000 employees.

Most of the options were issued right after 9/11 when OMC stock sank from the high $80 s. The weighted average exercise price is $66.84 (about $20 below the current price).

ML also notes that OMC is paying certain retirees up to half of their annual salaries for up to ten years for consulting and promising not to compete. The execs also get a share of the profits.

ML addresses investor concern over the $1.75 billion in convertible bonds that OMC has issued since February of 2001, bringing short and longterm debt to a hefty $2.9 billion. The investors are worried that these bonds will be converted to stock, diluting earnings per share. If all are turned into stock, the total outstanding would jump from 187 million shares to 203M (+15.9M).

These zero-coupon bonds (liquid yield option notes or LYONS), are an almost bizarre creation of ML itself. OMC doesn t have to pay investors interest on them but investors have to pay taxes on the imputed or "phantom" interest. Buyers are hoping that OMC s stock will rise above $110. But the holders can force OMC to pay back the cash, which could put OMC in a bind if other cash sources dry up. The bonds can also be converted to stock if OMC s longterm debt ratings slip significantly.

The departure of Linda Burnett as chief administrative officer of PRSA in less than a year is a signal for a blue ribbon committee to take a look at h.q. Several board members should work there to find out what s going on.

Burnett, a career association administrator, worked under COO Catherine Bolton, who headed a one-person PR unit at the Int l Copper Assn. before joining PRSA as chief PR officer in 2000. She then became PRSA president when Ray Gaulke departed but lost the title when it was taken over by Joann Killeen. Burnett was hired because someone with experience was needed to handle the 48-person staff and $9 million budget.

An analysis of the staff shows why PRSA does not exercise leadership in a field that urgently needs it.

There is only one person in PR and one person on the PRSA website. But there are 15 in "administration" plus four in the executive suite; five in finance; seven in publications and creative (Tactics and Strategist lose about $1 million a year); three in the money-losing PR Student Society of America (almost no PRSSA members ever join PRSA), and five serving the sections. One person works fulltime on APR, which attracts a few hundred applicants a year.

In other words, PRSA is a series of bureaucratic warrens and pigeonholes. The staff has lavished on itself $1 million in computer equipment. But no amount of computers will produce leadership speeches. Incoming president Reed Byrum will face the same rigid setup as Killeen. The latest victim of h.q. mindset is the PRSA website. It promises "audited financials" but none are there; news like the departure of Burnett is not carried; there is no easy way for members to contact their representatives in the Assembly; there is no Yahoo!-like bulletin board where members can express opinions; many of the items on the site offer products for sale or seminars to attend; the site won t provide its WebTrends report showing unique visitors, hits, etc.; the most valuable part of the site, the listings of past Silver Anvil winners, is hard to find.

-- Jack O'Dwyer