RF WINS $1M NEC AMERICA BIZ

NEC America has named Ruder Finn as agency of record for its more than $1 million PR account following a competition that included a half-dozen shops, including RF's independent rival firm Edelman PR Worldwide.

Robert Dowling, executive VP at RF, called the assignment a "big win," especially in light of the lackluster high-tech market. "The big challenge," he told this NL, is to "boost NEC's profile in the communications and networking market." Most people are familiar with NEC's consumer offerings, such as its computer monitors, he added.

Dowling heads the NEC team, which includes Alicia Dollard, senior VP, and Mimi Anderson, VP.

CHEVRON TEXACO'S MOORE FLIES TO UAL

ChevronTexaco's Rosemary Moore has joined United Airlines as senior VP-corporate affairs. She held the VP-public and government affairs slot at the San Francisco-based energy giant.

Moore had been VP-corporate communications at Texaco, and VP-corporate communications at Seagram Co. in New York. She joins United as Wall Street talks of a potential Chapter 11 filing by the Chicago-based carrier.

ChevronTexaco promoted Patricia Yarrington to succeed Moore.

SANDOR TAKES HOME DEPOT POST

David Sandor, a founding member and executive VP of Washington, D.C.-based Powell Tate, has been named director of PR for Atlanta-headquartered Home Depot.

He was VP-corporate communications for Visa USA and more recently held that same post at Associates First Capital Corp., prior to its acquisition by CitiGroup in 2000.

Sandor was also a spokesman for George Bush's 1988 presidential campaign and transition and was later appointed by the administration as a communications advisor to Transportation Secretary Sam Skinner.

Joan Gallagher has joined Eckerd Corp., the $13.8 billion drug chain owned by J.C. Penney, as VP-PR. She is a veteran of Zurich Scudder Investments, where she was senior VP-director of global communications, and Gillette, where she held the VP-corporate PR/PA post.

NUVEEN INVESTS PR WITH WS

Weber Shandwick beat Burson-Marsteller, Hill and Knowlton and Golin/Harris Int'l for the Nuveen Investments account, Alan Brown, chief marketing officer of the Chicago-based company, told this NL.

Brown was impressed with WS because the Interpublic unit "came in with a plan that was very creative." Nuveen wants to inform investors that it sells more than just "municipal" securities, which is the heritage of the 104-year-old company. WS will target high-net worth clients and their financial advisors. Brown would not disclose the PR billings.

Dan Reid, EVP and GM of WS' financial services marketing practice, oversees the Nuveen account.

F-H's CASTALDI JOINS H&K

Marilyn Castaldi, who spearheaded Fleishman-Hillard's drive to build the biggest global healthcare category, has joined Hill and Knowlton as general manager of the WPP Group unit's New York office. She succeeds Phil Sheldon, who left this summer.

Castaldi had led H&K's domestic health unit from 1992-93, and was executive VP/healthcare at Burson-Marsteller from 1984-92.
The PR veteran is succeeded as F-H's healthcare chief by her deputy, Michael Rinaldo.

Jackson Spalding edged Golin/Harris Int'l for the Orkin Pest Control account in a competition that included 18 PR firms, said Bo Spalding, principal of the Atlanta-based agency. Top Ten firms, including Ketchum and Manning, Selvage & Lee, were in the competitive mix for the account, which bills in the mid six-figure range.

Spalding said Allyson Park, who joined JS from Hunter & Assocs. in New York, will oversee the account for the nation's biggest pest control company.

BIG CITIES GO FOR APR DECOUPLING

PRSA chapters in the big U.S. cities and urban areas are mostly in favor of decoupling accreditation from membership in the PRSA Assembly. Some state chapters and regions are against it or are undecided.

The delegate vote as of Nov. 4 was 95-15 in favor of decoupling. Voting is Nov. 16 in San Francisco.

There were 169 delegates at the 2001 Assembly in Atlanta, down from 200 in the previous year.

In favor of decoupling are the national board (17 votes); 15 sections; National Capital (10); New York (8);

(continued on page 7)

G/M COUNSELS LOUISVILLE ARCHDIOCESE

Guthrie/Mayes PR is helping the Archdiocese of Louisville handle its sex abuse crisis, said Jack Guthrie, CEO of the firm. Eight of the Archdiocese's 182 priests have been "permanently removed" from their ministries.

More than 180 lawsuits have been filed against the Louisville Roman Catholic Church.

Guthrie's advice to Archbishop Thomas Kelly is to be as upfront as possible with the media. The firm organized a briefing with the Courier-Journal hometown paper earlier this year to inform it of the Church's official position on abuse before it made that information public. The C-J has covered the abuse story "stem-to-stern," according to Guthrie. He gives the paper a "B" for its overall coverage.

Reaches Out to Non-Catholics

Guthrie also made outreach to non-Catholics a priority. The firm taped Kelly's press conference, and aired an unedited version of it on Louisville's "Faith Channel," which has programming for various religions. It must have aired 40 times over a three-week period, said Guthrie.

The PR firm CEO - a Catholic like account director VP Dan Hartlage - also makes sure to receive input about the perception of the crisis from non-Catholics at G/MPR.

The PR firm also trained key Archdiocese spokespeople, such as chancellor and chief administrative officer Brian Reynolds. It stressed the need to "interface with the press on a regular basis."

Asked to assess the Church's PR, Peter Smith, C-J's religion reporter, said somebody is always available, or at least gets back to him when he calls with questions. "They have been honest and candid, and discuss any issue they are allowed to talk about," he told this NL.

ANDREW REPS EMBATTLED FASTOW

Gordon Andrew, who has held top communications posts at Prudential and Travelers Group, is handling the press for former Enron CFO Andrew Fastow, who was indicted on 78 counts of fraud, money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice by a Houston grand jury Oct. 31.

Andrew told this NL he counsels Fastow in association with the former executive's attorney John Keker, the Oliver North prosecutor.

At Travelers Group, Andrew was head of communications under CEO Sanford Weill when the infamous sexual harassment incident known as the "Boom Boom Room" took place. Weill now faces a New York Attorney General probe as head of Citigroup.

Andrew said his core crisis/litigation experience came as managing partner of The PR Consulting Group in New York, which he ran for 10 years.

He recently served as VP of marketing communications for Prudential's individual financial services unit and is a former director of marketing services at The American Stock Exchange.

EDISON FIGHTS MEDIA BARRAGE

Edison Schools has picked up its advertising and PR efforts via The Nieman Group as the public school operator faces questions of its financial solvency and its methods of running schools by its clients.

Adam Tucker, VP of communications for Edison, said Harrisburg, Pa.-based Nieman is handling ads and PR for the 10-year-old company.

A full page ad in last week's New York Times addresses four main points critics are raising about the company - test score improvement, acceptance of the Edison program, financials, and the flurry of press coverage about the company.

The ad says that Edison is "the most scrutinized school system in America, bar none," assuring that its operating position is strong despite the "ups and downs" of its share price, which climbed as high as $21 and now trades around $0.50. The ad says test scores at Edison schools are rising on average and that the company now educates 80,000 students in 150 schools.

The Wall Street Journal fronted a piece on Edison in its "Marketplace" section Oct. 22, saying it has never turned a profit, recording an $86 million loss last year, but noting CEO Christopher Whittle's optimistic take on the company's future.

Edison said in early October it would meet profit targets and post a "substantial net income" in the first quarter ended in September. The company reported a heavy loss for its fiscal Q4 which ended in June and said it would restate results for two previous years due to $7.9 million in loans to Whittle.

To fend off delisting from NASDAQ Edison's stock must rise above $1 for 10 days in a row by Nov. 25. Also of concern to NASDAQ is the resignation of three independent directors in early October, which left the company without an audit committee.

WWI HIRES BRAINERD COMMUNICATORS

Weight Watchers International has shifted investor relations duties from Lippert/Heilshorn & Associates to Brainerd Communicators, said Keith Lippert.

Corey Kinger says she is working on the account at BC, which has counseled clients such as CableVision, Lehman Brothers, Dun & Bradstreet and Havas.

WWI retained L/H in February following a pitch after considering a number of firms, Bob Hollweg, WWI VP, general counsel and corporate secretary, had told this NL. Keith Lippert is the son of Al, one of WWI's founders.

WWI in September, announced that Artal Luxembourg, the private investment house that acquired the Woodbury, N.Y.-based company in 1999, was selling about 14 percent of its holdings at $42 a share each. That transaction reduced Artal's stake to 62 percent.

The company now trades in the $48 range, just off its $50.39 52-week high.

Rubenstein Assocs. handles WWI consumer PR, while Middleberg Euro RSCG represents weightwatchers.com.

AVOID 'FEAR-MONGERING' PITCHES

Renay San Miguel, who covers technology for CNN Headline News based in Atlanta, has had enough of the "fear-mongering e-mails" from publicists, whose firms handle technology companies.

"Thanks to my e-mail in box, every week is Halloween," said San Miguel. "Since 9/11, this has beenthe tone for many of the e-mails I get from publicity firms hired by tech companies, and from the in-house media relations specialists for those companies," he wrote in his Oct. 30 column for CNN.com.

Here is one example he gave:

-"America's schools, like the rest of the country, are confronted with a deep sense of uncertainty and concern over student well-being in the face of terrorism threats, school shootings and other potential crisis situations...A growing number of school districts and educators across the country have discovered (Brand Y's) wireless telephones as the best way to keep their students and staff safe and sound."

The PR specialists have clicked onto something that the media discovered long before the World Trade Center came crashing down, "fear sells," said San Miguel.

Technology Can 'Save You'

He has gotten dozens of e-mails that would have you think the U.S. can be saved by technology. "They pitch me products and services like global positioning systems that can keep track of everything from a company's trucks to your child."

Security companies use threats like "Love Letter, Code Red or Klez-e to sell me on selling you their anti-virus products. Companies that provide hidden surveillance systems promise to keep an eye out for terrorists while swearing to look the other way and honor your civil liberties," he said.

As a technology anchor, San Miguel has to be on the air five times a day providing the "cutting-edge" tech news. "I have producers who want cool gadgets and gizmos to show our viewers, and if those products and services also happen to keep you and your family and our society/democratic values/ bank accounts safe, then that's even better, because then it becomes highly promotable. That's the way my business works.

"I accept that. Like the 1970s TV cartoon character Super Chicken, I knew the job was dangerous when I took it. But I also have to balance all that with my desire not to become the illegitmate child of Cassandra and P.T. Barnum. And I certainly don't want to have a digital ring placed in my nose by publicly held tech companies," said San Miguel.

The anchor said he will continue to use anti-virus specialists at computer security firms to comment on the latest threats. "Computer security is a relatively new field. I can't help it if the experts are working for companies that sell security products. I can only make sure that they don't use the exposure on Headline News or in this column to sell you a $2,000 anti-virus software kit."

IBM STOPS BLACKBALLING FORTUNE

IBM's new CEO Samuel Palmisano has apparently lifted outgoing chairman Louis Gerstner's blackball against Fortune magazine.

IBM stopped advertising in Fortune and PR people were forbidden to return reporters' calls after the magazine ran a profile in 1997 that praised Gerstner's turnaround of the company but quoted others calling him "arrogant" and "pompous."

But on Oct. 30, when Palmisano gave his first public speech since he was named IBM's CEO last March, Fortune reporter David Kirkpatrick was an invited attendee.

PLACEMENT TIPS

In Touch Weekly, an entertainment magazine, was unveiled Oct. 28 by Bauer Publishing USA, headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. More than a million copies were available on newsstands.

Richard Spencer is editor-in-chief and Stephen LeGrice is executive editor.

The magazine will offer uplifting stories that will appeal to young women, featuring celebrity profiles, real-life stories and breaking news. It plans to offer a variety of lifestyle-driven articles that focus on the reader's favorite celebrities, including home and decorating, beauty, health and fitness.

Other members of the editorial team include Alanna Finke, entertainment editorial director; Martin Gould, West Coast news editor; Eric Savage, creative director; Pamela Miller, lifestyle deputy editor; Dan Wakeford, news editor; Alec Foege, features editor; Tom O'Neil, senior editor, and Donna Bender, director of photography.

Bauer also publishes Woman's World, First For Women and J-14.

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is starting a new food magazine, titled Everyday Food.

The magazine is targeted to the ordinary shopper and the everyday cook, featuring quick, easy recipes using supermarket ingredients for meals.

The first issue will be available in supermarkets and on newsstands in January.

If the four-issue test is successful, the magazine will begin publishing with a regular frequency of 10 issues per year in September 2003.

The magazine will be edited by Judith Hill.

The New York Sun, which made its debut in April, has increased its page count to accommodate more news and columns.

Stuart Marques, who has been managing editor of The New York Post, has joined the Sun as news editor, and Dina Temple-Raston, formerly the White House correspondent of Bloomberg News, was named business editor.

The paper also has increased distribution to 5,000 retail outlets, and dropped the price to 25 cents.

(Media news continued on next page)

WSJ EXPANDS BEAUTY & FASHION BEAT

The Wall Street Journal is expanding its coverage of beauty and fashion.

Sally Beatty, who was covering cable TV, has been reassigned to cover the beat with Terri Agins. Both reporters are based in New York.

Beatty, who also covered the ad/PR beat at one time, said she has a "lot of room" to cover topics and "major trends" that will interest Journal readers in the beauty and fashion field.

Publicists can e-mail her "exclusive" information at [email protected].

WOOD RESIGNS AS EDITOR OF MS

Tracy Wood has resigned as editor-in-chief of Ms. magazine, based in Los Angeles.

The October issue, which was scrapped, was to have been the first under Wood, who was named editor in July. Wood had been a reporter for The Los Angeles Times and The Orange County Register.

She will remain with Ms. to oversee investigative reporting at the feminist publication.

BOGDANICH GETS NEW BEAT AT N.Y. TIMES

Walt Bogdanich, a business reporter for The New York Times, is joining the new investigations department, run by Doug Frantz, as assistant editor.

Bogdanich has been a reporter at The Wall Street Journal, where he won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988 for exposing substandard medical laboratories, and was subsequently an investigative producer at "60 Minutes" and ABC News.

Since joining the Times in January 2001, Bogdanich has directed coverage of stories like the conflicts of interest at hospital buying groups, abuse of the painkiller OxyContin and problems in the educational testing business.

Frantz said Bogdanich will continue to work with reporters on projects for the "Business Day" section.

Don Van Natta, a reporter assigned to "The Metro Section," is joining the investigations department early next year as a correspondent based in the London bureau. Lizette Alvarez, a reporter in the Washington, D.C., bureau, also is being sent to the London bureau to work for the foreign desk.

GOLDBERG TO OP-ED EDITOR OF L.A. TIMES

The Los Angeles Times has appointed Nicholas Goldberg as op-ed editor. Janet Clayton, editor of the editorial page, said Goldberg will assume his new position in early December.

Since 1999, Goldberg, who is a former bureau chief assigned to the Middle East and North Africa, political reporter, and Sunday business editor for Newsday (Melville, N.Y.), has conducted polling, focus groups and other research for foundations, corporations and political candidates.

In New York, he recently was a senior VP at Benenson Strategy Group.

HEALTH MAG TARGETS WOMEN

MultiMedia Healthcare/Freedom, a division of Freedom Magazines, based in Plainsboro, N.J., has started a new quarterly health magazine, called Family Health Matters: A Woman's Guide to Family Medicine.

Nearly one million copies of the magazine will be published and distributed free of charge at 4,100 CVS pharmacies nationwide, reaching a potential audience of 35 million customers each month, the publisher said.

The magazine is under the direction of The Partnership for Gender-Specific Medicine at Columbia Univ. and its founder, Marianne Legato, MD.

Legato, who is editor of FHM and a professor at Columbia Univ., said each issue features a specific health topic that directly affects women and their families.

According to a recent study, women make 75% of the healthcare decisions in the U.S. and spend nearly two out of every three healthcare dollars.

PEOPLE

Joe Pepper, a former business columnist at The Detroit News and The Detroit Free Press, who was CEO of Small Times Media, in Ann Arbor, Mich., which publishes a magazine that covers the small technology industry, has joined Ford Motor as director of integrated communications, a new position.

Andrew Fraser, 39, who has been deputy editor at The Wall Street Journal's online business and investing section, is rejoining The Associated Press.

Peter Mancusi, 48, who is business editor of The Boston Globe, will join Weber Shandwick's Cambridge, Mass., office this month as a senior VP. He will direct the firm's New England corporate practice.

Landon Thomas Jr., a business columnist for New York Magazine, is joining The New York Times to cover Wall Street.

Ann Tuke, previously marketing director for Cardonna Caribbean Tours, was named managing editor of Sport Diver.

Chandra Czape, formerly deputy articles editor of Cosmopolitan, has joined Ladies' Home Journal in the same title.

Tamara Glenny was recently named executive editor of YM.

Kate Betts, formerly editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar, is freelancing for The New York Times.

Ann Omvig Maine was appointed editor-in-chief of Traditional Home. She had been acting editor since July, and editor-in-chief for Renovation Style.

BIG CITIES FOR DECOUPLING

(continued from page 1)

Los Angeles (5) Chicago and Boston with four votes each; San Francisco, San Diego, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Phoenix with three each; four district chairs, and 11 one-vote chapters.

Against decoupling are Minnesota (5 votes); Colorado (5); North Carolina (2), and Memphis, Oklahoma City, and S.E. Wisconsin. About 80 chapters either are still deciding or refuse to comment. No chapter has been found that will conduct a vote of its members on this issue. About 80% of PRSA's 19,000 members are non-APR.

Big chapters undecided or not responding include Georgia, third largest with 800 members; Detroit, 499; Houston, 450, and Dallas, 370.
"I am optimistic that it will pass," said Joann Killeen, president.

Del Galloway, treasurer, said chapters, sections and districts have complained for years that there are not enough APRs to represent them. Nineteen chapters were unrepresented at the 2001 Assembly because none of their APR members would attend.

Interest in APR has declined in the past two decades while costs have soared, reaching a peak in 2000 when it cost PRSA a net of $1,794 to create one new APR. There were 246 new APRs that year when the deficit on the program was $441,467.

An average of 240 new APRs were created each year in the five-year period of 1997-2001. But 400 or more APRs left the Society each year (based on a renewal rate of 85% for the 19,000 membership).

There are now 4,100 APRs, about the same number there were in the 1980's. The test costs $285 and the average pass rate since 1982 is 67%. Total net cost of the program since 1986 is $2.78 million.

At least 25% of the 233 APRs created in 1999 at a net cost of $1,413 each have left the Society.
PRSA has spent $2.1 million on APR since 1997 with the net loss being $1.38M.

APRs Are Not Giving Up

Signs were that the APRs were not about to give up their rule of nearly 30 years (dating to a bylaw passed by the 1973 Assembly as part of a revolt against New York domination of PRSA).

Kerry King, 1979 president, remarked that power in PRSA had transferred to the "hinterlands." Patrick Jackson, 1980 president and leader of the revolt, said it would never return because "those in the hinterlands outnumber those in the big cities."

Douglas Coffey, chair of the APR board, said this NL has "demeaned a noble effort by incessantly harping about cost-per-exam and other fallacious indicators." PRSA is "investing" in APR and not "spending" on it, he said.

"Everybody in our profession benefits from a strong professional certification program," he said. "We continually re-invest in leading our profession to high ethical and intellectual standards." APR was "never intended to be a measure of organizational leadership ability," he added.

He said a new exam that is "intellectually rigorous and scientifically defensible" is being prepared that members can take year round at commercial testing centers. A major part of the exam will be in the form of multiple choice questions that can be tabulated electronically, eliminating a testing service whose average cost was about $100K in recent years.

Coffey said it is "unfortunate timing" that PRSA leaders are offering decoupling when the exam is being made more accessible and economical.

Fellows Leaning Against Decoupling

Pender McCarter, chair of the College of Fellows, which has one vote, said he polled other fellows and the vote was running 13-2 against decoupling.

Steven Grant, president of National Capital, the largest chapter (1,033 members and ten votes), said decoupling would "provide greater access to Society leadership to all members."

Mary Yerrick, 1999 NCC president, said PRSA should not "restrict" who can hold office. If the APRs feel strongly enough, they should create their own "Accredited PR Professionals of America," she said. Yerrick noted there is a National Assn. of Accountants (for those who do not want to be CPAs).

Rick Naymark, president, Minnesota chapter, said the board rejects decoupling. It wants to see if the new exam encourages more members to seek APR.

James Steed, president, N.E. Wisconsin, said his board supports decoupling because the chapter has many non-APRs who would provide "great service."
Paul Daniel, president, S.E. Wisconsin, said he "can't believe" that national is pushing APR while at the same time recommending decoupling. His chapter is against decoupling.

Rick Cook, president, San Diego, said the APR rule "excludes many talented people from leadership."

Patrick Pollino of Boston, said he and president Jeff Seideman are the only ones going to the Assembly because it can't find two more APRs to attend.
Oregon Capital president Patrick Cooney said the chapter is small and "short on APRs." Gina Godfrey, Tulsa, said, "After polling the board, there seems to be an overwhelming vote in favor of removing the APR rule...many of our most dedicated and active members are not APR."

Decoupling 'Overdue'-Schmidt-Krebs

Mary Schmidt-Krebs, Western district chair, said Assembly decoupling was "a little bit overdue and actually inevitable...we need greater representation of our rank and file." Also supporting Assembly decoupling were Art Stevens, Tri State chair; Karen Breakell, Sunshine, and Brett St. Clair, Northeast.

Ronele Klingensmith, Reno, which backs decoupling, said only six of 76 members are APR.

Pamela Vann, Oklahoma City, which rejects the bylaw change, said the APR process "demonstrates a person's level of expertise in PR and prepares that person for decision-making in the Assembly."

Fred Bragg, Indianapolis, said his chapter's board "at this time" is against decoupling, feeling it would "weaken the profession overall" although it realizes some chapters and sections have few APRs.

While researching the 117 chapters of PRSA for the decoupling story (page 7) we ran into several striking facts.

First is that rudimentary democracy seems to be lacking in all the chapters.

Not one chapter was even dreaming of conducting a secret ballot on the decoupling issue, probably the most important initiative brought before the Assembly in the past 30 years.

One chapter president said, "We've never conducted a ballot on anything, why should we start now?"

The concept was foreign to the chapter presidents and boards. Their attitude was, "We're the elected leaders and we know what's best for the members."

Seventy of the chapter presidents are accredited and many members of their boards are, a lingering influence of the days when PRSA pushed APR hard.
The non-APRs, who constitute 80% of PRSA's membership, would quickly pass decoupling across the board if they were given a chance to vote on it.

Also striking is that not a single chapter automatically gives a full financial report to members. The New York chapter, answering a request by this NL, gave us a CPA-audited report but it is not routinely distributed to members.

In this era of Enron, Worldcom, etc., where many hundreds of public companies provide misleading "pro forma" financial reports, keep loans "off the balance sheet," and are guilty of numerous other abuses that have undermined investors' confidence, PRSA and its chapters should be setting an example of financial disclosure.

APR chair Doug Coffey says APRs are "leading our profession to high ethical and intellectual standards."

But private clubs and organizations are fertile territory for financial hanky-panky. The FBI figures six out of ten people will embezzle or otherwise misuse funds not their own if given the chance. The Overseas Press Club lost its 11-story building because of a $300K embezzlement by its manager, who committed suicide; the Publicity Club of New York ousted and sued two officers on charges of mis-use of funds; the Int'l Assn. of Business Communicators recently spent $1M on a website that never launched while keeping plans for this secret; Women in Communications folded after skipping its members' directory and firing its staff; PRSA itself juggled its books throughout the 1990's, breaking about even in most years but then suddenly taking a required $1.1M "big bath" in 2000 and skipping its members' directory, etc.

All PRSA chapters should report full financials to their members at least once a year without forcing any member to run a gauntlet by daring to ask (beg?) for such a report. PRSA national said it has no policy on this. If the books are so honest, why are the officers so afraid to show them?!

Another striking point about PRSA chapters presents itself: some states have only one chapter (Georgia, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Jersey). Colorado has two. The biggest chapter, Washington, D.C.'s National Capital, with 1,033 members, takes in surrounding areas.

But California has nine chapters; Texas, eight; Florida, seven, and New York, six. Other states have two to four chapters. This creates a lot of local chapter presidents. Each chapter, no matter how small, sends one delegate to the Assembly. Thus 20 chapters with a total of 400 members would have 20 votes while New York, with 800 members, would have only eight votes. This is how power in PRSA was shifted to the smaller cities and towns across America.

Part of the multi-million dollar Charlotte Beers U.S. PR campaign aimed at Muslims abroad was unveiled last week to "mixed" reviews, said the New York Times 10/30. It quoted anonymous State Dept. sources as saying it was "patronizing" and "too simplistic." Video news releases created by McCann-Erickson show Muslims leading happy and successful lives in the U.S.

Beers is a former executive at J.W. Thompson who is now under secretary of state for public diplomacy. Getting the VNRs shown in many countries will be a problem since local governments often operate TV stations and could censor them.

PR pros, wondering why no one from the PR world is involved in the effort, might notice that PRSA spent a net of $1.38 million on APR in the past five years and virtually nothing on "PR for PR."

PRSA, the Arthur Page Society, the Institute for PR, the Council of PR Firms and the PA Council are on the wrong side of the Nike "commercial speech" lawsuit. Instead of siding with Nike, which refuses to defend the truthfulness of its statements about labor practices abroad (see No Logo for labor conditions in 18 foreign countries), the PR groups should be demanding that accuracy be served. The California Supreme Court ruled that Nike was promoting sales and thus did not have the protection civilians have in making statements...short interest in Omnicom reached a record 11.1 million shares in October, up from eight and nine million shares on average and indicating "unease" in Wall Street about OMC's quality of earnings, said an analyst. OMC's Q3 revenues and net were up 10%+ as predicted but acquisitions made with cash accounted for more than half the gains. OMC has a huge debt of $2.6 billion, equal to about four years of earnings.
--Jack O'Dwyer