PALM BEACH ISSUES 'CULTURE' RFP

Palm Beach County is looking to hire a New York-based PR firm to position it as "Florida's Cultural Capital." Most of the outreach program will be done in the Washington, D.C., New York and Boston corridor, according to Gary Schweikhart, who is overseeing the agency selection process.

The RFP is from The Palm Beach County Cultural Council, a non-profit group established in 1978. Its mission is to build "community and tourism through culture."

The County's voters approved a $50 million "Arts and Parks" bond referendum in the Nov. 5 election. That funding will add to its cultural attractions, a roster that includes the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Robert and Mary Montgomery Armory Art Center and the public art collection at the Palm Beach International Airport.

Schweikhart wants responses by Dec. 6, and completed proposals a week later. He is at 561/471-2901.

MONFRIED TO METLIFE

David Monfried, VP of corporate communications for The St. Paul Cos., has moved to competitor MetLife as a senior VP, corporate communications, a new post at the company, which backs $2.1 trillion in life insurance.

Monfried is responsible for advertising, creative services, internal communications and PR. He reports to chief administrative officer Lisa Weber.

At St. Paul since 1998, Monfried held a similar post at Dun & Bradstreet Corp. in the mid-'90s and was involved in the restructuring of the company into three separate entities.

Earlier, he was manager of corporate communications for Pacific Gas and Electric Co.

Cohn & Wolfe has closed its Springbok Technologies unit in Richardson, Tex., due to the collapse of the high-tech market. C&W acquired Springbok in May 2001. The company once ranked as the biggest independent firm in Texas with fees of more than $10M. C&W CEO Donna Imperato suggests that clients wanting high-tech exposure in the Lone Star State tap into sister company Burson-Marsteller's Dallas office.

The Dallas Business Journal has reported that Springbok and Young & Rubicam have used the Dallas County courts to pursue eight companies over allegedly unpaid bills.

F-H MONITORS U.S./CHINA TIES FOR HK

Fleishman-Hillard has a $16,666-a month government relations pact with the Hong Kong Trade Development Council. The contract says the Omnicom unit will "protect, promote, assist and develop Hong Kong's economic and trade interests in the U.S., and seek to prevent or minimize any negative impact" that may be taken by this country against the People's Republic of China city.

Donald Johnson, vice chairman of FH/GPC, handles the HKTDC account. In a letter to Robin Chiu, the Council's Americas director, Johnson gave assurances that he is "aware of no clients of FH/GPC which involve representation issues that may potentially conflict with the interests of Hong Kong."

FH/GPC was formed via the merger of GPC International and Duffy Wall & Assocs. lobbying units.

Waste Management wants to hire a VP-corporate communications to serve at the trash hauler and landfill disposal site manager's Houston headquarters. The successful candidate will oversee a staff of five, and report to Barry Caldwell, senior VP, government affairs and communication. WM is looking for a pro with 10-15 years of experience.

Nels Olson, managing director at Korn/Ferry International, is conducting the search. 202/955-0930.

APRs BLOCK DECOUPLING MOVE

PRSA's firm believers in accreditation, ignoring a recommendation by the national board, the five biggest chapters of PRSA, the 15 section heads and the vast majority of PRSA members (80% of whom are non-APR), on Nov. 16 blocked a proposal to allow non-APR members to serve in the Assembly.

The vote to refer the by-law change to a task force was 125 to 90. The APR rule has been in effect since 1973.

Although 24 chapters were not represented in the Assembly this year in San Francisco because they could find no APRs to represent them, delegates argued that the case had not been proven that the absence of these delegates was due to a scarcity of APRs among the membership.

Some delegates complained that the issue had not been explained enough to the membership.

The two PRSA publications, Tactics and Strategist, never mentioned the controversial proposal although it was announced by the board in July.

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DECOUPLING BLOCKED

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APR supporters also pointed out that a new APR test is being created that is all multiple choice, making it easier to give and correct.

Not needed anymore, they noted, is a professional test grading service that had been costing the Society upwards of $100,000 a year.

The test will also be offered throughout the year at testing centers across the U.S. instead of at a few locations twice a year, it was pointed out.
The vote appeared to be a case of smaller chapters vs. larger chapters, the former outnumbering the latter by a large margin.

Fifty-six of the 117 PRSA chapters have 100 or fewer members and 26 of these have fewer than 50. But each chapter gets at least one vote in the Assembly, which sets PRSA's bylaws.

The five biggest chapters (National Capital, New York, Georgia, Chicago and Los Angeles) have 3,696 members but only 35 votes in the Assembly. All five said they were in favor of decoupling.

Board Support Was Lukewarm

Board support for decoupling was lukewarm. The proposal came from the 15 sections which complained that few of their leaders were APR. Specialists in fields such as healthcare, financial and high-tech do not need the APR credential in order to succeed, they said.

Joann Killeen, PRSA president, said a "majority" of the board was in favor of decoupling in the Assembly, indicating the vote was less than unanimous.

Neither she nor any board members gave any extended rationale in support of decoupling nor was there any evidence that any of the board members actively campaigned for it.

The Colorado chapter, sixth biggest with 508 members, was one of the leaders against decoupling.
"How can we expect people to respect APR if we don't?" asked Mary Adam, Colorado delegate and a faculty member at Colorado State University.

She said the decoupling move had not been discussed enough and that decoupling "sends the wrong message about APR."

Case 'Not Proved'

Rebecca Brandt of Portland, Ore., said it was "not proved" that the problem of unrepresented chapters was due to a shortage of APRs.

Judy Turk, of Virginia Commonwealth University, noting the proposed changes in the test, said APR can be made more attractive to PR pros and can become the hallmark of PR professionalism.

The problem of too few APRs can be solved by next year, she said.

PR educators were mostly against decoupling, fearing a diminution in the one credential that the PR field has, sources said. The Fellows Academy of PRSA was also against the decoupling move. Many former presidents of PRSA were against any retreat from accreditation.

PR GROUPS SUPPORT NIKE

PRSA, Arthur Page Society, Public Affairs Council, Council of PR Firms, and Institute for PR filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court last week on behalf of Nike Corp.

They are among the more than 40 media outlets, corporations and associations joining Nike in urging the high court to review an unprecedented California state court ruling, which effectively eliminates First Amendment protection for companies that speak out on public issues. The filings in Nike v. Kasky stem from a 4-3 ruling of the Calif. Supreme Court last May.

In that decision, the California court held that because a company's public statements about its operations might persuade consumers to buy its products, those statements must be treated as run-of-the-mill commercial speech, thereby warranting limited constitutional protection.

Bruce Keller, of Debevoise & Plimpton, which is representing the PR groups, warned the Kasky decision"inevitably will stymie PR professionals' ability to assist corporations maintain an open dialogue with the public and engage in the 'uninhibited, robust and wide-open' public debate that was previously thought to be protected by the First Amendment."

That because, in Keller's view, a "prudent CEO would no longer be willing to risk speaking about any issue of public importance that also touches upon the 'business operations' or profitability of the company the information flow to the public would be severely circumscribed."

ZILKA, KEEGAN JOIN EDELMAN

Jeff Zilka, 47, who once ran Hill and Knowlton's financial communications practice, is now in charge of Edelman PR Worldwide's financial group in Chicago. He joins from The Weiser Group, which has decided to close its Chicago office to focus on Washington, D.C., and New York.

Edelman also added Bill Keegan who was at NiSource, an energy services company, to serve as its SVP crisis/issues management. Last month, Nick Kalm, who had headed Edelman's corporate reputation group, left to start Reputation Partners in Chicago.

Zilka and Keegan report to Mark Shadle, who is managing director of Edelman's 60-member Chicago corporate group. It counts Boeing, Kraft Foods, Expedia and Household International, which is being acquired by U.K.-based HSBC Holdings, as clients.

B-M HANDLES DIABETES PUSH FOR AVENTIS

Aventis, which makes insulin, is funding a national educational campaign from the American Assn. of Diabetic Educators, which launched Nov. 14,-World Diabetes Day- to encourage Americans to get checked for diabetes. An estimated 16 million people are diabetic. The disease is the No. 6 killer in the U.S., and a major cause of blindness. Burson-Marsteller created the "Aim. Believe. Achieve." drive to encourage people to take a test that measures the level of blood.

EDITOR DUMPS HER RELEASES IN GARBAGE

Faye Penn, features editor of The New York Post, told a packed room of publicists at a Publicity Club of New York meeting on Nov. 13 to stop sending her press releases.

Penn said she has neither the time nor the staff to read the "avalanche of releases" that she gets every day. "I keep books, food samples and invitations to parties," said Penn. "The rest gets tossed in the garbage," she told a group of 150, who had just finished eating a sliced roast turkey lunch.

She began by saying she had probably hung up on most of them. She apologized, and explained she has little time to talk because she has no staff help.

The editor said another reason she has stopped reading releases is too many of them are about topics and things that the section does not cover.

Instead of sending her releases, she suggested they give their story ideas to other staffers, and let them submit their finished articles to her. "If that doesn't work, consider buying an ad. The number for the ad department is 930-8000," Penn told a stunned audience.

During a question and answer period, Penn admitted she did check some of the releases to see where they are coming from. She also pointed out she has her own cadre of freelancers, who she would not name. She says she also knows when a freelancer's article has been assigned by a publicist.

Readers Respond

Several readers of O'Dwyer's website (www.odwyerpr.com) have responded to Penn's remarks.

One publicist said Penn is "practicing armchair journalism at its very worst."

A Toronto PR pro said it would help if "more PR types understood what is news and what is snooze."

Berton Woodward, assistant managing editor of Maclean's magazine, in Toronto, said he never picks up the phone unless he knows the name or number on the call display. He also has a separate e-mail address for news releases.

"I quickly discovered, once I became business editor of this national newsmagazine, that for every non-event taking place anywhere in Canada, I would receive an e-mail, a fax, possibly a package, and then one or even two phone calls to `follow up' on the e-mail, the fax, the package," said Woodward.

A reader from California said: "I applaud you for being brave enough to write this article. It is her responsibility, not choice, to read press releases to find newsworthy topics for her readers."

Another publicist said Penn is the "kind of journalist who only furthers the contempt that so many inside and outside the PR field have for the media."

Schuler Reads Every Release

Barbara Schuler, features editor of Newsday, told the PCNY meeting she reads every release that she gets by mail or fax, and e-mail, as long as it does not have attachments. She also does not look at releases and information sent to her on a disk.

She said it is practically impossible to pitch her by phone because she rarely answers her phone.
Schuler advised the publicists to read the paper's features section to find out what is covered, and then target a reporter to pitch.

She passed out a directory of editors and reporters who work for the paper, which is headquartered in Kew Gardens.

One publicist wanted to know why she listed her phone number if she does not answer her phone. Schuler said some callers might get lucky because she will occasionally answer her phone.

Jane Freiman, managing editor/features, New York Daily News, told the audience reporters want to get information on most topics with the exception of hard news and sports.

Freiman, who also does not like to get pitch calls, said publicists should instead call the reporters, especially the ones who write about topics that are related to their client's products.

If in doubt as to whom to call, Freiman told them to call 212/210-1591, which is the main number of the features department, and ask the person who answers to direct them to the right reporter.

PRODUCER CANS SMTs WITH PLUGS

A news producer with WFMZ-TV, in Allentown, Pa., recently warned satellite media tour bookers that she will no longer air an SMT interview if it uses a blatant sales plug.

"I just wanted to alert you of a problem we seem to be having recently," said Liz Keptner in her Oct. 25 e-mail, "...and I'm not naming any names, but the majority of satellite interviews seem to be major product pitches and not much else!"

Keptner said she is being "blamed" by her station's management for booking interviews that contain overt sales pitches and said she felt she was receiving "false pitches" from some bookers.

"I understand you're all doing your jobs," she said, "I just want you to know that we're not going to be using anymore sats that are product pitches. If we end up doing an interview, and it's a total product pitch, we won't be using your company anymore."

Kevin Foley, president of KEF Media Assocs., a PR video company based in Atlanta, said Keptner's "concerns are valid because we frequently have clients come to us and tell us they want the SMT interview to be `about' their product or service, and that's not how it works in TV news."

Foley said successful SMTs provide news and information that TV newscasters conducting interviews can confidently present to their viewers as factual and useful.

"When you satisfy that first criteria, then you can work your client's message into the SMT and everybody wins," he said.

(Media news continued on next page)

NEW MAG COVERS FOOD, WINE AND TRAVEL

The first issue of Intermezzo, a bimonthly magazine, will go on newsstands this month, according to the publisher, T.F. Assocs., in Boston.
Roseann Tully, publisher and editorial director, said the magazine is in response to readers' requests for an interesting, quality magazine that offers an escape from the stress of everyday life.

She said what makes Intermezzo different is its broad, yet detailed coverage of fine food and wine, home decor/renovation and travel.

Travel features will focus on new ways to travel and experience food and wine.

Tully said the magazine, which will have an initial circulation of 275,000, will be distributed in 23 countries by Curtis Circulation.

The magazine's editor and contributors have written for Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Cooks Illustrated, Chocolatier, Walking, Cigar Aficionado, Antiques and others.

The target audience is the average 40-year-old reader, who is too busy to read six or seven magazines every month.

Visit: www.intermezzomagazine.com.

PRINT MEDIA IS TOP CHOICE FOR PR PROS

Print publications prevail heavily as the news medium considered to be most knowledgeable, as compared to web-based or electronic media, according to a study of 83 financial PR managers from countries around the world.

The study was made for the Global Financial Communications Network, a network of 13 PR firms.

While the findings show the respondents rely primarily on their own domestic news outlets for financial and company news, either The Wall Street Journal or The Financial Times was ranked in the top 10 for media considered "most important" in almost all countries surveyed.

The findings also show business and financial newspapers, both foreign and domestic, are viewed overall as the most knowledgeable media, with trade publications seen as most knowledgeable in the U.K., Switzerland and France.

In the U.S., The Wall Street Journal was by far considered the most important and knowledgeable outlet for news by survey respondents.

The top five was rounded out by The Financial Times, The New York Times , and wire services Bloomberg and Dow Jones.

In Great Britain, The Financial Times ranked first as the most important media outlet, followed by the WSJ, Reuters, The Times, and The Daily Telegraph.

Italy was the only European country that did not recognize any international news outlet in the top five. Domestic publications Il Sole 24 Ore, Corriere Economia, Affari & Finanza, and Milano Finanza ranked among the most important publications.

Copies of the survey are available from Karen Seaman at Trimedia PR, 212/888-6115, ext. 236.

HEALTH REPORTER LIKES SAVVY PR PROS

Ron Winslow, whose new weekly healthcare column made its debut Nov. 11 in The Wall Street Journal's "Personal Health" section, likes to work with savvy PR pros.

Winslow, who has been a healthcare reporter for the Journal since 1989, told 147 members of the Healthcare PR and Marketing Society of Greater New York on Nov. 11 that he has no time for publicists who cannot answer his questions.

Since he has no shortage of story ideas, it behooves publicists to be knowledgeable enough to answer his questions without having to run to the client, said Winslow, who covers cardiology and other health and medical issues.

Winslow wants to get information pertaining to medicine, health economics, managed care, new medical research and medical discoveries.
He is especially interested in developing close working relationships with healthcare publicists. He said this can be done by giving him exclusives.

While it is difficult to pitch him by phone or in person, Winslow said he does respond to some of the more interesting e-mails. His address is [email protected].

Other speakers on the "Meet the Media" panel were Dr. Mike Rosen, WCBS-TV's chief medical reporter; Mary Sisson, healthcare reporter for Crain's New York Business, and Deborah Goldschmidt, CNN medical news reporter, based in New York.

Rosen said it is "difficult for publicists to get in my stock of 150 stories," but they should not give up trying. Rosen said his story pitches are frequently spiked by his producer because of some news story in The New York Post.

"Try to think like a reporter," he advised his audience, which consisted of PR pros from local hospitals and New York-based PR firms.

Rosen wants to get only breaking news tips. He said most of the VNRs that he gets are "ungodly terrible." "I am looking for stories with a cutting news edge," said Rosen.

Goldschmidt said just about every pitch and press release is turned over to her department to review for possible use.

She has to sell the story to her boss, who then must persuade the executive producer to use it. As a result, many of her stories get rejected.

Sisson, who prefers to get e-mail pitches, said Crain's covers mostly stories with a New York angle.

Ramp, a new men's lifestyle magazine, has named Laurie Schechter, former Style editor of Vogue, to oversee all fashion pages as fashion director.

Schechter created the first fashion section for Rolling Stone, where she pioneered the marriage of fashion and pop culture.

Editorial offices are located at 801 Second ave., New York, NY 10017. 646/658-7587.

CUNNINGHAM IN HIGH-LEVEL AFFILIATE

Andrea "Andy" Cunningham, who founded her high-tech PR firm in 1987 in California and saw it grow to a 250-employee firm at the height of the dot-com boom, is stepping out of the day-to-day management of Citigate Cunningham to head a six-person creative and management boutique.

She has become president of sister firm Citigate Cunningham CXO, Palo Alto, which will serve corporate officers and their teams, handling mostly projects such as crisis management, corporate positioning, executive positioning and executive platform creation.

Veteran Cunningham people who are joining her include VPs Hamish Forsythe and Jeremy Hartman; managing directors Kathleen Bowden, Pam Erickson, and Aaron Feigin, and Steven Brewster, executive platform strategist. They will not have titles.

Cunningham, who sold her firm to Incepta in 2000, said the team will help companies to launch "new categories of products-the really crucial, pivotal product launches."

One recent project was the introduction of a new airplane by Eclipse Aviation.

The new firm will be "content-oriented and project-oriented," she said. It could even work with a client that already has a PR firm, she noted.

Bergevin Heads Citigate Cunningham

Citigate Cunningham continues as a separate firm with about 70 employees.

Heading Citigate Cunningham as president is Paul Bergevin, 20-year high-tech marketing veteran who joined CC more than a year ago as managing director, global business development. He joined the agency world after eight years at IBM where as PR director he helped launch the ThinkPad and Aptiva brands.

Joe Hamilton, who had been president and COO of Citigate Cunningham, recently left to start his own firm which will handle professional services firms.

The Cunningham firm is noted for its short list of blue chip firms such as Motorola, Sun Microsystems, Cisco Systems, Quantum and Sprint.

Incepta, a publicly held communications conglomerate based in London, purchased Dewe Rogerson in 1999 and Sard Verbinnen and Cunningham in 2000.

Incepta's stock, listed on the London Stock Exchange, reached a high of two pounds in early 2000 but is now about 14 British pence.

BUSH GEARS UP PR PUSH FOR IRAQ

The White House is shifting James Wilkinson, who helped run the U.S./U.K. coalition communications office in the aftermath of the invasion of Afghanistan, to the Pentagon's U.S. Central Command to serve as spokesperson for Gen. Tommy Franks.

Wilkinson has just returned from a trip to Morocco, where he practiced his Arabic language skills on the streets. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld used Wilkinson as his spokesperson during the presidential transition period. The 32-year-old communicator is said to be a pro at long-range messaging and overall communications strategy.

CentCom's Franks may wind up as the U.S. military governor of Iraq following the invasion. The U.S. is shifting 600 members of CentCom from its Tampa headquarters to Qatar to coordinate the Iraqi invasion.

OGILVY FIGHTS 'GOLD-PLATED' GREEN REGS

The Forest Products Industry National Labor Management Committee, a group that says it wants to "balance economic and environmental concerns" when it comes to managing America's timber, paid Ogilvy PR Worldwide $100,000 during the first-half of this year to make its case in Washington, D.C.

The WPP Group unit lobbied on behalf of the "Sound Science for Endangered Species Act," "National Forest Roadless Area Conservation Act," and the EPA's New Source Review program, which is a particular concern of the industry/labor organization.

The NSR, which was among 1977 amendments to the "Clean Air Act," requires pollution permits before the construction or expansion of large manufacturing facilities to prevent big increases in air emissions.

The Committee rails against the NSR as "the single most complicated regulatory program" under the CAA. It "forces gold-plated environmental controls onto the 22,000 large facilities that employ millions of unionized working men and women," says the Committee on its website.

The Committee members include the American Forest & Paper Assn., and forest industry groups in California, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Louisiana and the Rockies. It also counts the Int'l Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, United Mine Workers, and Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy Workers Assn.

LAYDEN LEAVES PN FOR EDELMAN

Bill Layden, who headed Porter Novelli's food and nutrition practice in Washington, D.C., has moved to Edelman's Chicago-based food unit as an executive VP and director, a new post.

Layden is charged with further developing Edelman's business in the food/beverage sector.

At PN, Layden handled work for the American Cancer Society, Procter & Gamble and the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. He earlier was director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's first nutrition promotion program.

Edelman's food/beverage practice has handled Kraft, KRF, Butterball and crisis work for Odwalla.

PETA Targets Butterball

Stepping up its annual Thanksgiving protests, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has enlisted musician Moby to counter Butterball's "Turkey Talk" 1-800 line by promoting its own number on vegetarianism. PETA tags Butterball as a "turkey-corpse" seller.

Callers to PETA's 1-800 number hear Moby slam Butterball's cooking help line, encouraging them to phone the produce company and "let [Butterball] know that there is no proper way to kill and cook these beautiful birds."

The defeat of the modest attempt at decoupling APR from PRSA leadership keeps control of PRSA in the hands of the smaller chapters spread across the U.S. and will probably further alienate members in the big cities.

The small chapters outnumber and can outvote the big city chapters that wanted decoupling (D.C., N.Y., Phila., Boston, Chicago, L.A., S.F., San Diego, St. Louis) every day of the week.

APR die-hards in Minnesota, Colorado, Indiana and Florida combined with the small chapters and educators to block the reform.

A new APR exam is in the wings that is all multiple-choice and can be corrected electronically, saving upwards of $100K annually on a grading service. At a time when good writing is in such short supply in PR, the APR test will give up the lengthy essays that were required in favor of X's in boxes. Nov. 16 was not a good day for PRSA or the profession.

New York Post features editor Faye Penn told the Publicity Club of New York that she throws all press releases "in the garbage".

Our view: nobody throws away a good piece of writing. It's dramatic, fact-filled, relevant to the reader, gives numerous facets of a topic, tells the reader something he or she didn't know, and in a PR release, gives phones, e-mails, etc., of informed and helpful people who are there when called. Penn and all editors would read and use such releases.

David Drobis told the Institute for PR (11/13 NL) that PR's relationship with the media is "fractured." He asked: "Why do we devalue this relationship so much...?" A reader felt Drobis was the "voice of Big PR," which got us to thinking.

Big PR is highly client-oriented, numbers driven (both in profits and goals defined in terms of numbers), integrated marketing-oriented, and has grown increasingly impersonal and mechanical.

It is heavily staffed by recent college grads who never worked in the media and didn't develop writing skills. Most never even picked up the habit of reading a daily newspaper. We admit this habit has gotten to be expensive. The New York Times is $390 a year and other big city dailies are comparable. Such PR staffers have almost nothing in common with reporters, not even an interest in news.

Execs Opt out of Press Relations

On top of this, the heads of the big PR firms have decided they no longer have to personally deal with the press, setting a poor example for their troops.

The PR A/Es have little or no expense accounts and spend most of their time schmoozing clients and telemarketing to reporters whom they never meet.
Agencies used to have breakfasts, brown-bag lunches and other techniques for putting staff in touch with reporters. These are now a rarity. Pinch-penny PR firm managements, catering to profit conscious ad agency owners, seem bent on making PR as "transactional" (impersonal) as possible, such as the banks are doing via automatic teller machines.

What is "Little PR?" The opposite of the above.

The new unit started by six senior people at Citigate Cunningham is the latest evidence of the upheaval in high-tech PR.

We're hopeful the main CC staff of about 70 people (down from 250) as well as the new unit (and all PR firms) will be more press oriented. Hal Plotkin, San Francisco Chronicle high-tech columnist, wrote in March 1999 at the height of the dot-com madness that PR pros no longer considered themselves "helpers" of reporters. He found "it takes weeks to get a response to the most simple requests." Plotkin singled out the Cunningham firm, saying high-tech reporters called it `The Black Hole.'"

The client-oriented voice of "Big PR" is evident in the decision by PRSA, Page Society, Council of PR Firms, PA Council and Institute for PR to file an amicus brief on behalf of Nike in the Nike vs. Kasky lawsuit. The Calif. Supreme Court said letters-to-the-editor, op-eds and statements to reporters are "commercial speech" and can be subject to lawsuits if not truthful. It ruled that if Nike is going to claim it is "socially responsible," thereby hoping to win customers, it must be able to back up such claims.

Del Galloway, treasurer of PRSA, and John Colletti, CFO, say the word "insolvent" should not be used in connection with PRSA (11/13 NL). Insolvency means "unable to meet debts or discharge liabilities," they said. Well, in 2000 PRSA was unable to supply its chief product, the annual membership directory that runs to about 800 pages. The deficit in 1999-2000 was $1.1 million. PRSA says it has no deferred dues account at all (although it once had $900Kin DD) because dues are "non-refundable." IABC, which has DD of $1.2M on dues of $2.5M. IABC admits it has a deficit-$1.28M as of 9/30/01. Its $1M loss on a business website will forever mar its record. PRSA is almost alone among professional groups in having no DD account.

The Amer. Soc. of Assn. Execs. has $6M in deferred revenues, mostly dues; Amer. Medical Assn. has a $24M DD on dues of $54M; AICPAs has $40M in DD, and Amer. BarAssn. has $57M in DD. PRSA cites GAAP (generallyaccepted accounting principles) but better than that overgrown loophole-ridden mish-mash is "principles-based accounting," favored in Europe.

The standard is the "spirit" of the rules, not the literal rules themselves. It's a "user-friendly" attitude.
--Jack O'Dwyer