AMI BATTLES MAD COW.
The American Meat Institute, which has been talking with crisis PR shops, has hired Burson-Marsteller to handle the fallout from Mad Cow disease, said Dan Murphy, a spokesperson at the nation's oldest meat and poultry trade association. "They will be on board as soon as we get some details worked out," said Murphy, VP-PA at AMI.

Burson-Marsteller, which works for the National Cattlemen's Beef Assn., will receive an estimated $60K from the AMI. Its selection enables the industry to better coordinate PR efforts.

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll released Jan. 12 found that one-third of Americans call Mad Cow a "major problem" or "crisis." Another third either have cut back or stopped eating meat or worry that they may become a victim of the disease.

More than 50 countries have slapped a ban on U.S. beef.

SAMSON MOVES TO CHEVRONTEXACO.
Dave Samson, who was VP-international corporate communications at Oracle, has joined ChevronTexaco as public affairs chief. Earlier, Samson was senior VP at Ketchum; VP-global communications at Levi Strauss, and senior IR manager at Manville Corp.

The company recently added Lisa Barry as VP-government relations. She held a senior VP-international policy post at TimeWarner.

Samson and Barry report to Patricia Yarrington, who is VP-public and government affairs.

Korn/Ferry placed both new execs at Chevron.

HABER EXITS F-H FOR DEAN.
Jon Haber, a senior VP and partner at Fleishman-Hillard in Washington, D.C., has left for a senior advisory role on Howard Dean's presidential bid team.

A longtime communications advisor in politics, Dean for America is Haber's fifth presidential campaign, having served as deputy campaign manager for Dick Gephardt in 1988 and on the staffs of Sen. Edward Kennedy, Walter Mondale and Bill Clinton in their own races.

Haber noted Dean asked him to join the campaign, which he said is changing politics and "reinvigorating" democracy.

Chet Burchett, who resigned as Burson-Marsteller U.S. CEO earlier this month, is now North American president of Reed Exhibitions, the trade show unit of Reed Elsevier Group.

CIRCUIT CITY LOOKS FOR PR.
Circuit City, which operates more than 600 consumer electronics stores in the U.S., is looking to hire a PR firm, according to Steve Mullen, senior PR representative. The Richmond-based company, he said, currently uses FCBi (Foote Cone & Belding Interactive) in Chicago for PR.

CC is using eBreviate, an online outsourcing operation owned by A.T. Kearney, to distribute an RFP. Kearney is part of the giant EDS consulting company.

One PR executive marveled at the size of the RFP, which features a 12-page "guide." The RFP lists Beverly LaPrade, in CC's purchasing department, as the contact person. The PR executive isn t too thrilled that CC has a purchasing executive in charge of the search, saying "it hurts and trivializes PR."

GOLDBERG GOES TO PN.
Jon Goldberg, who handled crisis management for Edelman's PR21 unit, has joined Porter Novelli as executive VP responsible for its corporate affairs group. He will oversee investor relations, financial PR, as well as PN CauseWorks, which deals with corporate social responsibility matters.

Goldberg was EVP and general manager of Edelman's corporate practice before shifting to PR21 in `01.

He directed work for Johnson & Johnson, Kinko's, Duke Energy, Reuters, Whirlpool and CIGNA.

PN's corporate clients include Hewlett-Packard, Dana Corp., Applied Biosystems and TXU Energy.

FENTON GETS FACTS OUT
ABOUT INFACT .
Infact has hired Fenton Communications to help it gain recognition as a "leading corporate accountability advocacy organization," Patti Lynn, a spokesperson at the Boston-based group, told O'Dwyer's.

Lynn said Infact wants to get word out about its record of "25 years of successful campaigns."

Infact was behind the Nestle boycott during the `70s and `80s over infant formula marketing; General Electric action of the `80s and `90s over nuclear weapons production and promotion, and most recently the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese campaign designed to pressure parent company, Philip Morris (now Altria Group), over tobacco marketing.

Fenton has represented Greenpeace, Body Shop, Sierra Club and Businesses for Social Responsibility.
Lynn said Infact will continue to use Riptide Communications for media relations work.

BELLEVUE HANDLES ABUSE CASE.
Philadelphia-based Bellevue Communications is handling PR for the Oblates of St. Francis De Sales, which includes a priest charged with abusing a child for nine years in the 1970s and early ‘80s.

The Catholic order extends through Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina.

Father Jim O Neill, a retired priest in the order, has been charged by 35-year-old Eric Eden that he was abused by O Neill for a nine-year period beginning at the age of eight. Eden has sued the retired priest, a Catholic school, Wilmington's bishop and the archdiocese.

Kevin Feeley, president of Bellevue, told this NL his firm began "affirmative" PR work for the Oblates in the fall. That included promoting a rigorous middle school the priests were opening in Delaware, which requires students to attend longer school days in return for top placements and financial assistance at private schools.

That work turned to crisis communications work when Eden filed suit this month.

WILLIAMS SPLITS RF FOR OGILVY.
James Williams has resigned as head of Ruder Finn's Los Angeles unit, and will take a post at Ogilvy PR Worldwide's office in that city. "I will assist on the Sun Microsystems business, and handle account planning duties," he told this NL. He starts Feb. 2.

Williams joined RF from Ogilvy/L.A. in `02. He also worked at Ketchum as global account director of the MCI business.

RF has named Howard Solomon acting managing director of the L.A. office. He will continue as head of the Chicago office.

RF/L.A., which opened in `96, recently generated worldwide publicity for the opening of the Disney Concert Hall.

MARQUIS JET SCORES PR HIT.
Marquis Jet, a New York-based company that leases private jets in 25-hour increments, has scored a major PR coup with a product placement that aired on the Jan. 15 episode of Donald Trump's reality show "The Apprentice" on NBC.

Executive VP Ken Austin told this NL his company was contacted by the show's producers, who wanted to involve private jets in the show.

Austin said a reporter who viewed an advance of the show told him the placement was a 16 on a scale from one to ten. He compared Marquis involvement in the episode to Reese's Pieces in the movie "E.T."

Austin said his company plans to run a 30-second TV spot developed on the show with Interpublic's Donny Deutsch, although Marquis Jet will not run a print ad created on the show.

Andy Morris & Co. handles PR for Marquis. A 25-hour jet lease begins at $109K.

BUSH SKILLED AT PRESS CONTROL.
President Bush "has shown unusual skill in keeping much of the press at a distance while controlling the news agenda," says an article in the Jan. 19 New Yorker by Ken Auletta, staffer writer of the mag.

"Bush's relations with the press are, at once, distant, friendly, and prickly," says the article. Bush has had ten full-scale news conferences in 33 months in office, a record low for recent administrations.

Bob Deans, 2002 president of the White House Correspondents Assn., complained in a letter to White House aides that Bush has held "substantially fewer press conferences, interviews" and other media events than either Bill Clinton or George H.W. Bush in their first two years.

According to Auletta, who provides examples, reporters who are critical of the Administration are not only apt to get criticized themselves but may be left off various invitation lists.

Reporters Want a Headline

Impugning what reporters do and why they do it is also part of the White House strategy. Karl Rove, Bush political adviser, is quoted as saying of Bush: "He has a cagey respect for them [the press]. He understands their job is to do a job. And that's not necessarily to report the news. It's to get a headline or get a story that will make people pay attention to their magazine, newspaper, or TV more."

"Bush let it be known that he's not much of a TV-news watcher or a newspaper reader, apart from the sports section," says the first paragraph of the Auletta article.

It also quotes Bush as telling a reporter that what is in newspapers is not necessarily "what the public thinks."

No Interview for NY Times

While Bush has given a one-hour interview to Brit Hume of Fox News and cooperated with NBC, CBS and ABC in "lengthy interviews," he has not given an "in-depth interview to the New York Times since becoming president," says Auletta.

Bush "cannot disguise his annoyance at reporters who ask follow-up questions or who are not, in his estimation, sufficiently polite," he writes.

Mark McKinnon, Bush aide, told Auletta that while some "political communicators want to be liked by the press" in the belief that this will "somehow improve the nature of your coverage...I think this Administration rejects that notion. I don t think they think it works."

Writes Auletta: "And perhaps for the first time, the White House has come to see reporters as special pleaders–pleaders for more access and better headlines–as if the press were simply another interest group, and ... not nearly as powerful as it once was."

Scott McClellan, who succeeded Ari Fleischer as press secretary, allowed Auletta to spend a day with him last November.

"McClellan's mind is never far from his script," writes Auletta, who devotes two pages of an 11-page report to what he observed.

INGRASSIA TO N.Y. TIMES
AS BUSINESS ED.
Larry Ingrassia, who had been The Wall Street Journal's "Money and Investing" section editor for many years, is joining The New York Times on Jan. 26 as business editor.

Ingrassia, who has been with the Journal for over 25 years, most recently as assistant managing editor, will replace Glenn Kramon, who was recently named associate manager for career development.

The Times also announced that Susan Chira, editorial director of book development, has been named foreign editor, replacing Roger Cohen, who will now write a regular, twice-weekly column on European and international affairs for The International Herald Tribune, starting in March.

Chira, 45, joined the Times as a trainee in 1981.

Cohen, 48, who joined the Times from the WSJ in 1990 as a media reporter, is taking a short leave of absence to complete a book on Germany before starting his new political column for the IHT.

CANADIAN FASHION EDITOR
JOINS ESSENCE.
Suzanne Boyd, who is editor-in-chief of Flare, a Toronto-based fashion magazine, is joining the publisher of Essence magazine in New York on March 1.

The 40-year-old black journalist, who is a former model, will be the top editor of a new fashion magazine for young African-American women that Essence Communications plans to start.

PEOPLE
Gary Steinman, formerly managing editor of Ziff Davis' Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine, was named editor-in-chief of Newtype USA. The Houston-based magazine is the English-language version of Japan's top source for information about anime and manga.

Cliff Weathers was named deputy auto editor at Consumer Reports magazine.

Susan Wyland, who was the first managing editor of Real Simple and previously editor of Martha Stewart Living, has replaced Sally Koslow as editor-in-chief of Lifetime, a women's magazine co-owned by Hearst and the Lifetime cable network.

Arlene Getz was promoted to deputy editor of Newsweek.MSNBC.com from foreign editor. She will handle communication between Newsweek's writers and editors and the magazine's web partners, MSNBC and MSN. She will also coordinate "Campaign 2004" coverage for the site.

John Pullen was named associate editor of Pohly & Ptrs., a Boston-based custom publisher. He will handle editorial efforts including writing and editing articles for publications such as Continental and The DMA Insider, and also make freelance assignments.

Mike Freeman, who left The New York Times to join The Indianapolis Star as a sports columnist on Jan. 12, has resigned after admitting he lied on his resume and job application about graduating from the University of Delaware.

David Jefferson quit after one day as associate editor of The Los Angeles Times editorial pages to return to his old job at Newsweek, where he was West Coast editor.

Tony Romando, who is executive editor of Men's Fitness magazine, is joining Ziff Davis as editor of its new quarterly gadget magazine, Sync.

Bill Sing, former business editor of The Los Angeles Times, was named economics editor there.

Jack Kelley, 43, who said he was falsely accused in an anonymous letter of making up stories, has resigned from USA Today, where he was a foreign correspondent. He also co-authored two books with USA Today founder Al Neuharth, both pub-lished in 1989.

PLACEMENT TIPS
Harper's Bazaar's new deputy editor Sarah Bailey has been assigned to do celebrity profiles and oversee the editing of articles.

People's "Style Watch" columnist Steven Cojocaru has left the magazine to host a new syndicated TV talk show that "Entertainment Tonight" is helping him develop. It is tentatively called "The Insider."

The New York Times new metro editor Susan Edgerley has assigned Mia Navarro to cover sexual issues and topics.

Men's Health is adding a new health column, written by Gil Schwartz, executive VP/communications at CBS in New York. He will continue to write a column for Fortune under Stanley Bing, his nom de plume.

The New York Daily News reports Christopher Byrne, aka "Toy Guy" on TV, has received money from some manufacturers of the toys he recommends.

BRIEFS
Reality Check, a magazine about reality TV shows and contestants, made its publishing debut.

The magazine, which is published by Primedia, is put together by its Soap Opera Weekly editors. The first issue has a cover story on "The Real Clay Aiken," the singer discovered on "American Idol."

American Thunder, a monthly men's magazine, goes on newsstands in February. AT, which has Dale Earnhardt Jr. on the first cover, will target men who are NASCAR racing fans.

Lucas Mast is editor-in-chief of the magazine, which is published by American Content Inc.

Bauer Publishing, which puts out Touch Weekly, will start Soap Previews in March. The digest-size monthly will focus on TV soaps.

American Media, which publishes the National Enquirer and other publications, is introducing Living Fit magazine in March. It will be published six times a year and will target women 45 and older.

(Media news continued on next page)

Lynn Medcalf, who is EVP/co-founder of NG, told this NL the study "refutes" the findings of a similar study made by Tobin Communications, a rival company that does not offer ANRs to clients.

Tobin's study showed 80% of the stations either never or rarely use ANRs, and most (70%) do not find ANRs helpful for developing stories or news items.

While only 19% of surveyed stations in NG s study said they rarely use canned audio, each stated they would use such audio in a breaking news situation or when they would be unable to get the audio elsewhere for a story they are airing, said Medcalf, who is based in NG s Atlanta office.

Susan Apgood, president/co-founder of NG, believes it is all in the way a story is pitched. "Many stations may say they have policies against taking ANRs, but if a compelling or breaking news story is pitched from a credible source with a good track record of providing good news stories, especially if the story has a local tie-in that will impact radio listeners of that station, it s a much different story."

Clarification: A new News Generation survey of Audio News Releases did not find 96% of the stations used ANRs as part of their newscasts, as reported in the Newsletter (1/21). The percentage of use applied to all kinds of information submitted to stations, including ANRs. (1/22)

NEW MAN ABOUT TOWN
SEEKS NEWS TIPS.
Richard Leiby began writing the "Reliable Source" column in The Washington Post by promising "to be unpredictable, to break news amid fluff."

Leiby, a reporter for 25 years who had been an editor and writer in the Post's "Style" section, is replacing Lloyd Grove, who is now the gossip columnist for The New York Daily News.

Leiby said he wants the column to be provocative as well as a well-sourced compendium of items and news that readers cannot find anywhere else.

He asked readers for help in getting gossip about local and national people. "Please call me at 202/ 334-7325 or e-mail [email protected]," he wrote.

Veteran gossip writer Liz Smith said she "can't see him garnering much gossip that way. I guess for a new guy in town, it s one way to get the word out," said Smith.

GOTTI NAMED EDITOR
OF NEW CELEB MAG.
Victoria Gotti was named editor-in-chief of Red Carpet, a new celebrity magazine that American Media Inc. will publish.

Gotti, who is the daughter of the late mobster John Gotti, has been writing a column for AMI's Star magazine. She also wrote a column for The New York Daily News.

Red Carpet will make its debut as an insert in Star February issue. It will have its own March issue.

HOW TO HANDLE A CORRECTION.
Aker Partners, Washington, D.C., offers these six tips for correcting misinformation or a misquote:

1. "Prepare a point-by-point analysis of the article. Develop positive talking points to respond to it and use with other media who may contact you.

2. "Contact the reporter, in person, or in writing, and, without questioning the writer's professionalism, explain your concerns.

3. "Seek editorial opinion space to byline an article about the topic, presenting your point of view in an engaging and provocative piece.

4. "Submit a concise, compelling letter-to-the editor 's that does not repeat the negative information in the article. Ask others to send letters.

5. "Place information responding to the article on your website.

6. "Appropriately contact selected media to prevent repetition of similar stories."

FORTUNE TO PUBLISH
SPECIAL 500 ISSUE.
The 50th anniversary of the "Fortune 500" list will be celebrated by Fortune's with the publication of a special issue in April.

Rik Kirkland, who is managing editor of Fortune, said a year-long series of articles will be published that will look back at key moments in the 500 era—and what they say about the future.

In another move, the magazine has revamped the "First" section which opens each issue.

The new section, which makes its debut in the Jan. 26 number, has a new photo feature; more brief news and feature pieces, and at least one book review per issue. The section is edited by Lee Clifford.

MEDIA BRIEFS
XM Satellite Radio's said it signed up more than 1,360,000 subscribers, representing 1 million net additional subscribers in 2003.

Public Broadcasting Stations , Alexandria, Va., has received a $200,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to support the planning process for a new digital service focused on public affairs programming.

Harris Corp., a Melbourne, Fla.-based communications equipment maker, was given a $96 million 's contract by the Pentagon to rebuild Saddam Hussein's old TV and radio network, now called al-Iraqiya.

Harris also will operate Al Sabah, a national newspaper's formerly run by Hussein's son Uday, for the Coalition Provisional Authority currently governing Iraq.

DEATHS: John A. Gambling, 73, who was host of the "Rambling with Gambling" talk show on New York's WOR-AM radio from 1959 until he retired in 's 1991, died on Jan. 8 in Venice, Fla. He took over the show from his father, John B., who started it in 1925.

The Bush Administration strategy towards the press (page 2) is followed by many companies and some PR firms.

This "seek-and-destroy" policy reflects the infusion of marketing, advertising, legal and management execs into the PR arena. These executives have "control" as their middle names and are not apt to sit back and let reporters "have their way."

The policy, as described in The New Yorker, consists of tight control over press contacts and messages that are put out coupled with attacks on the credibility and even the value of the media.

Reporters are told no one appointed them as representatives of the rest of America and that they are, in fact, a skewed subset of Americans who reflect a narrow point of view.

Reporters are reminded of their failings at every possible turn. Attempts are made to put them on the defensive. Reporters who ask too many cheeky questions are deemed to be "impolite."

The Bush policy, says writer Ken Auletta, keeps "much of the press at a distance while controlling the news agenda."

We agree. But does this policy of avoiding while attacking the press help build the PR profession and the need for PR pros or does it contribute to the disappearance of PR jobs?

Evidence of today's difficult PR job situation is a roundtable set for Thursday, Jan. 22 by New York Women in Communications that has as its No. 1 topic "Going Solo: Launching a Career as an Independent." Fourteen other topics will be considered including new ways of job-hunting and "Writing a Book About What You Know." The group has about 1,000 members in media as well as PR and service jobs. ([email protected])...

The appointment of Dave Rickey as chair of the 2004 ethics board of PRSA (page 7) sets off speculation that 2003 chair Chuck Wood was dumped because he and his board asked the national board to investigate alleged irregularities on the 2003 nominating committee headed by Kathy Lewton. She is also "senior counsel" to BEPS. The 2003 PRSA board did not take up this request at any of its meetings. 2004 PRSA president Del Galloway said it was discussed during the 2003 national conference by himself, Wood, Jeff Julin (board liaison to BEPS) and Sherry Treco-Jones, head of a task force on governance. The task force is studying the BEPS letter. Rickey said the 2004 BEPS will not get involved in this matter. Some 2003 directors continue to say the matter should be brought before the entire board...

The appointments of Rickey (from Alabama) as BEPS chair and Gary McCormick (Maryland) as vice chair are seen by some members of PRSA as further proof that a "Southern wing" has taken over the Society. They note 2003 president Reed Byrum is from West Virginia as is director Cathryn Harris. Treco-Jones is from Georgia while Galloway and directors Debbie Mason and Rosanna Fiske are from Florida. President-elect Judith Phair is from Maryland and director James McCall is from Arkansas. Seven of 15 directors are from the South. Two New Yorkers, meanwhile (Art Stevens and Phil Ryan), got kicked off the board as did Jeff Seideman from Massachusetts.

Coverage of the debate over what happened to the USS Liberty in 1967 (page 7) is chaotic. The New York Times continued its policy of mostly ignoring it by not printing a word about the three-hour Jan. 12 panel. The Washington Post used an AP story that started with a statement from an unnamed "State Dept. official" who "concluded" the attack was an "act of Israeli negligence." CNN, quoting an unidentified "State Dept. official" six times, ridiculed charges of the Liberty crew that the attack was done with full knowledge that a U.S. vessel was involved. The "official" is quoted as saying Israel "would have sunk this ship in 30 seconds flat" if it wanted to. Another quote from the official is that it was a case of "Murphy s Law" (everything that could go wrong did go wrong on both sides). James Bamford, a pro-Liberty panelist, is quoted by CNN as saying, "The Israelis said it was a mistake. Maybe it was and maybe it wasn t." We can t find any such quote. In fact, Bamford said the evidence of a knowledgeable attack is "overwhelming."

The Houston Chronicle on Jan. 11 printed a lengthy pro-Liberty crew piece by Admiral Thomas Moorer (ret.), who chaired the Joint Chiefs of Staffs, saying failure of nearby U.S. military to rescue the Liberty "was the most disgraceful act I witnessed in my entire military career." The Moorer article notes that Capt. Ward Boston, former Navy lawyer who took part in an initial inquiry, said in an affidavit that the Johnson White House "ordered the inquiry to find the attack was a case of mistaken identity." Crew members worry that U.S. interests continue to play second fiddle in the Mid-East...

Bad Publicity is a novel about Washington, D.C., PR firms, law firms, think tanks and the government by Jeffrey Frank, senior editor, The New Yorker. A powerful PR firm is named "Big Tooth." It s "an entertaining and knowing portrait of Washington," said The New York Times...

PRSA said it will not discuss anything about its planned move to 22,000 sq. ft. downtown (vs. 14,500 sq. ft. for its current offices) "until the lease has been signed." It will not discuss whether the downtown location will be inconvenient to New Yorkers and out-of-town visitors. There are plenty of PR firms and businesses downtown, it says.

--Jack O'Dwyer