TIERNEY GRABS KEYSTONE.
Pennsylvania has tapped Tierney Comms. for its tourism PR account, part of a $60M, five-year marketing program for the Commonwealth.

Philadelphia-based Tierney, part of Interpublic, pitched against a field believed to be six firms for the PR portion of the work. Mullen, based in Pittsburgh, was the incumbent for ads and PR and its contract is due to expire June 30. A joint venture of Red Tettmer and Harmlin Media won the advertising portion.

The Tourism Office issued an RFP in November for marketing, advertising and PR.

Annual combined billings of advertising and PR are about $12 million. Nine agencies pitched.

SVP Susan Jacobsen heads the account at Tierney.

HARRIS MOTORS TO McGINN.
Steve Harris, who was VP-communications at General Motors, has signed on as a senior consultant at The McGinn Group. He joined GM in `67, and held regional PR posts before moving to American Motors Corp. in `79. Harris rose to corporate PR director at Chrysler after its acquisition of AMC, and left DaimlerChrysler as senior VP-communications.

Dan McGinn, who sold Ryan McGinn to Weber Shandwick, set up his own shop two years ago to focus on healthcare, environmental and executive conduct practices.

HHS LOOKS FOR PR FIRM.
The Dept. of Health and Human Services is gathering input from PR firms that have an "interest and ability" to bolster a national education campaign on menopause and hormone treatments.

Citing constantly changing information on hormone therapy and a request from Congress, HHS, part of the FDA, wants to raise public awareness of the "benefits, harms, and uncertainties associated with the use of menopausal hormone therapy products," according to a copy of the solicitation notice.

The National Institutes of Health pulled the plug on a large federal study of hormone therapy this month, citing risk of stroke for the 11,000 women who were slated to participate through 2005. A similar study was abandoned in 2002 because a breast cancer risk was found, and another was aborted in February over signs of increased asthma risk.

HHS stresses the inquiry is for preliminary information and planning ahead of any RFP.

Megan Gnall is contracting officer; 301/827-7167.

RENO SHIFTS FROM GCI TO H&K.
Tom Reno has switched from president of GCI Group/New York to the same post at Hill & Knowlton. The 20-year PR and financial journalism veteran had headed Makovsky & Co.'s IR group until he was recruited in `00 by GCI's Bob Feldman. No successor has been named at GCI.

Reno also worked as managing director of Citigate Comms./New York, and headed corporate communications at Huberman, Margaretten & Straus in Miami.

Reno, who has counseled Chase Manhattan, Cigna and Citibank, succeeds Marilyn Castaldi, who left H&K earlier this year for Columbia U. Med. Ctr.

TOM CRUISES FROM PAT.
Tom Cruise has hired his sister Lee Anne DeVette to handle his PR. She has replaced Pat Kingsley, whose firm, PMK, was the movie actor's publicist for the last several years.

DeVette is a publicist at Cruise's Paramount Pictures-based production company, Cruise/Wagner.

Celebrity columnist Liz Smith said "there are some in Los Angeles" who believe the Church of Scientology played a role in the Cruise-Kingsley split.

DeVette immediately issued a press statement denying the Scientology had caused the split.

CASSIDY FIGHTS FOR L.A. BASE.
The Los Angeles Air Base Regional Alliance has hired Cassidy & Assocs. to thwart the Air Force's plan to relocate its Space and Missile Systems Center from Southern California to Colorado Springs.

Gerald Warburg, executive VP at the Interpublic unit, is leading the charge. He is a defense and foreign relations pro who has served on the staffs of former California Senators Alan Cranston and John Tunney. Warburg is assisted by Christine O'Connor, senior associate. She was an observer for the George W. Bush Florida Recount Team in Palm Beach Cty.

The L.A.-based Air Force facility employs 8,000, and generates contracts worth $60 billion a-year for 350 aerospace companies, such as Lockheed Martin, a Cassidy client. The Alliance has raised more than $700,000 for its lobbying effort.

Christina Duffney, who headed media relations and corporate comms. for The Direct Marketing Assn., has left for a senior PR role at Gruner + Jahr USA.

She was DMA's national spokesperson through well-publicized battles like the Do-Not-Call list. and efforts to block Spam e-mail. Amy Blankenship, a director at DMA, told this NL a search is on for Duffney's replacement.

HALLIBURTON CHALLENGED
ON IRAN.
Halliburton shareholders want their board of directors to establish a committee to gauge the potential PR and financial risks that the company faces by operating in Iran.

The New York City Police Pension Fund and the NYC Fire Dept. Pension Fund are upset–especially in the aftermath of Sept. 11-that their company does business in a country that the U.S. State Dept. has deemed a state that sponsors terror. The U.S. Government has imposed sanctions on Iran, but the shareholders believe that Halliburton violates the spirit–if not the letter of the law–by using a Cayman Island subsidiary to establish operations in Tehran.

The pension funds will ask stockholders to support their resolution at the May 19 annual meeting. They proposed a similar resolution last year, but dropped it after Halliburton agreed to publish a report about its Iranian business in the `03 annual report. The company did so and sent a copy to the NYC Comptroller's office.

Halliburton believes it complied with the agreement made with the pension funds. Jeff Simmons, press secretary for Comptroller William Thompson, could not be reached about why the pension funds decided to sponsor the resolution this year.

Halliburton, in its proxy statement, contends that its reputation is not adversely affected by operating in Iran, as it has for "some fifty years."

The Houston-based company shares shareholder concern about terrorist activities, but believes boycotts and sanctions are "ineffective, often injuring the economic interests of the boycotting entity."

Halliburton does not always agree with the policies of governments where it does business, according to its statement. "Due to the long-term nature of our business and the inevitability of political and social change, however, it is neither prudent nor appropriate for Halliburton to establish its own country-by-country foreign policy," says the statement.

NOUR SHOOTS PR TO HOOPES.
Powell Tate/Weber Shandwick veteran Robert Hoopes is representing Nour USA and its effort to regain its $327 million contract to outfit the Iraqi Army.

The Pentagon cancelled Nour's winning bid following complaints by losing bidders. They maintain that Nour aced the competitively bid contract because of close ties between its president A. Huda Farouki and Ahmed Chalabi, the head of the Iraqi National Congress. [Burson-Marsteller and its BKSH & Assocs. lobbying unit have done work for the INC.]

Nour says it won the contract based on merit. The Army says it cancelled it because of sloppy paperwork. The axed pact was not, according to the Army, a reflection on Nour.

Hoopes told O Dwyer's he set up his Washington-based business in October. He had headed the Powell Tate Constituent Action Network, and ran grassroots campaigns for MCI and Insurance Agents of America.

MEDICARE VNRs TRASHED
AS PROPAGANDA.
The Dept. of Health and Human Services' VNRs extolling President Bush's Medicare reform bill are "covert government propaganda" designed to buff the image of President Bush, according to a letter sent to broadcast/cable news chiefs signed by six Senate Democrats.

The letter says it is "critical of an independent news media" not to air "deceptive material" because their credibility is at stake. It was signed by Sens. Ted Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Jon Corzine, Frank Lautenberg, Debby Stabenow and John Edwards.

The New York Times, on March 15, broke the story about HHS VNR push which shows actors posing as journalists praising the bill, and includes photos of Bush receiving a standing ovation when he signed the bill into law on Dec. 8.

The VNRs were produced by Home Front Communications, and are not labeled as coming from the U.S., which is spending $100 million to educate seniors about the bill.

Clinton has called the VNRs political advertising masquerading as public information.

The General Accounting Office has launched an investigation to determine whether the VNRs constitute propaganda.

Home Front Communications referred a call from O'Dwyer's about the VNRs to the HHS. A staffer there said the VNRs were properly sourced.

TYCO PR EXEC TURNS DOWN FDIC.
Judith Czelusniak, a former press director for Tyco International, will not assume the same position at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. in Washington, D.C., but will be a consultant, the bank regulator said.

The FDIC, which had refused to discuss the matter publicly until now, said in a statement that "Czelusniak was offered the position of director of public affairs at the FDIC but has decided not to accept. She is being retained as a consultant and will be advising us on PR branding and marketing."

While at Bermuda-based conglomerate Tyco, Czelusniak was one of a number of executives who got big corporate perks, according to documents and testimony in the trial of former CEO Dennis Kozlowski.

During the trial, Tyco's former human resources director confirmed that Tyco paid $18,500 per month for Czelusniak's New York apartment, along with $800 per month for a N.Y. parking space and $4,815 each month in rent on a Florida apartment.
Czelusniak said the perks were part of Tyco's executive compensation package.

Before joining Tyco, Czelusniak, who is 46, worked for Agro Corp., a maker of farm equipment, and Security Pacific National Bank in Duluth, Ga. Prior to that, she had been at The Dilenschneider Group, Morgen-Walke, and Hill & Knowlton. She ran her own PR firm for a brief period.

STUDY PINPOINTS
NEWS MEDIA TRENDS.
Declining audiences, newsroom cutbacks, changes in content, and a focus on profits rather than innovation raise serious questions about the long-term health of American journalism, according to a new study of the news media in 2004.

"The State of the American News Media," which was produced by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a research institute affiliated with the Columbia Univ. graduate school of journalism and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, identifies these eight major trends shaping the news media landscape:

1. The basic problem in journalism is too many news outlets are chasing a relatively static, and in some cases a shrinking, audience for news.

2. Much of the new investment in journalism today is in disseminating the news, not collecting it.

3. There is more "newsgathering in the raw," less double-checking of facts, synthesizing and making sense of things in journalism than before.

4. Journalistic standards now vary even within single news organizations.

5. Unless companies begin investing more in building new audiences, the long-term scenario for many traditional news outlets seems problematic.

6. The distinctions between TV and print will increasingly vanish online. Rather than a threat, this is an opportunity for journalism to become better and more relevant.

7. The big question is whether the online will be as profitable as print and TV, and if it isn t, the quality of news Americans get in the future will almost certainly decline.

8. As news outlets proliferate, people who want to manipulate the press and public will gain more leverage.

Overall, only three sectors of the news media are seeing audience growth today—ethnic, alternative, and online media. Meanwhile, the dominant media of the 20th century, newspapers, network TV and local TV, are suffering steady long-term audience declines.

"Some people worry the role of the journalist as gatekeeper over what is fact and what is falsehood has become irrelevent," said Tom Rosentiel, director of the PEJ. "We find the need for journalists to help folks sort things out is greater than ever. But doing so today is harder, and it's not clear whether journalists will be able to meet the challenge."

AD-DRIVEN SECTIONS
USE PR NEWS.
As special sections manager of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Martha Foster heads a "mini-newsroom" team in the marketing department that produces about 100 ad-driven sections a year.

The sections are about festivals, special events, grand openings of shopping centers, holiday gift guides, and so on.

She also oversees the production of weekly sections on the real estate and auto industry and a monthly magazine for healthcare professionals.
Foster, who was iCD's Media Pro of the Month in March, said publicists should not rule out the special sections department when developing a media list. A special sections calendar is published online at www.ajc.com.

Since many of the sections handled by Foster are for specific clients, such as festivals, she said content is pretty specific. But if the publicist handles a rock group that is playing at the festival, or an artist who is in the festival's juried art show, "be sure to supply good information to the festival's PR person, or contact us directly," said Foster.

Foster has a strong preference for mail or e-mail pitches and inquiries about sections.

She told iCD, the Alpharetta, Ga.-based interactive CD press kit producer, that "diversity and aging" are hot topics.

"Aging is so hot it sizzles right now as Boomers march toward 60—from extreme makeovers to the size and accessibility of homes, how we all handle getting older, or caring for aging parents, and so on," she said.

Foster's mailing address is AJ-C, PO Box 4689, Atlanta, GA 30302-4689. [email protected].

PLACEMENT TIPS
Alex Ward, editor of special sections at The New York Times, was named editorial director, book development, succeeding Susan Chira, who was named foreign editor.

AgeWise is the title of a new quarterly glossy magazine that will target residents of Michigan 60 years and older.

The magazine will offer "readers a local perspective with the sophistication of a national publication, and promises to dispel the myths of aging," said Kristine Kletke, a former community relations director for a retirement community in East Lansing, who is publisher of AgeWise.

Kletke said the first issue, which will be pub-lished this August, will be sent free to 20,000 people. The magazine will start charging $12 for a subscription next year.

Barbara White, editor, is soliciting articles and stories for future issues from Michigan writers.

She can be pitched at [email protected] or by phone at 517/881-4018.

AgeWise is at 5460 Curtice, Mason, MI 48854.

The Wall Street Journal's publishing news beat was assigned to James Bandler, a former reporter in the Boston bureau, who got the scoop on the affair between former General Electric chairman Jack Welch and Suzy Wetlaufer, who was the editor of The Harvard Business Review at the time.

Bandler succeeds Matthew Rose, who was named the Journal's Page 1 editor.

MEDIA BRIEFS
Ziff Davis Media will publish a monthly Serbian edition of PC Magazine.

The new edition, which will target IT professionals in Serbia/Montenegro and Bosnia/Herzegovina, will offer labs-based evaluations and recommendations for buyers and influencers of technology products and services in local markets.

Most of the content and evaluation in the Serbian edition will be staff written, according to Randy Zane, who handles PR for the publisher in New York at 212/503-3535.

The magazine will start with a rate base of approximately 12,000.

Newsweek is starting a French-language edition this summer.

Thomas Sancton, Newsweek's chief correspondent in Paris, will be editor of the new magazine, which will feature mostly articles of stories from the U.S., Latin American and Asian editions, with less than a quarter being original French content.

Life magazine, which ended regular publication in 2000, may return as a weekly supplement in daily newspapers.

Time Inc., which publishes Life, would like to have the magazine distributed by daily papers published by The Tribune Co., Knight-Ridder, and the McClatchy Co.

The Tribune publishes 11 daily papers, K-R owns 31 dailies, and McClatchy has l2 dailies and 18 community newspapers.

The insert would appear in the Friday editions of Newsday, The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune because these papers already distribute Parade in their Sunday editions.

(Media news continued on next page)

SCRIPPS REORGANIZES
D.C. BUREAU.
E.W. Scripps has renamed and reorganized its Washington, D.C., news bureau, which dates back to 1917 when Scripps first opened an office to cover the world and provide editorials for its newspapers.

The new Scripps Media Center will serve as a hub for bilingual, multimedia content for the company's newspapers, websites, broadcast TV stations and national networks including Home & Garden TV, Food Network, DIY and Fine Living.

Karen Timmons, managing editor of the SMC, said the new name reflects how Scripps has grown from a newspaper concern to a multimedia news and information company.

"We ve grown from Washington news to lifestyle and entertainment, from newspapers to TV and online, and from English to Spanish," she said.

Timmons has organized the center into five teams: business, magazines, visuals, special sections and news.

The news department, led by Pamela Reevers, includes regional and national reporters; Scripps-Howard News Service; and Scripps-McClatchy Western Service. Special sections and Feature Front paginated pages are led by Wantia Niehaus, who also manages relations with Scripps Network.
Walter Veazey was named senior editor for the center. The new editor of HGTV Ideas magazine is Jennifer Sergent. Pete Turnbull becomes editor for all departments.

ETHICS ADVICE LINE EXPANDED.
The Ethics AdviceLine for Journalists has added a toll-free number—866-Dilemma—and added three more call-takers to its bank of ethics specialists, raising the number to seven specialists who answer calls from journalists nationwide.

Casey Burko, who chairs the ethics committee at the Chicago Headline Club, said more than 300 journalists have called the line since it was started three years ago as a free service by Loyola Univ. Chicago and the CHC.

Questions and concerns include: "I am about to do a story that may cause something to happen."
—"Is it ethical to make an appointment to interview an arsonist sought by police, without informing police in advance?"
—"Should a reporter write a story about a local priest who confessed to a sex crime if it will cost the newspaper readers an advertiser who is sympathetic to the priest?"
—"Should a newspaper editor forbid his staff to date news sources?"
—"Is it unethical for a reporter to act as a moderator or panelist at an industry trade show?"

David Ozar, director of Loyola's Center for Ethics and Social Justice, said "Our goal is not to offer easy answers to tough issues, but to guide journalists to a decision based on sound ethical journalism principles."

PEOPLE
Lamar Graham, managing editor of Parade magazine, was named general manager of Parade Publications.

Joe Oldham is retiring as editor-in-chief of Popular Mechanics on Aug. 1.

Jonathan Durbin, previously a senior editor at Maclean's, was named managing editor of Paper magazine.

Mark Orwoll, previously managing editor of Travel + Leisure magazine, joined the international division of American Express Publishing as executive editor.

Karen Kasler, 37, former news anchor and assignment editor at WTAM-AM in Cleveland, Oh., was named chief of the Statehouse News Bureau, which provides daily radio reports to 34 public stations, and TV reports and the weekly "State of Ohio" show to 12 public TV stations.

ELEGANT BRIDE MAGAZINE
TO REAPPEAR.
Elegant Bride, a quarterly bridal magazine, will be relaunched this summer by Fairchild Publications.
Peggy Kennedy, previously editor of the now-defunct Victoria, is editor of EB, which Fairchild acquired from Pace Communications last summer.
Kennedy sees EB as an upscale complement to Conde Nast's Bride's /Modern Bride. "The options that successful, professional women have today are enormous—and we are here to connect with them," she told min.

EB will face competition from Bridal Guide, a bimonthly, Martha Stewart Weddings, a quarterly, and the twice-yearly InStyle Weddings.

KY. BUSINESSMAN TO START
A SUN. PAPER.
Bill Butler, CEO of Corporex Family of Cos., Covington, Ky., is majority owner of The Sunday Challenger, a new Sunday-only newspaper that will begin publication in late summer or early fall.

The paper will be offered free to readers throughout the Northern Kentucky region, focusing on households in Covington.

Tom Mitsoff, editor, is currently hiring reporters and editors from across the county for the paper's 20-person staff, which will be based in Covington.

Swirl Wine News, a bimonthly, 16-page newsletter, which just published its first anniversary issue, will add four pages in late 2004 to accommodate more features, according to Tom Wszalek, who started the Los Angeles-based publication last March.

SWN, which is targeted at wine lovers, recommends 75-100 different wines, in addition to wine accessories, restaurants, books, and events in each issue.

Wszalek can be reached at 818/788-7686.

We extend our condolences to PRSA president Del Galloway on the loss of his life partner, Dr. Keith Francois (page 7).

Since Francois died at the relatively young age of 45, the assumption being made by many PRSA members is that he died of AIDS. They wonder if Galloway is at risk. Local health officials say that only the family can know the cause of death.

The Jacksonville Florida Times-Union carried a paid death notice March 19 that asked that contributions be sent to the Community Hospice of N.E. Florida, which was thanked for its "wonderful ministry."

The paper has run no news story even though Francois was an expert specialist, board certified in oral and maxillofacial surgery. Only 3% of dentists achieve this, says Health Grades. He was valedictorian of his class at the University of Florida.
Another question is whether the patients of Francois knew he was gay. This is especially relevant in Florida. In a world-famous case, six of the patients of dentist David Acer of Stuart, Fla., contracted AIDS from him and four of them had died by 1994. An AP story said it was never determined exactly how Acer transmitted the virus to his patients.

The PR on this has been botched and points up the need not only for full-time senior PR pros at PRSA h.q. but for ending the APR rule that blocks 80% of members from running for office.

COO Catherine Bolton should have told leadership in an e-mail Monday March 15 that Del Galloway's partner was near death and that he was recusing himself from presidential duties.

Instead, Bolton, apparently with advice from the board, acted as though PRSA were ashamed that Del was homosexual. Had a husband or wife of a president been involved, there is no doubt leaders would have been told this and not that there was "a family medical emergency." PRSA was playing its favorite game–withholding information.
The gay movement wants gays to be treated just like everyone else. This PRSA did not do.

The second part of this fiasco is that Bolton said she would take over Galloway's duties, thus stepping on the toes of president-elect Judith Phair.

A half-hearted attempt was made to correct this but the new order had Galloway asking Phair, other members of the executive committee and Bolton to "lead the Society" (instead of just naming Phair).
Phair is not part of the "in group" of PRSA leaders partly because she speaks to this reporter. She spoke to us after APR decoupling was defeated last Oct. 25 when both Reed Byrum and Galloway refused comment. Our 8 X 11 notepad was stolen a few minutes later from our open conference bag.

Galloway was nothing if not open about his homosexuality. He and Francois had attended the 2003 conference together in New Orleans. Francois is remembered because he tried to revive a woman who collapsed at a Fellows cocktail party Oct. 25. The woman died later that night.
Galloway, in an article in Tactics<D> and at a meeting with the PR trade press Jan. 30, said PRSA's diversity efforts now also include gays and lesbians. He urged PR depts. and PR firms to employ them.

We sympathize with Galloway but we also would not treat him differently from any other PRSA president. We re disappointed in him because he has dropped the APR decoupling movement that he led last year. He is against making the June 4-5 leaders rally in New York also serve as a brief Assembly that could end the scourge of APR-only officers. He has failed to put the fall Assembly within the PRSA conference (instead of on a Saturday morning). This would save hundreds of members two extra days in New York. He has allowed staff to withhold the 2003 member statistics and the number of people taking and passing the APR test thus far in 2003. Despite PRSA's nearly endless talk about "strategic planning," it did not have a successor for PR director Libby Roberge who left last June. Galloway and ethics chair Dave Rickey refuse to revise new member materials that fail to say non-APRs don t have full member rights.

FleetBoston Financial, the employer of Steven Lubetkin, the only corporate VP on the 17-member PRSA board, has been absorbed by Bank of America which is planning to lay off up to 13,000 employees in both companies, according to the Wall Street Journal. BofA and Fleet, meanwhile, are paying a record $675 million fine to settle charges of illegal mutual fund trading...

We were shocked to see the dead horse of Johnson & Johnson's alleged "speedy" withdrawal of Tylenol capsules prancing around in USA Today March 18 in a letter-to-the-editor. All the PR in the world cannot change the fact that the Tylenol murders were discovered on Thursday, Sept. 30, 1982 and J&J did not order the withdrawal until the following Thursday. Actually, every product with Tylenol on it had long since been taken from retail shelves. All J&J did was take back the capsules that no store was ever going to sell. Some pharmacists never carried them because the capsules were so easy to pull apart and corrupt. "The Insider" movie of 2000 helped perpetuate this myth by talking about the "instant" recall. It's about time J&J got a shovel and buried this horse.

--Jack O'Dwyer