MARSTON WORKS ON
PRISON ABUSE ISSUE.
CACI International, the Arlington, Va.-based contractor providing interrogators and intelligence gathering services in Iraq, has hired New York PR firm Robert Marston and Assocs., as the company responds to the ongoing prison abuse scandal.

Jim Horton, senior director at Marston, acknowledged the firm's work for CACI, but declined to discuss it further. "I can confirm that they re on our client list but can t say anything more," he told O Dwyer's .

CACI issued a two-page statement May 9 to say that its employees are under the command of U.S. Army personnel and are cooperating in an ongoing investigation regarding prison abuse in Iraq. "The numerous allegations, speculations, rumors, interpretations and partial reports, and editorial opinions appearing in the media make the task challenging," said CACI's CEO, Jack London.

Jody Brown, senior VP of PR for the company, has not returned a call regarding Marston's work.

TATA ‘OUTSOURCES PR TO F-H.
Fleishman-Hillard has picked up India's Tata Consultancy Services, which bills itself as the No. 1 business process outsourcing organization.

The infotech company's website boasts of "state-of-the-art and aesthetically designed" offshore delivery centers in Calcutta, Bangalore, Delhi, Bombay, Chennai and New Jersey. Clients include Hewlett-Packard, Lucent Technologies, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Prudential Insurance and Compaq.

Fifteen firms responded to TCS' RFP for a PR campaign to boost its international image.

DHILLON DROPS H&K FOR FD.
Neil Dhillon, who headed Hill & Knowlton's PA practice, has joined Financial Dynamics Washington, D.C., office in the same capacity. He joins Stan Collender, the Fleishman-Hillard pro who recently set up the office for the U.K.-headquartered PR firm.

Dhillon, prior to H&K, was deputy assistant secretary for gov t affairs at the Dept. of Transportation, and an aide to three House Democrats–California's Robert Matsui, Maryland's Beverly Byron and Ohio's Tom Luken.

FD boasts of more than 300 staffers, and U.S. offices in New York, Boston, and San Francisco.
Declan Kelly is CEO of FD-U.S.

AIR FRANCE FLIES TO RF.
Air France has selected Ruder Finn as its agency of record in a competitive pitch that included multinational PR firms, such as Fleishman-Hillard.

"The goal is to build awareness of Air France as one of the world's leading airlines," Arlene Flowers, senior VP at RF, told O Dwyer's . She noted that the Paris-based carrier—in the aftermath of this month's takeover of Holland's KLM—is third biggest airline following United and American.

TAYLOR TOILS FOR PERELMAN.
Christine Taylor, global director of corporate communications for Bloomberg L.P. for eight years, has left for a senior VP post at financier Ron Perelman's MacAndrews and Forbes Holdings.

Taylor, as head of corporate communications, oversees communications strategy and press relations for the conglomerate, which owns companies like Revlon and Allied Security.

She told O Dwyer's she takes over from John Conroy, who is shifting roles within the company.

WS DEVOURS CKE FRANCHISES.
CKE Restaurants has tapped Weber Shandwick for its Carl's Jr. and Hardee's fast food brands after hearing from several firms.

Manning Selvage & Lee handled the account for several years, but the company had been without a firm of record for the last few years, according to Christie Cooney, corporate communications manager for Santa Barbara, Calif.-based CKE.

WS is charged with handling PR and marketing for the company's 1,006 Carl's Jr. and 2,121 Hardee's locations.

NO MORE SBC TITLES
FOR F-H STAFFERS.
Fleishman-Hillard, responding to criticism that reporters and others might be misled by staffers who also carry titles at client SBC Comms., has dropped such titles for the eight F-H employees who had them.

F-H executive Ed Presberg, one of the F-H staffers working full time at SBC, said that the corporate titles "were useful within the client's organization," but were "confusing externally."

San Francisco Chronicle columnist David Lazarus had touched off an ethical debate May 5 when he wrote he was surprised to find out that SBC VP-CC Marc Bien was an F-H employee.

BKSH TUNES INTO RADIO IRAN.
BKSH & Assocs., Burson-Marsteller's lobbying wing, is representing Radio Sedaye Iran (Radio Voice of Iran), the Beverly Hills-based network that advocates regime change in Iran.

That work comes in the aftermath of BKSH doing PR for the Iraqi National Congress and its head Ahmad Chalabi, who was groomed by the Pentagon as a successor to Saddam Hussein, in the years leading up to last year's invasion of Iraq.

BKSH managing director Riva Levinson, the key contact on the INC business, leads the Iranian radio account. She is assisted by director Jeffrey Weiss.

He's a Republican operative who served as senior advisor to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. Weiss also worked in the Bush/Cheney Transition Office, handling former Senator John Ashcroft's successful nomination for Attorney General.

RSI programs 24 hours a day in Farsi and English.

Recent items on the `Net include a report charging Iranian clerics with meddling in the internal affairs of Iraq. Another warns of an impending Israeli air raid on Iranian nuclear facilities. RSI admits an attack would "raise an enormous stink in the Moslem world," but feels "the danger of Islamic radicals in Iran getting nuclear weapons is too great to ignore." RSI also offers talk shows.

Both the BBC and Financial Times reported in December on RSI's close ties with conservative groups in the U.S.

CHIQUITA IS MUM ON PR.
Chiquita Brands International is using outside PR counsel to plot its media strategy in the aftermath of news that it paid "protection money" to Colombian terror groups, Michael Mitchell, a spokesman for the banana giant, told O Dwyer's .

Mitchell, however, would not disclose the name of the firm feeling "it might prefer to keep a low profile."

The firm had used The Dilenschneider Group, the New York-based crisis firm headed by former Hill & Knowlton CEO Bob Dilenschneider, in the past. A spokesperson at TDG said Chiquita is "no longer a client."

Bratskeir & Co., also in New York, counts Chiquita as a client. CEO Stan Bratskeir has not been reached for a question about whether B&C is involved in the Colombian matter.

Chiquita, in releasing its financials on May 10, announced that its Banadex subsidiary unit was "forced to make protection payments to certain groups" that have been designated by the U.S. Justice Dept. as terrorist organizations.

It did so to "protect its employees from the risks to their safety if the payments were not made."

CBI voluntarily informed the Justice Dept. last April about the payments, and the company has been cooperating in the Feds subsequent probe.

Banadex has banana operations in areas under the command of the far-right United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, which has killed thousands of people over the past years.

The company's stock price slid five percent to $16.25 following the payment disclosure. It now trades at $15.99 near its $13.44 52-week low. The high for the past year was $24.40.

A United Nations official, Jan Egeland, on May 11 said Colombia's ongoing drug wars have created the "biggest humanitarian catastrophe of the Western Hemisphere."

DIEBOLD GETS PR HELP
ON HOMEFRONT.
Edward Howard & Co. is bolstering PR efforts for Diebold's embattled election machines unit in the parent company's home state of Ohio.

The firm's work complements national PR support provided to Diebold Election Systems by Public Strategies, according to Wayne Hill, president of Cleveland-based EH&C.

DES – formerly Global Election Systems, before Diebold bought it – is based in McKinney, Tex. The company has run into problems in several states over its machines, notably California and Maryland, as states scramble to update their systems in the wake of the 2000 debacle in Florida and a sweeping election law passed last year.

But Ohio Gov. Bob Taft okayed their use in 31 counties this year, and in all 88 counties by 2006. The machines would also be required to produce paper receipts for each vote by 2006.

Diebold, which has been based in Canton since 1872 and has grown into a national powerhouse making vaults and ATMs, has become the poster child for critics of electronic voting. Security, proof of votes cast and software bugs are among the concerns of Diebold's detractors, who protested at the parent company's annual meeting this year. A gaffe by Diebold's CEO, Wally O Dell, made things worse for the company when he wrote in a fund-raising letter for the Ohio Republican Party that he was committed to "helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes" for President Bush in November.

Cleveland-based Dix & Eaton continues to handle PR and advertising for parent Diebold.

ALFARO JOINS
CADBURY SCHWEPPES.
Charles Alfaro has been named VP-corporate communications at Cadbury Schweppes confectionery and beverage group. He is stationed at Parsippany, N.J.

Alfaro had been executive director of corporate and business communications at Hoffmann-La Roche in Nutley, N.J. Earlier in his career, he wrote for New York Yankees publications.

Besides product publicity, Alfaro will handle financial PR and issues management for brands including Dr Pepper, 7 Up, Snapple, and Dentyne.

Andraea Dawson-Shepherd is director of corporate communications at CS headquarters in London.

BARBIERI JOINS AP
AS NYC NEWS EDITOR.
Richard Barbieri, editor-in-chief of Legal Times in Washington, D.C., was named The Associated Press news editor for New York City.

His appointment was announced by Jocelyn Noveck, New York City chief of bureau.

Barbieri, 41, who has been editor of LT since 1999, will succeed William Sweeney, who resigned.

STAR-LEDGER HIRES
EDITORIAL PAGE EDITOR.
Fran Dauth has succeeded Richard Aregood, who is retiring, as editorial page editor of The Newark (N.J.) Star-Ledger.

Kevin Whitmer, who has been assistant managing editor for sports and business, was named to succeed Dauth as managing editor for enterprise.

Deborah Jerome-Cohen, editor of the "Perspective" section, was appointed deputy editorial editor, replacing Tom Moran, who will write a new column about New Jersey government and politics.

HEALY JOINS N.Y. POST
AS FASHION ED.
Orla Healy, of The Sunday Independent, was named fashion editor of The New York Post, reports Faye Penn, who is the Post's features editor.

Healy replaces Libby Callaway, who left to become editor of The Nashville Tennessean's "Living" section.

Healy got her start in fashion journalism in 1989 as an assistant to Vogue editor Anna Wintour. She left after 18 months to join The New York Daily News, where she stayed for 10 years before going to In Style in 2000 as deputy editor.

THE KNOT HIRES AMODIO
AS EXEC EDITOR.
Rose Amodio has joined The Knot as executive editor of the wedding resource, including its website, TheKnot.com.

Amodio, who was deputy features editor at Marie Claire magazine, will oversee the staff of TheKnot.com, The Knot Weddings national bridal magazine, and The Knot regional wedding magazines, according to Carley Roney, editor-in-chief.

Amodio is planning an October wedding herself.

The Knot, whose content is also syndicated through Scripps Howard News Service, is based in New York. 212/219-8555.

BALTIMORE SUN APPOINTS
PUBLIC EDITOR.
Paul Moore, who was named public editor of The Baltimore Sun, said he will address these specific issues in his weekly column:

—The perception that editorial page opinions have infiltrated the news pages.

—The conditions under which stories are reported, written and edited.

—How stories are chosen for the front page.

—How headlines are written and how they affect readers.

—The use and misuse of unidentified sources.

—The perception that newspapers always emphasize the "negative" over the "positive."

—What constitutes "fair and balanced" reporting.

Moore, who has been The Sun's front page editor since 1996, said he also will improve the paper's system for publishing corrections and clarifications.
He is at 410/332-6364; [email protected].

DALEY NAMED
FOOD & WINE REPORTER.
Bill Daley, previously a restaurant reviewer at The Hartford (Conn.) Courant, was named chief food and wine reporter for The Chicago Tribune, filling the position vacated by William Rice, who retired in Dec. 2003.

Daley will cover chefs and food personalities, cooking techniques and trends.

His new wine column will make its debut in the June 16 "Good Eating" section.

Leah Eskin, a columnist for The Chicago Tribune Magazine, made her debut as the magazine's food columnist on May 9.

Her weekly column, which is called "Home on the Range," will take a personal approach to food writing, covering such topics as cooking for a new mom, the illicit pleasures of the midnight snack, and how (not) to host a dinner party.

PEOPLE
Alexandra Wolfe, a reporter for The New York Observer, is joining the "Weekend" section of The Wall Street Journal on June 1.

Lucy Sanders, previously food editor, was promoted to editor of Diabetic Cooking magazine in Lincolnwood, Ill.

Joel Schwartzberg was named editorial director of KidsHealth.org.

Jon Landman, who is assistant managing editor/enterprise, was named to replace Steven Erlanger as cultural editor of The New York Times when he becomes Jerusalem bureau chief this summer.

Maria Bartiromo, a financial newscaster at CNBC, is leaving the "Squawk Box" news team, and will no longer report from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. She is getting an expanded role at CNBC and NBC News.

Emily Nussbaum, a freelance entertainment reporter, has joined New York Magazine as cultural editor. Amy Goldwasser, also a freelance writer, will join on June 1 as features editor, replacing Jeremy Gerard, who left.

Teresa Tritch, a tax, finance and economics specialist and writer, has joined the editorial board of The New York Times.

(Media news continued on next page)

DRINKING REPORT IRKS BRAZIL.
Brazil threatened to cancel the journalism visa of Larry Rohter, a reporter for The New York Times, for writing an article that said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had a drinking problem.

Rohter, who is married to a Brazilian, was told to leave the country. Two days later, the order was rescinded.

Brazil's justice of ministry said Rohter's article, which was published in the May 8 Sunday edition, "offended the honor of the president."

Rohter wrote that Silva's drinking had become a national concern, and summarized a series of rumors that have long circulated in Brazil.

NEW WEEKLY PUBLISHES
ONLY FAKE NEWS.
All of the stories in The Rhinebeck Beagle, a new weekly paper, are fake. Only the names and places mentioned in the reports are real.

The 8 by 10-inch size paper was started by Paul Swift, who is the editor/publisher of The Newsletter on Newsletters, and a resident of the Hudson River village, which has a population of around 2,500.

"Published Periodically and Parodically by the Cold Nose Press," the illustrated publication, which is printed on yellow paper, sells for $1 on newsstands.

"It's possibly the only newsletter sold on newsstands, and in just two days it drew in enough money to cover all expenses," Swift told this NL.

"It's proven very popular," said Swift. "People have asked me to autograph their copies. Some have offered me money not to be in the newsletter, others to be in it."

The first issue had a lead story about a local church's placement of a bench for use by the homeless and the arrest of two village zoning officers.

PLACEMENT TIPS
Where International, publishers of Where Magazine network of visitor publications, plans to start versions of its upscale, in-room hotel publication, The Essential, in Boston, Paris, Phoenix/Scottsdale and Seattle this year.

The editorial content, which complements the monthly Where magazines, focuses on the best arts, culture and shopping in each of the cities where it is available.

First published in Vancouver in 1987, The Essential is targeted at affluent travelers. With the addition of the new cities and the established Chicago, London, New Orleans, New York, Vancouver and Washington, D.C., editions, the combined circulation for the 10 markets is expected to reach 430,000 and distribution is expected to reach 235 hotels.
Each edition has its own editor.

Publicists may submit inquiries to Marq Devilliers, who is the overall editorial director. Devilliers is based in Where International's headquarters office in Los Angeles. 310/893-5438.

LowCarbiz, a weekly online newsletter that covers the low-carb industry, published the first issue of LowCarbiz Magazine in April.

More than 600 low-carb products were introduced last year, according to USA Today.

The new magazine is published in Denver by Dean Rotbart's TJFR Group, which has published a newsletter about financial journalism since 1987.

LowCarbiz, which will be published three times in 2004, and quarterly in 2005, is aimed at 8,000 retail buyers, executives and business owners with a financial stake in the low-carb industry. Each issue will have feature articles, profiles, news updates and "how-to" columns. Frequent topics include: shifting consumer tastes and habits; medical and scientific updates; industry trends; regulatory issues; innovation; best practics and a regular low-carb/controlled-carb cartoon strip.

The upcoming summer issue will have a special report on the top 10 low-carb cities in the U.S.

Olivia Mayer is editor and co-publisher of the magazine, which is located at 2020 Arapahoe st., Denver, CO 80205. 303/296-1200; fax: 296-0059.

EDITOR RAPS
'PSEUDO-JOURNALISTS.'
John Carroll, executive edtior of The Los Angeles Times, said some media outlets, namely Fox News Channel, are misleading the public with their news coverage and commentaries.

Carroll cited Fox News Bill O'Reilly, host of "The Factor," as the leader of a new pack of "pseudo-journalists," who cover news in an unethical and deceptive manner to attract viewers. In a speech delivered May 3 at the Univ. of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communications, Carroll cited two specific examples to expose the trend, according to a report in The Oregon Daily Emerald.

One example was a study showing 80% of Fox News Channel's viewers believed at least one of the following misconceptions: That weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq; that a connection between al-Qaeda and Iraq had been found, or that the war in Iraq was widely supported around the world.

He said the number was 57% lower for those who got news primarily from public news broadcasting.

Carroll believes the reason Fox-like pseudo-journalists, such as O Reilly, Alan Colmes and John Hannity, are tops in the weekly Nielsen Media Research ratings is because today's viewers and readers are so angry about one thing or another that the adversarial system of media works to draw them in to the circus.

Results of a new national online survey show gays and bisexuals use the Internet more for access to political news than heterosexuals (16% to 6%).

Witeck-Combs Comms., a PR firm that specializes in the GLBT market, sponsored the study, which was conducted online by Harris Interactive. A total of 3,698 adults responded to the survey; 231 of them self-identified as being homosexual.

The removal of SBC titles from Fleishman-Hillard staffers (page one) is a good development.

But the fact that there was such a practice tells a lot about the current state of agency PR.

PR firms in recent years have moved closer to an ad agency type of relationship with clients.

Client/ad agency goals are about as identical as things can get. Unbridled enthusiasm for client goals coupled with strict confidentiality define the ad agency business.

The business is tight-lipped and insular. The Big Five ad conglomerates (WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic, Havas, Publicis) virtually never hold press conferences. There is no one at any of these units who will sit down with a reporter to discuss their finances.

Purchase of about 50 PR operations, including almost all of the major ones, by the Big Five has accelerated the trend for PR firms to behave like ad agencies.

PR counselors once saw themselves as the "bridge" between client and press, representing both interests.

This became even more important to reporters as the term "PR" all but disappeared from corporations and along with it the corporate press relations function.

PR people at many companies decided it was too dangerous to deal with the press and off-loaded this function to the PR firms.

The breezy corporate PR type who would chat with reporters almost without limit disappeared.

In place of this type came the corporate VP with a title such as VP of Global Strategic Communications and Marketing Strategy. Getting through to this personage was like running the gauntlet that faces air travelers these days. Reporters who lost their "friend at court" at companies are now experiencing the same thing with PR firms.

PR's retreat from dealing with its one natural audience, the press, has been costly in terms of PR jobs. Many corporate PR depts. (now almost universally called "communications") are a small fraction of what they used to be if they exist at all.

Job loss has also been heavy in the counseling industry.

While the 50 PR units of the ad congloms no longer reveal any statistics, the 2004 Blue Book of members of PRSA gives some indication.

Weber Shandwick, which claimed the No. 1 spot with nearly 3,000 employees in 2001, had 110 members of PRSA that year but only has 39 now.
Parent Interpublic has said that overall employment plunged to 43,000 from 62,000.

Burson-Marsteller had 27 employees who were PRSA members in 2001 and 20 in 2004: Fleishman-Hillard, 70/47; Ketchum, 79/22; Porter Novelli, 64/32; Brodeur, 7/1; Hill & Knowlton, 52/33; Manning, Selvage & Lee, 28/22; GCI, 21/7, and Ogilvy, 22/20.

We don t think Sarbanes-Oxley forbids firms from giving out headcounts.

The four OMC units (F-H, Ketchum, PN and Brodeur) had 220 PRSA members in 2001 and 102 members in 2004. OMC is carrying $5.88 billion in goodwill on its books, up from $4.85B a year earlier, and says in its 2003 annual report that there has been "no impairment" in its investments.

How OMC's goodwill went up about $1B when it only spent $472M for acquisitions is a mystery. Its total debt rose to $2.59B. Longterm debt rose 33% to $2.33B. OMC's revenues for 2003 were $8.6B. The company's annual meeting seems to have left New York for good. It was in Los Angeles last year and will be in Atlanta this year on Tuesday, May 25.

An indication that PR has distaste for its own name is the recent release from Public Relations Society of America in which "communications" is favored as the term for what Los Angeles city departments need (vs. "public relations").

PRSA president Del Galloway, commenting after L.A. Mayor James Hahn put a stop to all outside PR contracts, says that ending "communications programs that help educate, inform and assist citizens is no more sensible than ending all city contracts with advertising, law or accounting firms."

Most companies and thousands of government bodies and nonprofit groups work with "PR agencies" to create "communications programs," he further said. "Communications programs" and "communications efforts" are mentioned six times in the release where "PR" would do just as well were it not for PR's apparent bad reputation.

Retreating from the term causes lots of problems. PRSA should be leading the fight to restore luster to it. The first step would be starting a PR department at PRSA itself staffed by five or more PR veterans, setting an example for others.

The inability of PR organizations to get involved in judging a specific ethical situation was apparent in the question about F-H employees having titles at client SBC. Refusing to address the rightness or wrongness of this were the Council of PR Firms, PRSA and its ethics board and Counselors Academy, and the Arthur Page Society. The only unequivocal statement came out of the North American Assn. of Independent PR Agencies... PRSA is again not deferring enough dues income (page 7). Its only out is that it will not under any circumstances return any funds paid as dues. Otherwise it meets all the requirements for deferring about half its dues income.

-- Jack O'Dwyer