U.S. PLANS IRAQ PR PUSH.
The U.S. government is soliciting proposals for an "aggressive" and comprehensive PR and advertising push in Iraq to convey military and diplomatic goals to Iraqis and gain their support.

The eventual contract will be with the Multi National Corps-Iraq, or MNC-I, as it is referred to in government circles. That military entity, which was formed in May, is based at Al Faw Palace at Camp Victory in Baghdad and is charged jointly with offensive operations against insurgents and economic development and stability efforts.

MNC-I sees the need for PR because "recent polls suggest support for the Coalition is falling and more and more Iraqis are questioning Coalition resolve, intentions and effectiveness," according to its Request for Information. The Coalition says it is essential to the future of Iraq that its "core themes and messages" gain widespread Iraqi support.

Reached via e-mail in Baghdad, Cdr. David Fowler of the U.S. Navy told O'Dwyer's the agency is currently soliciting and can t release any information on firms pitching for the work. He noted his team is short-staffed and in a combat zone and might need a reminder to provide the results of the search.

MNC-I wants to award a contract before Oct. 1.

Bell Pottinger Comms., London, worked with the Coalition Provisional Authority and local media shops on a multi-million-dollar democracy PR effort in Iraq before the U.S. handed over power to the interim Iraqi government on June 30.

NOEL TAKES SPIN
AT WHIRLPOOL.
Whirlpool Corp. has tapped Jeff Noel -- an economic development exec and former government affairs director at Brown & Williamson -- as VP for communications and public affairs.

Noel is slated to join the Benton Harbor, Mich., appliance maker on Nov. 1.

The 46-year-old exec plans to leave the post of president at Cornerstone Alliance, a civic and economic development group focused on southwest Michigan which he joined in 1993. Earlier, he was an EVP for the Greater Louisville Economic Development Partnership and director of government affairs for Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. He began his career as an assistant to Sen. Wendell Ford (D-Ky.).

Whirlpool had sales of $12 billion last year.

APCO HEADS
FOR INDEPENDENCE.
WPP Group's merger with Grey Global Group has no impact on the proposed management buyout of APCO Worldwide, according to GGG CEO Ed Meyer.

"There is a proposed APCO management buyout plan proceeding. It should be completed in the next few weeks," said an e-mail from Meyer who controls about 70 percent of GGG's voting stock.

WPP CEO Martin Sorrell referred this NL to Meyer "since our deal has not been completed yet." Sorrell has called APCO's sister firm, GCI Group, a key asset in the WPP/Grey combination.

APCO CEO Margery Kraus founded the Washington, D.C.-based firm in `84. It has 24 offices worldwide, and has run programs for Dow Corning, Microsoft, and the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority.

OGILVY LANDS BULLOCK.
Tony Bullock, who was chief of staff to New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and communications director for Washington Mayor Anthony Williams, is now at Ogilvy PR Worldwide in D.C. He has an executive VP-PA post.

Bullock was chief spokesperson for Moynihan from 1996-2000, and was the Democrat's primary contact with the Clinton White House.

As Williams aide, Bullock was the key communication contact for the 9/11 terror attack on the Pentagon, and handled the media during the anthrax contamination scare.

Bullock served as a county legislator in Suffolk County, N.Y.

WAL-MART WORKS
ON IMAGE PROBLEM.
Wal-Mart has an image problem that it is working "day and night" to fix, said Mona Williams, VP-corporate communications of the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer. She said the company agrees with the Sept. 14 New York Times editorial that said Wal-Mart's image was hurt because of "bad facts" and not "bad spin."

The NYT recounted recent charges hurled against the world's biggest company, including locking workers overnight in its stores, the largest sexual discrimination lawsuit in history covering 1.6 million current and former female workers, and being blamed in the recent California supermarket strike for the need to cut wages and health benefits. "If Wal-Mart wants to do a better job in telling its story, it needs to work on having a better story to tell," said the paper.

Williams, however, took issue with the Times writer who focused on a quote from Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott about the need to compromise when appropriate. That, she said, missed the point.

Scott's message, according to Williams, is that "Wal-Mart has a wonderful story to tell. We offer good jobs and competitive wages and benefits to more than one million people. That's the Wal-Mart story," she said.

Williams said Fleishman-Hillard is helping Wal-Mart on merchandising promotion, as well as corporate reputation issues.

CSV 'STAR' IN MGM/SONY DEAL.
Citigate Sard Verbinnen is advising Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in its $4.9 billion merger into a consortium led by Sony Corp. of America. The bid edged one by Time Warner, which was considered the front-runner, in the effort to acquire MGM's library of 4,000 films including "The Wizard of Oz," "Annie Hall," "The Invasion of the Body Snatchers," "The Graduate," "The Silence of the Lambs," "Moonstruck," "The Great Escape," "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," plus the James Bond and Pink Panther series.

CSV's George Sard and Stephanie Pillersdorf are helping MGM's Joseph Fitzgerald, executive VP-IR and corporate communications, and Janet Janjigian, SVP-CC, promote the transaction.

The Sony-led consortium includes Texas Pacific Group, Providence Equity Partners and DLJ Merchant Banking Partners. Comcast, once the deal is complete, has the right to purchase a 20 percent stake in the merged venture.

DAI NIPPON ENDS IPRA TIE.
Dai Nippon, Japan's largest printing company, is ending its $100,000 yearly contribution to the Golden World Awards program of the International PR Assn. at the end of 2004.

The bimonthly glossy FrontLine magazine of IPRA is now being published only on IPRA's website (ipra.org) in a cost-saving move.

IPRA, which has about 1,000 members in nearly 100 countries, will celebrate its 50th year next June in Istanbul. Its annual awards banquet will take place in London Oct. 21.

Donald K. Wright, Ph.D., professor in the department of communications, University of South Alabama and 2004 president of IPRA, said Dai Nippon cited the weak Japanese economy in ending its sponsorship. The company said the sponsorship has been "a valuable investment" for it, said Wright.

Wright said Japanese companies such as Nissan, NEC and Dai Nippon have been the exclusive sponsors of the awards program for the past 15 years. He said thanks is due to IPRA past president Roy Sanada and his company, Japan Counselors, Tokyo, for helping to obtain the sponsors.

KELLEY LEADS CHEVRON CHARGE.
Chevron USA paid Penguin Partners--the firm of Cassidy & Assocs. vice chairman emeritus Paul X. Kelley--$120K during the first-half to push for the siting and permitting of a liquified natural gas receiving terminal "somewhere on the U.S. coastline."

Kelley is the former Marine Corps Commandant who joined Cassidy & Assocs. in `89. He, along with partner Harry Barsh, lobbied the House and Pentagon on behalf of Chevron.

David O'Reilly, ChevronTexaco CEO, delivered his own pitch for an LNG terminal during a speech before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on June 23. He blamed NIMBYism, environmental and regulatory obstacles for blocking the construction of a facility to receive LNG from sources overseas.

O'Reilly said the nation has four LNG terminals, and needs another 10 by `15 to keep up with projected demand. The CEO also noted that there hasn t been a refinery built in the U.S. since `70.

Global energy demand, according to O Reilly, is slated to grow 40 percent over the next two decades, largely fueled by the rapid industrialization of China.

Cassidy is an Interpublic unit.

EIN SUPPORTS BUSH
DRUG CHARGE.
Washington, D.C.-based Ein Comms. has been retained by Doubleday to bolster its PR defense and rollout of Kitty Kelley's expose on the Bush clan, "The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty."
Marina Ein, founder and president of the firm, confirmed the hire to O'Dwyer's, adding EC is supporting publicity efforts by Doubleday's own staff.

The publisher and Ein issued a statement last week backing comments by President George W. Bush's sister-in-law, Sharon, that the current president used cocaine at Camp David while his father was president. Sharon Bush now denies giving Kelley that statement, but Doubleday claims she confirmed Bush's drug use on more than one occasion.

Doubleday also refuted assertions by NBC's "Today" host Matt Lauer and Sharon Bush that Kelley had a "relationship" with PR exec and former N.Y. Daily News editor Lou Colasuonno prior to his witnessing a lunch meeting with Bush and Kelley in 2003.

BUZZ FROM 'OPRAH'
IS "PRICELESS."
General Motors gave away 276 new Pontiac G6s, which each cost about $28,000, to members of the audience during the season-opening "Oprah Winfrey Show" on Sept. 13.

Mark-Hans Richter, director of marketing, told Auto Week the PR value of the product placement is "incalculable. The buzz and validity is priceless, especially among women."

Winfrey spent the first half of her syndicated talk show—which is seen in 212 U.S. markets and 109 other markets—debuting the new sedan. A 30-second commercial on the show sells for about $70,000.

Pontiac's African-American ad agency, Vigilante, handled the product placement on the show.
Mike Paul, whose firm handles PR for the small New York-based ad agency, credits the placement to a chance meeting that Larry Woodward, president/ CEO of Vigilante, had with Gayle King, editor-in-chief of O Magazine, while waiting to catch their flights to Chicago out of Westchester County, N.Y., airport last year.

It wasn t until a few weeks later at a GM meeting that Woodward heard the client talk about ideas for introducing the G6 and things started to click, Paul said.

Products Abound on 'Apprentice'

"The Apprentice," the hit reality TV show hosted by Donald Trump, which began its second season on Sept. 9, is also ladened with product placements from major companies.

Some of the companies plugged on the shows are paying "product integration" fees of about $1 million each, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The show's 18 contestants competed to design a new toy for Mattel in the opening episode. Three Mattel executives judged the ideas and picked a winner. In the Sept. 23 episode, the participants will design a marketing plan for a new variety of Procter & Gamble's Crest toothpaste.

NEW MAGS SHOWCASE
STYLISH LIVING.
The first issue of T: Men's Fashion was distributed in the Sept. 19 edition of The New York Times.

T: The New York Times Style Magazine is a new collection of magazines that showcase stylish living today and feature the latest trends in men's and women's fashion, design and entertaining.

T is published eight times per year as a complement to the New York Times Magazine and replaces the magazine's "Part 2" publication.

T is a family of four magazine, each published twice per year, and includes:

—T: Women's Fashion (first published on Aug. 29) which sorts and selects the hottest new signature pieces and trends in women's fashion.

—T: Men's Fashion offers a tailored round up of the best looks, trends and personalities in men's fashion.

—T: Design will reveal how the lines in home design now cross and diverge in architecture, decor and home furnishings. It will publish on Oct. 10.

—T: Living will feature lifestyle and entertaining trends and report on the latest in food, wine, tabletop, kitchens, bathrooms and more. The magazine, edited by Amanda Hessar, will be published on Nov. 7.

Each issue of T has features and news columns.
Starting in 2005, The Sophisticated Traveler will join the T magazine collection and will continue to report on exotic travel destinations around the world.

PEOPLE
Melissa Larsen, a freelance writer currently living in New York, is relocating to San Clemente, Calif., to become editor of SG Magazine, which covers women's action sports.

Dan Wakeford and Michelle Lee were promoted to co-executive editors of In Touch Weekly, based in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Wakeford was news director and Lee had been articles director.

Robert Wilson, previously editor of Preservation, published by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, has joined The Phi Beta Kappa Society in Washington, D.C., as editor of The American Scholar, the society's quarterly journal of intellectual and cultural affairs.

Deborah Schoeneman, who was writing for New York's "Intelligencer" section, will write a column about real estate and architecture.

John Hollon, previously editor-in-chief of The San Diego Business Journal, has joined Workforce Management, a twice-monthly magazine for human resource executives, as editor, replacing Carroll Lachnit, who becomes executive editor, overseeing content of the Irvine, Calif.-based magazine.

Wendy Wilk, longtime managing editor for news at WTTG-TV in Washington, D.C., has joined Hearst-Argyle Television as D.C. bureau chief. She replaces Peter Barnes, who is starting a book publishing firm.

Diane Harris, previously a freelance writer, was named assistant managing editor of Money magazine, and Ryan D'Agostino, formerly of Jungle Media, was hired as a senior editor.

Stuart Marques has left The New York Sun, where he was news editor for the past two years.

MEDIA BRIEFS
The Associated Press is cutting contract and temporary employees worldwide, according to I Want Media.com.

A "tipster" told the website that bureau chiefs and news editors are being let go, and some bureaus are said to be closed for most of the weekend.

CNN has closed its Spanish-language news website. The company said CNNenEspanol.com was one of the services "that is not viable financially."

The Chicago Sun-Times unionized news staffers have voted to authorize a strike when their contract expires Sept. 30. Staffers are angry about getting meager wage increases during the years when top Hollinger execs allegedly skimmed hundreds of millions of dollars in company profits.

PLACEMENT TIP
AlwaysOn, a website (www.alwayson-network. com), is starting a quarterly print magazine this winter covering "innovation in technology and media."

The first issue, which is free on request, will have interviews with Bill Gates, Michael Powell, Jonathan Schwartz, Stratton Sclavos, and other top tech people, plus a special section on the 100 most innovative companies.

Tony Perkins, founding editor of Red Herring, is editor of AlwaysOn, which began as a blog. He is located at PO Box 620454, Woodside, Calif.

(Media news continued on next page)

JOURNAL TO START
WEEKEND EDITION.
The Wall Street Journal , which is looking for additional ad revenue, is relaunching a Saturday edition on Sept. 10, 2005.

The publisher also believes the new edition will further broaden the paper's relationship with readers, who have to rely on its website to stay on top of weekend news until it is back in print on Monday.

The Saturday paper will have the latest business and financial news and information, through the close of Friday's markets, and a new section, called "Pursuits," which will cover such topics as personal finance, health, travel, cars, entertainment, sports, home decor and leisure activities. The company wouldn t say how many pages the weekend paper would have.

The launch will require the hiring of an estimated 150 additional employees, more than half in the news department, the paper said. The new edition will be delivered at no additional charge to all subscribers, and sold at newsstands across the U.S. Subscribers will have the option of providing a separate address for weekend delivery; currently 67% of the paper's subscribers get their copy each day at home.

The Journal was published six days a week from its founding in 1889 until 1953, when, following the ending of Saturday trading on the New York Stock Exchange, publication was cut back to five days.
The Journal has a print and online circulation of 2.1 million.

2004 SEES JUMP
IN LIFESTYLE TITLES.
The number of lifestyle magazines continues to rise, growing to 264 magazines published in 2004, up from 206 lifestyle titles in 2003, according to the 17th edition of the National Directory of Magazines.

The new directory, published by Oxbridge Communications, lists more than 18,800 business and consumer publications in its new edition.

Several other magazine categories showed major growth from 2003 to 2004:

—Crafts: up 25% to 129 publications from 103;
—Golf: up 24% to 135 publications from 109;
—Political science and politics: up 23% to 128 publications from 104.

At the same time, other categories are declining in number. "Management" titles fell 25% from 127 publications to 95; "news" magazine titles declined 24% to 57, and "History" titles decreased 23% to 128 publications in 2004.

The categories with the largest number of publications continue to be "College Student/Alumni" with 971 publications; "Medicine" with 965 publications, and "Religion/Theology" with 724 publications.

PLACEMENT TIPS
Luxury SpaFinder Magazine (formerly Spa Finder Magazine), which debuted with its September/October issue, is aiming at the booming luxury and healthy living markets, which is now the fourth-largest leisure industry in the U.S., with annual revenues approaching $16 billion.

The revamped bimonthly magazine will offer a blend of spa-inspired topics -- travel, fashion, home spa and other lifestyle pursuits.

Gary Walther, former editor of Departures, is leading the magazine's editorial makeover.

Regular features will include expert white papers on health and medical issues, profiles of the people behind the luxury spa experience and the world's most luxurious spas, as well as late-breaking beauty, health and wellness trends.

The magazine's editorial offices are located at 91 5th ave. in New York. Walther can be reached at 212/924-6800.

Suede, a new fashion and beauty magazine that speaks to young woman of color, has arrived on newsstands.

Essence Communications, publisher of the new monthly, said Suede will cover "everything from personalities, fashion history, pop culture, supermodels and trends to watch, in addition to the clothes, shoes and bling that urban fashionistas crave."

The magazine's beauty sections will focus on makeup and hair styling, while a fashion section will have features on the latest designer clothes. There is also a gossip column and living section, showing celebrities inside their homes.

Suzanne Boyd, who is editor-in-chief, heads Suede's editorial staff, which also includes Serena French, executive editor; Ian Hylton, editor-at-large, Agnes Cammock, fashion director; Elayne Fluker, managing editor; Deborah Frank, deputy editor; Margeaux Watson, arts and entertainment editor; Marcia Cole, deputy editor/lifestyle and features, and Ying Chung, beauty director.
Info.: www.suedemag.com.

MEDIA BRIEFS
Thalia, an Hispanic women's lifestyle magazine named after recording artist Thalia Sodi, is ceasing publication after three issues.

Hope, a magazine launched in 1996 in an effort to counter the "bad news" with stories about people who were trying to make the world a better place, will cease publication at the end of the year.

The New York Daily News is launching a new Sunday celebrity magazine, called 25hours, and a weekly Spanish-language giveaway newspaper, Hora Hispania.

The glossy magazine will be distributed as an insert in the Sunday edition on Oct. 3, the same day the paper will start carrying Life, which has been revived as a newspaper supplement.

Jayne Gould is editor of 25hours, which will contain mostly full-color photos of celebrities taken at book parties, record releases and movie premieres in and around Manhattan.

"Damned Rather" as some media are now calling CBS anchor Dan Rather, made a mistake in using faulty evidence to back up a story about President Bush's National Guard service.

CBS has been fatally slow in addressing this crisis, just like a lot of companies that are hit with crises.
The larger issue involved is the ability of the public to deal with sophisticated election year propaganda techniques such as "framing" and endless ad hominem arguments.

Framing is focusing attention on a topic or angle most harmful to the other side, thus co-opting discussion of other topics or angles.

Some charges, such as cowardice in the face of enemy forces, lying about military service, disloyalty to fellow soldiers, giving support and comfort to the enemy, etc., are so strong that almost no arguments can erase the stain of them.

According to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, whom we acknowledge is left-leaning, the Bush Administration "has been so dazzling in misleading the public with audacious, mendacious malarkey that the Democrats fear the Bushies are capable of any level of deceit."

Dowd (Sept. 16) dismissed the claim of some Democrats that GOP strategist Karl Rove planted false documents with Rather about Guard service.
In this particular battle, the pro-Bush forces are focusing on the questionable documents about Bush's service while the pro-John Kerry forces are trying to get the focus on what the actual service was. Kerry forces are guilty of their own smears and propaganda efforts against Bush although mostly they are on the defensive.

They spent a month defending against charges of the Swift Boat Veterans which NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote Sept. 18 was "one of the ugliest smears in modern U.S. politics." He said the Swift Boat claims were "contradicted by official records and virtually everyone who witnessed the incidents."

Europeans regard Americans as nearly illiterate when it comes to economics, foreign affairs, etc., and thus susceptible to propaganda efforts by Bush and Kerry forces. The American I.Q. has taken a tumble in recent years. The National Endowment for the Arts surveyed 17,135 people and found a steep decline in reading. Author Andrew Solomon wrote in the July 10 New York Times that the 1980s "coincided with the beginning of the catastrophic downturn in reading" and that ability to think was also a casualty.

Mark Goldblatt of the Fashion Institute of Technology wrote in the New York Post Sept. 13 that his freshman students are ignorant of the basic rules of grammar. They can t even seem to reason things out, he said, because their high school teachers have emphasized "creativity" in writing rather than "correctness."

In the current political debate, the "characters" of Bush and Kerry are hashed over endlessly while facts about actual issues often get short shrift.

PRSA has finally admitted -- 15 years later -- that its Institute for PR Research & Education was right in seeking non-APR board members in 1989.

The PRSA board that year demanded that all 12 directors of the Institute be accredited. When the Institute refused, PRSA disowned it and created the PRSA Foundation.

The Institute, led by Paul Alvarez of Ketchum, said it couldn t find the corporate big-hitters that it needed for its board if they had to be APR.

PRSA leaders, including 1990 president Jerry Dalton, wanted a Foundation that would be under the thumb of the national board. That has been achieved. In fact, the Foundation board and national board of PRSA are now one and the same.
PRSA was steaming because the Institute, which once had all of its directors appointed by PRSA, had decided that only one would be appointed.

Institute directors pointed out the law said the Institute was supposed to be independent of PRSA and they simply were behaving that way.

Judith Phair, 2005 PRSA president, told a teleconference Sept. 14 that a new 12-person "advisory board" of the Foundation will have five members who may not even belong to PRSA. They will bring "added expertise to both philanthropy and in special initiatives the Foundation may be supporting ... " she said. That's just what the Institute wanted back in '89.

The Institute had revenues of $338,000 in 2003 vs. the Foundation's $174,131. Having two educational foundations in PR has been wasteful.

Sept. 23 is the last day that candidates can file to run for national office from the floor of the Oct. 24 Assembly of PRSA. Reports are that two candidates may file. If they do so, this will be another reason to suspend the usual agenda which turns over the morning session to speeches by PRSA leaders (three hours this year). Such speeches could easily be put on paper.

The flawed electronic voting system used by Assembly not only does not leave a paper trail, it doesn t leave an electronic trail. No one has any idea of how the 290 delegates voted and especially whether chapter delegates are obeying instructions to vote a certain way.

Each delegation should keep a written record of how the delegates voted and this should be published immediately for conference attendees and other members (via the PRSA web) so they can see how their reps voted (just like the record kept for the U.S. House and Senate).

-- Jack O'Dwyer