N.J. CASINO AUTHORITY
SEEKS PR HELP.
The state entity set up to maintain public confidence in New Jersey's gambling industry has issued an RFP for PR, advertising and marketing support over a two-year period beginning in January.

The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority, created by the Garden State in 1984 to invest a percentage of Atlantic City gambling revenues into development projects, wants a firm or firms to draft press releases and handle media and community relations, production of its annual report and marketing materials, among other tasks.

The CRDA, which doles out tens of millions of dollars a year, said it may select several individual firms for the work, due to the size and complexity of projects it foresees.

A list of PR firms that have worked for the Authority in the past year provided to O'Dwyer's includes MWW Group, Patricia Morris Assocs. and The Cherenson Group, among others.

Proposals are due Nov. 22. Yvonne Bonitto- Doggett, deputy director of the Authority, is contracting officer for the RFP.

DOMINO'S DELIVERS TO KETCHUM.
Domino's Pizza has awarded its $500K PR account to Ketchum. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based chain began its search after Robbie Vorhaus decided to close his shop in July. Vorhaus helped draw up a list of 30 firms he thought would be capable of handling the account.

Eight firms were invited to present their credentials, and Ketchum was one of three finalists. The Omnicom unit was chosen due to its "deep understanding of what Domino's is looking to achieve as a brand," said Lynn Liddle, Domino's EVP-comms. & IR. Domino's CEO David Brandon and CMO Ken Calwell also participated in the review.
Domino's , with 7,600+ franchised and company-owned stores worldwide, had ‘03 revenues of $4.3B.

Tina Ruggiero, who had been running Nutrition Dialogue, a marketing communications firm, has joined the Chicago office of Burson-Marsteller.

She is director of its U.S. brand marketing practice.
Previously, Ruggiero was a VP in the marketing communications practice at Hill & Knowlton's New York office, and a freelance journalist. She contributed articles to The New York Times, and Men's Health.

Linda Recupero chairs B-M's brand marketing group.

IPG SUFFERS $578M LOSS.
Interpublic CEO David Bell blames the cost of write-offs, bonuses and compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley among reasons for the ad/PR combine's $578 million loss for the third-quarter. He considers IPG's 1.8 percent hike in organic growth "promising," and said the company's move to strengthen its balance sheet "represents the tail end of the legacy of our past acquisition culture."

IPG had a $445 million goodwill impairment charge and a $33.6 million write-off for its auto racing operation in the period.

Bell said IPG is on target to achieve a turnaround by mid-`06, and reminded shareholders that the "progress in righting Interpublic would not be linear."
The company's headcount rose from 43,500 to 44,200 from last year's period.

IRAQ'S CPA HIRES W&C.
Iraq's Coalition Provisional Authority has retained White & Case to investigate whether the country's "oil-for-food" program has been mismanaged.

The firm is to determine whether "individuals or entities may have benefitted through the improper disposition of Iraqi contracts or assets associated with the program," according to W&C's Justice Dept. filing.

The probe also will explore whether assets have been improperly diverted from the Iraqi people, and, if so, recommend how the assets may be recovered.

The New York-based firm also will look at alternatives to legal remedies. W&C has branch offices in Jeddah and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia).

JUSTICE LOOKS INTO
LIBYA LOBBY PACT.
The Justice Dept.'s Foreign Agents Registration Act unit plans to "look into" the unsigned $1.2 million (annual fees) contract that former Energy Dept. official Randa Fahmy Hudome filed July 16 for Libya, Heather Hunt, FARA's acting chief, told this NL.

Hunt said the official policy of FARA is to encourage registrants to file documents as they get them. She is aware of Fahmy Hudome International's registration filing, and plans to contact the firm about when it expects to submit a signed contract.

That filing promised that a "signed contract will be forthcoming."

One long-time D.C. lobbyist, who wishes to remain nameless, said he was shocked that an unsigned contract was submitted for such politically charged work. Hunt, however, noted that other firms have filed unsigned contracts.

Hudome has received recent media play as Libya's spokesperson in the U.S., especially in light of President Bush lifting sanctions.

Newsweek's Michael Isikoff identified Hudome as Libya's lobbyist on Oct. 27, and used her as a spokesperson about allegations that the country was involved in the plot to murder Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah.

Isikoff followed up on Oct. 29 with a piece about Hudome advising a newly created group called Middle Eastern American National Conference. It noted Hudome is "raising eyebrows in Washington by working as a lobbyist for Kaddafi at the same time that she's trying to drum up Arab-American support for the president."

Hudome could not be reached for comment.

H&K VS. DENIRO.
Hill & Knowlton is handling PR for the National Italian American Foundation, which is spearheading a coalition to persuade Italy to drop its plan to award honorary citizenship to Robert DeNiro. The coalition is upset with DeNiro for providing the voice to Lino, the leader of a mob of great white sharks in "Shark Tale," the animated film from DreamWorks.

That role furthers a negative stereotype of Italian-Americans, according to Steve Aiello, senior counselor at H&K and a trustee of NIAF's board.

Aiello told O'Dwyer's that the Italian-American community is especially upset because the film is marketed to children. Studies, he said, show that negative stereotyping targeted at young children has a long-lasting damaging effect. Those studies include one funded by Steven Spielberg, a DreamWorks founder.

Aiello said Italy has put the DeNiro matter on hold.

"Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is now re-looking the decision to honor DeNiro," after receiving complaints from the coalition, which includes Sons of Italy, Columbus Citizens Foundation and Unico.

The Foundation, on Oct. 27, sent a letter to DeNiro's PR firm, Stan Rosenfield PR, Los Angeles, that outlined its complaints. It has not received a reply.

R. KELLY TURNS
TO SITRICK (AGAIN).
Singer R. Kelly is leaning on Sitrick and Co. to handle the press as he files a $75 million lawsuit against touring partner Jay-Z and the rapper's production company.

Kelly has accused a member of Jay-Z's Marcy Projects of assaulting the singer with pepper spray during a performance of their "Best of Both Worlds Tour." Kelly is also alleging the company caused a "series of production snafus" during the tour and has charged breach of contract in New York Supreme Court, following the cancellation of the tour.

Kelly wants $15 million in monetary damages for the tour's cancellation and $60 million in punitive damages. Sitrick's Allan Mayer is on the case.

Jana Fleishman, senior director of media relations for Jay-Z's record label, Def Jam, is handling media for the rapper. She put out a statement saying, "R. Kelly's lack of professionalism and unpredictable behavior has prevented the ‘Best Of Both Worlds tour from continuing," adding a statement from Kelly's publicist saying the singer was prepared to continue performing "lacks any credibility."

The firm handled press for Kelly when he was charged with violating child pornography laws in Florida. Some of those charges have been dropped.

AKADEMIKS TURNS TO 5W.
5W PR has been hired by Akademiks, a hip-hop clothing marketer, following a report in the Nov. 5 New York Daily News that its "Read Books. Get Brain." ad campaign suggests that healthy reading habits will be rewarded by oral sex. That slogan is on its billboard ads in English, Spanish and Japanese.

New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority has been running those ads featuring a panty-wearing woman on her knees holding a book on the sides of 200 buses since September. After the News informed the MTA that "get brain" is street slang for oral sex, the ads are being stripped from the buses.

The posters also appear on buses and shelters in Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit and Philadelphia.

Emmet Harrell, creative director at Akademiks, said the New York-based company hadn t received one complaint about its slogan until the News story. He claims customers like the campaign, which is designed to position Akademiks as a "leading fashion-forward company."

5W held a press conference with Harrell on Nov. 5, and 5W CEO Ronn Torossian fielded media calls.

Publicis Groupe reports third-quarter revenues grew 1.5 percent to $1.2 billion. Its press release providing a positive spin to the quarter, played up its nearly five percent rise in organic growth.

CEO Maurice Levy said the European market is picking up to "offset somewhat slower growth in North America." He added that initial indications show "client's budgeting plans for next year are positive, providing support for our earlier prediction that `05 will be a year of growth."

MAJOR DAILY PAPERS
LOSE CIRCULATION.
Circulation fell at some of the major newspapers in the U.S. in the last half year, according to data provided by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

Four papers—Newsday, Dallas Morning News, The Chicago Sun-Times and Hoy, a Spanish-language newspaper in New York—were left out of the report as part of a penalty levied by the ABC for overstating their circulation.

The Justice Dept. has begun a wide-ranging investigation into newspaper circulation practices.

The New York Times, Post and Daily News have been subpoenaed for documents by the U.S. Attorney's office in Brooklyn. The subpoena covers a three-year period.

Overall, daily circulation at the newspapers reporting for the six-month period ending Sept. 30 fell 0.9%, according to an analysis of ABC's data by the Newspaper Assn. of America. Sunday circulation declined by 1.5%.

NAA also said one-third of the papers in the survey reported circulation gains.

The ABC report showed a 5.6% fall at The Los Angeles Times and a 2% drop at The Chicago Tribune.

USA Today remained the largest-selling paper in the U.S. with daily circulation of 2.3 million. The Wall Street Journal remained No. 2 with 2.1 million.

The ABC report covers 641 daily and 662 Sunday papers. Average daily circulation of the 10 biggest papers for the six months ended Sept. 30, as reported Nov. 1 were:

USA Today, 2,309,853, up 2.8%
Wall Street Journal, 2,106,774, up 0.8%
New York Times, 1,121,057, up 0.2%
Los Angeles Times, 902,164, down 5.6%
New York Daily News, 715,052, down 1.6%
Washington Post, 707,690, down 3%
New York Post, 686,207, up 5.2%
Chicago Tribune, 600,988, down 2%
Houston Chronicle, 554,783, up 0.3%
San Francisco Chronicle, 468,370, down 8.5%

FAR EASTERN REVIEW
GOES MONTHLY.
The Far Eastern Review, a weekly magazine based in Hong Kong, is now a monthly.

Hugo Restall, formerly editorial page editor of The Asian Wall Street Journal, was named editor of the Review, which is published by Dow Jones. About 80 staffers were laid off.

Peter Kann, DJ chairman, said the shift reflects the changing economics of the magazine business. "I believe the era of regional news weeklies is nearing an end, given the many other available sources of daily and more frequent news and analysis." He said the Review had lost money for the last six years.

Kann said the company would devote its focus in Asia to its regional newspaper, The Asian WSJ.

The FER's circulation, which exceeded 100,000, was concentrated in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Southeast Asia. It also sells about 13,000 copies in North America and Europe.

CNN TO SHUT DOWN
FINANCIAL NETWORK.
CNN is shutting down CNNfn in mid-December.
CNNfn, which was started in Dec. 1995, is available in about 30 million of the nation's 110 million TV homes.

CNNfn's recent shift away from the latest stockmarket news toward personal finance is viewed as a reason for the network's downfall. "Personal finance, `news you can use is the blandest part of the financial news game," said Broadcasting & Cable magazine.

Lou Dobbs, who left the network in 1991 and then returned in 2001, will continue his program on the main network as will two other CNNfn programs —the real estate series "Open House" and "Dolans Unscripted."

Sixty jobs will be eliminated, but CNN said it will add about 100 news jobs at Headline News, which is being revamped to offer primetime programming instead of a constantly repeating 30-minute newscast.

MEDIA REPORTER JOINS NPR.
David Folkenflik, a media reporter for the Baltimore Sun, has left the paper to join National Public Radio, where former Sun editor William Marimow is now a top editor in Washington, D.C.

NPR spokeswoman Jennifer Lawhorn, who would not confirm the hiring of Folkenflik, said NPR is developing eight new news beats using a portion of the $200 million bequest McDonald's Joan Kroc left the radio news organization.

The new beats are technology, police, prison and law enforcement, media, labor and workplace issues, international business and economics, environment, a second Africa bureau, and general assignment.

MEDIA BRIEFS
The New York Times ranked first in the 2004-2005 "U.S. Opinion Leaders" study conducted by Erdos & Morgan.

According to the study, which was released Oct. 25, 64% of U.S. opinion leaders read the Times, an increase of three percentage points from the last study, which was conducted in 2002.

Actor Sylvestor Stallone is starting a monthly fitness-focused magazine with American Media, called Sly.

The magazine, which will be aimed at men ages 35 to 54, will hit newsstands in January.
Stallone, 58, will be involved with the editorial direction of the magazine, said Stuart Zakim, spokesman for American Media.

Tech Confidential, a magazine focusing on the intersection of technology, strategy and finance, was unveiled by the publishers of The Deal.

Ed Paisely, managing editor of The Deal and The Daily Deal, is editor of TC, which will be published every other month starting in May.

(Media news continued on next page)

LAWYERS SHOULD
MAKE TV CONTACTS.
Steven Alschuler, president of Linden Alschuler & Kaplan, believes attorneys should "reach out" to news producers and assignment desk editors of local and network TV news programs.

Alschuler said attorneys should "introduce" themselves to producers and assignment desks in advance if they are aware of something that's coming up, such as public speculation about a company headed toward bankruptcy, or a trial that has just ended and is waiting for the jury to return.

"Send them a brief e-mail letting them know about your relevant background and a few bullet points outlining your thoughts on the topic at hand. That will enable them to be prepared and to know they have someone available to comment when the story breaks," he told members of the New York State Bar Assn.

Alschuler said it can be a challenge to find out who to call. Sometimes the names of producers and assignment editors are listed in the credits at the end of the show, he said. "Otherwise, you can contact the newsroom at the general number and ask who to talk to about a particular topic, and you can usually get some direction," he said.

"Each network is different, as is each program, and it's important to get to know the style, tone and substance of each, so that you can determine whether it would work for you," Alschuler said.

PEOPLE
Stephanie Geiston, previously assistant business editor at The Boston Globe, has joined CMO magazine in Framingham, Mass., as a senior editor.

Owen Ullmann, previously deputy editorial page editor at USA Today, was promoted to deputy managing editor for news, succeeding Mindy Fetterman, who was transferred to the "Money" section as a reporter.

Victoria Pope, formerly managing editor of U.S. News & World Report, was named executive editor for health coverage.

Sara Skaroff, who was education and culture editor, was named managing editor of "Culture and Ideas," and deputy assistant managing editor Ben Wildavsky becomes education editor.

David Fairlamb, 53, Business Week's European economics correspondent, died Sept. 1 in a Reykjavik, Iceland, hospital.

Linda Holmes was elected president of the Society of Silurians, an organization of veteran New York journalists.

Stan Stovall, 52, was named assistant news editor/ equities for Dow Jones Newswires, based in London.

Chris Johns, a photographer for the past 19 years with National Geographic, was named editor-in-chief of the Washington, D.C.-based magazine. He takes over in January, succeeding William Allen.

Heather Shimokawa, previously associate fashion editor at Men's Journal, is joining Best Life, as fashion editor. Rodale will start publishing the new lifestyle magazine for older males by the end of ‘04.

Michael Lewittes, previously executive news editor at Star magazine, has joined "Access Hollywood" as a news producer for the syndicated TV show.

Linda Fears, former editor of YM, is working on a new women's service magazine for readers ages 25 to 40 at Gruner + Jahr.

Deborah Needleman is editor-in-chief of Domino, a new monthly shopping magazine for the home, that Conde Nast hopes to launch in April.

PLACEMENT TIPS
CBS "Early Show" producer Jessica Herzberg is "always open to ideas."

Herzberg told The PRactitioner, a new quarterly published by PRSA/Georgia, that her "most positive experiences" with PR people, in general, are when it's clear to her the person watches the show and understands the kind of stories it does and what appeals to viewers of the show.

Herzberg, who is responsible for producing feature and lifestyle segments for the daily, two-hour program with more than three million viewers, also has to pitch story ideas, research the topic, decide who the best guest will be and figure out how to best execute the idea.

She also writes the introduction and questions for the anchor who will do the interview.

It does not matter what time or day when PR people should contact her, said Herzberg. She likes to get pitches in writing, preferably by e-mail at [email protected].

The Early Show is located at 524 W. 57th st., New York, NY 10019. 212/975-5954.

Lift and Access, a new bimonthly dedicated to coverage of lifting equipment in North American construction and rental markets, makes its debut with a Nov./Dec. 2004 issue.

The focus of the magazine is to provide information and evaluations of the newest lifting products and latest technologies, along with educating readers on the many aspects of owning and using the equipment.

Readership includes management of national and independent rental firms, equipment sales and service companies, component manufacturers and other suppliers, plus lift equipment users.

Katie Parrish, former managing editor of Lift Applications and Equipment and CraneWorks magazines, is editor of Lift and Access, which is published by Ramsey Management Services. 480/595-2772.

An "inquiry" about the 2004 nominating committee of PRSA (page one) has morphed into an inquiry into PRSA's entire governance. It's certainly needed.

Meanwhile, there's only one thing for the 2004 nomcom to do to clear its name–reveal the vote totals for its selections.

The nomcom should not have allowed Joann Killeen and Reed Byrum to count the votes in secret. But this can be rectified by re-polling the nomcom and announcing the results, thus silencing the critics.

The national board, the source of the bad governance, cannot "bootstrap" itself out of these abusive practices.

The big chapters such as Cleveland, National Capital, Georgia and New York passed decoupling the Assembly from APR.

Del Galloway, 2004 president, worked hard for this in 2003 but made no visible efforts in 2004.

These chapters plus some major PR executives from outside PRSA, perhaps from the Arthur Page Society, need to take the board to the woodshed and force it to reform. PRSA has a history of studying problems and then ignoring the proposals.

It was told by KPMG in 1993 (at a cost of $34K) to get rid of the ten districts, which were costing $40,000 a year with little to show for it; told by the Steve Pisinski planning committee in 1999 to decouple the board and Assembly from APR; told by the Jack Felton committee in 2000 to stop officers and directors from influencing nominations, and presented with nomcom reforms in March which it rejected by an 8-6 vote, director Tom Vitelli making the motion to block them (the nomcom rejected Vitelli's bid to be secretary).

PRSA boards ignored all these recommendations.

Even worse than the former ban against non-APRs in the Assembly is the rule that delegates can only serve three years. This ensures an Assembly of neophytes who mostly don t know Robert's Rules or even the history of PRSA or the Assembly.

The 2005 PRSA board should convene an Assembly early in the year to wipe away this three-year rule; decouple the board itself from APR, and end the bribery of the chapter presidents-elect each June.

The $100K meeting includes giving the presidents-elect $500 each. Assembly delegates, meanwhile, get nothing from national each year, not even free or discounted conference registrations. This year national wouldn t even provide coffee/donuts at the Assembly a.m. break, which were needed.

The fact that only 10 members showed up as candidates for seven national board or officer posts this year, although the 2004 nomcom had four months to look for candidates, shows that the APR rule is choking the board the same way it choked the Assembly. Two director candidates dropped out at the last minute.

While the 2003 nomcom named six people as at-large Assembly delegates, the 2004 nomcom could find no one to run for that post (except Gerard Corbett, who was a shoo-in director-at-large).

Almost no one is aware that there were six at-large Assembly delegates whose job was (and is until Dec. 31) to represent the hundreds of members who are not in a chapter. The delegates are not in the Blue Book of members nor on the PRSA website. The six are Les Goldberg of Santa Ana, Calif.; Laura Link, Jacksonville, Fla.; Susan Schumacher, Billerica, Mass.; Prof. Francis McDonald, Hampton, Va.; Rock Jenkins, Bloomington, Ill., and Roy Reid, Orlando, Fla. This is another governance abuse.

Worse yet, for the first time in our experience, there was no overall list of the 295 delegates for anyone to see–not even the delegates themselves.
Assembly packets always had a list of the delegates. Ideally, members should be able to blast e-mail the entire list. That would be democracy. Then the delegates might find out what the rank-and-file members think. Another governance abuse this year was concealing the decoupling vote although a motion by Paul Wetzel of Boston was passed 159-98 ordering publication of votes by individuals.

Frank Stansberry, former national director and nomcom veteran, said ex-presidents must be kept off the nomcom. There were four in 2004– Mary Cusick, Joann Killeen, Joe Epley and Reed Byrum. Their influence is just too great and leads to "continuance of the status quo," says Stansberry. "We need to get the ex-presidents out of the process to really clean it up," he added. Other reforms would be blocking repeats on the nomcom (Donna Stein, Blake Lewis and Tim Dodson served in 2003-04) and blocking national directors from returning to the board after skipping several years. Maria Russell and Kathy Lewton were able to do this because the bylaws only say, "directors may not succeed themselves as directors." Close this loophole.

The 2005 board, to be different from previous boards, should have a press conference at its first meeting in January in New York. Last year's board invited five PR reporters to h.q. but it was a fiasco because the reporters were barred from asking questions about PRSA. A major governance abuse is letting the president serve as the sole spokesperson for the Society, which establishes this person as a "czar." PR reporters spend the year chasing this person.

– Jack O'Dwyer