MCGWIRE TURNS TO LEADER.
Mark McGwire, the burly ex-slugger who testified March 17 in Congress’ probe of steroids in baseball, has brought in Leader Enterprises, an Atlanta and Los Angeles-based PR and integrated marketing firm.

Marc Altieri, a former Hill & Knowlton and Los Angeles Lakers PR exec, is serving as McGwire’s media spokesman and advisor. Altieri did not return a request for comment from O’Dwyer’s.

LE has handled PR assignments with sports stars such as LeBron James, Cal Ripken Jr. and Sr. and Maria Shaparova.

McGwire has been drawn into the steroid controversy by news reports and a book by former teammate Jose Canseco linking him to performance-enhancing drugs.

Robert Marston Assocs. is Major League Baseball’s main PR firm. RMA told O’Dwyer’s all steroid-related questions are being referred to MLB’s senior VP of PR, Rich Levin.

His office said the steroid issue is being handled in-house.

LIEBERMAN JOINS H&K.
Hadassah Lieberman, wife of Connecticut Senator, Joe, has joined Hill & Knowlton as senior counselor in its Washington, D.C., office. She will serve in the WPP Group unit’s health & pharmaceutical group.

Lieberman has held posts at Saint Raphael Hospital (New Haven), American Committee for Shaare Zedek Medical Center (Jerusalem), APCO Assocs., Pfizer and Hoffmann-La Roche.

She reports to Anna McCollister-Slipp, who recently joined from Manning, Selvage & Lee. Slipp was PA director at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and the Cato Institute.

Interpublic's financial mess may result in the postponement of its May annual meeting, according to a statement from IPG.

The troubled ad/PR conglom, which announced March 11 that it needed more time to release its 10-K, now says it needs more time to release its first-quarter and possibly second-quarter results.

CEO Michael Roth said the company must conduct "extensive manual review procedures to augment our existing control processes in order to protect the integrity of our financial statements."

Roth also said he wants to reassure clients that the "filing delay is not related to the high quality of our professional offerings."

F-H STICKS UP
FOR CANADA’S BEEF.
The Alberta Beef Producers has hired Fleishman-Hillard Government Relations to spearhead its drive to reopen the U.S. market to Canadian beef.

The U.S., wary of a Mad Cow breakout, slammed shut its border following the `03 discovery of an Alberta cow infected with bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture had planned to okay the import of Alberta’s beef on March 7, but that plan was put on ice following a lawsuit filed March 2 by ranchers in Montana.

Welles Orr, senior VP in FHGR’s Washington, D.C., office, told O’Dwyer’s there is “no timeline” to determine how the legal squabble will play out. Jon Huenemann, another FHGR senior VP in D.C., works with Orr on the account. They are supported by staffers in Ottawa.

The Canadian Cattlemen for Fair Trade, on March 16, filed a $300M claim against the U.S. Government under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

CHRISTIE BOLSTERS RF/D.C.
Ruder Finn, in another move to boost its Washington, D.C., office, has hired Ron Christie as executive VP/director of global government affairs. The former Bush Administration official joins from Patton Boggs, where he was “of counsel.”

Christie served as deputy assistant for domestic policy to Vice President Dick Cheney, handling healthcare, tax, and budget issues. He also served as special assistant to President George Bush and acting director of USA Freedom Corps.

Kathy Bloomgarden, co-CEO of RF, says Christie will strengthen its “ability to counsel clients at the highest level.”

Christie joins the firm on April 4, the day Fleishman-Hillard veteran Barbara Shipley reports to duty as managing director of RF/D.C.

VNR FIRMS WILL MEET
NEW STANDARDS.
CEOs of the major video news release producers, tackling the issue of on-air disclosure of sources of their products, which has been raised by the Federal government and New York Times, say they will meet any new standards that are established.

Medialink’s Laurence Moskowitz said his firm will “happily meet” any higher standards of disclosure for VNRs produced for government agencies.

“This debate is purely about government agency VNRs and not those for private industry,” he said.
(This story continues on 7)

WICKHAM EXITS H-P
FOR RAYTHEON.
Pamela Wickham, VP of corporate communications, for Hewlett Packard Co., has moved on to Raytheon after three months at the technology giant.

Robert Sherbin, VP of corporate media relations for HP, has been elevated to acting head of corporate comms., in addition to his other duties, a spokesman told O’Dwyer’s. [Sherbin was formerly VP of corporate communications at Gateway.]

Wickham, 42, takes the title of VP of communications and corporate affairs for Raytheon, following the late ‘04 resignation of Phyllis Piano from that role.

Both Piano and Wickham have strong ties to GE.
Wickham, who began her career with Ketchum and Porter Novelli, was executive VP for GE Healthcare in the U.K. prior to HP.

She held several other corporate PR posts at GE. Piano, 48, was at GE for 15 years and Raytheon for six.

Tim Marklein also bolted a top PR slot at HP last fall for an EVP/GM slot at Weber Shandwick.

SEN. SEEKS POLITICAL PROBE
OF VNRS.
Senator Daniel Inouye wants the Federal Communications Commission to determine whether TV stations are violating rules requiring attribution for “political broadcast matter” or “the discussion of a controversial issue of public importance” when they air government-created video news releases.

The Hawaii Democrat, who is co-chairman of the Senate Committee of Commerce, Science and Trans., notes that most of the VNR debate has focused on whether the Bush Administration violated restrictions on using taxpayer money for publicity or propaganda.

“However, equally as serious is growing evidence that certain broadcasters are editing government-created VNRs to make it appear as if such information is the result of independent news-gathering,” Inouye wrote in a letter to FCC head Michael Powell.

He asks the FCC to determine if accepting VNRs violates the Communication Act’s ban on stations’ acceptance of “money, service, or other valuable consideration” for the airing of content.

IRAQEX REBRANDS.
Iraqex, the investment group set up to pursue business in Iraq which holds a $6M, three-year contract to handle PR for the U.S.-led military force there, has changed its name to Lincoln Group, a reflection of its holding company, Lincoln Alliance Corp.

LG has also begun publishing the Iraq Business Journal (www.iraqbusinessjournal.com), a monthly publication on contract opportunities, life in Iraq and classifieds.

The recent edition has a Q&A with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who said he has no problem with foreign investment rebuilding the country, as long as an investor is a partner with Iraqis and not part of the “occupation forces” or someone taking “advantage of any instability” in the country.

LG is also still looking for interns that have media and PR experience for 2-3 month periods in Baghdad. Food, lodging, insurance and a stipend are provided.

OMC’S GOODWILL HITS $6.4B.
Omnicom, releasing its balance sheet on March 15, the last day allowed by SEC regulations, reported that goodwill rose to $6.41 billion as of Dec. 31, 2004, from $5.88B as of a year earlier. It was $3.9B in 2001 and $2.9B in 2000.

Goodwill is the amount paid for acquisitions over and above tangible assets such as cash on hand, equipment and furnishings. OMC owns all or part of more than 1,500 ad agencies, PR firms and numerous other types of companies.

A new “fair value” approach to depreciation of intangible assets was allowed by the SEC two years ago, letting companies subtract nothing from their earnings for depreciation if they deemed there has been no “impairment” in the value of their acquisitions.

While OMC deducted $497M from its income in 2001 for depreciation of goodwill and other intangibles and $410M the year before, it deducted nothing for goodwill depreciation in 2004 and $110M for depreciation of intangibles in 2004.

Whereas it used to report “goodwill and other intangibles” on one line, it now has separated these into “goodwill” ($6.41B showing no depreciation) and “intangibles,” showing amortization of $164M in 2004, leaving $110M in this category.

While OMC publicized its revenues and earnings on Feb. 22, including holding a teleconference for analysts and issuing a press release, it issued no releases for its balance sheet and scheduled no conference call.

Standards of the National Investor Relations Institute call for companies to supply balance sheets at the same time they report earnings.

OMC’s long term debt is $2.33B and shareholders’ equity is $4.07B. Tangible net equity, which is equity minus the $6.4B in goodwill, is -$2.33B. The company’s stock is trading at about $87, which is 20 points lower than its high of $107 on Dec. 17, 1999.

OMC’s annual meeting will be May 24 in Dallas, the third year in a row it is not in New York.

KEKST, SC GUIDE
‘TOYS’ TAKEOVER.
Kekst & Co. and Stanton Crenshaw are handling the three-way $6.6 billion takeover of Toys “R” Us.
Kekst represents investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. and real estate developer Vornado Realty Trust. Alex Stanton counsels equity firm Bain Capital.

The deal, according to The New York Times, “may be as much about real estate as toys.” Toys owns valuable leases on its 1,500-plus stores. On the retail front, the Wayne, N.J.-based company has been hit by Wal-Mart, which now controls a quarter of the toy market.

Frank Rich, in another New York Times attack on PR, slammed Enron and Ketchum’s $97M in gov’t contracts in his March 20 column. He believes Susan Molinari, head of Ketchum’s lobbying unit, should disclose her PR ties on talk shows, which often only ID her as a former congresswoman.

“The brakes are off,” writes Rich, “and before long, the government could have a larger budget for fake news than actual television news divisions have for real news.”

PR PRO PUBLISHES
MEDIA SURVIVAL GUIDES.
Karen Friedman, a former reporter for ABC-TV’s “Action News” in Philadelphia, who operates a media training firm, has written a series of how-to manuals for corporate spokespeople.

The five books offer tips on doing an interview, handling tough questions and preparing a presentation.

“These survival guides are their cliff notes,” said Friedman, who was featured in a Feb. 2003 “Media Workshop,” a column that appears in O’Dwyer’s PR Services Report magazine.

Information about obtaining the guides is available at www.karenfriedman.com, or by calling KFE at 610/292-9780.

REAL SIMPLE TOPS ‘THE HOT LIST.’
These publications made “The Hot List,” Media Week magazine’s annual list of the top 10 magazines:

1. Real Simple; 2. Lucky; 3. Us Weekly; 4. In Style; 5. O, The Oprah Magazine; 6. Shape; 7. Men’s Health; 8. ESPN The Magazine; 9. Vanity Fair, and 10. Parenting.

The listing is based on circulation and advertising performance during the last three years. Greatest weight is given to performance in the last year.

PEOPLE_______________________
Maggie Bullock, previously senior associate editor at Vogue, covering both beauty and fashion news, has joined Elle.

Jack Nerad was recently named editorial director of the Kelley Blue Book, and website, www.kbb.com.

Shelly Ross, who produced “Primetime Live,” has resigned to develop and produce other programs for ABC News.

David Sloan, currently executive producer of “20/20,” will replace Ross on an interim basis.

BLOGS CLOSE IN ON
TRADITIONAL MEDIA.
Traditional journalism, with its focus on substaniating facts, now competes with other models of news, such as Blogs.

These faster, cheaper and less accurate alternatives have distinct advantages in the marketplace, according to a new study on the state of journalism in America.

Moreover, blogs, or personal weblogs, have added to this challenge with a philosophy: publish first and assume the vertification process will occur in the response and argument that follow.

The study, “The State of the American News Media, 2005” was produced by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a researh institute affiliated with the Columbia Univ. graduate school of journalism and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

As traditional media continue to lose audience, the report suggests news organizations will be tempted to cut back on news gathering and change standards to compete with the new models.

“In effect, Americans are shifting from being consumers of news to pro-active partners in creating their own personalized news account each day, and traditional journalism is only part of the mix,” said project director Tom Rosenstiel. “This amounts to a new kind of American citizenship with more responsibilities for the consumer.”

AT HOME WITH CHRIS MADDEN
TO DEBUT.
Hachette Filipacchi Media has chosen At Home With Chris Madden as the title of a new magazine featuring the home designer, who hosted her own TV show for eight seasons, and authored 16 books.

The new magazine will make its debut on May 3.

Madden will serve as editorial director, working alongside Olivia Monjo, who is editor-in-chief of Hachette’s Special Interest Publications division.

METRO TO START FREE
DAILIES IN CANADA.
Media rivals Torstar Corp. and CanWest MediaWorks in Toronto have formed a venture with Metro International SA of Sweden to publish free English-language daily newspapers in several Canadian cities, aimed at the commuter market.

The venture began on March 14 with the launch of Metro Vancouver, with initial daily distribution of 145,000 in the Vancouver area.

Thirty-five Metro editions are published in more than 100 cities in 17 countries in 16 languages across Europe, North and South America and Asia.

The New York Times Co. completed a deal on March 11 to acquire Metro’s Boston daily paper for $1.6 million.

Media numbers
56—The number of journalists killed in the line of duty in 2004, the most for the profession in a decade, according to a survey published by the Committee to Protect Journalists, which documents that 23 journalists and 16 media support staff were killed in Iraq.

1,957,571—The number of press releases viewed in the last 28 days on PR Newswire for Journalists website.

6 1/2—The average number of hours each day that kids ages 8 to 18 are either watching TV, playing video games, or on the computer, according to a study released by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

2040—The year in which Philip Meyer, author of “The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age,” predicts the last newspaper reader will croak.

MEDIA BRIEFS_________________
WWDScoop, a high-end magazine published by WWD Media World, a part of Fairchild Publications, will go on sale for the first time on March 21 in major cities around the world.

The New York-based tabloid glossy calls itself “an insider’s guide for the fasion set.”

(Media news continued on next page)

DEPKE NAMED
NEWSWEEK.COM EDITOR.
Deidre Depke was promoted to editor of Newsweek.com, where she will oversee the editorial operations of the website and its staff of 15 editors and producers.

Previously a senior editor, Depke helped relaunch Newsweek.com as a part of the alliance between The Washington Post Co., Newsweek, NBC and MSNBC,

In 2005, Depke has expanded the site with new sections, including “Health Beat” on Tuesdays and “Entertainment Extra” on Fridays.

RICH WRITES AGAIN
FOR OP-ED PAGE.
Frank Rich, who is associate editor and Sunday arts and leisure columnist at The New York Times, is returning to the op-ed page as a columnist.

Rich will write essay length columns on the intersection of news and popular culture.

ANIMAL ACTIVIST
ATTACKS VOGUE EDITOR.
Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue, was attacked by PETA at the Paris Fashion Week show held last weekend at Le Carrousel du Louvre.

A young woman hit Wintour with a tofu pie reportedly saying: “Fur Hag!”

The animal rights activists have recently stepped up their campaign against celebrities and designers who use and wear fur.

TIME MAY BRING BACK
LOOK MAGAZINE.
Look magazine may be revived by Time Inc. as a magazine for movie fans, especially males.

A test issue of the new Look will be sent to a small percentage of Entertainment Week’s subscribers to judge reader reaction before making a decision on whether to publish on a regular basis.

UPI’S LONGTIME
FINANCIAL EDITOR DIES.
Frank Schnaue, 57, longtime financial editor for United Press International in New York, died Mar. 13 at his home in Bellport, N.Y., on Long Island.

After UPI closed its financial office in N.Y. in 2003, Schnaue continued to write copy for the UPI financial report as a contractor.

He was a member of the N.Y. Financial Writers’ Assn.

FORBES PICKS TOP
CORPORATE HATE SITES.
Forbes.com has picked the “top corporate hate” websites.

“These perennially peeved people build—and obsessively maintain—sites devoted exclusively to complaining about their least favorite corporations,” said Charles Wolrich, a reporter for Forbes.com.

The top sites are:

1. KBhomessucks.com
2. Paypalssucks.com
3. Allstateinsurancesucks.com
4. MS-Eradication.org (Microsoft)
5. Amexsux.com
6. WalMart-Blows.com
7. Verizonpathetic.com
8. Unried.com (United Airlines)
9. UnitedPackageSmashers.com (United Parcel Service)

Frequency of updates and ease of use were among criteria used to evaluate the sites.

PLACEMENT TIPS_______________
Howard Rubenstein, the famous New York PR pro, does not use e-mail to pitch stories.
“I pitch via phone first,” he told Jeremy Pepper, whose Pop!PR blog is syndicated by WebPro News. “Reporters don’t want to be inundated with weak pitches, and e-mail is an easy way out for pitching weak pitches.”

The Chicago Tribune has hired Phil Rosenthal, who was TV critic at the The Chicago Sun-Times, as media columnist, replacing Jim Kirk, who was recently promoted to associate managing editor, business.

Periodico Hispanidades, based in Oxnard, Calif., will make its publishing debut on March 23.

The weekly paper will target the growing Spanish-language population in central California’s Ventura and Santa Barbara counties with editorial content. It will also have stories of interest from the Los Angeles metropolitan area will also be included.

Mayo Comms., Canoga Park, Calif., is handling publicity for the paper, which is published by Josie Tizcareno, who can be reached at 805/890-6104.

REPORTER TO WRITE
A BOOK ABOUT TRUMP.
Warner Business Books plans to publish a book by New York Times reporter Timothy O’Brien titled “Trumpworld: The Art of Being the Donald.”

O’Brien, who has covered Trump for years, has reportedly gotten a mid-six-figure advance from the publisher.

The book is slated for publication in Oct. 2005.

PEOPLE_____________________
Roberta Grant was named senior editor at Resorts & Great Hotels, a new group formed by World Publications in Santa Barbara, Calif., that offers an array of print, event and online marketing services and products to the luxury hotel and resort industry.

Juli Alvarez has joined Modern Bride as fashion editor, and Monica Cotto, previously fashion editor for the YM Your Prom Spring 2005 edition, has succeed Alvarez as fashion editor of Elegant Bride.

Both magazines are published by Fairchild Publications.

Steven Gaynes, a weekly columnist for The Fairfield (Conn.) Citizen news and a contributing writer to the Fairfield County Business Journal, among others, has joined Cashman & Katz Integrated Communications in Glastonbury, Conn., as VP of PR.

He is a former general manager of New York-based Stanton Crenshaw’s Stamford office.

One of the arguments in the video news release controversy (page one) is that it’s o.k. for TV stations to use “factual” VNRs without stating the origin of the materials.

The Bush Administration, rejecting an advisory by the General Accounting Office that demanded identification as part of a VNR, said the GAO had overstepped its mission.

Memos from the Justice Dept. and Office of Management and Budget were circulated saying “the prohibition (against propaganda) does not apply where there is no particular advocacy of a particular viewpoint.”

Our view is that the set of “facts” presented by one interested party can be very different from the set of “facts” presented by another party.

For instance, Secretary of State Colin Powell presented to the U.N. Feb. 3, 2003 a large number of “facts” in support of the thesis that Iraq was an imminent danger to the U.S., because it had weapons of mass destruction.

Critics of the speech have since labeled just about everything that Powell said as either false or misleading. Another set of facts, that Iraq was under tight control on all sides and was giving arms inspectors free rein, was not presented.

The New York Times was especially harsh about the Administration, the VNR industry and TV stations in an editorial March 16 headlined, “And Now, the Counterfeit News.” We feel it’s a little suspect for a newspaper to be rapping TV stations.
Although some government VNRs are “clearly... propaganda,” said the editorial, “too many” TV stations run them anyway, “without any hint of where they came from.” TV stations “cheapen” the main thing they have to offer, says the NYT – “their credibility.”

Major features on the controversy ran in the Feb. 13 and March 13 NYT and Stuart Elliott’s ad column has also covered the subject.

Columnist Frank Rich on March 20 noted that “PR giant” Ketchum worked for Andersen, former CPA firm of Enron, and demanded that Ketchum’s lobbying chief Susan Molinari identify herself as being with Ketchum. She is “invariably described as a `former Republican Congresswoman’ or a ‘CNBC political analyst,’” he writes.

The NYT has assigned an expert in crime coverage to write on PR – Timothy L. O’Brien, author of the Feb. 13 Sunday “Spinning Frenzy” piece.

O’Brien, author of Bad Bet: The Inside Story of the Glamour, Glitz and Danger of America’s Gambling Industry, also wrote the front-page blockbuster Aug. 19, 1999 NYT story on the billions of dollars that had been channeled through the Bank of New York by alleged Russian mobsters.

O’Brien, in a later story, wondered about the veracity of some of his sources. The story was attacked by the American Russian Law Institute.

The different sides of this are searchable on Google under O’Brien’s name. He left the NYT in April 2000 to join Tina Brown’s Talk magazine but rejoined the NYT in early 2003.

Warner Business Books in October will publish his new book: Trumpworld: The Art of Being the Donald. Warner says it is “thrilled to be publishing this blockbuster book,” calling it “an eye-opening, jaw-dropping, first-class piece of journalism.”

The NYT usually asks its reporters to give it the right to publish any books they write, but O’Brien said he got permission to publish his book via Warner.

The NYT, while sermonizing about the ethics of PR, has its own ethical issues.

The Prudential Equity Group this month criticized the NYT and its Boston Globe unit for leaving out, respectively, 20 and 27 days in calculating average circulation. Most papers leave out two days, noted Pru, which put the Globe and the Denver Post at the bottom of its “quality of circulation” scale that rated 50 major dailies.

NYT VP-CC Catherine Mathis said “omit days” was a “minor area” and that the Pru study had a “flawed methodology” and “material inaccuracies.”

A big ethical issue at the NYT is its two classes of stock, with only the small number of “B” shares (839,836) held by insiders having the right to elect a majority on the board. Disenfranchised are the holders of 144 million “A” shares.

Investment groups such as TIAA-CREF ($280 billion teachers’ pension) and CalPERS ($180B California pension system) and corporate governance specialists condemn such unequal voting rights and are pushing for one share/one vote.

The NYT this month borrowed $500 million. Its debt is approaching $2 billion. The stock, which was $50 in 2000, was $36 March 18, a decline of 20% on the year and off 24% vs. S&P 500. NYT has spent $629M buying its own stock in the past three years including $293M spent for this in 2004. This activity helps shore up the price of a stock.

The NYT has never done an in-depth piece on the finances of Omnicom such as was done by the Wall Street Journal June 12, 2002.

There are “A” and “B” members of PRSA, the former being the small number of APRs who have held power since 1973, blocking non-APRs (80% of the membership) from holding national office.

The 2004 Assembly voted to let in non-APRs as delegates but the APRs, among the most politically active in many chapters, have not faded away.

Chapter websites show that almost 100% of those elected as 2005 Assembly delegates are APR, including National Capital’s 10 delegates; the eight from Georgia; five from L.A.; five from Houston; five from Colorado, and four from Dallas.

– Jack O'Dwyer