MIAMI REVIEWS PR.
The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau has begun a review for its PR account, which has been with New York-based Rubenstein Communications for a decade.

The not-for-profit corporation, which operates on behalf of its members, government and citizens of Miami-Dade, is soliciting responses to a request for qualification through August 12 for a full-service PR agency.

“We’ve enjoyed working with Rubenstein Communications and we’ve asked them to participate in the RFQ,” said Jeanne Sullivan, associate VP of media relations for the GMCVB.  “After 10 years, it was simply time to go through a formal review process of our PR representation and programs.”

The GMCVB and its PR firm develop and implement a year-round U.S. and Canadian consumer and travel trade-based PR program to “build the Miami brand” and attract tourists and conventions to the region.

M BOOTH TEAMS UP TO ‘BRAND UTAH.’
M Booth and Associates will provide the PR muscle for a winning, three-firm consortium that landed a competitive pitch for Utah’s $14M branding campaign.

New York-based Booth teamed up with Salt Lake City ad agency W Communications and Los Angeles media buying shop Carat for the account, which is aimed to increase the number of tourists to the Beehive State’s parks, outdoor recreation areas and other attractions.

Eight finalists were picked from a field of 20 respondents and ranged from the “usual big suspects to a few mid-sized teams,” said Booth president Margie Booth. She could not peg PR’s portion of the $14M, two-year assignment because the win is so new. “We just haven’t gotten that far yet,” she said.

Co-directors Joan Brower and Joan Bloom will head the account with VP Brad Laney.

Of the $14M appropriated by the state, $10M is slated to be spent in the first year to attract more out-of-state visitors to Utah, according to Office of Gov. Jon Huntsman.

Dave Rickey, chairman of PRSA’s ethics committee, has joined AFLA Insurance as VP-PR.

Rickey has served as a PR exec at AmSouth Bank, Alabama Power and Blount Inc. He began his career as a broadcast journalist at WSFA-TV in Montgomery.

Founded in ‘46 as Alabama Farmers Federation to market fire insurance, AFLA has more than one million policies in force in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi.

SPRINT NEXTEL CALLS MUHLBERG.
The soon-to-be Sprint Nextel Corp. has hired Judith Muhlberg as senior VP of corporate communications following the expected closing of the telecom merger in the third quarter of ’05.

Most recently an employee engagement and strategy consultant for Gagen MacDonald, Muhlberg was senior VP of communications for The Boeing Co. from ’99-’03, when she was credited by Business Week with helping CEO Philip Condit take the company’s brand “to a higher plane.” She also led communications for the company’s relocation to Chicago.

Prior to that, she held various posts in PR, government affairs and communications for over 22 years at Ford Motor Company.

At Sprint Nextel, Mulhberg is charged with oversight of all internal and external communications. She plans to relocate to Washington, D.C., from Chicago.

Before entering the corporate realm, Muhlberg was an aide to Ford Administration chiefs of staff Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney and worked for David Gergen, then director of White House communications.

PR UNITS HURT OMC’S FINANCIALS.
Omnicom registered a 10 percent jump in second-quarter net to $225 million on a nine percent rise in revenues to $2.6 billion.

That performance was held back by a lackluster showing of its PR division. OMC’s PR units (Fleishman-Hillard, Ketchum, Porter Novelli, Brodeur Worldwide, Cone, Gavin Anderson & Co. and Clark & Weinstock) combined for a 0.7 percent uptick in quarterly growth to $264.9 million. That showing pales in comparison to OMC’s $1.2 billion ad group (+8.9 percent), $893.7 million CRM operations (+10.5 percent) and $303 million specialty division (+9.8 percent).

For the first-half, OMC’s PR group is up 3.7 percent to $521.2 million. That gain is less than half of the other OMC units.

CFO Randy Weisenburger did not return a call about PR’s laggard performance.

RUSSELL WANTS 'DOE' CASE ON PRSA SITE.
Maria Russell, 2003 treasurer of PRSA, told a leadership conference call on July 27 that the correct story of PRSA’s legal pursuit of a critic of COO Catherine Bolton should be put on the PRSA website.

“There is so much misinformation out there” about the matter that PRSA president Judith Phair should put on the Society website a description of the action that

(continued on page 7)

ARMY CAUGHT WITH ‘CANNED’ QUOTES.
The U.S. Army is looking into how two nearly identical quotes from unidentified Iraqis made their way into Pentagon press releases responding to two car bombings staged 11 days from each other.

Lt. Col. Clifford Kent blamed “administrative error” for the use of the same quotes, according to a report on CNN.

On July 13, the Pentagon released a statement following a car bombing that took the lives of Iraqi children. It read: “The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the children and all Iraq,” said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists.”

In response to a July 24 bombing that killed 25 people, the Pentagon’s statement read: “The terrorists are attacking the infrastructure, the ISF (Iraqi Security Forces) and all of Iraq. They are enemies of humanity without religion or any sort of ethics. They have attacked my community today and I will now take the fight to the terrorists, said one Iraqi man who preferred not to be identified.” CNN said use of the canned quotes “raises Iraqi PR questions.”

The Pentagon’s top spokesman Larry DiRita said in response: “We’ll gather the facts first and then determine what the actions are,” he said. “I want to make sure that we have processes in place to avoid this from happening, first and foremost, and then we’ll get a better sense of exactly [what] individual accountability may need to be established.”

He said reporters should be skeptical of unsourced quotes.

“I will emphasize that you should, because I do, question a Department of Defense press statement that would have an anonymous source in it,” he said. “It’s not acceptable.”

LIBYA LOBBYIST PRUNED FROM DOE BOARD.
Randa Fahmy Hudome, whose firm is a $750K lobbyist for Libya, has been dropped from the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board.

The Dept. of Energy decided to terminate her one year into her two-year membership. Hudome had been Associate Deputy of Energy until June 30, `03, and an international policy advisor to ex-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham.

Sam Bodman became Energy Secretary in February. He was not happy that Hudome represented Libya, according to Reuters.

An Energy Dept. spokesperson would not say whether Hudome’s work for Libya was the reason for her departure from the board.

Hudome began work for Libya shortly after President Bush decided to lift sanctions against the Gaddafi Government.

Libya remains on the State Dept.’s terrorism list. Hudome’s representation on the advisory board had upset families of the victims of the `88 Pan Am bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland.

Libya has assumed responsibility for that terror attack, and has agreed to pay damages.

RADMAN STANDS UP FOR PR.
Deborah Radman, chairman of PRSA’s Counselor Academy, defended the government’s use of PR people in a letter published July 28 in the New York Times.

Her letter was in response to a July 18 NYT story, “Public Relations Campaign for Research at EPA May Include Ghostwritten Story,” which dealt with the use of outside writers for government scientists to develop articles for the press.

Radman noted that government officials are not “trained in writing for lay audiences, the media or professional journals.”

The scientist collaborating with a professional writer “properly positions the material’s significance and, after thorough review of the finished product, decides whether to append his or her byline.”

Radman, who is managing director of Stanton Communications, believes there is nothing unethical about that, nor is there any attempt to deceive the public or media.

In her view, scientists and researchers should stick with what they do best.

JURY LEADS COMMS. FOR PA. GOV.
Ron Jury, senior VP of public affairs and director of communications for the Empire State Development Corp., has returned to his native Pennsylvania to head communications for Gov. Ed Rendell in Harrisburg.

Penny Lee held the director post for Rendell but left in April to become executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Democratic Governors’ Assn.

Jury, 55, was in New York for 10 years holding posts as director in Burson-Marsteller’s public affairs unit and, earlier, as director of corporate PR and communications for Lockheed Martin IMS, a subsidiary of the $26B aerospace company.

He previously held various government PR posts in Pennsylvania, including deputy press secretary in the Dept. of Transportation, and deputy press secretary to Gov. Casey during the 1980s.

Jury began his career as a reporter.

In a statement, Rendell, a Democrat, praised Jury’s “sharp mind” and “decades of experience.”

L.A. DODGERS DELIVER PR PITCH.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that is trying to regain its footing in the National League West and fending off a competitive assault from the “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim,” are looking to hire a senior VP-communications.

The person will report to Jamie McCourt, the wife of Boston real estate mogul Frank McCourt, who recently added the Dodgers to his portfolio.

While a professional sports or entertainment background is preferred, it is not necessary.

The Dodgers want a “strategic thinker” with 15 years of experience in managing a high profile brand or owner.

Don Spetner at Korn/Ferry International is handling the search. He can be reached at [email protected].

The Dodgers, earlier this year, turned to Sitrick & Co. for issues work.

‘PAY FOR PLAY’ MAGAZINE TO MAKE DEBUT.
Richard Desmond, the British media mogul who is putting up $100 million to start a U.S. version of his weekly celebrity magazine OK! next month, is prepared to pay celebrities and give them control over exclusive interviews and photos.

Peter Himler, president of the Publicity Club of New York, is not sure what impact OK! will have on checkbook journalism practices in the U.S.

“Most established American publications publicly disdain the practice of checkbook journalism,” said Himler. “However, fierce competition these last few years—fueled by some very high profile weddings—brought down the wall between church and state as fast as one could say 10 Commandments in an Alabama courthouse.

“I wonder whether N.Y. Attorney General Elliott Spitzer would say if it’s OK to pay-for-play?,” he asked.

British publicist Max Clifford believes the pay-for-play idea could have a big impact.

Clifford has been in Spain preparing a photo shoot with his client Simon Cowell, the “American Idol” judge, who will appear in the launch issue.

COMMERCIALISM TAINTS TV HEALTH NEWS.
TV health news reporting has become “rampant” with commercialism, according to Gary Schwitzer, an assistant professor and director of health journalism in the graduate program at the Univ. of Minnesota School of Journalism/Mass Communication.

Schwitzer, who has specialized in health journalism for more than 30 years, including 15 years in TV health news reporting for stations in Milwaukee, Dallas and at CNN, said Don Shelby, a veteran anchor and reporter for WCCO-TV, told him he was approached by several companies, clearly interested in promoting the fact he used their device before he was operated on last summer to repair a hole between the upper chambers of his heart.

“One offered a free device, another a discounted device, and a third offered a free trip to Europe to have the procedure done there if his insurance wouldn’t pay for it here,” Schwitzer said in his report posted on Poynteronline.

Schwitzer said viewers should ask themselves as they watch TV health news, “`Is this story about a drug, device, doctor, hospital or even health awareness campaign or the product of tough-minded, independent journalism? Or did someone buy their way onto the news?’”

He also cited a story about a Nashville TV station (WSMV) that allowed its sports anchor to get free Lasik surgery in return for letting his name be used in endorsements for the opthalmologist who did the surgery.

Schwitzer said the station’s news department also employs a freelancer, Mimi Bliss, who owns a local PR firm, and handles PR for St. Thomas Hospital in Nashville. “When she reports news, how is the audience to judge which hat she’s wearing?” he asks.

In another instance cited by Schwitzer, CNN invited former pro quarterback Joe Theismann to talk about football on a show shortly before this year’s Super Bowl game.

Before talking any football, Theismann discussed the problem of `EP,’ a new marketing term for BPH, or benign prostatic hyperplasia, which causes urinary problems in many men, and promoted a new website.

“Neither Theismann nor anyone at CNN ever mentioned that the site belonged to GlaxoSmithKline and promoted a GSK drug,” said Schwitzer, who noted CNN enacted a policy in 2002 to tell viewers about any celebrity’s financial ties to drug companies.

REPORT: PRODUCT PLACEMENTS SURGE.
The total value of product placements in magazines is on pace to grow 17.5% in 2005 to $160.9 million, and product placements in newspapers are projected to rise 16.9% to $65 million, according to estimates by Stamford, Conn.-based PQ Media, which tracks the economics of media.

While TV and films account for 90% of all product placements, PQ estimates “other media” account for 18.1%, or $384.9 million.

PQ’s report projects consumer magazines will take in $15.6 million worth of paid product placement deals in 2005, up 68.6% from 2004.

Paid product placements in newspapers are expected to grow 67% to $4.7 million.

The report shows nearly a quarter of the product placement deals in newspapers went to papers in the top markets, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.

The largest segment of product placements in magazines is also in the biggest categories of general interest women’s titles, which contributed the highest share of product placement spending at $35.5 million for the year.

BLOGGER RESIGNS FROM LHJ.
Nadine Haobsh, who was identified as the writer of a now-defunct website (Jolienyc.com), has resigned as associate beauty editor at the Ladies’ Home Journal.

The 24-year-old editor raised eyebrows when she described the “unabashedly indulgent corporate freebies she’s witnessed firsthand” at LHJ.

She said her “boss” regularly got wallets and coats, plane ticket vouchers,” and other freebies from fashion designer Marc Jacobs.

Haobsh had been e-mailing her blog to about 30 friends, including several publicists in the beauty fashion field when she was inadvertently outed as Jolie by a staffer at Siren PR in New York.

Meredith Publishing, owner of LHJ, has told employees that while blogging is not prohibited, they are required to inform supervisors about their personal blogs.

Jane Pratt, former editor of Sassy, a teen magazine, is stepping down as editor-in-chief of Jane magazine on Sept. 30. No replacement was named by Fairchild, which started the fashion magazine in 1997.

(Media news continued on next page)

KOTEN HEADS INC. AND FAST COMPANY.
John Koten was named editor-in-chief of Inc. and Fast Company magazines, and CEO of Joe Mansueto’s new publishing company Mansueto Ventures.

Mark Vamos was named acting editor of Fast Company, replacing John Byrne, who is rejoining Business Week.

Koten, who is currently editor-in-chief of Inc., will oversee the business and editorial departments of both magazines. He was editor-in-chief of Worth magazine for 10 years before joining Inc.

Koten said Fast Company’s new mission is to cover the rise of the creative class in business by focusing on people who travel in the worlds of entertainment, media, technology, science, fashion and design.

He said Inc. will continue to focus on the people running growth companies.

BUSINESS WEEK NAMES EDITORS.
Three executive editors were named at Business Week as part of a new editorial cabinet led by editor-in-chief Stephen Adler.

The new editors are: Joyce Barnathan, John Byrne, and Kathy Rebello.

Barnathan, previously assistant managing editor, will oversee editorial for existing line extensions, manage editorial product launches, create alliances, and ensure the integration of all BW offerings across its delivery channels.

Byrne, who returns to BW on Aug. 9 from Fast Company, will handle day-to-day point of contact for the print publication.

His job is to make the magazine indispensable by breaking more news, increasing high value news offerings, building a substantial investigative capability, and developing cover stories.

Rebello will head BW Online’s editorial operations and oversee its integration with the magazine and other channels.

Mary Kuntz, currently senior editor for corporations, was named assistant managing editor, replacing Barnathan; Ciro Scotti, previously senior editor, was promoted to assistant managing editor-production, and Frank Comes, currently an assistant managing editor, will expand his responsibilities to include oversight of the science and technology departments, replacing Rebello.

On the broadcast side, Eric Gonon, formerly executive producer of CNBC’s “Mad Money with Jim Cramer,” was named executive producer of BW’s nationally syndicated TV program, which is changing its name to “BusinessWeek Weekend,” and will be broadcast from the NASDAQ Stock Market’s MarketSide studio in Times Square.

The personal finance program, hosted by Jil Bennett and Brad Holbrook, covers breaking news and topics like investing, home financing and travel bargains.

BAQUET SUCCEEDS CARROLL AT L.A. TIMES.
Dean Baquet, currently managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, will replace John Carroll as editor on Aug. 15. Carroll, 63, is retiring from the Times.

Baquet, 48, joined the Times in 2000, after serving as national editor of the New York Times since 1995.

Carroll, who was named editor of the Times in 2000, was previously editor of the Baltimore Sun.

SIZEMORE TO MSNBC.COM AS DEPUTY ED.
Jennifer Sizemore, previously deputy managing editor of the Houston Chronicle, has joined MSNBC.com in Redmond, Wash., as deputy editor–news.

Sizemore will lead the news, cover and franchise reporting teams.

ESSENCE APPOINTS NEW EDITOR.
Angela Burt-Murray is rejoining Essence magazine as editor-in-chief, replacing Diane Weathers, who retired last month.

Burt-Murray, who was at Essence from 1998 to 2001, and executive editor of Teen People since 2003, will oversee the editorial content of the Time Inc. publication, which targets African-American market.

Sheila Harris, a spokeswoman for Essence, said Burt-Murray has a “keen eye for what’s next, strong story judgment and boundless creativity.”

People_______

Josh Hoffner, previously an editor on the national desk of the Associated Press, was named news editor for New York City.

Hoffner, 29, succeeds Rich Barbieri, who left to become managing editor of Crain’s New York Business.

Jonathan Landman, 52, acting culture editor for the New York Times, was named deputy managing editor for digital journalism.

Landman, who will oversee Times Web and TV content, is succeeding Michael Oreskes, who will become executive editor of the International Herald Tribune in Paris.

Jodi Kantor, who was handling the “Arts & Leisure” section, was assigned to be a reporter on the “Way We Live” team, headed by Suzanne Daley.

Chris Mooney, a political blogger, and editor Christopher Carbone, have joined Seed Media Group in New York.

Mooney was named D.C. correspondent for SMG’s media properties, including Seed magazine, its website, mobile news network and broadcast unit. He wrote “The Republican War on Science” (Basic Books).

Carbone was named managing editor of Seed, replacing Lindsay Borthwick, who was named director of content development for SMG.

Carbone will direct day-to-day editorial operations of the redesigned publication, which debuts in Sept.
He is a former associate copy editor at Organic Style, copy editor at Simon & Schuster, and managing editor at New York Press.

Isaac Guzman, previously deputy features editor of the weekday New York Post, was appointed features editor for the Sunday edition, suceeding Stephen Lynch, who was named features editor of the Post’s weekday editions.

The PRSA board slapped down PRSA president Judith Phair and the PRSA staff in several ways on the leader teleconference last week (page one).

Because of the “John Doe” debacle, in which the board was not told of the start of this disastrous legal action, Phair announced that monthly reports of anything legal must now be given to the board.

This is tacit admission, since the board is sworn to silence otherwise, that the 2004 board didn’t know of the start of the legal pursuit of “Doe.”

In another slap, Phair announced that a task force will be set up of directors and staff to iron out personnel problems (before they hit court). An “ombudsperson” is to handle staff gripes.

Phair noted that Sarbanes-Oxley does not yet apply to non-profits but it’s coming. She says the Society should follow its dictates.

One of them is that companies have a secure place where employees can complain about management without getting harassed or fired. Companies specialize in this and that is what PRSA should have.

Another slap was at something that has been a pet project of Phair and the staff for the past couple of years–changing the legal setup of the PRSA Foundation and PRSA itself.

PRSA became not only a “(c)(6)” trade association but a “(c)(3)” non-profit. The board of PRSA became the board of the Foundation.

We were shocked at the one board performing two jobs because PRSA had said for decades that the Foundation legally had to be independent.

Now it turns out that the dual board “puts us at tax and liability risks” and is “no longer sound policy,” Phair told the teleconference. The current setup is just “O.K.” and “all right,” she added, but no longer desirable. Some non-PRSA board directors have to be named to the Foundation.

The mute board is signaling in the only way it can its dissatisfaction with h.q. policies.

Some members, sources say, are quite upset with the reported $60,000 in legal bills so far for “Doe” and the fact that the legal meter continues to run.

Phair, on the conference call, three times blamed legal counsel for blocking communication on this issue, including barring stories on PRSA’s website.

She said there was “strong” urging of legal counsel not to speak; PRSA’s hands were “bound in how we can respond,” and “human resources and legal issues constrain what can be said.”

Lawyerly admonitions to be silent were attacked by Columbia University law professor William Simon in the December 2004 Atlantic Monthly.

He said the law’s love of silence is a new business tactic that gives lawyers command over corporate strategy and drives away other players.

Fear of communicating is preached.

PR needs to fight this, pointing out that too much silence can backfire and destroy credibility. It should gather case histories of how communications won the day, especially in cases with legal elements.

This would be a good cause for Michael Cherenson’s PRSA advocacy board to take up rather than the current practice of jumping on any PR firm or PR pro caught in questionable activities.

The “Doe” case may be the wedge that brings about needed changes at PRSA.

A “PR culture” needs to be restored to h.q. of the type that existed in the 1970s when about half the staff was PR pros, many of them senior.

Chapters throughout the country, led by 1980 president Patrick Jackson, bridled at the power of New Yorkers and bounced them all from h.q.

A “PR culture,” meaning open and communicative to members and the press, needs to replace the three cultures that now dominate h.q.

These are a legal culture in which many issues, communications, etc., are run by a law firm at substantial cost; an association culture, in which key information is often withheld from members who are bombarded with sales pitches while attention is lavished on leaders, and an accounting culture, in which finances are presented in a complicated way that is not user-friendly and which discourages members from examining them closely.

Maria Russell, PRSA treasurer in 2003, and 2001 PRSA president Kathy Lewton charged this NL and odwyerpr.com with providing “misinformation” about the Doe case. Phair agreed with them. We have asked the three to show us any misinformation and we will correct it. There has been no response.

A bigger angle is that no other trade or general press has mentioned this story except for the New York Law Journal where it made page one. Most PRSA members and Assembly delegates don’t know about it because it’s not on the PRSA website nor in the monthly Tactics.

PRSA treasurer Rhoda Weiss told the conference call that PRSA has compared itself to 42 other trade organizations, finding that PRSA’s administrative costs are only 22% of revenues vs. 30% for the others.

We’d like to see PRSA compare its handling of deferred dues with how others are handling this...rent, utilities and maintenance of PRSA h.q. are budgeted at $711,757 for 2005. Travel, meals and entertainment are budgeted at $688,542, which would be the second highest ever after the 2000 TM&E which hit $717,000 (including a board trip to London).

Phair said leader teleconferences can’t be recorded and placed on the PRSA website because it’s illegal to record telephone calls in certain states.

But this does not apply if participants in such a conference are warned in advance.

– Jack O'Dwyer