FTI TO ACQUIRE FINANCIAL DYNAMICS.

FTI Consulting, a Baltimore-based advisor for corporations, law firms and financial institutions, has inked a deal to acquire Financial Dynamics for $260M.

FD, based in London, staffs more than 450 people across 17 offices and four business units – financial comms., brand PR, public affairs and crisis management, and business consulting. The companies said 2006 revenue for FD would exceed $120M.

The deal consists of $215M in cash, $20M in deferred purchase obligations and $25M million in FTI stock. FTI said FD will operate as a separate business segment run by its existing management team.

FD is owned by global private equity firm Advent International and FD senior management.

Charles Watson, FD’s London-based CEO, called the merger a “perfect commercial, cultural and strategic fit for FD.”

FD became the flagship IR and financial comms. unit for parent Cordiant Communications in 2002, after the holding company merged a smaller FD with Morgen-Walke Associates. Cordiant, later unloaded FD before being acquired by WPP Group.

SONY PLUGS INTO FIRMS FOR PS3.

Sony Computer Entertainment has enlisted two agencies for its November launch of PlayStation 3, the much anticipated gaming system dubbed “the most expensive and advanced console ever.”

Dave Karraker, the company’s newly minted senior director of corporate communications, told O’Dwyer’s that Interpublic firm Bragman Nyman Cafarelli and Omnicom shop InterActive PR, a newcomer to the PS business, will handle the account.

BNC worked with Hill & Knowlton (and H&K unit Blanc & Otus) for the $1M PlayStation 2 launch in 2001. Fleishman-Hillard unveiled the first version.

The Wall Street Journal called the latest system the “most expensive and advanced console ever” and noted the upcoming launch’s success is vital for a company that has lost market share and was embarrassed by the exploding laptop battery fiasco last month.

The smaller capacity version of the new gaming system retails for $499. The launch has been set back by a manufacturing problem that has delayed the European launch by four months and has cut the number of units to be available in the U.S. and Japan by half.

Karraker will supervise PR for the November launch, reporting to SVP of marketing Peter Dille, based in Foster City, Calif. He joined Sony from Allied Domecq Spirits and Wine.

EDELMAN ENROLLS AT DUKE.

Duke University, which seeks a rebound from the sex scandal involving its lacrosse team, has put Edelman on its payroll, according to Susan Kauffman, a Duke PA department staffer.

She said Matthew Harrington, president of Edelman’s eastern region, is in charge of the Duke account.

Kauffman would not go into details on what Edelman is doing for Duke. She said only John Burness, senior VP-PA, could talk about Edelman’s work. He did not return a call.

Burson-Marsteller provided “behind-the-scenes” media training to Duke officials after the scandal broke.

Duke’s lacrosse team returned to the practice field on Sept. 4, five months after its season was suspended following charges that its members raped a woman that it had hired as a stripper.

WAL-MART SHAKES UP PR STAFF.

Wal-Mart has made changes to its PR staff following the appointment of former Edelman vice chairman Leslie Dach as executive VP, corporate affairs and government relations.

Dave Tovar, a director of corporate affairs and spokesman for Altria and its Kraft and Philip Morris units, has joined the company as director of media relations, a spokeswoman told O’Dwyer’s.

Meanwhile, two top PR executives have left the retailer. Meanwhile, two top PR executives have left the retailer. Marty Heires, senior manager of communications, has departed for a VP post in Fleishman-Hillard’s St. Louis-based internal communications group.

And Gail Lavielle, a former United Water SVP who was director of corporate communications for Wal-Mart, has left the company.

DAVIS TO ASTRAZENECA.

Lisa Davis, who was PR & communications chief for senior group AARP, has been tapped VP-corporate communications at AstraZeneca.

David Nicoli, VP-corporate affairs for AstraZeneca U.S. touted Davis a “top-notch communications professional.” His statement credits Davis for having “strategic leadership skills.”

Davis was national deputy press secretary for the Clinton/Gore Re-election Campaign and press secretary for the Democratic Leadership Council, heading PR for its think tank, the Progressive Policy Institute.

AstraZeneca has $24B in worldwide revenues; $11B of that amount comes from the U.S.

F-H DEFENDS ‘CALIFORNIA GROWN’ PACT.

Fleishman-Hillard has successfully defended its $550K PR account to encourage the purchase of California-grown agricultural products.

The firm has inked a new one-year deal to highlight the Golden State’s $30B agriculture industry and its crops and livestock.

Maile Shanahan Geis, marketing director for the “California Grown” campaign, declined to identify competitors for the account but told O’Dwyer’s that several firms pitched.

“We received many quality submissions; however, the one from Fleishman-Hillard most closely aligned and supported our overall marketing goals,” she said.

The campaign began in 2001 and is run by the California Dept. of Food and Agriculture and industry groups under a marketing agreement.

Initially focused on promoting California goods within the state, the campaign is considering a national or international component.

Geis said the continued involvement of Olympic gold medal snowboarder Sean White as a celebrity spokesman is central to the expansion of the campaign.

She added: “We are excited to once again have the opportunity to work with both him and Fleishman-Hillard.”

F-H’s Sacramento office handles the account, led by A/S Shelly Kessen.

FEDERALIST GROUP GUIDES VIRGIN BID.

Ogilvy PR Worldwide’s Federalist Group is guiding Virgin America through the regulatory thicket.

The proposed San Francisco Bay-based carrier, the brainchild of British entrepreneur Richard Branson, faces opposition from Continental Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and the Air Line Pilots Assn.

They question whether VA will be an American-controlled entity as required by the Dept. of Transportation.

VA has assured the DOT that Americans will own 75 percent of the carrier. It suspects the opposition is more concerned about competition from a hungry upstart.

VA says once it is flying, passengers will save $786M per-year in fairs, or $88 per-roundtrip. Those statistics come from a research study by the Campbell-Hill Aviation Group.

The airline believes that it will attract 3.3M “price-sensitive” passengers, 1.7M of that group will travel in and out of San Francisco International Airport.

That city beat out New York, Boston, Washington and Los Angeles in the race to host VA.

Wayne Berman, managing director of FG, is on the VA team.

He was Assistant Secretary of Commerce in the first Bush White House and a member of the Bush/Cheney Transition Team.

Berman is joined by former legislative directors Stewart Hall (Alabama Republican Senator Richard Shelby) and Drew Maloney (Texas Republican Rep. Ed Bryant) and Julie Dammann (ex-chief of staff to Missouri Republican Senator Kit Bond).

SENATOR MOVES TO SCUTTLE WAR PR PLAN.

Sen. Robert Menendez, a Democrat locked in a tight re-election bid in New Jersey, has introduced an amendment to torpedo the Pentagon’s planned $20M Iraq PR campaign.

Menendez’ measure would limit funds for a future PR campaign commissioned by the Pentagon to monitor U.S. and Middle Eastern media.

The former House member, who was appointed this year by New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine to finish his senate term, called the planned PR blitz an “insult” to Iraqi citizens and coalition forces that have died since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

“The Bush administration doesn’t need a new PR campaign in Iraq, they need a new policy in Iraq,” he said in a statement.

Menendez’ opponent, Tom Kean Jr., called for an expansion of U.S. PR efforts like Radio Free Europe to reach out to the Muslim world.

Kean’s camp told the Associated Press that the two candidates agree on the Pentagon PR issue.

The Pentagon, late last month, issued an RFP for a two-year, $20M contract to expand PR in Iraq currently handled by The Rendon Group.

DESALVA TENDS TO H&K’S HEALTH.

AnnaMaria DeSalva joins Hill & Knowlton Oct. 1 to head its global healthcare practice. She will report to Paul Taaffe, CEO, and serve on the WPP Group unit’s worldwide executive committee.

DeSalva had headed GCI Group’s global medical practice. She joined that firm in ’02 after holding corporate affairs posts at Bristol-Myers Squibb for six years.

DeSalva tackled government relations, reimbursement issues and promoted anti-cancer treatments at B-MS.

Her resume includes stints at Ketchum, Cooney/Waters Group and Ogilvy Adams & Rinehart.

D’AMATO REPS RATNER.

Forest City Ratner Cos., which faces spirited grassroots opposition to its proposed $3.4B Atlantic Yards project slated for downtown Brooklyn, has hired Park Strategies as its lobbyist.

The Park Ave. firm is run by former New York Republican Sen. Al D’Amato and his son, Christopher.

It is tackling issues such as condemnation proceedings, property rights and the use of eminent domain.

New York politicos including Gov. George Pataki, NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz have lined up to support the project, which will include a 20,000-seat arena for the Brooklyn Nets basketball team.

A group, “Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn,” is coordinating the fight against the 22-acre development, which is 1.3 times the size of the World Trade Center site.

It contends the 16 skyscrapers (ranging in height from 20 to 55 stories) is out of touch with the character of the “Brownstone Brooklyn” neighborhood.

It also predicts traffic nightmares and added stress on the area’s infrastructure.

PAPER: FLA. REPORTERS TOOK PAYMENTS.

Ten Florida journalists took thousands of dollars in payments from the U.S. government broadcasting program aimed at fostering democracy in Cuba.

The Miami Herald reported that veteran reporters and a freelancer for its sister paper, El Nuevo Herald, were paid for programs airing on Radio Marti and TV Marti, both government-sponsored radio programs beamed into Cuba.

Pablo Alfonso, who covers Cuba and pens an editorial column for the paper, took in about $175K since 2001 to host shows on the station, the Herald said. Freelancer Olga Connor, who covers Cuban culture, received about $71K, and staff reporter Wilfredo Cancio Isla, who covers Cuban exiles and politics, received $15K since 2001.

The three reporters were fired after the Herald made an inquiry about the payments.

Miami Herald Media Co. president Jesus Diaz said the payments violated a "sacred trust" between reporters and the public.

The Herald, working from a FOIA request, said Helen Aguirre Ferre, reporter/columnist for Diario Las Americas; Mugeul Cossio, Channel 41 news director, and Carlos Alberto Montaner, a syndicated columnist who appears in the Herald, all took payments from the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting.

H-P COULD FACE CHARGES.

California's attorney general has threatened to bring criminal charges against Hewlett-Packard in a burgeoning scandal over the company's eavesdropping on reporters and H-P directors.

Chairman Patricia Dunn hired investigators who obtained phone records of directors in an effort to smoke out press leaks. Phone records of nine reporters and company directors were obtained by investigators posing as the individuals whose records were sought.

"It appears that a crime has been committed, we're convinced of that," AG Bill Lockyer told Bloomberg News.

Dunn isn't available for interviews, H-P PR director Ryan Donovan told Bloomberg.

AINSLEY BECOMES GLOBE PUB.

Steven Ainsley, 53, has been named publisher of the Boston Globe and head of the New York Times Co.’s New England Media Group, succeeding Richard Gilman.

Mary Jacobus, president of the Globe, takes over Ainsley's COO slot of the New England Group.

The New England Group includes the Globe, BostonWorks, GlobeDirect and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Ainsley will oversee the NYTC’s investment in the free daily, Metro Boston, as well as the tie with New England Sports Ventures, which owns the Boston Red Sox.

Ainsley has been publisher at various NYTC papers including the Santa Barbara News-Press (`93 to `99) and papers in Alabama, Maine and Florida.

Gilman, 55, plans to work on independent writing projects. He began his journalism career at the Arizona Daily Star in Tucson.

Jacobus, 49, became president of the Globe in January. Previously, she was publisher of the News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne, Ind., and publisher of the Duluth News Tribune.

TRIBUNE CO. TAKES OVER AMNEWYORK.

The Tribune Co. has bought out the management group of amNewYork to take full ownership of the free daily. The paper launched in `03 expects to turn a profit for this year. It has 320K circulation in the New York City area.

Christopher Barnes, general manager of the paper, becomes publisher with the deal.

He succeeds fellow amNew York co-founder Russel Pergament.

The Tribune used to own the New York Daily News.

ALLEN HANDS OFF SPORTING NEWS.

Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and head of Vulcan Ventures investment entity, has sold the Sporting News to American City Business Journals, a unit of Advance Publications.

The billionaire purchased SN from Times-Mirror in ’00 in a deal worth about $100M. T-M, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, is now part of Tribune Co.

MEACHAM NAMED NEWSWEEK EDITOR.

Jon Meacham is now editor of Newsweek, taking over for Mark Whittaker who becomes VP and editor-in-chief of New Ventures, the digital division of Washington Post Co., Newsweek's parent.

Meacham joined Newsweek in `95 and was promoted to managing editor in `98 in charge of politics, international affairs and breaking news.

He recently published “American Gospel: God the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation.”

Newsweek also upped assistant managing editor Daniel Klaidman to the managing editor slot.

The changes are effective on Oct. 2. Richard Smith is Newsweek's chairman & editor-in-chief.

CAIR RAPS PRESIDENT.

The Council of American-Islamic Relations has rapped President Bush for stereotyping Muslims as supporters of terror.

The D.C.-based group takes the President to task for his Sept. 5 speech before the Military Officers Assn. of America in which he focused “exclusively on the views of groups like Al-Qaeda” and failed to address the “concerns of the vast majority of Muslims worldwide who reject terrorism,” according to a statement from the CAIR.

The President’s speech “grants underserved legitimacy to extremists and marginalizes true moderates.”

CAIR wants Bush to move beyond the “negative messages of Al-Qaeda” and work with “mainstream Muslims at home and abroad to isolate terrorists and promote a positive vision of hope, mutual respect and diplomacy.”

CAIR has 32 offices in the U.S. and Canada.

(Media news continued on next page)

FRESTON RESIGNS VIACOM CEO POST.

Tom Freston, 60, resigned as president & CEO of Viacom, parent company of Paramount Pictures and MTV Networks. The MTV founder had headed Viacom since it split off its CBS unit as an independent entity in January.

Viacom founder & chairman Sumner Redstone credited Freston for his many contributions at the company over the past two decades, especially in forging MTV into an "unmatched force” in entertainment.

It was 83-year-old Redstone who created the media firestorm on Aug. 22 with his decision to cut actor Tom Cruise from the payroll because his "recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount."

Philippe Dauman, 52, has been named Freston's replacement. He is a Viacom director and former general counsel.

Tom Dooley, a former executive VP-finance, corporate development and communications, has been given the senior executive VP & chief administrative officer post. Dooley and Dauman are confidantes of Redstone.

FONDA, STEINEM HIT AIRWAVES.

Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem have launched a radio talk show network aimed at women. Their GreenStone Media Network debuted this week with discussions on health, childcare and comedy.

Steinem sees a market for GreenStone because most women are turned off by the hostility that airs on other talk shows, according to a report in BusinessWeek.

The number of female listeners to talk radio programming has fallen 10 percent since `99.

MASON HEADS RELIGION JOURNO GROUP.

Debra Mason, who headed the Religion Newswriters Assn. for the past decade, is the new director of the Center for Religion, the Professions and the Public at the Missouri School of Journalism.

The Center seeks to advance religious literacy and public awareness of this nation’s cultural and religious diversity. It was founded in `03 with a $1.4M grant from the Pew Charitable Trust.

Mason succeeds Ed Lambeth, who retired last Sept. after getting a $1.5M renewal grant from Pew.

INVESTMENT BANKERS GET MAG.

Doubledown Media, which publishes Trader Monthly aimed at Wall Street traders, is adding Dealmaker to the mix. Aimed at the investment banking community, the mag will showcase how bankers make and spend their money.

Randall Lane, president of DM, is in charge of both publications. Dealmaker launches in the U.S. next month and in Europe next spring.

MSNBC DROPS ALTERMAN.

Eric Alterman, who blogged on MSNBC for the last ten years, has been dropped. His “Altercation” blog has been scooped up by Media Matters, the liberal website. Alterman continues as a columnist for The Nation.

General Electric owns MSNBC.

BRUSH PLUCKED FROM HOOVER’S.

Rachel Brush, VP of content and managing editor at Hoover’s, has joined Pluck Corp., an Austin, Tex.-based social media technology company, as managing editor of its BlogBurst blog syndication network.

She leads Pluck’s editorial and promotional efforts to connect blogs to mass market news sites. The company works with the Washington Post and Gannett News, among other media entities.

Brush was recently VP of customer operations and quality for Hoover’s.

HATTORI TO DISNEY PUBLISHING.

April Hattori, VP of communications for McGraw-Hill Education, has moved on to Disney Publishing Worldwide in New York in that same title.

She heads internal and external comms., including media, trade and community relations, reporting to Disney Publishing president Russell Hampton.

She previously held PR posts at The Allstate Corp. and Standard & Poor’s and began her career as a reporter for The Milwaukee Journal and The Bond Buyer.

MAG JUMPS ON NYT-SLAMMING PARADE.

New York Magazine is the latest to spotlight the turmoil within the New York Times, with the lengthy “United States of America vs. New York Times’ Editor Bill Keller.”

The piece ponders whether Keller, who was originally passed over for the top spot by publisher Arthur “Pinch” Sulzberger, is an “editor perfectly matched to the historic moment.”

NYM mentions that Sulzberger has already been savaged by the New Yorker last year and Vanity Fair this year. Writer Joe Hagen believes that Sulzberger’s “championing” Judy Miller may have been the final straw. He writes: “Now that the paper’s much vaunted national circulation strategy has hit a wall, the worry that Sulzberger carries around with him every day is that the Internet is killing his bottom line.”

The website, continued Hagen, “simply cannot produce enough revenue to sustain a huge news-gathering operation, and that has put Sulzberger on a tireless quest to cut costs and find the big idea that will save the day.”

A Times staffer told Hagen that Sulzberger controls the fate of the NYT, but “no one feels like they’re in good hands because people feel he’s an incredible boob.”

HEAD PIRATE LANDS AT PEOPLE.

Mark Golin, who edited Time Inc.’s Office Pirates website, is now editor of People.com, according to a memo from Martha Nelson, editor of People Group.

He is in charge of “overall editorial operations and site development.”

Golin spent a decade at Rodale Press before taking the deputy editor slot at Hearst Corp.’s Cosmopolitan. He also edited Dennis Publishing’s Maxim and was editor-in-chief of Conde Nast’s Details.

Time Inc. shut down Office Pirates in August after a six-month run. It did not want to invest the money needed to make it a long-term success.

The Frank Rich article in the July 13 New York Times, in which he gave his view of what PR people do, has continued to draw responses (7/26 NL).

One is from Ted Pincus, founder of the Financial Relations Board which he sold to True North for $40 million in 1999. TN was later acquired by Interpublic and FRB was merged with BSMG.

It is again operating as Financial Relations Board.

Pincus, who left a couple of years after the sale, has been writing a column for the Chicago Sun Times and teaching, among other activities.

He also joined the board of Business for Diplomatic Action, headed by DDB chairman Keith Reinhard. It is dedicated to new initiatives in U.S. public diplomacy.

“Ironically,” Pincus wrote us, “PR finds itself lost in the desert today, stumped for an answer as to its own identity even though it earns a living providing answers to everyone else’s identity.”

PR has proven its worth to organizational America by offering tangible return-on-investment but it still finds itself “on the defensive,” he adds.

One problem, he says, is that the “excesses of the Bush Administration have turned ‘spin’ into an expletive, and equating it to PR.”

“The Administration has failed to use proven communication strategies to reverse the appalling decline in U.S. reputation abroad not only among neutral populations but even our friends as detailed by the Pew Research Surveys each month at Business for Diplomatic Action,” he said.

The “false fronts” created by the Lincoln Group for the Pentagon were given by Pincus as an example of bad PR. FEMA’s performance in New Orleans was also cited as another PR debacle.

And last but not least, he cites “The amazingly steadfast refusal of PR’s leading icons—the five conglomerates plus PRSA—to practice the very principles they preach.”

Reversing this “disastrous decline in PR’s standing among publics everywhere” will require action by “PR’s strongest and highest paid practitioners,” he says. “They must have the guts to speak up and provide honest, persuasive counsel to the top managements of those six entities, which constitute the industry’s five largest employers plus its primary trade association. They must force an era of genuine transparency...only complete openness will truly change the climate.”

The PRSA board has not only barred the press from three ethics teleconferences in September (9/6 NL) but has barred the ethics board from answering any of the 20 questions we sent to PR manager Cedric Bess after he said he would relay questions to the ethics board. One question that should be addressed is why does the national board continue to block mention of the Central Michigan governance proposal on the PRSA website? If this isn’t unethical, then nothing is...also, while national is blocking press coverage of its ethics discussions, its Pittsburgh chapter has an ethics lunch Sept. 22 that is not only open to the press but that includes Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Dennis Roddy as a panelist. Topic is, “The Ethics of Being Genuine: How Well Are We Doing?” Says a mailing on the event: “In 2006, news headlines were packed with negative coverage on topics ranging from VNRs and ‘fake’ news events to product placements and paid spokespeople. It’s enough to make any PR practitioner ask, ‘Are we being genuine? How accurately are we representing ourselves as PR professionals?’”

Rebellious PRSA/Tampa Bay is having a battle royal with PRSA h.q. over whether member Cindy Sharpe can serve as Assembly delegate this year since this would be her fourth year of service. PRSA VP-member services Jennifer Ian told the chapter that delegates can only serve three years. Sharpe counters that her first year was as an alternate and the bylaws also allow a full term when elected to that. Thus far, Ian is refusing to budge. Tampa Bay is working up a new bylaw that would block national from limiting in any way who a chapter can or cannot send as a delegate. The chapter thinks that even if it misses the 60-day notice requirement for a bylaw change (Sept. 12), Article XVII allows an amendment to be brought up by a majority of those present during an Assembly and passage can follow if a two-thirds vote is obtained...Tampa Bay and Miami, which criticized the national board last year for consolidating too much power in the executive committee and for “excessive secrecy,” has submitted a bylaw change blocking use of proxies at the Assembly. The board has said it will allow proxies again this year, saying they are “required” by New York State law.
They are “allowed” by law.

PRSA/national now faces a revolt on three major fronts—Tampa/Miami; New York, and Central Michigan. PRSA/NY president Art Stevens last week urged the Assembly to obtain “broader powers” over the board and said chapter presidents should automatically be delegates. He said the Assembly should be run by its own officers, not members of the national board...governance reform should also include automatic tabulation and print-out of all of the Assembly’s votes so that delegates can quickly see who voted what way.

There has been “blind” voting the past half dozen years except for 2004 when individual voting on decoupling APR from the Assembly was made public. It took two months for the board to release the tabulation although immediate printouts are possible. Copies can then be distributed to delegates.

One problem with the Assembly is that there are about 48 votes of “management,” meaning the 17 directors, ten district chairs and 19 section heads plus several others. They tend to vote as a bloc and they should not be voting with chapter representatives. In 2004, 15 of the 17 directors voted for decoupling as did all eight of the district chairs present. Eight of the 12 section heads also voted with the board.

--Jack O'Dwyer