SPRING, O’BRIEN LANDS MOROCCO.

Spring, O’Brien has picked up a three-year contract with the Moroccan National Tourist Office to handle PR in the U.S. and Canada.

The New York-based firm said it is the MNTO’s first U.S. firm in more than 20 years. Budget over the term is $1.3M. GolinHarris, Weber Shandwick, Ketchum, Quinn & Co., and Latitudes competed for the account.

MNTO says traffic from U.S. travelers is up 20 percent for the first six months of 2006. The country, which is more than 98 percent Muslim, is a seven-hour flight from the East Coast of the U.S. and was cited by President Bush in 2003 as one of a handful of countries that sees a need for positive government reform in the Middle East and North Africa region.

SO is charged with handling media relations, crisis management, special events, and press trips, as well as forging strategic partnerships with tour operators.

H&K’S TAAFFE COUNSELS H-P.

Hill & Knowlton CEO Paul Taaffe recommended that Hewlett-Packard “act quickly to regain the high moral ground that we have lost” over the pretexting mess via a message to Bob Sherbin, media relations chief at the embattled technology company.

Taaffe’s advice was among documents released by Congressional investigators probing H-P’s surveillance of board members, PR executives (Michael Moeller) and journalists.

Taaffe told Sherbin that H-P had to “show that the board, including Pattie [a reference to former chairman Patricia Dunn] was not aware of the specifics of the investigation.” He emphasized the need for that lack of awareness “to be true.”

The H&K chief called for an apology and confirmation that “pretexting is not a tool or technique that H-P supports or would knowingly use.”

CIMKO DEPARTS B-M FOR ICF POST.

Christine Cimko, a defense communications veteran of Burson-Marsteller and former spokesman for Dick Cheney, has left B-M for a senior VP role at government consulting shop ICF International in Washington.

ICF, which had revenue of $109.6M for the first six months of ’06, went public last month with a $49M IPO.

Cimko set up B-M's global defense group in 2004 and served as managing director of public affairs.

She previously headed Edelman’s image and international affairs group in D.C. and worked with Cheney from 1989-1992, when he was Defense Secretary.

F-H JUMPS INTO ASTOR MESS.

Fleishman-Hillard has been hired by Anthony and Charlene Marshall in the messy fight over the care of 104-year-old philanthropist Brooke Astor.

“We are working with the Marshalls,” Nancy Seliger, FH/New York chief, told O’Dwyer’s. “We are trying to get their point of view across.” Senior VP Sean Healy heads that effort.

Eighty-two-year-old Anthony, son of the New York socialite, contends that he offered loving and excellent care for Astor. Her grandson, Philip Marshall, claims that Anthony neglected the grande dame and is bent on looting her estate. The case is expected to go to Manhattan Supreme Court on Oct. 13.

Citigate Sard Verbinnen was brought in by Anthony and Charlene Marshall at the beginning of the media uproar. A call to CSV was not returned.

Fraser Seitel, the former Chase Manhattan PR exec who writes for O’Dwyer’s, is spokesperson for Annette de la Renta, the temporary guardian of Astor and wife of fashion designer Oscar.

HAMPTON REPLACES SPECTOR AT B&O.

Tech PR firm Blanc & Otus has tapped Text 100 senior VP Mark Hampton as its CEO, following the departure of Greg Spector.

Spector left B&O, part of Hill & Knowlton, for the chief marketing officer slot at Rebtel, a Swedish startup focused on the mobile Internet telephone market that recently secured $20M in its first round of financing.

Hampton, an eight-year veteran of Text, helped that firm set up and run its Palo Alto office.

San Francisco-based B&O firm has offices in Austin, Boston, and London. Spector lead it since 2001.

BURSON URGES ‘PR FOR PR.’

Harold Burson, saying PR is like the “cobbler’s children” who go shoeless because the cobbler is too busy making shoes for customers, has called on PRSA and other PR groups to do “PR for PR.”

Burson, founder of Burson-Marsteller who was 85 on Feb. 15 this year, addressed a meeting of ICCO Oct. 5 in New Delhi. ICCO is the umbrella group for European associations of PR firms.

PR, he said, is beset by numerous problems including constant bashing in the press; the tendency for clients to bring more PR in-house, resulting in the drying up of large, ongoing accounts at PR firms, and the replacement of “PR” with “communications” at many institutions.

(continued on page 7)

B-M COUNSELS SONY ON BATTERY ISSUES.

Burson-Marsteller is consulting with Sony Electronics as the company navigates a crush of scrutiny and press regarding its faulty laptop batteries.

John Dolak, director of corporate, brand issues, engineering and manufacturing for Sony, confirmed that B-M is helping the electronics giant with the battery issue.

Fijitsu last week became the fifth major company to announce a recall of laptop batteries made by Sony because of a threat of overheating and possible fire. That pullback affected 287K batteries sold by Fujitsu and joins large recalls from Dell, Apple, Toshiba and IBM/Lenovo. More than seven million batteries have been recalled.

Sony on Sept. 28 said it would initiate a global replacement program following discussions with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The CPSC has suggested that batteries in other consumer devices could be also affected. Dolak and Richard Clancy, senior VP of corporate communications, are leading PR efforts for the company regarding the battery issue. Consumer Reports said the CPSC and Sony could announce a new recall sometime in October.

Burson has worked with various Sony units since the 1990s.

STILLINGS NAMED EDELMAN/FINANCE CHIEF.

Susan Stillings has split from Ogilvy PR Worldwide to join Edelman as executive VP and global managing director of its financial practice.

She reports to Matthew Harrington, chair of Edelman’s corporate practice and eastern region president.

Stillings had been in charge of Ogilvy Financial’s Asia-Pacific region, where she gave IR counsel to Chinese companies listed in the U.S., such as Suntech Power, Baidu and New Oriental Education and Technology Group.

Earlier, Stillings was at Joele Frank, Wilkinson, Brimmer Katcher; Iomega Corp. and Bankers Trust, which was acquired by Germany’s Deutsche Bank.

Stillings replaces Andrew Merrill, who joined Edelman in Dec. ‘03 from The Abernathy MacGregor Group. He had succeeded Hollis Rafkin-Sax, who had left to become vice chairman of Financial Dynamics’ U.S. operations.

FD HIKES INDEPENDENT’S IMAGE.

Ireland’s Independent News & Media PLC has hired Financial Dynamics for corporate and investor relations work.

The Dublin-based company, which publishes 175 newspapers and magazines in Ireland, U.K., Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, is eager to make its presence known in the U.S.

That’s what 39-year-old COO Gavin O’Reilly said in announcing the FD hire.

The Independent was founded by William Murphy in `04. Former H.J. Heinz CEO Tony O’Reilly, 70, purchased a stake in the company in `73. The Irishman became CEO in `04, and is responsible for the IN&M’s overseas push. Gavin is his son and potential successor.

DOWIE SAYS RIGHTS WERE VIOLATED.

Doug Dowie, the former head of Fleishman-Hillard/Los Angeles, told a U.S. District Court Judge last week that his right of due process was violated during his overcharging trial because F-H stopped paying for his legal defense. The former Marine claims that he has been scapegoated by the Omnicom unit.

F-H paid $1M for Dowie’s defense at the beginning of the probe, but stopped after Dowie was indicted and then sued the PR firm for wrongful dismissal. Dowie owes his lawyers about $3M.

Judge Gary Feess will rule on Dowie’s motion. Sentencing is set for Nov. 13. Federal prosecutors have recommended a five-year sentence for Dowie, who faces a maximum 240 years in prison for overbilling the Dept. of Water and Power.

At the Oct. 2 hearing, Dowie filed letters of support, including one from the ex-head of the DW&P David Wiggs.

HANSON IS PAGE COMMS. DIRECTOR.

Dawn Hanson, formerly director of external and marketing communications for the Eaton Corp., Cleveland, and most recently VP and executive recruiter with the Repovich-Reynolds Group, has been named communications director of the Arthur W. Page Society.

Based in Cleveland, she will provide communications counsel and services to executive director Paul Basista and Page volunteer leaders.

Hanson spent ten years in Europe for two petrochemical companies before joining Eaton. She headed external communications for the chemical division of Neste Oy, Helsinki, for four years and was VP-CC of Borealis Group, Copenhagen, for six years.

Hanson is a principal of The Fairmount Group, Cleveland, which provides communications counsel to corporate and nonprofit clients.

LCH REPS EXCELAIRE.

LCH Communications reps ExcelAire, the corporate charter service that was on the front page of the Oct. 3 New York Times about how one of its 13-seat jets survived an in-air crash with a Boeing 737 over Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. All 155 passengers aboard the Boeing jet died following the crash.

Lisa Hendrickson, founder of LCH, told O’Dwyer’s that she is handling media inquiries. The Port Washington, N.Y.-based publicist said she began working for ExcelAire, which is based in nearby Ronkonkoma, in April.

The Times got the exclusive because its travel columnist, Joe Sharkey, was on the plane during the impact 37,000 ft. above the Earth.

Sharkey describes the half-hour that it took to find an airstrip and land the $25M jet the “most harrowing” 30 minutes of his life. He was doing a freelance story about the Embraer jet for Business Jet Traveler.

ExcelAire has hired Burson-Marsteller for representation in Brazil.

Hendrickson launched LCM in `98. Prior to that, she managed technology clients (IBM, NCR, Intuit and Okidata) at Manning, Selvage & Lee and (Compaq Computer) at Miller Communications.

NEWSWEEK ED DOLES OUT ASSIGNMENTS.

Jon Meacham made several staff appointments following his first week as editor of Newsweek on Oct. 3.

Deidre Depke, editor of Newsweek.com, has been named an assistant managing editor while holding onto her original title as head of the newsweekly's Internet unit.

Mark Miller, assistant managing editor for the Dallas Morning News who left Newsweek two years ago, has rejoined as an AME.

Debra Rosenberg, deputy Washington bureau chief, will relocate to New York as an AME, starting January 1, 2007.

Lisa Miller, society editor, adds the title of religion editor, writing and editing stories on spirituality and belief. She takes the reins of the weekly “BeliefWatch” column in the “Periscope” section of the magazine.

Nisid Hajari, managing editor of the magazine's international edition, becomes foreign editor of the U.S. edition.

David Noonan was named senior editor for health and medicine. Meacham said Noonan will work with director of special projects Alexis Gelber on "Health for Life" packages, and with Debra Rosenberg on weekly coverage of health and medicine in the magazine and online.

Howard Fineman, Newsweek's chief political correspondent, becomes senior Washington correspondent and columnist, remaining a senior editor. He will write a column on politics, Washington and America called "Living Politics," the title of his current online column.

Jonathan Darman, general editor, has been named senior writer and political correspondent out of New York, with plans to relocate to Washington.

Meacham was named the top editor of Newsweek in September after 11 years with the magazine. He took over for Mark Whitaker, who joined the digital division of The Washington Post Co., Newsweek's parent.

HERALD PUB RESIGNS OVER PAYMENT FLAP.

Jesus Diaz resigned as publisher of the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald in wake of the controversy stemming from reporters of the Spanish language paper accepting payments from the U.S. to appear on the anti-Castro Radio Marti and TV Marti.

In a letter to readers, Diaz says he has shifted gears and is granting amnesty to two reporters who were bounced last month and a freelancer who was dropped.

There will be no disciplinary actions against six other staffers who accepted U.S. cash. Conflict-of-interest guidelines have been strengthened to prevent any future taking of U.S. money by Herald staffers.

The Cuban-American community expressed outrage over Diaz's move to fire the reporters. Members cancelled subscriptions and urged an ad boycott.

David Landsberg, general manager of Miami Herald Media Co., takes over for Diaz.

R.W. Apple, Jr., who spent more than 40 years at the New York Times, died Oct. 4 from thoracic cancer. Johnny Apple was 71. He served as bureau chief in Saigon, Moscow, London and Washington.

FEMALE EXECS: PRESS IS FAIR TO DUNN.

A majority of female communications execs think H-P's embattled former chairwoman Patricia Dunn is getting a fair shake in the press. But a large minority believe a male executive in the same shoes would have fostered different coverage, according to members of New York Women in Communications.

Sixty-two percent of 151 NYWICI members recently polled said the media is presenting a fair characterization of Dunn, who resigned amid a widely covered pretexting scandal at the technology giant.

Female communicators aren't impressed with Dunn's performance in the press, either. A 52-percent majority said Dunn has handled media relations very poorly. Only six percent gave her PR savvy a thumbs up.

But nearly half – 48 percent – said a hypothetical "Patrick Dunn" in the same shoes would have seen a different quality or volume of coverage.

NYWICI pointed out that some respondents said a male chairman would have received harsher scrutiny, and others believed all CEOs, regardless of gender, are being held to greater account in the aftermath of corporate scandals like Enron.

The group counts more than 800 members across disciplines like PR, advertising and media.

Briefs ____________________

UrbanDaddy, an invitation-only e-mail newsletter covering men's lifestyle topics like restaurants, clothes and gadgets, is expanding from its New York base with two new editions.

A Los Angeles edition debuted on Oct. 7 targeting men who split their time between the Big Apple and L.A.

UD will also debut JetSet, a weekly travel edition sponsored by Kayak.com.

Rosen Media, a unit of Baltimore PR firm The Rosen Group, has pushed back the launch of studioArts magazine, a successor to Crafts Business magazine, which it bought in 2006. RM said the new title will launch in the first half of 2007, coinciding with the Philadelphia Buyers Market of American Craft. It was originally scheduled to debut in November 2006.

The quarterly covers business information, financial advice, and success stories for craft artists.

Sara Jerome, an RM staffer who has served as senior editor for AmericanStyle and Niche magazines, has been tapped as editor of the new title.

Active Interest Media plans to launch a custom magazine for Wild Oats Markets in January. The title, Wild Oats Magazine, will cover natural, organic and gourmet foods with a focus on wellness.

Publishers Weekly is targeting book buyers with an offer of free subscriptions. The publication, which has a circulation of about 23,000, said it wants to extend its reach into the book retailing marketplace - booksellers, mass merchants, chain stores and specialty stores that sell or select books.

(Media news continued on next page)

GIVE US GIBSON, NOT A RED CARPET.

Don't bother inviting Reuters to a red carpet event because the wire service has neither the time nor manpower to cover such a gala.

That was one nugget uncovered at the Entertainment Publicists Professional Society event held Sept. 21 in Hollywood.

Of course, if a PR pro can guarantee some quality face time with someone like Mel Gibson, Reuters will show up, said Bob Tourtellotte, its west coast media correspondent.

If a publicist is not sure whether Reuters is worth a pitch, he or she should send an email to its catch-all mailbox, [email protected], Tourtellotte suggested.

Robert Dean, of Celebrity Service International, is the anti-Reuters.

"We publish the Celebrity Bulletin, which comes out daily and informs the news media and entertainment industry about celebrities coming to town, what special events they're attending, and contact information to get a hold of them," explained Dean.

Likewise is Caroline Fox, publisher of Entertainment News Calendar, a "wire service for the entertainment media that lists events such as a celebrity going to court or a premiere, and who the press contact is." There also is a story interview opportunity area.

"If an entertainment publicist is planning an event, and you want to know what your event competition will be that day, call us and we’ll be glad to let you know what's happening, so you can stay away from conflicting with big premieres on the same night," she said.

Lori Streifler, editor, City News Service, said: "There is not really a bad time for sending us news, we're serving so many broadcast clients, who are constantly on the air. We're serving editors and writers all night long as stories are breaking, getting on the radio and TV, so my deadlines are constant."

CNS has a "Daily Budget" that lists news events and another called "Entertainment Budget" for celebrity stuff.

The basic listing of event time, contact and address is free, but if publicists want guaranteed placement and a lengthier listing, there is a fee.

CNS Video is another service, which is shot and packaged for distribution to local TV news stations.

Producers and directors are more interesting than stars, in the view of Luaine Lee, a writer for McClatchy-Tribune News Service and Scripps Howard News Service.

Lee offered this advice to publicists tracking articles of clients: "Google doesn't have everything, so I recommend Lexis-Nexis, Alta-Vista and NewsLibrary.com to track your article clippings."

Another tip: don't call Lee after 6:00 p.m. because that's family time.

Each panelist prefers email pitches, and Streifler spoke for the group: "No attachments please, we just delete them, because of the virus scare." Cut and paste the text of your news release in the body of the email.

Contacts: Dean, Celebrity Service Int'l, [email protected]; Fox, Entertainment News Calendar, [email protected]; Tourtellotte, Reuters, [email protected]; Streifler, City News Service, [email protected]; Lee, McClatchy-Tribune News Service and Scipps Howard, [email protected].

WSJ’S COLTER TO PEPPERCOM.

The Wall Street Journal's Gene Colter has joined Peppercom to bring a "journalistic perspective" to the New York-based shop. He gets the newly created editorial director title.

Colter served as news editor for the WSJ's "Money & Investing" section. At Peppercom, he will be responsible for the overall content, tone and direction of its PR and marketing materials. He also will mentor and conduct writing workshops for the shop's staff.

Prior to the WSJ, Colter was deputy managing editor of the Dow Jones News Service. He has reported from the U.S. and Europe on the economy, financial markets, media and personal finance.

Peppercom has offices in San Francisco, Chicago and London.

N.Y. DAILY NEWS CUTS GROVE.

New York’s Daily News has dropped gossip columnist Lloyd Grove after a three-year stint.

The former writer of the Washington Post’s “Reliable Sources” was reportedly paid $300K a-year in the tabloid’s bid to catch up with the gossip-laden New York Post.

Grove, who wrote the five-day-a-week “Lowdown” column for the News, expects to do multimedia projects.

He told the New York Times the difference between the two tabs is that Mort Zuckerman, the billionaire real estate investor who owns the News, considers the paper an “extra,” while the Post’s Rupert Murdoch has “ink running through his veins.”

CRANSTON JOINS MANSUETO.

Cathryn Cranston, publisher of the Harvard Business Review, joins Mansueto Ventures as executive VP-sales and strategy on Nov. 6.

Prior to her six-year stint at HBR, Cranston held planning, marketing and sales positions at the New York Times.

She is vice chair at the Magazine Publishers of America, and chair of the non-profit Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

MV publishes Inc. and Fast Company.

People __________________

Jonathan Dolgen, former CEO of Viacom Entertainment Group, has become a senior consultant to Artistdirect, a music website. The 61-year-old executive, who was responsible for Paramount Pictures, continues to run his investment firm Wood River Ventures.

Vogue’s Suzanne Karotkin is moving to Harper’s Bazaar. She replaces Kate Lanphear, who is now a style editor at Elle.

PR senior statesman Harold Burson has urged PRSA and the hundreds of PR firms represented by ICCO to help with a “PR for PR” campaign (page one).

Such a campaign is needed because there’s too much bad blood today between PR and the press.

PR may be doing a lot of good work behind the scenes but, as Burson points out, the only experience the press and public have of PR is “what we communicate.”

Reporters’ experience of PR, as detailed in the PRSA/Oklahoma City’s ethics discussion (10/4 NL); the Frank Rich July 17 piece in the New York Times, the Aug. 7 Der Spiegel piece, and the Feb. 10, 2006 Financial Times column by Sathnam Sanghera (headline: “How Corp. PR Turned into the Art of Stonewalling”) is not the greatest these days.

Non-returned phone calls, PR pros who are perpetually in “meetings,” and blockage of access to news sources, are among the complaints.

PRSA/Oklahoma City and other PRSA chapters have done a service to PR during PRSA’s “Ethics Month” of September by listening to leading editors and reporters.

What’s needed is more of these discussions so that PR and the press can work off their fears of each other and set up new best practices.

PR pros fear that clients will get mangled in print no matter what they say.

With much of PR now reporting to marketing, reporters have to realize that control of the “message” is the mantra of marketing.

E-mail makes it easy today for reporters to check facts and quotes with sources and that’s what they should be doing as a peace-offering.

Web stories can also be sent to sources simultaneously with public release so any corrections can be made promptly.

The press will continue to bash PR until something is done to heal press/PR relations.

Burson has made a courageous and much-needed speech on the need for PR for PR. He would like PRSA and ICCO help but we don’t see that happening.

PRSA, obsessed with its own inner-workings and leadership this year, faces a revolt from the chapters headed by Central Michigan. It also is trying to find a new COO. Many members are upset with the cancellation of the printed members’ directory without their knowledge or permission while nearly $2 million in staff time is squandered on a money-losing annual conference attended by only 4% of the members (PRSA’s own attendance figure).

Burson needs help from the heads of other big firms such as Lou Capozzi of Manning, Selvage & Lee (who is the new head of ICCO); Harris Diamond of Weber Shandwick; Helen Ostrowski, Porter Novelli; Paul Taaffe, Hill & Knowlton; Marcia Silverman, Ogilvy PR; Fred Cook, Golin Harris, and Donna Imperato, Cohn & Wolfe to name some.

Independent firms such as Edelman and Ruder Finn have been much more outspoken at PR issues in recent years and we’re sure they would pitch in.

Corporate PR executives in the Arthur W. Page Society, which holds meetings that are open to the press and is supportive of good press relations, would be sure to help.

Leading editors and reporters would be interested. Many of them are fed up with certain PR practices and would change some of their own practices if the current level of hostilities could be reduced.

A good place to start would be the boards of PRSA, Page, IABC, NIRI, Institute for PR and PR Seminar. Reporters and editors should be on these boards. Sarbanes-Oxley has rightly urged corporate boards to have independent directors to cut down on insularity and narrowness of vision. SOX has been pilloried for being an expensive law to implement but no one has argued against its plea for new blood on boards. PRSA in the 1970s invited editors to be Silver Anvil judges and this reporter served three years as a judge. Rapprochement, not war, was the order of the day then.

Efforts are being stepped up to repeal SOX, which has been cited by the five ad holding companies (WPP, Omnicom, Interpublic, Publicis, Havas) as the reason for their refusal to allow any of their hundreds of ad agencies and PR firms to report any revenue or employee totals for the past five years. The cost of SOX has resulted in the flight of investment banking business, particularly initial public offerings, to London. SOX was called “Economic Poison” and “The Law That Could Kill Wall St.” in a column in the Oct. 3 New York Post. IPOs in the U.S. totaled only 56 last year, half the “normal” level, the column said.

Nine of ten big IPOs are now going to foreign exchanges, said a Post editorial. Even small public companies have to pay $1 million a year for Section 404 of SOX which deals with audit practices, it was said...Canada has a law said to be even stricter than SOX (Bill 198 passed in 2002) but this has not stopped publicly held Cossette Communications Group from reporting revenue and staff totals for its ad and PR units. Cossette, the biggest ad/PR company in Canada, reported $11.4M in 2005 fees for PainePR, Irvine, Calif., which it owns.

One practice of PRSA leadership that we’d like to see return is the session on the Monday afternoon of the annual conference in which the full board took questions from any member who showed up. This session was held during the 1990s..PRSA leadership is again impeding coverage of the Assembly by saying reporters are not delegates and therefore must stay at the back of the room, outside the delegate area, where seeing and hearing are difficult and taking pictures is almost impossible. For many years, until PRSA set a new policy in the mid-1990s, reporters were allowed to sit anywhere in the Assembly since a reporter or two were barely noticeable among the 270+ delegates.

--Jack O'Dwyer