USAID CONSIDERS PR HELP.

The U.S. Agency for International Development, which oversees the billions of dollars in non-military foreign aid and projects backed by the federal government, is trying to gauge the interest from firms for partnering on PR efforts in countries and regions “of transition.”

The federal agency, technically independent but guided by the Secretary of State, has issued a request for information through its Office of Transition Initiatives for firms interested in working on strategic communications for government and political transitions, and media development work.

USAID focuses on four regions of the world. Its most significant current mission arguably is its work in Iraq, where it has been charged with rebuilding everything from healthcare to electricity and sewage systems. Other efforts have taken place this year in Bolivia, Liberia, Sri Lanka, and the West Bank/Gaza.

USAID says its OTI unit is involved in “the most sensitive political issues in many of the U.S. government’s priority and high interest countries.”

USAID wants to hear from experienced firms by November 30. Galeeb Kachra ([email protected]), program manager for OTI, is point of contact.

DHILLON JOINS RF/D.C.

Neil Dhillon has joined Ruder Finn as managing director of its D.C. office, replacing Barbara Shipley, who is now on the PR staff at AARP. He reports to Richard Funess, president of RF/Americas.

Dhillon is a veteran of the Clinton Administration, serving as deputy assistant secretary of government affairs in the Dept. of Transportation. He also was chief of staff to Rep. Bob Masui (D-Calif.) and legislative director to Beverly Byron (D-Ma.). He held top PA posts at Hill & Knowlton and MWW Group.

The No. 2 independent firm expects more hires in D.C. by December.

Lou Capozzi, 59, will relinquish the chairman role of Publicis Groupe's PR and corporate communications group at the end of the year. He will take the chairman emeritus position. Capozzi, the former CEO of Manning, Selvage & Lee, plans to counsel a select group of clients and rep the French ad/PR conglom to the PR industry.

During his 38-year career, Capozzi held PR posts at Ayer PR and Aetna Life & Casualty (VP-corporate communications). He joined MS&L in `90. Capozzi becomes president of the International Communications Consultancy Organisation next year.

IPG EARNS $5.8M.

Interpublic reported Nov. 8 that it earned $5.8M during the third-quarter compared to a $102.8M year ago loss. Revenues inched ahead one percent to $1.4B.

CEO Michael Roth says all IPG units are “increasingly competitive in the marketplace.” He expects “improved performance next year” and anticipates meeting the ad/PR conglom’s ’08 turnaround goals.

Roth says that U.S. organic revenue was up, though down in the U.K. and Continental Europe.

The company pared its professional fees (largely related to accounting matters) by $60.1M.

IPG has launched an investigation into the current and past granting of stock options. That study is “part of its continued efforts to address weaknesses in its control environment.” The probe is almost complete.

FORD’S GOTTHEIMER MOTORS TO B-M.

Burson-Marsteller has hired Josh Gottheimer, director of strategic communications at Ford Motor, as executive VP. The 31-year-old executive will chair B-M’s global corporate and public affairs practices.

Gottheimer was President Clinton’s speechwriter. He helped draft the ’99 and ’00 State of the Union Addresses. At beleaguered Ford Motor, he developed its corporate message, “Driving American Innovation,” and headed Ford’s PR strategy, corporate advertising and its Washington, D.C., PA unit.

Gottheimer reports to B-M CEO Mark Penn, who is pollster for Bill and Hillary Clinton.

PRSA ASSEMBLY REJECTS ‘DEMOCRACY.’

The PRSA Assembly, as urged by national leadership, rejected by a 261-19 vote the move by the Central Michigan chapter to make the Assembly, rather than the board, “the ultimate policy-making body” of the Society.

Also voted was a change in the title of the COO from executive director to president with the elected head becoming “chair.”

CM delegate Mark Holoweiko made a final plea to end what he calls “top down” leadership and to put more initiative in the hands of rank-and-file members and the Assembly. “They’re saying that this bylaw change is too much trouble, too expensive, too risky and so on but two hundred years of the American system say we should do it,” he told the Assembly.

“We should have faith in the collective wisdom of the people in this room to consistently do the right thing for the Society—have faith in your own selves,” he pleaded in vain.

(continued on page 7)

BP REACHES OUT TO PM.

BP America has hired PodestaMattoon to handle fall-out from its Alaska oil spill.

That August accident caused by inadequate maintenance resulted in the temporary shutdown of Prudhoe Bay, and dealt a second blow (following the ’05 Texas City refinery explosion/fire that killed 15 workers) to BP’s well-crafted environmentally friendly image.

The British company is replacing Alaskan management effective Jan. 1.

Steve Marshall, who headed Alaskan operations for the past five years, is being succeeded by Doug Suttles, who was in charge of BP’s Sakhalin Island business in Russia. Suttles had worked for BP in Alaska.

Marshall testified in Congress in September. The Justice Dept. also is probing the records of Prudhoe Bay complex.

PM is the firm of Anthony Podesta, former counsel to Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, and Dan Mattoon, an ex-aide to House Speaker Denny Hastert.

The firm, which registered lobbying fees in the $6M range for the first-half of ’05, is splitting up in January.

Both Podesta and Mattoon handle the BP America account.

FIRM CUTS DEAL ON ALLEGED OVERBILLING.

Lee Andrews Group, the Los Angeles PR firm and subcontractor to Fleishman-Hillard that was also accused of overbilling the city, will pay $1M to settle those charges.

The firm has six years to repay the seven-figure sum. The city controller who got F-H to pay $5.7M to settle overbilling charges hammered out the deal with the city’s attorney and LAG founder Donna Andrews.

The firm collected nearly $5M on its last contract with the city’s Dept. of Water and Power, handling advertising, PR and community relations efforts.

The DWP’s board approved the settlement last week.

The city controller’s audit of PR contracts, in addition to charging F-H with overbilling, questioned subcontractor bills to the tune of $315K.

CLARK DRIVES TO AAA.

Yolanda Clark, chief spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration, has re-entered the private sector to take over PR for auto club giant AAA.

Clark was director of strategic communications and public affairs for the TSA, part of the Dept. of Homeland Security.

She took that post after serving as southeast regional public affairs officer and spokesperson for the TSA in Atlanta.

Clark serves as managing director of AAA PR based in its national office in Heathrow, Fla.

She was formerly deputy director of PR for the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int’l Airport after beginning her career in broadcasting PR for WMFE Channel 24 and 90.7 FM in Florida.

The not-for-profit AAA is North America’s largest automobile and leisure travel organization.

GH PREPARES TO WRAP TUT EXHIBIT.

GolinHarris is guiding PR in the final stage of a two-year effort supporting the first exhibition of King Tut artifacts since a blockbuster run in the 1970s.

The exhibit, “Tutankhamen and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs,” hits Philadelphia in February as its fourth and final U.S. stop following lucrative exhibitions in Los Angeles, Fort Lauderdale and Chicago, where it closes in January.

Eight million people saw the exhibit in the 1970s, when its first U.S. tour caused a national sensation and ushered in an era of “blockbuster exhibits” for museums, according to the Chicago Tribune, which also revived Steve Martin’s famous Tut quip: “He gave his life for tourism.”

GH has been working on the account since its 2005 opening in L.A. The firm has handled celebrity wrangling, event planning and media relations efforts at each stop. It has begun to promote the final U.S. run at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, where the exhibit runs from February through September 2007. That will wrap the 27-month, four-city PR journey.

H&K TRUMPETS GLORIES OF DUBAI.

The Dubai Press Club has hired Hill & Knowlton’s London office to provide PR services and promote the “understanding of Dubai globally.”

That understanding centers around the multi-billion dollar real estate developments that have transformed the economy from an energy-reliant one to knowledge and services.

Some highlights are the Palm Islands residential/business development that is being built on the world’s three largest artificial reefs; Dubai Media City, which is pitched as the communications hub for the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, and Dubailand, the $20B complex that is billed as the ultimate leisure and entertainment destination.

Wikipedia estimates that 25 percent of the world’s cranes are working in Dubai, which is the most populous and second largest of the United Arab Emirates.

That construction boom has put the focus on human rights conditions since the building is done by low-wage workers imported from India and Pakistan.

Andrew Pharoah, the head of H&K’s EMEA practice, heads the account. He reports to Mona Al Marri, chair of the DPC.

O’DONNELL TO TEXT 100.

Tara O’Donnell, who was Samsung Electronics’ senior corporate communications manager in North America, has joined Text 100’s digital lifestyle group.

She worked on the Korean company’s Olympic Games sponsorship, charitable initiatives such as the “Four Seasons of Hope” effort, and handled ties with entertainment celebrities.

At Text 100, O’Donnell, who has more than a decade of PR experience, will work on the IBM and Philips Electronics account.

Text 100 is the No. 5 ranked O’Dwyer firm with ’05 fees of $52.4 million.

Tom Reno, of GCI Group and Hill & Knowlton fame, heads Text 100’s North American operations.

TIME TO PEG ADS TO TOTAL READERS.

Time is slashing its rate base in January by 18.8 percent to 3.25M, but wants advertisers to pay for its total audience.

The Time-Warner unit says it has a 19.5M total audience, which includes "pass-along" and public place readers.

Time publisher Ed McCarrick called the magazine’s move a “monumental shift in magazine accountability.” He is telling advertisers rates will be structured to give them a bigger bang for their advertising dollar.

Time also announced that it will boost its newsstand price $1 to $4.95. It sells about 115K copies on newsstands.

BENNETT EXITS INKY.

Amanda Bennett is leaving her editor post at the Philadelphia Inquirer at the end of the year.

Her departure comes as the investment group led by advertising mogul Brian Tierney that purchased the paper from McClatchy Co. is looking to cut another 150 jobs.

Bennett will be succeeded by Bill Marimow. He is a former Inky city editor who is at National Public Radio.

Bennett, who reported for the Wall Street Journal for more than 20 years, is the second high-profile editor to depart last week.

Dean Baquet, was ousted from the Los Angeles Times by its Tribune Co. owner. Tribune has received a takeover bid from Los Angeles moguls Eli Broad and Ron Burkle.

DOW JONES IN 'NET VIDEO DEAL.

Dow Jones’ online unit and Internet video company Brightcove have collaborated for a broadband video channel for Barron’s Online, MarketWatch.com and the Wall Street Journal Online.

Segments will be along the lines of reporting from the three outlets and are available free to both subscribers and non-subscribers of the publications.

Production is handled by Dow Jones in New York and MarketWatch in San Francisco.

Video content will be indexed in the three sites' search engines and made available for integration into blogs.

Advertising packages are being developed and marketed for the channel.

CBS EYES DIGITAL DEALS.

CBS Corp. has hired Allen & Co. investment banker Quincy Smith as president of its interactive unit.

CEO Leslie Moonves said Smith's job is to arrange the acquisition of the “YouTube that nobody has heard of yet.”

The Wall Street Journal described Allen as a “star Silicon Valley dealmaker.” He has advised Google, Viacom (the former parent of CBS) and Yahoo! on its purchase of del.icio.us

Smith succeeds Larry Kramer, who was hired last year to boost CBS's interactive operation. Kramer, founder of MarketWatch, becomes a CBS advisor.

ED BRADLEY DIES AT 65.

Ed Bradley, a 26-year correspondent for "60 Minutes" who won 19 Emmy's for his broadcast journalism work, died on Nov. 9 from leukemia. He was 65.

Bradley joined CBS in 1971 as a stringer in its Paris bureau and went on to a 26-year career that took him all over the world covering issues from nuclear testing, war and famine, to celebrity profiles and terrorism. A June 2000 report,"Death by Denial," on AIDS in Africa, won a Peabody Award and is credited with helping convince drug companies to donate and discount AIDS drugs.

He took home the Paul White Award from the Radio/Television News Directors Association in 2000, an honor previously bestowed on Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite and Peter Jennings.

Prior to "60 Minutes," Bradley was a principal correspondent for "CBS Reports" and earlier served as CBS News' White House correspondent. He anchored the "CBS Sunday Night News” for nearly five years and led the CBS News magazine "Street Stories" from 1992-93.

Prior to joining CBS News, he was a reporter for WCBS Radio and started out as a reporter for WDAS Radio Philadelphia in the mid 1960s.

He was born June 22, 1941, in Philadelphia and graduated from Cheyney (Pa.) State College in 1964 with a B.S. in education.

Bradley is survived by his wife, Patricia Blanchet.

HYMAN SAYS ‘BON SOIR’ FOR NOW.

Mark Hyman, former VP corporate relations turned daily conservative commentator at Sinclair Broadcast Group, is taking a recess effective Dec. 1.

His “The Point with Mark Hyman” got notice for his attacks on John Kerry during the ’04 Presidential sweepstakes, and for popularizing the term “cheese-eating surrender monkeys” for the French for their failure to support the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Hyman filed more than 2,000 commentaries since he began on-air duties following 9/11.

David Smith, president of Sinclair, said Hyman’s commentaries invoked “thoughtful discussions on many topics and across all demographics.” He covered issues that “traditional media don’t report” and “hopefully raised the public’s level to dig deeper and question what they're reading or hearing.”

Hyman, 48, plans to spend more time with his family and help SBG “tackle important strategic issues.” He may make occasional on-air appearances.

SBG owns or provides programming to 58 stations that cover 22 percent of the U.S.

Wendy Turett-Ross, marketing research manager for Meredith Corp., has joined Kiplinger’s Personal Finance, as research director. She previously headed market research at Time Inc.

Kiplinger, meanwhile has revamped its website, Kiplinger.com, to include exclusive online content, advice from its financial experts, RSS feeds, a webcast platform and e-mail alerts.

(Media news continued on next page)

JAMROCK MAG DEBUTS.

The maiden issue of Jamrock magazine has arrived, and is targeting the more than 500K strong Caribbean-American market.

The mag promises a “compelling journey through the fascinating world of Caribbean fashion, music, travel, culture and lifestyle.”

The debut monthly, which costs $3.99, features a profile of Sean Paul, and stories about feuding dancehalls in Jamaica and tourism in the Caribbean.

Charter advertisers are Land Rover, Air America Radio, Cockspur Rum, Guyana Tourism Authority and Western Union.

Dave Rodney has info at 212/571-4526.

Briefs _____________________

Quarterly magazine For Her Information is now available for free online at forherinformation.com. The title, which focuses on urban women, is aligned with the PBS series of the same name.

Spanish-language media company ImpreMedia has acquired Vista Magazine, a dual-language general interest supplement title.

Vista counts a circulation of one million copies across 29 markets. It is published 11 times a year.

New York-based ImpreMedia last month launched an entertainment magazine, La Vibra, with a distribution run of 530K as a newspaper supplement.

Impre is the No. 1 Spanish-language newspaper publisher in the U.S.

Its properties include multiple editions of La Opinion and El Diario La Prensa.

Active Interest Media of El Segundo, Calif., has acquired Yachts magazine, a 10-year-old bimonthly with an upscale audience audited at 49K.

In addition to the U.S., editions are published in France, Croatia, Italy and Russia.

The entire Yachts team, including founder Michel Karsenti, will remain on staff at the publication's base in Fort Lauderdale.

AIM titles include American Cowboy, Yoga Journal, and Vegetarian Times.

People _________________

Nathan Guttman, a Washington, D.C.-based reporter for Haaretz and the Jerusalem Post, has joined Jewish weekly newspaper The Forward as D.C. bureau chief.

Guttman has worked as an evening news editor for Israel's Channel 1 TV.

Kelly Aiglon, a former columnist for Chicago Social and staff editor for Where Chicago magazine, has joined Chicago Social Brides as editor-in-chief.

Kim Porter, a senior A/E for Nielsen Media Research Hispanic Services, has joined Fox Sports en Espanol as its first director of research.

Porter oversees media and market research for the network.

PARADE DISHES ON CELEB SCOOPS.

“There’s nothing we won't touch,” said Janice Kaplan, executive editor for Parade magazine.

It’s a bold claim, but when you work for the nation’s most popular weekend magazine, the bar is set pretty high. The staff of Parade recently came together for a media panel hosted by the Entertainment Publicists Professional Society at the Gibson Entertainment Showroom – former home of the legendary Hit Factory – to share their secrets for getting the inside scoop on the stars.

West Coast contributing editor Jeanne Wolf, known in Hollywood for asking gutsy questions, said her knack for eliciting the tell-all is simple: you can be pushy if you’re known as a reputable source.

“People know that I'll ask anything – but they also know that I'll be fair,” she said.

A sought-after television guest, Wolf is one of Hollywood's most visible broadcast and print journalists. Formerly a celebrity reporter at “Entertainment Tonight,” she was also host of her own PBS interview series, “Jeanne Wolf With…,” and has produced a series of features for “Nightline” and “Good Morning America.”

Ideally, Wolf said an interview doesn't rely so much on the standard celebrity/press Q & A. Rather, Wolf claimed that treating celebs like everyday people has the ability to smooth over some of Hollywood’s toughest acts – like Tommy Lee Jones, for example, who is notoriously cold to the press.

Of course, Parade’s circulation also helps. Distributed as a Sunday supplement in nearly 400 newspapers across the nation, the magazine brings in nearly 80 million readers each week. In many cases, celebs jump at the chance to do a feature story in the magazine.

“No one has ever passed up a story with Parade for Life or USA Weekend. Our readership is just bigger,” Kaplan noted.

But circulation isn’t the only reason why stars may choose Parade to ink the coveted scoop. James Brady, contributing editor and writer of Parade’s “In Step” column, noted that the magazine gets many interviews that other publications miss simply because it has a knack for utilizing unorthodox means to obtain them.

He cited an instance where Parade sent novelist Norman Mailer to interview Clint Eastwood, a celebrity who has a long-standing reputation of being standoffish towards the press. Eastwood, who had previously declined a meeting with the publication, was suddenly intrigued by the prospect of being interviewed by Mailer, and he invited the author to conduct it during a week-long stay on his ranch.

The author of 15 books and the recent Pulitzer nominee, Brady is considered by many to be the veritable godfather of celebrity news. He created the page six phenomenon during his tenure at the New York Post back during in 70's.

Brady commented celebrity publicists often hinder the relationship between stars and the press – and sometimes this does a disservice to a publicist's clients in the long run.

PRSA’s Assembly (page one) made short shrift of Central Michigan’s bid to bring democracy to the Society. The manner in which this was handled is proof enough that anything but democracy is practiced by PRSA leadership.

Almost all of the 21,000 members of PRSA have no idea that such a proposal was ever made.

PRSA leadership, with tight control of the web and the two Society publications, never allowed a hint of the proposal in any of these media except the words, “Role of the Assembly,” which appeared on the PRSA website in October in a list of proposals before the Assembly.

Rank-and-file members never got a chance to debate this far-reaching proposal on the PRSA website which is exactly where such a debate should have taken place starting last April. PRSA leaders allow the staff to hammer members all week long with blast e-mail pitches for seminars, webinars and teleseminars but this e-mail capability is never used to sample membership opinions. That would be democratic!

We bet the Central Michigan proposal, if adequately explained would have been overwhelmingly passed by the 21,000 members. Secure ways to conduct such voting are available and used by other associations.

What happened is that CM got “Swift-boated” by national leadership with spurious arguments against a proposal taken almost word-for-word from the most prestigious professional associations—those operated by doctors, dentists and lawyers.

CM was not seeking day-to-day management of PRSA, as charged by the leadership. CM wanted major decisions and policies to be in the hands of the Assembly as it is for the doctors, dentists and lawyers.

We bet that members, having heard that the staff wanted to move downtown to 50% more space (and a 50% jump in occupancy costs to $750,000), would have voted to move h.q. out of New York, perhaps maintaining an information center in midtown for members, prospective members and the press.

The great bulk of staff work (pitching tutorial programs, arranging for the national conference, publishing Tactics & Strategist), could be done just as easily and far more cheaply in Cleveland. We doubt the staff payroll in Cleveland would be $5 million a year.

PRSA staff, with two people in press relations, has little relation to the New York media community and about the same with the New York chapter. With its location downtown, an hour round trip from midtown during the day, it might as well be in Des Moines.

We can’t find any members, except those in leadership posts or leadership ambitions, who think the online directory of members is better than the printed directory. All sorts of research are impossible with the online version. It is sure to cut down on member interaction.

Speaking of interaction, the Assembly itself does not have this. Its members only learn who the other delegates are a month before the Assembly itself.

National leaders argued in 2004, when they wanted to decouple APR from Assembly service, that national had no right to tell chapters who they could send to represent them.

But, in a major contradiction, national rigidly enforces a rule that limits Assembly membership to three years, guaranteeing an Assembly that is inexperienced and easily led.

We never hear of any move by national to drop this rule; drop APR as a condition for national offices and the board, or create an e-mail address book so that rank-and-file members could contact the delegates via a blast e-mail.

Neither chapter boards nor delegates ever poll their chapter members on major issues such as the CM proposal, as far as we can determine.

If there is any written record of a delegate actually polling his or her constituents, we’d like to see it.

Because of this dysfunctional governance, leading to bad decisions like the expensive, inappropriate move downtown or the suspension of the printed members’ directory, PRSA membership is nearly stagnant.

Admitting students as members to be counted in the total will fool no one. Creating five at-large directors because it’s hard finding anyone in certain districts does not answer the real problem—the stranglehold the APRs have on leadership that has driven away large numbers of corporate and major agency members. Failure of candidates to show up for national office has become a chronic problem that could be easily cured by adopting democratic principles.

We’re disappointed that the Assembly continues to allow proxy votes when they are condemned by Robert’s Rules of Order, which PRSA has followed for many years.

Failure to adopt sensible policies is no doubt the main reason that PRSA has not been able to find a successor to COO Catherine Bolton when this choice should have been made long ago.

Dangling the title of “president” in front of an association or PR director is not going to mean much especially when the two previous “presidents” were dispatched so quickly. As a side note, we doubt that many of the delegates at the Assembly Nov. 11 were aware that PRSA has already tried the “staff president” route twice and new boards (which change every two years) quickly snatched it back.

Put down those PR textbooks, is the good advice Richard Edelman had for students attending PRSA’s confab. He recommended taking up another language because “English alone is not sufficient for the PR leaders of tomorrow.” Students should take engineering and science courses since the future is for those who will be asked to “explain cutting edge developments in areas like biotechnology and nanotechnology.”

--Jack O'Dwyer