EBAY BRINGS IN HILL & KNOWLTON.

Ebay has tapped Hill & Knowlton after a month-long review for a corporate agency of record.

Shannon Stubo, director of corporate communications for the online shopping and trading site, told O'Dwyer’s that the company will primarily be working with H&K's San Francisco and Washington, D.C., offices at the outset. The company did not have a previous firm for corporate work.

Text 100 and Kaplow Communications continue to work on various assignments for eBay.

HUNTSWORTH ACQUIRES DORLAND.

Huntsworth, the British firm of Shandwick founder Peter Gummer, has acquired Dorland Global Corp., the Philadelphia shop that bills itself as the oldest healthcare advertising firm in the U.S.

DGC operates Dorland Health Communications and Dorland Global PR. The PR unit registered $11.1M in `06 fees, which was up 3.9 percent from the year earlier level. It employs 39 staffers.

Dorland provides Huntsworth a “U.S. footprint” for its health unit that is headed by David Rowly.

Gummer promises that DG will be managed by its “management and staff without interruption.” Rita Sweeney is president & CEO of DG.

Huntsworth paid $20.7 million for Dorland, but that price could rise to $50M, based on Dorland’s 2007 performance, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.

General James Jones, who retired last month as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces in Europe, has joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as lobbyist.

He is to focus on energy issues, specifically encouraging development of homegrown sources and efficiencies. Jones will head the Institute for Energy, which is to present itself as a grassroots organization. The Chamber took a similar path with the creation of the Institute for Legal Reform, a group that seeks to diminish the clout of trial lawyers.

Bob Seltzer, who joined Ruder Finn in `03 to head its newly created marketing practice, is exiting the No. 2 independent firm. He steps down April 15. RF is expected to fill the post internally.

Prior to RF, Seltzer was CEO of Ogilvy PR Worldwide. He also founded Porter Novelli’s healthcare practice and headed its New York office.

On the crisis front, Seltzer counseled Audi in its “unintended acceleration” crisis, and worked with Nestle on its marketing of infant food to developing nations.

ARLINGTON REVIEWS PR PACT.

Virginia’s Arlington County has moved to review its outside PR contract with SheaHedges Group to support tourism and economic development efforts for the area.

The county’s economic development entity, which includes the Arlington Convention & Visitors Service, has issued an RFP for a monthly retainer pact to handle PR for the next five years. Proposals are due March 29.

“We’re looking for a firm that would be able to help us with PR efforts for both promoting Arlington and the businesses located here, as well as tourism,” said Karen Vasquez, PR and advertising manager for Arlington Economic Development. She said a review for the account is required as spending approached a level established by county procurement rules.

Arlington lies across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital and includes prominent landmarks like the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery, but the C&VS says few are aware of its deep ties to Washington’s history.

The work includes communications strategy, media relations, and creation of a speaker’s bureau, among other tasks. The RFP is online at www.arlingtonva.us.

D’AMATO PLAYS HAND.

The Poker Players Alliance has hired Park Strategies, the firm of New York’s former Republican Senator Al D’Amato. PPA, which claims 160,000 dues paying members, named D’Amato chairman on March 5.

D’Amato was named to “help earn poker a much deserved exemption from the recent online gaming law,” according to Michael Bolcerek, president of PPA. Bolcerek refers to D’Amato as the “First Senator of Poker,” who succeeded Linda Johnson, the “First Lady of Poker,” at the helm.

PS has a full line-up of lobbyists seeking to trash the “Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006,” a measure that makes it a crime to use a credit card on online payment systems to pay for poker, sports bets and other casino games.

That team includes Al’s brother, Armand, whose conviction on seven of 24 counts of mail fraud was overturned by a federal appeals court in 1993. Al’s son, Christopher, EVP at PS, also represents PPA.

The D’Amatos are joined by the firm’s Bush Administration “point person,” Brad Blakeman. He was deputy assistant to the President for appointments and scheduling.

Kraig Siracuse, the head of the D.C. office of PS, also works the poker account. He was D’Amato’s legislative assistant.

LEGION MISSES BEAT ON REED SCANDAL.

The American Legion is still studying the abysmal conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, according to Ramona Joyce, media relations chief of the 2.7M-member veterans’ group.

The Legion, which bills itself as the “preeminent service organization for veterans,” issued that statement on Feb. 20 following the Washington Post Feb. 18 expose about poor conditions at the flagship hospital that treats the wounded from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Joyce told O’Dwyer’s the Legion may or may not release the results of its internal investigation of Reed. It made an announcement on March 6 concerning plans to set up a oversight office at Reed to speed the outprocessing of patients.

The Legion’s counterpart, Veteran’s of Foreign Wars, has taken a much more aggressive stance in the aftermath of the Post’s report about outpatients lodged in a vermin-infested apartment building, lost paperwork and visiting family members having to take care of their loved ones because of no or minimal staff.

The VFW, on Feb. 20, called for a Congressional investigation. Gary Kurpius, VFW’s commander-in-chief,” said it is an “absolute disgrace that it took national media attention before corrective actions would begin on problems that had been reported months if not years ago.”

He called for “Congress to exercise its oversight authority and investigate how this situation was allowed to happen by Walter Reed and Department of the Army officials.” To Kurpius, “supporting the troops isn’t just a bumper sticker for civilians.”

CAPLAN TACKLES CLIMATE CRISIS.

Caplan Communications is promoting the first Climate Crisis Action Day slated for Washington on March 20.

The Capitol Hill event will feature a coalition of 45 “green groups” and allies including Greenpeace, Wilderness Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Episcopal Church, Public Citizen, Alaska Wilderness League, United Church of Christ, Republicans for Environmental Protection and 94.7FM The Globe.

The Globe is running PSAs to support the event and will provide live coverage. The AWL is Caplan’s client.

McCORMICK TO B-M.

Sheila McCormick has joined Burson-Marsteller as managing director of its healthcare practice.

The 41-year-old executive is based in Chicago and reports to Ame Wadler, chief innovation & integration officer and chair of Burson’s global health operation.

McCormick was VP-communications and marketing for WellPoint’s pharmaceutical group. Indianapolis-based WellPoint is the independent licensee of Blue Cross in California and Blue Cross/Shield in the metro New York region.

Prior to WellPoint, McCormick founded Click Communications, a healthcare consulting shop, and was corporate communications director for Blue Cross and Blue Shield Assn.

GM PUTS MIDEAST ACCOUNT IN REVIEW.

General Motors has put its Middle East account that has been handled at Hill & Knowlton for the past three years up for review, according to a report in the Arab press.

Saada Hammad, regional PR head for GM ME/Africa, said H&K can defend its work, but the carmaker is eager to get a “fresh look” at its business. Ten to 12 firms are expected to present credentials.

Hammad noted that the Middle East has been a bright spot for GM. Sales of its Chevrolet, Cadillac, Hummer, GMC, Opal and Saab vehicles rose nearly 25 percent in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.

Crediting H&K for presenting GM with lots of creative ideas, Hammad is eager to see what other agencies have to offer especially in the area of media relations. She is looking for a firm with a “passion for cars.”

Paul Venn, H&K’s deputy GM/UAE, told ArabianBusiness.com that the WPP unit can’t wait to re-pitch the business and be a part of the automaker’s “renewal process.”

STREEM TO BUILD DISCOVER’S IR SHOP.

Craig Streem, who joined Internet phone company Vonage in June as senior VP-IR, has been hired to build Discover Financial Services’ IR shop.

The $4.3B credit card company is being spun off from Morgan Stanley during the third-quarter. Discover has $50B in managed receivables and 50M cardholders. It generated a record pre-tax profit of $1.6B during `06.

Streem joined Vonage from AON Corp, the world’s No. 2 insurance broker.
He has more than 25 years of investor relations and PR experience gained from work at Household International, PaineWebber and American Express.

Leslie Arena is handling IR duties at Vonage. The company went public in May at an initial price of $17 a-share. It currently trades in the $5 range. Vonage lost $286M on $607M in `06 revenues.

Robinson Lerer & Montgomery, a WPP Group unit, does PR for Discover.

GREY’S ANATOMY STAR PITCHES BREAD.

Sara Lee Corp. has enlisted “Grey’s Anatomy” star Chandra Wilson to educate consumers about the health benefits of whole grain nutrition on behalf of its recently launched “Sara Lee Soft & Smooth 100% Whole Wheat Bread.”

Three-quarters of the 650M loaves of wheat bread baked in the U.S. in `06 were not whole grain, according to International Resources. The strong taste and rough texture is the reason many consumers shy away from whole grain bread.

SL’s new entry is designed as a family-pleaser, offering mild taste and smooth texture.

Wilson, who plays a surgeon on GA, will educate people about the importance of whole grain in diet.

O’Malley Hansen Communications handles the Wilson program for Sara Lee. That’s the PR firm of Fleishman-Hillard veterans Kelly O’Malley and Todd Hansen.

COULTER DROPPED FROM PAPERS.

The Shreveport Times became the fourth paper to drop columnist Ann Coulter last week following her speech to the American Conservative Union’s political action committee on March 2 in which she “joked” about Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards being a "faggot."

Alan English, executive editor of the paper, considers the shot at Edwards as the "back-breaking straw for a decision that we openly discussed for some time." He likened Coulter's "shock-jock writing style" to "Howard Stern's practical jokes and bathroom humor that aims to draw schoolyard snickers, but falls well short of reasonable, thought-provoking journalism."

English denied that dropping Coulter is "some liberal vendetta" because, he said, if that was the case she would have been canned years ago. He is looking for a conservative voice to replace Coulter.

The Times welcomes "forceful, direct, even bare-knuckled writers as long as they are tackling ideas or stances rather than making profane personal attacks."
The Lancaster New Era (Penn.), Oakland Press (Mich.) and Mountain Press (Sevierville, Tenn.) also have dropped Coulter.

The Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, has launched a letter-writing campaign to persuade more papers to drop Coulter.

United Press Syndicate head Lee Salem, who distributes the column to more than 100 papers, says his company is sticking with Coulter. He is not interested in what Coulter says. His concern is the content of the column. Salem says he would not have distributed Coulter's column if it included the reference to the former Senator from North Carolina.

Edwards has posted the offending clip from Coulter's speech on his campaign's website. He is using it to raise $100K in "Coulter Cash" to "keep his campaign charging ahead and fight back against the politics of bigotry."

CBS REPLACES HARTMAN WITH KAPLAN.

CBS has named broadcast veteran Rick Kaplan executive producer of "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" to replace Rome Hartman.

Kaplan spent ten years at CBS, including three with the "CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite."

Most recently, Kaplan was president of MSNBC and senior VP at ABC News responsible for "World News Tonight with Peter Jennings," "Nightline," and "This Week." He was president of CNN from `97 to `00.

Couric, in a statement, called Kaplan a "big personality with big ideas. She is "thrilled that he has decided to come home to CBS News." Hartman, who helped create Couric's broadcast, is moving to a new but unannounced assignment at CBC.

Sean McManus, president of CBS News, credited Hartman for deftly handling the transition from Bob Schieffer to Couric.

On her blog, Couric wrote that Hartman was one of the reasons she decided to join CBS.

The CBS newscast trails ABC and NBC in the Nielsen ratings.

NNN LAUNCHES MICRO-NETWORKS.

Next New Networks, which is headed by former Nickelodeon executive Herb Scannell, is launching a series of micro-television networks on the Internet.

It debuts with six sites including "Fast Lane Daily" for car buffs and "PulpSecret" carrying comic book news. The plan is to offer three-to-10 minutes of new content based on a daily, weekly or bi-weekly schedule depending on the individual site.

Scannell, who launched SpongBob Squarepants, is looking for partners to create additional sites. He calls his operation a "white sheet for creative people."

NNN has received $8M in seed capital from Pilot Group, the media investment firm run by Bob Pittman, creator of MTV Networks.

WAL-MART SAYS 'SORRY' TO NYT.

Wal-Mart Stores CEO Lee Scott apologized to New York Times Co. CEO Janet Robinson following news that a technician at the retailer's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters spied on calls made between reporter Michael Barbaro and Wal-Mart's media relations staffers.

Wal-Mart reported the incident to the U.S. attorney's office for the Western District of Arkansas and the FBI. Mona Williams, VP-corporate comms., said the unnamed technician and supervisor were terminated for unauthorized taping of the phone calls. She claims that Wal-Mart's staffers were unaware of the situation. The secret taping went from September to January.

Wal-Mart says no laws were broken because federal and Arkansas state laws say taping is allowed if one of the parties agrees to it. Wal-Mart's policy is that all employees must give consent to the monitoring and recording of their calls as part of their employment agreement.

Diane McNulty, spokesperson for the NYT, says the paper is "troubled by what appears to be inappropriate taping of our reporter's conversations."

Edelman is Wal-Mart's PR firm.

TRIB UNLOADS CONNECTICUT PAPERS.

Tribune Co. has sold Greenwich Time and The Advocate (Stamford) to Gannett Co. for $73M. The deal is part of Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimons' program to unload at least $500M in "non-core assets."

Scott Smith, president of Tribune publishing, called GT and TA "excellent papers that did not fit our strategic focus on larger publishing and interactive businesses. Tribune acquired the papers when it picked up Times Mirror Co. in `00. The company's key newspapers are the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Newsday, Hartford Courant, Newsday, Baltimore Sun and South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Hachette Filipacchi Media is ending the print edition of its Premiere movie magazine next month. It will continue an online version.

The publisher followed a similar strategy with Elle Girl and Shock. As a monthly, Premiere was hard pressed to keep up with breaking celebrity news.

(Media news continued on next page)

YOUTUBE CHALKS UP $15M IN ’06 REVENUES.

Google is "operating from deep in the hole" with its YouTube acquisition, according to a piece in the San Francisco Chronicle.

The video site generated an estimated $15M in revenues last year, which as the Chronicle points out, is 100 times less than the $1.6B that Google shelled out for YouTube.

YouTube, in February, received a boost from the National Basketball Assn., which has created a channel on the site to showcase 30 authorized clips.

The Chronicle reports the YouTube's knotty copyright battle is the No. 1 priority for Google.

The media are frustrated with YouTube's "endless whack-a-mole cycle of pirated clips. Even as one is taken down, another pops up in its place," according to the SF paper.

The Chronicle reports that tensions haven't reached "lawsuit status-yet. Such a fight could be long and costly but with Google's backing, YouTube can afford it."

USAT REVAMPS WEBSITE.

USA Today reported on its March 5 front page that it has revamped its website to "bring readers into the conversation."

The new look features a "community center," more blogs/feedback areas, and a section in which readers can send news photos.

Readers can participate in discussion groups, write reviews and communicate directly with reporters and editors.

Ken Paulson, editor of the paper, said the revamp made during the 25th anniversary of the Gannett property uses technology to engage readers as they never had been before.

He says the DNA of USAT is to "look for new ways to share news and information," and believes the redesigned site does that.

WALLACE TO BULK UP WILLIAMS.

Alexandria Wallace, VP at NBC News, has been named to replace John Reiss as executive producer for "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams."

The shake-up comes as "ABC's World News with Charles Gibson" overtook Williams' show for the first time during the latest ratings period. The NBC show maintains the overall top ranking for the full TV season that began last September.

Wallace, 41, joined NBC from CBS in `05. At CBS, she was senior producer for "The Early Show," "CBS This Morning" and "CBS Evening News with Dan Rather."

NEW YORKER BRINGS CARTOONS TO LIFE.

The New Yorker, which is part of Conde Nast, has licensed its library of 70,000 cartoons to Santa Monica-based RingTales, which will make animated versions of them.

Robert Mankoff, TNY cartoon editor, says the deal is "an opportunity to expand our audience and have fun in the process."

Three animated cartoons are to run on TNY's website each week. RingTales will offer the animated cartoons for syndication across the Internet, mobile, broadcast and portable device markets.

The company was founded by Jim Cox, and Michael Fry. They collaborated on DreamWorks' "Over the Hedge" movie.

EISNER’S FIRM ACQUIRES TOPPS.

Former Walt Disney CEO Mike Eisner's investment firm is spearheading a $385M acquisition of Topps Co., the trading card company that is the home of "Bazooka Joe."

Eisner's Tornante Co. is teaming with Madison Dearborn Partners, a private equity firm with $14B under management, in the transaction.

He calls Topps a "wonderful company with a powerful brand portfolio and a rich history."

Topps, which was founded in 1938, fended off a shareholder revolt last year. CEO Art Shorin cut the deal with Eisner because he "understands the creative aspects of our business."

Under terms of the takeover agreement, Topps will solicit superior bids for the company over the next 40 days. The Eisner deal is expected to close in the third quarter.

Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher and MBS Value Partners are working the deal.

MBS is the firm of Lynn Morgen, co-founder of Morgen-Walke Assocs., and Betsy Brod, who set up Brod & Schaffer after a decade at M-WA. M-WA was acquired by Financial Dynamics.

NYT OPENS SITE TO STUDENTS.

The New York Times is providing permanent free access to its TimesSelect site to students and faculty that have .edu e-mail address. The policy began March 13.

Vivian Schiller, senior VP and GM of nytimes.com, said the move is to stimulate a dialog with young people.

The TimesSelect site has more than 625K subscribers who pay $49.95 to access material from 22 columnists from the NYT and its sister paper, International Herald Tribune.

TimesSelect subscribers also get access to the archives of the papers, and special offers.

GOOGLE TESTS CABLE AD SALES.

Google is testing the sale of cable ads in Concord, Calif., which gives it a toehold in the $54B annual market. The Wall Street Journal (March 10) reported that Google is controlling TV ads that individual viewers see and tailoring them to fit their interests.

The Journal noted that federal privacy laws restrict what cable companies can do with "personally identifiable information." Google believes consumers will want to share info with it to heighten target advertising.

For instance, a dog owner would get ads for dog food. A Google spokesperson described the goal as adding value to TV ads by making them more relevant for users and accountable for advertisers.

The trial and conviction of Scooter Libby on charges of lying about how he learned of Valerie Plame’s CIA identity has taken a toll not only on Libby but on the press. Whistleblowers in government and elsewhere will be more cautious now about helping the press since the courts have moved so forcefully against reporters trying to protect sources. Ten of the 19 witnesses called were reporters and many of them looked bad. They displayed faulty memories and lost their usual aplomb. Their sources were “outed” supposedly by the sources themselves...these are difficult times for reporters in other ways. The International News Safety Institute reported last week that 1,000 journalists have been killed while on duty in the past ten years, many of them hunted down and murdered while others died during military actions. A more civilized form of journalistic “death” is institutional blackballing of reporters who dare to cross an institution... Libby supporters are arguing for a Presidential pardon but Democrats respond that a lie is a lie and that no mercy was shown to Bill Clinton when he lied about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky...speaking of lying, PR Week/U.K. held a debate in February on PR people and lying which concluded that, as PRW editor Danny Rogers phrased it, “If you are not prepared to lie occasionally, you cannot do your job successfully.” The audience defeated, by a vote of 138-124, the proposition that “PR has a duty to tell the truth.” Peter Crumpler, PR head of the Church of England, who was at the debate, was flabbergasted. “Truth and integrity have to be the cornerstones of our profession,” he said. Astoundingly, Rogers disagreed in an editorial, saying, “The fact that PR people admit they need to lie occasionally is a sign of growing honesty.”

This NL was lied to by PRSA on Oct. 5, 2005, when we phoned h.q. and said we heard the printed members’ directory was being killed. The PR dept. said no, that’s only being considered. The next day “leadership” got an e-mail that the printed directory was indeed kaput. When we asked PRSA why we were not told the truth, the explanation was that a lie had to be told since leaders could not possibly find out about such an important development on the O’Dwyer website... another “lie” was told when PRSA leaders promised that killing the paper directory would be discussed at the Assembly. It never was. The regular Assembly in Miami was cancelled by Hurricane Wilma and the subject did not come up at the postponed meeting in Chicago. It would have come up if leadership brought it up...lies take all sorts of forms including refusal to pick up the phone or return press calls. Since almost no corporate PR pros answer their own phones these days, we talk to a lot of secretaries. When we asked one why her boss is always in a meeting, she responded that she goes through the day inventing non-existent “meetings,” “away from his desk,” “someone with him,” “on the phone,” etc., to shield the exec from unwanted calls. Who is doing the lying, the PR pro or the secretary?... among VPs of PR no longer dealing with the press is Janet Troy, now VP-PR of PRSA. She has handed those duties to PR manager Cedric Bess apparently while she concentrates on strategy...Venable, major D.C. law firm, has replaced Moses & Singer as PRSA’s law firm. Jeff Tenenbaum of Venable handles the account.

While new PRSA COO Bill Murray has not answered any of the 16 questions we e-mailed him Feb. 14, he gave an interview last week with Bulldog Reporter. One question was, “How do you plan to silence such long-time critics as Jack O’Dwyer?” His answer was that part of his job is to listen to critics but the criticism must be “objective, fact-based and focused on the present and future. So I will be listening to, and considering, criticism or commentary that meets those criteria.” If Murray wants “facts,” here are some: he is refusing to reveal his salary when Federal law requires him to do so; CEO Rhoda Weiss won’t even reveal her speaking schedule; PRSA is refusing to provide transcripts of the 2005-2006 Assemblies; it is “lowballing” staff costs of the annual conference by about $1.5M. We could go on and on about facts that PRSA refuses to face...while Murray dismisses PRSA’s past history as a topic for him to discuss (including PRSA’s 19-year record of copying and selling authors’ works without their permission), at the end of the interview he points out PRSA has a “resource center with historical articles.” So one minute history is bad but the next minute it’s good.

Weiss is still stonewalling about her accident on the steps of the Eisenhower Bldg. in D.C. Jan. 9 when she fell down the steps and apparently broke her leg. Sources say the steps were wet and there are so many of them that a number of PR people at the cocktail party took an elevator to street level. Weiss was seen being taken to the hospital by uniformed Secret Service and the next day was seen in a wheelchair with a cast on her leg. She did not show up at the meeting the next day but attendees were told nothing. “All we know is what we read in your Newsletter,” said several attendees who were called...Murray was probably with Weiss but is declining to answer questions. At one point in the Bulldog interview, he says, “It’s the board’s role to set policy and direction.” So we do not expect him to ask the board to decouple itself from APR, open the PRSA website to member input, call for a Spring Assembly, appoint a CPA to the staff, etc.
He’s interested in PRSA’s “strategic plan.” He feels PRSA “must listen to its members” but if it did it would never have killed the printed directory and would bring it back now, trimming wasteful spending in other areas.
The last published poll of members’ opinions was in 1997 during Debra Miller’s presidency when about 800 were contacted...a group of members is organizing a campaign to bring back the directory and re-orient PRSA’s resources to the benefit of members rather than a few insiders including “leadership” and staff.

--Jack O'Dwyer