PUBLICIS ACQUIRES MCGINN GROUP.

France’s Publicis Groupe has acquired the 50-member McGinn Group, the Arlington, Va.-based corporate affairs, issues management and litigation PR firm.

Dan McGinn’s firm has repped General Motors, Pacific Gas & Electric, Symantec and Choicepoint.

McGinn sold Ryan-McGinn, which he crafted into a top 10 Washington, D.C., shop, to Interpublic in ’03. He launched MG in `01.

Publicis is recasting MG as McGinn MS&L. McGinn has shared clients, such as GM, with Manning, Selvage & Lee.

CAPPELLO EXITS H&K.

Hill & Knowlton CEO Paul Taaffe is looking for a replacement for Juan Cappello, head of its Latin American operations, an H&K staffer told O’Dwyer’s.

70-year-old Cappello “exited about a month ago to do other things,” the H&K exec said. Mark Thorne, H&K’s COO and CFO, is serving as acting director of Cappello’s old group.

The Chilean was appointed president of H&K/Latin America in `98. Previously, he held the top corporate relations and advertising post at ITT Corp. during its “glory days” under Hal Geneen.

TAIWAN DROPS BG&R.

Taiwan has ended its PR contract with Barbour Griffith & Rogers, a year before the three-year pact was set to expire.

David Lee, Taiwan’s U.S. rep, has denied a China Post report that the State Dept. pressured the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to pull the $4.5M account.

Taiwan’s government has launched a review of its PR outreach. Annette Lu, Taiwan’s VP, told CP that some American PR firms are too expensive.

She feels Taiwan’s booming economy and democratic government may be Taiwan’s best public diplomacy tool.

Jim Lovejoy, who headed PR and IR and Wolverine World Wide, died April 9 at his home in Florida. He was 77.

At Wolverine, Lovejoy succeeded in wooing upscale retailer Neiman Marcus to feature an image of the company’s iconic Hush Puppies casual shoes on its cover.

He also counseled at Burson-Marsteller, where he worked with Gerber Foods to defuse the glass in baby food jar crisis.

CRC SUPPORTS ABSTINENCE EDUCATION.

The National Abstinence Education Association has hired Creative Response Concepts to develop and implement a national PR campaign to improve the public understanding and perception of abstinence education.

The move comes as abstinence-only family planning programs that are favored by Republicans and their social conservative allies have lost momentum with the Democratic takeover of Congress.

CRC, which was founded by Pat Buchanan’s former spokesperson Greg Mueller, is best noted for its work on behalf of “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth—which helped sink John Kerry’s presidential candidacy—and “intelligent design.”

NAEA, according to a fund-raising membership pitch letter, plans a “proactive rapid response initiative to counteract negative attacks on abstinence education.”

APCO EXPANDS IN BIG APPLE.

Washington-based APCO Assocs. has bolstered its New York outpost with the addition of Derwin Johnson and Adam Segall to its roster. The new APCO senior VPs had been running Vistance Group, a corporate and financial firm since `01.

Johnson was Middle East bureau chief for CNN and ABC News and before that produced Good Morning America News.

Segall’s experience includes the director spot at the New York Regional Office of the Anti-Defamation League and chairman of the New York State Hate Crimes Bill Coalition.

Former Burson-Marsteller CEO Larry Snoddon runs APCO’s Big Apple office.

‘EMBRACE CRITICS,’ MURRAY TOLD.

Stuart Goldstein, managing director of corporate communications, Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., New York, has urged PRSA president Bill Murray to “fling the door open and embrace the critics.”

Goldstein, who sent an e-mail to Murray this month and also copied this website, has yet to receive a reply from Murray.

“The PRSA governance structure suppresses debate and dialogue on critical issues facing the profession,” wrote Goldstein.

“The accreditation requirement for serving in PRSA leadership is a turn-off and barrier to input from senior corporate professionals in communications, who see APR as irrelevant,” he added.

IMUS FIRING STUNS PR WORLD.

New York PR counselor Mike Paul believes the firing of Don Imus will do nothing to foster the “forgiveness and reconciliation” that is needed in the wake of his racist remarks targeted at the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

Paul believes the team could have displayed “real leadership” by forgiving Imus, and urging MSNBC/CBS to keep him on the payroll so he could do good works to ease the hurt that his words caused.

He criticizes Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for capitalizing on the anger of the moment and “scapegoating” Imus for all the injustices suffered by African-Americans.

Limits to Apologies

Eric Dezenhall, CEO of crisis firm Dezenhall Resources, says Imus’ fall from grace supports his belief that apologies have limits. [That’s the core thesis of his new book, “Damage Control: Why Everything You Know About Crisis Management is Wrong,” written with John Weber.]

When behavior is viewed as being aberrant, apologies can work, according to Dezenhall.  When they’re viewed as being revelatory – indicative of a pattern of behavior – they’re much less effective.

Dezenhall says despite the PR industry’s love of apologies, it’s not as if Imus had apologized in some different way or had done so more times, it would have made a bit of difference.

“While he had to give it a shot, the track record of recovering from racially-tinged remarks is really poor and, to the horror of PR people, some matters are beyond the discipline of our humble profession,” he said. 

It’s up to communicators, in Dezenhall’s view, to take a more critical, realpolitik look at when apologies work and when they don’t.

Death to shock jock ‘product’

As Imus decides his future, Richard Levick, CEO of Levick Strategic Communications, believes as far as major media are concerned, the “product” called “shock jock” has been recalled. The corporate fathers must now decide what will replace the morning drive time vulgarities. But the fundamental decision was made: It is time for something new, says Levick.

The Imus fiasco set the limits to what can be said during a shock jock broadcast. The former appeal of shock jock broadcasts, according to Levick, was that there are no limits and that anything can happen. As such, the product’s appeal is fatally diluted.

Levick says it may well be that public taste for this kind of programming is a fever that’s run its course. “Why? Because America finally saw victims, up close and personal,” he added.

Levick notes the shock jock fever finally broke on the 20th anniversary of the Fairness Act repeal. “That FCC regulation required broadcast licensees to present controversial issues in an honest, equal, and balanced manner. By repealing it, Congress fully opened the door for Don Imus and his sundry shock jock peers.

“One can expect the media industry to close that door again. It is no longer good for business,” concluded Levick.

RENO-SPARKS ROLLS RFP.

The Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority has issued an RFP looking for a firm to build greater awareness for “America’s Adventure Place” as a year-round spot for leisure and convention travelers.

The firm will play up outdoor activities (skiing/snowboarding, kayaking, golf, Native American festivals) to balance the many gambling and entertainment attractions that lure more than five million visitors each year to the northern Nevada region.

The PR firm is expected to generate consumer and trade coverage of area facilities like the Reno-Sparks Livestock Events Center and National Bowling Stadium.

“Fam trips” must be organized and outreach made to targeted niche markets such as gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and transgender; Hispanic; heritage and arts and culture.

The RSCVA has spent $90K annually for PR in recent years. Budget for the year beginning June 1 has not been set. The new PR contract has a maximum of four one-year renewals.

The RSCVA wants a firm either based in or near the Reno-Sparks region because the PR reps are required to attend local meetings.

Proposals are due April 20. Selection will be made during the week of May 14.
Mary Paoli, RSCVA’s communications manger, is handling the search. She is at (775) 827-7781 and [email protected].

NATIONWIDE BRANDS PLANE.

Nationwide Financial Services and Skybus Airlines will launch the first “co-branded” airplane when the Columbus, Ohio-based start-up launches its maiden flight in a few weeks following anticipated Federal Aviation Administration approval.

The Airbus 319 will display the Nationwide logo and its long-running tagline, “Nationwide Is On Your Side” on the exterior of its fuselage. Nationwide will also brand the Airbus interior including tray tables, overhead bins and restroom backdoors to offer a complete “brand experience” for travelers.

Nationwide spokesperson Mike Switzer told O’Dwyer’s that Nationwide’s venture with Skybus will allow the carrier to charge “outrageously low fares.”

The Columbus-based insurer ($160B assets) will highlight that consumers benefit in its marketing comms. Fleishman-Hillard handles Nationwide’s PR.

B-M’s GREENE TO EDELMAN.

Burson-Marsteller’s Jerilan Greene has shifted to Edelman’s Chicago office as executive VP in its Edelman Change and Employee Engagement practice.

She will work closely with Gary Grates, the veteran PR pro who serves as president & global managing director of that unit.

Greene was in charge of B-M’s organizational communications specialty, which is part of the corporate/financial group. She also worked at Deloitte Consulting and Watson Wyatt.

She has advised clients on employer branding, corporate positioning, workforce/functional restructuring, outsourcing and merger/acquisition integration.

DISCOVERY CUTS 200 STAFFERS.

Discovery Communications is cutting about three percent of its workforce (200 people) as CEO David Zaslav, who joined from NBC Universal in November, continues the makeover of the cable TV operation.

The cuts are in the branding, communications and administrative sections. He vowed that the saved cash will be put into new ventures such as the aggressive "Planet Earth" platform.

"By eliminating organizational layers and increasing our investment in original programming, the goal is to deepen consumer engagement with our brands," said Zaslav in a staff memo.

BAUTZ TO EDIT TV GUIDE ONLINE.

Mark Bautz, former editor-in-chief of People.com, is now at the same post at TV Guide Online.

He will also oversee other Gemstar TV International websites such as JumpTheShark.com and TVNow.

Bautz joined Time Inc. in `92 as a staff writer for Money. He moved to Entertainment Weekly, where he served as executive editor of EW.com.
He took the People slot in `03.

FOX LINKS WITH HEARST.

Fox TV Studios has forged a venture with Hearst Magazines to create broadband and TV shows based on the magazine titles.

The initial project involves two webisodes based on Popular Mechanics and CosmoGirl.

The two- or three-minute episodes will launch on the magazine sites and be pitched to other portals.

The CosmoGirl series will be a soap opera in which fans can recommend story lines for upcoming episodes.

The partners will split advertising on a 50/50 basis.

People __________________________

Tony Maddox is the new managing director of CNN's international operations. He replaces the retiring Chris Cramer. Maddox, a nine-year CNN veteran, was VP, news operations. He worked at the BBC for 13 years before joining CNN.

Air America president Mark Green hosted a party March 31 for the 60 staffers who held the progressive radio network together during its first three financially rocky years. The former New York Mayor candidate, whose real estate brother recently purchased AA, promised better days ahead. AA has recruited "Lionel" (Michael William LeBron) to host its 9 a.m.-12 noon time slot. He had his own show on WOR Radio in New York that was heard on more than 90 stations across the country.

Jennifer Bruno has been tapped by House Beautiful for the associate publisher spot. She is responsible for ad/sales programs. Bruno was at Organic Style….Ellen Weiss has been named VP-News at National Public Radio. The 25-year NPR veteran had held the post on an "acting" basis since October. She is in charge of more than 400 staffers in 36 bureaus.

MTV WANTS MINORITY PR WOMEN.

Viacom's MTV Networks is looking for "young minority women working in PR" to play roles in a reality based pilot show, according to an email written by MTV Tempo’s Ayanna Barton.

The show will consist of “a group of girls in the entertainment industry whether it be through TV, PR or music,” she wrote.

The concept is to show “what it takes to be a successful minority woman in this male-dominated field.” Barton compares the pilot to “MTV’s ‘The Hills’ meets Oxygen’s ‘Bad Girls Club.’”

MTV wants to probe office hardships such as sexual harassment to “toxic relationships with boyfriends and close female friends.”

The reality show women will “tackle these issues while still enjoying life.”

Some of MTV's PR reality stars will play by the rules, while others will set their own “regardless of the backs they stab on their way to climbing the heights of success.”

The perfect MTV show candidate will be “personable, charismatic and camera friendly.” She must be comfortable with the camera coverage her daily happenings.

Barton is at 212/654-8743.

KLEMAN UPPED AT CR.

Consumer Reports has appointed Kim Kleman, a ten-year veteran of the product review magazine, editor-in-chief. She succeeds Margot Slade who departed in October.

CR, which is published by the non-profit Consumers Union, has a 70 percent male circulation of 4.3M, of which about 160K copies are sold on newsstands.

The magazine is set for a redesign later this year. Kleman promises a recommitment to "groundbreaking consumer journalism."

CR was stung earlier this year by a "Safety Alert" article concerning infant car seats. It later apologized after revelations that the test was botched by the outside company that conducted it.

CU also has promoted Greg Daugherty to the newly created position of executive editor, franchises.

He will oversee editors who are responsible for CR reporting teams that cover cars, electronics, finance, health and home.

Daugherty also worked at Money and New Choices.

TIME INC. SELLS BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB.

Time Inc. is selling Bookspan, which includes the Book-of-the-Month Club operation, to its joint venture partner Bertelsmann for an estimated $150M.

The Book-of-the-Month Club was founded in 1926 to introduce literature to the masses.

The German media combine plans to fold Bookspan into BMG Columbia House.
Bertelsmann bought Columbia House, marketer of music and DVDs, in ’05 for $400M.

(Media news continued on next page)

JUST A MATTER OF TIME FOR TW.

Time Warner is expected to sell former crown jewel Time Inc. with its roster of 130 magazines to the Carlyle Group, according to Michael Wolff in May’s Vanity Fair.

The private equity firm is the home of Norman Pearlstine, the former editor-in-chief of Time Inc. He joined the private equity giant in `06 as senior advisor to its global telecommunications and media team.

His role is to identify investments and business opportunities" in the media space for Carlyle's buyout, venture and growth capital teams.

Wolff believes a restructuring TW would be foolish not to unload the $5B publishing group to a PE firm that has “boatloads of cash,” and needs to pull off a mega-deal to stay on top since giant PE firms need huge deals to raise more cash.

Time Inc. is a “hot potential deal because it’s a big brand name, has lots of cash flow, has tons of deadwood people who can be fired,” he wrote.

Wolff says at least 20 firms could afford to buy Time Inc., setting the stage for a bidding war that would jack up the value of the magazines.

TW has not said Time Inc. is for sale, but “almost everybody assumes it will be, not least of all because there are so many firms, such as Carlyle, who'd like to buy it.”

Wolff wrote that the “smart money” understands Pearlstine’s role is to "help take over his old employer."

A sell-off of Time Inc. would enable Time Warner to concentrate on its faster growing cable, programming and studio ventures. It also would boost its stock price.

TW trades in the $21 range, far below the $35 mark on Jan. 2, `01 when AOLTW opened for business.

DOW JONES EYES U.K.'S FINANCIAL NEWS.

Dow Jones, publisher of the Wall Street Journal, is going to buy London-based Financial News in a deal worth about $40M, according to the Telegraph.

The paper and website are "must-reads" for bankers throughout Europe. They cover the asset management, private equity and investment banking markets.
NM Rothschild is handling the sale of the paper.

MEDIA GENERAL CUTS IN TAMPA.

Media General is trimming 70 jobs at its Tampa Tribune property as it reorganizes to offer more in-depth local coverage. The company is cutting another 15 positions at its WFLA TV station.

Denise Palmer, publisher of the Tribune, said the idea is to reduce resources that are in decline while investing in growth areas such as local news and the `Net.

The Tribune is shrinking its width by half an inch, combining sections and scaling back distribution beyond its core marketplace.

It plans websites targeted at specific communities as research shows that readers want "hype-local" coverage.

GANNETT SELLS QUARTET TO GATEHOUSE.

Gannett has sold four newspapers – Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin, Observer-Dispatch (Utica), Rockford (Ill.) Bulletin and Herald-Dispatch (WV) – to GateHouse Media for $410M.

Sue Clark-Johnson, president of Gannett, called the properties "terrific newspapers" that just didn't fit the media combine's strategic plan.

The papers with a combined daily and Sunday circulation of 160K and 187K are "highly respected local news products in their communities," according to Mike Reed, CEO of GateHouse, and are in line with GateHouse's plan to concentrate on smaller markets.

GateHouse, which is located in FairPort, N.Y.-near Rochester-chalked up $315M in `06 revenues.

It publishes 84 dailies in 19 states plus hundreds of community papers that reach nine million people each week.

VIACOM GIVES YAHOO BOOST.

Viacom has agreed to a multi-year partnership with Yahoo that makes it the exclusive provider of search ads to 33 of the media giant's 140-plus sites.

The deal covers popular sites such as MTV.com, ComedyCentral.com and Nickelodeon.com.

It also heralds a test for Yahoo’s new Panama search system.

The Viacom move is another slap at search leader Google, which it has already sued for more than $1B over copyright infringement.

HEARST LAUNCHES ‘GREEN’ SITE.

Hearst Magazines slates an Earth Day (April 22) launch of The Daily Green (www.thedailygreen.com) website dedicated to earth-friendly living.

TDG will feature eco-tips, national and international environmental news, recommendations on living a more sustainable lifestyle, "smart energy" developments and hormone- and pesticide-free recipe ideas.

The site will seek input from viewers. For instance, the "Weird Weather Watch" section is to showcase a photoblog comprised of images and comments from readers.

Hearst says it is the first major magazine company to launch an online resource for consumers dedicated to green living. The move follows the announcement that Hearst will put a “Please Recycle” notice on its magazines.

TDG is the initial "pure-play" site launched by Hearst digital group that was created in March `06.

It worked with industry veteran Deborah Jones Barrow on the development of TDG. She also worked at Meredith Corp. and Primedia.

Barrow serves as a trustee at the Hudson River Heritage environmental and historical preservation group.

TDG's target audience is 60 percent women aged 25 to 54. Some of its content will appear each month in House Beautiful.

There will be TDG pages on networking sites, MySpace and Facebook.

Hearst is riding the green wave as evidenced by the opening of its much-praised eco-headquarters in Manhattan.

The lynching of Don Imus, like the war in Iraq, has many innocent victims.
For one, it almost killed Gov. Jon Corzine of New Jersey whose car crashed while he was heading to the belated meeting of the Rutgers team and Imus.

This all could have been avoided if Imus had immediately called Howard Rubenstein, noted for getting power blocs to settle their differences.

As in any crisis, speed was of the essence. Rubenstein, instead of allowing Imus to go on the radio show of rabble-rousing Rev. Al Sharpton, who repaid the favor by calling for Imus to be fired (to his face), would have quickly brought all parties together in a teleconference.

This would have included the basketball team, Imus, MSNBC and CBS, Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, General Motors, AmEx and other advertisers.

The offensive remark was made Wednesday, April 4. It took a full week for the “off-with-his-head” crowd to mobilize. Oil could have been spread on these waters. Promises of fund-raising or contributions could have been made, apologies tendered, etc.

Leaders of the black community including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (who said she was pleased by the firing of Imus for his “disgusting” remark), weatherman Al Roker of NBC, Jesse Jackson and others would have been contacted.

The economic and emotional wreckage is huge including tens of millions lost by already weak MSNBC and CBS. Numerous people will lose jobs and much less will be collected for the Imus charities. Black/white polarization has skyrocketed.

Conservative writers had a field day, Pat Buchanan saying there was no malice in Imus’ careless remark but there was plenty in the demands for his head. Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin and others noted that the common use of “ho” and “bitch” (and worse) in rap and hip-hop draws little criticism.

Most of the participants looked bad including companies like General Motors, Procter &Gamble and Amex which pulled the plug on Imus. Having championed “diversity,” they followed the demands of their diversified employees. MSNBC looked confused, reneging on its initial two-week suspension of Imus. CBS, looking hysterical, fired Imus in the middle of his fund-raising drive for charities. Politicians and writers who had been featured on the Imus show mostly deserted him including Senators Chris Dodd and Joe Biden and journalists Tom Rich, Tom Friedman, Tim Russert and Brian Williams.

Outrage should have been directed not at Imus but at the word “ho” and other terms demeaning to women. A goat in this affair is producer Bernard McGurk who prodded Imus to say something about the Rutgers team...as for “hos,” it seems there are good and bad “hos.” Time Warner’s HBO series on the “Moonlite Bunny Ranch” in Nevada shows legal prostitutes always laughing and smiling and making thousands of dollars a day. They’re not “hos” at all but sexual instructors teaching technique to men. Fathers bring their sons to the Ranch and wives give their husbands a prostitute as an anniversary present...HBO’s black comedians use the same language as hip hop artists without arousing much criticism. Italians are portrayed poorly on “The Sopranos” without protest. Buchanan said the hypocrisy was “too thick to cut with a chainsaw.” Enough crocodile tears have been shed to flood the Nile.

New York PR counselor Mike Paul was one of the few conciliatory voices in the black community. He said the firestorm will do nothing to foster “forgiveness and reconciliation” and that MSNBC and CBS and the team could have shown “real leadership” by forgiving Imus and letting him continue with his charitable activities...last year’s PRSA president, Cheryl Procter-Rogers, was doing PR for HBO but quit mid-term. She couldn’t logically work for HBO and at the same time preach that PR pros are the ethical and moral leaders of their employers. TW has gotten out of hip hop records...PRSA CEO Rhoda Weiss, in the middle of the controversy, sent out a “media advisory” saying that “apologies can be the most effective means to repair damaged relations resulting from obvious errors in human judgment.” She was not available for further comment. Weiss has yet to appear before a PRSA chapter or elsewhere in public where reporters can question her...instead, president/COO Bill Murray will address the National Capital chapter Thursday, May 3, PRSA’s biggest chapter with 1,100 members. Why isn’t he speaking to the New York chapter? Murray, whom we met at the Arthur W. Page Society dinner April 12, has completely bought into the PRSA culture of press evasion. He refused an offer of a lunch date with us and confirmed that PRSA’s PR staffers are not allowed to answer any of our questions. We told Murray some members (like Stuart Goldstein whose remarks are on page one) are sending him e-mails and letters asking that board nominations be opened to non-APRs for the first time since 1973; that financials be reported accurately, that members get their printed, 1,000-page directory back, that PRSA release the transcripts of the 2005-2006 Assemblies, etc. He said he has received “few” letters so far. PRSA will not change unless enough members and leaders like Dan Edelman and Harold Burson protest to h.q. Members as well as past members and non-members should write to Murray at 33 Maiden Lane, NY 10038 ([email protected]). PRSA must be disabused of the notion it “owns” the PR industry and can do whatever it feels like...the Society was advised to meet its critics in an editorial in the April 2 Ragan Report by Roula Amiri. Murray had responded to some of this NL’s criticisms via strumpette.com but this did not impress Amiri. PRSA has a “knack for repeatedly flubbing its responses to negative press,” she wrote. “Engaging the press, whether you like it or not” is “PR 101,” she concluded.

--Jack O'Dwyer