L.A. SEEKS FIRM FOR HIV WORK.

Los Angeles County has an RFP out for a PR firm to promote its HIV education and AIDS drug assistance programs.

The RFP, issued on April 17 and available on the county’s procurement website, has a short two-week turnaround with pitches due on May 1.

The county wants a PR firm with experience in HIV issues to develop and execute a media relations plan for its prevention and treatment programs, along with its HIVLA.org website through the end of 2007. A second component for creative work could be subcontracted or handled by the PR firm, according to the RFP.

L.A. County, home to an estimated 59,000 HIV/AIDS cases, estimates total marketing value of the contract not to exceed $1.5M.

The county rejected bids to guide an HIV social marketing effort late last year following an RFP process.

OGILVY LANDS OMGEO ACCOUNT.

Ogilvy PR Worldwide has won a competitive review for financial services and software company Omgeo’s six-figure PR account.

Ogilvy bested Blanc & Otus and MWW Group to serve as U.S. AOR for the Boston-based company.

Omgeo is a joint venture of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. and Thomson Financial. Its services speed up the post-trade processes for investment managers and brokers. The company previously worked with Intermarket Communications in the U.S., according to senior PR specialist Annelise Grant.

Tom Reno, who heads Ogilvy’s New York practice group, leads the Omgeo business.

DOWLING MOVES TO FD.

Jeannine Dowling, senior VP-corporate relations at wine, beer, and spirits marketing Diageo North America, is now at FD as senior VP in its business consulting group.

She is based in Washington, and will serve as liaison to Gephardt & Assocs., the firm of former Democratic Majority Leader Dick Gephardt which has an affiliation with FD.

Prior to Diageo, Dowling was VP-government affairs at New York Life and PA director at Philip Morris, where she handled issues management, executive communications and legislative affairs. Dowling also ran her own consulting business.

FD is the former Financial Dynamics. Ed Reilly, is senior managing director of FD’s Business Consulting practice.

WREN EARNS $13.2M IN ’06 COMP.

Omnicom CEO John Wren earned $13.2M in total compensation in `06, according to the ad/PR combine’s proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That amount includes $6M that OMC paid per its incentive bonus program for `06.

The 54-year-old chief received a salary of $1M, $5.9M in option awards and $288K in other compensation. That money includes $246K for Wren’s personal use of an aircraft, $10K for tax preparation, $9K car allowance and $4K medical outlay.

Randall Weisenburger, executive VP and CFO, collected $8M in total comp for the year, including a $4.5M incentive plan outlay.

His base salary is $975K and perks include a $3,609 health club membership.

WEINER SHIFTS TO KETCHUM.

Mark Weiner, the former president of Delahaye, has moved to Ketchum as senior VP and director of its global research operation.

He joined the Omnicom unit because of its “deep and historic commitment to research.”

Weiner told O’Dwyer’s that he knows and respects David Rockwell, Ketchum’s former research director who is moving up to managing director responsible for development of Ketchum’s interactive capabilities, CEO Ray Kotcher and New York head Rob Flaherty.

Ketchum has a 25-member research unit. It also has an affiliation with a 50 person-plus media monitoring outfit in China.

Weiner believes it’s a good time to exit Cision, which was just rebranded earlier this month. He was named senior VP-communications research and analysis of the revamped operation of Cision U.S.

Weiner, author of “Unleashing the Power of PR,” joined Bacon’s in `05 with the acquisition of Delahaye.

VT STUDENTS BLAST HOLDUP OF NEWS.

Katie Corring, a junior majoring in political science Virginia Tech, has told the Roanoke Times she was "utterly astounded" at the failure of school officials to immediately announce that the murder of two students was discovered at 7:15 a.m., Monday, April 16.

Corring said she felt "disgrace and dismay" at the lack of action by school administrators and the police.

"The fact of the matter is," she continued, "if administrators and police had acted with more haste in shutting down the campus, 30 more lives may have been

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ALASKA WANTS FIRM FOR ANWR DRILLING.

Alaska has issued an RFP looking for a D.C.-area firm to make its case for “responsible oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as well as natural gas transportation issues.”

The state has budgeted $120K for the one-year contract. It may renew for five additional years.

Gov. Sarah Palin wants a firm that will assign a minimum of two staffers to the account. They must have experience working with both Democrats and Republicans.

The firm will have experience in working on energy and public land issues in western states.

Those include Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Work begins May 15.

SV TAKES ON JOBS.

Sard Verbinnen is repping Fred Anderson, Apple’s former chief financial officer, who claims that CEO Steve Jobs was aware and approved the backdating of stock options, a controversy that has cast a pale over the computer/music company’s robust performance.

Anderson settled a suit over the backdating on April 24, agreeing to pay a fine and return $3.5M in gains.

SV distributed a statement from Anderson’s attorney, Jerome Roth, to say that Anderson warned Jobs about the backdating but was assured that everything was legit.

Apple’s directors, a group that includes Al Gore, released its own statement, saying they are “not going to enter into a public debate with Fred Anderson or his lawyer.”

They say Jobs cooperated fully with an internal probe, and remain confident in “Steve’s integrity and his ability to lead Apple.”

In his SEC settlement, Anderson made no admission of guilt or denial of the charges.

Roth’s statement praises Anderson’s “long-standing impeccable reputation” and says he is “widely regarded as one of the most ethical CFOs in the nation whose extraordinary contributions to Apples’ success during his eight-year tenure are unquestioned.”

FREUD REPS BALDWIN.

Freud Communications’ New York office, headed by former Miramax communications chief Matthew Hiltzik, represents actor Alec Baldwin, who is locked in a nasty public custody fight.

Baldwin suffered an embarrassing setback last week when a voicemail message he left for his daughter was made public.

Baldwin, who is engaged in a legal custody tussle with ex-wife and actress Kim Bassinger, called his daughter a “rude, thoughtless little pig” in the widely distributed message.

Hiltzik was VP of corporate communications and government relations for Miramax in a five-year career there.

Baldwin stars in the NBC comedy “30 Rock” and appeared in “The Departed.”

5W JUMPS INTO ‘SNITCHING’ CONTROVERSY.

Hip-hop star Cam’ron (Camron Giles) has retained Ronn Torossian’s 5W Public Relations for image work in the aftermath of the April 22 “60 Minutes” piece in which the rapper told Anderson Cooper that it is wrong to “snitch” to police.

Telling the police about a crime would hurt his career and go against to the “way I was raised,” said the singer. He also said he wouldn’t tell the cops if a serial killer lived next door. In that case, Cam’ron said he would just move.

The New York Times gave major play to Cam’ron’ in a “Don’t Blame Hip-Hop” wrap-up piece written by Kelefa Sanneh that ran on the front cover of this April 25 arts section.

Torossian has a statement from his client explaining how he now understands that his 60 Minutes comments “could be viewed as offensive, especially to those who have suffered their own personal tragedies or to those who put their lives on the line to protect our citizens from crime.”

The rapper, who was shot in a carjacking episode in `05, says he didn’t cooperate with the police investigation because where he comes from “once word gets out that you’ve cooperated with the police that only makes you a bigger target of violence.”

During the CBS piece, Cam’ron was expressing his “own personal frustration at my own personal circumstance.” He did not intend to be “malicious or harmful.”

SILVER GUIDES ZERO G.

M. Silver Associates is handling PR for Zero Gravity Corp., the space tourism company riding a wave of good press for flying renowned physicist Stephen Hawking into weightlessness on April 26.

The voyage was co-sponsored by Space Florida and The Sharper Image, which sells seats on Zero G flights.

Hawking, who is paralyzed by Lou Gehrig’s Disease, has written bestselling books on the cosmos and said experiencing weightlessness was a dream of his.

A photo of Hawking floating in a Zero Gravity plane was picked up by the Associated Press and widely distributed.

Zero G is privately held and has been operating since 2004. Hawking’s 90-minute flight raised $144K for charities.

MMC ADDS HEALTH TRIO.

Marina Maher Communications has bolstered its healthcare practice via the recruitment of three senior VPs.

Shirley Stadtmueller joins the New York-based shop from Porter Novelli, where she handled Amgen and Baxter products. Earlier, she spent a decade at GCI Group repping Pfizer, Novartis, Hoffmann-LaRoche and Boehringer-Ingelheim.

Christopher Rucas was recruited from Genta. That former Ruder Finn exec was responsible for communications for Genta’s flagship product, Genasense.
Marina Maher also hired Joanne Marlin from Shire Health International, where she led Roche’s oncology business. Marlin also worked on Claritin.

LINCOLN NATIONAL MAY SELL MEDIA UNITS.

Lincoln National Corp. is mulling the sale of its media group, which generated nearly $200M in `06 revenues.

The Greensboro, N.C.-based unit consists of 18 radio stations in Top 50 markets (Chicago, Miami, San Diego) and three TV stations.

The operation also includes Lincoln Financial Sports, a TV production house responsible for the broadcast of Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference football and basketball games throughout the southeast.

LNC, which has $9B in annual revenue, acquired the media group with its `05 acquisition of Jefferson-Pilot. A deal with a private equity group could fetch $1.5B.

COHEN STEPS DOWN AT LIFETIME.

Betty Cohen has resigned as CEO of Lifetime Entertainment as ratings and revenues slip at the Walt Disney Co. and Hearst venture.

The 50-year-old Cohen felt it was "time for a transition." The former No. 1 cable network is now in the No. 6 slot. Efforts to attract a younger audience have missed the mark.

Andrea Wong, an ABC executive, is taking over for Wong. Cohen's resignation followed a day after she previewed Lifetime’s programming to ad execs in N.Y.

SACKS TO DLIFE.

Michael Sacks, a veteran of AOL, has joined dLifeTV, the programmer of all things about diabetes.

He will focus on development of online offerings, plus support of dLife's multi-channel media properties.

dLifeTV airs each Sunday on CNBC, and "dLife Diabetes Minute" is heard on radio stations and XM Satellite Radio.

Sacks, prior to AOL, was executive VP at Outerforce Systems, a software firm, and served on the start-up team behind iVillage.

KELLY PUTS USN&WR TEAM IN PLACE.

Brian Kelly, the new U.S. News & World Report editor, has promoted assistant managing editors Margaret Mannix and Tim Smart to the ME slots.

They will work closely with Ryan Thornburg, ME of the mag's website, to integrate news and consumer journalism for the weekly and online version.
Mannix joined the weekly in `90. Smart signed on in `99. Kelly took over for Brian Duffy this month.

SI TRIES FAN NATION AGAIN.

Time Inc.'s Sports Illustrated Group has re-launched FanNation.com, a social networking and sports news aggregation platform.

The redesigned site joins SI.com and Golf.com. It features sections such as "team tracker," "player tracker," "truth and rumors," and "hot topics."

Paul Fichtenbaum, ME of SI.com, promises FanNation will provide users a "multi-dimensional sports experience that they can't get anywhere else."

Ken Fuchs is GM of the revamped site.

BET BOLSTERS RANKS.

BET Networks, provider of news and cultural information for blacks, has installed Janet Rolle as executive VP/chief marketing officer.

She joined the Viacom unit from Time Warner's AOL, where she was in charge of the "Black Voices" site.

Earlier Rolle held posts at MTV Networks (business development and VHI programming) and HBO (marketing, new media and sales promotion).

BET also named Jeanine Liburd senior VP-communications and PA. She moves from Viacom, and is alum of Robinson Lerer Montgomery, where she helped launch the Oxygen Network.

NYC WOMEN ARE HAPPY IN MEDIA.

Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of New York area female media workers would choose the same career all over again, according to a poll conducted by the New York Women's Media Council.

The top three reasons: suits personal interest (44 percent), have passion for the work (43 percent) and are intellectually challenged (26 percent).

Compensation and stress are the biggest drawbacks of working in the media, say the 434 people polled by the Council.

Betsy Morgan, president of New York Women in Communications, said the poll shows that women are "comfortable in their roles as leaders in business." It's "up to us to work smarter and be more creative in striking the right work-life balance," she said.

NAACP TARGETS MEDIA, COMMUNITY.

The National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People has launched the "Stop Campaign" to "end the prevalence of racist, sexist language, images and concepts in the media."

The civil rights organization urges people to "stop accepting disrespect" by "not patronizing companies and artists that put forth demeaning and disrespectful images in our community."

Stefanie Brown, director of the NAACP's youth and college division, believes it is time for the African-American community to "stop using and responding to derogatory words," according to a release.

She said African-American people have a "proud heritage and promising destiny," but they need to respect themselves and stop disrespecting each other.

The Baltimore-based operation is especially upset with the "demeaning" images of African-American women in the media, and singled out the song "I Was Getting Some," along with other music videos that show half-dressed women being objectified by men."

The NAACP plans creation of local "Stop" chapters and an advisory board composed of music, movie, TV execs and artists to "stop negative African-American imagery in the media."

The group considers the "nappy-headed hos" remark by former radio talk show host Don Imus just the latest in the "overwhelming number of racially disrespectful incidents that have occurred recently."

(Media news continued on next page)

SULZBERGER UNDERSTANDS FRUSTRATION.

The New York Times Co. management "understands shareholder frustration" over its poor stock performance, said chairman Arthur Sulzberger, following last week’s annual meeting in which dissident shareholders withheld 42 percent of the vote to protest the two-tier stock ownership structure.

The vote was viewed as a symbolic victory for Morgan Stanley, which is the driving force to undo the Class A and Class B stock set-up. Twenty-eight percent of stockholders at last year's meeting withheld their votes in support of MS proposal.

Sulzberger pledged to cut costs, improve financial performance and invest in the future of journalism. "We conduct a regular review of our strategic plan and are moving ahead with appropriate urgency," he said.

The chairman said of the dual ownership structure: "The Ochs-Sulzberger family remains firmly and unanimously committed to the dual class share structure that has been in place since before the Company went public in 1969."

He noted that with about "19 percent of the Company's Class A shares and 89% of its Class B shares, our family's interests are very much aligned with other shareholders in seeing the Company's performance improve."

The NYTC stock price is down nearly 50 percent to $24 over the past three years.

Graham defends two-tier ownership

"The New York Times shouldn't be auctioned off like a side of beef," wrote Donald Graham, CEO of the Washington Post Co., in an op-ed piece published in the April 23 Wall Street Journal.

In the article, Graham defends the two-tier stock ownership position that is in place at the NYTCO as a tool to protect the journalistic integrity of the newspaper. [WPC and WSJ parent, Dow Jones & Co., have similar ownership structures.]

Graham credits the Times' controlling Sulzberger family for a willingness to spend millions to pursue media excellence. It isn't guaranteed that new ownership "would spend more than $200M on a newsroom budget, or deploy dozens of foreign correspondents around the world."

Unlike high-ego billionaires, the Sulzberger family is "willing to anger friends on a regular basis, as good newspapers do, and is prepared to spend money and run other risks to sustain the paper."

Graham rapped the Morgan Stanley proposal to eliminate the two-tier ownership set-up. He urged shareholders who care about what the NYT "at its best has stood for" to vote against the MS proposal at the annual meeting.

HOFFMAN, HEARST RE-LAUNCH VICTORIA.

Hoffman Media and Hearst Magazines have teamed to re-launch the defunct Victoria magazine, which was shuttered by Hearst in 2003.

The lifestyle and home magazine launched in 1987 with an eye on those who "recognize the importance of beauty, manners and traditions in daily life."

Hoffman, which publishes Cooking with Paula Deen and Southern Lady and is based in Birmingham, Ala., will direct production of the magazine with Hearst throwing in the name, subscription base, and archives for the venture.

The latest incarnation will be a bi-monthly hitting newsstands in October. Hoffman has set a readership goal of 250K after its second issue.

After Hearst pulled the plug in 2003, a series of branded books with the Victoria name have been published by Sterling books.

JOBS: PAST FAILURES ARE O.K. TO DISCUSS.

Don't be afraid to talk about past professional failures during a job interview, said Madelyn Hammond, senior VP at Landmark Theaters. "They build character and show how you can handle adversity."

Hammond spoke to 50 publicists earlier this month at a career counseling event sponsored by Entertainment Publicists Professional Society and BusinessWire in Hollywood.

She was joined by entertainment recruiter Pamela Robinson who advised the crowd to do their homework before agreeing to take a new job. "Be ready to talk about four or five special skill-sets during the interview," she added.

Hammond said job candidates need to be ready to explain what they are looking for in a job. They both agreed that candidates should know their accomplishments and rehearse them in front of a mirror. "Before you interview, rehearse various interview scenarios with yourself and a trusted colleague," said Robinson.

It's important to "establish a comfort zone" during the interview. "If you see a stuffed fish mounted in the office, strike up a conversation about it," said Hammond. "Ask questions. You don't want to take the job and learn it wasn't what you expected it to be. Show interest in the interviewer."

Robinson suggested showing personality during the interview and talking about broad interests. One caveat: don't talk about potentially dangerous activities like skydiving because that makes you appear to be high risk, said the co-author of "If I Don't Do It Now. Career Makeovers For The Working Woman" and columnist for www.VarietyCareers.com.

Hammond and Robinson conducted interactive interview situations involving members from the audience. "Eye contact and a good handshake are important," said Hammond as participants took turns socializing at a mock networking situation.

"Don't take a network meeting unless you come away with specific information or you're wasting your time. If you work for an abusive boss, you don't want to be a victim, show strength. If a boss asks why are you leaving, say 'I'm not challenged anymore." Never bring up anything negative," said Hammond, a veteran of Variety, Sony Pictures Consumer Products, MGM/UA, and Turner Pictures.

Money is the No. 1 factor for people moving on, according to Robinson.

The latest victim of bad language was Rosie O’Donnell, who was ousted from ABC’s “The View” April 25, two days after she made sexual remarks and gestures at the Matrix banquet of New York Women in Communications.

Some of the same corporations that pulled the plug on Don Imus in mid-April for his remarks about the Rutger’s women’s basketball team were in the record audience of 1,650. O’Donnell made remarks about Donald Trump, grabbed her crotch, and invited him to perform a sexual act. This was too much for the blue chips, especially since 17 young women were present to receive $100K ($3K-$10K each) in scholarships.

A national movement is afoot to rid pop culture of content that is ethnically offensive or simply in bad taste. Rap stars are talking about doing this but none has yet agreed to do so. O’Donnell had boosted “The Views” ratings by 17% over the previous year, drawing an audience of 3.5 million for the show.

If the big corporations don’t like profanity, one thing they do like is awards luncheons and dinners. NYWICI grossed $1.25 million from the event and netted at least $500,000 based on past records. For the first time, the west foyer of the Waldorf was used to accommodate the overflow crowd. Corporations paid $12,000 for a table while members paid $125 for a single ticket...another major awards event last week was the dinner of the Overseas Press Club April 26 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. A black tie crowd of 450 saw CBS-TV news anchor Katie Couric present awards to dozens of journalists for hazardous service in the Middle East, Africa and other places. Sponsors including Pfizer, Schering-Plough, Siemens, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, General Motors, MasterCard and Weber Shandwick paid $5,000 and more for tables. Silence was observed while a scroll was shown of the hundreds of journalists killed in battle zones in recent years. Speaker Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times said media are under heavy criticism today, some of it justified by failures such as playing “lapdog” to the government prior to the invasion of Iraq. Newspeople are “even lower in the public’s view than congressmen,” he said.

There’s “lots of financial insecurity” in the news business these days, he added. Kristof, who got three subpoenas last year, the first he ever received, says he expects more journalists to go to jail in the future. He urged reporters to continue to pursue their idealism and “recognize the importance of what we do...because we can make a major difference.”

Speaking of profanity, the death last week of Jack Valenti, long head of the Motion Picture Assn., resulted in reviews of his career including the dismantling of the Hays Code by the MPA in the late 1960's that opened the floodgates to the use of raw language, sexual scenes and violence in movies. Under Hays, married couples had to use twin beds, even partial nudity was banned, and profanity except for “hell” and “damn” was forbidden. The use of public restrooms for scenes (including people relieving themselves), a common occurrence in today’s movies, would have been unthinkable under Hays. In “The Shooter,” at least 50 people are murdered by guns, including those who have no way of defending themselves. The wounded, lying defenseless on the ground, are shot again by the “hero” and “heroine.”

Virginia Tech coverage is focusing on the life of Seung-Hui Cho, how he got his guns, and psychiatric aid he might have gotten. What we want to know is whether VT spokesperson Larry Hincker advised seven school officials at the meeting at 8:25 a.m. April 16 to quickly put out the news of the initial two murders that were discovered at 7:15 a.m. What “clout” does PR have at VT is the question? It’s bad enough that it took an hour-plus to assemble the eight. A lot of heat is on an innocent victim, Heather Vaughn, roommate of the murdered Emily Hilscher, an 18-year-old freshman. Vaughn told police Hilscher had just returned to her room after spending the weekend in the apartment of her boyfriend Karl Thornhill, a senior at Radford Univ. Vaughn told police Thornhill was known to be a gun buff and they mistakenly concentrated on tracking him down... Hincker was available for comment April 12 when VT learned that the “Girls Gone Wild” tour bus was to visit near VT on April 20. GGW portrays lesbian sex and Hincker called GGW “a porn operation” that is counter to “VT values.” A VT official called it a “heinous, heinous operation.” Founder Joe Francis was jailed in Florida early in April for criminal contempt involving charges that GGW used underage women in sex films. He was charged on April 25 in L.A.with misdemeanor sexual battery involving an 18-year-old woman Jan. 10...Vivian Stringer, Rutgers basketball coach, and Crown Publishing were criticized April 26 by Mike Francesca and Chris “Mad Dog” Russo of WFAN on the ground that the announcement of her book contract with Crown came too soon after the firing of Don Imus, whose place Francesca and Russo are taking. Crown should have waited longer since it now looks likes Stringer is capitalizing on the misfortune of Imus, they added. Imus did not get to meet with Stringer and the team until April 12, eight days after the offending remark that was made at 6:14 a.m. on April 4. On April 10, Stringer and the team had an hour news conference at which Imus’ apology was not accepted. It was also not accepted at the three-hour meeting April 12. On the next day, the apology was accepted but Stringer, in her own statement, said: “We still find his statements unacceptable, and this experience is one that we will never forget”...Imus producer Bernard McGuirk, who had prompted Imus to use the word “ho” by saying, “Some hard-core hos,” told Fox’s “Hannity & Colmes” show April 26 that Rev. Al Sharpton, who helped lead the drive to oust Imus, was a “terrorist” who was “appeased.” Imus deserved punishment but not firing, said McGuirk...one sad result of the Imus firing is the loss of expert commentary he would have had hosted about the VT tragedy.

--Jack O'Dwyer