ARMY CORPS PLANS NEW ORLEANS RFP.

The Army Corps of Engineers, which has taken hits for its work on the New Orleans levee system, is planning an RFP for PR firm support on its public affairs and outreach work in that city.

The PR work includes community and public engagement for public meetings, education forums, new media work, speeches and events.

The Army Corp’s New Orleans District unit plans to award a five-year contract and wants a starting PR staff of six, which could increase to 12 or more as the work dictates.

The RFP is expected to be issued later this month with proposals due by July 12.

A Corps report released last week reported that new drainage pumps installed ahead of last year’s Gulf hurricane season were found to have flaws.

Hurricane Katrina flooded 80 percent of New Orleans when the Corps-designed levee system failed.

GILLESPIE SUCCEEDS BARTLETT.

Ed Gillespie, founder and co-chairman of Quinn Gillespie & Assocs., is succeeding Dan Bartlett as White House counsel.

Bartlett, who announced his resignation June 1, has been a key aide to President Bush for almost 14 years. He has managed political and media fallout connected to the Iraq war and Hurricane Katrina.

Gillespie is former chairman of the Republican National Committee and current chair of the Virginia GOP. He was a key advisor to Sen. George Allen’s defeated re-election effort.

Gillespie has close ties to the president. He served as senior communications advisor in Austin during the Florida recount, and was communications chief for the ‘01 inauguration. Gillespie also headed the confirmation team for Chief Justice John Roberts, and advised Justice Sam Alito during his confirmation process.

CLANCY TAPPED BY SHAW GROUP.

Sean Clancy, who held top corporate posts at Flowserve and Union Carbide, takes VP/corporate communications slot at Louisiana engineering and construction giant The Shaw Group.

Clancy had recently been a senior consultant for the Institute for Crisis Management. At UC, he crafted its media strategy during its acquisition by Dow Chemical and the Toms River, N.J., cancer cluster crisis. Earlier, he headed the 17-person Brown & Williamson Tobacco account team at Shandwick Worldwide during the crisis that was captured in the movie “The Insider.”

O'DWYER'S DIR. OF PR FIRMS PUBLISHED.

The 2007 O’Dwyer’s Directory of PR Firms, listing more than 2,000 firms in the U.S. and 80 other countries, has been published and copies are available at O’Dwyer offices.

A record 408 PR firms display their logos and provide “Agency Statements” describing their unique services. This group of firms is also listed on the O’Dwyer website.

Features include rankings of 147 PR firms by net fees and number of employees; a U.S. and international geographical index; rankings of PR firms by 11 types of specialities, and a cross-index to the 10,000 clients listed by the firms.

“How to Hire a PR Firm” articles are provided by Jack O’Dwyer and Fraser Seitel, author of The Practice of PR.

SEC PUTS IPG ON NOTICE.

Interpublic announced that it has received a “Wells Notice” from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which invites the ad/PR conglom to respond to the federal probe into its restatement of `02 and `05 financial statements.

A WN indicates that the SEC may determine to bring a civil action against a company. The development, according to CEO Michael Roth, was “not unanticipated.” He remains confident that the move brings IPG “a step closer to the resolution of the matter,” according to Roth’s statement.

IPG maintains that “no current senior management within the operating units or in the corporate group acted inappropriately” regarding the `05 restatement.

SBG HELPS ‘THOMAS’ GET BACK ON TRACK.

Salmon Boore Group is handling media concerning the recall of 1.5M trains and accessory parts of the popular “Thomas and Friends” toy line.

RC2 Corp., which markets the China-made toys, says it is cooperating with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in the voluntary recall.

An SBG staffer said the shop is directing reporters to the recalls.rc2.com site for the latest information. The Lake Forest, Ill.-based firm is also guiding the media to the CSPC site, she added.

The CPSC has posted the names of the 35 components, including “James the Engine,” that are being recalled. The items sell from $10 to $70.

RC2, which is based Oak Brook, Ill., notes there have been no reports of injuries or illnesses of children ingesting lead from the popular toys.

NICHOLAS REPS $30M SPORTS MECCA.

Nicholas & Lence, the firm of former New York City tourism chief Christyne Nicholas, has signed Aviator Sports and Recreation as a client.

Aviator, last November, opened a $30M complex at Brooklyn’s historic Floyd Bennett Field, which was NYC’s first municipal airport and host of aviation pioneers such as Wiley Post; Amelia Earhart; “Wrong-Way Corrigan, who “accidentally” flew to Ireland when he was cleared to fly to California, and Howard Hughes, who used the Field to begin and end his 1938 record-setting around the globe flight.

The 170K-sq. ft sports facility is housed in four former airplane hangers.

It features two National Hockey League regulation ice rinks, three basketball courts, three volleyball courts and a 15K sq. ft gymnastics/dance center.

Aviator has established ties with professional teams in the area, such as the NBA Knicks, NHL Rangers, WNBA Liberty and MLS Red Bulls.

Nicholas started her firm in January with George Lence, who was COO and general counsel of NYC & Co.

The National Park Service acquired the Field in 1991 following the deactivation of Naval Air Station Rockaway.

ULMAN HEADS LEVICK’S ISSUES GROUP.

Alan Ulman has joined Levick Strategic Communications as senior VP in charge of the Washington, D.C.-based firm’s issues management practice.

The Georgia-Pacific and National Data Corp. vet also worked for former Georgia Governor Zell Miller and Congressman Bo Ginn. Most recently, he had been running ICL Communications.

Ulman has handled PR campaigns for Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Cingular Wireless.

Richard Levick believes Ulman’s work with high-profile clients in contract negotiations, lobbying and crisis matters will be an “indispensable asset” to the firm.

AIRTRAN BRINGS IN FIRM FOR MIDWEST BID.

AirTran Holdings, the parent company to the troubled regional airline AirTran Airways, has brought in New York-based IR and proxy solicitation firm Innisfree M&A as it works to enter merger talks with Midwest Air Group.

Midwest rejected a merger offer from AirTran in December. Orlando-based AirTran was highlighting Midwest’s financial struggles ahead of its annual meeting last week and has been pointing out that Midwest has alerted investors that it will miss its Q2 and full-year financial goals.

AirTran has offered $389M in the latest of three offers over the last eight months to take over Milwaukee-based Midwest, which has refused to meet to discuss the bids. AirTran has put forth a slate of nominees for Midwest’s board and is urging shareholders to contact Innisfree for information.

IMAGE PROBLEM HURTS ‘GREEN’ PR.

More than eighty percent of people believe environmental PR pros mislead the public for a living, Jim Hoggan told the Canadian PR Conference on June 14 in Edmonton,

In his keynote speech, Hoggan said the PR profession faces a “crushing PR problem.” It’s a “credibility problem when dealing with the environment, and that lack of credibility is undermining our ability to serve clients,” he told the group.

The CEO of Hoggan & Assocs., Vancouver, is co-founder of DeSmogBlog.com, which is dedicated to clearing the “PR pollution” surrounding global warming.

He called his speech, “You Can’t Spin Mother Nature.”

Global warming is the No. 1 public policy issue in Canada, according to a survey by Angus Reid Strategies. It topped concern for the economy and healthcare.

Hoggan retained ARS in May to query people about their view of PR.

The survey asked the 1,097 participants if they are aware that “PR professionals actively assist companies and governments to communicate their environment policies and performances to the public.” Seventy two percent of respondents were aware of that role.

The pollsters gave those respondents two more choices: “PR experts help the public better understand the environmental performance of companies by providing clear and accurate information,” and “PR experts help deceive the public by making environmental performance of companies appear better than it really is.

The result: eighty-one percent of respondents said they thought PR people were helping clients misrepresent their performance.

Hoggan believes PR’s poor reputation is due to some pros “playing with public perception on issues ranging from tobacco to climate change.”

There are “some very skilled PR people hard at work, not trying to educate people but to confuse them,” he told CPRC.

He spoke of conflicting realities. “We have an environmental crisis and we have a group of industries that don’t want to know about it and don’t want us to know about it either.”

FUNK TAKES SHELL POST.

Marnie Funk, former spokeswoman for the Republican staff of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, has taken a senior communications post at Shell Oil’s Washington, D.C. outpost.

She played a bit role in the Democratic effort to find out whether energy executives participated in Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force in `01.

Funk famously told the Washington Post (11/23/05) that it depended on the definition of “participation.”

A White House document showed that officials from ExxonMobil, BP America, Conoco and Shell met with Cheney aides.

Funk is a former Salt Lake City reporter who went to Washington to serve as communications director for Rep. Merrill Cook, who was defeated in 2000.

BLAIR: MEDIA OPERATE LIKE ‘FERAL BEAST.’

Exiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair likened the media to a "feral beast" that tears people and reputations to bits.

Due to media fragmentation and fierce competition for scoops, journalists hunt "in a pack," Blair told a meeting of Reuters executives. News is "driven by impact."

The PM spoke about the "unraveling of standards," and the increasing amount of editorial space devoted to commentary, which to him is very frustrating. "There will often be as much interpretation of what a politician is saying, as there is coverage of the news," said Blair.

The politician believes people in public life spend much of their time coping with the media. The media's weight and hyperactivity "literally overwhelm" those in the public eye, according to a report of Blair's speech on the BBC.

Blair told the audience that he expected to be "rubbished in certain quarters," but felt he needed to make his remarks because the relationship between the media and politicians needs to be fixed.

The current state of affairs, according to Blair, is sapping the U.K.'s "confidence and self-belief."

WSJ REVAMPS EDIT RANKS.

The Wall Street Journal has shuffled its editorial ranks in a move to integrate print and online operations and simplify its international staff.

Bill Grueskin, managing editor of WSJ Online, has been upped to deputy managing editor for news. He is to oversee the "melding" of print and online journals and rethink about how the organization approaches and produces news, according to the release from Dow Jones & Co.

Mike Miller, page one editor, shifts to the deputy managing editor for enterprise journalism. He is responsible for the Marketplace, Personal Journal, Weekend and Pursuits sections of the paper.

Dan Hertzberg, senior deputy managing editor, becomes deputy managing editor for international news in charge of all overseas bureaus.

Christine Glancey and Jesse Lewis, head of Asia and Europe, respectively, report to Hertzberg.

ATT'S BURBANK TO AOL.

John Burbank, who was VP-marketing at AT&T, is now chief marketing officer at Time Warner's AOL unit. He reports to Randy Falco, CEO.

Burbank held top marketing posts at ATT Wireless and Cingular Wireless before joining Ma Ball. He is responsible for the noted "Signal Bars" campaign and ironed out mobile promotions with FaceBook, MySpace and YouTube.

Prior to joining AT&T, Burbank was director of brand management at NewPower Co., and brand manager at Procter & Gamble.

CMP SHIFTS SIGHTS FROM PRINT TO ONLINE.

CMP Technology CEO Steve Weitzner has unveiled a program to shift resources from print to online by merging titles, reducing print frequencies, strengthening electronic networks and launching digital products.

The plan calls for the merger of Networking Computing and Optimize into InformationWeek and the end of SysAdmin. The revamp will result in the loss of an estimated 200 jobs at the United Business Media unit.

Weitzner said the reorg reflects the reality that non-print revenues have now surpassed print sales.

That gap is growing so CMP wants to make "online networks the heart of its operations."

ESPN PLAYS CRICKET.

Walt Disney Co.'s ESPN has acquired Cricinfo, the world's No. 1 cricket website, from Wisden Group.

The move, according to Lynne Frank, managing director of ESPN Europe/Middle East and Africa, underscores ESPN's commitment to "serve a diverse fan base." ESPN runs the biggest English-language soccer site.

Cricinfo was founded in `93. It offers "ball-by-ball" coverage and in-depth statistics and news of the game. It attracts more than seven million users each month.

ESPN is 80 percent-owned by Disney's ABC network. Hearst Corp. owns the rest.

BAZZI EXITS NEWSDAY.

Mohamad Bazzi, the first U.S. newspaper reporter to profile Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's top aide, is leaving Newsday.

He has been awarded the Council of Foreign Relations' Edward R. Murrow fellowship for '07, and then will teach at New York University.

Bazzi reported from Pakistan, London and Egypt about the rise of Islamic extremism in the aftermath of 9/11. He also filed copy about Israel's push into Lebanon.

Newsday is owned by Tribune Co.

BBC STEPS UP U.S. INVASION.

The British Broadcasting Corp. is creating a one-hour newscast for U.S. audiences. It will be produced by Rome Hartman, who was in charge of the debut of the "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric."

The Hartman production will build on the Beeb's current offering, a 30-minute version of the BBC World program that is anchored by Katty Katy in Washington.

The British broadcaster hopes to fill a void as U.S. networks cut back their overseas coverage.

NYT TAKES 'T' GLOBAL.

The New York Times Co. is launching an international edition of T, the upscale fashion, travel and lifestyle magazine of the New York Times, in December.

T will be carried by the NYTC's International Herald Tribune.

The magazine will debut at IHT's fashion and luxury industry conference set for Moscow on Nov. 28-29.

It will then be distributed in subscription, newsstand and hotel copies of the IHT in Europe and the Middle East. The IHT is printed at 36 sites throughout the world, and sold in more than 180 countries. Leach Communications handles PR for the NYTC.

(Media news continued on next page)

REGISTER EXITS ALHURRA.

Larry Register has resigned as news director of Alhurra, the U.S.-funded Middle Eastern satellite TV service, after charges that the station aired anti-American fare.

New Jersey Congressman Steve Rothman (D) and the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal were among Register's fiercest critics.

Rothman issued a statement that called Register's resignation "welcome news." He hopes Alhurra has learned from "Register's failures and is prepared to ensure that no terrorists are allowed to espouse hate speech on a television network for by U.S. taxpayers."

The Journal ripped Alhurra as "one more outlet for anti-U.S. propaganda." It attacked Register for providing friendly coverage of "camera-ready extremists from al-Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorists."

Register responded to the WSJ's four attacks on his "journalistic and personal integrity" via a letter to the editor that was published June 11.

Denying of making "professional decisions based on politics or ideology," Register said he gave "Arabic speaking audience an important choice-news and information guided by democracy and free speech."

The WSJ also published a letter from Register's former boss, Tom Johnson, who headed CNN from '90 to '01. He branded attacks on Register's reputation as "reprehensible, unfair and without merit."

HARRIS ASSESSES NEWSPAPERS.

The No. 1 source for news across Europe, Australia and the U.S. is TV, reports a Harris Interactive study that examined newspaper readership around the world.

Readership of daily newspapers was the fifth media outlet sought by more than 8K people surveyed for the report. Daily newspaper readership ranged from a low of six percent in the U.K. to a high of 13 percent in Spain and Germany and 12 percent in the U.S.

TV news was followed by online, cable network news, radio, and then newspapers, as ranked by respondents to the survey.

In the U.S., 25 percent of adults said they tune into TV network news, while 19 percent go online, 14 percent watch cable news, and 12 percent listen to the radio and read major daily papers. Only four percent read magazines for news, and three percent read national daily newspapers.

Despite the bleak numbers for newspapers, most adults across the seven countries queried said it is important for newspapers to have a regional and global newsgathering role, Harris noted.

More people in the U.S. (eight in 10) said newspapers play a key role in providing information about elections.

Asked to assess the credibility of newspapers on a scale of 0-100, with 100 being the most credible, more Americans (21 percent) pegged the medium in the 71-80 range than in any other slot. Seventeen percent put papers in the 41-50 range for an average of 57 out of 100. Germans gave newspapers the highest credibility (67) while Italians scored papers the lowest (52).

The biggest reason given in the U.S. for not reading newspapers was "lack of time" (58 percent), although 55 percent also said it is easier to go online for the information. Half of Americans polled said newspapers are biased. Asked what could be done to improve newspapers and their websites, 65 percent of Americans said "ensure that all points of view are fairly represented in key issues." Online 30 percent called for more "citizen journalism."

MENAKER LEAVES RANDOM HOUSE.

Daniel Menaker, executive editor in chief, of Random House, is leaving the publishing house at the end of the month.

He rejoined the Bertelsmann unit in `03 as publisher Gina Centrello's first major hire.

Menaker, 65, also worked for more than 25 years at The New Yorker and did a 16-month stint at HarperCollins. He edited Salman Rushdie, Benjamin Kunkel and former U.S. poet laureate Billy Collins.

With his departure, Centrello has divided Menaker's duties between executive VP Kate Medina and senior VP Jennifer Hershey.

The publisher has named Kurt Anderson, former editor in chief of New York Magazine editor at large. RH has a two-book deal with Anderson.

Briefs _______________________

Bonnier Corp. plans to launch an affluent skiing magazine called Snow this November with the tagline "Life, Lifts, Luxury."

The publisher is planning three issues during the ski season, covering equipment, services and destinations. David Gibson, former reporter and editor for Aspen Magazine and editor of Chile Pepper magazine, is editor-in-chief.

Lake Erie Living, a new magazine based in Cleveland, is now being sold on 400 newsstands in states bordering Lake Erie, in addition to 25K copies being mailed to households. The publication, which premiered with an April/May issue, is online at www.LakeErieLiving.com.

People __________________

Seth Bauer, founder of Good Business Media, a publishing company focused on social responsibility and clean tech, has been named editorial director of National Geographic Digital Media's Green Guide website, www.thegreenguide.com, and bimonthly print newsletter.

Bauer splits time between Washington, D.C., and New York.

In a 20-year career, he was editor-in-chief of Body & Soul and Walking magazines. The Green Guide covers advice for consumers to lead greener lives.

Dave Ulrich, a management and business coach, has signed on as a contributing writer for the twice-a-month Crain Communications magazine Workforce Management.

He has written 12 books on human resources and related topics.

PR must respond to generalized attacks on it such as Gene Weingarten’s remark in the Washington Post that PR pros are “pathetic, desperate dillweeds” (6/13 NL).

PRSA advocacy chair Mary Best West’s retort was that this was a “rant” and “so far-fetched” that there was “no way to respond to it.”

But Dennis McGrath, former chair of the Counselors Academy of PRSA, points out that Weingarten’s remarks are apt to show up for years on Google. He urges West to contact Weingarten and hear what he has to say (page 7).

Careful reading of the column reveals that his main complaint is that releases have too many long words and are marred by jargon and the use of undefined terms. He contacted the PR people listed on the releases for more information but was mostly frustrated, feeling he had entered some “alternate reality.”

This is a good time to examine the basic orientation of PR, which in recent years has become more and more marketing-oriented. Results of a publicity campaign are measured by how many “copy points” are picked up in the press rather than the thoroughness of the stories that resulted. The press and public want stories that cover not only the product in question, but its competitors and perhaps the history of the product category. They want to be educated, not marketed to.

Blocking information flow goes against a strong tide. We’re noticed that areas that supply the greatest amount of information, such as sports and Wall Street, are prospering. Fans know much more about baseball and football via instant replays, often from 4-5 different angles. The increased information has helped popularize these activities. Referee calls in football are sometimes reversed on appeal because videotapes show an obvious error. Baseball doesn’t allow such appeals but it should. We’ve seen too many games lost by wrong calls.

Wall Street is prospering because of the avalanche of historical and current information available from financial sources such as “Bloomberg” and Google.

Hill & Knowlton, the biggest firm for many years, used to publish a list of more than 500 clients and provide proofs of its fees and staffs. After going under the WPP umbrella, it stopped providing any client list or any information on billings and staff size. Meanwhile, independent PR firms that provide such information are showing strong growth.

The New York Times and New York Post (“Pinch” Sulzberger vs. Rupert Murdoch) are warring on each other. Sulzberger, in an amazing and insulting editorial June 10, took down Murdoch (personally) for “dangling a hefty $5 billion” in front of the Bancroft family that has owned the Wall Street Journal for 100+ years. Family-owned newspapers (such as the NYT) are the ones that are free from “political currents” and show “journalistic independence,” huffed Sulzberger, who said Murdoch likes to “meddle in his news properties.” With “Pinch” controlling both the editorial and business sides of the NYT for the first time in history, all sorts of business and political agendas are being pursued in the NYT’s editorial columns. The PR/ad community is familiar with the paper’s almost complete lack of coverage of Omnicom’s financial issues while upwards of 15 reporters are put on the lawsuit against the Post by a former writer for its “Page Six” gossip column. The NYT’s obsession with political correctness made it a leader in the drive to oust Don Imus from his radio show. NYT columnists Frank Rich and Tom Friedman, who sold many thousands of their books via Imus, suddenly only had the worst possible words for their former friend. Odds are they were obeying orders of Sulzberger…answering Sulzberger, the Post on June 15 had the five-column headline, “The worst of ‘Times,” in which it accused the paper of “cheap hypocrisy” in “trumpeting the view that downtown was dead” to further its own interests in renting out the top half of its new h.q. on Eighth ave. “The Old Downtown Economy Won’t Return,” one NYT headline had said. The NYT is “beset by dwindling profits, evaporating readership (260,000 circulation in New York), and shareholder unrest” (which wants to unseat the Sulzberger family), said the NYP. Another story in the same issue headlined: “Times ad rev drops sharply” (its newspaper ad revenue fell nearly 10% to $149M in May from $166M in the previous May.

The American Institute of CPAs is showing financial acumen and consideration for its members in moving about 400 of its staffers from expensive offices in New York and New Jersey to Durham, N.C. The “continuing escalation of labor costs in the New York metropolitan area” was cited as a major reason for the exodus which is expected to provide an annuity savings of about $10-11 million per year over a 15-year period. About 220 AICPA staffers are being kept in offices in New York, Jersey City and Washington, D.C.

“Escalation of labor costs” in New York caught our eye in this release and brought to mind PRSA’s $5.28 million in staff costs in 2006 (a gain of 16.4% and now amounting to 46.1% of revenues of $11.4M). This high cost is why 22,000 members are no longer getting their 1,000-page printed directory of members, bylaws, committees, task forces, services, etc. (and not because the online directory is better). The PRSA board, threatened with resignation of the entire staff in 1986 when the Assembly voted twice to leave New York, caved into the staff and missed a golden opportunity to save millions. Seven chapters had pitched for h.q. The board, ignoring future savings in staff costs, over-ruled the Assembly. PRSA, instead of having most of its offices far from New York and smaller offices in midtown that interface with the local PR and press community, has a costly 22,000 sq. ft. white elephant in downtown New York that it’s stuck with for the next 12 years unless it exercises some sense. That space should be sublet like AICPA is doing with its space in Jersey City.

--Jack O'Dwyer