BG&R WORKS TO OUST IRAQ’S PM.

Barbour, Griffith & Rogers is spearheading a campaign to oust the current Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki on behalf of his political rival Ayad Allawi, a former interim head of Iraq.

BG&R, the well-connected Republican firm, will receive $300K for the work through January on behalf of Allawi and his Iraq National Accord political party. It is providing strategic counsel to Allawi and representation before the White House, Congress and media.

Allawi penned an op-ed piece in the Aug. 18 Washington Post in which he called for the dismissal of Maliki, and likened Baghdad to a “city of armed sectarian enclaves—much like Beirut in the 1980s.”

Ed Rogers, chairman BG&R and a top deputy to President Bush I, heads the Allawi account with Ambassador Robert Blackwell, former U.S. envoy to Iraq and President Bush II’s ex-deputy national security advisor for strategic planning. They are joined by Walker Roberts, a former staffer on the House International Relations Committee, and Andrew Parasiliti, a key member of BG&R’s team that won the nuke deal for India.

ICHORD JOINS SEMPRA.

Bill Ichord, who was managing director of global affairs at the American Chemistry Council, has joined $12B Sempra Energy. He succeeds Tom Sayles, who exited the San Diego-based company last year.

The 52-year-old Ichord is a 17-year veteran of Unocal, where he rose to the VP/GM of government & international relations slot. Earlier, he held a VP post at Burson-Marsteller, and served as aides to Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Joe Biden (D-De.)

Sempra is parent to Southern California Gas and San Diego Gas & Electric, utilities that serve 20M customers. Jessie Knight is executive VP/external affairs.

Stephen Chavez, a seasoned Hispanic PR veteran, has joined Edelman from La Agencia de Orcí, where he was a VP, to head the firm’s multicultural practice. Chavez, who takes the title of SVP and U.S. director, is the third executive to lead the multicultural unit in the last year. He takes over for Peter Land, who was overseeing Edelman's sports and sponsorship division, along with the multicultural division, before stepping down last month. Former AT&T exec Rosa Alonso was tapped to head Edelman's multicultural practice last year before departing in early 2007 to start her own firm.

Chavez is based in Los Angeles, working with the 30-staffer team spread across the U.S. for clients like Unilever, General Electric, and Starbucks.

811 HOTLINE SEEKS PR HELP.

The Common Ground Alliance, the oil & gas group charged with the national “call-before-you-dig” 811 hotline to prevent damage to underground pipelines and cables, has issued an RFP for an eight-month, six-figure PR account.

It wants a firm to create a news bureau and perform other PR duties like handling media inquiries, reaching out to bloggers, website maintenance, and writing press materials.

Budget is capped at $15K/month over eight months.

Fleishman-Hillard’s Washington, D.C., office was tapped last year for a year-long contract to launch the 811 hotline, which was created for homeowners and contractors to call before digging or excavating to avoid the millions in dollars of damage done to underground conduits each year. Its contract lapsed in June.

Proposals are due Sept. 4.

KWITTKEN SHOPS AT PAUL STUART.

Kwittken & Co. has picked up the Paul Stuart account as the upscale mainly men’s clothier seeks a “younger, but sartorially mature” market.

Jason Schlossberg, president of K&C, says the Madison Ave.-headquartered retailer “considered a number of fashion PR shops over a long period of time,” before selecting K&C.

The independent PR firm founded in `05 by former Euro RSCG chief Aaron Kwittken will handle the launch of Paul Stuart’s “Phineas Cole” sub-brand aimed at younger guys, revamp of the retailer’s women’s collection and festivities connected to its 70th anniversary next year. Paul Stuart Inc. is a family-owned business that has a store in Chicago, three in Japan and a presence in 40 department stores in Japan and South Korea.

EDUCATORS, PROS, RAP PRINCETON.

Educators and working PR professionals rapped The Princeton Review's advice that college students interested in PR should take liberal arts and writing courses rather than PR courses.

What the field needs is people who can "communicate well in print, in person and on the phone," said the Review, which claims that one-half of those bound for college consult one or more of its products.

These include preparation for the SAT and other tests, an annual listing of the "best" colleges, and an annual ranking of the "best" party colleges.

The Review was founded in 1981 by Princeton grad

(Continued on page 7)

F-H HANDLES BIPARTISAN ENERGY SUMMIT.

Fleishman-Hillard is handling the bipartisan presidential energy summit, a nationally televised event that will explore the roles that oil & gas, wind, solar, biofuels, and nuclear energy will play in the nation’s energy security picture, John Ambler, senior VP, told O’Dwyer’s.

“We have already received confirmations from some of the candidates and expect more to sign on during the next few weeks,” he said.

Ambler would not say which Democrats and Republicans have already agreed to participate in the three-hour session slated for Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center on Nov. 13.

F-H is promoting the confab on behalf of client, Greater Houston Partnership, a group that counts ExxonMobil, Chevron, CenterPoint Energy, ConocoPhillips and BP as executive partners. Chase and AT&T round out that list.

Ambler said the Sierra Club is a co-sponsor of the energy event. It was invited to “provide balance” to the proceedings.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry unveiled the Texas Bioenergy Strategy at a press conference at the Partnership’s headquarters in July.

He believes Texas can be a leader on bioenergy by tapping the know-how of the Lone Star State’s top three industries: oil & gas, agriculture and petrochemicals.

Perry noted that Texas, hardly known for its alternative energy work, ranks No. 2 in the U.S. in the production of wind power.

The state trails only California, which enjoys an environmental “halo.”

RUBENSTEIN IS MUM ON ‘TROUBLE.’

New York Counselor Howard Rubenstein has no comment about long-time former client Leona Helmsley, who left a $12M trust fund for her eight-year-old dog Trouble.

The New York Daily News and New York Post (Aug. 30) reported that Helmsley’s former maid has plenty to say about the pooch. Zamifira Sfara is horrified to learn about Trouble’s gains.

She claims the white Maltese regularly bit her, causing nerve damage. Sfara sued Helmsley in `05, but the case was dismissed.

The will of the former 87-year-old “Queen of Mean” was made public on Aug. 27. Trouble is to be cared for by Helmsley’s brother, Alvin Rosenthal.

Upon death, Trouble is to be buried beside Leona and husband Harry in their Westchester mausoleum, which must be “washed and steam cleaned at least once a year,” according to the will. Leona left $3M for mausoleum upkeep.

Rubenstein told the Aug. 21 Wall Street Journal that Leona, who was estranged from many of her family members, had recently reconciled with all of them. Her grandchildren “were with her at the end,” he said.

According to the will, Leona left money for two of her four grandchildren as long as they visit the grave of their father once a year.

The other two got nothing for “reasons that are known to them,” according to the will.

SAUDIS UP PACT AT H&K.

Saudi Basic Industries has revamped its “core communications” contract with Hill & Knowlton, upping annual fees over the $1M mark.

The $87,695 a-month pact covers deliverables such as media relations, news releases, global media kit development, advertising, conferences, quarterly strategic communications planning sessions, and the cost of a full-time H&K consultant in Riyadh.

SABIC, which is 70 percent owned by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, will inform H&K if additional services are needed beyond the core program.

Approval of those projects will be made only after H&K submits a detailed proposal covering costs.

H&K’s work for SABIC also includes work covering the possible acquisition of companies in the U.S. or investments made here.

SABIC, a chemicals, plastic, metals and fertilizer combine, also has an “oral agreement” with H&K for work separate from the core contract.

Compensation is based on H&K’s hourly rates and out-of-pocket outlays.

GORE LOOKS FOR PR, AD HELP.

Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection is looking to hire a PR person versed in the ways of new media.

The Palo Alto, Cal.-based person will manage day-to-day relationships with the online space (social networking, search, portals, etc.).

The job also entails ACP website updates, partnership development, email/mobile list management and fundraising.

Resumes go to [email protected].

Gore’s group, meanwhile, is winding down its search for an agency to warn of the effects of global warming. The effort also will serve as a “call to action,” encouraging people to become “carbon neutral.”

The RFP calls for the “use of new and traditional media plus local action to move the world past a tipping point on the urgent and solvable global warming crisis.”

Gore and Alliance CEO Cathy Zoi will review pitches and select the winner

KEKST RIGHTS AMERICAN HOME.

Kekst & Co., adding another struggling mortgage company to its roster, is handling communications for bankrupt American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., the Melville, N.Y., company that has laid off hundreds of workers amid a Ch. 11 filing.

Kekst is also working for mortgage company Luminent Mortgage Capital and the private equity affiliate KKR Financial, which is selling shares to offset its mortgage losses.

American Home, which was the 10th largest mortgage lender before filing for bankruptcy on Aug. 6, got approval from a federal bankruptcy judge on Aug. 29 for two of its affiliates to auction thousands of mortgage loans with an unpaid balance of more than $1.6 billion. The loans will be sold at auction on Sept. 11.
Kekst partner Joseph Kuo is handling AH. The firm was paid $50K by AH days before the company’s filing and has petitioned to keep working with the firm.

QUORUM HAS KITCHEN PLACEMENT OPPS.

Quorum Productions produces "Kitchen Spaces," a half-hour program on cable TV's Food Network and WE that offers tips on cooking and serves as a showcase for the latest products/appliances.

The show has featured products from Heinz, Georgia-Pacific, Deep Foods and Haier. Guests have appeared from Chiquita Brands, Martha Stewart, Quaker Oats, Samsung Electronics and Sears.

They talk about latest trends and share "creative ideas to enhance the experience in the kitchen," according to Lysa Liemer, executive producer of the show.

She can be reached at www.kitchenspaces.tv or 954/571-5221

TRAVMEDIA OPENS IN DUBAI.

TravMedia, a news portal for travel industry pros has opened its first Middle East office in Dubai, in response to explosive growth of the tourism market there.

Sharon Garrett, managing director of TravMedia Middle East, says Dubai is a "travel-centric destination reliant on international PR to maintain its position as a destination of choice."

There are several major hotels set to open in `08, making it more crucial than ever to "have good contacts in order to reach the right media," according to Garrett, host of a weekly radio show called "Dubai Eye."

More than 10K journalists are registered with TravMedia, which distributes breaking news, high-resolution images and PR contacts.

TravMedia was founded in `00 by Australian Nick Wayland, a travel writer who wrote for the Age, Sun Herald and Courier Newspaper Group.

Dubai is TravMedia's seventh office.

WPP GROUP EYES CHINA’S MYSPACE.

WPP Group has invested in China Broadband Capital Partners, which owns a stake in MySpace China.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which owns MySpace, is a fellow investor in China Broadband.

The WPP investment, according to U.K.'s Telegraph, highlights CEO Martin Sorrell's willingness to experiment with investments outside the marketing services world.

WPP, owner of Hill & Knowlton, and Burson-Marsteller, would not comment on the amount of money that it plowed into CBCP.

NBC NIXES ITUNES CONTENT DEAL.

NBC and Apple are dissolving their relationship to sell NBC TV shows on iTunes. Reports said NBC wanted more input on bundling and pricing than Apple was willing to offer.

The agreement is set to expire in December.

Apple said in a statement that it declined to pay more than double the wholesale price for each NBC TV episode, which would have resulted in the retail price to consumers increasing to $4.99 per episode from the current $1.99.

Shows from networks ABC, CBS, FOX and The CW, along with more than 50 cable channels, continue to be available on iTunes.

SCRIPPS PUTS ALBUQUERQUE PAPER UP.

E.W. Scripps Co. is seeking a buyer for the Albuquerque Tribune, an afternoon paper that it has owned since 1923.

The Cincinnati-based company has hired Broadwater & Assocs. to find a "qualified buyer" for the AT. The paper will close if a suitable buyer is not found.

Rich Boehne, COO of Scripps, told AT staffers on Aug. 28 their paper has done an excellent job of "enlightening" readers in New Mexico, but readers throughout the country are finding "media alternatives to afternoon papers."

The Trib, which has 45 staffers, has been publishing under the first joint operating agreement, one forged in 1933. The partnership with Journal Publishing's Albuquerque Journal expires in 2022.

The Scripps paper has a paid circulation of 11K, down from 42K in 1988. The Journal's weekday circ is 106K.

In July, Scripps announced that it is killing the hometown Cincinnati Post and Kentucky Post with the expiration of a joint operating agreement with Gannett Co.'s Cincinnati Enquirer.

The last Post will be dated Dec. 31, capping a 126-year run.

WSJ TO RECAST SATURDAY PAPER.

The Wall Street Journal plans to rename its Saturday "Pursuits" section "Weekend Journal," which is the banner that it uses on Friday.

The New York Times reported the renaming is the first major step since Rupert Murdoch announced the $5B acquisition of Dow Jones & Co. by his News Corp.

The merger partners on Aug. 29 announced that they have received early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. The merger is expected to be sealed during the fourth quarter.

FOX JOINS VARSITY TEAM.

New York's Fox 5 has launched MyFoxLocker.com, a high school sports website that will feature teams in the tri-state area, in a venture with Varsity Networks.

The site will get input from coaches, athletic directors, players, parents and fans. Some content will show up on Fox News' sports reports.

Fox 5 and VN will supply participating high schools with the software needed to join the program. Lew Leone, GM at Fox's WNYW, believes the venture will bolster the role of amateur sports and help teams celebrate success with a larger audience.

Jim Kaminsky, editor of Wenner Media's Men's Journal, is taking the editorial post at Alpha Media Group's Maxim on Sept. 17.

He replaces Jimmy Jellinek, who held the post during the past year when Dennis Publishing was trying to unload the "lad" magazine.

Kaminsky was an editor at Maxim before exiting for the MJ job.

(Media news continued on next page)

NBCU EXPANDS OVERSEAS.

General Electric's NBC Universal is buying London-based Sparrowhawk Media, which operates 30 pay-television stations in Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa and Australia. It has 60M subscribers.

The deal inked with Sparrowhawk's private equity owners includes the Hallmark Channel in the U.K. and international rights to 580 Hallmark movies.

The Sparrowhawk acquisition is part of NBCU CEO Jeff Zucker's plan to double overseas revenues from $2.5 to $5B by 2010.

He told reporters that NBCU wants to buy fast growing businesses, while unloading slower growing operations.

NBCU is mulling a deal to buy cable channel Oxygen from billionaire and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen to line up with its iVillage website that targets females.

Much of Sparrowhawk's programming is geared to women.

HEARST TAKES TV UNIT PRIVATE.

Hearst Corp. is offering $600M to acquire the 27 percent of the Hearst-Argyle TV group that it does not own. It is offering $23.50 per-share, which represents a 15 percent premium of the average closing price over the past four weeks.

Hearst CEO Victor Ganzi is making the move because he believes the "competitive demands of the TV broadcasting industry and changes in the broader media industry, when balanced against the pressures of a public company to deliver short-term results" has convinced his board that private ownership for H-A is the best way for it to meet its strategic and business objectives.

Hearst, according to Ganzi's letter to the H-A board, originally envisioned that the "availability of a public currency would enable H-A to grow through acquisitions." The current investment landscape has altered that view.

H-A owns 26 TV stations that cover 18 percent of American households. It also owns more than 30 websites and multicasts 16 digital weather channels.

The company is projected to chalk up $780M in `07 revenues. It earned $17M during the second-quarter on $193M in revenues.

EUROPEAN MEDIA INVADE U.S.

Europe's media are stepping up their push into the U.S. to offset declining newspaper sales at home and capitalize on the wish of many Americans to get another perspective on world events, according to BusinessWeek.

British media have been in the forefront, led by The Guardian, which aims to diversify its revenue, expand reach and increase journalistic opportunities, according to Carolyn McCall, CEO of Guardian Media Group.

BW reports that in May more Americans visited the Guardian website than Brits by a 6M to 4.4M margin. It credits the paper's "left-of-center" editorial stance for attracting the many Americans who oppose the Iraqi occupation.

McCall plans to hire more staffers and position the site as the "leading liberal voice" over the past 18 months.

Rupert Murdoch's The Times and the BBC have also enjoyed success in the U.S.

Robert Thomson, who heads the North America edition of the Times, says U.S. readers "want and need sophisticated political and global coverage."

The BBC's Jeremy Hillman says there is a "large appetite for the sort of news we produce."

BW also reports that Germany's Der Spiegel push into the U.S. is a shot to "show an international audience that we are a voice from Central Europe with a specific point of view," according to Mathias Mueller von Blumencron, its online editor.

One million of the magazine's six million monthly visitors read the English language version of the site.

People ____________________________

Marvin Kitman, who was syndicated columnist for Newsday, is the new media critic for the Huffington Post. He will write two columns a week for the news/views blog.

Kitman wrote for Newsday for 35 years, beginning in 1969. He was a frequent commentator on local New York City TV stations.

Kitman has just wrapped up a publicity tour for his book, "The Man Who Would Not Shut Up, The Rise of Bill O'Reilly."

Melissa Dowling has been promoted to editor-in-chief of Penton Media's Multichannel Merchant magazine and website.

The pub is for senior managers that sell products through multiple channels. Dowling joined in 1989 as a reporter.

Katherine Whiteside, garden contributor for the Huffington Post, has signed on as garden editor-at-large for Country Home, starting with the October issue.

She continues at HuffPost and as the outdoor lifestyle spokeswoman for the Propane Research and Education Council.

Nancy Bruner, VP of new media for the Seattle Times Co., has joined Fisher Communications, a Seattle-based owner of TV and radio stations, as VP of Fisher Interactive Networks.

Christine Guilfoyle, publisher of Reader's Digest Assn.'s Every Day with Rachel Ray since its launch in 2005, has been named publisher of Women's Wear Daily, starting in September.

She was formerly advertising director for Better Homes & Gardens.

Simon Cox has been promoted to VP of content for Ziff Davis' video game content platform 1Up Network. Cox had been creative director and earlier served as editor-in-chief of ZD magazines Xbox Nation and GMR.

Dan Hsu, editor-in-chief of ZD's Electronic Gaming Monthly, has been upped to editorial director while retaining the EIC duties.

The Princeton Review debacle (pages 1 & 7) puts the spotlight on PR, PR education, the definition of PR, and the PR community's lack of a response mechanism.

The Review's advice against taking undergraduate PR courses will be followed by many college students.

The Review should not be allowed to use the word "Princeton" in its name. The school lost a legal challenge some years ago, withdrawing its claim after the Review said it would "routinely use a disclaimer" that it was not connected with the University.

That doesn't satisfy PR professors nor us. The company should fly its correct flag, i.e., "Collegiate Review."

Its anti-PR advice has sparked dozens of e-mails from PR professors and PR pros in the U.S. and abroad that are on odwyerpr.com, prconversations.com, and prmindshare.

The University has told us it would entertain a rebuttal to its advice against PR courses. But first, PR must get its house in order. There is no accepted definition of PR.

It's a conflicted field because PR at one and the same time promises to be a sales function and an information function. It wants to eat its cake and have it, too. It's like a real estate salesperson also wanting to do the inspection on the house.

PR's image with the public is not good. The 2005 Harris Interactive/PRS poll found 85% of consumers feel PR pros sometimes present "misleading information" and 79% believe PR pros "are only interested in distributing information that helps their clients make money." A 1999 PRS/Rockefeller survey found "PR specialist" was 43rd in credibility on a list of 45 public spokespeople. PR's image with the press is even worse (i.e., Washington Post columnist Gene Weingarten calling PR people "pathetic dillweeds" because PR contacts on releases could not answer his questions (6/13/07 NL). Such comments are rife in the press. There are nine books about PR with the word "spin" in their titles. "PR" has mostly been replaced by "communications" at corporations. The Princeton Review says "communications" is the eighth most popular major (after English) and that such majors learn how to "influence individual and group behavior."

One solution could be separating PR, which is mostly a sales and marketing function, from the public information function. Bring back the title of PI and put someone in it who can take press calls and not be easily offended. Sometimes reporters only want cold, hard facts. As Lincoln said, "cold, unimpassioned, reason is the only acceptable form of public discourse."

Some bloggers wanted to know where PRS stood in this debate. Nowhere is the answer.

The head of the Educators Academy, Joseph Trahan, Ph.D., a "media trainer" in McDonough, Ga., said the Review "evidently knows nothing about PR education today." That's not the answer that's needed. Trahan's picture on the PR Student Society website shows him sitting in his office holding a mug (is beer or coffee in it?). That doesn't create the proper image. He's also co-chair of the 60th anniversary committee of PRS and we're waiting for something from him on that. The celebration supposedly started July 1 but we have yet to see anything in the media about it.

Trahan is only a volunteer and has his business to run. The problem is the 55-member staff of PRS which has two PRS members on it when there should be a dozen. A full time "brain trust" is needed to tackle problems like the Review, the definition of PR, "PR for PR," etc.

PRS leaders have to face the Assembly Oct. 20 in Philadelphia and they're racking their brains on how to handle what could become an unruly mob.

Delegates should be meeting right now via e-mail and blogs, setting their own agenda and debating such issues as the lack of PR pros at h.q. (like a hospital with no doctors); misleading PRS financial reports (they should have a six-months report by now plus the 2006 IRS Form 990); the return of the printed members' directory (telephone books have not been abandoned!); again considering the Central Michigan proposal to have the Assembly set policy as is done at the AMA and ABA; expelling the nearly 50 board members, section and district chairs from the Assembly since they should not be voting on their own initiatives; stopping directors from returning to the board as an officer; ending the APR rule for national posts; demanding immediate print-outs of Assembly electronic votes so everyone can see who voted for what (standard procedure in legislatures).

But instead of asking the delegates about substantive topics like the ones above, Assembly co-chairs Brad Rye of Eric Mower & Assocs. and Dave Rickey of Alfa Corp. are polling the delegates on such topics as their age (30 or younger, 31-40, etc.); gender; APR or not; years as an APR; who's paying for their trip; attend the conference?; whether they are getting instructions from their chapter boards or members; how they were picked; first Assembly? and whether they expect to "deal with matters of great importance to PRS"…COO Bill Murray at a delegates' teleconference Aug. 29 threw a monkey wrench into any thoughts delegates might have of meeting electronically during the year as was proposed by a task force. New York law demands in-person meetings of groups like the Assembly, he said. Instead, he and PRS leaders should be encouraging the delegates to meet all year long electronically, communicating with rank-and-file members, and expressing their wishes to the board. If a legal vote is needed, a one-third Assembly quorum could quickly be arranged. Had the above been practiced, odds are the members would not have allowed abolition of the old Ethics Code, would have blocked suspension of the 1,000-page directory, and would have debated at length whether to sign a 13-year, $6 million lease on offices downtown…the PRS board, unable to get candidates from some districts, is again proposing that five "regions" replace the ten districts.

--Jack O'Dwyer