Happy Fourth of July to all our readers. The next issue will be July 9. Follow breaking news on odwyerpr.com.

PAKISTAN TAPS LLS FOR $900K PACT

Locke Lord Strategies has picked up a one-year $900K government affairs/strategic communications contract with Pakistan.

Mark Siegel, who was a speechwriter to the murdered Benazir Bhutto and co-author of a book with the former leader right before her death, heads the account.

Siegel has close ties with the Democratic Party and was executive director of the Democratic National Committee and deputy assistant to President Carter.

LLS is to work closely with Pakistan’s Washington embassy in a bid to gain a better understanding of the country’s recent political, social and economic developments. It may rely on paid/earned media to achieve Pakistan’s communications objectives.

Pakistan is to evaluate the campaign’s effectiveness in late November, and will then determine whether LLS merits a raise.

JAMES TAKES CITI’S TOP PR POST

Kate James will take the top PR post at Citigroup when she joins the banking combine from Standard Chartered Bank in September. She succeeds Leah Johnson, who has resigned.

James, who assumes the senior VP-global corporate communications post at Citi, has been at the British bank since `04 as its government relations chief. She moved to the U.S. last year.

At Citi, James will be in charge of media relations, issues management, and internal/external comms.

Prior to SCB, James was at GlaxoSmithKline.

Citi has revamped its global marketing and communications operation under Lisa Caputo, the former press secretary for then-First Lady Hillary Clinton. Caputo, who was Citi’s chief marketing officer, expands her duties as EVP-global marketing and corporate affairs.

LOCKHEED’S BLADES JOINS RAYTHEON

Catherine Blades has stepped down as director of marketing and international comms. for Lockheed Martin to head comms. and public affairs for Raytheon’s space and airborne systems business.

That unit, based in El Segundo, Calif., posted 2007 sales of $4.3 billion, about one-fifth of the defense and technology company’s $21.3 billion revenue that year.

At Lockheed, she oversaw the $12B aeronautics company’s network of PR firms and led communications, marketing and advertising for operations in 40 countries. She previously held PR posts at Neill Corp., distributor of Aveda beauty products, and Stewart Enterprises, the publicly held funeral services giant.

TRITON COMES UP SHORT IN CISION BID

U.K. private equity firm Triton has come up short in a bid to acquire PR services company Cision.

Triton, through a Swedish affiliate, Cyril Acquisition, made an offer north of $250M for Sweden-based Cision in April. The PE firm said on June 18 that it was tendered nearly 41M shares of Cision, or 65 percent combined with its own 7.5M-share holding, but its takeover was contingent on amassing more than 90%.

Cision’s board had offered a tepid response to Triton’s takeover offer in May. CA, which twice extended a deadline for shareholders to accept the deal, said this week it will assess available options, including withdrawing the offer or completing the deal at a lower acceptance level.

GREENBERG HIRES H&K

Hill & Knowlton is now global PR firm for Maurice “Hank” Greenberg’s C.V. Starr and Starr International.

Greenberg is the former CEO of American International Group, who was replaced by Martin Sullivan in `05. He has been engaged in a high-profile legal battle with AIG, which he built into the world’s biggest insurer. Greenberg hired Brunswick Group for legal PR work in `07.

Sullivan was dumped June 15 due to record losses and a tanking stock. New AIG CEO Robert Willumstad has reached out to Greenberg, saying he wanted a “more positive” relationship with him.

Sullivan and Greenberg, who is AIG’s biggest stockholder, had a “positive meeting” on June 19.

McCORMICK, FISKE BATTLE AT PRS

Gary McCormick, who resigned from the PR Society board in early 2006 because of pressure of his job at Scripps Networks, is opposing Rosanna Fiske of Florida International University for chair-elect.

The nominating committee, despite months of trying, was unable to come up with any candidates for the Tri-State district (NY, NJ & CT) or the Sunshine district (seven chapters in Florida). Efforts continue to find such candidates.

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FIRMS AID GAY MARRIAGE BACKERS IN CA

California began issuing licenses for gay marriages last week setting off a statewide battle for public opinion as same-sex nuptials face a November ballot initiative that could shut them down.

Ogilvy PR Worldwide and Dewey Square Group have been tapped by a coalition of groups in California to defeat a ballot initiative intended to prevent gay marriages in the state.

The group, Equality for All, includes entities like the ACLU, GLAAD, National Council of Jewish Women, and Human Rights Campaign.

Steve Smith of Dewey Square is lead campaign consultant for the group while Maggie Linden, a SVP for Ogilvy, is heading the media effort. Linden has worked on many statewide California initiatives and is a former political aide in the Golden State.

Polling firm Lake Research Partners, headed by Celinda Lake, has also been brought in. Gay marriage ceremonies began in the state on June 16 after a state supreme court ruling in May legalized the unions.

Pro and Con Get Message Out

On the flip side, groups like ProtectMarriage.com are working to the opposite end to bolster support for the November initiative.

Jeff Flint, a veteran communications and political operative who was a VP at Russo Marsh + Rogers and now runs his own firm, Schubert Flint Public Affairs, is working with ProtectMarriage.com. Flint's partner is Frank Schubert, and ex-Goddard Claussen Porter Novelli executive.

Outside of the ballot box, the controversial decision to allow same-sex unions has sparked a flurry of PR efforts to capitalize on the move.

Manning Selvage & Lee, for example, was working with client Chemistry.com last week on a promotion to offer free memberships to the site for Californians on June 16, the first day of gay weddings.

The City of West Hollywood's public information office has also embraced its civic role in the episode and produced a gay marriage press kit (www.weho.org/marriagemedia) and arranged for media parking as it began to issue marriage licenses on June 17.

And Laramore Communications is working with "gay-friendly" Sonoma County properties to tout gay marriage and honeymoon packages.

LL Cool J Switches to DKC

LL Cool J, the hip-hop recording artist, has switched his PR representation from PMK/HBH to New York-based DKC.

Keesha Johnson, VP at DKC, said the firm is looking to build on the artist’s “already significant profile” as he enters the “next stage of his career.”

The multi-platinum rapper, who two decades ago changed his name from James Todd Smith to stand for “Ladies Love Cool James,” is set to release his 13th album in July. He also recently inked a deal to develop a clothing line for Sears as the struggling retailer looks to reach a wider audience.

In announcing that deal in late May, Sears SVP Irv Neger called him a “pop culture phenomenon” whose “legitimacy and his talent have stood the test of time.”

PRESS AGENT STARS ON BROADWAY

The Manhattan Theater Club will rename its Biltmore Theater (47th St. off Eighth Ave.) the Samuel J. Friedman Theater in honor of the deceased press agent, who promoted classics such as “Finian’s Rainbow” and “A Moon for the Misbegotten,” in time for the `08-`09 season.

The name change follows a substantial donation to the MTC by the “Dr. Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman Foundation,” which was established by the press agent’s brother and sister-in-law.

The New York Times’ Campbell Robinson depicts Friedman, who died in 1974, as a veteran of the “old cigarette and tie-clip days of publicity when press agents would show up at newspaper offices like Sidney Falco in ‘Sweet Smell of Success,’ jockeying for column ink.”

Friedman began his career with the Shubert Organization, launching “You Never Know,” a 1938 Cole Porter musical. He repped Gypsy Rose Lee, Jackie Gleason and Bette Davis. He also did publicity work for Playboy Enterprises and United Artists (“The Ten Commandments” and “West Side Story.”)

The rechristened theater will have a plaque in the lobby to honor theater publicists past and present who did or do “serve as champions for the Bright Lights of Broadway.”

The lobby will be named in honor of Shirley Herz and Bob Ullman, who worked for Friedman. Herz told the Times that “Sam Friedman was a character.” She called him the “last angry press agent.”

ALLISON INSURES PROGRESSIVE PR

Allison & Partners has won a review for No. 3 auto insurer Progressive’s PR account.

Lime PR previously handled the work.

A&P is focusing on consumer and trade media outreach for the overall Progressive brand and its individual lines of insurance, like passenger auto, boat, and RV.

The firm will also focus on two key sponsorships totaling more than $50M for the insurer – the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize competition, which carries a $10M prize for the development of a 100-mile-per-gallon vehicle that was announced in March, and the company’s support of the Cleveland Indians baseball franchise, including the naming rights for the former Jacobs Field, now Progressive Field. That 16-year deal inked in January costs Mayfield, Ohio-based Progressive about $3.6M a year.

Anne Colaiacovo, GM of Allison’s New York office, heads the account.

ROMNEY AIDE TO GLOVER PARK

Kevin Madden, national press secretary and top communications aide for Mitt Romney’s White House run, has joined the Democrat-heavy Glover Park Group as a senior VP in its public affairs unit.

Madden was senior communications strategist for Romney, directing PR efforts for the ex-governor’s speeches, policy plays and political events.

He previously was press secretary for House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) after earlier directing public affairs at the Justice Dept. and working as a campaign spokesman for Bush-Cheney.

THOMSON PUTS STAMP ON WSJ

Robert Thomson, managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, is creating a “news hub” consisting of three new deputy managing editors who will sit close together to expedite decision-marking and streamline editing decisions.

The trio consists of Matt Murray, who oversees U.S. general and corporate news; Nikhil Deogun, who is responsible for international, and Mike Williams, who handles Page One, including investigative reporting, A-heds and leders.

In an internal memo, Thomson said Mike Miller, who is responsible for features, will edit the paper if he is not around.

Jim Pensiero, deputy managing editor, is “masterminding our move to Midtown.”

Thomson noted that “most news organizations in the U.S. and around the world are in retreat.” His goal is to deliver “journalism of the highest integrity to an ever larger audience in the WSJ.”

GANZI QUITS HEARST

Hearst CEO Victor Ganzi, 61, has resigned due to “irreconcilable policy differences” with the board of trustees about the future of the company. The 18-year Hearst veteran assumed the helm in `02.

Ganzi at the time succeeded vice chairman 75-year-old Frank Bennack, who is temporarily reassuming the CEO slot.

Hearst has formed a search committee to find a CEO to lead the company in a “dynamic and evolving media marketplace.”

Hearst, which is privately held,” says it has been profitable for 15 of the last 16 years. It lost money in `01.

Hearst publishes Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping; Redbook; O, The Oprah Magazine, Houston Chronicle; San Francisco Chronicle, and Albany Times Union.

Its Hearst-Argyle Television unit has 29 stations.

KLIGER STEPS DOWN AT HFM

Jack Kliger, CEO of Hatchette Filipacchi Media, is stepping down on September 1. He moves to the chairman slot. He will focus on developing strategic relationships for HFM, which is part of France’s Lagardere Group.

Alain Lemarchand, a financial executive, is to take over for Kliger in the U.S. He currently heads Lagardere Interactive.

Kliger, who took over HFM in `99, was praised for restructuring, creating new platforms and establishing a solid U.S. presence for the French company.

HFM publishes Elle, Car and Driver, Popular Photography, Road & Track and Cycle World.

RITTER UPPED AT AP

Hal Ritter, acting business editor at the Associated Press, is moving up to business editor. He replaces Kevin Noblet, who resigned.

Ritter is a founding editor of USA Today, and made his mark via the launch of that daily’s “Money” section.

Prior to USAT, Ritter was business editor and assistant city editor at the now shuttered Times-Union in Rochester, N.Y.

The 56-year-old Ritter joined the AP in `06 as a business-side consultant. He then became special projects director the next year.

NBCU TALKS WITH WEATHER CHANNEL

NBC Universal is in “exclusive” negotiations to purchase the Weather Channel from Landmark Communications. Time Warner has officially dropped out of the bidding process.

NBCU is backed by Blackstone Group and Bain Capital in the takeover bid that is expected to fall into the $3.5B range. Landmark had put a $5B price tag on WC.

The Weather Channel’s website is the leader in its respective category. More than 38M viewers visited the site last month, according to Nielsen Online.

NBCU is part of General Electric, which faces Wall Street pressure to spin off the media combine.

MCCLATCHY WIELDS AX

McClatchy Co. is cutting 1,400 staffers (10 percent of its workforce) in an effort to deal with the depressed advertising market.

The Sacramento-based company has eliminated 13 percent of workforce since the end of `06 via attrition and outsourcing.

CEO Gary Pruitt, who acquired the Knight Ridder chain in `06 for $4.6B, says the current cuts are needed to compensate for the drastic fall in real estate, auto and jobs advertising.

The reductions, which will generate $70M in annual savings, are part of Pruitt’s strategy to evolve from a newspaper company to an “integrated multimedia company.”

McClatchy’s stock trades at $7.86, near its 52-week low of $7.51. It traded as high as $28.73 during the past year.

The company owns 30 dailies including Miami Herald, Charlotte Observer, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Kansas City Star and Sacramento Bee.

QUADRANGLE MAKES ONLINE MOVE

Quadrangle Group, the investment firm of former New York Times staffer Steven Rattner, is buying Greenfield Online in a deal that tops $425M.

Greenfield develops consumer attitude surveys about products and services and helps marketers tailor strategies to push their offerings.

Gordon Holmes, managing principal at Quadrangle, said his firm is attracted to GO’s “international leadership position in online comparison shopping and survey research.”

Quadrangle, which has more than $6B under management, is based in New York. It has offices in London, Silicon Valley and will soon open in Hong Kong.

Abernathy MacGregor Group handles Quadrangle’s PR here, while Maitland is its European firm.

(Media news continued on next page)

KELLY TO VSS

Michael Kelly, who was president of AOL Media Networks, has signed on as an advisor to Veronis Suhler Stevenson.

He is to scout for deals in the digital space.

Kelly was president of Time Warner’s global marketing operation before moving to AOL.

VSS has an investment portfolio worth $12B. A deal with Avatar International, provider of customizable surveys for the healthcare sector was announced June 19.

OWN GETS PREZ

Regency Television studio Robin Schwartz is joining OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network as president in charge of programming. She takes that spot in mid-July.

Schwartz is a veteran of Walt Disney’s ABC Family channel and began her career at General Electric’s NBC unit.

The new cable network is looking for a CEO.

TIA, AMERICAN EXPRESS GO 'GREEN'

The Travel Industry Assn. and American Express have joined forces on a Travel Sustainability Initiative.

TIA and American Express, whose logo appeared last month on all of the TIA International Pow Wow conference delegate badges (“Your 24/7 travel companion, Your American Express Card”), will be working together to develop a comprehensive plan designed to make crucial information available and to guide the travel industry in its response to assuring sustainability in travel and tourism.

Roger Dow, President and CEO of TIA, of Washington, D.C., said the initiative with American Express is a comprehensive review of “domestic and international efforts related to travel and climate change, and the larger issue of travel and the environment.

“This Sustainability initiative will place emphasis on better understanding what the travel community is doing to ‘go green,’ where we are still vulnerable, and preparing travel leaders to play a more active role in the policy making process concerning our impact on the natural environment.”

The education effort involved in the campaign will involve organizing and synthesizing existing consumer research, eco-friendly travel programs, travel association efforts, overviews of proposed legislation, case studies and more.

Donna Flora, VP, travel industry relations for American Express, said the travel sector must understand its impact on the environment and find the most responsible and economically feasible ways to ensure the future of all the destinations our industry touches.”

TIA, which is the trade group of the $740B travel sector, says the results of this new initiative will be disseminated to the industry through a website, to be launched at TIA’s Marketing Outlook Forum in October.

Julie Chang has moved to WNYW/Fox 5 in New York from WPIX-TV. She becomes a general assignment reporter. The South Korea native moved to the U.S. when she was nine years old.

DAVIS JOINS FOX NEWS

Lanny Davis, who was President Clinton’s special counsel and a media promoter of Hillary Clinton’s White House run, is joining Fox News as a contributor.

He will appear with Republicans Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee on the “fair and balanced” network.

Davis has been pitching Hillary Clinton as a running mate for Barack Obama.

He is a partner at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and author of “Scandal: How ‘Gotcha’ Politics is Destroying America.”

Many Democrats don’t appear on Fox because they perceive the News Corp. operation to be biased. Obama reluctantly appeared on Fox.

Davis, however, says he has always been treated fairly by Fox.

BROKAW TAKES OVER FOR RUSSERT

Former “NBC Nightly News” anchor Tom Brokaw will take up the interviewer’s chair on “Meet the Press” left vacant with the passing of Tim Russert on June 13.

Brokaw will fill in for his friend through the November presidential election.

Current Nightly News anchor Brian Williams filled in for Russert on June 22. He said Brokaw would take the reins this Sunday.

Russert Honored Posthumously

The Newhouse School of Public Communications granted its Fred Dressler Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously to Tim Russert this week.

“We still feel we should honor Mr. Russert for the important contributions he made to the media industry,” said Dean David Rubin. “Though we are sad that now we must do so in memoriam.”

Newhouse announced March 18 its intention to honor the former “Meet the Press” host for his role in the political process.

The awards lunch was held June 23 at the Rainbow Room at New York Rockefeller Center.

Lorraine Branham is succeeding Rubin as dean at the Syracuse University school on July 1. She is director of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin.

Branham has taught at UT since `05 after a 25-year journalism career at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Tallahassee Democrat and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Rubin has been Newhouse dean since `90.

ZIFF DAVIS GETS CH. 11 PLAN OK

Ziff Davis Media said the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has confirmed its amended reorganization plan with a goal of emerging from bankruptcy on July 1.

Jason Young, CEO, said the approval is a “major milestone” for the company, which filed for Ch. 11 protection in March.

The plan, okayed by creditors, converts more than $428M in debt to new common stock and a new note of $57.5M.

ZD properties include PCMag.com, the 1Up Network, PC Magazine and Electronic Gaming Monthly.

Gary McCormick, Tom Eppes and Vincent Hazleton are leading a battle for control of the PR Society (page one).

McCormick has thrown down the gauntlet by daring to speak to us and answer questions (page two).

This is a giant crack in the wall of silence PRS tries to maintain and will make the ruling clique furious.

Unfortunately, the other five candidates continue to go along with this un-American, unethical boycott which makes them hypocrites.

They also won't discuss anything concrete with the members, as evidenced by their vaporous lengthy election statements on the PRS website.

Chair-elect candidate Rosanna Fiske claims in her statement that "PRS must lead in the evolution of PR" by "Upholding the Code of Ethics in all aspects of professional communications regardless of medium."

Exactly what is ethical about a boycott of us and the members?

She should be discussing the advisability of shifting the charter to Delaware to allow electronic meetings of the Assembly; the bizarre, substandard bookkeeping on dues income that is out-of-step with all the big professional groups (ABA, AMA, AICPA); the low-balled expenses allocated to the national conference, the advisability of a press boycott against anyone, refusal to supply Assembly transcripts, audit on the website, etc.

Since the entire bylaws are being re-written, members should be discussing whether the three-year rule for Assembly delegates should be dropped and whether directors should be barred from the board once they leave (which was the practice for 50 years).

Instead, members are shut out from any discussion although it would be easy to conduct on the PRS website and via e-mails.

PRS is at war with us simply because we're competitors-in disseminating news and information, professional development (50 such subjects are carried on odwyerpr.com), publications (newsletter and magazine that compete with their Tactics & Strategist), and news analysis and commentary (Fraser Seitel, former editor of Strategist, has written a twice-monthly column for odwyerpr.com for five years).

PRS's criticisms of us, that we ask too many questions and practice "attack" journalism, fail to hide what it is really doing: using cut-throat tactics against a competitor (while proclaiming endlessly that it is as pure as the driven snow and abusing its tax-free status).

Every once in a while someone points out that the PRS emperor is wearing no clothes (like Andrew Cohen of CBS recently did).

Three men are opposing three women for control of PRS—McCormick vs. Fiske, Eppes vs. Mary Barber, and Hazleton vs. Leslie Backus.

We don't know if gender will be a consideration this year but there have been efforts in the past to balance male vs. female elected heads of PRS.

The trend towards increasing female participation in the PR industry is well established. Sixteen of the 22 candidates this year are women as are 13 of the 20 members of the nomcom. The nomcom might think that nominating three men would be sending the "wrong message." Cheryl Procter-Rogers is chair and 2007 CEO Rhoda Weiss is the only member of the board allowed to take part in nomcom deliberations. An attempt by Eppes and others to block Weiss from influencing the nominations failed at the board meeting in January.

Failure of anyone to run from NY, NJ or CT or from the seven chapters in Florida is significant. The last two New Yorkers on the board, Art Stevens and Phil Ryan, were unfairly bounced by the nomcom in 2003 and no one from New York has run since then.

Nine educators are among the 22 vying for 11 openings-Fiske; Hazleton; Jeff Douglas, Va./Md. College of Veterinary Medicine; Deborah Silverman, Buffalo State; Amy Barnes, Univ. of Arkansas; Susan Walton, Brigham Young; Steve Grant, National Education Assn.; Carolyn Bobo, Texas Christian, and Ann Knabe, Univ. of Wisc.

Political bias of the New York Times and New York Post was evident June 19 in the way each covered Michelle Obama's visit to “The View.”

Post columnist Andrea Peyser called the visit a “lame try,” saying Obama embarrassed herself by calling her husband “pathetic,” disclosed she doesn't wear pantyhose, and called one of the co-hosts a “girl.” Watching Obama trying to show her feminine side was “as painful as a root canal,” said Peyser. The NYT, which has long shown favoritism to Barack Obama, headlined, “Michelle Obama Highlights Her Warmer Side” and said “her performance was polished and all but flawless.” Obama was quoted as saying, “Of course I am proud of my country.” On the use of “pathetic,” the NYT said Obama “did almost slip when she tried to describe her husband's easygoing personality and said what some in the audience heard as ‘sweet and pathetic’” which she quickly corrected to be “sweet, empathetic”…a concrete step in improving PR’s image worldwide could be taken by the Confederation of European PR (16 national groups) if it adopts the enforceable ethics code of the German Council for PR. That was the main topic before CERP at its meeting June 21 in London…oddly, the German group’s approach to PR ethics is based on U.S. Prof. James Grunig’s view that communication has to be two-way and “symmetrical” in order to be "morally justifiable"…medical specialists who listened to PRS COO Bill Murray on a tape he made for D S Simon Productions June 6 said he appears to have a case of “spasmodic dysphonia.” This causes the voice to “break or to have a tight, strained or strangled quality.” New York and many other big chapters have yet to be addressed by either Murray or Julin so far this year…both Julin and Murray were in London the past few days for the World PR Conference and Festival, CERP meeting, Global Alliance for PR meeting and 60th anniversary of the Chartered Institute for PR. No notice of this was on the PRS website.

--Jack O'Dwyer