S.F. SEEKS BOND PR

San Francisco is conducting an RFP process for the development of a community outreach campaign supporting a public bond for open space.

The bond was backed by 71 percent of the public in February 2008 and allocated $185M for capital improvements.

The resulting five-year PR contract would be signed with the Neighborhood Park Repair and Renovations program and focus on the program and the capital projects that result from it.

The work covers community meetings and outreach, as well as development and coordination of an ongoing awareness campaign.

The projects include playground safety, repairs and seismic work to prepare recreation areas for earthquakes, improvement of athletic fields and trail construction, among others.

Staton Hughes handled the campaign to pass the bond last year.

BRUNSWICK BACKS HUMMER DEAL

Brunswick Group’s Hong Kong, U.K. and U.S. operations are handling communications related to General Motors’ sale of its Hummer operation to China’s Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co.

The surprise deal, believed to be less than $500M although a price was not revealed, is expected to close in the third quarter. Sichuan Tengzhong, which makes construction equipment, said it would keep Hummer’s operations in the U.S.

“We will be investing in the Hummer brand and its research and development capabilities, which will allow Hummer to better meet demand for new products such as more fuel-efficient vehicles in the U.S,” said Yang Yi, CEO of Tengzhong, in a statement.

Brunswick is working with corporate communications staffers from GM and the Hummer unit – including Nick Richards, comms. manager for Hummer, and GM comms. manager John McDonald – to handle inquiries about the deal.

Tim Payne, managing partner for Brunswick’s Hong Kong office, London-based partner Tim Burt, and Christina Stenson, a director in New York, are working media for the deal.

Craig Alperowitz, a 16-year PR veteran, joined Lippe Taylor Brand Communications to head its lifestyle practice and make new business pitches. He assumes the executive VP title. He had been at Interpublic's DeVries PR unit and previously headed strategic communications at IBM Business Consulting Services and Absolut.

IPG WARNS ON GM

Interpublic says based on a review of the bankruptcy filing by General Motors, its biggest client, the ad/PR conglom’s maximum potential exposure for accounts receivable and expenditures billable is $50M.

That exposure could increase if GM’s overseas subsidiaries join the parent company in Chapter 11, according to IPG’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

IPG’s McCann Erickson unit handles GM’s business in China and Europe. The automaker generates $350M in revenues at IPG.

Interpublic received a bit of good news as race car driver Roger Penske’s Penske Automotive Group has inked an agreement to purchase GM’s Saturn unit.

Saturn, which employs 13,000 people, was not included in the revamped “New GM” structure. IPG’s Deutsch does ads for Saturn.

Publicis Groupe and IPG rank among General Motors’ “consolidated list of creditors holding 50 largest unsecured claims,” according to court papers.

Starcom MediaVest Group, the media planning/buying unit of Publicis, is owed $121.5M of trade debt.

CASSIDY IS BACK WITH PAKISTAN

Cassidy & Assocs., which dropped its $1.2M Pakistan account in Nov. 2007 after declaration of emergency rule by then-President Pervez Musharraf, has picked up the Council on Pakistan Relations business.

The Southfield, Mich.-based Council advocates for a better understanding of Pakistan here and increased bilateral trade.

Shawn Sullivan, who was special legislative assistant at the Defense Dept., spearheads Cassidy’s effort.

Locke Lord Strategies assumed Cassidy’s role on the Pakistan account, though at a reduced $900K rate.

PR SOCIETY LEADERS MET IN PRIVATE

About 120 chapter, section and district leaders of the PR Society met in private June 5-6 at the New York Marriott downtown.

The annual “Leadership Rally” of chapter presidents-elect, section and district chairs, held since 2001, has succeeded the spring Assembly which was open to members as well as the press. Requests that all or parts of the “Rally” be audiocast live or made available for podcast to members were ignored.

The spring Assembly was discontinued in 1987, two years after the Assembly voted twice to move h.q. from New York.

It was overruled by the 1985 board in a 7-5 vote.

(continued on page 7)

HONEY BOARD TO REVIEW PR ACCOUNT

The National Honey Board, the Colorado-based government-backed group that promotes honey consumption, is reviewing its six-figure PR account with an RFP process.

The Board, which is under the purview of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, currently works with Wisconsin-based Stephan & Brady.

S&B is being asked to compete against a small group of finalists from the RFP, likely two or three, at the group’s October 2009 meeting.

The 22-year-old NHB is run by a 12-member board appointed by the USDA consisting of packers, importers, producers and a co-op member. A new board voted in April to review the PR contract, which carried over from the previous board and is the NHB’s largest pact.

Budget for the account is projected in the $650-880K range. The group estimates 85 percent of the work goes toward earned media, while the remaining 15 percent covers products like matte releases.

The RFP can be downloaded from the NHB’s website. Agencies must indicate an intent to pitch the account by June 26. RLPR of Los Angeles has handled Hispanic PR for the NHB.

NHB estimates U.S. honey consumption at about 430 million pounds annually across food and beauty applications.

BLACKWOOD MOVES TO ARBITRON

Deirdre Blackwood, a veteran corporate and agency exec who was a press secretary for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), has moved to audience measurement giant Arbitron as senior VP of corporate communications.

Blackwood is charged with consolidating the company’s corporate communications group, which includes marketing communications, PR and investor relations.

She reports to chief marketing officer Alton Adams at Columbia, Md.-based Arbitron.

Adams said the company needs to combine those functions as it “moves in new directions.”

The company is facing FCC scrutiny over its counting of minorities in audience reports and is in the midst of rolling out its so-called “portable people meter” to modernize radio audience tracking.

KCSA is the company’s outside PR firm.

Blackwood joins the company from satellite telecom company TerraStar Networks in Reston, Va., where she was VP/corporate communications. Earlier, she was a director in Burson-Marsteller’s D.C. office and spent five years on the corporate PR side at Manugistics, an enterprise software company.

HJMT SEEKS RELIEF FOR MADOFF VICTIMS

HJMT Communications is helping promote Madoff-Help.com, which bills itself as a “one-stop shop for victims for the Madoff fraud.”

A “victims meeting” is slated for June 16 in Huntington, a session that targets the more than 1,000 Long Islanders burned by Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. The website and victims meeting are operations of Good Harvest Financial Group, a fee-based financial planning outfit, founded in 1987 by Ron Stein. It offers reduced rates for Madoff victims.

MS&L, PORTER NOVELLI MAKE MOVES IN D.C.

MS&L and Porter Novelli have recruited veteran agency and public sector PR executives for key posts in Washington, D.C.

Veteran healthcare pro Nancy Glick has moved to MS&L from Ruder Finn in D.C.

Glick, who was executive VP and director of RF’s health and nutrition affairs practice, takes a senior VP role with MS&L to direct its own H&N practice.

She was previously a senior VP at Porter Novelli and spent several years at Hill & Knowlton after serving as press officer at the Food and Drug Administration during the Carter administration, handling consumer affairs like food and recall issues.

Neil Dhillon, managing director of MS&L/D.C., noted her FDA experience will likely be an asset as new regulations are expected from the Obama administration affecting healthcare groups.

Glick served on Barack Obama’s Women’s Health Leaders team during the 2008 campaign.

PN Recruits McLean

Porter Novelli, meanwhile, has brought in Dewey Square Group partner and Hillary Clinton for President advisor Kiki McLean as global head of public affairs and managing director of the firm’s D.C. office.

McLean, whose first name is Catherine, takes over in July for PN’s longtime D.C. head Carolyn Tieger, who is retiring.

In addition to working for Clinton’s ‘08 run, she put together Sen. John Kerry’s strategy for announcing John Edwards as his running mate in ‘04 and was national press secretary and spokesperson for Vice President Al Gore’s presidential bid. She also spoke for Sen. Joe Lieberman when he was Gore’s vice presidential nominee.

She previously worked in PR at Ogilvy & Mather Public Affairs.

Pepper Binner of Korn/Ferry International worked on the search with PN.

SV INVOLVED IN NASTY TAKEOVER FIGHT

Sard Verbinnen is aiding Emulex fend off a hostile takeover bid lodged by Broadcom, a tussle that has turned into a round of mudslinging.

The Wall Street Journal reported June 1 that Emulex alleges in a lawsuit that Broadcom “can’t be trusted because the company hasn’t fully disclosed details of widely publicized drug-related and stock option-backdating charges involving its former CEO” Henry Nicholas.

The suit contends that Nicholas, as one of Broadcom’s biggest shareholders, holds much influence at the semiconductor company.

Nicholas left Broadcom in `03. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of drug use, conspiracy and spiking the drinks of business associates. Those charges are pending.

Broadcom says none of the charges has anything to do with its $765M takeover bid.

SV is distributing a release that charges Broadcom with “making misleading statements” about Emulex’s ability to compete in the networking market as a standalone company. Andrew Cole and Diane Henry are coordinating SV’s work for Emulex.

BONNIER BUYS FIVE HACHETTE MAGS

Bonnier Corp. has acquired five magazines from Hachette Filipacchi Media to strengthen its “portfolio of brands to include other passionate special-interest audiences,” according to Terry Snow, CEO of Bonnier.

The magazines are Popular Photography, Flying, Boating, Sound & Vision and American Photo.

Bonnier has been busy on the acquisition trail of late. It added Working Mother in September to complement its Parenting and Babytalk books. In December, Bonnier scooped up Scuba Diving to pair with its Sport Diver magazine.

Snow says his strategy is to add magazines that “serve markets with multimedia opportunities.”

HFM unloaded the books because its interest lies with women's and automotive titles.

HERTZBERG EXITS WSJ

Daniel Hertzberg, who has more than 30 years of experience at the Wall Street Journal is calling it quits. The exit is slated for June 30.

Hertzberg leaves as deputy managing editor in charge of overseas editions and foreign bureaus.

In an e-mail to staff, he wrote about being "lucky enough to participate in the growth of one of the world's finest journalist institutions."

N.Y. OBSERVER MAKES CUTS

The New York Observer slashed 15 of its 80-member staff as a move to counter the lousy economic climate.

The Observer is “not immune to the economic pressures being felt industry-wide,” said president Christopher Barnes in a statement. The salmon-colored weekly has to “cut back in order to move forward.”

The cutbacks come as editor Peter Kaplan stepped down to take a post at Conde Nast Traveler. He is replaced on an interim basis by Tom McGeveran.

Real estate mogul Jared Kushner bought the Observer in 2006.

SHRODER EXITS WAPO MAG

Tom Shroder, editor of the Washington Post Magazine, has decided to take the paper’s buyout offer.

He felt it was time to make the move because “significant changes in the magazine are inevitable,” according to a report on Politico.com.

Raju Narisetti says WaPo has a “strong bench strength in the newsroom, especially on features including narrative writing and editing.”

There is no need to rush into naming a successor to Shroder because the “magazine team tends to have issues planned well in advance.”

NICKELODEON SHUTTERS MAG

Viacom is pulling the plug on Nickelodeon Magazine after nearly 20 years.

MediaPost.com noted that Nick Jr. Family Magazine was shuttered in 2007 and that NM’s closure affects roughly 30 staffers.

NM was started in 1990, ceased publishing and then re-started again in 1993. It will end by Q4 of 2009.

YAHOO! TO GET NEW COMMS. CHIEF

Eric Brown has followed his former colleague at NetApp to Yahoo! to fill the top global communications slot at the Internet portal.

Brown takes up the role of senior VP/global communications, which had been vacant since the departure of chief communications officer Jill Nash in February. He’ll report to Yahoo!’s new chief marketing officer, Elisa Steele, who was VP of corporate marketing at NetApp, a data storage company, and joined Yahoo! in May.

“This is such a pivotal time to join Yahoo! and I look forward to being a part of the team that helps the company reassert its brand relevance globally,” Brown said in a statement.

Yahoo! is trying to move on from executive churn (three CEOs in two years), a takeover attempt by Microsoft and layoffs amid the economic downturn.

Brown, who is slated to join the company in July, oversees the gamut of Yahoo! comms., including PR, product promotion, public affairs and social media, among other disciplines. He was VP of corporate relations at NetApp and earlier headed PR for Adaptec.

SAVAGE MAKES CASE WITH U.K. FIRM

Political shock jock Michael Savage has hired London PR firm PHA Media as he campaigns to lift a ban from Britain.

Savage was among 16 people – including Hamas terrorists and Russian gang members -- banned by the U.K.’s Home Office for travel to the country in May and the radio host has sued the British government for libel following that designation.

Savage, whose fiercely intolerant views on homosexuality and Islam have offended many, may have gained an opening on Tuesday when British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, who implemented the ban on Savage,” resigned amid political scandals.

Phil Hall, the former News of the World editor who heads PHA, has touted his firm’s work for Savage on Twitter.

JOURNOS CONVICTED IN NORTH KOREA

North Korea on June 8 convicted two U.S. journalists of committing a “grave crime” and illegally entering the country. The two female reporters were working for Current TV and sentenced to 12 years of “reform through labor” in North Korea.

The Associated Press reported that diplomats and Korean journalists expect the duo to be released pending negotiations between the U.S. and N.K.

The two were reporting about trafficking of North Korean women near the N.K. border with China when they were arrested in March.

The State Dept. issued this statement: “The president is deeply concerned by the reported sentencing of the two American citizen journalists by North Korean authorities, and we are engaged through all possible channels to secure their release.”

(Media news continued on next page)

CURRENT ISSUE OF PRQ IS LAST

Friends of Public Relations Quarterly editor Elaine Newman say she has told them that Volume 52, No. 4, is the last issue she will mail.

The phone at the publication's office in Rhinebeck, N.Y., is “disconnected or no longer in service.”

Newman is the widow of PRQ founder Howard Hudson, who died in 2005.

The final 48-page issue had two ads, a full page for John Budd’s “Too Many Geese; Too Few Swans,” and a quarter-page ad for the Copyright Clearance Center.

For many years, the only steady advertiser was North American Precis Syndicate, headed for many years by Ron Levy. He has an 11-page article in the current issue under the general heading of "Recession PR Opportunities."

An article by Washington, D.C., counselor Wes Pedersen tells of his experiences at the Department of State and the U.S. Information Agency covering the building of the Berlin Wall, writing via a nom de plume.

Levy said that while PRQ provided many thoughtful articles by professors, today’s audience is looking for “articles more related to money — who's getting it and how.”

PR professors don’t have many publications in which they present ideas noted Levy.

“This past week the field lost one of its most valued tools that worked diligently to provide a platform for helping educators -- and those who respected their chosen field -- provide next generation communicators a sound and solid understanding of how to prepare for and work successfully in the field,” said Andy Marken of Marken Communications.

Profession Neglected it — Pedersen

Pedersen, writing an “Obit for a Friend,” said: “PRQ died this week, victim of gross neglect by the profession it befriended and supported for decades.”

He said major firms “put their money on a sure winner like PR Week” although PRW, “despite a first-rate editor,” recently became a monthly while retaining its daily internet coverage.

PR Reporter, a weekly published since 1958, was purchased by Ragan Communications in 2002, changed to a monthly in 2004 and was folded later that year. The Ragan Report, previously a weekly newsletter, went online only last year. Reputation Management, monthly magazine published by Paul Holmes, closed in 2000 after five years of publication.

A USPS statement in the latest issue of PRQ said average paid and/or requested circulation in the 12 months to October 2008 was 1,857.

Hudson, a descendent of Henry Hudson, William Penn and Ralph Waldo Emerson, founded PRQ in 1955 and Hudson's Washington News Media Contacts Directory in 1968.

He was also a founder of the New York Newsletter Assn., which evolved into Specialized Information Publishers Assn.

Was Outlet for Academics

PRQ was a popular outlet for articles by professors, the current issue having five such articles and several others by college students and a high school teacher.

Prof. Nancy Somerick of the University of Akron wrote about being a PR teacher; Prof. Ed Applegate of Middle Tennessee State University wrote about "news balance" and “objectivity” in news coverage, and Prof. Sean McCleneghan of New Mexico State University wrote about the different skills of PR counselors and PR executives.

PR professors as of 2007 found a new outlet for their articles in the online “PR Journal” of the PR Society hosted by PR Prof. Don Wright of Boston University.

Current PRJ articles discuss corporate intranets, corporate social responsibility programs, and media in Ukraine.

PRS Sold Many PRQ Articles

PRQ turned out to be the second most copied publication when the PR Society's business of selling authors’ works without their permission was discovered in 1994.

The O’Dwyer Co., which purchased 11 "information packets" of the Society in late 1994, found they contained 52 articles from the O’Dwyer Newsletter and magazine and 19 articles from PRQ.

About 100 copied O’Dwyer pages were found in the packets and about 50 pages of PRQ articles.

Hudson, a longtime PRS member, condemned the practice and joined 11 other copied authors in hiring a law firm to seek payment from the Society.

PRS took a firm stand that it owed the authors nothing because it was merely acting as a library and charging a "loan fee" rather than selling the authors’ works (nine complete chapters of PR books were found in the 11 packets).

PRS said it was entitled to make one copy of an article and loan it.

However, 24-hour delivery of packets was promised by the Society and buyers could keep them for three weeks. PRS financial reports showed volume was about 3,800 packets yearly and profits were about $60,000 yearly.

The authors, warned of the costs of pursing PRS legally, abandoned their legal claims. However, some continue to press for a settlement, noting that PRS’ claims of being the ethical leader of the PR industry are contradicted by its refusal to recompense the authors.

PRQ Was Accused of Copyright Violation

PRQ itself was accused of copyright violation in 2007 when Prof. Linda Morton of the University of Oklahoma found that 38 of her PRQ articles were for sale via Amazon at $5.95 each.

The Amazon website said the articles were “available for download now" and that an article “ships from and (is) sold by Amazon.com.”

Other services also offered PRQ articles and one offered a package of 1,017 articles for $800.

Morton, author of “Strategic Publications: Designing for Target Audiences,” wrote a column on “Segmenting Publics” for PRQ.

She wrote to Newman and was told in an e-mail that PRQ has a company that handles sale of rights to articles but that PRQ itself was not “selling your articles on online on Amazon or other sites.

WOMEN DEVOUR LOCAL NEWS

Eighty-four percent of women polled by PR firm JSH&A, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., said they read hard copy versions of their local newspapers and one in three read the paper daily.

That compares with 53 percent who say they go online for news and only 12 percent who do so daily. Those figures become clearer when viewed through an age lens as 23 percent of women ages 20-30 said they read news online every day.

JSH&A puts women into four categories of media consumption. “Wired women” are younger and place trust and crediblity in online sources. Twenty-two percent of this group never read a print newspaper and 71 percent are online three or more hours daily.

“Transitionals” are migrating online but still use a mix of media. Nineteen percent of this group read a printed newspaper daily while that same percentage does so online. About half (49%) are online for three or more hours a day.

“Dabblers” tend toward traditional media but dabble online. One-fourth read the local printed paper daily and online nine percent read it online. They are more likely to trust family/friends or even TV anchors for information.

“Grounded” women are dependent on traditional media as 54 percent read the print paper and only four percent go online. TV anchors like Katie Couric and Brian Williams have a great deal of influence (40 percent cited them) and only 12 percent of this group is online for more than three hours a day.

A whitepaper on the study is at jsha.com/blog.

FORTY YEARS FOR TERZIAN

Carl Terzian Associates, Los Angeles, is marking 40 years in business in 2009, a run that has included more than 4,500 clients and still operates primarily on handshake deals.

Terzian credits his networking and events prowess for keeping the firm’s client roster robust.

“At our functions, there is no pressure to buy anything, commit to any cause, or do anything other than connect to a group of fellow business professionals,” he said.

Terzian’s first client was Norris Industries and he helped launch the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in L.A.

BRIEFS: Hudson Sandler Financial & Corporate Communications, London, is handling former Kazakh bank chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov, who is in hot water with Kazakhstan’s government after BTA Bank, the nation’s largest lender, defaulted. Ablyazov fled the country in February ahead of an arrest warrant for alleged embezzling, according to Bloomberg, which intereviewed him from an undisclosed location in a call set up by HSF&C. ...Blaze, Santa Monica, Calif., won two platinum and an honerable mention at the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals’ 2009 Hermes Creative Awards. The firm’s work for Burger King, Bible Illuminated and Troy Adas Design was honored.

HARO EYES GROWTH WITH HIRE

Thom Brodeur, who exited Marketwire as senior VP in April, has joined the media source start-up Help a Reporter Out as chief operating officer to guide the services expansion and development.

“As HARO grew, it became obvious to me that I needed to take it to the next level,” said HARO founder and PR pro Peter Shankman.

Shankman started the free HARO service last year as a Facebook group, but expanded it to an email-based service and opened a revenue stream by selling advertising atop its three-a-day emails of journalist queries for sources. The service claims 100K PR and journalist members.

Before overseeing strategy and development for Marketwire, Brodeur handled the MW account at Omnicom firm Brodeur Partners.

Los Angeles-based Brodeur called the HARO service the “future of crowd-sourced journalism” and a “brand on the brink of greatness,” nothing he’ll work with Shankman to expand the business domestically and abroad.

PRN TRACKS SOCIAL MEDIA

PR Newswire has unveiled a social media monitoring tool developed with U.K.-based Sentiment Metrics to measure discussions and mentions across blogs, message boards and outlets like Twitter.

The service tacks more than 20 million blogs, millions of forum posts and 30K online news sources, including videos, as well as major social networks and microblogs. Users set up searches to track keywords like a company or competitor’s name and the date is reported and scored with graphics by Sentiment Metrics.

PRN’s Allison Murphy said, for example, an alert set up for negative mentions could provide valuable time to respond before a situation gets “out of control.”

MEDIALINK GETS KUDOS

May was Medialink Worldwide’s month as the broadcast and digital services company took home several awards. Working with GolinHarris and celebrity cook Paula Deen, Medialink won a Platinum Remi Award for a live show produced with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne All-American Chorus to entertain hundreds of troops at Fort Bragg, where Deen also visited with injured soldiers and new mothers.

Medialink won a Silver Remi for an online video campaign, “Leprechauns Invade New York,” with client Cohn & Wolfe for Irish Spring Body Wash. The St. Patrick’s Day campaign is online at getIrishnow.com. Working with GM’s OnStar unit, Medialink won a Bronze Remi for a web video of auto accident survivors recounting their contact with OnStar operators.

Medialink won a Bronze Telly Award for a web video with Seagate, as the digital storage and products company introduced a decide for sharing personal digital content. ML also won a Bronze Telly working with Bratskeir & Company and client L’Oreal for a web video, “Soft Sheen Discover Healthy Hair.”

LEADERS MEET IN PRIVATE (Cont’d from 1)

Eight chapters had made pitches for the h.q. location after bids were sought by the board. Houston and other chapters challenged a board study claiming that the move would be too costly. One cost was said to be $200,000 to hire and train a new staff since virtually the entire staff said it would refuse to leave New York.

Future staff and occupancy savings were not calculated, said the critics. PRS payroll costs rose 6% to $5.4M in 2008 (47.7% of total costs of $11.4M) and occupancy costs were about $800K.

Speakers at the Leadership Rally included PRS chair-elect and Leadership Rally chair Gary McCormick; Matthew Harrington, president and CEO, Edelman U.S., who gave the keynote address; David Rockland and Angie Montgomery of Ketchum, who gave results of a 2009 chapter membership survey; Dave Rickey, bylaws chair, who made a presentation about proposed bylaw changes from 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday morning, and COO William Murray, who spoke for 45 minutes on “The Best That We Can Be! Seven Measures of Success,” and also gave a half-hour “National Update.”

There is no indication in the agenda that chair Mike Cherenson would be present.

One bylaw proposal is that Assembly delegation of the 109 chapters include at least the president or the president-elect of a chapter. About half the chapters only have one delegate.

Another proposal is that direct voting by the 22,000 members replace the current system under which officers and directors are elected by the Assembly.

In the case of contested elections, the Assembly hears presentations by the opposing candidates and their supporters.

The bylaws task force has yet to spell out how direct elections will take place although several members have asked for such details.

Another bylaw proposal would make all 17 directors (officers are also directors) at-large, eliminating the need to have at least one director from each of the ten districts.

The chair would be able to appoint about 25 committee and task force chairs as Assembly delegates. Already in the Assembly are the 17 board members, 19 section chairs and 10 district chairs.

The immediate past chair of the board, while still on the board, would become chair of the nominating committee (replacing the past chair, once-removed, who would not longer be on the board).

Murray, should his contract be renewed (it expires Jan. 22, 2010), would join the nominating committee as an ex-officio member under one bylaw proposal.

The board could also make two appointments to the nomcom.

Chapter presidents-elect were each given $500 to help defray costs of the trip to New York. Dinner Friday night at the Grill Room Restaurant of the World Financial Center was also covered by the Society.

Murray Threatens Legal Action

Murray sent a registered letter to an O’Dwyer staffer accusing him of “eavesdropping” on the May 12 conference call in which prospective candidates were to ask questions. Only one question was asked during a one-hour teleconference. Deadline for seeking nominations for the seven national positions is Monday, June 15.

Murray said the O’Dwyer staffer listened to the call “without permission in violation of New York law” because the staffer is not a member of the Society.

“You are hereby on notice that any future efforts by you to eavesdrop on private PRS communications will be reported to the relevant authorities,” wrote Murray.

O’Dwyer publisher Jack O’Dwyer e-mailed Murray that the Society has twice returned checks of O’Dwyer staffers who tried to join and that no reason was given for this rejection.

Attempts to place O’Dwyer ads in Tactics of PRS are rejected on the ground that O’Dwyer products are in competition with Society products. However, PRS VP-PR Arthur Yann said recently that no O’Dwyer products are in competition with Society products.

Since there are plenty of members who will monitor PRS teleconferences for this NL, PRS’s legal threats will not work, O’Dwyer further told Murray, but will only make extra work for such members when press coverage should be permitted.

As for PRS’s concern with law-breaking, it showed no such concern in 2003 when O’Dwyer said a full day of his notes were stolen from his open conference bag at the Assembly in New Orleans.

PRS leaders and staff, when told of the theft and asked for the recording of the Assembly, refused to provide it.

“Stealing my notes was bad enough but refusing to give me a recording of the session was even worse,” said O’Dwyer.

SORRELL SCORES BONUS VICTORY

WPP shareholders approved a bonus scheme at their Dublin annual meeting on June 2 though a quarter of voters abstained or rejected the plan that could trigger a $95M payment to CEO Martin Sorrell.

That maximum Leadership Equity Acquisition Plan bonus payment is triggered if WPP exceeds the financial performance of eight of its nine competitors such as Omnicom, Publicis Groupe and Interpublic.

Almost a quarter (24.8 percent) of voters either abstained or voted "no" on the executive remuneration plan.

The Wall Street Journal called that tally “a sizable display of dissatisfaction” by European standards.

Sorrell told shareholders at the Dublin meeting that WPP dropped 4,300 (3.7 percent of `08 yearend staff) people from the payroll during the first four months of 2008. More than half left on a voluntary basis.

Like-to-like revenues during that period are down 6.7 percent. April was the worst month.

The chief said a priority for the remainder of ’09 is “balancing staff costs and headcount, against the fall in revenues.”

Routines and habits and long-standing relationships are no longer taken for granted, according to Sorrell. "As if for the first time, every expenditure has to demonstrate its worth-or run the risk of de-selection."

PR Society COO Bill Murray has accused an O'Dwyer staffer of a “violation of New York law” because the staffer's phone was used to listen to the May 12 teleconference in which candidates for national office were supposed to ask questions. Only one did so.

Since the Society will not let us join it, members for many years have themselves listened to PRS teleconferences and reported their contents to us.

No good reason is ever advanced for blocking our membership. The similar IABC lets us both join and advertise.

Blocking our access to member records and Society workings is an attempt to frustrate our coverage of PRS and we feel it's unethical. Whether it's legal or not is something that could be argued in court.

Since Murray and PRS are so interested in law-breaking, we wonder where that interest was on Oct. 25, 2003 when almost an entire day of our notes of an Assembly were stolen from our open conference bag when our back was turned.

That was a crime, possibly punishable by a jail term. Interference with a professional in performance of his or her duties is particularly serious, lawyers assured us. We were talking to director Jerry Corbett at about 4 p.m. and immediately expressed our shock when we turned around to get our notes from the conference bag and could not find them.

Corbett helped us look around the immediate area. The notes were on a 100-page 8.5-inch by 11-inch notepad and could not suddenly get lost on our way from the podium to the back of the room.

The Assembly was a particularly fractious one with 2003 president-elect Del Galloway arguing hard and long for removal of the APR rule for Assembly delegates. He had worked behind the scenes for many months to win passage but lost by five votes.

When we went up to the podium to ask him for a comment on the defeat he turned his back and walked away. Reed Byrum, 2003 president, did the same thing.

However, in the front row was 2003 secretary Judith Phair who gave us extensive comments on the APR defeat. We took notes as many in the Assembly looked on. Then we walked down the aisle, talked briefly with member Ofield Dukes and went to the back of the room where we met Corbett.

The motive to steal our notes was there-some leaders and/or delegates did not like a reporter covering this deep split in the Assembly.

We told COO Catherine Bolton, PR manager Cedric Bess, and many others about the theft. One delegate, a known dissident, told us her entire Assembly binder had been stolen the previous year when she went to the restroom.

What should have happened, were the Society to show its supposed dedication to "ethics," was that Byrum should have announced to the Assembly that a hideous crime had taken place-theft of a reporter’s notes-and that this would be an eternal blot on the Assembly and PRS itself if they were not returned. The drop could be made at the front desk of the hotel and the whole incident could have been forgotten. We would certainly have agreed to that.

But what happened? Bess and other leaders refused to give us a recording of the day’s proceedings, saying they had to be "prepared" in some way before release.

Since Murray is obtaining advice from Venable, one of Washington, D.C.’s biggest law firms (569 lawyers) and a specialist in association law, he should ask the firm if our coverage of the agenda of the “Leadership Rally” June 5-6 was also illegal and could possibly result in an arrest for “eavesdropping.”

When PRS VP-PR Arthur Yann refused to give us the five-page agenda, several members were only too willing to do so and we wrote a web story on it June 4.

Did the members and we break some law and could we be arrested and fined?

Another instance, which shows how preposterous this legal approach is, took place in April 2008. The entire board on April 9 e-mailed to “Dear Leaders” a nearly two-page attack on us, accusing us of having “repeatedly stepped far beyond the bounds of accurate and professional reporting.”

The e-mail was sent in such a fashion that it could not be printed out nor forwarded to others. We were never supposed to see this inaccurate attack on us! We wrote about the letter extensively and PRS then reprinted it in the April 2008 Tactics, which was also the annual “ethics” issue.

The e-mail said we “began calling and e-mailing work associates and supervisors of a volunteer committee chair” and shared our “personal and very negative views on PRS.”

We called and e-mailed Chancellor John Christensen of the Univ. of Nebraska saying that new PRS ethics chair Gail Baker of the university was not returning our calls or e-mails and we didn’t think this was ethical. We also attached the four-page O’Dwyer magazine story on the Society’s 15-years+ practice of selling copies of authors’ articles without their permission. This was not a “negative view” but a factual story on the Society’s article copying practices. Within four hours of our e-mails to Christensen, Baker had quit the EB.

We did nothing wrong and sent nothing false to Christensen or the PR staff of the school. PRS has never challenged a single word of our coverage of its copying practices. Instead of taking a legal approach to its PR problems, the Society should hire outside PR counsel and take its advice. It has not had outside counsel since the 1990s when John Budd served in that role for a couple of years for COO Ray Gaulke.

Ethics rather than law is what PRS staff and leaders should be concerned with. Staff time on ethics since 2001 (eight years) totals $431 with nothing at all spent in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Total ethics spending in 2008 was $2,317, a 46% decline from $4,360 in 2007.

--Jack O'Dwyer