NYS YANKS MORTGAGE PR RFP

Financially strapped New York State has pulled an RFP for a PR firm to develop a “subprime foreclosure prevention” services campaign to inform people about options for refinancing and help to stave off foreclosure.

The New York State Housing Trust Division of Housing and Community Renewal floated the RFP in December, which called for coordination with non-profit groups to establish “centers of influence” to educate citizens in the top 20 counties for bank repossessions.

Development of a website, earning and social media, a toolkit for partners, PSAs and collateral material were parts of the campaign.

The Division now says it has “decided not to go forward with awarding this RFP.” It cites changing economic conditions and demand for services for yanking the proposed work.

CATERPILLAR PA CHIEF TO STEP DOWN

Caterpillar Inc.’s director of public affairs, Tim Elder, a 37-year veteran of the heavy equipment manufacturer, will retire this fall after a transition.

Elder, who is 62, is slated to be replaced by the Peoria, Ill.-based company's director of corporate sustainable development and environment, Jim Baumgarten. The transition began April 1 and could be completed by October.

Caterpillar, which operates in 180 countries and is the largest maker of earth-moving machinery in the world, is also preparing for the retirement of its CEO Jim Owens. Sales for 2009 topped $32 billion and the company has nearly 94,000 employees.

Elder moved up the ranks of the company starting out as a sales development technician in 1973 and later shifting to its government affairs division in Peoria and Washington, D.C. He was tapped as director of corporate public affairs in 2001 handling corporate communications, government affairs and the Caterpillar Foundation.

PITZER HEADS P/N CHICAGO

Randy Pitzer, a 25-year PR, corporate and marketing veteran, has joined Porter Novelli as managing director of its Chicago office.

Most recently, Pitzer was executive VP & GM in Edelman's Windy City office, doing work for Motorola, A.T. Kearney and Quest Communications. He also worked for Ketchum and Ogilvy PR Worldwide.

Pitzer held corporate jobs at software companies Mercantec, e-commerce; Spyglass, Internet applications and SPSS, business intelligence.

CITI COLLARS BLOOMBERG AIDE

Citigroup has hired New York City deputy mayor for operations Ed Skylar for the executive VP-global PA post, a new position at the troubled financial services giant.

Reporting directly to CEO Vikram Pandit, Skylar will be in charge of external/internal PR, government affairs and investor relations. His purpose is to ensure that “Citi’s global dialogs with public, government and investors are effective and consistent,” according to the bank's announcement.

Pandit said Skylar’s “good judgment, work ethic and problem-solving skills will serve Citi well as he directs our strategy for communicating to a variety of critical constituencies.”

The new recruit, who joins Citi in May, handles NYC's budget, legislative and labor issues. Skylar spearheaded Mayor Bloomberg's sustainability effort and his high-profile campaign against firearms.

He also was Bloomberg’s press secretary, communications director and deputy mayor for administration. Skylar has been a member of the Bloomberg administration since it took office in ’02. He worked in the corporate communications group of Bloomberg LP before moving to City Hall.

Skylar served in Rudy Giuliani’s administration as deputy press secretary and public information officer for the Dept. of Parks and Recreation.

PENDULUM SWINGS FOR TOYOTA

A former U.S. Dept. of Transportation communicator has joined Toyota’s lobbying team to educate Members of Congress about the Japanese automaker's recall of about six million vehicles in the U.S. and its total commitment to vehicle safety.

Michael Frazier, who runs Pendulum Strategies with Joe Mondello, handles Toyota. He was assistant secretary of transportation for government affairs during the Clinton Administration.

His job was to direct the Dept.'s legislative and Congressional agenda and counsel the White House on key transport issues.

Frazier also served as legislative assistant to the late Ted Kennedy and chief of staff to former Illinois Senator Carol Moseley-Braun.

Mondello has worked for top Republicans such as Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson New York’s ex-Sen. Al D'Amato and Long Island Congressman Peter King.

Rankings tables of PR firms by city inside on page 7.

GRAYLING REVAMPS FOR ‘INT’L MINDSET’

Britain’s Huntsworth, which consolidated operations in ’09 with the goal of launching Grayling as its global standard-bearer has now restructured that shop to provide more of an “international mindset,” according to CEO Michael Murphy, who unveiled the plan to set up two practice heads in the U.S. (San Francisco and Washington) and others in London, Moscow/Istanbul, Brussels and Frankfurt.

Grayling’s U.S. chiefs are Christine Boehlke, and David Beightol. S.F.-based Boehlke handles technology, media and telecoms.

She is upped from CEO of Grayling Connecting Point, which handles issues such as mobile and wireless computing, customer relationship management, Internet shopping and online fraud protection.

Boehlke has worked with clients such as Sybase, Cisco, Hitachi and Logitec.

D.C.-headquartered Beightol is the former head of Dutko Government Markets. Huntsworth acquired Dutko Worldwide in ’09.

He also handled government affairs for Johnson Controls, directed ex-Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson’s Washington office and served on Mitt Romney's 2008 presidential national finance team.

Loretta Tobin, CEO of Grayling U.K., is now in charge of consumer brands in London.

She has more than 20 years of experience with names like Coca-Cola, Land Rover, Showerlux and the National Lottery.

Russell Patten (Brussels) handles the energy, environment and industry group.
He is former secretary-general of the European Express Assn. Stephen Lock works the healthcare/pharmaceutical beat from Moscow/Istanbul.

Ilka Schwarz focuses on financial and professional services clients from Frankfurt. Prior to Grayling, Schwarz worked at Kohtes Klewes (now Ketchum Pleon).

EX-CLINTON, DUTKO STAFF REP ALBANIANS

Blue Star Strategies has a $22,500K a-month retainer to bolster the position of Albania’s Socialist Movement for Integration in the U.S.

Former Clinton White House officials Karen Tramontano and Sally Painter head Blue Star. Tramontano was Clinton’s deputy chief of staff and counselor to top presidential aides Erskine Bowles and John Podesta.

Painter worked outreach and advocacy for the late Commerce Secretary Ron Brown.

They launched Blue Star in February after exiting Dutko Worldwide, which Huntsworth acquired last year. Dutko had the Albanian account.

For the Albanians, Tramontano is to analyze and provide advice on U.S. policy issues, craft messages and handle outreach.

Albania was a member of President Bush’s “coalition of the willing.” It withdrew its last soldier from Iraq at the end of 2008. Albania is eager for membership in NATO and the European Union.

CHRISTIAN PR FIRM SUES PREJEAN

Carrie Prejean, the former Miss California who ignited a firestorm of publicity for her stance against same-sex marriage, has been sued by her evangelical PR firm which claims it was bilked for at least $64,000 by the beauty queen.

Dallas-based A. Ross Communications argues in the suit that it put in “hundreds of hours” to get Prejean’s “biblically correct” message across to the media and public.

The firm also says it provided valuable information to Prejean's lawyer when she sued the pageant after it stripped her of her crown. ARC also says it gave Prejean interview tips and “brokered” a conference call with Donald Trump, owner of the pageant.

Founded in 1994, ARC's goal is to “restore faith in media” provide “value-added P.R. that defines values” and give Christian messages relevance and meaning in mainstream media. It has worked with evangelical pastor Rick Warren, American Bible Society, International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Billy Graham Evangelistic Assn., Promise Keepers, Operation Blessing and Southern Baptist Convention.

ARC client, The Creation Museum, has been in the news for earning the “Star of Tourism” honor from the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Established by the Answers in Genesis group, the Petersburg facility has attracted nearly one million visitors and pumped more than $60M into the regional economy since it opened two years ago.

EDELMAN PUTS ROWBURY ON TOP IN JAPAN

Edelman continues bulking up in Japan via the hire of Ross Rowbury, former COO of PRAP, the country's largest independent PR firm, to head its Japanese operation on May 1.

Last month, Edelman announced the recruitment of H&K/Japan president Kuniko Okuwaki for the deputy managing director slot. She joined April 1.

Rowbury is a 30-year veteran of the Japanese PR market. He was managing director of Gavin Anderson & Co.'s Tokyo office and director of BZW Securities.

Alan VanderMolen, president of Edelman/Asia-Pacific, believes Rowbury's appointment solidifies Edelman as a key player in the Japanese PR market.
Rowbury is fluent in written and spoken Japanese.

5W FETCHES CAMP BOW WOW

5W PR has picked up pet services franchise Camp Bow Wow, a $40M business, to handle PR and marketing communications for the brand.

Kaplow Communications previously handled the dog day care and boarding provider, which has also worked with CSG-PR in Colorado, where the company is based in Boulder.

5W is charged with strategic planning, media relations and marcomms. efforts.

The 10-year-old company has more than 90 locations in the U.S. CBW founder Heidi Ganahl said the PR firm has hit the ground running and delivered national media within days of going to work.

WSJ DISHES DIRT

The Wall Street Journal has hired Marshall Heyman, an alum of W, to do a gossip page for the New York section that is slated to debut this month.

The New York Observer wrote the move appears as the “section is ready to throw itself into the dirty underbelly of the city's nightlife.” Heyman will cover parties, nightlife and society events.

The New York Times, which is the target of the new section, ran a gossip column, “Boldface Names,” for six years before pulling the plug in ’06.

The Journal, meanwhile, has gained a foothold in Starbucks as the paper is being sold at 450 of the coffee houses in metro New York and Pennsylvania.

The move comes as USA Today went on sale in more than 6,000 Starbucks stores throughout the country, ending the New York Times’ position as the official national paper of the Seattle-based chain.

TIME’S TUMULTY TO WAPO

Karen Tumulty, a 16-year veteran of Time, is joining the Washington Post on April 12 as national political correspondent. She joins Chris Cillizza and Dan Baltz on the political team.

According to a WaPo memo, Tumulty is a “master at connecting politics and policy.” She is to “train her sights on the threads that line both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.” Tumulty spent 14 years at the Los Angeles Times before moving to the weekly magazine.

PREZ FORD’S PRESS SECRETARY DIES

Jerald TerHorst, who resigned as press secretary for Gerald Ford following his pardon of Richard Nixon, died March 31. He was 87.

In his resignation letter, TerHorst wrote that he could not “credibly defend” the presidential pardon when conscientious objectors to the draft and Watergate co-conspirators went unpardoned. He was informed of the pardon the night before it was issued.

The Wall Street Journal reported that TerHorst cleaned house after assuming the White House post and urged Ford to hold more press conferences.

Ron Nessen, who succeeded TerHorst, told the Journal that “he had a very finely developed sense of what is right and wrong.” Others, however, thought the resignation was a mistake. White House scholar Mark Rozell said the press secretary role is that of “mouthpiece, not a policymaker.”

TerHorst reported for the Grand Rapids Press, Ford’s hometown newspaper, and worked as bureau chief for the Detroit Press before joining the Ford administration. He joined Ford Motor in 1981 as PA director of its Washington office.

GLASSER NAMED E-I-C AT FOREIGN POLICY

Susan Glasser, executive editor of Foreign Policy magazine, is taking over for Moises Naim, a 14-year veteran of the publication.

FP is part of the Washington Post Co.

Jacob Weisberg, who oversees the glossy, credits Naim for modernizing the magazine “while maintaining its legacy of challenging the Washington consensus in a provocative, intellectually serious way.” He also “made foreign policy fun.”

PRESS LAUDED FOR PRIEST ABUSE STORIES

The U.S. and European media are the best friends of the Catholic Church for exposing the priest sex abuse story and forcing the institution to deal with the matter, wrote Wall Street Journal opinion columnist Peggy Noonan on April 2.

The press “forced the Church to admit, confront and attempt to redress what had happened.” It “forced the Church to change the old regime and begin to come to terms with the abusers.” The Church “shouldn’t be saying j'accuse, but thank you,” wrote Noonan.

She notes the mainstream media come late to the story. Some outlets didn't want to “get slammed by the Church as biased, criticized by sincerely disbelieving Church goers, and maybe get a boycott from a million Catholics,” according to Noonan.

Non-Catholic reporters didn’t want to be charged with bashing the faith. “An irony within the irony: some journalists didn't think to go after the story because they really didn't much like the Catholic Church,” she wrote.

Due to that bias, they thought that was how the Church always operated. It didn’t register with them that it was a scandal. They didn’t know it was news, wrote Noonan.

PHILIPS EXITS NEWS CORP

Jeremy Philips, who was the key digital deal-maker at News Corp, is leaving the company, a move that highlights the “media empire’s reduced appetite for the digital deal-making,” according to a report in the Financial Times.

His exit follows last year’s departure of MySpace chief Owan van Natta. News Corp’ says Philips left to “focus on new entrepreneurial ventures.”

News Corp acquired MySpace for $580M five years ago. The site is poised for a re-launch that will feature content from its sister properties.

FAKE EMPIRE LAUNCHED

Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage have formed Fake Empire, which will develop and produce TV series for Time Warner’s Warner Bros. unit.

The duo also will develop material for other platforms including motion pictures, music, publishing and the Internet.

The pair worked on TV hits such as “Gossip Girl” and “The O.C.”

Hollywood insider Ben Feingold has taken a senior advisory role at Hill & Knowlton providing expertise in entertainment, digital content, consumer product licensing and film production.

In an 18-year career at Sony Pictures, Feingold served as president of worldwide home entertainment, digital distribution and product acquisitions. He handled distribution of Sony product on platforms such as Apple, Amazon and Netflix and hammered out licensing deals ties to Spiderman, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.

(Media news continued on next page)

ELVIS ‘OWNER’ GOES ON AUCTION BLOCK

CKX Inc, owner of the rights to the name, image and likeness of Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali, has put itself up for sale.

The New York-based company confirms that it is “engaged in discussions regarding a possible transaction involving the sale of the company.” It cautions that there is no assurance that any deal will take place.

CKX also owns the rights to TV programs “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance.” It recently signed a long-term agreement with Simon Fuller, producer of Idol.

The company reported a 13.9 percent rise in ’09 revenues to $328M, but a 30 percent decline in operating profit to $67.5M. It attributes the profit shortfall to the global recession.

Chairman Robert Sillerman expects CKX to benefit in ’10 due to the February opening of “Viva Elvis,” the Presley-theme Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas, and last month's launch of “If I Can Dream” program.

MEDIA GEAR UP FOR 3-D

The 3-D TV revolution offers vast opportunities for PR people to make high-impact placements for their clients. The new medium also shapes up a good business development tool, allowing for the creation of presentations that are sharper and more persuasive than a competitor.

Stuart Ewen and Tim Portlock, professors at Hunter College media studies department, are at the cutting edge of the 3-D revolution. They took time to answer the following questions about 3-D.

Q. How much more difficult is it to shoot a story in 3-D than in 2-D?

A. It's not difficult at all, and the big determinant of your success is PR skill--knowing what makes a good story--not technical PR skills. You need a camera with two lenses that are spaced apart at about the same distance as our eyes are apart. A videographer with professional equipment --a recorder with two lenses--can do this easily. A Hunter student, Dan Phelps, has even rigged up a hand-held device to capture video stereoscopically with inexpensive off-the-shelf parts.

Q. Can I send a 3-D segment on either tape or film or on a CD?

A. Yes but CDs are being used less and less in favor of DVDs and Blue-Ray which are becoming much cheaper. It makes more sense to us that these would be the more likely storage and shipping medium.

Q. Can a 3-D tape, film, CD or DVD be separated so you can get a good quality "regular" tape or film--not 3-D?

A. Yes, just put the view from one of the two lenses onto tape. You'll have exactly the same picture as if you had shot the job with only one lens instead of two.

Q. Can I have a website on which field offices, TV stations, doctors or dealers could access a 3-D segment that may not be broadcast quality but is good enough so they can see what I have?

A. Yes but the lower the quality, the weaker the 3-D effect becomes. Even with relatively low quality, a TV station can see what you have and perhaps request better quality--and your regional office and sales reps may have quality entirely adequate for their use as is.

Q. Can a regional office, medical office or sales rep receive a 3-D segment via computer and then show it on a good-sized TV set, computer monitor or on a wall screen so a whole room can see it, not just people crowded round a computer monitor?

A. The crispness of high definition displays has really been enhanced since the dawn of 3-D and you can get excellence on even a large TV monitor or screen.

Q. Are there special uses of 3-D for health accounts?

A. Two applications are important.

1. There has been a lot of research and development in using 3-D for medical visualization and even data visualization. In PR you can empower your field people so that instead of their just explaining something and then asking, "do you see what I mean," they can use 3-D so the audience can not only "see what I mean" but see it happening in 3-D and over time.

2. Because older Americans are a huge market for health information plus health-related products and services, energetic PR teams can arrange for 3-D showings at clubs, assisted living facilities and other places glad to give older Americans your health information in 3-D which can be fascinating for them.

Q. Is an effect of 3-D popularity to put more emphasis on pictures and relatively less on words?

A. PR experts have observed that more emphasis on the visual may add impact to PR communications. PR consultant Chester Burger observed that often "pictures don't tell the story, they are the story" and "narration helps the pictures." Says DuPont PR executive Charles M. Hackett: "The picture [often] says it all--speaks in exclamation points, it shouts." Lewis Magnani, a Burson-Marsteller executive, pointed out that often, "visuals remain in a person's mind long after oratorical appeals to actions have faded away."

Q. Are top communication researchers neutral about the use of visuals to supplement and partially replace words?

A. Not at all which is why campaign managers for both recent Presidential candidates paid close attention to who in the audience is in the picture behind the candidate when the candidate speaks. Pollster George Gallup, betraying with rare candor the extent to which survey researchers are interested in shaping opinion--not just measuring opinion--praised the growing number of PR practitioners who are mastering the art of the visual. Said Gallup: "The job of developing the language of pictures will never be finished." — By Ron Levy

McGRAW DIES AT 92

Harold W. McGraw Jr., who ran McGraw-Hill Cos. from 1975 to 1983, died March 24 at the age of 92. He was chairman emeritus of the company founded by his grandfather in 1888.

After serving in the Army Air Corps., the Princeton graduate joined the family business in 1947 as a book sales representative. His tenure at the helm is remembered for a successful effort in fighting a hostile takeover effort by American Express. McGraw's son, “Terry,” currently heads the educational publishing and data services (Standard & Poor's) company.

F-H RECOGNIZED FOR PROMOTING WOMEN

The National Association for Female Executives named Fleishman-Hillard one of its “Top 50 Companies for Executive Women.”

The Omnicom unit was honored for advancement opportunities for women and for the strong leadership role that women play in the firm's worldwide work force. Females account for 64 percent of F-H’s staff and 46 percent of its top management team.

In a statement, Dave Senay, CEO of F-H, said “by providing a workplace centered on a values-based corporate culture and a rock-solid commitment to our employees’ growth and development, we have consistently attracted and retained not only the best and most talented women in our business, but also the best and most talented communications professionals, period.”

Agnes Gioconda, F-H's chief talent officer, added that women manage six of the firm’s top ten geographical regions including central, mid-Atlantic, east and southwest regions in the U.S., as well as Canada and Asia.

The NAFE was founded in 1972. It has 20,000 members.

JEFFREY EXPANDS DIGITAL OFFERINGS

The Jeffrey Group has expanded its digital offerings with the idea of bolstering its position in Latin America and Hispanic markets in the U.S.

Jeffrey Digital is piloted by Gerson Penha, who is based in Sao Paulo. It is engaged in online measurement and analysis, strategic consulting, social media monitoring and digital brand promotion.

Penha says JD has access to a "wide network of designers, programmers and other talent at very cost-effective rates that directly benefits clients." He coordinates efforts with Paul Wiseman, who is based in Miami.

TJG has produced and managed digital initiatives for Sony Electronics, Kodak, Sharp Electronics, Getty Images, Ryder System and TACA Airlines.

CLS WINS HAUL AT CLASSICS

Carmichael Lynch Spong took home 14 Classic Awards from PRSA’s Minnesota chapter on March 25, the top haul in the regional PR competition.

The Interpublic unit was honored in several categories including market products (Jack Link’s Beef Jerky), media relations with a budget greater than $75K (Luron Electronics), government/non-profit media relations (TransFair USA), and healthcare campaign of the year (Martek Biosciences).

Padilla Speer Beardsley won 10 awards, including Best of Show for its “Be the Match” campaign with the National Marrow Donor Program, while Weber Shandwick’s Minneapolis outpost earned five and Risdall won four awards. Complete list is at odwyerpr.com.

KARE-11 weekend anchor Rena Sarigianopoulos emceed the event at International Market Square in Minneapolis. Ted Davis, founder of Davis Communications Management, a 12-year-old firm in the city, received the Donald G. Padilla Distinguished Practitioner Award from the chapter. He was honored for community work and mentoring young pros as a guest lecturer and adjunct instructor at the Univ. of Minnesota.

PR FIRM ‘EXIT PLANS’ LACKING

Nearly nine-in-ten owners of independent PR firms do not have written “exit plans” in place, according to a survey of “best practices” conducted by The Tobin Group, a Pittsburgh-based wealth management advisor.

The survey found little more than a quarter (26 percent) of owners have a “thorough understanding of the exit process.” Nearly four-in-ten (39 percent) admitted to “little or limited knowledge” while 27 percent said they only know what other owners told them.

About half of those with exit plans want to sell their firms to a staffer or group of employees, yet only nine percent have a written valuation of what the operation is worth. A third of owners have a “rough idea” of the value of the business, and 30 percent are clueless.

When it comes to unloading the business, 41 percent with exit plans get the ball rolling eight years before they plan to retire or transfer the business. Forty-nine percent say they “hope to slow down, but continue on a part-time basis” after the firm changes hands. A quarter of owners plan to leave the firm, but work as a consultant and 19 percent want to start a new business.

Forty-one percent of respondents expect to rely on the income received from the sale of their business for half of their retirement nest egg.

More than seven-in-ten of owners expect to need at least $1.6M in retirement income to maintain a desired lifestyle. Twenty-eight percent say they need $3M.
Travel is the No. 1 retirement activity, clocking in at 56 percent. It is followed by community/non-profit work (41 percent), doing “something creative” (38 percent) and teaching (29 percent).

Karl Skutski, co-founder of TTG, believes the survey shows that “most business owners devote considerable more thought and energy to starting and growing a business than they do to exiting.”

The exit plan, however, “is the prime determinant of the owner's net worth-since it the process that converts the equity the owner or shareholder has invested in the business, from decades of hard work, into personal wealth.” Skutski is at [email protected].

CISION UNVEILS ‘MEDIA MEMBERS’

Cision has launched an online portal, “Media Members” that provides free job postings, media industry news and an aggregate of reporters’ Twitter posts from around the world that is tied in to its CisionWire, global newswire.

The site also provides lines to sources for story ideas and research.

Vanessa Bugasch, Cision's senior VP-mktg./client services, says service will extend and strengthen Cision's bond with journalists.

The Media Members section allows journalists to add or update their profiles in the Cision database.

PEOPLE: Laura Sturaitis has been promoted to executive VP, media services and strategy at BusinessWire. The move recognizes her work in leveraging search engine optimization, social media and web-based technologies into PR and IR applications, according to BW.

Rankings Tables of PR firms by City

Click here for Cities/Regions rankings.

The introduction of Apple's iPad April 2 is another giant step in putting more information in the hands of more people.

Media are hailing it as close to the Second Coming (“laptop killer” suggests the Wall Street Journal while Newsweek says “everything” is great about iPad).

Those who already have a laptop and smartphone might rebel at shelling out $500 to carry around a 1.5-pound tablet almost the size of Time mag.

We welcome all this informational hardware although some feel the internet is “destroying everything” including much of the media, encyclopedias, dictionaries, phone books, regular books and even libraries.

Anna Quindlen of Newsweek is hopeful, noting that TV did not replace radio, movies did not kill live theater and records did not end live music. She doubts Kindle will replace books.

We worry about the growing weakness of traditional media as revenues get squeezed by all the free news and information on the web.

Corporate, banking and Wall Street secrecy helped to bring the U.S. to its economic knees and we don't see any web participants knocking down those closed doors.

It could be that a vast, interconnected web audience will develop that will become politically active and bring about change. President Obama developed such an audience when campaigning for president.

Pogue Is Not a Times Reporter

Reviewing iPad on page one for the New York Times was David Pogue, who should be identified as a contributing editor and not just given a byline that makes him look like an NYT staffer.

He was billed as a “New York Times columnist” when speaking at the Ragan Social Media Conference Feb. 23. That was wrong.

Rather, Pogue is a one-man industry who has sold millions of books about computers in his “For Dummies” series and "Missing Manual" line of 60 humorous computer books. He often reviews for pay some of the very products he is writing about, say critics.

Pogue was also wrong at the Ragan conference in telling his audience that there are "no rules" in social media.

There is one big rule that is stated in conference host Coca-Cola’s SM ethics code and that is that anyone on SM who is being sponsored in any way must state this “at the outset.” Sadly, this advice is buried on page three of the Coke SM code.

Information Roadblocks in PR Industry

Our concern is the industry we cover-PR-where we see an increasing amount of information roadblocks that no amount of tech wonders will cure.

Tech wonders, in fact, are ignored. Politics is supreme.

Since 2001, there have been no revenue or staff totals for what used to be 17 of the 25 largest PR operations in the O’Dwyer rankings.

PR groups including the PR Society, Publicity Club of New York, NIRI, Arthur Page Society, IABC, and many PRS chapters used to publish membership lists that were useful to reporters.

PRS in the early 2000's gave out 150 membership directories a year to media.

All such lists are now online and available to members only. Contact points of reporters remain fully available.

Turning its back on many of the tech marvels is none other than the “largest organization of communications professionals in the world”-the PR Society.

It could easily and cheaply have audiocast the 2009 Assembly which it billed as the most important in its history and which no doubt cost at least $200K in legal and parliamentarian bills.

Leaders stressed all year long they wanted member involvement and then cut off members from this meeting. The main proposal, that the Assembly give up its power to elect board and officers, was soundly defeated.

Proxy votes, although forbidden by Robert's and all other legislative guidelines, were used. An entire re-write of the bylaws was attempted at the regular annual meeting when Robert's says a series of special meetings is needed for this.

PRS stopped publishing its members' directory in 2006, claiming it wanted to save paper and postage. PDFing the directory for members who want it would be simple and cheap.

Yet, illogically, it continues to publish the monthly Tactics and quarterly Strategist to its 21,000 members when those could also easily be PDFed.

Another meeting that should be audiocast is the "Leadership Rally" (of chapter presidents-elect) June 4-5 in New York. Tips on chapter-building should be shared with all members.

We Called PRS Leaders "Nazis!?

We're still recovering from the visit of PRS COO Bill Murray and chair Gary McCormick to our offices March 19.

It was not a fact-finding visit, we can say that. They refused to look at boxes of evidence we had of PRS's business of copying and selling authors' works without their permission.

Murray told us repeatedly that PRS has "chosen" not to deal with us and we should accept that. PRS is a "private corporation" and under no duty to answer any of our questions, he said.

This belief was expressed to us years ago by Jeff Tenenbaum of Venable, the 660-lawyer D.C. law firm of PRS.

It's simply wrong. The Society has lots of public obligations starting with living up to the word "Public" in its title. As a tax-free group, it's not supposed to be competing with any tax-paying company (which it does). Its finances are public via IRS Form 990. PRS is morally bound to follow its own Code of Ethics which pledges commitment to the "free flow of information."

PRS Leaders Fit "Soup Nazi" Description

As for our unforgivable offenses, Murray said one of them was calling PRS leaders "Nazis."

We said on the "Forimmediaterelease" podcast interview Jan. 19, 2009, that, like the victims of the Nazis, we would not give up on trying to collect for the 50,000+ copies of our articles that PRS sold from about 1980 to 1994.

The families of Jewish victims are still collecting.

A comparatively easy matter after WWII was collecting from the German Government, which eventually paid $61.8 billion. Harder was getting money from the Swiss banks that held deposits of concentration camp victims and German companies that used slave labor.

The banks denied such accounts existed until 1997 when they admitted there were thousands of dormant accounts. Their owners were dead, many of them victims of Nazi concentration camps. The banks coughed up $1.2 billion to surviving relatives. It was not until 1998 that Volkswagen admitted it used labor of 15,000 slaves during the war.

Deutche Bank, Daimler-Benz and Siemens, which were also sued, are expected to provide $1.7 billion in reparations.

--Jack O'Dwyer