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April 22, 2002 Issue of PRWeek

Journalists advise CEOs to communicate more in a tough economy

NEW YORK: Fifty-six percent of journalists believe businesses should be increasing their communications efforts during the economic downturn, and 55% say they should focus on delivering more ...

NEWS IN BRIEF: Gregory FCA Communications acquired by management team

ARDMORE, PA: Gregory FCA Communications, a full-service PR and IR firm, has been acquired from US Technologies by a management team led by original stockholder and founder ...

NEWS IN BRIEF: Ketchum changes the name of its Madrid office

MADRID: Ketchum has changed the name of its Madrid office to Ketchum SEIS. The Madrid shop has been a Ketchum affiliate since 1993. Until now, the agency ...

NEWS IN BRIEF: PR Newswire announces a new supplement

NEW YORK: PR Newswire has announced a new supplement to its Asian distribution circuits, PR Newswire-First Call Wire. Created through an alliance between Thomson Financial and PR ...

NEWS IN BRIEF: Brian Unger named as director at TVN Communications Group

NEW YORK: Brian Unger has been named director of healthcare markets for TVN Communications Group. He will oversee development of healthcare media products and services for TVN's ...

NEWS IN BRIEF: John Elias has been appointed at Cohn & Wolfe Toronto

TORONTO: Technology communications veteran John Elias has been appointed VP and director of the technology practice at Cohn & Wolfe Toronto. Elias joins Cohn & Wolfe after ...

NEWS IN BRIEF: Entertainment PR pro Beth Katz has launched an agency

NEW YORK: Entertainment PR pro Beth Katz has launched an agency, Beth Katz Media & Marketing, an independent public relations, marketing, and consulting firm. Katz has 15 ...

NEWS IN BRIEF: The Horn Group has added new clients to its roster

SAN FRANCISCO: The Horn Group has added several new technology clients to its roster, including Chip Engines (an integrated-circuit company), Cyberposium 2002 (which is the Harvard Business ...

$3m Milwaukee Sewerage PR plan shelved after critical reports

MILWAUKEE: The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District has dropped a $3 million PR plan that would have gathered community input for its long-range planning process.

Porter Novelli has to pull plug on its DC tech operation

WASHINGTON: Porter Novelli has closed its convergence practice in DC, moving remaining client Nextel to its Boston office.

Survey: PR execs confident despite drops in revenue

NEW YORK: According to an informal independent survey of PR executives conducted by New York-based money management firm M&R Capital, PR professionals are showing surprising signs of ...

PwC enters into PR agency selection field for Nortel job

RICHARDSON, TX: PricewaterhouseCoopers, one of the big five accounting firms, is moving into the PR agency selection business, and is handling the communications review for Nortel Networks.

McDonald's shows off CSR credentials in debut report

LOS ANGELES: McDonald's unveiled its first "social responsibility report

Approval of Botox puts spotlight on KMR's PR tactics

NEW YORK: FDA approval of Botox for some cosmetic purposes means that Allergan, the manufacturer, has the green light to promote the drug and its previously unknown ...

Saudi firm hires H&K to expand horizons

NEW YORK: The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has shipped its seven-figure PR account to Hill & Knowlton, a move that comes as the $8.9 billion chemical ...

Beers addresses global PIOs about public diplomacy

WASHINGTON: Charlotte Beers, Karen Hughes, Thomas Friedman, Richard Armitage, and Tucker Eskew - who is tipped to rise to a greater role in overseas diplomacy - were ...

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: WSW picks up BNFL public affairs work

LONDON: British Nuclear Fuels' (BNFL) group corporate affairs director Philip Dewhurst has called on the services of his former PR agency to provide public affairs advice.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Lexis bosses take MBO over selling to bigger agency

LONDON: Forgoing the more traditional practice of selling an agency to a larger company, UK independent firm Lexis Public Relations' founders Bill Jones and Tim Adams have ...

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Russia may shell out up to $40m to lure more tourists

MOSCOW: Russia's ministry for economic development has announced measures to develop tourism in the country, including advertising and PR support for its main tourist attractions.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Gallagher to run Barclays' Asia comms

HONG KONG: Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank, has appointed Maeve Gallagher to the new post of director and head of corporate communications, Asia-Pacific.

Troubled Smurfit-Stone names Slack Barshinger agency of record

CHICAGO: Financially troubled container manufacturer Smurfit-Stone has picked Slack Barshinger & Partners as its agency of record to handle PR and marketing.

Plesser steps into financial services with ING Direct win

NEW YORK: Plesser Associates has landed its most high-profile financial services client to date, ING Direct.

2001 results show a healthier PRSA with asset growth

NEW YORK: Eager for the communications industry to forget 2000 - a year in which its future was called into question - the PRSA has taken pleasure ...

Planit helping Ripken with career outside the majors

BALTIMORE: Baseball's "iron man

Omnicom follows Interpublic's lead by purging board

NEW YORK: Omnicom, the world's third-largest advertising holding company, has taken a page from the book of number-one group Interpublic, and had a radical cleanout of its ...

LA preservation group takes its message on five-city bus tour

SEATTLE: Shortly after appointing former Clinton staffer Chad Griffin (PRWeek, March 25), Rally to Save Ahmanson Ranch (RSAR) has taken its message on the road with a ...

Environmental PR guru Stodder set to join Fleishman

LOS ANGELES: Fleishman-Hillard has hired John Stodder Jr. as head of its public affairs practice. Stodder was formerly deputy managing director of Edelman's LA office, and head ...

Students silent for a day to protest gay discrimination

LOS ANGELES: The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) asked kids to keep quiet on April 12 in a peaceful protest aimed at highlighting issues of ...

Library issues RFP for US-Russia job

WASHINGTON: The Library of Congress has issued an RFP to fund a PR program for its Open World Russian Leadership Program, which has been a pilot program ...

EDITORIAL: 'No comment' won't suffice for analysts

As if analysts' reputations haven't taken a sufficient beating recently, New York's attorney general Eliot Spitzer is handing them a very public thrashing as he seeks to ...

COMMENT: Thought Leader - Greenspan cites corporate reputation as a key factor in economy's future

Hats off to Alan Greenspan, but not for the usual reasons.

OBITUARY: Thomas Abbott, former Xerox and General Motors spokesman, Chicago area journalist, and religion columnist for Greenwich Time

Many former friends and colleagues in the communications industry are mourning the loss of Thomas Abbott, a man who has contributed so much to the field. Abbott, ...

ANALYSIS: Electric Deregulation - Texas deregulation PR plan enlightens rest of country

California blackouts and Enron could have pulled the deregulation plug. But Texas' PR-heavy plan is set to be a guiding light for others to follow.

New York City PBA brings PR in-house by naming comms director

NEW YORK: Acting on the recommendation of an out-side consultant, the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association (PBA) of New York City has decided to swap its hired PR guns ...

PAUL HOLMES: Major League Baseball is playing with fire by deceiving stakeholders about its revenues

Is Major League Baseball the least-credible institution in America?

ANALYSIS: Client Profile - A smarter, more flexible Blockbuster returns home

Blockbuster has put the bad times well behind it. Today, back in Dallas, focused on home entertainment, and open to new ideas, its perch atop the video ...

MEDIA WATCH: Cisco downgrade signals trouble to many, opportunity to some

Tech stocks have been rattled recently as investors wonder to what extent the economic recovery has begun to lift the battered sector. Recent weeks have seen a ...

MEDIA: ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLES - Media Roundup. Value of antiques coverage increasing all the time

As buyers and sellers connect via internet, more media is focusing on the collecting of memorabilia. However, pitches that win over reporters are sometimes more about the ...

MEDIA PROFILE: LA Confidential sets out to prove that it's more than just Talk

LA Confidential looks to succeed with a combination of other titles' strengths and a unique focus on society and style. And an "unusual responsiveness

PROFILE: Goodman shows TV-news energy in everyday PR - Tom Goodman cites his proudest feat in PR as rescuing Charles Kuralt's van from the scrap heap. That kind of enthusiasm has won over clients like British Airways

There are global agency offices that offer corporate cafeterias, and there are small boutiques that get by with a dorm-sized refrigerator and a microwave . But Tom ...

CRISIS AND THE CROSS: James Burnett looks at how the Catholic Church might salvage its tainted reputation

Though he left the fold for very different reasons, John Geoghan may well wind up sharing space with Martin Luther on the roster of the most famous ...

MARKET FOCUS: AIRLINES - On a wing and PR. To win back public trust, airlines are relying on PR more than ever. And the word 'safety,' once taboo, is now part of their everyday lexicon

"If it's done anything,

PR TECHNIQUE: MEDIA TRAINING - How to media-tame a tigerish CEO. Media training isn't always about mumbling CEOs looking for tips on interviewing. Aimee Grove learns how to tone down an exuberant or egotistical executive

Talk about a PR nightmare. In an impromptu interview with a major national online news outlet, a CEO boasted that he was working with the Department of ...