MDC Partners-owned Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal & Partners from New York has acquired a majority stake in Kwittken & Company, a public relations agency in New York. This is the third transaction in five months for MDC Partners involving a public relations agency, and the sixth in the past year.

Who doesn’t love a good deal?  Let’s face it – we love getting things for free, and we love feeling like we’re privy to insider information. No wonder sites like Groupon, Buy with Me, Daily Deal, Living Social and Ever Save are catching on. The basic premise behind these sites is simple. Sign up to [...]

Following our recent 12-step plan on how to vlog Quest PR is launching a hat trick of social media training courses Leeds and Harrogate. The first of our programmes is a two-day video blogging session which teaches you in front of and behind the camera techniques – as well as how to film, edit and [...]

Kathy Barbour, nominated as secretary of PR Society of America, joined the Society in 2001 and only became active in 2005 when she joined the Readiness Review panel of the North Florida chapter, Jacksonville, Fla.

A graduate of the University of Florida, College of Journalism and Communication, with an MBA in human resources management from the University of North Florida, she was a freelancer from 1994 to 2001 when she joined Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida as senior communications consultant and editor-in-chief, PR.

She joined Mayo Clinic as communications manager in 2007.

Chapter president Bryan Campbell on the Aug. 18 Assembly teleconference said it was “ludicrous” that the APR issue should be brought up again when it was only defeated last year by a vote of 142-111. He said this made him “very upset” and he was also concerned about the small number of people on the call. He said APRs are very committed to taking the travel time and certain expenses in being on the national board and that non-APRs have not shown that level of commitment.

Campbell is director, public and media relations, American Assn. of Clinical Endocrinologists, Jacksonville. The chapter has 102 members.

Chapter delegate Anne Dubois, who is also chair of the Universal Accreditation Board, complained on a teleconference about the revisiting of the APR issue when it had already been decided “several times earlier.” She asked why shouldn’t the Society “insist” that its board members carry the “mark of distinction” that APR is and urged the delegates to “move on.”

Kathy Lewton, 2001 president, pointed out on several calls that “decoupling” APR from the national board has only been brought up once to the Assembly since it was proposed by the Strategic Planning Committee in 1999.

PR Society and UAB codes demand that any misinformation be corrected promptly.

Another chapter delegate who has spoken against the proposal to let non-APRs on the board is counselor Bonnie Upright. North Florida is the home chapter of 2004 Society president Del Galloway, who is now VP-PR, United Way Worldwide, Alexandria, Va.

Barbour Does Not Respond
Barbour has not responded to questions and issues raised by this website and four Fellows.

It could be that she is following the strict “Media Policy” of the Society which instructs all volunteer leaders as well as rank-and-file regular and student members to report any press query involving the Society to VP-PR Arthur Yann or other PR staffers and obtain clearance before responding.

Only Yann and COO Bill Murray can give such permission, the policy says. Chair and CEO Gary McCormick may speak to the press but cannot authorize any one else to.

Some members believe that a company such as Viacom (sub req'd) could have such a policy because employees are involved but not a trade association such as the Society since staff members are “employees” of the members rather than vice versa.

The strict media policy is not linked n the “newsroom” of the Society’s website.

Barbour, who was 2008 president of the chapter, said in her position statement about “diversity” that she believes “it is important to engage sections, chapters and the membership at large, to understand what matters to our diverse membership.”

She said her leadership style “embraces diversity, and as a change agent, I support a dynamic team approach to issues facing the profession and the Society. Managing diversity is a strategic advantage. The Society faces challenges and opportunities at all levels. Leveraging a diverse membership can help the Society improve our organization—and in turn, advance the profession.”

She believes that the Society is a “member-driven organization” and she values ethics as her “moral compass.”

If the current nominees win office, the Society board will be all-white for the fourth year in a row. Only two African-Americans have served on the board in 63 years.

In her position statement about “these tough economic times,” she said “The PR industry is evolving and the economic situation has made it increasingly important for the Society to understand what motivates its membership. The board of directors must be engaged to understand what members find valuable—keeping in mind what our diverse membership perceives important.

The board must plan ahead to remain viable and anticipate the evolving profession.”

“Opposition Must Be Engaged”
Saying that “society commitment and ethical standards will be important for credibility,” Barbour added that “Advocacy and audience engagement will be critical. Opposition must be engaged. Greater audience segmentation continues as a trend. We must be financially viable.”

She called on the board to support “thought leadership, ethics and professional excellence…the Code of Ethics should continue as the standard for PR and communications professionals, and the organization must demonstrate the value of accreditation.”

We would like Barbour and the other candidates to take stands on the issues below that face the Society. Candidates have the power to bring about reforms if they choose to do so.

Issues for Candidates --What rationale allows the APR leadership to keep secret the names of the 2010 delegates? Rank-and-file members can’t get this list and delegates don’t even have to provide their names if they don’t feel like it. Delegates must sign a form to get it. This is the world’s only secret legislature. --How can the Society claim it follows Robert’s Rules when it violates at least five of the major rules including the one that says an “assembly” sits over the board? Anathema to RR is proxy voting but the Assembly used 56 proxies to vote in the use of proxies last year. --What is the rationale that blocks (since 2005) members from getting the transcript of the Assembly? --Why can't the Society audiocast the important 2010 Assembly when it would be cheap and easy to do so? Leaders have been seeking greater member involvement for years. --Where is IRS Form 990 that shows the salaries/benefits of the six highest paid staffers? The audit was released in early April so there doesn't seem to be any excuse for delaying this important financial information, originally due May 15. Last year the Assembly delegates did not get to see it because it was released so late in the year. --How could the Society pick Philadelphia twice for the national conference (2007 and 2013) while ignoring New York where it had its biggest conference ever in 2004? --How can leaders justify their silence to members on the subject of a PDF of the members’ directory? This would be both cheap and easy to do and would be 100% up-to-date. Revisions could be sent periodically. --How could chair Gary McCormick declare on July 19 that direct election of board/officers is a dead issue because of “administrative, technical and legal costs?” The 2010 "Leadership Assembly" ordered him to make a report on this. Plenty of services offer to handle direct elections at low cost. --What justification is there for keeping secret all but seven of the 55 h.q. staff's names? How can staff turnover be tracked? --Isn’t it inconsistent for the Society to demand that Jack O'Dwyer pay the full $1,275 registration fee to cover the 2010 national conference while allowing PR News editor Scott Van Camp free admission? The Society gives no rationale for this. --Isn’t it undemocratic for APRs to block any mention of the Committee to Promote a Democratic PRSA in Tactics Online and to block the CPDP from using the 21,000-member e-mail list?

Here are this week's PR and media highlights from mediabistro's Revolving Door Newsletter:

Lisa Haney has been named senior fitness editor at Fitness.

Marta Topran has been named senior beauty editor at Cosmopolitan. She had been beauty editor at HollywoodLife.com.

Alex Roarty has been named staff writer at National Journal. He had been editor at PoliticsPA.

Jihan Thompson has been named articles editor at Redbook. She had been assistant editor at Marie Claire.

Click here to receive mediabistro.com's Revolving Door Newsletter via email.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

SAN FRANCISCO: Bite Communications named Simon Mathews SVP, head of digital strategies, and Caroline Kawashima VP, focused on corporate communications.

In the case of most emergencies it is an individual’s preparation as well as ability to react and adapt to a situation that will determine whether they can survive. For many people the idea of preparation might include flashlights, extra batteries, a shortwave radio and maybe some extra cans of food but in the event ...

I know a lot of you have been hearing about “major” changes coming soon with FHA. Here is some info on what exactly is changing and when these changes will take effect. Orlando, FL, September 08, 2010 — CHANGE #1 — On September 1, 2010, HUD released Mortgagee Letter 2010-28 regarding changes to FHA mortgage ...

Obesity specialist and the founder of the Howard’s Way very low calorie diet (VLCD), Penelope Howard, has branded as ‘absurd’ and ‘mad’ the recent report that advocates boosting the number of gastric band operations in order to save UK taxpayers’ money. “It’s a triumph of technology over commonsense,” said Penelope, whose total food replacement (TFR) ...

Recently, 3D International LLC, announced another episode of Auto Detailing Seminar. This seminar would be focused more on exterior car detailing that would cover the training on car polishing, waxing and buffing techniques. “We have seen the overwhelming response to our Car detailing seminars and that is the best appreciation to our efforts” said one ...

United Kingdom, September 10th, 2010 – Waggers has announced its new autumn 2010 catalogue which is being mailed to customers and enquirers at the beginning of September. Recently, Waggers announced the new Autumn 2010 Catalogue which is being mailed to customers and enquirers at the beginning of September. The offers on the catalogue include a ...

Commentary by Brent Budowsky This is a call to arms for the creative communities of the Nation, from superstar artists to the titans of industry in entertainment, to close the 2010 elections with a great last stand to keep hope alive...

Achieving online coverage is becoming increasingly relevant to the search engine presence and page rankings of consumer products according to leading PR, social media and SEO agency Punch Communications. For many product related searches, the search engine results pages of the...

CNN.com: Trump's offer for Islamic center site called a 'pathetic' PR attempt

NYTimes Bits: Betaworks and The Times Plan a Social News Service

WebNewser: New Media Index: Government Assistance Tops Blogosphere, While Tweeters Ponder Apple's Ping

Some Bits: Stop making social networks, Facebook won

American Journalism Review: In Response: Banning unsigned online comments undermines the media's role as a forum for debate

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

People and businesses on a budget often don’t even bother to factor public relations into the equation. In their minds, PR requires paying an agency a huge retainer to do behind the scenes work with a very hard to quantify return on investment. But there are plenty of PR moves that you can do yourself [...]

Why in God’s name is the media giving this bloody Pentecostal minister in Florida so much press? Pastor Terry Jones is simply a dangerous and deranged attention seeker. Look, I understand it’s a news story, but if the media had ignored him the frenzy could have been easily abated. Jones has succeeded in projecting his [...]

Ontario, CA (your-story ) September 10, 2010 – The Association for Lifestyle Reform (ALR) is a member-based association that provides educational information and access to a number of discounted lifestyle benefits to its members. One way ALR accomplishes its mission is to highlight and support charities that improve the lifestyle of others. This month ALR ...

eGestalt Technologies Inc., a world leading provider of information security and IT-GRC solutions for all enterprises, today announced it was voted as a finalist in the Breakthrough Technology Vendor category at the prestigious XChange XCellence award ceremony. Santa Clara, CA, September 09, 2010 — eGestalt Technologies Inc. ( http://www.eGestalt.com ), a world leading provider of ...

Here at Models Direct we have been reminded of just how great it feels to help, however big or small. To read just how we’ve been helping our clients take a look at our two most recent but somewhat different assignments. Models Direct love being asked to help any good cause so we were more ...

Creating a new look doesn’t have to be about spending money on a new outfit, there are a few changes that can be done for free. Follow these tips from Models Direct and you will soon feel like a new and more positive you. • Hair. You don’t even need to pay money for a ...

Lewes, DE – The Classifieds News Blog, which is part of Daype Inc., offers its users the latest industry updates and news in the classifieds industry. Many interesting things happen in the classifieds industry daily and one need not scour the web to find the latest happenings in the classifieds industry anymore because The Classifieds ...

Karon Shaiva, award winning social entrepreneur was at it again. She launched an impact program at Idobro to enable corporates to procure their gifting requirements from NGOs, women entrepreneurs and green entrepreneurs. This was flagged off at Mayfair rooms by Shaina NC. Among the attendees were Annabel Mehta, mother in law of maestro Sachin Tendulkar ...

Lloydspharmacy has appointed Grayling to handle its consumer PR activity, following a competitive pitch process.

Brookfield, the property giant responsible for Wembley and Westfield shopping centre, has appointed Mandate to launch its global sustainability firm.

Potato Council, a division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), has appointed Clarion Communications to head up a three-year campaign to promote fresh potatoes.

Next Fifteen Communications, the marcoms group that owns Bite and Text 100, has launched a digital offering after buying up a US digital consultancy.

MPs move to call for an investigation by the Standards and Privileges Committee into the ongoing phone-hacking scandal has been dubbed 'politically driven' but 'inevitable' by a public affairs expert.

DAVID Systems, a leading provider of global broadcast solutions, will present a preview of their upcoming tri-media production system at IBC 2010, in hall 7, at booth 7.G34, and in Microsoft Corp.’s booth in the Topaz Lounge. The new solution offers Radio and TV stations to use cloud-based content storage and content processing services leveraging ...

For Immediate Release Nobody can dispute the fact that buying a bottle of wine today from a wine shop offers the customer an enormous variety of choice. But sometimes it isn’t about choice but expert, professional advice and recommendation. The Wine Company is pleased to be able to help. Essex, United Kingdom, September 8th, 2010 ...

A recent analysis by an independent third party website analysis firm (Hubspot) indicated that http://blogs.cutcompcosts.com scored in the Top 7% Of All 2.8 Million Websites Analyzed by their algorithm.J&L Risk Management Consultants provides the blog as a free resource for forward-thinking Workers Compensation discussion. They also provide a weekly newsletter that is read by over ...

At approximately 6:15 pm, we now know a huge gas explosion occured in San Bruno.  First, please take a moment to send positive thoughts to the residents and families of the homeowners. If you live in the Bay Area and can give blood, they are … Continue reading →

Over the last weekend, I visited our great state’s State Fair. By many accounts, it’s the best state fair in the country (take THAT Iowa!). While our family had a blast eating greasy, fried food, hitting the Giant Slide and sitting on virtually every tractor on “Machinery Hill” (my son LOVES tractors), I spent a [...]

Top International Law Firm Selects Litéra to Streamline Document Standardization, Creation and Automation to Increase Document Process Productivity and Efficiency MCLEANSVILLE, N.C., September 9, 2010 –Litéra®, the leader in global document lifecycle management (DLM), today announced that the global law firm, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP, has selected Litéra Innova as their document automation platform of ...

8Gb/s and 4Gb/s HBAs Provide Customers with High Availability Connectivity to Enterprise-Class Storage Systems Amherst, NY (September 9, 2010) – ATTO Technology, Inc., a global leader of storage connectivity and infrastructure solutions for data-intensive computing environments, today announced that ATTO Celerity Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters (HBA) are now available through EMC® Select, a program ...

The Cherokee language is now available for the first time on iPhones and iPods for more than 300 million users across the globe.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/09/prweb4486824.htm

These celebrities have the biggest heads in show biz - Not referring to oversized Hollywood egos, rather the big heads they were born with.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/bighats/bigheadhats/prweb4468284.htm

While there are plenty of PR folks out there who can pitch on your behalf, don’t forget what you can do on your own. If you have a blog you have an incredible tool for media to find you. The media is constantly sourcing blogs and the experts who write them to feature in both [...] Related posts:

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Flower delivery in Argentina has been made available for US customers in time for All Soul's Day. Families can easily send loved ones bouquets of remembrance through the unique system at daFlores.com.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/09/prweb4462674.htm

The KG Cabinet device brings a new solution to organizing work spaces It saves clean up time and clutter inconveniences in the kitchen, bathroom, office and garage: any place you find daily used electrical appliances. This clever idea allows instant access to appliances without the redundant need to plug them in again. KG Innovation has created a timely solution to many annoying problems faced around the home and office.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/09/prweb4471774.htm

What do the Silversun Pickups and Helio Sequence have in common? Both headlining bands took the stage at Fremont Oktoberfest on their rise to fame. Check out this year's Fremont Oktoberfest band line-up.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/fremont_oktoberfest/seattle_music_bands/prweb4462224.htm

Inspiring charming visions of winter, VisitTemecula.org is previewing WinterFest events and activities in Temecula Valley Southern California Wine Country, which is centrally located 60 miles north of San Diego, 65 miles southwest of Palm Desert and southeast of Orange County, and 90 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The casual, picturesque valley celebrates WinterFest daily November 25 to February 28.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/09/prweb4472414.htm

Topic: How Novatel Improved Sales and Channel Unit-based Forecast Accuracy with CRM.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/09/prweb4472434.htm

Predicto.com, North America's largest premium text service, polls mobile fans about who they think will take home the most trophies at MTV's Video Music Awards

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/09/prweb4478054.htm

Health Care DataWorks, Inc., an Ohio State University technology commercialization company providing an enterprise data warehousing appliance, announced today that Ivo Nelson, a 27-year healthcare industry leader, has joined the company’s leadership team.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/09/prweb4478314.htm

Microsoft announces Gig Werks as the winner of the Area Partner Technical Excellence Award

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/GigWerksTechnicalAward/Microsoft2010/prweb4478694.htm

DedicatedNOW releases 24/7 International support phone numbers for its European and Pan-pacific clients.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/dedicated/server/prweb4478834.htm

Compilation of poetry and proverbs explores universal truths.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010AuthorHouse/9Tay/prweb4481224.htm

Dreaming of a culinary adventure in Italy, a journey of self-discovery in India or finding romance in Bali? With 14 independently-owned hotels across India, 60 properties in Italy and four resorts in Bali as well as over 500 hotels in 75 countries around the world, Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) offers a diverse choice of hotels and experiences for travellers inspired by the book or film ‘Eat Pray Love’.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/yyyy/MM/prweb4482754.htm

Hanley Wood’s BUILDER magazine announces the launch of BUILDER Pulse, a new e-newsletter serving the information needs of builders and architects in new home construction.

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2010/09/prweb4484124.htm

In just 4 simple steps, this clever new online platform produces royalty-free background tracks for videos, slideshow presentations, and more

(PRWeb September 09, 2010)

Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/tunepresto/9/prweb4484214.htm