Public Relations

To Dow Corning, a $1.8-billion-a-year high-tech corporation, breast implants are a tiny part of its business--a money loser. Even before the current controversy over their safety, the product was something of an embarrassment to scientists and managers who develop the space-age silicone materials for the aerospace and electronics industries that make up the bulk of the company's business.

When actress Kerry Washington was preparing for her role as Olivia Pope, the high-octane Beltway "fixer" on the new ABC series "Scandal," one of the first things she did was launch a Google search for Judy Smith, the real-life crisis consultant on whose professional life the series is based. Washington was somewhat perplexed by how little came up on the D.C. insider who had navigated through some of the thorniest public relations challenges of the past 20 years on behalf of her clients, including Monica Lewinsky, former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig and NFL quarterback Michael Vick, to name a few. There were no interviews and rarely even media mention of the public relations powerhouse.

The gig: As chairman of News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox Television, Dana Walden, 46, oversees one of the most prolific production companies in town. The studio makes 33 shows, including the hits "Glee," "Modern Family" and "How I Met Your Mother. " Walden shares her title with Gary Newman. The two have run the TV operation for 12 years, and their partnership has outlasted many actual Hollywood marriages. Early riser: A Los Angeles native, Walden was obsessed with television from an early age. "On Saturdays, I would wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning to start watching cartoons.

Hajime Shiraishi's moment of truth came when her online video news show, at the time relatively unknown, decided to buck the government line and call a story as it saw it. On March 11, after an earthquake-driven tsunami damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, the world waited anxiously to see how its fragile reactors would fare. Later that day, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co., or Tepco, announced on national TV that all was well: The utility was on top of the accident.

When actress Kerry Washington was preparing for her role as Olivia Pope, the high-octane Beltway "fixer" on the new ABC series "Scandal," one of the first things she did was launch a Google search for Judy Smith, the real-life crisis consultant on whose professional life the series is based. Washington was somewhat perplexed by how little came up on the D.C. insider who had navigated through some of the thorniest public relations challenges of the past 20 years on behalf of her clients, including Monica Lewinsky, former Idaho Sen. Larry Craig and NFL quarterback Michael Vick, to name a few. There were no interviews and rarely even media mention of the public relations powerhouse.

The taxpaying public must wake up to the fact that public education truly is, as Los Angeles Schools Supt. Bill Anton put it, "a long-lasting solution . . . the one best chance we have" of solving society's problems. As the recent civil upheaval demonstrates, Americans do respond to crisis. But unfortunately, many Americans must still be persuaded that there is a crisis.

When women break into a professional field and succeed, it is generally conceded that a blow against discrimination has been struck. But, let too many women break into that field and the most damaging kind of discrimination emerges: the kind of discrimination that relegates an entire profession to "female work" with an accompanying industry-wide downward trend in wages and status. According to a new report released recently by the International Assn.

Bob Gold, Prime Sports vice president of marketing and communications, and former pro basketball great and sportscaster Tommy Hawkins will lead a daylong sports public relations seminar July 29 in the Stadium Club at Dodger Stadium. Hawkins, a vice president of communications for the Dodgers, and Gold will focus on the development of sports publicists and their recent roles as critical figures in management.

Staff members and volunteers from nonprofit organizations serving the Valley are invited to a daylong workshop Wednesday at Cal State Northridge that will focus on working with the media. The workshop, "Interacting with Media: A Day for Nonprofits," is intended to teach representatives to work more effectively with the news media to publicize their services and fund-raising projects.

In four decades as a public relations man in San Diego, David Nuffer rose to play key roles in the city's politics and tourism industry ? but he never let those responsibilities keep him from playing the ukulele in the office, following the San Diego Padres to spring training, singing with mariachis in Hussong's Cantina in Ensenada or tracing the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway in Idaho, Paris and Havana. "He really was a master at combining business and fun," said his son Larry Nuffer.

The top two firms competing to secure a $100,000 public relations contract from the Los Angeles City Council Redistricting Commission abruptly dropped out of the running Tuesday, throwing the panel's work into turmoil. Dakota Communications and Cerrell Associates withdrew their proposals shortly before the 21-member commission was scheduled to vote. They did so the same day The Times reported that they have an array of lobbying clients at City Hall, including airport concessions and shopping malls — a fact that irritated some neighborhood activists and advocacy groups.

Another controversy around beleaguered Dodgers owner Frank McCourt erupted last week when an attorney defending him against a lawsuit brought by the family of Bryan Stow raised the possibility that Stow might be held partly responsible for the beating that left him brain damaged. "In 23 years, I have yet to see anything at Dodger Stadium involving any form of altercation that didn't involve at least two willing combatants," Jerome Jackson, the attorney, said on an ESPN radio talk show.

The gig: As chairman of News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox Television, Dana Walden, 46, oversees one of the most prolific production companies in town. The studio makes 33 shows, including the hits "Glee," "Modern Family" and "How I Met Your Mother. " Walden shares her title with Gary Newman. The two have run the TV operation for 12 years, and their partnership has outlasted many actual Hollywood marriages. Early riser: A Los Angeles native, Walden was obsessed with television from an early age. "On Saturdays, I would wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning to start watching cartoons.

With the weekend-long 405 Freeway closure fast approaching, public officials have kicked the public outreach machine into high gear, hoping to avoid the twin evils of crippling gridlock and angry constituents. The closure of the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass this week to allow for demolition of half of the Mulholland Drive bridge as part of a widening project and construction of new carpool lanes is the largest planned freeway closure in Los Angeles history. The stakes are high for public officials, who know that disruptions to the transportation system can win them praise if managed effectively or become a public relations nightmare when bungled, like the political fiasco New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg faced over last winter's blizzards that became known as "Snowmageddon.

Facebook Inc.'s efforts to portray itself as a trustworthy guardian of the Internet's town square are being undermined — once again — by accusations that the social network launched a covert smear campaign against rival Google Inc. The world's largest online network acknowledged Thursday that it had paid a high-powered public relations firm to push news organizations to report that a new Google feature was putting users' personal data in...

In four decades as a public relations man in San Diego, David Nuffer rose to play key roles in the city's politics and tourism industry ? but he never let those responsibilities keep him from playing the ukulele in the office, following the San Diego Padres to spring training, singing with mariachis in Hussong's Cantina in Ensenada or tracing the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway in Idaho, Paris and Havana. "He really was a master at combining business and fun," said his son Larry Nuffer.

A program to train city employees on how to be polite and helpful to residents who come to City Hall for assistance is scheduled to start in January. Kathy Moore, the city's administrative services manager, said anti-government sentiment filters down to City Hall and can create "a negative scenario" at times. People can't voice their feelings to federal officials in Washington, she said, but they can express how they feel at the local level.

Patricia Penney Bennett, 72, public relations executive in Los Angeles for more than 50 years. She was president of her own firms--Penney and Bennett Inc. for 15 years, and Pat Penney Public Relations from 1976 until her death. She served as managing editor of several E.F. Baumer & Co. client publications, taught public relations at USC and served on the Public Relations Advisory Committee. She also was a member of the board of the Visiting Nurses Assn.

When the Cape Town Opera's revival of "Porgy and Bess" toured Europe, its novel resetting of the American classic to apartheid-era Soweto won raves. When the touring production moved to Israel this month, attention turned sour. No less than Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu called it "unconscionable" for a South African opera company to perform in Israel, the target of an increasingly aggressive international cultural boycott organized by pro-Palestinian activists hoping to turn Tel Aviv into the new Sun City.

Beverly Hills detectives investigating the slaying of Hollywood publicist Ronni Chasen believe she was shot moments before her car crashed and came to rest off Sunset Boulevard early Tuesday. Authorities on Wednesday stressed that they have few leads in the case and that the motive for the attack is unclear. But they are focusing heavily on forensic evidence gathered from the spot where Chasen was found shot several times in her Mercedes coupe. Residents who heard the crash found Chasen slumped over the steering wheel bleeding, with the passenger-side window of her car shattered.