Readers and members of the media went ballistic called a foul when TechCrunch published a glowing review of Bitcasa, a company backed by Michael Arrington’s new CrunchFund. “This reads like a press release,” said one reader. [via The Atlantic Wire]

The Guardian is here. There’s a new website, Nick Davies is joining from the U.K., and Ana Marie Cox is on board from the U.S.

Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, supports the launch of another Sunday U.K. paper to replace the now-defunct News of the World. However, readers shouldn’t expect Sun on Sunday until 2012 and Mail on Sunday has not gotten past the planning stages just yet. [via The Guardian]

Speaking of News Corp., James Murdoch will be recalled to testify before a parliamentary panel after discrepancies were found between his previous testimony and new evidence in the phone hacking scandal. And shareholders have filed an amended lawsuit against the company claiming it knew about “widespread misconduct.” Yikes and double yikes.

New York Times restaurant critic Sam Sifton is now the national editor for the paper.

Abigail Pesta, Marie Claire editor-at-large, has joined Newsweek and The Daily Beast as editorial director for Women in the World, which has an annual summit and foundation. The group will be adding editorial content across The Daily Beast website. [via The Observer]

For more of the latest media moves click through.

Read more

WPP today announced its interim results for the six months ending June 30, 2011, with PR and public affairs showing 5.8 percent constant currency revenue growth and five percent like-for-like revenue growth. WPP PR firms include Burson-Marsteller, Hill & Knowlton, and Ogilvy PR.

PR and public affairs accounted for 9.1 percent of the revenue for the total group.

Overall billings were up 5.2 percent to about £21.4 billion (about $35.2 billion, according to today’s exchange rate) with reported revenue up 6.1 percent to £4.7 billion (about $7.7 million).

The U.S. and North America made a strong showing in the first six months, accounting for 35.6 percent of the company’s total revenue. Other geographic regions around the world also showed strong growth with challenges noted in Austria, Germany, Finland, and other parts of Europe. For more detail about the earnings report, click here.

Despite the growth, WPP CEO Martin Sorrell still warned of economic stumbling blocks in 2012.

Read more

Dick Fedorcio, the head of public affairs and internal comms for the Metropolitan Police Service, has been put on leave during an investigation of possible misconduct tied to the News of the World phone hacking scandal. The Independent Police Complaints Commission is looking into the relationship between Fedorcio and Neil Wallis, former NotW assistant editor Neil Wallis. [via The Guardian]

RF Binder has partnered with corporate responsibility expert and founder of Lilium Consulting, Susan Ellis. She is just one of the additions to the firm’s services in the corporate responsibility and environmental initiatives areas. RF Binder offers partnership development, brand alignment, and other services in this space.

Sabrina Guttman, who had joined Ruder Finn in May to lead the firm’s new tech and innovation practice, has left the firm. The firm’s VP of comms Katy Kelley told PRWeek that they will eventually look for a replacement global head.

Read more

Freud Communications' Matthew Freud is among those on the 'Guardian' media list.

The U.K.’s Guardian newspaper has published it’s top 100 in the media and there are some PR and communications pros taking spots on the list.

Max Clifford, the founder of Max Clifford Associates known for his work managing tabloid news and the PR for high-profile names like Simon Cowell, has moved up 10 spots to number 25. Matthew Freud, chairman of Freud Communications and husband to Rupert Murdoch’s daughter Elisabeth, is at number 31. And Alan Parker, the founder and chairman of powerful financial and corporate comms firm Brunswick Group, is in at number 65.

The top marketing and PR spot goes to Sir Martin Sorrell, WPP‘s CEO, coming in at number 8.

As we mentioned this morning, Mark Zuckerberg comes in at number one. Also in the top 10 are Rupert Murdoch, Steve Jobs, and the aforementioned Simon Cowell. For more of the marcomms leaders on the list, click here.

Chris Preuss has joined Hill & Knowlton as an EVP serving on WPP‘s automotive team in Dearborn, MI.

He was most recently the VP of global comms at General Motors and president of GM’s OnStar subsidiary. He worked with the company as it made its way through bankruptcy and restructuring. While at GM, he also held leadership positions for European communications, comms for Cadillac, among others.

At H&K, he’ll spend most of his time working with WPP on the Ford account, focusing on global product communications.

Clemenger BBDO Melbourne, an ad agency, took the top PR prize this year with a campaign for National Australia Bank.

The 2011 Cannes Lions wrapped up this weekend and it looks like the PR industry has a lot of work to do to improve its showing in the years to come.

Israel Mirsky, Porter Novelli‘s EVP of emerging media and technology, told us previously that he thought the PR firms are still learning how to present themselves at these awards. Others share that opinion.

“For the third straight year in a row, the PR industry is still failing to represent itself as strongly as it should in its own category,” Renee Wilson, president of the northeast region for MSLGroup told Ad Age in an interview.

But it’s not just presenting the entries that require improvement. Some are saying that the resources required to enter are also an issue.

Read more

This week, Publicis Groupe shareholders voted to raise the age limit for management board members from 70 to 75. This means that Maurice Lévy, the Groupe’s 69-year-old chairman and CEO, can stay on for another five years while a successor is selected.

Publicis firms include MSLGroup as well as advertising giants Saatchi & Saatchi and Leo Burnett.

Read more

WPP held its annual general meeting today in Dublin, reporting worldwide revenue growth of 6.2 percent for the first four months of the year. U.S. revenue is up almost eight percent for the period, with all other regions, including the U.K., which has had “economic pressures,” also showing growth. Significantly, the BRIC nations showed 17 percent growth during the time period.

PR and public affairs business was up five percent on a constant currency basis. Branding, identity, and specialist business, which includes digital, was up seven percent.

The company has revised its forecast for the year upward to six percent on a like-for-like basis. For 2012, the company sees growth possibilities due to a number of sports events, including the London Olympics and the UEFA EURO 2012 Football Championships, as well as the U.S. presidential election.

However, WPP points out five areas of concern.

Read more

The Holmes Report packed them in at Cipriani’s last night for the SABRE Awards dinner. PR firms came out in full force for the event where Ketchum and Weber Shandwick took the most awards for the night with eight. Weber shared the Platinum SABRE Award with Edelman and PepsiCo for Pepsi’s Refresh campaign, the company’s big social media CSR initiative. Among the awards Ketchum took home were for CSR with its client FedEX and for product media relations targeting trade media for client Navistar.

Other winners for the night were Glover Park Group in the public affairs category, MSLGroup for its work with Pepto-Bismol in the single special event category, and WPP with Ford Motor Company in the trade show category. A full list of Gold and Silver award winners is available here.

Read more

Photo: AP, Vincent Yu

Ogilvy PR‘s China practice has partnered with the Center on U.S-China Relations at the Asia Society, the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and The Monitor Group to present and promote a new study “An American Open Door? Maximizing the Benefits of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment.” The report takes a look at the opportunities that could be missed if relations between the U.S. and China don’t thaw.

“We estimate that Chinese firms will place some $1 trillion to $2 trillion in direct investments around the world over the coming decade,” the study’s authors Daniel Rosen and Thilo Hanemann say in a press release. But the frosty American response to Chinese interest and a lack of corporate governance in China could derail any prospects for doing business.

Christopher Graves, global CEO of Ogilvy PR, told us this is a “wonderful report for the communications industry in general and PR specifically.”

“It’s about how are you going to frame this issue,” he said.

Read more