Paul Levy, president of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, tried to improve the prognosis of The Boston Globe on April 6 by organizing a blog rally in support of the newspaper. The Globe’s owner, The New York Times Co., has threatened to shut down the outlet if its unions don’t agree to concessions.

About 30 Boston-area bloggers participated in the rally, said Levy, who blogs at runningahospital.blogspot.com.

“Those of us who are involved in civic affairs in this town understand that unless you have a vibrant investigative entity in the community, the government and the corporations will not be held accountable,” he tells PRWeek.

[Cliche disclaimer] Many consider the PRWeek Awards to be the Oscar’s of the industry. I’m no Tim Gunn, but I did try to channel him - sorry if that’s creepy - as i talked to PR “celebs” about their outfits and the importance of style in an industry that places such an emphasis on perception, image, and networking. At last night’s Awards ceremony - my second - I saw a lot of ladies in knee-length, black, belted dresses.

My favorites, however, showed color. Alyson Campbell - Jack + Bill, Porter Novelli - wore a one-arm gold sequen top with a long dark skirt, and Hanna Lee - HannaLee Communications -  a gorgeous red strapless gown with interesting lines and asymmetrical, tiered ruffles that flared near the ground. The consensus seemed to be that an event with networking opportunities, such as the PRWeek Awards, it’s best to stick to classic and conservative. However, a little color or shine can help you stand out in a sea of black. And there’s no better conversation-starter than, ”Oh my gosh, I love your dress.”

Also, I’d love to see more floor-length gowns. I know we live in a casual world, but come on! If we can’t play dress-up at a black-tie event, when can we?? That’s why last year’s PRWeek “golden hanger” went to PRWeek’s Natalie Morales, and this year’s goes to Hanna Lee.

After several days of talks last week, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) offered the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) a “Last, Best, and Final Offer,” in their contract negotiations. Over the weekend, SAG’s National Board of Directors rejected the offer 73% to 27%. The sticking point seems to be the length of the contract, three years, making SAG one year behind other unions when it comes to contract negotiations. SAG thinks this would weaken its bargaining clout.

SAG said in its statement:

What management presented as a compromise is, in fact, an attempt to separate Screen Actors Guild from other industry unions. By attempting to extend our contract expiration one year beyond the other entertainment unions, the AMPTP intends to deleverage our bargaining position from this point forward.

AMPTP responded:

The Producers have always sought a full three-year deal with SAG, just as we negotiated with all the other Unions and Guilds, and have offered SAG a way to achieve an earlier expiration date without contributing to further labor uncertainty.  We simply cannot offer SAG a better deal than the rest of the industry achieved under far better economic conditions than those now confronting our industry.

that the Killeen Furtney Group had stepped down as the PR firm for Nadya Suleman, mother of the octuplets born in January, first came out a week ago.

Joann Killeen, president of the Los Angeles-based firm, later told Larry King that both her office and Suleman had received death threats. Suleman has received criticism from the public and media for reasons ranging from from the fact that she is currently unemployed and had six children being giving birth to the octuplets.

Killeen has not been available for comment this week; the firm’s voicemail remained full as of February 20.

Killeen Furtney Group began work with Suleman on January 30. A donation Web site still lists the firm’s address.

A variety of media outlets are reporting that Isreal has launched an international PR campaign to justify the goal of its military in Gaza that began on Saturday and its position against Hamas.

According to the Guardian , on Saturday Isreali foreign minister Tzipi Livni briefed two buses of up to 80 international representatives and opened a multilingual media centre to brief foreign journalists in Sderot which is on Gaza’s northern perimeter.

The Jerusalem Post reported that the Foreign Ministry “has been preparing for the offensive by sending its representatives background material on Hamas, talking points, and instructions to return from holiday vacations.”

As part of a local communicatory effort with citizens, David Saranga, Consul of Media and Public Affairs in New York, is holding a citizens’ press conference on Twitter on the situation in Israel and Gaza. Citizens have also joined the effort with grassroots support online.

Sunday’s New York Times Magazine featured an in-depth of Obama’s communications strategy. Among the notable insights from the piece is speculation that Obama’s tightly-controlled communications strategy will mirror President Bush’s media policy, in some ways. The Times‘ Mark Leibovich writes:

[Obama’s campaign manager David] Plouffe himself admitted to me that the Obama campaign subscribed to the ‘Bush model’ of communications discipline. Asked if Obama himself spoke of the ‘Bush model,’ Plouffe told me he did.

‘We talked a lot about the Bush model, which is that there are a few people who really know everything,’ Plouffe told me in early December. That helps ensure an airtight bubble of knowledge…Like the Bush model, the Obama model also clearly allowed for combat with the press, sometimes extending to punishment, which was usually doled out by Gibbs.

Read more »

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We’re still looking for someone to guess all 20 PR luminaries from our illustration published in the 10th anniversary issue - details here.

Sesame Street, that staple of PBS television and children’s-and parents’- lives for nearly 40 years, is making its next step into the world of Web 2.0.  On Monday, Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit that produces Sesame Street, announced that for the first time full episodes of the show would be available on Hulu, YouTube, and iTunes. This move coincides with the recent launch of a new Web site in August, just before the debut of the 40th season. It also falls in line with what Gary Knell, Sesame Workshop’s CEO, told me about the company’s digital plans when I interviewed him for the recent PRWeek/Burson-Marsteller CEO Survey article.

Charlie Collier, the EVP and GM of AMC, has been promoted to president of the network. PRWeek recently spoke to Collier about communications at the network and his colleague Theano Apostolou, AMC’s VP of publicity, talent relations, and promotional events.

The Future of Content panel is moderated by Porter Novelli’s Marian Salzman, during PRWeek’s The Next Conference, November 19th in New York.