The has an update on the conflict between Carl Icahn and Lionsgate, which recently hired Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher for PR support. Activist shareholder Icahn extended his offer to buy up Lionsgate’s convertible debt to May 1.

But some on Wall Street saw the corporate raider’s remarks as little more than classic spin.

“That’s his PR twist,” said Alan Gould, a New York-based media analyst with Natixis Bleichroeder Inc. “I don’t think the price he was offering was that much better than what the bonds are trading at.”

The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) National Board of Directors approved the tentative agreement that the union developed with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) last week.

The two organizations released a joint statement on Friday, saying they have reached a tentative agreement for the TV and theatrical contract that expired June 30, 2008. The SAG board voted on Sunday to approve and recommend the agreement to members. SAG then released the details of the agreement.

The situation and communications between the two sides have been followed since the contract originally expired on June 30, 2008. The proposed contract expires on June 30, 2011, putting SAG in sync with other unions, such as American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), for renegotiations with AMPTP.

This week’s media analysis delves into ways the “church-and-state” divide between news and advertising will further erode as the industry faces economic realities. The two Los Angeles Times have accelerated the conversation surrounding “creative” or “innovative” advertising, but not everybody agrees with those terms. Among those not featured in this week’s analysis is Geneva Overholser, director of USC’s Annenberg School of Journalism. She calls advertorials “the oldest trick in the book” and adds:

This is not creative or innovative – it’s caving. Why do something that fundamentally trades on deception? If they didn’t believe it would be more credible to make [the ads] look like editorial content, then why did they do it? This was bad advertising. It was aesthetically ugly as can be – not creative and definitely not progressive. Editors have fought this for years, not because they are prissy but because they don’t want their readers fooled.

For more perspectives on advertorials, see the analysis.

The Wall Street Journal takes a look at Ben Bernanke’s PR campaign and how it has placed him in the “starring role” as he tries to clearly communcate the Federal Reserve’s role, the paper .

According to Reuters, the Fed is reworking its communications strategy, as part of a transparency push that may include regular news conferences and increased availability of information, possibly online.

In recent months, Bernanke has discussed the economic crisis to audiences ranging from college students and the general public to the media and Congress, and he tells the WSJ: “‘I think it is important for the public to understand what is going on and to know that the government is trying to solve the problem … They should know we have a plan and a strategy.”‘

Yet, the paper also notes that Bernanke may placing himself at the heart of the PR effort to ensure his position as chairman of the Federal Reserve is secure. Within the year, President Barack Obama will decide whether or not to reappoint Bernanke.

A new report from the National Defense University offers some social media tips for government folks - ones “that actually makes sense,” writes Wired’s DangerRoom blog. The aptly named “Social Software and National Security,” report is expected out early next week, Wired says, but the blog provides a sneak peek at the four tenants the paper suggests:

• Inward sharing
• Outward sharing
• Inbound sharing
• Outward sharing

Hmm…

An excerpt under the “Outward sharing” headline reads:

The 2005 natural disaster of Hurricane Katrina is now a textbook example of the need for multi-agency, multi-government, multi-media engagement in an ad hoc and constantly evolving manner.  More recently, people using social software have been able to make useful contributions during real world events such as flooding in Bangladesh, the California wildfires, and Hurricane Gustav…

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.

Newsroom employees of the Star Tribune of Minneapolis and St. Paul launched SaveTheStrib.com on April 5, a Web-based effort supporting the newspaper, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January.

The site features testimonials on the value of the newspaper by regional VIPs, employee profiles, and an area for comments.

The group of about 25 participating journalists considers prospective new owners and the public its two main target markets. Graydon Royce, theater critic and fine arts reporter, tells PRWeek. “We’re trying to raise awareness. We don’t run the business; we work for the business…and we know there are going to be new owners,” said Royce, also a cochairman of the employee guild. “We are trying to show a new ownership group that there are people who are dedicated to doing everything they can to move forward and move the Star Tribune forward.”

Bat biologists in New England are looking for some help when it comes to getting positive PR for bats. An article in the today discusses how a mysterious illness affecting bats is causing concern among wildlife biologists, and they are in need of funding.

Despairing bat biologists want to hire a publicist - a kind of public relations batman - to give bats an image makeover and educate people about the night creatures’ ecological benefits. If they could get people to care even half as much as they do about polar bears, these researchers say, desperately needed dollars and attention may follow to save the misunderstood animals.

All eyes are on the G20 in London this week, increasingly focused on the instead of the . The Financial Times, which has interviewed a number of world leaders attending the summit, has conducted wide-ranging media outreach this week to promote its coverage.

The newspaper has pitched editor Lionel Barber, US managing editor Chrystia Freeland, and Washington bureau chief Ed Luce to cable broadcast outlets as experts on the event, and also notified media trade publications about the series of interviews, said Darcy Day Keller, Financial Times head of communications for the Americas, via e-mail. The outlet has also reached out to bloggers via Facebook and , she said.

Visitors to the International Herald Tribune’s Web site, whether checking for the latest on the markets or updates from the in London, are surely wondering if they clicked on the wrong bookmark.

Parent organization The New York Times Co. rebranded the publication’s Web site “The Global Edition of The New York Times” on March 29, combining the content created by its staff on the page with that of Times journalists. It also has a new URL: global.nytimes.com.

The Times Co. is also promoting the reorganized page, which visitors to IHT.com are automatically transferred to, at the top of .