Crisis Management at Wall Street Week

Maryland Public Television has hired PR crisis manager Levi Rabinowitz in an attempt to counteract the bad press it has gotten for firing Louis Rukeyser from its program, Wall Street Week. According to the Baltimore Sun's David Folkenflik, hiring Rabinowitz -- whose past clients have included "Linda Tripp, a promoter of questionable cancer cures and the owner of a South Baltimore factory where Legionnaires' disease broke out" -- is best known around The Sun newsroom "for writing overwrought press releases and solicitous e-mails, while trying to glean tidbits of intelligence for clients." On one occasion, "Rabinowitz pitched a story to an editor on The Sun's business staff about a rising entrepreneur who sold his company to Microsoft. An article was assigned and published by The Sun - but many key facts proved to be lies or exaggerations, forcing the paper to write another article acknowledging the first one's shortcomings. As another consequence, The Sun's business reporters have been told to disregard any story pitches from Rabinowitz."