Public Relations

Paris Hilton has hired Dan Klores Communications, a PR firm that specializes in "crisis communications" for celebrities embroiled in scandals, to help her cope with the fallout over public circulation of a videotape featuring her having sex with a boyfriend.

Tucker Eskew, director of the White House Office of Global Communications, is leaving his job to set up a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm, O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports. Eskew was a key player in the Bush administration's campaign to sell the Iraq invasion. O'Dwyer's writes, "He told USA Today in December 2001 that his job was to 'stop big lies and to promote great truths.'" According to the Associated Press, Eskew plans to advise and serve as foreign policy surrogate for Bush's reelection campaign.

"The Senate confirmed longtime Republican spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler as undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs," PR Week reports. Tutwiler steps in to fill an eight-month vacancy left when ad queen Charlotte Beers resigned the post for health reasons. Tutwiler reportedly left her post as ambassador to Morocco only after "much cajoling by the Bush administration." During her confirmation hearing she told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that America needs to do a better job of listening to foreign audiences.

In a follow-up to events that we mentioned in May and discussed on the PR Watch Forum, former CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite has filed a lawsuit against WJMK, a Florida producer of video news releases, seeking $25 million in damages and saying the company misled him and tarnished his reputation when it persuaded him to appear in videos that promoted prescription drugs and other products.