กำลังเล่นซ้ำ วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 23 กุมภาพันธ์ ค.ศ. 1995

The Mayor's Censorship Office

Date: 24 February 1995

It's loony tunes time at City Hall. From our colleague Joyce Purnick comes an account of the Giuliani administration's new punitive press policy. It seems Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and his press secretary, Cristyne Lategano, have been vetting articles to see who has been naughty and who has been nice. Based on their new Giuliani-friendly rating scale, Ms. Lategano will dispense interviews and information to reporters who are sufficiently uncritical. City officials who want to follow American officeholders' two-century tradition of talking to reporters when it will serve the civic interest are being told to clam up. This, of course, is an approach that will backfire on the Mayor and blight Ms. Lategano's own budding career. But that is their business. The challenge for reporters and editors is to respond professionally to the administration's unprofessional behavior. Mayor Giuliani is not the first politician to try to turn reporters into boosters, simply one of the more clumsy. He is very likely under the sway of some of his more paranoid retainers. Perhaps his thinking will clear up when he realizes that he will succeed only in diverting attention from his accomplishments.

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The Media vs. the Message: City Hall Tries to Bully a Restive Press Corps

Date: 23 February 1995

By Joyce Purnick

Joyce Purnick

TALK of reinventing government. This is more like reinventing the political wheel. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani is setting out on what might be his most difficult task yet: taming New York City's rough-and-tumble press corps. By the testimony of the Mayor's own press secretary, that means more firmly controlling the news and the people who report it, denying certain reporters interview time with the Mayor and commissioners, and withholding information or making it harder to get. Plus, the Mayor demonstrated two weeks ago, insuring loyalty by dismissing those press aides suspected of perfidy.

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Police Department Press Office Was Headstrong, Giuliani Says

Date: 24 February 1995

By Jonathan P. Hicks

Jonathan Hicks

Two weeks after the man in charge of public relations for the Police Department resigned under fire, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said yesterday that the department's press operation had been "out of control" for several months. Speaking to reporters at City Hall, Mr. Giuliani said that the Police Department press operation had not portrayed his law enforcement initiatives seriously enough. "I think the Police Department has lost some control over the way in which police activities should take place," the Mayor said.

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Nationsbank In Mortgage Service Deal

Date: 24 February 1995

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The Nationsbank Corporation said yesterday that it would pay Keycorp $500 million for the right to service $25 billion in mortgages and some related assets. The acquisition would increase the loan-servicing portfolio of Nationsbank's mortgage unit to $75 billion, making it one of the five biggest mortgage servicers in the country, the company said.

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American Maize Agrees to Sale

Date: 23 February 1995

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The American Maize-Products Company said late today that it had agreed to be acquired by Eridania Beghin-Say S.A. of France for $408 million. The deal, however, must overcome some obstacles, including a competing bid. The Eridania offer is almost $100 million less than a bid made for just part of the company earlier today. An unidentified group offered to buy American Maize's corn starch and sweetener business for $500 million.

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MERGER OF SCIMED AND BOSTON SCIENTIFIC PROGRESSES

Date: 24 February 1995

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

Shareholders of Scimed Life Systems Inc. and the Boston Scientific Corporation have approved a $1 billion stock-swap merger. Scimed shareholders would get 3.4152 shares of Boston Scientific for every Scimed share they hold. The two companies agreed to merge on Nov. 8, but they have been delayed by the Federal Trade Commission's review of the merger for antitrust concerns. Boston Scientific resolved those issues this week when it agreed to license technology that uses ultrasound to examine arteries and diagnose cardiovascular disease. It expects to buy Scimed shortly after the trade commission formally approves the consent decree.

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HEWLETT-PACKARD TO BUILD PLANT IN IRELAND

Date: 23 February 1995

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The Hewlett-Packard Company said yesterday that it planned to build a printer parts factory in Dublin. The Irish Government, which will help finance the project, estimated the cost at $160 million. Hewlett-Packard, the world's biggest maker of computer printers, will make cartridges for its ink-jet printers at the new 300,000-square-foot factory, scheduled for completion by late 1996. The company expects the plant to employ 300 people in its first year and as many as 1,100 during the next four years. Hewlett-Packard, based in Palo Alto, Calif., said the factory would be its 11th plant in Europe.

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NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE IS NAMED AT UNION CARBIDE

Date: 23 February 1995

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The Union Carbide Corporation said yesterday that the company's president and chief operating officer, William H. Joyce, had been named chief executive, with the appointment to take effect after the company's annual meeting on April 26. Mr. Joyce, 59, succeeds Robert D. Kennedy, 62, who will continue as chairman until he retires in December, the company said. Mr. Joyce will then be elevated to chairman. In a statement, Mr. Joyce said Union Carbide, based in Danbury, Conn., was "ready to deal better than ever before with the cyclical nature of the commodity chemicals industry."

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MORRISON KNUDSEN CREDITOR GRANTS A LOAN EXTENSION

Date: 24 February 1995

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The Morrison Knudsen Corporation said yesterday that J. P. Morgan & Company had granted it a reprieve on $150 million in short-term loans that are in default, saving the transit-car maker and construction company from an immediate cash crisis. The extension, until March 31, comes a day after executives for Morrison Knudsen, based in Boise, Idaho, met with creditors in San Francisco in efforts to restructure payments on $235 million of overdue loans. Morrison Knudsen also expects to receive new loans to bolster its balance sheet and allow it to continue paying its bills, said Brent Brandon, a company spokesman. He said the company was confident it would be able to reschedule loans from the BankAmerica Corporation and other creditors. In New York Stock Exchange trading yesterday, shares of Morrison Knudsen closed up $1.75, at $8.875.

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AMERICAN MAIZE STOCK UP ON PURCHASE DEAL

Date: 24 February 1995

By Bloomberg News

Bloomberg News

The class A shares of American Maize-Products Company rose 5 percent following the company's announcement late on Wednesday that it had agreed to be bought by France's Eridania Beghin-Say Group for $40 a share, or $408 million. Class A shares of the maker of corn sweetener and tobacco, based in Stamford, Conn., closed up $1.875, at $38.50. Under the agreement, Eridania will pay $40 a share for the company's class A and B shares. In addition, American Maize will issue stock purchase rights for class B shares, which have a greater voting power, to Eridania. The offer improves on Eridania's earlier bid of $37 a share, or $377 million, made in January. That effort was rejected as inadequate.

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