MTV HAS TIES TO GOP

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 7, 1993                   TAG: 9304060193
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BRENDA HERRMANN KNIGHT-RIDDER/TRIBUNE
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
MTV HAS TIES TO GOP
MTV is young, hip, irreverent. It plays by its own rules. It has a Republican PR firm?
MTV, which made a splash with its campaign coverage of Jerry Brown and Bill Clinton, used the public relations firm Robinson, Lake, Lerer and Montgomery, which is co-owned by James Lake, a deputy campaign manager for George Bush.
While MTV said that its news department was responsible for snagging interviews with Clinton and for turning these opportunities into TV gold, Washington sources say it was really Robinson, Lake, Lerer and Montgomery that helped MTV news queen Tabitha Soren get her foot in the political door.
The firm, which has offices in New York and Washington, D.C., acknowledged that it was paid to counsel and coach Soren in the mores of political reporting; it also managed MTV's coverage of the Democratic and Republican conventions. Partner Kenny Lerer says that James Lake wasn't involved with MTV, however, because of his Republican ties.
Tom Freston, MTV Networks chairman and CEO, says that MTV has worked with the firm for nine years, but denies that the firm arranged Soren's "exclusives."
"Bill Clinton picked Tabitha off the bus way back when (during the primaries) and they struck off and had a very good relationship," Freston says.
"The irony of our using Robinson Lake is, where we really tried to use them, with the Republicans, is where we failed," Freston notes with a dry laugh.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB