The PR industry is in dire need of PR help itself, according to industry leaders. Even before September 11, American PR firms "were looking at their first year of negative growth, slashing staff and shuttering offices as an economic slump wiped out clients and accounts," reports Andrew Quinn. According to Alan Kelly of a high-tech public relations firm in San Francisco, "We've swung from a media Camelot to what one of my colleagues has termed 'Death Valley.' "