The images of violence, racial intolerance and civil discord in Cincinnati being aired around the world could leave a lasting impression of a tattered community, image experts and advertising professionals say.

        “We can expect that there could be negative financial impact from racial tension,” said Mike Maul, president of Wordsworth Communications, a company that has worked with the Cincinnati Police Division, the Bicentennial Commission and Tall Stacks.

        “I think the image of the city has been tarnished.”

        Mayor Charlie Luken admitted in a news conference Friday that events from the past week have probably damaged the community's standing in the eyes of the nation and world.

        “We have not done ourselves any favors,” he said.

        Coverage of the rioting has been extensive.

        Reporters have called the mayor's office from: the BBC from Ireland, Canada and England; China's largest newspaper; newspapers and radio and television stations from major cities in Ohio such as Columbus, Dayton and Akron. The city's situation was Page 1 news around the country, including a paper in Jackson, Miss., and the New York Times.

        Also filing stories about Cincinnati: CNN, Fox News, ABC's Nightline; CBS, NBC and ABC morning shows; Time magazine; U.S News and World Report and the Washington Post.

        Turning around negative perceptions will take a comprehensive communitywide effort, Mr. Maul said. First there must be dialogue, then a solution and finally implementation.

        Turnarounds in the public relations arena do not happen overnight. “It will be a long time,” he said.

        Tim Gibson, partner at Freedman, Gibson & White Inc., a downtown advertising agency, has experience with the impact of the riot.

        He was called to company offices near Cincinnati City Hall at 2 a.m. Tuesday because windows had been broken. Damage was slight for his firm, but the implications for the city from those bricks are likely to be lasting.

        “The reality was we lost a few windows,” Mr. Gibson said. “We weren't looted and it's been business as usual.

        “From the bigger-picture perspective, it's disturbing that for all the great things that happen in this town, the national press picks up very quickly on the more tragic issues because that falls within their description of newsworthiness.”

        For Cincinnatians living abroad, it has been hard to miss the media coverage.

        “They're not saying great things about Cincinnati around the world,” said former resident Christopher Daniels, who works for the Budapest Festival Orchestra. He lived in the Tristate from 1987 to 1995, when he worked for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

        “What's coming through is that people have a fear of going to work - that there's a racial division,” he said dur ing a telephone conversation Friday.

        “I just hope that the city can put all this behind it and that the rioting doesn't tarnish the city too badly because it's a wonderful city, a great town.”

        But Mr. Gibson doesn't think the image of Cincinnati will suffer permanent damage from nights of turmoil.

        Decision-makers who are responsible for directing corporate investment look through the surface of the national news to the essence of a community.

        “Some people make snap judgments, but most people who are responsible for making far-reaching decisions like where to locate a business or where to bring a national convention are people who have a big-picture capability,” he said.

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