KNIGHT ON "TODAY" SHOW CONTINUES PR BLITZ TOUTING NEW POLICY

          Nike Chair Phil Knight was interviewed this morning on
     the "Today" show by NBC's Matt Lauer, who said Knight made
     "a major announcement" Tuesday on labor conditions in Asia. 
     Knight, asked if the initiatives announced will "silence"
     Nike's critics: "Oh no, I think that basically the critics
     of Nike have become a growth industry.  I don't think this
     will do anything to silence them."  Knight added that the
     implementation of independent monitoring systems is "really
     what's going to decide who the good citizens in
     globalization are and who the bad ones are."  Knight said
     Nike hopes to name the independent monitors "by the end of
     the summer ... at least to start with."  Lauer asked Knight,
     who usually keeps a low PR profile, why he is taking such a
     public role on overseas labor now.  Knight: "It's important
     that the public know who we are and to some extend who I am
     as far as this whole factory relations issue is concerned,
     and so we decided to make this statement" ("Today," 5/13).