Grumpy Editor

Some photo captions disappear from magazines

A trend noticed by Grumpy Editor is omissions of photo captions.  Prime offenders are with magazines, especially those in the travel category.  But BusinessWeek, in its Feb. 5 issue, sports a number of images without appropriate information, sort of like Aunt Abby's thick picture album sans dates and identification.

The BW issue contains at least 19 illustrations that lack captions.  Make it 21 if one counts three-quarter-page art of a man in a business suit riding an oil barrel bronco style, and a strange full-page drawing of an in-flight purple-winged woman, dressed in a gray suit and wearing high heels, encountering turbulence that scatters feathers and contents of her large pill box, all against a yellow and orange background.

Contrary to traditional procedure, 15 color photos in an eight-page "Special Report" cover story on McDonald's all are minus ID.  These include close-ups of old and young customers, usual and new food offerings and preparation, plus shots inside and outside a fast-food eatery, presumed to be in Garner, N.C., highlighted in the text.

Maybe the non-captioned art stems from a new look with the recently-redesigned magazine.  But readers still want to know what is going on.  And folks in photos will be disappointed they are not named.

Will future "modernization" in slick layouts eliminate subheads --- or even headlines?  Stay tuned.

TV ad for 50-plus guys airs during Super Bowl

The approach on some TV advertising causes one to wonder if ad agencies think most folks over 50 are in rocking chairs out on porches or at bingo games at senior centers --- thus, far from viewing their commercial creations (such as autos magically flying over city streets) on TV sets.

Most ads pitching autos, movies, computers, cell phones and such are directed at what they consider coveted 18 to 35 year olds.  Ad executives still don't realize those consumers have the least amount of money stashed in bank accounts.

So Grumpy Editor finds it interesting that at least one commercial aimed at the gray-hair set will be airing during Sunday's Super Bowl game.

That spot falls in the drug category, promoting a prostrate drug leading to "guys having more fun and spending less time in the men's room."

Madison Avenue should note that TV ad, too.  With more use of that drug by the 50-and-up crowd, "pit stop" downtime will be cut, leading to more time shopping for autos, going to movies, buying computers and utilizing cell phones --- hopefully inspired by ads with more mature themes.

'Ray gun' demo feeds info to likely future targets

The "ray gun" non-lethal weapon system that was demonstrated last week grabbed much air time on radio and TV plus print space on page 1 (ranging from Las Vegas Review-Journal to Stars & Stripes, the military newspaper).  Touted as a "new weapon," Grumpy Editor finds the Active Denial System has been undergoing tests for more than a dozen years with research involving more than 600 volunteers (latest being 10 reporters at Moody Air Force Base last Wednesday) and 10,000 exposures.  The weapon is not expected to go into production until 2010.

The ADS, as demonstrated to the media, fires a beam from more than 500 yards away.  Targeted subjects get a blast of 130-degree heat, intense enough to give the sensation clothing is about to ignite.  It's designed to deter terrorists and enemy troops in their tracks.  "This is one of the key technologies for the future," declared an on-scene military officer connected with the development.

What's puzzling is all this media exposure --- and lead time --- gives the bad guys ample opportunity to develop countermeasures.  If it's an upcoming gee-whiz item in the U.S. arsenal, why reveal details (such as operating on a 95-gigahertz millimeter radio frequency) to the world?

Cropping images seems to be old-fashioned routine

These days when newspapers and magazines seek to use their cherished space to the utmost, Grumpy Editor is puzzled over the lack of cropping art.  Often there is so much room above or alongside subjects in a frame that some wordy advertising messages easily can be inserted.

Haul out the morning newspaper.  There's a good chance you'll spot exhibits A and B.

For exhibit A, biggest offending space chewer is photographing subjects against the sky, plenty of it, usually without a single cloud.  For exhibit B, another paper waster are speakers at podiums with lots of nothing in backgrounds or on the sides.

How do these lop-sided images get past photo editors?  Are they eager to make deadlines?  Are they overdue for optometrist visits?  Is the art run through while they are out to lunch?

Or are they simply "out to lunch" --- period.

In coming days, Grumpy Editor will tackle images that are fuzzy in focus, underexposed and, worst of all (especially on travel pages), shot with downward-sloping horizons.

L.A. 'water spout' captures attention of Fox News

When most TV news channels yesterday were pretty much wall-to-wall focusing on President Bush's state of the union address the previous night, and with no major weather crisis in sight, Fox News excited its national audience with mid-day discovery of a "water spout."

No, it wasn't in the Pacific Ocean, off Santa Monica. That was the on-air description of a pickup-truck-sheared fire hydrant that resulted in water shooting "four to five stories up" in the Sylmar section of Los Angeles.  The spurting water was judged newsworthy enough to go "live" to the scene with helicopter shots fed by KTTV, Los Angeles.  Fox News carried the watery event on both sides of noon EST.  Viewers also saw water-logged firemen struggling to cut off the steep flow.

An on-air host called it "the picture of the day."

With knocked-off fire hydrants rather common these days, Grumpy Editor wonders what newspapers, other than San Fernando Valley-based Daily News would devote space to the incident.

Wal-Mart overlooked in disaster relief donations

While Wal-Mart Stores Inc. attracts an abundance of negative print/broadcast mentions, good deeds often are ignored. Latest example:  The Bentonville, Ark. retailer donated $250,000 to the Red Cross in response to severe winter storms that have blasted across the nation in recent days. 

It marks the first substantial corporate donation to the Red Cross for disaster relief linked to the heavy weather.  Few news outlets carried that item since last Friday's announcement.

Since 12 days ago, the Red Cross has been offering food, shelter and other assistance in four states (Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Missouri) most affected by the storms.

Separately, on a local level, Wal-Mart did get a media mention in coming to the aid of apartment fire victims in Houston.  TV station KTRK on Saturday reported the retailer presented a $4,000 check to the local Red Cross chapter for its efforts in the aftermath of a two-alarm blaze that destroyed 23 apartments.

Wal-Mart in 2006 provided more than $2 million in disaster relief in connection with floods, tornadoes, wildfires and winter storms.  A year prior, the company aided Hurricane Katrina victims by donating more than $32 million in cash to aid emergency relief efforts, including $2 million to the Red Cross.

Investors scratch heads on reasons behind DJ drop

Pity business writers of stock market action.  Looking for reasons behind daily movements require constant development of fresh phrases.  Yesterday's 88.37 drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average --- biggest in two months --- brought these various explanations.

Wall Street Journal Online:  Stocks slid Monday despite a lack of significant negative news, led by continued weakness in the technology sector and exacerbated by a downgrade to Dow component Boeing.

Reuters:  Stocks declined Monday as investors sold off big-name technology stocks amid concerns about the sector's outlook, while blue chip aircraft maker Boeing Co.. sank on a brokerage downgrade.

Associated Press: Wall Street stumbled lower Monday as growing concerns over technology companies led jittery investors to pull money out of the market ahead of this week's earnings reports.

Bloomberg: U.S. stocks fell...on concern that reduced demand and increased competition will hurt corporate earnings growth.

CNBC:  Stocks ended sharply lower after a day-long selling spree, sparked by worries corporate earnings growth is showing signs of weakening.

CNNMoney.com:  Stocks slipped Monday, with investors backing out of technology and other sectors at the start of a big week for company earnings.

SmartMoney.com:  A weak earnings report and a downgrade left the Dow sagging on Monday.

Grumpy Editor recalls the days when two words summed up market action when there was no consensus:  profit-taking.

Cell phone user's pants fire triggers questions

The case of a cell phone igniting a fire (or did it?) in a Vallejo, Calif. man's pants a few days ago now has brought debate --- and promptly produced an attorney for the victim.

Interesting to Grumpy Editor:

·  The critically-burned victim, at last report, is not yet able to speak.

·  Despite this, a fast-on-his feet attorney, said to represent the mute victim, is with a Beverly Hills law firm, about 400 miles to the south.

·  Rather than calling an independent tester, the Vallejo fire department used the cell phone manufacturer's engineers (because the service was free) who claim the phone remained functional and thus could not have caused the fire.

·  The attorney in the case said the victim doesn't smoke and didn't have matches or lighters in his pocket.

Looks like the makings of a TV whodunit.

Authorities originally declined to name the manufacturer and model of the phone.  Later, it was revealed to be a Nokia model 2125i.

Overlooked in all this is the cell phone's battery.  In the past two years, thousands of counterfeit batteries have been recalled due to defects resulting in overheating, smoking --- and fires.

Still no word on the cell phone battery's condition and manufacturer.

   

Reporters pepper Obama with questions, praise

In moving ahead with plans for a White House run, Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) undoubtedly anticipates some dopey questions from reporters.  He probably already has prepared answers to such expected gems as, "what is your favorite color" and "what do you do in spare time."

But this one probably wasn't on his list.  When surrounded by reporters yesterday in the Capitol, a female scribe asked how he plans to be a father while running for president.  "I always care about my kids," he said, referring to his two daughters, ages 5 and 8.  But that response wasn't meaty enough for the quizzer who repeated the question.  "Well, these are all considerations that I'm taking into account as I make my decisions about moving forward," he replied.  And moving forward he did --- into an elevator, saved from a further barrage by closing of the doors.

Grumpy Editor grumbles any reporter who asks a question like that should be banished to the food section to review recipes sent in from readers.

Meanwhile, a day prior, an Associated Press writer, with a magic wand, turned an Obama negative into a positive in the same paragraph.  "The 45-year-old has few accomplishments on the national stage after serving little more than two years in the Senate," she wrote.  Then the next sentence worked in "a lack of experience in the nation's capital might not be a liability."

Pelosi uses THAT phrase on a cool day in Washington

Just for the record, that global warming phrase (see earlier posting, below) did turn up today with the temperature just above freezing in Washington, D.C.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seeks to create a special committee to focus on (yep!) global waming.  She is aiming to produce a bill by July 4 --- at a time when a heat wave is sure to engulf a good chunk of the nation.