Grumpy Editor

Bank-sponsored business column debuts in Philly

“And now a word from our sponsor,” might be appropriate with the debut today of a column, backed by a local bank, in the Philadelphia Inquirer business section.  Editor William K. Marimow maintains Citizens Bank will have no influence on the content that will be produced by Inquirer staffers.  Allied with the weekday column will be a bank ad across the bottom of the page and a smaller ad in the top corner.

Boxed in green, the bank’s color, the column will focus on items about local, publicly-traded companies.  It’s unclear, however, if the local firms have a working relationship with the financial institution, a unit of the Royal Bank of Scotland.

Grumpy Editor wonders how the Inquirer’s sponsored business column will treat news developments linked to Citizens Bank and its parent or negative news relating to the banking industry along with items pertaining to competitive financial institutions in Citizens’ marketing area.

It will be interesting to see if this spawns other sponsorship in the Inquirer, such as a baseball team backing a column in the sports section, a cosmetics manufacturer behind a beauty column or a motion picture distributor getting behind an entertainment column.

Talk show host uses shoes to focus on illegal aliens

WFTL, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, talk radio show host Joyce Kaufman sampled the political atmosphere in Washington, D.C. this week where she broadcast live for several days, spreading the word on illegal aliens.

In an effort to focus on the undocumented immigrants problem, she brought along 5,000 pairs of shoes collected from south Florida listeners.  She said the footwear was designed to "hold their feet to the fire," referring to the administration and Congress with current and proposed changes to immigration laws that are not acceptable to Americans.

Ordinarily, a pile of 10,000 shoes would make a nifty picture of the day.  But the event in the nation’s Capitol brought no big gathering of press photographers.  Even Kaufman’s hometown Sun-Sentinel decided to no nothing about “shoe business” images from Washington.

Kaufman was among 34 local and nationally-syndicated talk radio hosts conducting live broadcasts during a four-day rally organized by San Diego talk radio host Roger Hedgecock of KOGO and the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

While making the rounds, Kaufman found lawmakers look the other way when it comes to tackling the illegal aliens issue.  “We’re thwarted by our own government, people who just don’t get it,” she informed her audience, mainly in Florida but also on the Web, where Grumpy Editor picked up the audio.

Visiting congressional offices, she discovered the “lack of understanding the illegal alien issue is mind boggling” and that “young staffers are unaware of the problem.”

In her visit to the nation’s Capitol to get a reading on the illegals problem, she told listeners she was “abused by the mainstream media.”  In particular, she cited the New York Times was antagonistic in “following me around.”

One of the few members of Congress to lend support and submit to radio interviews was Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), a candidate for the  Republican presidential nomination.

PR invitation doesn’t consider distance to event

Editors and other editorial staffers receive invitations galore.  Most are connected to local events.  However, a few continue to arrive requesting the presence of the recipient to an affair --- of a few hours duration --- hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away.

Grumpy Editor gets the feeling that some public relations folks, who dispatch the long-distance invitations, believe that every news person has a private jet standing by on the runway for the express use of zipping off to some distant city to shake hands, grab some food --- and then do some interviews, all during a span of several hours, before a lengthy trip back to the news room.

So to the folks at the expanded Seattle Art Museum Downtown:  sorry, can’t get to today’s press preview that includes tours of the new galleries, buffet lunch and, yes, interviews.

Sender of the invitation is not a PR novice, but “a boutique agency paired with the depth of resources of a global firm” with offices around the nation, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.

For many PR firms, the idea is to impress a client with heavy wide-area distribution of invitations, rather than to focus on local print, radio and TV which are more likely to give a boost to a hometown happening.

Indiana prison riot overshadows food safety hearing

Since contaminated food affects millions of Americans --- and their pets --- every year, Grumpy Editor checked TV channels, including C-Span, but failed to spot live coverage yesterday of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations hearing on the subject.

C-Span 2 finally got around to the hearing last night, rolling tape of the session.  It aired against "American Idol" in the Eastern time zone.

An Indiana prison riot took up much air time on cable news channels.  Through yesterday afternoon, information on the food safety hearing was spotty.

However, Deb Price of the Detroit News wrote about families telling the House panel about serious illnesses from tainted food.   She added that “lawmakers at the hearing called for sweeping overhaul of the nation's food-safety laws, including making recalls of contaminated foods mandatory” and that Rep. John Dingell, (D., Mich.), who chairs the full committee, plans another hearing to focus on changes needed at the FDA.

She also reported “Dingell had sharp words for the Chinese government over its reluctance to cooperate in the pet-food scandal, which has been traced to Chinese factories that put the chemical melamine into its wheat gluten to fraudulently elevate the protein content and thereby make it more profitable.”

VFW response to Reid’s war comments is overlooked

In connection with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s “this war is lost” comment last Thursday and his earlier Iraq war is “a failure” line, Grumpy Editor finds it is surprising that print and broadcast media have not sought responses (for balance) from credible, knowledgeable people --- someone like the head of Veterans of Foreign Wars or any one of the 1.7 million VFW members.

Too much “reaction” is sought from Washington politicians and fellow (mostly Washington-based) journalists, often with books to promote.

Vietnam veteran Gary Kurpius, VFW commander-in-chief, did come up with a retort on Friday, declaring the Nevada Democrat “claims to be a legislator who knows how to compromise, but his repeated comments are having an extremely negative impact on our troops, their families and our allies around the world.” 

Kurpius said his Vietnam generation was blamed for losing that war because of “politicians in Washington who wouldn’t let the generals be generals.”  He added, “The time to debate the war is not in front of a microphone making irresponsible statements and it’s certainly not in the funding bill that keeps our troops alive.”

Despite a VFW news release out of its Washington D.C. offices, Kurpius’s comments received scant attention by news agencies and other media, including his hometown newspaper, Anchorage Daily News.

Senate paparazzi fire away at attorney general

News accounts Friday (recycled over the weekend in print and on Sunday talk shows) of Alberto Gonzales’ more than six hours of interrogation by the Senate Judiciary Committee described the attorney general as weary, defensive and combative.

Grumpy Editor notes Gonzales had to cope with a battery of still photographers snapping away during the session.  Wearing a red tie to match the red-draped long table where he sat alone, about 20 photographers surrounded him on three sides.  Some knelt, some sat, some stood.  At least one, to be different, captured the action from overhead.

With such a large assemblage of lens shutters clicking away at Gonzales in the Senate, obviously Paris Hilton was not in town.

Meanwhile, Grumpy Editor chuckled over goofs in two advance announcements of Gonzales discussions on Fox News Sunday.  Read closely, see if you can spot them.

From USA TODAY’s blog listing Sunday talkers:

“Sens. Chuck Schumer, R-N.Y., and Arlen Specter offer their thoughts on the attorney general and other political news.”

From Fox News’ own Web site:

“Plus, we'll speak with Senators Chuck Schumer and Arlene Specter.”

Maybe these “typos” will trigger another Senate interrogation.

Few newspapers note stock mart high on front page

___________________________________________________________________________

FRIDAY UPDATE AFTER
STOCK MARKET CLOSED

With the Dow Jones industrial average soaring  to another all-time high --- up 153.35 points to 12961.98 --- the next newsworthy mark is when it reaches the 13000 level, now only 38.02 points away.

___________________________________________________________________________

What do The Indianapolis Star and USA TODAY  have in common?  Despite all the glum news hitting front pages yesterday, they managed to insert front page references to the Dow Jones industrial average setting a record high of 12803.84 on Tuesday.

The Wall Street Journal, which regularly gives a one paragraph summary of the prior day’s stock market activity under its front page “What’s News” roundup, had reference to a fuller story on page 1 of Money & Investing section.

Grumpy Editor, surveying Thursday’s front pages, noted The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, Detroit News, among most other newspapers --- with an abundance of breaking developments --- decided to place the bright financial news elsewhere.

This is in contrast to page 1 treatment, in many cases, following the big Feb. 27 selloff which saw the Dow industrials tumble 416 points.

Then for a second day in a row yesterday, the Dow industrials reached another record, up 4.79 to 12808.63, although the broader market dipped from the prior day.

So check your local newspaper today to see how its editors treat coverage of the new record.

Meanwhile, the good times continue to roll today with the Dow industrials up more than 100 points in early trading.

North Korea passes deadline with no final action

Now five days past a crucial deadline for shutting down its nuclear reactor, North Korea continues its standoff with the United States and four other nations.

Under a Feb. 13 disarmament deal hammered out with the U.S., South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, North Korea agreed to admit U.N. nuclear inspectors to monitor and verify the shutdown of its nuclear reactor and reprocessing facility in Yongbyon, north of Pyongyang. 

Grumpy Editor, as in a prior posting (Feb. 14, “Will North Korea keep word in nuclear accord?”), reminds that the communist nation remains firm with a no-budge policy which leaves ever-optimistic negotiators baffled and frustrated.  North Korea’s routine has been to talk, followed by more talks, followed by no final action. (See other postings, Dec. 27 and Nov. 2.)

However, some action was seen Tuesday which got some folks excited.  A satellite image showed “movement of cars and people” at the nuclear center site.  But perhaps the North Koreans were just holding a major meeting --- or merely setting up props, knowing autos and people would be captured in a satellite shot.

A State Department spokesman said the U.S. is willing to give North Korea “a little bit more time” to act on its two-month-old pledge.

Virginia Tech action lifts cell phone camera coverage

Coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre that left 33 people dead gave a boost to a 21st century news-delivery method:  cell phone video and sound.

Grumpy Editor notes clips from users of cell phone cameras are getting more play from the scene of major events, replacing the traditional bulky video cameras linked to mobile trucks brought in later, often much later, by professional TV news teams.

Monday’s on-scene coverage on CNN featured a clip captured on Virginia Tech student Jamal Albarghouti’s cell phone.  The device also recorded more than two dozen gunshots as the user moved closer to the sounds.  The cable network repeated airings of the clip.

Mediabistro.com reported the student sent the clip to CNN.com’s i-Report Web site.  It was on the cable news channel a half hour later after giving Albarghouti a contract for exclusive use.  At day’s end Monday, close to 2 million hits were recorded for that clip at CNN.com.  The cable channel also interviewed Albarghouti in front of its own cameras.

Look for more “i-reporters” using cell phones to transmit on-scene breaking news images as “citizen journalism” grows.

Prisoner snatch by helicopter has Hollywood flavor

Many newspapers yesterday carried an Associated Press story on use of a helicopter to pluck an inmate from a prison courtyard near Brussels, Belgium.

Grumpy Editor, ever alert, noted the prison escape by helicopter sounded familiar.  Indeed, it parallels the action in a 1975 movie, “Breakout,” starring Charles Bronson.

While not mentioned in the AP story recapping the daring event, perhaps that 32-year-old film provided the inspiration for the weekend snatch.

The fictional story has Bronson, as a hired bush pilot, rescuing Robert Duvall, an innocent prisoner, from a seedy Mexican prison.

In the real weekend jailbreak by air, two men hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to fly to Lantin prison where a fugitive, identified as a Frenchman in detention on fraud and theft charges, was scooped up.  The helicopter then landed about a half mile from the prison where the three men got into a waiting car and drove off.

Looks like remake-happy Hollywood has a ready update for another breakout film.