Grumpy Editor

TV newsrooms debate chopper use in police chases

Following Friday’s collision and crash of two television news helicopters in Phoenix, killing all four people aboard, Grumpy Editor notes major chat in TV newsrooms this week is focusing on use of airborne units in providing live video of ground police pursuits.

Sometimes helicopter problems don’t even involve such chases.  Yesterday, two traffic reporters for Dallas stations and a pilot suffered minor injuries after their helicopter lost power and crash landed near a lake in southwest Dallas.

Several TV helicopters plus a police airborne unit were following the Phoenix chase.  Some feel televising car chases (most all TV viewers recall the slow-speed O.J. Simpson freeway pursuit in 1994) is a waste of time, money and talent, that they are simply ratings grabbers, trigger noise and pollute the air.

Others argue that the air missions are fast ways to get to the scene of news events, such as fires, shootings and disasters, especially in remote areas or when roads are clogged, as during rush hours, and the local news deadline is approaching.

Already, suggestions being kicked around include an added person in the chopper to observe surroundings and pooling of a single airborne news unit to serve all stations in a region.

TV ad shows even car thief appreciates driving VW

Commercials for cars used to focus on leather seats, gasoline mileage, horsepower, custom features and such.  Now, a TV spot promotes a car brand because --- a happy thief takes it for a joy ride and likes it, observes Grumpy Editor.

That’s the big attraction Volkswagen is touting.

In the spot, an unshaven young man finds an unlocked VW (red, of course), enters it, locates ignition keys tucked behind the visor, starts the engine and speeds off.  But he abides by the rules, stops for a kid crossing the street, waves to a pair of seniors, zips around some more, returns the car to its original parking space, then the satisfied lad departs.

Soon, the VW’s real driver appears, apparently after some sports activity in an adjoining park, enters the car and drives off, not knowing the vehicle's odometer has added some unauthorized miles and the gas gauge has dropped.

The commercial illustrates weird ad agency/client thinking in promoting interest in a brand:  that an unauthorized joy ride with a happy-over-driving-a-VW thief at the wheel is perfectly okay, especially when it involves a new model that is returned, unscratched, to where it was stolen.

Now that's an exclusive feature that is sure to send car shoppers flocking to VW showrooms.

Most stories on recalled kids’ oven hide origination

Most stories on this week’s recall of about 1 million front-loading Easy-Bake Ovens, designed for children, buried or omitted the source of actual production, notes Grumpy Editor.  Emphasis was placed on Pawtucket, R.I.-based Hasbro, Inc. as “the oven’s manufacturer.”

With few exceptions, coverage neglected to indicate the kids’ product actually was made in China.  Reuters was among the few pinpointing production location, noting it the third paragraph of its version.

The Easy-Bake Oven, sold since May, 2006, resembles a kitchen range with four burners on top and front-loading oven.   Among retailers selling the product for about $25 are Toys “R” Us, Wal-Mart, Target and KB Toys.

Current recall of the purple and pink plastic toy ovens follows a voluntary recall in February, after some children got hands stuck in the door opening.

With the current recall, involving burned youngsters’ hands, Hasbro is urging consumers to stop using the front-loading ovens and to contact the company.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says Hasbro received 249 reports of stuck hands in the oven’s opening, with 77 of them being burned.  One burn case required partial amputation of a five-year-old girl’s finger.

With power failure coverage, editors give nod to Spain

When editors have to decide whether to go with a Barcelona, Spain, blackout story or one from San Francisco, which one gets into print?

Using yesterday as an example, Grumpy Editor finds, strangely, that Barcelona got the nod in most cases while a Bay Area power outage was spiked (or overlooked) by many newspapers.

San Francisco’s outage not only affected about 40,000 power customers locally, including the San Francisco Giants ballpark and cable cars, but millions of other individuals and businesses --- those who use major Web sites on the Internet  --- in the U.S. and around the world.

Without power, a large data center that houses key Web sites went down in San Francisco.  Included was Craigslist, the world's seventh most popular English-language online destination.  It was out for more than five hours.

Also hit for several hours were Six Apart, a blog hosting service; Technorati, a top blog search site; virtual world site Second Life; Yelp, a local entertainment review site, and Gamespot, a gaming site owned by CNET Networks Inc.

Meanwhile, Barcelona’s blackout affected 350,000 homes and businesses --- and effects were confined to that Spanish city.

NFL aims for photographers as ‘walking billboards’

If the National Football League gets its way, press photographers working games will be easy to spot:  They will be wearing red vests with Canon and Reebok logos on them.

The thought of mobile ads with cameras has triggered shrieks from two news organizations, notes Grumpy Editor, who feels sporting events already are overloaded with commercial messages on and around fields.

“Walking billboards,” is how Gilbert Bailon, president, American Society of Newspaper Editors, and editor of Al Dia, Dallas, describes the new outfit for lensmen on the field.

In a letter to Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner, Bailon said, “Newspapers are committed to maintaining their integrity as independent voices of news and opinion. We separate advertising messages in our pages from news and editorial content for that reason. We work assiduously to avoid conflicts of interest, or appearances of them. For that reason it is anathema to us that our employees should be put in the position of becoming walking billboards or be viewed as troublemakers for refusing to wear advertising materials just to do their jobs.”

Meanwhile, Karen Magnuson, president, Associated Press Managing Editors Association, declares, “the working press should not be incorporated into the marketing apparatus of the NFL and its individual teams. It compromises our objectivity, our independence and our ethics.”

Magnuson, also editor and vice president-news, Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle, added, it is “our desire not to have our working press photographers become unwilling participants in any commercial and marketing arrangements the NFL has with its sponsors.”

Car colors become ‘important’ in some reporting

Colors must be important in Wall Street Journal stories these days.  A correction last Thursday changed the hue of a Jaguar cited in an earlier feature to black from blue.

Grumpy Editor wonders why this correction is so vital in a story relating to an American businesswoman being chauffeured around Shanghai.

Do readers really care whether the car is black, blue or green?  If such nitty-gritty details rank high, how about indicating if it is a two-door or four door plus year produced, model and perhaps the odometer reading at the time of interview.  And, yes, even work in the Kelley Blue Book value.

Car colors, when not warranted in the reporting, also are creeping into other newspapers’ routine stories for some strange reason.

Key times when a full description of a vehicle is called for is in connection with a crime, details with introduction of new models, or to distinguish two similar cars in an incident.

Yet, there are times when referring to proper color is essential in other stories, as cited in these examples:

Little Red Riding Hood --- the famous folktale about a young girl's encounter with a wolf.

Rhapsody in Blue --- a musical composition written in 1924 by George Gershwin.

The Purple People Eater --- a 1958 novelty song and title of a 1988 motion picture.

Certainly, it would be incorrect to write Little Purple Riding Hood, Rhapsody in Red and The Blue People Eater.

Year-long L.A.-area burglary wave finally reaches print

News on Friday revealed two --- possibly three --- skilled burglars have been busy at estates in Beverly Hills, and the Holmby Hills, Bel-Air and Encino sections of Los Angeles. The intruders have bagged more than $7 million in cash, jewelry and other valuables.
   
With the culprits hitting more than 70 homes in the last year, Grumpy Editor wonders if anyone was covering the police beat over that lengthy period.  The posh areas are home to many rich and famous celebrities and corporate officials.

With the filing of scores of police reports containing famous names, seems strange that no radio, TV or print reporter picked up scent of the vast burglary spree.

Earlier reporting of the burglary ring, describing likely targets, typical loot and activity periods (usually on weekends, between 8:30 p.m. and midnight) would have put homeowners on guard, making sure doors and windows are locked, security systems operational, security patrols beefed up and neighbors alerted to suspicious activity.

Detectives at the West Los Angeles Division of the Los Angeles Police Department are heading a task force focusing on the burglars who, they say, have been careful not to leave fingerprints or any other evidence.

But they do have one clue:  Out of more than 70 homes hit in the past year, a security camera at one break-in captured the image of two men.

Perhaps it’s time to put the prompt crime-solving experts of CSI: Miami on temporary duty in L.A.

Bosomy art in The Journal may boost readership

As a decision nears (it could be by month end) on News Corp.’s $5 billion offer to buy Dow Jones, including The Wall Street Journal, things are stirring in The Journal’s newsroom.  Reports have editorial staffers updating their resumes and approaching other publications about jobs.

Also triggering newsroom mumblings, a story by Richard Perez-Pena in yesterday’s New York Times mentioned that following a conference call among WSJ editors and bureau chiefs, two WSJ staffers said The Journal would follow the lead of The Sun, London, in printing art of topless women, a major Page 3 attraction (www.thesun.co.uk and click on Page 3 in left column) in the News Corp. publication.

While that may be a mid-summer dream, perhaps that’s what’s needed to spark the mass of editorial gray matter on pages of The Journal and perk up ever-nervous Wall Street traders with other types of uplifting figures, feels Grumpy Editor, who notes The Sun averages nearly four million more readers each issue than its nearest competitor.

In the U.S., where newspaper revenues and circulations are sagging, that distinctive, eye-attracting feature may be just the tonic to yield more WSJ readers.

In the many recent stories on News Corp. CEO Rupert Murdoch’s discussions with Dow Jones principals, other than frequent references to the New York Post, not much has been mentioned about News Corp.’s vast global newspaper empire:

It publishes English-language newspapers, with operations in the United Kingdom, Australia, Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the U.S.  The newspaper segment also includes News International, which publishes four national newspapers in the U.K.; News Limited, which publishes more than 110 national, capital city and suburban newspapers in Australia, and the New York Post in the U.S.

Senate ‘slumber party’ used comfy beds, not cots

Print and broadcast media made it appear that the Tuesday night-Wednesday morning U.S. Senate all-nighter was rough on the members --- but cots were standing by for those who needed to doze.

However, these weren’t the usual cots, typically stiff canvas stretched over folding frames and not very comfortable.  Grumpy Editor notes these were comfy, rollaway beds with thick mattresses, the type employed by the finest hotels.  Sheets and bedding were added along with Egyptian cotton pillows.

Yet, stories referred to them as plain old cots.  Some examples:

The New York Times described them as metal cots.  Cots was the second word in its Senate overnighter story.

McClatchy Newspapers’ version put cots as the first word in its lead ---“Cots for senators were carried in.”  (Actually, the heavy sleep gear was rolled in.)

The Associated Press didn’t get to mention cots until the 10th paragraph when a line read, “The Senate staff wheeled about a dozen cots into a room near the chamber…” (Unlike "carried in," wheeled was accurate.)

The Washington Post lead off with, “Democrats rolled out cots and ordered pizzas…”  (No indication of what the Republicans rolled out.)

The Los Angeles Times lead read, “The cots were strategically placed near the Senate chamber.  Plenty of coffee was ordered.”  (Thus, senators had a simple choice:  sleep or stay awake.)

The all-night session, led by Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.), didn’t quite compare to a Scout camp.  But it got senators tuned up for August when they get a whole month off, allowing them to really rough it outdoors by swaying in hammocks.

Front-page ads loom at Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times

Soon to join the newspaper front-page ads trend are the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, key publications of the Tribune Co., Chicago.

While editorial staffers frown on the idea, ad salespeople welcome the effort, designed to hypo slumping revenue, notes Grumpy Editor.

Second quarter revenue at the Chicago Tribune Media Group was down 7 percent while at the Los Angeles Times it was off 10 percent

Pitching advertisers for front-page placements starts this week.

Tribune Publishing president Scott C. Smith sees it as a way to “generating millions of dollars of new ad revenue in total” via premium prices for premium positions.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Times publisher David Hiller echoes, “Front page ads will raise several million dollars in revenue, and make a meaningful contribution to improving current trends.” In a memo to staffers, he added, “We will make sure the revenue is additive, and not just switched from other pages.  They will help pay for the content we create for readers, and for our investment in new growth opportunities.”

Front-page ads, which have debuted in other newspapers over the past several months, typically run 1 1/2 inches deep across the bottom.