Grumpy Editor

Anniversary stories fill up print space, air time

Grumpy Editor agrees with Columbus Dispatch columnist Joe Blundo --- the media do a lot of anniversary stories.  Check your newspaper today.  Chances are you’ll find at least one anniversary story, perhaps on some event you never heard about.

As Blundo pointed out in a column this week: “So far this year we have celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Frisbee, the 30th anniversary of Star Wars and the 20th anniversary of Cops.  Before the year ends, we will no doubt mark the 50th anniversary of Sputnik, the 25th anniversary of Cats and the 100th anniversary of Oklahoma (the state, not the play).”

No mention (other than perhaps in some NBC-TV executive offices) was made yesterday on the anniversary of the Tonight Show hosted by Steve Allen that made its debut in 1954.  But that was 53 years ago, not the popular five, 10, 15, 20-year, etc. marks.

Getting much space and air time on Monday was a look back 50 years ago when President Eisenhower directed the National Guard to escort nine black students into Little Rock, Ark., high school to enforce an integration order.

But another milestone went by with little, if any, editorial coverage:  Kikkoman’s 50th anniversary in America.  What’s Kikkoman?  Many homes and restaurants have its main product on kitchen tables.  It’s best known for naturally brewed soy sauce to spice up meals.  The company decided to recognize itself with a full page ad in Wednesday’s The Wall Street Journal.

Another special day occurs tomorrow.  It’s little-touted National Public Lands Day.  It may (or may not) grab some space.  That’s because it’s the 14th time around.  Nevertheless, observe it.  Admission will be free to all National Park Service sites around the nation.

Maybe next year, at 15, it’ll garner more space, maybe even air time. 

WSJ gives BofA’s planned 4,000 layoffs brief space

In these days of closely-observed unemployment figures, a sensitive barometer watched on Wall Street, one would expect upcoming layoffs of 4,000 employees at the nation’s second largest bank --- with operations coast to coast --- to grab a chunk of space in The Wall Street Journal, notes Grumpy Editor.

But the revelation received only one large paragraph (under In Brief) in yesterday’s WSJ.

That compares with more detailed stories in the affected areas of Michigan, which will lose 1,500 of those jobs, and Illinois, where 2,500 will get pink slips over the next two years.

Major articles on the layoffs were in yesterday’s Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Detroit News and Detroit Free Press.  The New York Times gave the development six paragraphs via a Reuters report.

In Charlotte, N.C., where BofA has its headquarters and 15,000 employees, yesterday’s Charlotte Observer buried the dual-state layoffs with two short paragraphs deep into a feature, “BofA's Lewis aids stability in time of turmoil,” along with a photo of CEO Ken Lewis.

The Michigan and Illinois layoffs are in connection with BofA’s $21 billion purchase of LaSalle Bank Corp., Chicago.  It is expected to be finalized next month.

L.A. Times, AP shun ‘illegals’ word in medical stories

Both the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press ran sad stories this week about two dozen private medical centers in Southern California that are in poor financial health and face bankruptcy or closure.  A major factor triggering the problem can be summed up in two words:  illegal aliens.

However, those two words --- essential elements in the situation --- were conspicuously bypassed in the Times and AP reports, finds Grumpy Editor.

The latest development follows many community clinics and hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange Counties closing doors in recent years.  Over the past decade more than 70 community hospitals in California have been shuttered as the population mushrooms.

Closest AP came to identifying a key reason in its latest story was a line that said the “financial problems are caused by several developments including an increasing load of uninsured patients.”

Meanwhile, the Times noted: “An increasing load of uninsured and low-income patients has resulted from overcrowding and the shutdown of public facilities.  The number of uninsured patients visiting private hospitals, particularly in poor areas, has increased by one third in Los Angeles County since 2002.”

California has at least 3 million illegal aliens and most show up at hospital emergency rooms to receive treatment for urgent and chronic health problems.

Other medical facilities around the nation are facing similar problems.

N.Y. Times admits it stumbled on MoveOn ad price

In these days of fast response, Grumpy Editor finds it interesting that it took almost two weeks after the New York Times ran a full-page ad at more than half price for the “newspaper of record” to acknowledge that it should not have given a steep discount to MoveOn.org for an ad assailing Gen. David H. Petraeus.  That ad ran Sept. 10 to coincide with the start of his appearance before Congress.

The liberal advocacy group paid $65,000 for the ad, not the going rate of $142,000.  “We made a mistake,” said a Times spokeswoman, echoing what Clark Hoyt, the newspaper’s public editor, wrote in his column yesterday.

Undoubtedly, The Times must have been getting a lot of static from long-time advertisers, such as department stores, airlines and auto makers, that pay full price, less discounts for frequency.

Howard Kurtz, Washington Post media writer, said MoveOn had no reason to believe it was paying “anything other than the normal and usual charge” and it would send The Times $77,000 to make up the difference.

Seems strange that the advocacy group somehow never checked on rates before submitting an ad and The Times display advertising department, including the sales people involved, were “unaware” of the cut-rate price. 

The Times’ Hoyt also mentioned the ad violated the newspaper’s own policy which bars attacks of a personal nature in ads.

Ahmadinejad takes over print, airtime from O.J.

Last week it was O.J. Simpson grabbing heavy print space and broadcast time.  Today and tomorrow look for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad going wall-to-wall on cable news networks plus massive coverage on broadcast TV and print media.

Certainly there is much to debate when Ahmadinejad utters “down with the U.S.” almost on a daily basis.

Ahmadinejad has a New York schedule --- and media exposure --- comparable to a Hollywood celebrity touting a tell-all book, notes Grumpy Editor.  CBS’ 60 Minutes ran a three-day old Scott Pelley interview of Ahmadinejad last night.  Ahmadinejad spoke in Farsi in the garden outside his office in Tehran.

Today at noon (Eastern) from New York the Iranian president is spotlighted at a videoconference luncheon with the National Press Club in Washington where he will speak for a half hour then take 45 minutes of questions.

He also appears at Columbia University, New York, today.  The United Nations tomorrow hears his partisan performance.

But it’s the Columbia University appearance that has many New Yorkers upset.  Some point out the university bans the ROTC on campus but gives a platform for a terrorist to speak.

With AhmadinejadIn addressing the U.N., former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton declared: “You should treat this as an off-Broadway production,” with the general assembly as the theater audience for the Iranian president's performance.

Nasdaq, Las Vegas Strip attract Dubai investments

While major print and broadcast outlets today focus on the state-owned Borse Dubai stock exchange agreeing to buy a 19.9 percent stake in New York’s Nasdaq stock exchange in a complex deal, Grumpy Editor finds most media overlooked another Dubai deal announced with less fanfare earlier this month.

In that one, a subsidiary of Dubai World’s investment arm is taking a 25 percent stake in developing a multi-billion dollar resort on the Las Vegas Strip.

The Sin City multi-use project involves teaming up with MGM Mirage, a major operator on the Las Vegas Strip, with construction to begin in early 2009, followed by opening in 2012.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq deal already is raising eyebrows in Congress.

That’s because Nasdaq is one of the world's largest stock exchanges, listing about 3,200 companies, including many high-tech firms such as Google, Microsoft and Apple.  The deal would make Dubai, part of the United Arab Emirates, the first Mideast government to hold a significant stake in a U.S.-based stock-market operator.

An effort 18 months ago by a Dubai state-owned company to purchase operating rights at six U.S. ports was scuttled following concerns over security issues.

O.J.'s bail session provides PR for his attorney

O. J. Simpson’s activities yesterday in Las Vegas grabbed more media coverage --- on the ground and from the air --- than his famous slow-speed chase in a white Ford Bronco on a Los Angeles freeway a decade ago, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Local and national newspapers, NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox broadcast networks, local TV channels, plus cable news networks and radio had news crews on the scene to report developments with his bail, set at $125,000 stemming from multiple charges including kidnapping and armed robbery.

Even radio station KFI, Los Angeles, got a publicity boost via TV footage of its microphone, strategically placed at a makeshift podium, at an outside news conference with Simpson’s Las Vegas and Florida attorneys.

Simpson departed Sin City yesterday afternoon, without talking to media, to return to his Florida home.  The Heisman Trophy winner spent three nights in jail and is due back in Las Vegas court on Oct. 22.

The morning news conference focused on Yale Galanter who emphasized he was Simpson’s official attorney.  It also provided live national PR for Galanter who worked in his Florida background and that he handles a number of similar cases every month.

With noise from a circling helicopter blotting out ability to hear media questions, Galanter also took a swipe at Fox News, saying “putting people on without facts is deplorable,” a reference to the many talking heads on camera.

He indicated that October’s court date for Simpson in Las Vegas conflicts with another case that takes him to Washington D.C. around that time for two months and a likely trial would not get under way until next year. 

Fingers point to Jerry Brown in ‘warming’ lawsuit

When it comes to global warming talk in California, many folks remember then-Gov. Jerry Brown’s strong position on environmental issues (branding him with the “Gov. Moonbeam” nickname) during his 1975-1983 term in Sacramento.

So when a federal judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit by California’s attorney general that sought hundreds of millions of dollars from six automakers for damaging the Golden State with greenhouse gases, some linked that suit to Brown, now the state’s attorney general.

But Brown is innocent in this case, notes Grumpy Editor.  The suit was filed last year --- before Brown took over as attorney general --- by his predecessor, Bill Lockyer, now state treasurer.

A Reuters story yesterday on the judge’s ruling did not mention an attorney general’s name.  But it noted the suit was filed last September.

However, USA Today got carried away yesterday, running a photo of Brown to accompany an Associated Press piece on Monday’s decision.

Actually, it’s been difficult to keep up with Brown’s locations.

He has held a number of state posts besides governor, including California secretary of state (1971-1975), California Democratic Party chairman (1989-1991) and Oakland mayor (1998-2006).  He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nominations for president in 1976, 1980 and 1992, and was the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1982. 

Taped Emmy Awards, seen in West, lowers viewership

The televised 59th Annual Emmy Awards on Sunday may be the least-watched in its history when final numbers are issued today, envisions Media Life.

Perhaps with next year’s 60th awards show, host Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the network carrying the program will decide to go “live” to all parts of the U.S., as does the Academy Awards, comments Grumpy Editor.

Viewers in the East saw the awards as it happened on the Fox Network, complete with naughty words triggering bleeps and quickie blackouts.  Folks in the West saw the show via tape, three hours behind original airing --- and after results were being piped by news outlets, including national on-the-hour radio headlines.

No wonder, then, that in preliminary results, issued yesterday, the show averaged a 10.5 metered-market household rating and 16 share from 8 to 11:15 p.m. (that’s Eastern time), according to Nielsen, down 20 percent from last year’s 13.1/20 for the show then seen on the NBC network.  Other factors: competition from baseball and football games.  But there’s always competition, no matter when a show is aired.

Interestingly, the Emmy ceremonies honor excellence in TV programming.  Strange that TV programmers --- who know about ratings inside and out --- can’t figure out that such awards, especially after 59 years, should be presented “live” to viewers across the land.

So what was airing at 5 p.m. Pacific (8 p.m. Eastern) on the West Coast when the Emmy presentations got under way before cameras?

Dual reruns of “Friends.”

Bank of America stirs up unrest among ATM users

While announcement last week that Bank of America, with more than 17,000 automated teller machines, is increasing the ATM fee for non-customers to $3 per transaction from $2 brought much print and broadcast coverage, most reports omitted several noteworthy groups that are grumbling about the hike, observes Grumpy Editor.

They are:

•  Consumer Federation of America, Washington, D.C., an advocacy, research, education and service organization for consumers.

•  Consumers Union, publisher of Consumers Report, Yonkers, N.Y.

•  Service Employees International Union, Washington, D.C.,  a fast-growing union with 1.9 million members in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.

•  Woodstock Institute, Chicago-based policy and advocacy non-profit that promotes community reinvestment and economic development in lower-income and minority communities.

•  Americans for Fairness in Lending, Boston, which raises awareness of abusive credit and lending practices and calls for re-regulation of the industry.

•  California Reinvestment Coalition, San Francisco, advocates for the right of low-income communities and communities of color to have fair and equal access to banking and other financial services. 

The groups, in a joint statement, mentioned, “We are deeply concerned” about B of A’s plan to raise ATM fees, adding: “Given the recent and disturbing trend toward fee-based profits that is making banking services more and more unaffordable for the Americans who need them most, we call on Bank of America and other financial institutions to proceed cautiously before placing even greater reliance on such practices.”

They also called on “Bank of America and other banks to explain why --- even as fees for nearly all other financial services decline over time as the scale of their use increases and related costs decline --- ATM fees continue to ‘defy gravity’ and are now poised to rise by another 50 percent.”

As with some other recent B of A actions, such tactics present a public relations problem and discourages potential patrons from entering its ATM locations --- at a time when the bank is advertising heavily for new customers as the "Bank of Opportunity."

The ATM fee hike triggered scores of Web comments, mostly negative.