Grumpy Editor

Ex-ABC News chief still defends 9/11 ‘no flag pin’ policy

Former ABC News president David Westin, in making the media rounds to plug his book, Exit Interview, revived the controversy on his post 9/11 decision that his network’s journalists not wear American flag pins in lapels, observes Grumpy Editor. 

Appearing Sunday on CNN’s Reliable Sources --- a day prior to Memorial Day --- Westin still defended his 2001 no-flag-pin declaration. 

Other networks, broadcast and cable, have had no problem with journalists wearing flag pins. 

CNN host Howard Kurtz asked Westin about his thinking on the issue. 

Westin, who left ABC News in December, 2010, explained that “we'd long had a policy at ABC News that we wouldn't let people wear any lapel pins of any sort, the theory being when you're reporting the news, you should be reporting the news, not taking a position. 

“And I said quickly, 'We're going to stick with our policy and stand by that.'  And I believe to this day that was the right decision.”

With his frowning on U.S. flag pins, don't look for Westin to be welcomed at any American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars gatherings any time soon.

 

Cleveland casino debut grabs coverage by barring press

Veteran PR people have learned one way to grab heavy print/broadcast coverage for a client that is unveiling a product or facility:  bar reporters from the premises, finds Grumpy Editor. 

Latest example of that maneuver was at the opening of Ohio’s first casino. 

Sure enough. 

Associated Press worked up 16 paragraphs --- one of multiple stories --- from an outside view on the unveiling of Horseshoe Casino Cleveland last week. 

The story, plus AP art, included essential details on the $350 million project, 20 percent owned by Caesars Entertainment Corp., Las Vegas. 

AP writer Thomas J. Sheeran even worked in the line, “The media was (sic) barred from inside the casino.” 

From streetside, mentions were made of a “glitzy music video instead of the traditional ribbon cutting” projected on the casino’s facade, Las Vegas-style showgirls on scene, and, of course, about 2,100 slot machines and 63 table games awaiting gamblers inside.

But the media weren't able to check out the VIP lounge.

 

Expect 1992 L.A. riots anniversary coverage in print, TV

With many print/broadcast editors ever craving for anniversary stories --- partially because it’s an easy way to fill chunks of editorial space around ads or chew up TV time --- look for lengthy pieces through Sunday on the 1992 Los Angeles riots, predicts Grumpy Editor. 

Editors get especially excited when recycling anniversary events that include elements that grab attention. 

The April 29, 1992 L.A. unrest coverage included images of police actions, fires, smoke, looters storming supermarkets and TV stores --- even National Guard troops getting into the fray. 

The 1992 rioting broke out after a jury acquitted four Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King after a high-speed pursuit. 

Reappearance of that footage is likely to be seen on TV. 

The rioting over five days resulted in about $1 billion in property damage, 63 deaths and thousands injured. 

Also look for King to appear in interviews.  He’s making the rounds pitching the book, “The Riot Within:  My Journey from Rebellion to Redemption,” coauthored with Lawrence J. Spagnola, that debuted this week.

 

Did Obama’s NBC appearance violate campaign law?

 Chances are newspaper editorial writers will not tangle with this TV event, ditto with the Federal Communications Commission:  Did President Barack Obama’s appearance on NBC’s “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” program violate the campaign finance law, questions Grumpy Editor. 

Breitbart.com writer Ben Shapiro thinks so and backs it up with input from federal “Statutes and Rules on Candidate Appearances and Advertising.” 

Aside from the president’s banter with Fallon on Tuesday, which Shapiro describes as “the worst ‘comedy’ segment in the history of mankind,” Shapiro explains: 

“The equal time rule states that if a licensee permits a person ‘who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use a broadcasting station, he shall afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office in the use of such broadcasting station.’” 

Shapiro mentions there are exceptions to the rule, namely, “appearances on (1) a bona fide newscast, (2) a bona fide news interview, (3) a bona fide news documentary, or (4) on-the-spot coverage of bona fide news events.” 

Pointing out “only the second provision could be construed as saving NBC from giving Mitt Romney equal time,” Shapiro adds, “But this was not a bona fide news interview. In fact, it wasn’t an interview at all --- no questions were asked, no answers were given. It was literally Obama reading a campaign speech over a guitar, a horn, a keyboard and some drums.” 

Shapiro figures the president’s appearance on the late-night program “was clearly an in-kind contribution by NBC to the Obama campaign.”

 

Newspaper reporter nears bottom of 200 jobs list

Journalism students hoping to don press hats and write exciting front-page stories should be aware that newspaper reporter ranks near the bottom of the worst jobs for 2012, warns Grumpy Editor. 

That’s something journalism professors won’t mention. 

A Jobs Rated Report by CareerCast.com puts newspaper reporter --- with mid-level income of $35,275 --- at number 196 on a list of 200 professions, between waiter/waitress (No. 195) and oil rig worker (No. 197). 

Newspaper reporter slips eight places from the last tally. 

Doing slight better is broadcaster (No. 191), with mid-level income of $27,324.  But the position drops 63 places on the list since the last time around. 

“Many jobs in the media are characterized by high stress, short deadlines, long hours and a poor hiring outlook,” mentions Tony Lee, publisher of the report. 

“Despite these poor working conditions,” he adds, “competition is steep for what jobs remain after massive consolidation and layoffs in the media industry.” 

Media positions ranking higher on the list are public relations executive (No. 70 with the media group’s best mid-level income of $92,156), advertising account executive (98), author (113), publication editor (119), photographer (147) and photojournalist (166). 

Topping the jobs list?

Software engineer.

 

For some J-students, ‘change major,’ advises Fox’s Ailes

“Change your major,” was Fox News CEO Roger Ailes’s advice to college students pursuing journalism as a vehicle to change or save the world, notes Grumpy Editor. 

“If you want to bring world peace or save starving children --- both very noble goals --- the way to affect that as a journalist is to investigate why the United Nations is so ineffective at doing either of those even though they get 22 percent of their budget from the American taxpayers,” illustrated Ailes who addressed students at the University of North Carolina’s School of Journalism and Mass Communications last Thursday. 

Ailes added the U.N. seems “to have trouble bringing peace, and they seem to have trouble feeding people, so we need to question that.” 

He also mentioned something that many print and journalists seem to have forgotten:  “Journalism has to act as a watchdog. Not a lap dog, not an attack dog, but as a watchdog.”

Durham’s Herald-Sun writer Melody Guyton Butts mentioned Ailes defended Fox News, “often a target of criticism for what some see as a conservative bent, countering that while many of the talk shows that appear on the channel feature conservative-minded hosts, the ‘hard journalism’ is unbiased.”

(Underscoring its “fair and balanced” motto, Fox News this month hired Chicago-based Santita Jackson, Jesse Jackson’s eldest daughter, as an on-air contributor, pleasing those on the left, observes Grumpy Editor.) 

Butts added that Ailes claimed that in the 15 years since Fox News was launched, the channel has never had to retract a story for inaccuracies and it’s the only news organization that hasn’t laid off employees for financial reasons.

 

Publicist’s nightmare: Ex-Sen. Specter barks at KTCN host

What makes a day rough for a book publicist is for a book-plugging author to get nasty during a live radio interview in which the host is called “absolutely insulting,” as was the case Monday when former Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter appeared on a Twin Cities station, finds Grumpy Editor.

Specter, making the rounds promoting “Life Among the Cannibals” published by Thomas Dunne Books at St. Martin’s Press, made it to Jason Lewis, a conservative talk show host at KTCN (a Clear Channel Communications station in Minneapolis that prefers to be identified as News/Talk 1130), when he let loose with an outburst near the close of an interview.

“I have one final comment,” said Specter who turned Democrat from Republican in April 2009. “I gave you 10 minutes. You’ve been over every subject except for my book. I’ve listened to two rounds of your commercials. I think it’s insulting. I’ve been in a lot of interviews in the course of the past 30 years and you are absolutely insulting.”

Lewis fired back with:  “Good God. This is not public radio. I don’t have a government grant. We’ve got to pay the bills.  They’re called commercials. Capitalism.”

Replied Specter:  “I’m talking about someone who’s civilized. I told you the last time around I wasn’t going to sit around and listen to your commercials, and I didn’t want to hang up on you. This is no way for anybody to run an interview. I’m as experienced as you are, if not more so.”

The call wrapped up with Specter saying, “That’s all I have to tell you, so goodbye.”

Lewis countered, “Good Lord, senator, no wonder you got beat.” 

 

Editors miss First Lady in Vegas; $100 million to Tunisia

Two interesting stories --- especially to taxpayers finishing up income tax returns and wondering how their money will be spent --- somehow escaped most print and broadcast editors’ attention late last week:  First Lady Michelle Obama, with her two daughters, visited Las Vegas one week after President Barack Obama made it to Sin City, and the United States plans to give $100 million in cash to Tunisia, observes Grumpy Editor. 

Mrs. Obama’s trip, not announced to media, came to light following a Las Vegas reporter’s query on a special closure at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport. 

Her Wednesday-Thursday visit with daughters Malia, 13, and Sasha, 10, was noteworthy because the president shot arrows at Las Vegas twice in recent years, scaring off tourist and convention activity.  

In February, 2009, aiming at business gatherings, he declared:  “You can’t take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers dime.” 

Then a year later, he warned:  “You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.” 

A sour economy followed, resulting in thousands of casino workers’ jobs lost plus Las Vegas rising to first place in the U.S. with home foreclosures. 

Last year’s  unemployment in Las Vegas, at 13.3 percent, was among the highest in the nation. 

Meanwhile, most editors also missed Thursday’s announcement from the Obama administration that $100 million, subject to congressional approval, will go to Tunisia for short-term fiscal relief --- to help improve its economy. 

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the funds would allow Tunisia to “use this money for its priority programs, accelerating economic growth and job creation.” 

In addition, the U.S. is negotiating a separate package that would offer loan guarantees to raise hundreds of millions of dollars for Tunisia.

 

Stock market slips: ‘China fears’ or simply profit taking?

Sensitivity of the stock market these days, since the Dow Jones Industrial Average recently moved above 13000, was illustrated when wire and broadcast reports throughout yesterday mentioned stocks slip "on China fears” or “worries over China’s economic outlook,” sending the market tumbling 68.94 points to 13170.19,” observed Grumpy Editor.

So what were those worries over China that sent the Dow lower for the second time in 10 sessions?  

The “China fears” stemmed from a comment Monday in far-off Perth, Australia, from Ian Ashby, president of iron ore operations of Melbourne, Australia-based BHP Billiton, Ltd., the world’s largest mining firm (and listed on the New York Stock Exchange).  He said his company was seeing signs of "flattening" iron ore demand from China.

But then, Ashby went on to say iron ore demand would ''grow strongly'' in the next decade and consumption would advance more than 3 percent globally over the next eight years. 

And what about the softening in China demand?

That would not happen until after 2025, said Ashby.

Yet, what investors heard triggered concern, said news reports, sending the Dow averages lower.

In the past, a drop in the Dow from a series of major gains would be attributed simply to profit taking.

 

Shhh! More Mormons live in Arizona than in Nevada

In today’s Arizona primary, chances are broadcast and print media will not mention Mormons in connection with votes for Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts governor, one of four Republican presidential candidates actively seeking the nomination, predicts Grumpy Editor. 

This contrasts with the Nevada caucuses Feb. 4 --- with Romney coming out the winner --- when media repeatedly overstated the Mormon influence in Nevada.  On-scene reporters implied that many Mormons in the Silver State led to an easy victory for Romney. 

However, Arizona ranks third in the number of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints members.  Number one is Utah, followed by Idaho. 

Washington State and Nevada follow. 

Interestingly, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid was running for reelection (and won) in 2010, not much was said about the Democrat from Nevada being a Mormon.

Meanwhile, Reid has offered no Mormon-to-Mormon counseling to fellow politician Romney.

Reid once confided to a newsman, “Well, I believe that Mitt Romney is a man I’ve never met.  Don’t particularly want to.”