Grumpy Editor

Times-Picayune, New Orleans, will drop daily publishing

New Orleans is joining the growing list of cities without a daily newspaper, as The Times-Picayune will reduce publishing to three days a week in the fall, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Major staff reductions will accompany the move. 

Insiders expect the newsroom staff to be chopped by a least a third, to 100 from 150.  Remaining workers will face sharp salary cuts. 

With the shift to non-daily, the focus will be on boosting online news. 

Along with the change, NOLA Media Group has been formed to oversee coverage on the Internet. 

The newspaper will be published on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.  Management considered those the “most valuable days for the newspaper’s advertisers.” 

Ricky Mathews, incoming publisher of the newspaper, established in 1837, said the changes were necessary by the upheaval in the newspaper publishing industry. 

A recent circulation tally of U.S. newspapers placed The Times-Picayune, in the Advance Publications Inc. family, at No. 55 with about 141,000 daily.

 

Nevada nixes state-based ad agencies to promote tourism

Nevada-based advertising agencies are grumbling about the Nevada Commission on Tourism selecting four out-of-state finalists for a two-year, $3 million contract to sell the Silver State as a tourist destination, finds Grumpy Editor.

Eight of the 19 companies that submitted a proposal for the job were Nevada agencies. 

Getting an early nod, with interviews expected to start this week --- with a final decision due during summer --- are out-of-staters Aristotle Inc. of Little Rock, Ark.; Daniel J. Edelman Inc.'s Los Angeles office; Fahlgren Mortine of Columbus, Ohio, and Burson-Marsteller, New York. 

“All things being relatively equal, there should be a process in place to use some common sense that would lean toward supporting businesses in Nevada,” says Valerie Glenn, CEO of Reno-based Glenn Group, adding “especially given our economic situation and our governor’s stance on promoting economic development and job creation.”

Bill Marion, principal at Purdue Marion & Associates, Las Vegas, another Silver State firm washed out as a contender, says advertising and public relations firms in Nevada are used to marketing to a global audience and thus have the knowledge to sell the state. 

With the contract destined to go to a non-Nevada firm, Marion reminds that’s $3 million leaving the state. 

He points out a contract to a Nevada agency “would mean the creation of jobs in Nevada, not only for the firms that are selected, but also the firms that they would contract out for printing, for distribution, for other services because you know a Nevada firm would use other Nevada partners that they’ve worked with in the past.” 

Nevada’s unemployment rate for March was 12 percent, 3.8 percent above the national level.

Bethany Drysdale, Nevada Commission on Tourism’s public relations director, trumpets:  “We are looking for the best and the brightest to represent our agency based on the criteria that we ask for. We’re not necessarily looking to market just to Nevadans, we’re looking to market to the entire United States.” 

Adds Drysdale: “It would be wonderful if we could have a Nevada firm.”

 

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.

 

Obama praises solar plant: 5 jobs, no power for Nevadans

National media on President Barack Obama’s solar energy visit to the Las Vegas area on Wednesday neglected to mention that the one million glittering photovoltaic panels that served as a backdrop for his 17-minute televised speech that brought applause from the audience and heavy print/broadcast coverage, would not provide one watt of power to Nevadans who helped foot the bill, observes Grumpy Editor. 

And as for total jobs created at Sempra Energy Corp.’s Copper Mountain Solar 1 plant in Boulder City, 30 miles east of Las Vegas:  only five full-timers run the plant. 

That wasn’t exciting news to Nevadans in a state that has the highest unemployment rate in the nation, 12.7 percent. 

San Diego-based Sempra owns the facility that cost $141 million with a portion of that funded by Nevada taxpayers who consistently receive hikes in power rates --- now among the highest in the nation --- from NV Energy, Inc., which serves the Silver State.

Yet, Sempra's solar energy output from Nevada is being directed to California. 

Both NV Energy and Sempra are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. 

Meanwhile, Obama’s short visit to Boulder City did not win applause from many of its 15,000 residents who were curbed from their daily activities. 

On the afternoon the president’s motorcade traveled from Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport, where he arrived on the Boeing 747 Air Force One, motorists, including visitors and business people, were advised to stay away from Boulder City because of congestion and road closures.

 

Tribune Co. continues editorial cuts --- with L.A. Times

Shakiness of editorial staffers these days was underscored this week with another in a series of Tribune Co. “workforce reductions” that this time hit the Los Angeles Times newsroom, following last week’s release of 15 Chicago Tribune workers, notes Grumpy Editor. 

In the latest round, about a dozen Times employees from news operations, copy desk and design were affected. 

Among them, accepting a buyout:  Craig Turner, arts and entertainment editor, with the newspaper for almost 41 years, including the position of metropolitan editor. 

As Grumpy Editor mentioned on March 16, editorial employees at some Tribune Co. newspapers may be getting edgy following the prior day’s downsizing at the Chicago Tribune. 

Besides the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, the Tribune Co. family includes the Baltimore Sun, South Florida Sun-Sentinel and The Hartford Courant. 

Ironically, as Los Angeles Times staffers were departing, the business section posted an opening for “an ambitious reporter to cover the food and farm beat.”

 

Sexy, pesky fruit flies get 'buzz' with alcohol-laced chow

One of the year’s strangest stories --- and space chewers --- to make some front pages over the weekend dealt with (ready for this?) sex life of fruit flies, observed Grumpy Editor. 

It also indicated how University of California, San Francisco, researchers are spending valuable tax dollars in a financially-smacked state. 

Fruit flies normally are attracted to ripened or fermenting fruits and vegetables.  And spotting them shake up produce inspectors, especially in California. 

Associated Press writer Malcolm Ritter gobbled up information based on material in Science magazine that involved a study of fruit flies that could shed light “on the biology of alcohol abuse.” 

The story detailed how fruit flies were studied after being put into containers with a just-mated female.  Then the rejected insects were placed in vials and given a choice of regular food or alcohol-laced chow.  “They consistently went for the alcohol more than did the male flies that had just mated,” Ritter reported. 

The story also cited researchers paired thousands of other male flies with dead virgin females, “so they didn’t experience rejection but didn’t have sex either.” 

Wow! 

With newspapers' editorial space getting tighter and considering readers’ increasing interest in the shaky economy, job creation, the conflict in Afghanistan, taxes being pushed, growing use of Air Force One for fund raising, the upcoming election and weird weather appearing around the country, how fruit flies made front pages --- or even the funny pages --- was simply weird.

 

Photos showing pain at the pump are pain elsewhere, too

Rather than repeated tired images of drivers filling up at the pumps and shots of gas station prices, print and broadcast editors should try something different to illustrate the soaring cost of gasoline --- run photos of U.S. locations were oil drilling or pipelines would alleviate the high cost and dependency from foreign lands, advises Grumpy Editor.

The aim is to remind Washington to zero in on energy independence in a country rich in oil as analysts predict gasoline prices soon could reach $5 a gallon.

U.S. field production of crude oil peaked in 1970 and has since drifted downward to the early 1950s level.

Lost in the shuffle of election news that dominated print and broadcast media late last week are comments from Jack Gerard, president and chief executive, American Petroleum Institute.

President Barack Obama “is misleading Americans about his energy strategy” in an effort to ease pain at the pump, proclaims Gerard.

“Since taking office he has declared 85 percent of our offshore areas off limits, decreased oil and gas leases in the Rockies by 70 percent, rejected the Keystone XL pipeline and has 10 federal agencies planning more regulation of hydraulic fracturing, which is key to oil and natural gas development,” reminds Gerard.

“The president’s Jekyll and Hyde approach to energy security is hurting consumers,” he adds.

“We urge the president to work with our industry to generate more supply to the market and create new American jobs."

Meanwhile, another result of higher prices at the pump --- inflation.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke yesterday (when the Dow Jones Industrials later fell 53.05 points to 12952.07) tells the House Financial Services Committe that "gasoline prices have moved up ... (which is) a development that is likely to push up inflation temporarily while reducing consumers' purchasing power."

 

Few raise eyebrows after BLS January employment tally

Heavy broadcast and print coverage Friday and over the weekend stemmed from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Feb. 3 news release on employment for January, loaded with upbeat figures amazingly compiled and swiftly released only three days after the end of the first month of 2012, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Most editors and business writers, seeking to get the details out promptly, ran with the information.  Few raised eyebrows.

The story topped most radio/TV broadcasts and grabbed front-page space heralding the pace of job creation as total nonfarm payroll employment in January rose by 243,000 while the unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent from 8.5 percent in December, according to BLS. 

Job growth was widespread in the private sector, with large employment gains in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing, BLS added.

Government employment changed little over the month, it pointed out. 

But missed by many was this BLS message relating to “changes to the employment situation data”: 

“Establishment survey data have been revised as a result of the annual benchmarking process and the updating of seasonal adjustment factors.” 

Writers, with more time, would call for a government jargon translator for that line. 

So how many business writers were led astray? 

Newsmax writer Amy Woods related Rush Limbaugh on his Friday radio show said, “The jobless rate reported today is ‘corrupt as it can be’ because President Barack Obama’s administration has decreased the size of the work force.”

Jeff Cox, CNBC.com senior writer mentioned, “The January numbers can be volatile as the Bureau of Labor Statistics makes seasonal adjustments. This year's round produced 1.25 million fewer people in the work force in December, a number that drew some focus as evidence that the drop in the jobless rate could be misleading.”

Some alert business writers pointed out that 11 million people either have stopped looking for jobs or are, reluctantly, working part time.  When that figure is added to the 12.8 million unemployed, almost 24 million people are considered underemployed.

See the full BLS news release here.

 

Obama visits Vegas, still reeling from his 2009 comment

Most curious stop on President Barack Obama’s two days of speeches in five cities is today’s stop in Las Vegas, the place where three years ago he scolded companies that planned to hold meetings or events in the gambling mecca, which now ranks as the foreclosure capital of the U.S. as thousands of casino and allied workers were laid off, notes Grumpy Editor.

Unemployment in Las Vegas last year:  13.3 percent, among the highest in the nation.

In reporting from Sin City today, it will be interesting to observe if  national print/broadcast correspondents, some with fuzzy memories, work in the president’s February, 2009 line aimed at business gatherings, “You can’t take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers’ dime.”

Soon after that statement, Wells Fargo Bank and Goldman Sachs, among others, shifted major meetings from Las Vegas to other cities.  Tourists also shunned the famous Las Vegas Strip. 

Prior to that, Obama made 20 visits to Las Vegas during his first campaign, grabbing attention by saying he wanted to help “not just the folks who own casinos but the folks who are serving in casinos.” 

So today’s nationally-televised speech in Las Vegas will not be from the casino-lined Strip but rather at a United Parcel Service hub near McCarran International Airport. 

Soon after the mid-morning delivery, mainly to UPS workers, the president heads for Denver, then Detroit.

 

Fed workers' pay beats private wages, Chinese clone WSJ page, Sin City targets pigeons, among year-end items

Grumpy Editor today concludes a list of news items that some folks (and editors) may have missed during the busy year-end period ---

FED WORKERS’ PAY TOPS PRIVATE WAGES

Job hunting?  Head for a federal position.

A year-end USA Today analysis found federal employees received an average $75,296 in pay during the past year --- about 60 percent above the average private sector wage.

What’s more, federal workers also scored an average $28,323 in medical, pension and other benefits, noted the Gannett publication which added, “Federal compensation has soared in the past decade, especially in the past five years, at a time when private wages and employment have sputtered.”

All this followed President Barack Obama 13 months ago declaring a pay freeze for federal employees in 2011 and 2012.  Despite the so-called “freeze,” 1.1 million fed workers will receive more than $2.5 billion in raises during the two-year span, calculated Federal Times. 

PEJ RANKS  ECONOMY AS TOP STORY IN 2011

The big story in 2011 was the economy, according to the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism’s annual “Year in News” tally. 

PEJ said 20 percent of news time and space was dedicated to the topic via print, online, TV news and radio, up from 14 percent from 2010. 

The other major trend was "a jump of more than a third in coverage of international news,” added PEJ, with half of the year's 10 most-covered stories occurring overseas.  Combined, 28 percent of all coverage last year was about international events.

  

PROMOTING JADE, CHINA CLONES WSJ PAGE

Drawing attention to the green gem prized for jewelry, The Wall Street Journal last week ran a full page report with three color photos under a bold across-the-page headline:  Jade craze takes hold. 

Unless readers noted the two “paid advertisement” placements in fine print --- slightly larger than the page number --- atop the A section page, they were unaware that the text, art (complete with credit lines), bold-faced boxes and subheads were for China Watch, prepared by China Daily.  It was close to WSJ format. 

LAS VEGAS AREA EYES PIGEON FEEDING BAN

Despite the Las Vegas area ranking high in unemployment, home foreclosures and sinking property values, at the top of the list for action at the first 2012 meeting of the Clark County Board of Supervisors: pigeons. 

As a reader wrote in a Jan. 1 letter to the editor of the Las Vegas Review-Journal under a "Pigeon-feeding ordinance is for the birds" headline:  “With all the rampant economic and social woes facing Clark County, it is amazing that the Clark County Commission will be holding a public hearing Tuesday on an ordinance that would ban the feeding of pigeons in unincorporated areas of the county.”

Following yesterday's meeting on the subject, commissioners again will peck away at proposed enforcement and other issues on Jan. 17.  Rules could lead to pigeon feeders getting up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Along with causing problems for residents who have bird feeders, commissioners will have to distinguish the many varieties of pigeons, some raised for food or sport.

Aside from the common (or rock) pigeon, others include band tailed pigeon, red billed pigeon, white crowned pigeon, white king pigeon and racing pigeon. 

But commissioners always welcome feeding slot machines in Clark County --- and the rest of Nevada.

PETA SEEKS MEMORIALS FOR  DEAD CATTLE

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) was seeking permission in Illinois to buy highway markers in memory of cattle killed when trucks hauling them, in two separate accidents, flipped. 

PETA said the signs would pay tribute to more than 20 cattle killed last year because of negligent driving. 

Doesn’t look like the PETA request will go far.  A Department of Transportation spokesman said it probably will be denied because Illinois’s Roadside Memorial Act specifies only relatives who lost loved ones in highway accidents may request memorials.

 

ENQUIRER PRINTING PLANT TO CLOSE

About 200 newspaper jobs will be axed this year when the The Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett Co. Inc. publication, closes its printing plant in the fall.  Plans call for The Columbus Dispatch to print The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Kentucky Enquirer.

A Gannett news release in late December made no mention on the number of jobs to be eliminated.  Closest it got:  " As part of this initiative, The Enquirer’s production facility will close fourth quarter, 2012, as printing transitions to Columbus."