Grumpy Editor

Optimism glows in pending acquisition of NV Energy by Buffett unit; Fresno daily thwarts visit by retired staffer

Grumpy Editor finds some business writers often jump the gun, saying a company has been sold, when it still --- often over a period of months --- has to clear shareholder and regulatory hurdles before the deal is finalized.

Such is the case with the announcement that MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., a subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc., plans to acquire NV Energy, Inc., for $5.6 billion.

The pending acquisition needs the approval of NV Energy shareholders, Nevada’s Public Utilities Commission, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice. 

The lengthy procedure for approval could extend to next year’s first quarter. 

Yet, some sources already report a done deal --- or close to a green light. 

The daily Nevada Appeal, Carson City, says NV Energy “has been sold” to MidAmerican Energy.

An Associated Press report mentions MidAmerican Energy “will buy Nevada electric and natural gas company NV Energy…”  (Incidentally, no natural gas is connected with the Nevada power company.) 

Meanwhile, Michael Yackira, NV Energy’s president and CEO informs customers that his company “will be acquired by MidAmerican.” 

 

Fresno Bee snubs retired veteran staffer’s visit 

Are former newsroom staffers welcomed back to visit where they once met deadlines?

After veteran newsman Bill Patterson, now retired, read an Editor & Publisher story that the Pasadena Star-News and San Bernardino Sun are inviting the public to sit back and relax in their newsrooms, he grumbled that wasn’t the way he was greeted when he attempted to show a friend where he toiled for 42 years at the Fresno Bee, a McClatchy Co. paper. 

E&P mentioned the Star-News and Sun unveiled “news lounges,” open to the public during business hours, that are equipped with computers, Internet access, tables and sitting areas. 

Digital First Media, parent of the Star-News and Sun, opened more than 20 similar "community media labs" around the country, part of a "community engagement initiative." 

Patterson, who drove more than 500 miles to Fresno two years ago, said he was greeted by a “grouchy receptionist who informed us our contacts were at lunch and not available,” thus blocking the visit. 

Rather than create a fuss, Patterson --- who worked in just about every part of the Bee editorial department, including the City Hall beat, business editor and 20 years covering courts --- simply departed. 

 

In case you missed these… 

The full photo operation, involving about 30 staffers, at the Chicago Sun-Times (and suburban subsidiaries) was sacked as the tabloid plans to rely on reporters performing double duty in shooting photos and video, along with taking notes.  The newspaper said, “The Chicago Sun-Times continues to evolve with our digitally savvy customers, and as a result, we have had to restructure the way we manage multimedia, including photography, across the network”…Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway was busy last week.  In addition to the NV Energy planned acquisition, it said it will add The Roanoke (Va.) Times to its growing list of small and medium-sized newspapers.  With a daily circulation of 76,000 and Sunday circulation of 90,000, it will be Berkshire's 30th daily newspaper…Veteran television host Larry King has joined RT (also known as Russia Today), the Russian-based 24-hour cable news network.  “Politics with Larry King” debuts this month.  RT will also host “Larry King Now.”  Programs will be recorded in Los Angeles and Washington…Cumulus Media Networks, through Friday, raised almost $4 million for Oklahoma tornado relief…With a high outbreak of tornadoes and thunderstorms, the Obama administration has shelved plans to furlough Weather Service staffers under budget sequestration…Veteran Associated Press correspondent Hal McClure, whose overseas coverage --- ranging from Singapore to Turkey --- spanned 21 years, died in  California.  He was 92.

The Internal Revenue Service spent about $50 million to hold at least 220 conferences for employees between 2010 and 2012, according to a House committee report.

U.S. jumps into action after North Korea threatens; First Lady again on Vogue cover; Vegas shooter remains in L.A.

War talk spurs U.S. to bolster defenses, but...

After more North Korea missile testing over the weekend, a Feb. 12 nuclear test plus mounting saber-rattling and elevated tensions spurred by its young leader Kim Jong Eun, the Pentagon decided to strengthen U.S. defenses against a possible attack by the communist country by adding missile systems to protect the West Coast and Alaska, notes Grumpy Editor.

North Korea a few days earlier surprised the U.N., South Korea and U.S. by declaring the armistice that suspended Korean War hostilities 60 years ago was now invalid.

At the same time, it tossed in bolder rhetoric by threatening a nuclear strike on Washington.

With Washington’s sudden growing concern on North Korea’s long-range missile advances, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday said the U.S. will deploy 14 more ground-based missile interceptors.

These will be added to the current 30 long-range missile interceptors already in place in Alaska and California.

While news that the U.S. was moving ahead on additional defense measures grabbed headlines, overlooked by most broadcast and print media:  the new interceptors won’t be in position until 2017.

For example, in missile defense story coverage, The Washington Post didn't mention 2017 until the 10th paragraph. On the other hand, The Wall Street Journal noted the year at the start of the second paragraph.

 

Meanwhile, focusing on the other side of the world and reflecting U.S. military and intelligence assessments, President Barack Obama said it would take Iran a year or more to produce a nuclear weapon.

Vogue cover again spotlights First Lady

Shortly after the election, buzz around New York and Washington was that First Lady Michelle Obama was behind a push to award top Obama campaign fundraiser and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour with a European ambassadorship, perhaps to Great Britain (Wintour was born in the U.K.) or France.

But the diplomatic post assignment idea faded.  

However, Vogue’s April issue features Michelle Obama on the cover, in a “cobalt blue dress, with the line:  How the First Lady and the President Are Inspiring America.

It marks the second Vogue cover appearance for the First Lady.  She last appeared wearing a pink dress on the magazine’s March 2009 cover.

Wintour got a boost last week, though.

Condé Nast announced the Vogue editor in chief is taking on the newly-created additional position of artistic director of Condé Nast, a division of Advance Publications.

 

Las Vegas Strip shooter remains in L.A.

Remember that widely-covered shooting spree on the Las Vegas Strip back on Feb. 21 that resulted in three people killed and five injured?

Through sharp police work, suspect Ammar Harris, 26, was nabbed in Los Angeles one week later.

Today, he's still there.

The delay, in part, was because the defense attorney (despite fingerprints and widely-circulated photos) requested an "iddentification hearing" calling on prosecutors to prove the person arrested in the case "is who they say it is." That Los Angeles Superior Court action occurred March 14.

But wait.

Judge Shelly Torrealba formally identified the Las Vegas Strip shooting suspect on March 14.

Did that move things along for Las Vegas authorities to take over?

Not yet.

Harris refused to waive extradition and his public defender asked authorities to produce a governor's warrant.

With that, the judge scheduled an April 12 hearing.

Stay tuned.

 

In case you missed these…

New Pope Francis didn’t waste any time meeting the press. On Saturday, at the media center flanking Rome’s St. Peter's Basilica at what some called “The Pope Francis Show,” he met and chatted with some of the 5,000 reporters from 81 countries --- then gave them a blessing… One America News Network, a 24-hour conservative-leaning cable news operation that partners San Diego's WealthTV with the Washington Times, is slated to start on July 1…Also with a July launch, Al Jazeera America, following its purchase of Current TV, reports more than 18,000 candidates applied for an initial 170 job openings…Britain’s Daily Mail presence is growing.  It’s online audience in the United States swells to become larger than in the United Kingdom…Moving right along:  U.S. intelligence officials warn of the rising threat of cyberattacks to national  and economic security.  It follows President Barack Obama’s concern in January’s State of the Union address, noting the “rapidly growing threat from cyberattacks"...Wrong site for an exciting typo.  An ad on copyediting.com Friday: "Want an Exiting Career?" headlined a pitch for training as a trucker...Sale of Maxim, a male-oriented magazine, is being explored by Alpha Media. 

Editors overlook event marking last U.S. bayonet battle

Overlooked by U.S. media was an anniversary ceremony at South Korea’s Osan Air Base last Thursday marking the U.S. Army’s last known bayonet charge, known as the Battle of Bayonet Hill on Feb. 7, 1951, during the “forgotten” Korean War --- which remains open ended, notes Grumpy Editor.

The battle --- involving the Army’s 27^th Infantry Regiment’s Easy Company --- pitted Americans against North Korean and communist Chinese soldiers.

Nine U.S. infantrymen died in capturing so-called Hill 180 while 47 enemy troops were left dead on the slope.

 

Revised Condé Nast contract irks writers

Freelance writers are grumbling over a revised Condé Nast master contract that includes a line declaring the publisher owns television and movie rights to all stories that appear in its magazines.

It could mean a financial loss into six figures for contributors.

Condé Nast’s two dozen titles include Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ, Glamour, Self, Golf Digest and Brides. Advance Publications is Condé Nast’s parent.

No Saturday mail affects some publications 

The Postal Service’s planned termination of Saturday deliveries starting Aug. 3 will affect distribution of some publications.

The National Newspaper Association notes about 30 percent of its member papers rely on Saturday mail deliveries.

Time magazine subscribers receive the mailed weekly on Fridays or Saturdays.  Bloomberg Businessweek, which already is using alternate means to get its weekly issues to some subscribers, figures a quarter of its subscribers will see mail deliveries extended to Mondays.

The Postal Service figures ending Saturday deliveries would help save the agency about $2 billion a year.

 

In case you missed these…

The Weather Channel stirs up its own storm by labeling the weekend northeast blizzard Nemo.  Turning thumbs down on the name include the National Weather Service and independent meteorologists…Look for President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address tomorrow to work in the often mentioned-for-months line:  The economy is heading in the right direction…Not a good time for copy editors.  The sharp-eyed word/fact/grammar watchers are sacrificed more than any other newsroom personnel --- with a 50 percent reduction in the past five years…No major headlines, as a Navy budget is being considered in Washington, on how the Navy’s fleet is down to 287 ships, the smallest American armada since the early 1900s.  A 2010 independent panel called for a fleet of 346 ships…The Washington Post Co. signs an agreement to sell its Herald, in  Everett, Wash., daily it has owned since 1978.

Romney’s China-made Jeep mention looms accurate

Just before the November election, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was criticized for declaring Chrysler would be building Jeeps in China, recalls Grumpy Editor. 

Democrats grabbed space and air time citing Romney and his campaign ads on the Jeep action in China was misleading. 

Grumpy Editor last Nov. 6 pointed out the report stemmed from an Oct. 22 Bloomberg News story that mentioned Fiat (majority owner of Chrysler Group LLC) “plans to return Jeep output to China.” 

Auto writers last Wednesday reported Chrysler is in talks to build some of its Jeep vehicles in China where the auto company already sells several of the brand’s models.

 

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Nocturnal sideline raises editors' eyebrows

Not getting much national coverage: a newspaper reporter with an unusual sideline job (for a newsroom staffer). 

After being outed for her after-hours job as a stripper, reporter Sarah Tressler, who was fired by the Houston Chronicle where she was a society reporter, now works for the San Antonio Express-News. 

But her beat now is quite different. 

She covers crime. 

Her Express-News byliner on Friday dealt with the shooting of a convenience store owner. 

She was let go by the Chronicle for failing to inform supervisors of her nocturnal sideline as an exotic dancer. 

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In case you missed these… 

Wal-Mart Stores, starting Memorial Day, plans to hire 100,000 veterans during the next five years.  Some of the giant retailer’s critics called it a P.R. move.  Sure, it is.  And a fine P.R. gesture it is…On the firing side, the Star-Ledger, New Jersey’s largest newspaper, cut 34 employees, including 18 (or nearly 10 percent) of its newsroom staff.  Meanwhile, Reuters released some of the wire service’s veteran editors and reporters…On the hiring side, Fox News signed liberal former Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D., Ohio) as a paid contributor.  He joins daughter, Jackie Kucinich, in media.  She is a USA Today reporter covering politics…Nissan P.R. people should be happy with large color shots of the Nissan Resonance concept car appearing in separate sections of The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday…Public relations pioneer Daniel J. Edelman, who died Tuesday at 92, was noted for many slogans.  “Which twin has the Toni?” was long remembered.  Edelman also was behind spotlighting Morris the cat in television commercials for 9-Lives cat food.

 

Speaking of pets, Grumpy Editor likes the title of Seattle’s KIRO-FM’s weekend pet show that debuted yesterday:  “It’s Raining Cats and Dogs with Shawn Stewart.”  

Cold/hot air spreads; 141 journalist fatalities; ‘fat’ banks

Two contrasting hot/cold atmospheric reports over the weekend grab the attention of Grumpy Editor as climate change stories continue to gobble space/airtime going into the new year. 

Both meteorological stories made news yesterday (Jan. 6) but few print editors placed them on the same page. 

A study published Jan. 6 in Nature Climate Change notes “a scientific poll of experts” feels melting glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland may lead to global sea levels rising more than three feet by year 2100. 

Jonathan Bamber, a professor in physical geography at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom and a co-author of the study, predicts “horrible consequences.”

Meanwhile, China so far this winter is struggling with the lowest temperature in almost three decades, triggering problems ranging from closed highways to power outages.

The China Meteorological Administration says the national average since late November is 25 degrees Fahrenheit, coldest in 28 years.

English-language China Daily reports about 1,000 ships are stuck in Laizhou Bay ice in eastern China's Bohai Sea.

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Reporting overseas becomes dangerous 

Being a journalist is becoming a dangerous profession. 

Last year, 141 journalists were killed in 29 countries, with Syria being the most dangerous for reporters, reports Swiss-based Press Emblem Campaign. 

The number is up 31 percent from 2011. 

In Syria alone, at least 37 journalists, 13 of them working for foreign media, were killed.

In addition, two freelance American reporters are missing in Syria:  James Foley, who has reported for Global Post and Agence France-Presse, among others, was abducted from his car on Nov. 22 in the northwestern part of Syria, and Austin Tice, from Houston, was abducted last August.

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Banks claim 2012 brought best profits since '06 

Not too much was said last week when U.S. banks ended the year trumpeting their best profits since 2006.

Those being nixed in seeking business or personal loans will find it interesting that the financial industry claims more people and businesses are taking out, and repaying, loans since 2009.

Meanwhile, interest paid on savings accounts and certificates of deposit is near zero. 

On one-year CDs, for example, Bank of America pays an ultra-slim 0.03 percent and Wells Fargo pays a scant 0.05 percent. 

Most major banks now focus on fees to boost bottom lines.

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In case you missed these... 

Top overused 2012 phrases, tallies Lake Superior (Mich.) State University, are fiscal cliff and kick the can down the road…Former vice president Al Gore pockets an estimated $100 million as cable channel Current TV, which he founded with business partners seven years ago, is sold to Al Jazeera for $500 million…Maybe more school money management classes are needed:  A Rasmussen Reports survey finds 55 percent of likely U.S. voters think capital gains should be taxed at about the same rate as other income…An Associated Press photo (with a credit line for the photographer) “showing” Hillary Clinton in a car being transported from New York Presbyterian Hospital clearly displays the driver and a male front-seat passenger, but the Secretary of State is not visible somewhere behind the car’s visor, rear-view mirror and dark interior…How to bust into TV:  Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards, a Democrat who served prison time on a corruption conviction, stars in an A&E series starting Feb. 27.

N.Y. Times, Plain Dealer set to cut newsroom staffers

The New York Times and the Cleveland Plain Dealer will cut a total of 88 newsroom staffers in coming weeks as the publications seek to reduce expenses while advertising revenues continue to ebb, notes Grumpy Editor.

The Times, the nation’s newspaper of record, is seeking volunteers for buyouts from 30 non-union newsroom managers.  If that mark isn’t reached, the newspaper will enact layoffs.

Latest round of Times staff trimming follows four other reductions in the past five years.

“There is no getting around the hard news that the size of the newsroom staff must be reduced,” Jill Abramson, Times executive editor, informs the editorial department.

Meanwhile, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Ohio’s top-circulated newspaper, plans to cut 58 positions from its newsroom next year.  That represents about one third of its Northeast Ohio Newspaper Guild’s members.

Layoffs could come as early as March. 

Some of the departing PD staffers could be transferred to the newspaper’s Website, Cleveland.com.

Gallup poll: journalists sag in honesty, ethical standards

A Gallup poll finds only 24 percent of Americans rate journalists’ honesty and ethical standards as very high or high, notes Grumpy Editor.

That puts journalists a notch below bankers who came in at 28 percent with a very high/high rating.

But the poll ranks journalists way above auto sales people, at the bottom of the list, with only 8 percent.  (Gallup says “car sales people's perceived honesty has never climbed out of the single-digit range in the history of the list.”) 

Second from the bottom is Congress with 10 percent 

The survey also gives journalists a 45 percent rating as average in honesty and ethical standards, and 30 percent with very low/low marks. 

Topping the honesty and ethical standards list are nurses with a hefty 85 percent ranking them very high/high. 

Gallup points out other professions with high honesty ratings include pharmacists, medical doctors, engineers, dentists, police officers, college teachers and clergy.

Along with journalists, professions with honesty ratings below 25 percent include  business executives, lawyers, insurance sales people, HMO managers, stockbrokers and advertising practitioners.

Pew: Reading print papers ebbs; digital platforms grow

Print editors saw the material, but few ran the findings:  only about one fourth of Americans now read print newspapers, notes Grumpy Editor.

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, in its 2012 news consumption survey, finds “just 23 percent” read a print newspaper as “many readers are now shifting to digital platforms to read the papers.”

That compares with 38 percent in 2006 and 41 percent a decade ago.

Obviously, print editors are reluctant to run screaming headlines about dwindling print readership.

“Figures for newspaper readership may not include some people who read newspaper content on sites that aggregate news content, such as Google News or Yahoo News," Pew points out.

“Substantial percentages of the regular readers of leading newspapers now read them digitally,” mentions Pew.

“Currently, 55 percent of regular New York Times readers say they read the paper mostly on a computer or mobile device, as do 48 percent of regular USA Today and 44 percent of Wall Street Journal readers, adds Pew.

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Newsweek departs print version with Dec. 31 issue

Print versions are fading on the magazine front, too.

Newsweek, after undergoing internal and external contractions over the past five years, today announced it will abandon its print edition. 

The Dec. 31 issue will be its last print version. 

The weekly news magazine’s first issue hit newsstands on Feb. 17, 1933.

Plans call for it to go to an all-digital format “in early 2013” as Newsweek Global.

 

 

Newspaper publishers optimistic about future…but

While newspaper publishers are optimistic about the future and digital platforms, more than 40 percent see declining staffs as a serious threat, finds a survey from the University of Missouri School of Journalism, notes Grumpy Editor.

As the latest example of staff cuts, MU released survey results on the day U-T San Diego publisher Douglas F. Manchester finalized purchase of North County Times, Escondido, Calif., from Lee Enterprises and announced the layoff of 80 Times staffers --- one third of the payroll --- including two dozen from the newsroom. 

In what is described as the largest survey of its kind, with in-depth interviews of publishers, presidents, senior vice presidents or other senior managers from more than 450 U.S. daily newspapers, optimism remains about the future of the newspaper business, finds Michael Jenner, the Houston Harte Endowed Chair at MU’s School of Journalism and Reynolds Journalism Institute at MU. 

Nearly two-thirds of responding publishers express optimism for the future, while only four percent of respondents are negative about the industry, notes Jenner who joined the MU faculty two years ago from The Bakersfield Californian, which he joined in 1993 as managing editor and later became the daily’s top editor.  Earlier, he was M.E. of the Hartford Courant.

Jenner’s survey also finds that despite declining print circulation numbers in recent years, more than 60 percent of publishers do not envision a time in the future when their publications will no longer issue print versions.

The survey also shows 90 percent of publishers expect revenue increases for their digital news renditions in the next year.

“Publishers are definitely feeling a sense of urgency to embrace digital platforms,” says Jenner. “Even though most publishers see a future in printed newspapers, most know that digital platforms, such as websites and mobile applications, are where the potential for increased revenue exists.”

Many newspapers have been "forced to implement large cuts to their staffs in recent years" stemming from the poor economy, adds Jenner.  "This makes it very difficult for papers to innovate and develop new revenue models, particularly in the digital sphere.  If newspapers want to survive in their current form, they are going to have to find ways to maintain enough resources to find new forms of revenue."

Uttering ‘ObamaCare’ frowned on at Dems’ convention

One word you won’t hear at the 2012 Democratic National Convention --- at least from the stage --- in Charlotte, N.C. is ObamaCare, predicts Grumpy Editor. 

It’s a no-no, taboo, prohibited, forbidden, banned by Democrats. 

Associated Press joins in by scratching that word from its writers’ copy. 

As AP points out in its recently-released U.S. Elections Style Guide for journalists: 

ObamaCare is frowned on because it is the “informal term for the Affordable Care Act...often used by Republicans, so avoid it unless quoting someone.”  

But among the thousands of broadcast/print media in attendance, ObamaCare still is likely to creep into conversations, interviews and texts. 

And if one Googles ObamaCare, it produces a whopping 26,700,000 results.