Grumpy Editor

Sen. Obama needs to add fact checker to staff

With some strange things uttered in his speeches during the past week, maybe Sen. Barack Obama (D., Ill.) should consider adding a sharp-eyed fact checker to his staff, suggests Grumpy Editor.

Getting the most play, especially from talk radio personalities who aired sound bites of Obama’s Memorial Day speech to nearly 200 alert military veterans in Las Cruces, N.M., was an embarrassing error.  He mentioned:

“On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes --- and I see many of them in the audience here today --- our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.”

Later, with two errors in one sentence, Obama said his uncle was among the troops who liberated the Nazi death camp at Auschwitz.  Actually, it was a great uncle who helped liberate a concentration camp at Buchenwald.   (Auschwitz was liberated by Soviet forces in January, 1945.)

Earlier, at a rally in Roseburg, Ore., with “green” in mind, he declared, “We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times...”  Sounds fine.   But  thermostats set at that reading in the summer (rather than 78 to 80 degrees, as suggested even by power companies), chew up much electricity in getting air conditioning down to that rather cool level.

Grumpy Editor’s end-of-week leftover notes:

More changes ahead?  Wall Street Journal chairman Rupert Murdoch told an “All Things Digital” conference in New York Wednesday that with the newspaper’s current editing process, “Every piece of story in WSJ has on average about 8.3 editors involved...that is ridiculous”…Lots of happy journalism students at Burleson (Texas) High School.  They have been selected for a MTV docudrama that focuses on teens, similar to “The Paper,” a current show on the cable network.  The student journalists feel the national exposure will give them a boost in reaching their career goal.  MTV crews arrive next week…More worries for newspaper publishers:  A report from Goldman Sachs’ forest products research team said cost per ton of newsprint in this year’s second half will be 20 percent above the like period last year… Creators Syndicate, Los Angeles, reached an agreement Wednesday to buy Copley News Service, San Diego.  The combined operation, expected to take effect July 1, will be known as Creators News Service…More orange:  Joining the list of companies utilizing hard-to read small white print against a solid orange background is Charles Schwab Corp.  The company ran that color combination on four consecutive full-page ads in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal...Note to NBC:  In these times of fast-changing political news --- and topical banter that goes with latest developments --- it's pretty dopey to rerun a "Tonight Show with Jay Leno," as was done last night, that originally aired 17 days earlier (May 12), complete with monologue references to Mother's Day, which occurred the previous day.

E&P wants to know about newspapers doing it right

With a lot of grumbling these days on newspaper changes, such as dumping daily stock listings, covering less local news (heightened by staff cuts), combining sections, designing weird pages and running too many “arty” photos, if you know of a newspaper that is doing something right, Editor & Publisher would like to hear from you, notes Grumpy Editor.

But better hurry.

This is the last day to e-mail E&P editor Greg Mitchell with nominations for “10 Newspapers That Do It Right” for a July issue.

E&P is seeking newspaper candidates from readers and those in the business, including editors and publishers.

“Never meant to be a ‘10 Best’ list, it spotlights instead a select few papers that have earned a notable achievement in one particular area, carried out a successful innovation, or published an article that produced a major response locally or nationally,” says Mitchell.

Recognition can focus on any newspaper department that performs an outstanding job.

That includes editorial, marketing, online content, advertising, photography, printing, circulation and customer service.

E-mail [email protected] describing why a newspaper deserves the honor.  If appropriate and to bolster the nomination, also send examples as attachments.

Greenspan repeats earlier remarks on ‘R’ word

Few people, other than politicians, can grab print space or broadcast time saying basically the same thing over a prolonged period.

Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has that knack, and media rush to get the quotes in print or airborne, observes Grumpy Editor.

Monday’s London-based Financial Times carried an interview with Greenspan and, naturally, the “r” word (for recession) popped up, as it always does when he meets the press.

His latest quote on the subject to FT reporter Krishna Guha in Washington:  “I still believe there is a greater than 50 percent probability of recession.”

This is on par with remarks that appeared in the April 7 issue of the Madrid-based newspaper El Pais.  In an interview, he said:  “I would not describe the situation we are in as a recession, although the chances that we’ll have one are more than 50 percent.”

Last December, in repeating earlier statements made in 2007, he said prospects for a recession are about 50-50.

However, Greenspan, who left his Fed post 28 months ago, eased up a bit in this week’s FT interview, noting that probability of a recession “has receded a little and I think the probability of a severe recession has come down markedly.”  He added that it was “too soon to tell” whether the worst of the financial crisis was over.

Overlooked: Mexico siphons Colorado River output

A Reader’s Digest cover line, “Are We Running Out of Water” caught the eye of Grumpy Editor, who was lured into reading the Joseph K. Vetter byliner.

The headline on the 12-page article (in a 208-page May issue): “Droughts and half-drained reservoirs raise an ominous question:  Is America running out of water?” with a subhead, “Another dust bowl?”

Grumpy Editor focused on the second half of the story dealing with the Colorado River system and “running out of water” in the West.

The Colorado River, including Lake Mead and Lake Powell, it pointed out, is fed by melting snow from the Rocky Mountains and is “the main source of water for 30 million people in the Southwest.”

The story goes on to mention one study by scientists estimates “if current climate and water management trends continue, Lake Mead has a 50 percent chance of drying up by 2021.”

Sounds scary.  Imagine brown, dead trees and plants from former green, lush landscaping in Las Vegas, including the vast grounds of world-famous casinos on The Strip, all dependent on water from Lake Mead, created with the construction of Hoover Dam, completed in 1935.

But one vital word missing from the Reader’s Digest article is:  Mexico.

Under a 1944 treaty --- which few seem to recall or talk about these “dry” days ---  Mexico is guaranteed 1.5 million acre-feet a year or five times more than Nevada’s 300,000-acre feet on releases from Lake Mead.  Also dipping into the water source is California with 4.4 million acre-feet and Arizona with 2.8 million acre-feet.

(An acre-foot is the volume of water that would cover one acre to a depth of one foot.)

Back in 1944, strong opposition to the treaty with Mexico came in a 21-page typewritten statement from the Colorado River Board of California.  Its feeling was summarized on the opening page:  “Unwarranted generosity to Mexico, at the expense of American communities, is neither just to the latter, nor conducive to harmony among the peoples on both sides of the border.”

The Board, with foresight, also questioned denying “water to American communities, in cycles of dry years, such as have occurred and will recur, in order to supply Mexican lands.”

Memorial Day remembers fallen U.S. troops

Grumpy Editor is taking the day off to mark Memorial Day.

A tradition going back to the 19th Century after the Civil War and originally called Decoration Day, today’s federal holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country.

Many people observe the day by visiting memorials and especially Veterans Administration national cemeteries, whose commemorative events honor about 1 million American men and women who died in service during wartime periods.

President Bush asks Americans to pay tribute by pausing for "a moment of remembrance" --- at 3 p.m. local time today.

More than 100,000 people this year are expected to attend ceremonies, including band and choir performances, at VA cemeteries.

In addition to remembrance, Memorial Day also is a time for backyard barbecues, picnics, family gatherings and sporting events.

Another 'Big One' story hooks print/TV news editors

California is in earthquake territory.  No doubt about that.  Shakers occur all the time, keeping seismographs busy around the clock.  Only major temblors are felt.

On the heels of a major earthquake in China, yet another “Big One” story Wednesday grabbed a lot of attention in print and radio/TV coast-to-coast --- and especially in California --- as Associated Press writer Alicia Chang stepped up the frequency of her Golden State earth-shaking output, observes Grumpy Editor.

It used to be that a “shake ’em up” earthquake story made the rounds every six or 12 months.

In January. 2007, for example, AP’s Chang wrote a major earthquake story with mention of a “campaign to warn people to prepare for the Big One.”  Then a little over a month ago (see Grumpy Editor, April 18), Chang wrote “California faces an almost certain risk of being rocked by a strong earthquake by 2037” in a seismic forecast by scientists.  She added, “New calculations show a 99.7 percent chance of a magnitude 6.7 quake or larger by then.”

This week’s reminder of an earth-moving happening “in the next few decades” reads like a proposed script for the Science Fiction Channel.

U.S. Geological Survey and California Geological Survey scientists worked up a hypothetical model from a mighty 7.8-magnitude jolt that would scare anyone living in California, a state that is attempting to attract new businesses to fill the vacuum from departed operations. 

Among the events in the scenario detailed by Chang:

In less than two minutes, “Los Angeles and its suburbs shake like a bowl of jelly” from the hypothetical rumble, centered on the San Andreas Fault north of the Mexican border. 

Power fails.

Water and sewer pipes crack.

Part of major highways break.

Some high-rise buildings and older concrete structures collapse.

The region is hit by 1,600 fires.

Hospitals are swamped; 50,000 people are injured in Southern California.

(In a separate Los Angeles Times story on the same study, a writer with a similar name, Andrea Chang, notes the rocker “could cause about 2,000 deaths.”)

Print and TV news editors like this material to excite readers/viewers.  And it gives them an opportunity to run maps, charts and dig up photos of past earthquakes’ damage to link with the text.

Look for at least one more California “Big One” story before 2009.

A statewide earthquake drill is planned later this year.

 

Grumpy Editor’s end-of-week leftover notes:
 
Designed as on-the-job training for aspiring journalists, ABC News plans to open bureaus in the fall on campuses of Arizona State University, Syracuse University, University of Florida, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and University of Texas at Austin…Associated Press continues to stir up things from the beginning of the Korean War --- 58 years ago.  While no U.S. troops were involved, AP mentioned “a cold-blooded slaughter” when the South Korean army and police emptied prisons and “killed untold thousands of leftists and hapless peasants in a summer of terror in 1950”…Where were bird/animal lovers on this item?  An interesting story from Tokyo reported the rescue of a lost African gray parrot from a roof.  He spent a night at the Nagareyama police station but refused to “talk” to cops.  Transferred to a nearby veterinary hospital, the bird became talkative, gave his name and full home address, then entertained the hospital staff by singing songs before being reunited with his owners…But editors went ape on two orangutans, on opposite ends of the country, escaping from enclosures on the same day.  A 10-year old female got loose at Busch Gardens, Tampa, while a 29-year-old male at the Los Angeles Zoo was free for 20 minutes.  Both were returned to their cages…Thomson Reuters Corp. plans to cut more than 800 jobs, including 140 editorial positions by year end…a Zogby International survey for the Poynter Institute finds 47 percent of 8,683 respondents describe Iraq war coverage by journalists as “poor,” while 33 percent rate it “fair” and 16 percent call it “good”…the Los Angeles Times got some static from readers for placing a review of “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Ball” on the front page Monday.

Exotic hamburger prices range from $175 to $5,000

New Yorkers were rather amazed to learn --- via WCBS-TV news on Tuesday --- that a three-month-old hamburger restaurant in lower Manhattan is featuring a luxury version of the American classic, pegging the price at a stiff $175.

But someone forgot to check with what is going on in the West.

Grumpy Editor notes that $175 is a bargain price compared with a $5,000 (yes, with three zeroes) burger offered at a French restaurant in Las Vegas.

So, despite these tough economic times, it looks like the battle of the exotic burgers at lofty prices.

The New York burger, according to the TV report, is available at the Wall Street Burger Shoppe.  It's described as Kobe beef, topped with seared foie gras, an assortment of mushrooms, shaved black truffle and golden truffle mayonnaise.

But don't figure the New York burger as a lunch treat with a business associate.  WCBS-TV says it's available only after 4 p.m. from the restaurant's upstairs bar menu.

The Vegas $5,000 version is called the Fleurburger 5000, available evenings at Fleur de Lys restaurant at Mandalay Bay on The Strip.  It also features a Kobe beef patty topped with foie gras and black truffles.  Served on a brioche truffle bun and garnished with a truffle sauce, it includes (and this is what jacks up the price) a bottle of 1995 Chateau Petrus.  The wine is served in expensive stemware.

But in Sin City, noted for two-for-one deals, the diner who orders the Fleurburger 5000 gets to keep the fancy wine glass plus the patron's dining partner gets a free burger.  (So that, in effect, chops the price to $2,500 per person --- plus tax and tip.)

What's more, the burger buyer receives a certificate indicating a $5,000 burger was purchased and his or her name is displayed in a memorabilia case at the restaurant.

This gives a whole new meaning to a "whopper."

Rising corn costs point to higher movie ticket prices

The lead in an Advertising Age story on how demand for ethanol is contributing to higher popcorn prices gave Grumpy Editor a hearty chuckle.  Written by Claude Brodesser-Akner, it read:

Suddenly, in Hollywood and sticky-floored movie theaters across the nation, "corn" really is a four-letter word.

The story points out demand for ethanol, produced from corn, "will claim 40 percent of next year's corn crop, munching away at the margins of theaters that rely on concession sales for as much as 45 percent of their revenue."

Popcorn, soda and candy sales in theaters have subsidized tickets in recent years.

With input from Ricard Gil, a University of Santa Cruz economist, the AdAge piece notes movie ticket prices are expected to jump as much as 30 percent this year as more moviegoers skip the expensive popcorn.

To make up revenue, movie theaters could push for more reliance on screening ads to the captive audiences, the story adds, pointing out an Arbitron study last year finds 63 percent of respondents 12 years and older say they don't mind ads before the feature film starts.

Cell phone use affects consumer confidence surveys

“There’s probably been an overreaction of some people thinking we’re significantly worse off than we are because of the media’s fairly heavy coverage” of the economic slowdown, says an economist, who also points out consumer confidence telephone surveys may not be as accurate as they once were, notes Grumpy Editor.

Keith Schwer, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, also told Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jennifer Robison that it’s possible consumers view their personal circumstances more favorably than widespread news reports might lead analysts to expect.

He said a flaw in current telephone surveys is that they don’t always reach a cross-section of the community.  That’s because they miss people, reachable only by cell phone, who don’t have land lines at home.

Meanwhile, Grumpy Editor, as pointed out in an April 10 posting, feels constant heavy doses of gloomy items affect newspaper readers and radio/TV listeners’ moods.  So when survey questions get to them, the pessimism bounces back.

Just in the past week, consumers have been bombarded with negative economic news via an ABC News/Washington Post consumer comfort index, a Federal Reserve economic report, a Reuters/University of Michigan index of consumer sentiment, and comments from regional Federal Reserve Bank officials in Atlanta, Kansas City and Dallas.  In addition, regional, state and county statistics --- from home sales to employment --- got into the mix.

Getting eyed this week:  Today’s producer-price index measures last month’s wholesale inflation; the Fed on Wednesday releases minutes of its April 29-30 meetings, and Friday will see the National Association of Realtors report on April’s existing home sales. 

Then next Tuesday, Wall Street awaits the Conference Board consumer confidence index.

And another round of consumer surveys.

Armed Forces Day gets little print/broadcast attention

With the war in Iraq and Afghanistan involving thousands of U.S. military personnel --- and despite more politicians wearing flag pins in lapels --- what amounts to this year’s least recognized long-running event was Saturday’s Armed Forces Day, notes Grumpy Editor.

This year’s observance, with few exceptions, was rather quiet in print and broadcast media over the weekend compared with a widely-promoted and over-covered event earlier this month --- Cinco de Mayo which commemorates the victory of the Mexican militia over the French army at the Battle of Puebla in 1862.

Armed Forces Day goes back to May, 1950, one month before the start of the Korean War, when it was proclaimed by President Harry Truman.  Replacing separate Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps days, the combined single-day observance on the third Saturday in May was established to honor men and women in uniform, serving in war and in peace.

At one time on Armed Forces Day, newspaper columns and television cameras heavily focused on military parades, open houses at military facilities, special demonstrations and Air Force flyovers.

Grumpy Editor finds some scattered, mostly local, Armed Forces Day observances (not widely covered) still exist.  Among them: 

Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, featured a fly-by, marking the 60th anniversary of the Berlin airlift, and an open house;  Chicago honored the military at Navy Pier ceremonies, organized by the United Service Organization of Illinois; the 49th annual Armed Forces Day Parade in Torrance, Calif., attracted 86 entries; thousands made their way to Fort Jackson, S.C., to view exhibits, an air show and a concert, then cheer about 200 Army recruits headed for basic training; South Charleston, W. Va., continued its tradition of featuring a parade, its 49th; Greenville, S.C., which used to spotlight a downtown parade, this year featured military displays, and in Detroit, more than a dozen World War II veterans received special medallions at a ceremony in a senior living complex where some of the recipients live.

One of the few other Armed Forces Day parades was a major event at Osan Air Base --- in South Korea.

Interestingly, Great Britain is close to establishing its own Armed Forces Day that would be marked by parades with military bands and events organized by local authorities.

Sean Rayment, Daily Telegraph defense correspondent, wrote in Sunday’s editions that a government-commissioned study --- entitled “The National Recognition of the Armed Forces” --- will back The Telegraph’s campaign for a national day in support of British troops.

Rayment reported Gordon Brown, prime minister, ordered the report after Gen. Sir Richard Dannatt, chief of the general staff, “suggested that the British public did not recognize the sacrifices being made by British troops on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Meanwhile, the New York Times marked Armed Forces Day with a 21-paragraph story Saturday by Michelle York, plus photos, focusing on anti-war protesters marching to Fort Drum, 30 miles from the Canadian border in upstate New York.

That would have startled Harry Truman.