Grumpy Editor

Radio, TV silent on higher Social Security benefits

In these tough economic times, when one-sixth of the U.S. population is due to receive a 5.8 percent hike in monthly pay, that’s welcomed news, right?

Strangely, not when one listens to radio and TV, finds Grumpy Editor.

Few broadcast news mentions were made on Thursday, when it was announced that 50 million Social Security recipients will see that boost in monthly benefits starting in January.

It’s the largest increase since 1982.

That will make the typical retiree’s monthly check rise to $1,153 from this year’s $1,090.

The enhancement would have been even higher but consumer prices and inflation were flat in September, helping to moderate the gain, according to the Social Security Administration.

The benefit change is calculated on the amount of consumer price index increases, July through September, compared with the like year-ago quarter.

In addition, monthly premiums for Medicare, deducted from Social Security recipients’ payouts, will hold steady at $96.40.

Today, see how --- and where --- it is played in your daily newspaper.

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

Piggybacking on Thursday's announcement of the increase in 2009 Social Security benefits, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.), quickly issued a two-paragraph statement, that included:  "In light of the recent record losses on Wall Street, America’s seniors are grateful that Congress rejected President Bush’s risky Social Security privatization scheme. Seniors and those nearing retirement should not be forced to gamble their Social Security safety net on risky privatization plans when Wall Street operators are dealing the cards. Thankfully, America’s seniors can continue to rely on the rock solid promise of Social Security even in the most difficult economic times.”  Comment:  Huh?...How popular is Joe the Plumber?  When Joe Wurzelbacher, mentioned in Wednesday night’s presidential debates, returned to his suburban Toledo home from an early morning workout Thursday, 21 print and broadcast people were waiting for him in his driveway…USA Today, citing higher newsprint costs, ups its newsstand price by 25 cents to an even $1 on Dec. 8…Tribune Co., which operates nine daily newspapers, has given a two-year notice to Associated Press that it plans to drop the news service…Advertising pages in consumer magazines fell 12.9 percent in the third quarter, compared with the same period last year, reported Publishers Information Bureau…Benefiting from fast-moving financial developments, Financial Times’ newsstand sales rose 30 percent in the U.S. in September…Tampa Tribune, spurred by readers’ complaints, is bringing back its standalone Sunday Business & Money section.

'Recession' word picks up momentum in media

That nasty word --- recession --- is appearing with more frequency in print, in radio and TV broadcasts, and on the Web, following Wednesday’s gloomy stock market action, notes Grumpy Editor.

A recession is defined as a decline in gross domestic product (GDP) for two or more consecutive quarters.

Viewers of financial news channels Wednesday saw the market heading south as Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was addressing the Economic Club of New York.  He warned that even if the financial markets level off, the nation will not quickly snap back to economic health.

"Stabilization of the financial markets is a critical first step, but even if they stabilize as we hope they will, broader economic recovery will not happen right away,” he said.

Earlier in the day on network TV morning shows, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson mentioned, “This will take time.  There will be challenges.”

By midday Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal’s Web site hoisted the "R" word at the top of the page with the headline:  Recession Angst Hits Stocks.

After the market close when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 733.08 points to 8577.91, the WSJ site reported “dire economic data knocked stocks sharply lower…as investors braced themselves for an ugly recession.”

The day prior, Janet Yellen, head of the San Francisco branch of the Federal Reserve, told a Palo Alto, Calif. audience, “The U.S. economy appears to be in a recession.”

On the same day, Paul Volcker, former Federal Reserve chairman, told a conference in Singapore that the U.S. economy is in recession and it would be unreasonable to expect a strong recovery any time soon.

And all this started with lax lending standards and sub-prime mortgages leading to current lofty home foreclosures and other sour loans that socked some financial institutions.

CBS’ Schieffer gears up to grill McCain, Obama

Grumpy Editor hopes for a more spirited presidential debate tonight with CBS News’ Bob Schieffer tossing out the questions to John McCain (R., Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D., Ill.).

Schieffer, with CBS News since 1969 and moderator of Sunday’s Face the Nation, has compiled illuminating questions for the final presidential debate before the Nov. 4 election.  Originating from Hofstra University, Hempstead, N.Y., the focus will be on domestic policy.

Hopefully, the veteran newsman will keep McCain and Obama on track and off recycled stump speeches that brought yawns to many viewers in the two prior “debates.”

Chief Washington correspondent for CBS since 1982, Schieffer --- unlike some earlier debate quizzers --- has a solid journalism background.  He is a graduate of Texas Christian University’s journalism school and received his basic training as a reporter, including a Vietnam visit, on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Schieffer feels tonight’s setup, seated at the same table with McCain and Obama, will allow more direct responses.

He tells David Bianculli, Broadcasting & Cable magazine:  “If I could pose one question --- let's just say on immigration --- and say, 'Gentlemen, what are we going to do about immigration? You can build that fence, but you're still going to have 10 million illegal immigrants in this country. What are you going to do with 'em? Talk with me about that for 10 minutes.' If they did that, I would think I would have done my job. My goal is to make this about these two men, not about the moderator.

“They'll each have two minutes to answer, then I'll try to encourage them to question one another.  I'm going to do my very best to keep them on track. And if they try and get off track, I'm not going to be bashful about saying, 'Gentlemen, that was not the question'.”

The format, adds Schieffer, will be “much more freewheeling” and “I'll ask each of them the same question, they'll answer, and then I'll say to the other one, 'Well, what about that?' ”

Now, that is refreshing.

Radio, TV news briefs fail to pinpoint blaze site

Grumpy Editor on Monday heard brief network radio and TV news reports about a wildfire “20 miles north of Los Angeles” --- also “20 miles northeast of downtown Los Angeles.”  Take your choice.

Yet, no reports pinpointed the location.

The general area placed it in the Angeles National Forest in the rugged San Gabriel Mountains.

The reports mentioned 1,200 people from about 450 homes were evacuated and 3,500 acres were involved.

For a person driving through Nebraska, for example, with a home a short distance north of Los Angeles, that would sprout gray hairs and concerns in a hurry.

Thus, with fires and other disasters, it’s important to zero in on a precise location for readers, viewers or listeners.

One reference that should be mandatory in every newsroom is a Rand McNally road atlas that contains detailed state, city and metropolitan maps. 

Or, for news people who prefer searching the Web, MapQuest provides guidance as to a location.  But, strangely, this method actually takes more time and effort.

Monday’s wildfire, for example, 20 miles north (or northeast) of Los Angeles would place it somewhere between the community of Hidden Springs on the east and the city of San Fernando on the west.  It also would be several miles north of Flintridge-La Canada, an area hit by fires in the past.

If the blaze is in a remote area, then its proximity to a specific highway or a canyon should be noted.

AP avoids using ‘crash’ with stock market drop

With all eyes focused on the stock market’s action today, Grumpy Editor notices a small debate continues on whether the drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average over the past several trading days constitutes a “crash.”

The Associated Press and most other news organizations have avoided using “crash” in stories relating to this month’s market meltdown.

But the word has crept into some TV and radio reports and comments.  Among them:  CNBC.  The cable channel, part of General Electric’s NBC operation, is drawing extra attention with its financial news coverage.

The Wall Street Journal today carries a front-page headline with the phrase, "Slow-Motion Crash."   It reflects a story that mentions the recent "biggest point drop in the Dow's history" that "marked the beginning of a slow-motion crash."

AP notes a crash is commonly defined as a 20 percent decline in the Dow in a single day or over several days.

This month, the cumulative loss over several days through Friday is 22 percent.

The most noteworthy crash, in October, 1929, saw the Dow plunge 23 percent in two days.

In the so-called “Crash of 1987,” the Dow lost 22.6 percent on a single day (Oct. 19).  But the cumulative decline over several days was 31 percent.

Following that event 21 years ago, part of a worldwide phenomenon similar to the current one, the market rallied immediately after the crash.  It regained its pre-crash level two years later.

One thing is common, however.  These major market drops are triggered in October --- the month of Halloween, witches and other spooky things that send chills down spines.

AccuWeather’s Bastardi predicts coldest winter in years

Look for many editors, especially those in the East, to send memos to their staffs suggesting holding up on global warming stories --- at least until spring 2009, predicts Grumpy Editor.

The East will be gripped by one of the coldest winters in several years, predicts Joe Bastardi, AccuWeather.com chief long-range forecaster.

The overall colder and snowier winter will be off to a nippy start in December with perhaps the roughest winter month for much of the nation, warns Bastardi.  Along with more snowfall expected than in the prior year in the East, another cold spell looms in late January and February, he adds.

The frigid atmosphere will affect homeowners’ heating bills, he points out.

“The winter as a whole in the population-dense eastern third of the nation will be a one-two punch of higher heating prices and lower temperatures,” expects Bastardi.  “Given this economic environment, the winter could push some homeowners to the brink.”

That’s because some homeowners, trying to keep residences as warm as last winter, could spend hundreds of dollars more in the upcoming heating season, he explains.

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

Tough times:  Thursday’s “What’s News” front-page column in The Wall Street Journal painted a glum picture in summarizing stories on its pages, using these phrases: widening global financial crisis, widening financial crisis, financial crisis, financial turmoil, credit crisis and economic slowdown.  Later in the day, the Dow Jones Industrials closed down 7.3 percent or 678.91 points to 8579.19…Since sub-prime and other shady mortgages are major contributors to the current financial mess, it took a Phoenix radio station, KFYI, to post a story revealing 5 million illegal aliens held mortgages.  That triggered a call from a Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesman to say there were ONLY 2.3 million such mortgages.  KFYI’s source for its posting stands by the higher number…The New York Times is closing its International Herald Tribune Web site…Changes in newspaper sections:  Metropolitan New York Times readers now find the Metro section folded into the end of the A section and the sports section at the back of the business section (although, with a heavy weekend menu, sports gets its own sections on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays); Tampa Tribune has melded its standalone business section into the paper’s first section…In seeking answers from men/women on the street, Fox News Channel on Thursday came up with this goofy question:  Which candidate would you rather have a beer with?...More newsroom reductions:  Cleveland Plain Dealer plans to cut 38 unionized newsroom jobs; Los Angeles Times plans to reduce up to 75 editorial positions through layoffs and voluntary departures…Advertising Age named The Economist magazine of the year.  Interesting to note that the London-edited weekly’s advertising pages are up 7.2 percent this year while other news weeklies’ ad pages are down.

Citigroup to push small-scale loans --- in China

Small businesses, especially those dealing with Citigroup Inc. that are facing difficulty in obtaining loans in the U.S. to fuel daily activities, may find far easier credit if they operate in China’s central province of Hubei, notes Grumpy Editor.

It comes at a time when some American companies, especially those seeking financing for inventories and payrolls, hope that the Federal Reserve’s Wednesday reduction of its key rate to 1.5 percent from 2 percent will spur banks to loosen up with short-term loans.

Other small businesses, however, will continue to be snubbed during the credit crisis.

But not in China.

Citibank China, a Citigroup unit, will be making a push into small-scale loans with the launch of two lending companies that will offer secured and unsecured credit, according to a Wednesday report from Shanghai in The Wall Street Journal.

The lending operations will focus on a province with 57 million population.

Industries in the region include iron arid steel, machine makers, power, chemicals, light textile and auto production.

Besides grain, cotton and oil, Hubei is teeming with fresh-water fish and shrimp, lotus roots, blunt-snout bream, tea, lung oil, edible fungus, raw lacquer and medicinal materials.

UConn J-students uncover votes from the grave

With a national election coming up, attention editors of the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and other major newspapers coast to coast:  To expose funny doings at polling places, call on investigative reporters --- from college journalism departments, suggests Grumpy Editor.

It’s an excellent way to get the job done and perform a public service. 

In a project for an investigative journalism class, University of Connecticut students led by journalism professor Marcel Dufresne found about 8,500 dead people in the state were registered to vote.  And about 300 of them appeared to have voted from the grave.

The finding was revealed in April.  Yet, today --- six months later --- with the U.S. election looming on Nov. 4, Susan Bysiewicz, secretary of state, said her office is still working with local officials to make sure names of the deceased are removed from voter rolls.

Noteworthy, too, is that the review won’t be finished before the presidential election.

“While we want to remove dead people from the rolls, we don’t want to be overzealous and disenfranchise people, she told the Hartford Courant on Friday.

Since the data were collected by UConn student journalists, 5,300 names have been confirmed deceased and removed from voter lists, she added.  Still under review, she continued, are another 1,300 while the remainder has been corrected.

“Clerical errors” were blamed on dead persons voting.  Officials said no evidence of fraud has been found.

Leading the student investigative journalists were Greg Bordonaro, a senior; Melissa Bruen, a senior and editor-in-chief of The Daily Campus; Shawn Beals, who graduated in December and now works for the Courant; Katie Jordan, a junior, and James White, a senior.

Also reporting were students Nicole Bozzuto, Beth Wesalo, Ryan Murphy, Brock Wehry, Ryan O’Connor and Paige Billings.

Students fanned out throughout Connecticut last fall to check records and interview registrars.  Professor Dufresne marshaled and analyzed state data on more than 2 million eligible voters, comparing the information with lists of dead people in public records of the state Department of Public Health and the Social Security Administration.

Dufresne, a former copy editor at The Providence (R.I.) Journal, received the national Distinguished Teaching in Journalism Award for 2002 from the Society of Professional Journalists. 

Post, L.A. Times focus on McCain’s Navy crashes

Suddenly, some key media are going back in time to when Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) was a Navy pilot, notes Grumpy Editor.

With a Hanoi dateline, Washington Post staffer Michael Dobbs wrote a lengthy McCain-in-Vietnam article that appeared in Sunday editions under the headline:  In Ordeal as Captive, Character Was Shaped.

It covers the period from when McCain was shot down over Hanoi and parachuted into a small lake through life as a prisoner of war at the “Hanoi Hilton” and “the Plantation” and other events, including torture, that had a lasting effect on the Republican presidential candidate.

Still, Dobbs managed to work in McCain as a “cocksure naval aviator.” 

(Perhaps overconfidence isn’t such a bad trait these days.)

Meanwhile, Los Angeles Times staffers Ralph Vartabedian and Richard A. Serrano on Monday focused on damaged and lost aircraft surrounding McCain in the 1960 to 1967 period. 

Under the headline, Three crashes early in his career led Navy officials to question or fault his judgment, some of the information was pulled from McCain’s autobiography while other details were recycled from prior published material or seen on the History Channel.

Picture John Wayne in an action motion picture starring role depicting McCain when:

•  On a training mission in 1960, his AD-6 Skyraider slammed into Corpus Christi Bay.

•  In another Skyraider a year later in southern Spain, he flew into electrical wires.

•  In 1965, he crashed a T-2 trainer in Virginia.

•  Two years later, his aircraft was destroyed on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal after a rocket misfired from a nearby plane.  It hit an adjoining aircraft, killing the pilot. (The incident, along with resulting jet-fuel fire and explosions, killed 133 other crew members and damaged or destroyed some aircraft.  Film footage of the event showed McCain, who suffered shrapnel wounds, jumping from his jet, through the flames.)

•  A few months later, McCain, on his 23rd bombing mission, was shot down by a surface-to-air missile over North Vietnam.  McCain parachuted and was taken prisoner.

Maybe these adventures of survival would play better as a James Bond movie.

Nevertheless, the L.A. Times writers worked in a line that McCain’s “flying skills and judgment were faulted or questioned by Navy officials.”

Then, later in the lengthy article, the writers mellowed somewhat with:  “Navy veterans who flew with McCain called him a good pilot.”

Bogus Web posting on Apple slaps CNN credibility

A one paragraph negative posting Friday relating to Apple Inc. on iReport.com, a CNN-owned Web site, shows how false information by an outsider can easily smack the stock of a major company, upsetting shareholders and the financial community, notes Grumpy Editor.

It also damages the credibility of CNN, a Time Warner Inc. operation.

A posting by “johntw” saying Apple’s chief executive officer “Steve Jobs was rushed to the ER just a few hours ago after suffering a major heart attack…” sent the company’s shares on Nasdaq down more than 5 percent, before rebounding when the posting was declared erroneous by an Apple spokesman.  Yet, the stock ended the trading session off 3 percent.

Prior to the posting, Apple’s price had climbed more than 5 percent in early trading.  Later, after the iReport hit the Web, it sank to a 17-month low of $94.65.

The fictional report, on the site that allows “citizen journalism,” is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
 
Before removing the item --- viewed 1,656 times in two hours --- it was reported that CNN kept the fraudulent information on the site for about 20 minutes after Apple’s denial.

CNN describes iReport as a place for “unedited, unfiltered, news,” adding it “makes no guarantees about the content or the coverage” found on the site.

Therein lies the problem.

In addition to faulty material, sprinkled throughout iReport user-generated "news," are typos and bad grammar, indicating the caliber of some contributors.  An “item” by one poster on Sunday, for example, contained a headline with 29 question marks while the “text” added 42 more.

Now, that, indeed, is questionable “news.”