Grumpy Editor

Turkey-minded Grumpy Editor is taking time off

Marking Thanksgiving, Grumpy Editor is away from his cluttered desk to feast on turkey dinner today and turkey sandwiches on Friday.

He will return, a few pounds heavier, on Monday.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Media miss bet not digging on sluggish home loans

Business editors aren’t digging for the story behind the story involving sluggish home sales, contends Grumpy Editor.

Existing home sales in October fell 3.1 percent to a 4.98 million annual rate from 5.14 million in September, the National Association of Realtors announced Monday.  At the same time, NAR reported the median home price dropped 11.3 percent to $183,300 in October from $206,700 a year earlier, making it the biggest tumble since its records began 40 years ago.

New home sales have been in the pits, too. The Commerce Department today reported October new home sales fell 5.3 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000 homes, down from 464,000 in September, and off almost 70 percent from the July, 2005, peak.

While print and broadcast media echo “the faltering economy” as the chief reason for the lethargic housing activity, the prime cause is that financial institutions have put the clamps on issuing home loans to potential buyers of the abundant homes available with discounted price tags.

As The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, “The Federal Reserve’s latest quarterly survey of senior loan officers at U.S. banks showed about 70 percent said they tightened standards on prime mortgages in the third quarter.”

When potential buyers cannot obtain home loans, then the housing market continues to sink, dragging down the economy further.

Following recent bailouts of key banks, alert business editors around the country should uncover some interesting quotes on why stagnant home loan activity continues in their circulation areas by contacting a half dozen financial institutions, including major operations such as Bank of America, Citibank and Wells Fargo.

Sure, some regional executives of nationwide institutions will be tight-lipped on the subject, referring inquiries to headquarters.  And chances are that headquarters won’t return calls.  But this will highlight --- for stories --- the difficulties in getting straight answers from their “friendly” financial institutions, especially after bailouts that involved taxpayer money.

 

U.S. flag background in general’s photo irks AP

Associated Press is getting fussy about handout photos, stemming from an image distributed by the Pentagon, notes Grumpy Editor. 

What gets AP excited is the background to a “head shot” of Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody, elevated on Nov. 14 to four stars, marking the first time a female achieved that high rank in the Army.

So what is the background that excites AP?

A portion of a fluttering U.S. flag.

In the original photo, which is the center of attention, the general is sitting with what veteran editors call a “busy background” --- a portion of a chair, two items on the wall and other objects on an adjoining table.

Quite often in “the old days” when a photo with a distracting background was selected to run, an editorial artist would routinely airbrush out the background in efforts to focus on the subject.

Pentagon PR people substituted the Stars and Stripes for the background clutter.

Noting the background change, AP slapped a ban on U.S. military handout art.

Will AP frown on images from other sources?

With celebrities or high society figures’ images, facial wrinkles and other blemishes magically disappear by the time they reach photo editors' desks.

In recent weeks leading up to the national election, enhancements also have been made on political figures’ cover shots in news magazines.

Then there is the much talked about case of a Time magazine cover in March 2007.  It showed Ronald Reagan with a large tear running down his right cheek, something not in the original photo.

Motion picture producers, meanwhile, often use computer-generated enhancements to beef up crowd scenes, attacking ships or flying objects in films. 

AP photography director Santiago Lyon, in lifting the ban on Friday, says Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell tells him military branches would be reminded of a Defense Department instruction that prohibits making changes to images if doing so misrepresents the facts or the circumstances of an event.

In a message to AP’s photo staff, Lyon writes:  “AP pictures must always tell the truth.”

All that following an image of a female four-star Army general calmly sitting in her office.

Turkey ‘processing’ overshadows Palin TV interview

The background in an Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin Friday television interview, which was picked up by TV outlets in the lower 48 states, grabbed more attention than the interview itself, observes Grumpy Editor.

Background activity also was spotlighted in an Associated Press story distributed worldwide.

Near Palin’s home in Wasilla, Alaska, the interview was conducted at Triple D Farm & Hatchery, in Palmer, where the pre-Thanksgiving Day routine is --- getting turkeys ready for market.

While the former Republican vice presidential candidate was answering questions relating to Thanksgiving and being thankful that her soldier son’s brigade is relatively safe in Iraq, a hatchery worker in the background (and mugging the camera a good portion of the time) routinely knocked off two turkeys during the four-minute TV segment.

AP claimed some video viewers were “shocked” about the background doings.

On TV, David Shuster on MSNBC, for example, warned viewers Friday before showing a clip that the footage was “sanitized” and “get the kids out of the room” --- the same kids who see lots of blood and gore, shootings, vampires thirsty for blood and still more blood --- via news and scary programs on TV, theatrical movies and personal entertainment devices.

Grumpy Editor points out MSNBC’s Shuster, AP and other print and broadcast media missed another event (“tragic” for those concerned about turkeys being dispatched before Thanksgiving) at the same site two days earlier:  200 gobblers at Triple D Farm & Hatchery died when nearby state fair fireworks spooked them and they piled on top of each other.

Now, that’s shocking.  Yet, no footage of that event.

Big Three automakers’ bail-out plan left on runway

When seeking funds from the unemployment office, one does not drive up in a Rolls Royce.  That’s the best way to describe the reaction when chief executives of the embattled Big Three U.S. auto companies faced members of the House Financial Services Committee seeking taxpayer money, illustrates Grumpy Editor.

The corporate luxury came to light when it was discovered Alan Mulally of Ford Motor Co., Robert Nardelli of Chrysler Corp. and Richard Wagoner of General Motors Corp. each flew in separate private corporate jets this week from Detroit to Washington in seeking support for a $25 billion loan package.

Rep. Gary Ackerman (D., N.Y.) told the trio, “Couldn’t you all have downgraded to first class or jet-pooled or something to get here?  It would have at least sent a message that you do get it.”

That provided ample discussion matter for TV and radio talk shows.

In the past, when a major corporation was headed into financial turbulence, it would sideline or sell its “corporate air force.”

This time, however, the companies cited policies requiring their CEOs to travel in private jets “for safety reasons.”

With Congressional leaders sidetracking legislation to bail out the auto industry, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, (D., Calif.), at a hastily called news conference Thursday in the Capitol, demanded the Big Three develop a plan assuring the money would make them economically viable.

"Until they show us the plan, we cannot show them the money," she said.

Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D., Nev.) said the Big Three automakers must turn in a plan by Dec. 2.

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

The Chicago Sun-Times is turning to eBay in selling each day a limited number of canvas prints of its Nov. 5 post-election front page featuring President-Elect Barack Obama with the Mr. President headline…Stories on the growing number of ships being seized by pirates, mostly off Somalia, leave out how the bad guys manage to board huge vessels: grappling hooks…Lingering funny business?  CNN on Wednesday put up a full screen reminder to vote --- more than two weeks after Election Day…Ziff Davis will stop publishing the print version of PC Magazine with the January issue, as circulation has slipped in half to 646,000 from 10 years ago.  An online version continues…Why kids can’t spell correctly?  “School” is spelled differently with Mini-Skool early learning center ads…Grumpy Editor is starting to get news releases in Spanish…November/December issue of Cottage Living is the final one for the four-year old shelter magazine in the Time Inc. family…Elsewhere at Time Inc., the largest magazine publisher in the U.S. is expected to cut more than 250 from its payroll, the latest in a plan to slash 600 jobs from its worldwide work force of 10,200, reports the New York Post’s Keith J. Kelly…Departures also hit a smaller publication.  North County Times, Escondido, Calif., citing an advertising revenue slump, laid off 25 editorial staffers this week…Associated Press isn’t immune. AP could lose up to 10 percent of its staff by the end of next year, but likely through attrition not layoffs, said President and CEO Tom Curley.  AP employs 4,100 people worldwide, including about 3,000 in editorial positions.

French invade U.S. today with Beaujolais Nouveau

Today, being the third Thursday of November and not quite a holiday (yet), is coming to be known as Beaujolais Nouveau day --- the day the French invade the U.S. with bottles of wine from the Beaujolais region of France, observes Grumpy Editor.

It’s also an observance that puts smiles on faces of public relations and advertising folks:  much activity with high results.

Beaujolais Nouveau, a purple-pink light wine, is meant for immediate drinking, rather than being kept for maturation like some other fermented grape output.  It is served slightly chilled.

Look closely in your newspaper today.  The wine from the latest harvest triggers much fanfare in the U.S. and around the world.

Chances are there is a story citing a local site --- winery, bar or restaurant --- where glasses will be filled to celebrate the annual arrival of the wine produced from Gamay grapes.

The day is marked by a number of events around the country.

A sampling:

•  New York’s French Institute Alliance Française spotlights an annual fete complete with a French singer performing tonight.

•  The French-American Chamber of Commerce of Atlanta hosts a Beaujolais Nouveau festival tonight at the InterContinental hotel.  Topping off the food, music and wine is a silent auction.

•  In Washington, D.C., the French International Culinary Society and the French-American Chamber of Commerce mark the date tomorrow night with food, a jazz quartet and the spotlighted wine in a Parisian café atmosphere at the Washington Club.

•  A number of California wineries also get into the act today through Saturday.

Most of these events involve charges for dinners or wine.

But the locale attracting the most attention, and with free wine tastings, is Paris Las Vegas with its 50-story replica of Paris's Eiffel Tower.

The Las Vegas Strip hotel-casino’s tower replica will be illuminated in red through Saturday as a tribute to the annual wine release.  Public relations people point out the 2008 wine will arrive by a helicopter that will land near the Vegas version of the Eiffel Tower while can-can dancers escort cases of the product onto the property where complimentary tastings are offered at a special lobby bar, 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. daily through Saturday.

Month after dividend cut, BofA ups China bank stake

Picture this:  You give your hard-pressed brother-in-law $15,000 to help him through some financial problems at his business.  But lo and behold, he uses about half that amount to invest in a similar far-away operation.

Does that trigger grumbling?

Now substitute Bank of America for the in-law, illustrates Grumpy Editor.

The U.S. Treasury Department recently decides to pump $15 billion of taxpayer funds into Bank of America in efforts to boost lending in the current credit crisis.  Then on Monday, BofA announces it is raising its stake in China Construction Bank Corp. by more than $7 billion.

Much like BofA in the U.S., China Construction is a leading commercial bank, providing a range of commercial banking products and services through three principal business segments: corporate banking, personal banking and treasury operations.  With 13,629 branches, its products and services include residential mortgages, bank cards what it calls infrastructure loans.
 
Investors and the more than 59 million consumers and small businesses of BofA may be a bit irritated by the action that gives the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank a 19.1 percent stake in the Chinese state-owned bank.

Investors are mumbling because BofA in early October cut its quarterly dividend in half --- to 32 cents a share from 64.  It marks the first time in 30 years that the bank did not increase its payout.   At the time, the nation’s largest bank by assets said the dividend reduction would save it $1.4 billion a quarter.

BofA’s shares have fallen about 65 percent in the past year.

The bank is digesting the July acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp. and two months ago it agreed to buy Merrill Lynch & Co. in a deal expected to close by year-end.

Slimmer WSJ stock lists mean more time on Web

At a time when keeping up with the gyrating stock market action is high, The Wall Street Journal starting today again whittles its lists in print, notes Grumpy Editor.

Among changes on its pages:

•  Daily data for the biggest 1,000 stocks, down from 1,500.  The combined New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ stocks now occupy a bit over half a page.

•  Biggest 1,000 stocks list carries over to the Weekend Journal on Saturdays.  That’s down from nearly 3,000.

•  Biggest 250 mutual funds appear Tuesdays through Saturdays, down from 500 on weekdays and 2,000 in Saturday editions.  The weekday list now takes up about a quarter of a page.

•  Monday’s closed-end funds list now shows the 300 largest as measured by assets.

The Journal points out readers can access more information free at its Web site.

But some long-time readers, including seniors and retirees, do not have Internet access while other subscribers are not computer savvy or simply do not have computers.  Thus, readers of the Money & Investing section, where the shortened lists appear, likely will fade.  Less exposure will mean advertisers will frown on insertions in that section.

One of the former attractions with listing all stocks on newsprint was the instant ability to compare two, three, four or more stocks at a glance with minimum downtime.  And all on an already-printed hard copy.

Contrast this with going on the Web to compare two, three, four or more stocks in a hurry to gather information on trade symbol, year’s high and low, year-to-date change, yield, price/earnings ratio, last quote and change from prior trading day.

Will departing U.S. attorneys trigger a fuss in media?

It’ll be interesting to see how much fuss, if any, is raised in major print and broadcast media as a number of federal prosecutors are swept out when change takes place in Washington, reminds Grumpy Editor.

A probe, with periodic heavy coverage, stemming from the firing of nine U.S. attorneys by the Bush administration in 2006 continues after a year-long investigation that ended in late September with a 400-page inspector general’s report.

After Bill Clinton took over as president, 93 U.S. attorneys were ousted.

Many current U.S. attorneys are getting fidgety as new occupants take over the White House on Jan. 20.  Presidential appointments, with Senate confirmation, put U.S. attorneys (current pay: $149,000) in key cities around the country.

Meanwhile, with the changing of the guard at the White House, thousands of “Help Wanted” signs linked to less controversial jobs are going up in Washington, D.C.

That makes the nation’s capital a hot spot for employment while payrolls are being cut in a number of fields, including print and broadcast media, and the national jobless rate is edging above 6.5 percent.

Among major companies announcing employment reductions since last Thursday:

Citigroup Inc., in another round, is laying off 10,000 employees in the U.S. and overseas, with about 53,000 more slated to leave in coming quarters; Fidelity Investments, after handing out 1,300 pink slips last week, plans to lay off 1,700 more workers in 2009’s first quarter; Sun Microsystems Inc. is shedding 5,000 to 6,000 workers, and U.S. Steel is cutting 675 from its payroll.

With President-elect Barack Obama taking over the Oval Office, more than 10,000 federal civil service leadership and support positions in the legislative and executive branches of the federal government will be available in the U.S. and abroad.

These include several hundred cabinet secretaries, assistant secretaries and deputies.

Jobs span a wide range of categories, from accounting to technology, with pay up to $175,000.

But there is a catch.

The jobs are politically appointed.  And the positions are only for the duration of the president’s tenure.

For interested employment seekers --- with political connections --- a place to start is with the “2008 United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions” or so-called printed Plum Book (positions and details also are available on line) that identifies presidentially-appointed federal  positions.

And that includes a number of U.S. attorney posts from Portland, Maine, to Honolulu.

Retirees socked by RMDs based on 2007 stock values

While major corporations are getting bailouts and grabbing broad attention from media, also needing prompt financial assistance from Congress are millions of individuals with IRA or 401(k) plans socked by the stock market plunge, notes Grumpy Editor.

With Congress going into a lame duck session next week, perhaps a lawmaker --- maybe one with gray hair --- will put the spotlight on retirement accounts and the annual “required minimum distributions” or RMDs that this year will smack retirees’ savings unusually hard, mainly because of the zapped stock market.

RMDs are an annual ritual that requires holders, after reaching 70.5 years old, to withdraw a percentage of funds from their accounts.  The action usually occurs in November or December.  Distribution requirements are based on age and life expectancy of account holders.

The unusual problem this year:  RMD amounts are based on the total dollar value in accounts on Dec. 31 of the prior year.  Thus, calculations will stem from a much higher stock market at year-end 2007, well before its 2008 collapse.  That means retirees, already squeezed on many fronts, are getting stiffed.

As pointed out by Wall Street Journal writer Tom Lauricella, “seniors are being forced to withdraw amounts of money out of proportion to their current account values.”

Lauricella wrote a fine, detailed story that many Journal readers may have missed.  It appeared at the bottom of a page in the Nov. 9 edition of Sunday Journal, a two-page section of financial material that runs in about 80 newspapers in the U.S.

Because the material is placed inside other newspapers on Sundays, regular Wall Street Journal subscribers may have missed the RMD situation with retirement accounts.  Read the full story.

It mentions, “Individual taxpayers, lobbying groups and even some politicians are pressing Washington to change the rules regarding ‘required minimum distributions’ (RMDs) from individual retirement accounts, 401(k)s and related savings vehicles. The value of such accounts has fallen dramatically in the stock-market selloff, and seniors are loath to reduce their accounts further by taking required distributions.”

One suggestion calls for a temporary freeze on mandatory withdrawals.

But will Congress act?  And in time?

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

Full name for leaders now:  Associated Press, in seeking consistency in referring to the world’s top leaders, now uses title plus first and family names on first reference, as with President George W. Bush, rather than the contracted President Bush…While insiders say CNBC is preparing to cut budgets by perhaps 10 percent, sister cable channel MSNBC --- both units of NBC News and in the General Electric Co. family --- gives Keith Olbermann, “Countdown” anchor, a reported hefty raise to about $7.5 million a year, up from $4 million…With concentration on national elections, little is reported about another piece of Americana possibly coming to an end --- the passenger steamboat era on the Mississippi River.  The 174-passenger Delta Queen this week may be the last paddlewheel vessel to make the voyage.  A special exemption to maritime law, allowing the vessel --- with a wooden superstructure and fine paneling in main rooms --- to operate, ran out and renewal has been blocked in the House where Rep. James Oberstar (D., Minn.), has called the 82-year-old vessel a fire hazard...The Washington Post is beefing up its White House reporting, going to four staffers, including a Web-based writer, from two…Will it be like a James Bond movie?  “Nothing But the Truth,” loosely based on the CIA-Valerie Plame case, and not quite a happy Christmas story for youngsters, opens Dec. 17…In the job-cutting department:  The Boston Globe, part of the New York Times Co., is slicing 42 more jobs, mainly in advertising, marketing and circulation; Knoxville News Sentinel, in the E. W. Scripps Co. family, is cutting about 50 staffers, including 13 in the newsroom; Kansas City Star, in its third round of cost-cutting, is eliminating about 50 staffers in all departments; The South Bend Tribune is ending the year with 56 staff positions dropped via severance packages and retirements; World-Herald, Omaha, eliminated 51 staffers, marking seven percent of its work force.