Grumpy Editor

Week’s wrapup: Washington Times kicks off talk show

Get ready for another morning radio talk program.

The Washington Times is behind a Monday through Friday three-hour radio show, “America’s Morning News,” that debuts nationally June 15, notes Grumpy Editor.

Melanie Morgan, morning radio host for 14 years at San Francisco’s KSFO and columnist John McCaslin, reporter and editor at the The Washington Times for 25 years, will anchor the 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. (Eastern) program with personality and opinion.

The focus will be on politics, defense, security, policy, culture and entertainment.

The program will originate from a newly-built, state-of-the-art studio inside the Washington Times newsroom.

In other Grumpy Editor end-of-week leftover notes:

Well, it still is abbreviated GM.  With General Motors Corp. likely to enter bankruptcy court on Monday --- leading to Uncle Sam and taxpayers owning 72.5 percent of the Detroit-based company --- more people are labeling the weakened auto giant “Government Motors.”

Tough vintage word for copy editors.  Winning the 82nd Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., Kavya Shivashankar, 13, from Olathe, Kan., rattles off the letters to “laodicean,” taking home more than $40,000 in cash and prizes plus a champion’s trophy.  The seldom-used word, meaning lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics, probably would send most copy editors to dictionaries.  The word’s origin, from Laodicea, Syria, goes back to 1564.

NBC viewers slip.  NBC television viewership dips last week, averaging 4.4 million prime-time viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. It's the smallest number in a week outside of the summer doldrums of June through early September.

AP gathering trims program, fee.  Reflecting tough times in a down economy, the Associated Press Managing Editors annual conference in October will be a day shorter than past gatherings while the registration fee is cut almost in half.  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch will be host newspaper.  APME has held annual sessions since 1933, cancelling only three times --- and those were during World War II.

Sports channel cuts staff.  ESPN, which bills itself the worldwide leader in sports, notifies about 100 Connecticut employees they will be losing their jobs.  The sports channel, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Co., employs about 5,400 people worldwide, including around 3,400 at its Bristol, Conn. campus.

Bank of America gears up to enter hotel business

One wonders what goes on with decision-makers in board rooms of commercial banks that are under scrutiny from Washington these days after receiving taxpayer money.

Bank of America, which earlier this month sold about 5.7 percent of its stake in China Construction Bank for $7.3 billion to boost its financial standing to meet new U.S. government requirements --- after increasing its stake in that Chinese bank by more than $7 billion last fall --- is getting into the leisure business with another investment, a new 18-story hotel across the street from BofA headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., notes Grumpy Editor.

If known to North Carolina and national media, they have been quiet on the project despite a March 30 detailed news release on the upcoming hotel from Ritz-Carlton.

USA Today writer Barbara De Lollis yesterday linked the property to Bank of America.

Known as the Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte at Bank of America Center, the 147 room luxury hotel is slated to open in October.

BofA “started planning the Ritz-Carlton about four years ago, said Scott Silvestri, a spokesman for Bank of America,” reports De Lollis who adds, “back then, the economy looked healthy enough to support luxury hotels in places that never had them and companies weren't afraid of being associated with five-star lodging.”

Although BofA has received $45 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program money, De Lollis quotes Silvestri saying the bank did not use TARP funds to finance the hotel.

No dollar figure has been given in connection with the hotel project.

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Grumpy Editor's end-of-week leftover notes now appear on Saturdays.

Washington media grumble over ‘background briefings’

Washington news media flock to “background briefings” for the latest input.  But rather than straightforward details from identified sources, the information --- usually linked to “senior White House officials” --- is disseminated without attribution, causing some correspondents to grumble, notes Grumpy Editor.

Unveiling of anonymous sources is a serious issue.

CBS radio correspondent Mark Knoller terms background briefings arbitrary and silly.

Other news folks stress official briefings should be on the record with quotes linked to names.

What’s irking the print press corps is that a senior official, not identified by name at a background briefing, later in the day (hidden only by a dab of makeup) goes before TV cameras with the same information --- and, naturally, is identified.

This week, White House Associated Press correspondent Jennifer Loven declares:

"The White House Correspondents' Association believes strongly that access to the president of the United States should always be as open as possible. We protest in the strongest terms the Obama administration's frequent use of briefings done on a background basis, without specific names attached to the information, especially when the same officials briefing often appear ubiquitously on television shows with similar information."

Loven, president of the White House Correspondents' Association, cites as the latest example the Supreme Court nominee selection "when the issue does not involve sensitive material such as national security information and when the briefings are held with a mass group."

 

Advanta decides to dump its business credit cards

Imagine --- out of the blue --- dumping one million patrons, mostly small businesses and professionals.  Giving four days notice, e-mails yesterday from Advanta Bank Corp. advises its Advanta Business Credit Card users that their accounts will be closed on May 30, finds Grumpy Editor.

Chances are that, unlike larger card issuers, not much will be covered on this in daily newspaper business sections today.

That’s because Advanta, despite about $5 billion in outstanding card loans as of March  31, rates as a small player in the business credit card category.

Departure of Advanta cards from the competitive field follows the fuzzy explanation to customers from John F. Moore, president, Advanta Bank Corp.:

“Your Advanta Business Card account is funded by an independent trust which owns the balances you owe on your account and provides funding for new transactions. We expect the trust to stop funding activity on our accounts.”

An inquiry to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. brought no response.

However, a financial source reports first quarter default rates on Advanta cards were about 16 percent of outstanding loans, about double that of American Express Co., the nation’s largest issuer of small business cards.

With Advanta Business Credit Cards out of the picture, it poses an additional worry for account holders.  Credit cards are the most popular form of financing used by small businesses at a time when other card issuers are reducing credit lines.

Advanta Corp. stock (ADVNB on Nasdaq) closed yesterday down four cents to 89 cents a share.  This compares with $10.24 a share eight months ago.

Associated Press goes to Cyprus for wild donkeys story

Over a three-day holiday weekend --- especially with little news coming out of Washington with Congress currently away on a nine-day Memorial Day break --- chances are excellent that Associated Press will transmit a lengthy animal story to help print editors fill space around advertisements, observes Grumpy Editor.

Sure enough, this time the focus is on donkeys --- in far-off Cyprus, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Turkey and west of Lebanon.

Despite tight space in news columns, editors over the weekend select up to 22 paragraphs plus art on stubborn donkeys (an estimated 1,000 of them) that overrun an area in the sparsely populated Karpas peninsula near Dipkarpaz on Cyprus.

The big concern (but not to U.S. newspaper readers) is that wild herds are “trampling crops, scaring drivers and giving authorities a headache over what to do” while the Dipkarpaz mayor says donkeys outnumber villagers by two to one “and should be sterilized or even expelled to Turkey,” reports AP.

The news service adds that locals complain the animals “gobble up wheat and barley crops, ravage fruit and vegetable gardens, trample vines and amble across the peninsula’s narrow roads.”

Grumpy Editor’s tip to AP:  If similar animals-in-the-wild stories are sought, how about focusing on scarcely-covered U.S. donkeys that line roads, seeking handouts from passing cars, a few miles west of the world-famous Las Vegas Strip.  It would be different from pieces on “whales” (not mammals, but heavy gamblers) that are attracted to Sin City.

Memorial Day remembers fallen U.S. troops

Grumpy Editor, in taking the day off to mark Memorial Day, reminds today’s observance dates back to the 19th century after the Civil War.

Originally called Decoration Day, many people observe Memorial Day by visiting memorials and especially Veterans Administration national cemeteries where commemorative events honor about one million American men and women who died in service during wartime periods.

Week’s wrapup: Pelosi dodges questions, packs for China

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) holds a press conference, on the heels of her assertion that the CIA lied in 2002 about using waterboarding, media representatives are sure to ask more questions on the subject, notes Grumpy Editor.

But at yesterday’s gathering in Washington, which attracted an overflowing roomful of raised hands seeking further input on the earlier claim, Pelosi shut them down with: “I won’t have anything more to say about it.”

She probably wanted to escape the heavy quizzing so that she could complete packing her bags for a China trip next week.  Plans call for her to lead a group of lawmakers to Beijing and Shanghai --- as Congress marks the Memorial Day holiday by taking time off until June 1.

In other Grumpy Editor end-of-week leftover notes:

Cheney slaps New York Times.  Left out of most stories that covered former Vice President Dick Cheney’s Thursday speech:  He criticizes The New York Times’ earlier release of information about U.S. wiretapping efforts that “let us intercept calls and track contacts between al-Qaeda operatives and persons inside the United States,” adding, “it impressed the Pulitzer committee, but it damn sure didn’t serve the interests of our country or the safety of our people.”

Newspaper finds low-interest loan source.  The Carrboro (N.C.) Citizen finds a source better than a bank in getting a much-needed $50,000 loan (half of the asked-for $100,000) is the Carrboro Board of Aldermen.  The financial injection (at a low 2 percent interest) comes from a revolving loan fund, started 23 years ago, for small businesses.  With the money, the two-year-old weekly plans to boost its press run to 10,000 copies from 6,000, expand staff and increase news racks beyond the current 160.

Rush Limbaugh seeks to ban his name on MSNBC.  Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, noting MSNBC peppers his name throughout the broadcast days, on Tuesday challenged the cable news network, in the NBC family, to go a month without mentioning his name.  “No video of me, no guests commenting on me,” he declares.  “See if you can do it.”

AP quietly goes the buyouts route. As with newspapers and magazines, buyouts have caught up with the Associated Press which has been mum on the development.  An undisclosed number of U.S.-based technology employees have until June 22 to accept the offers while others have until July 13.

Now, about those overused 60 Minutes keyboards.  Morley Safer, a correspondent on CBS’ 60 Minutes since 1970, takes a poke at bloggers when receiving the 2009 Fred Friendly First Amendment Award at Quinnipiac University, Hamden, Conn.  “The blogosphere is no alternative (to the troubled newspaper industry) crammed as it is with ravings and manipulations of every nut with a keyboard,” he groans.  “I would trust citizen journalism as much as I would trust citizen surgery.”

Dow Jones’ ethical guidelines worthy for others to follow

New ethical guidelines, issued by Dow Jones & Co. for its business journalists, are worth spotlighting here for others to note, since some print and broadcast media are increasingly veering off track by injecting opinions into copy, contends Grumpy Editor.

Among important recommendations by the parent of The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Dow Jones Newswires and others:

•  Sharing your personal opinions, as well as expressing partisan political views, whether on Dow Jones sites or on the larger Web, could open us to criticism that we have biases and could make a reporter ineligible to cover topics in the future for Dow Jones.

•  Never misrepresent yourself using a false name when you’re acting on behalf of your Dow Jones publication or service.

•  When soliciting information from readers and interview subjects, you must identify yourself as a reporter…and be totally neutral in your questions.

•  Don’t recruit friends or family to promote or defend your work.

Grumpy Editor emphasizes the best rules for reporters to follow are being neutral and aiming to be “fair and balanced” in presenting information to readers or listeners.

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Grumpy Editor's end-of-week leftover notes now appear on Saturdays.

 

Lexus, other cars’ speedy maneuvers to fade by 2016

Looks like advertising agencies with automotive clients will have to put the brakes on long-running footage of speedy cars and light trucks zooming around curved highways, splashing along wet back roads and zipping along city streets, notes Grumpy Editor.

That’s going to make it difficult to distinguish one make or model from another.

Quick acceleration and speed will be taking a back seat as miles per gallon will be spotlighted.

On Tuesday when the White House was announcing the raising of fuel efficiency targets to 39 miles per gallon for new passenger vehicles and 30 miles per gallon for light trucks by 2016, Lexus IS TV commercials were running that showed a car zipping along in a big city setting with the footage ending with the model spinning around to a quick stop, as many do these days with the emphasis on fuel-eating speed.

That action soon will fade into memories of “the good, old days.”

Easy depressing of the gas pedal, observing speed limits, coasting to a stop and other fuel-saving measures are likely to be highlighted in the future as Washington seeks to boost fuel economy from the current average of 27.5 miles per gallon for cars and 23 miles per gallon for light trucks to an overall average of 35.5 miles per gallon within seven years.

As for those marketing and advertising folks behind Lexus, for example, it probably means TV commercials focusing on other features such as the cabin, trim and controls of that car line that now averages 24 miles per gallon --- 15 miles below the target for passenger cars by 2016.

 

Vegas resort's news release skips luxury pool-area fees

A glowing news release peppered with adjectives about a mouth-watering new outdoor feature at a plush Las Vegas Strip resort reaches Grumpy Editor’s desk, dated three days after the “exclusive daytime luxury pool experience” with “the opulence of the French Riviera,” is unveiled.

It’s another case where the public relations folks apparently don’t have a handy calendar.

What’s more, despite seven long paragraphs, there’s no indication of the costs involved, including entry, culinary offerings (worked up by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck), beverages (wines or champagne by the glass or bottle service), cabanas with service by “amenity butlers and butlerettes” and spa treatments.

Among food items mentioned is “crisp calamari with grilled zucchini and oven-roasted tomato, smoked salmon pizza with black caviar, and Maine lobster salad accompanied with heirloom tomatoes along with avocado.”

Featured on a separate spa menu:  “Champagne on the rocks, a 50-minute cooling and invigorating massage treatment that combines cold stone placement, a cool mint foot mask and a blanc de blanc champagne body oil massage, designed to protect the skin while preventing sun damage.”

Some free items are worked in:  fresh fruit, water mistings and samples of “delectable cuisine…passed throughout the day.”

A bit of digging, outside of the news release, finds there’s a $20 membership fee (with no reference to expiration date) linked to the luxury pool area and no clues on other costs.

With lounge chairs, daybeds and cabanas --- plus ample food and beverage intake --- one wonders how many of the guests will actually make it to the crystal clear water.

In earlier Las Vegas days (when Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack headlined on The Strip) pools --- at no extra cost with towels tossed in --- were a major attraction for swimming under the warm desert sun.  The only gimmick at that time was a floating craps table, hauled out for widely-circulated publicity photos.