Grumpy Editor

‘Pollution reduction’ replaces ‘global warming’ in bill

Remember the global warming term?  That transformed into climate change.  Then cap and trade popped up.

Meanwhile, greenhouse gas was sandwiched in with all the phrases --- going back to clean air --- relating to salvaging the Earth.

Now, almost like a soap manufacturer which seeks to boost sales with a flowery new name for an old bar of soap that isn’t selling well, two U.S. senators have come up with a pollution reduction bill, finds Grumpy Editor.

Strangely, that pollution reduction bill has had slim coverage in major broadcast/print media.

But there might be some movement as early as today.

That’s when, after about nine months of closed-door deliberations, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D., Calif.) and Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.) are expected to release legislation relating to the newly-christened term, pollution reduction.

The two Democrats hope the mighty 684-page draft will kick off broader Senate negotiations and an eventual conference with the House.

They see it as a starting point in an attempt to win over moderate and conservative Democrats --- and Republicans.

Spider on pope’s sleeve grabs worldwide attention

Contents of Pope Benedict XVI’s speech in Prague was not the highlight of media coverage but gaining the emphasis was a black spider maneuvering on the pope’s white robe, observes Grumpy Editor.

Saturday’s address to politicians and diplomats received extensive broadcast/print coverage over the weekend and into Monday with the focus (especially via TV cameras) on the spider as it climbed the pope’s left arm, disappeared, then emerged on his right side, crawling up his neck.

The pope gave it a swat, but the sturdy spider turned up on the left shoulder and scampered down his robe, as TV cameras followed the play-by-play action.

TV news treated it like a major development.

The now world-famous spider remained unidentified.

(Some seasoned public relations folks, seeing how a spider can aid in coverage of a speech, are probably thinking now of planting a harmless arachnid on celebrity or corporate executive clients in efforts to hypo broadcast/print exposure.)

Meanwhile, no media outlet called on an entomologist to provide commentary or analysis.

Maybe next time.

‘Frog boils’ on Glenn Beck Show, causes uproar

It was called “frog-gate” on the Glenn Beck Show on Fox after the host tossed a green jumper look-alike into boiling water that soon branded Beck an “evil frog killer” on the Web and "boils frog to death" coverage by the Christian Science Monitor, notes Grumpy Editor.

In efforts to illustrate a point he was making, Beck, on camera, selected what looked like a frog from a container, then dumped it into a pot of boiling water.

That brought an online Christian Science Monitor story with the headline:

Glenn Beck boils cute little frog to death --- or did he?

Meanwhile, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) received a number of complaints.

“Beck the frog killer” chatter mounted on the Web.

However, anyone watching Beck’s program last Thursday would have seen that the “frog” involved was made of rubber.

After scooping the “frog” out of the pot, Beck showed it to in-studio guest John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, who confirmed it was rubber.

See the frog-gate update video here.

Interestingly, few folks get excited when upscale restaurants serve frog legs as one of the main entrees, such as two pounds of battered fried frog legs topped with mushrooms.  Or grilled frog legs with cornbread and purple hull peas.

Imagine the coast-to-coast uproar if Beck put on a chef’s hat and tackled those recipes à la Food Channel.

Meanwhile, PETA and others, including those concerned about birds, should be worried about a newly-discovered real frog species in the Mekong River region of eastern Thailand.

Given the scientific name limnonectes megastomias, the critter --- with enlarged fangs --- lies in wait along steams for prey that includes birds.

For PETA and others, that’s much more worrisome than a rubber frog.

Fairbanks editor issues an apology to Sarah Palin

It’s not often that one sees in print a lengthy apology from a newspaper managing editor for a faux pas stemming from a front page reference. 

“We made a terrible mistake,” admitted Rod Boyce, managing editor of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, in referring to an item on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s Hong Kong visit this week, observes Grumpy Editor.

That mistake was on the choice of words --- A broad in Asia --- above a small photo of Palin.  At the bottom of Wednesday’s front page, the “refer” directed readers to an inside page for a full story.

“There can be no argument that our use of the word ‘broad’ is anything but offensive. To use this word to describe someone of the stature of the former governor — who is also the former vice presidential nominee of the Republican Party — only adds to the anger that many people appropriately feel,” wrote Boyce in an editorial.

“There’s widespread belief that too much meanness exists in political discourse today,” he continued.  “The media, already held in low regard, need to be extremely wary of that meanness slopping over into their own work. I am responsible for the content of this newspaper and need to ensure that our employees adhere to acceptable standards of decency.”

There was no indication of who was responsible for the line with a slang word or how it got past the copy desk.

In a Hong Kong speech, Palin touched on a wide range of issues --- from financial markets and Afghanistan to China-U.S. relations and health care --- before more than 1,000 investors and bankers at an annual investment conference.

ABC delays initial commercial breaks in shows’ debuts

In the competition for TV viewers this fall, executives of Walt Disney Co.’s ABC network have come up with eliminating the first commercial breaks in premiere episodes of new shows, notes Grumpy Editor.

That means some programs will run up to 15 minutes before the first commercial appears on screens.

The idea is to hook viewers so they don’t stray to rival channels. 

This presumes, of course, that the programs’ contents sufficiently grab the attention of viewers.

Thus, writers are under pressure to pack enough punch in the first few minutes so viewers are retained beyond first commercial breaks.

"You hope the longer you keep them at the start of the show, the more likely they are to stick to it," says Jeff Bader, ABC Entertainment's executive vice president and scheduling chief, in a Los Angeles Times story by Joe Flint.

First break for commercials usually occurs about eight minutes into comedy shows and about 15 minutes into dramas, points out Flint.

As a result, scripts will be longer:  about three extra minutes for comedies and up to five minutes more for dramas.

Now, if commercial loads and other clutter could be reduced on a permanent basis, more viewers would come away happy and eager to see more.

New Orleans for bourbon sounds appealing, but…

There used to be a time, after a newspaper was put to bed, that reporters and editors would gather at a crowded nearby bar to unwind after a hectic day of going through four, five, even seven editions, recalls Grumpy Editor.

So it was with a bit of nostalgia that Grumpy Editor read an e-mail invitation to sample a whopping 25 bourbons.  That would beat the afterhour's record of the hardest-working rewrite person.

Bourbon never has been the beverage of choice for Grumpy Editor.  But even if it was, some PR people, in sending out invitations, still forget to look at the calendar --- or time of day.

The “join us for Bourbon and Blends on the Bayou” invitation arrived only seven hours before the event --- in far-away New Orleans.

The tastings, along with “special cocktails made by New Orleans local mixologists, and fabulous food provided by local restaurants” was sponsored by eight distilleries.

However, since “The Big Easy” is 1,800 miles from Grumpy Editor’s desk, that translated into zipping 257 miles an hour to the bourbon sampling site.

That indicated the only way to get there on time would be via private jet, a mode of transportation not yet in the garage.

But all desire to be on the scene faded quickly when it was noted that attending the boozy event called for “$25 at the door.”

So Grumpy Editor capped the day at home with a vodka tonic, and a slice of lime, while listening to Dixieland tunes similar to those heard on Bourbon Street.

WSJ story sees similar market outlook as 3-months prior

Something looked familiar in yesterday’s front-page Money & Investing section of The Wall Street Journal with a story on the current phase of the stock market, notes Grumpy Editor.

Hey, it resembled a similar piece three months earlier, also on the front page of Money & Investing.

Is the Bull Pulling Up Lame? was the main line in the June 22 edition with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at 8539.73. 
 
As Dow Nears 10000, Some See Bears Ahead, read yesterday’s headline across the top of the page after Friday’s Dow closed at 9820.20 --- up 1280 from three months earlier.

Both stories, appearing on Mondays, were written by staffer E.S. Browning.

“Many analysts believe that stocks are again in such a turbulent period (as in the 1930s and the 1970s), and that this rally could lead to another slump,” Browning wrote in yesterday’s paper.

In the June 22 version, Browning said:  “Many analysts see a pullback ahead, and they are debating whether it will be just a temporary annoyance or something bigger and more painful.”  He went on to mention, “Pessimists think the damage could be greater, and the real pessimists worry that stocks could fall to new lows by autumn.”

Today is the first day of autumn and, while the Dow was off by 41.34 points yesterday, it stood 1239 above the June 22 level.

UPDATE:  The market today erased yesterday's dip with a gain of 51.01 points to 9829.87, attaining a new high for 2009.

Obama, on 5 Sunday shows, also covers ‘catnip to media’

While President Barack Obama’s five wall-to-wall appearances on the Sunday morning network news shows were designed to focus (again) on health care reform, he had some comments on “catnip to media” and that he wasn’t following developments on ACORN, the community organizing group, observes Grumpy Editor.

A round of network interviews --- unprecedented for a sitting president --- was taped in the White House on Friday, allowing about 15 minutes each to ABC's This Week, CBS' Face the Nation, NBC's Meet the Press, CNN's State of the Union and Spanish-language Univision.

Along with the main thrust on health care, the president also answered questions relating to Afghanistan, H1N1 (swine) flu, the CIA, Chicago White Sox, among others.

With the media in mind, Obama told David Gregory on Meet the Press, “What gets you on the (TV) news is controversy.”

The president amplified that for Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation:  “Part of what’s different today is that the 24-hour news cycle and cable television and blogs and all this, they focus on the most extreme elements on both sides.  They can’t get enough of conflict.  It’s catnip to the media right now.”

To George Stephanopoulos on This Week, he added:  “Sometimes I think that, frankly, the media encourages some of the outliers in behavior, because, let's face it, the easiest way to get on television right now is to be really rude.  If you're just being sensible and giving people the benefit of the doubt and you're making your arguments, you don't --- you don't get --- time on the nightly news."

Stephanopoulos had a question relating to ACORN.  Interestingly, despite the organization being in the news during the past week from undercover videos that surfaced on TV and action by the Senate (four days prior to the interview) to withhold funds to the group, Obama told a surprised Stephanopoulos:  “Frankly, it’s not really something I’ve followed closely.  I didn’t even know that ACORN was getting a whole lot of federal money.”

Meanwhile, grabbing more time before TV cameras, Obama tonight --- as the sole guest --- visits David Letterman’s Late Show on CBS. 

News outlets finally stirred by Obama’s czars buildup

Strangely, while presidential appointments of so-called czars --- now numbering in the mid-30s --- have been going on for months, most media have been rather quiet of the actions that require no oversight or U.S. Senate confirmation, notes Grumpy Editor.

This week, cable news channels and major print organizations suddenly have jumped onto the czars buildup.

Tribune Washington Bureau’s Joe Markman, for example, dispatched this lead on a story for the Chicago Tribune, picked up by other newspapers:

“President Barack Obama’s appointment of ‘czars,’ or policy coordinators, is drawing new fire from lawmakers in both parties.”

This follows a letter sent to Obama from Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) and five other Republican lawmakers.  They “criticized the administration for encroaching on Congress’ authority by establishing too many far-reaching czars,” Markman wrote.

Democrats, too, are concerned.  Other letters to Obama questioning the use of czars have been sent by Sen. Russ Feingold (D., Wis.) and Sen. Robert Byrd (D., W. Va.).

Titles among the many czars, who some consider weaken authority of various secretaries in the Cabinet, include:

Energy and environment czar, international climate czar, pay czar, terrorism czar, urban affairs czar, technology czar, science czar and border czar.

There are more czars in Washington now than ruled Russia during its entire imperial history.

'Going green' idea turns T-Mobile patrons’ faces red

Apparently inspired by banks sneaking in fees and surcharges to customers, management at T-Mobile USA came up with the idea of stiffing customers an additional $1.50 a month for a mailed copy of bills --- but the maneuver backfired this week following outcries from patrons and swelling sour public relations in a highly-competitive field, notes Grumpy Editor.

Squeezing $18 a year from each customer may not sound like much.  But with 33 million T-Mobile users, that would yield an alluring more than half billion dollars annually (an easy $594 million, to be exact).

T-Mobile USA, owned by Deutsche Telekom AG, planned to add the charge to anyone not signing up for a paperless billing plan that involves viewing on the Internet.

Outcries and threats of legal action caused the company to “not charge our customers a paper bill fee for now.”

T-Mobile’s chief competitors offer customers free basic bills by mail.

In pitching the “charge by mail” scheme, T-Mobile tried to apply an environmental twist.  Going the paperless route, it said, is “a great alternative to paper and better for the environment.”

Many customers didn’t buy that.

Grumbled one:  "This thing of having to pay so I can pay is just a little too much.  And I'm certainly not interested in some bogus argument about me contributing to global warming by NOT signing on to making it cheaper for T-Mobile to send me a bill."

In addition to irritating customers, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo in a statement said  T-Mobile couldn’t legally impose new charges without giving customers the option of terminating service contracts early.  “My office will not sit back and let a company change its prices under the guise of ‘going green’,” declared Cuomo.