Grumpy Editor

PETA calls for Punxsutawney Phil to lose his PR job

With an eye on Groundhog Day next Tuesday --- and always looking for ways to make headlines --- People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) this week targeted Punxsutawney Phil, the famous weather-forecasting groundhog, saying it’s unfair to keep the animal in captivity and calling for a robotic replacement, notes Grumpy Editor.

The rodent resident of Punxsutawney, Pa., is treated like the town’s ace public relations person, complete with quarters at Groundhog Zoo at Punxsutawney Memorial Library.

The normally burrowing woodchuck, if fact, grabs more print and broadcast coverage that any Madison Ave. PR person could create for such a small town, population 6,150, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

In fact, the media love him.

On every Feb. 2 media congregate when Punxsutawney Phil emerges.   If he fails to see his shadow, that signifies winter will soon end. But if Phil casts a shadow, then it means winter will continue for six more weeks --- a prognostication routine that marks its 121st year in 2010.

But PETA claims furry Phil can become stressed when “exposed to large, screaming crowds, flashing lights from perhaps hundreds of cameras and human handling.”

The animal rights group suggests Phil should be replaced by a robotic groundhog.  That means using technology utilized in animatronics devices such as seen at Walt Disney World or Disneyland.

That gets the townsfolk upset.

Bill Deeley, president of the Inner Circle of the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, says Phil “is treated better than the average child in Pennsylvania.” 

The groundhog’s quarters at the zoo --- periodically inspected by the state Department of Health --- is air-conditioned during the summer months and heated during cooler periods, he adds.

Those are much better conditions than living underground. 

Survey finds Fox News leads commercial networks in trust

Grumpy Editor notes a fresh poll on trust in television news with results that won’t be seen on CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC:

Fox News comes out on top as the only commercial TV news operation that more people say they trust than distrust.

Public Policy Polling finds 49 percent of Americans trust Fox News while 37 percent do not.

CNN comes in second with a 39/41 spread, followed by NBC with 35/44, CBS 32/46 and ABC 31/46.

Results stem from a national survey of 1,151 registered voters conducted Jan. 18 and 19 by PPP, Raleigh, N.C.

Political polarization is a factor in the results.

The poll also shows 74 percent of Republicans trust Fox News.

NBC, which includes MSNBC, holds the highest trust among Democrats at 62 percent.

The media landscape has changed from a generation ago and Americans now are “turning more toward the outlets that tell them what they want to hear,” relates Dean Debnam, PPP president.

 

Star Tribune staffers stage protest by dropping bylines

A modern “tactic” when newspaper staffers are ruffled over an issue is to protest by withholding their bylines, observes Grumpy Editor.

The deleted bylines routine for a day or two has been used in recent months at some key newspapers around the country.

Other than spouses, friends, parents, fellow staffers and perhaps the writers’ college journalism professors, few readers notice vanished bylines.

So it was yesterday when the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, held a byline strike in print and on the Web to draw attention to the upcoming loss of almost 30 editorial positions.   Included were credit lines under photos.

But not all staffers followed that kind of protest.

Grumpy Editor noticed Web bylines of staffers James Walsh over mortgage fraud and triple homicide stories, and Rochelle Olson with a drunk driving piece.

Authors of most other stories were simply labeled “By Star Tribune staff writer.”

The Star Tribune Newspaper Guild, representing about 270 staffers, called for the one-day byline elimination “to pay tribute to colleagues who are losing their jobs in a workforce reduction.”

The guild noted 29 copy editors, photo editors, photographers, photo lab assistants and Web editors, among others, will be leaving the newspaper in coming weeks through buyouts and layoffs.

Veteran newspaper editors will point out that in earlier days not every story was topped by the writer’s name.

Bylines were scribbled in by editors on stories that involved exceptional merit or detailed digging.  It was a reward for work above and beyond routine reporting and writing.

Meanwhile, photo credit lines in that era were added when clicking a shutter involved above average and quality --- often difficult --- efforts.

Chimps take over camera for TV documentary on BBC

Television viewers able to tune in to BBC tomorrow night will be treated to a “first” in the animal --- and film --- world:  Footage shot entirely by chimpanzees as part of a natural history documentary, notes Grumpy Editor.

The film isn’t too different from some of the output from Hollywood these days. 

Viewers will see some jerky footage, about on par with some hand-held efforts by humans that wind up in motion pictures often hailed by movie critics.

Eleven chimpanzees, during an 18-month period, were involved in shots in and around Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland’s capital city.

Action was captured by a “chimpcam,” a special camera housed in a chimp-proof box.

The apes soon took to film making.

Using a touchscreen to focus on subjects and things, the chimps were fascinated with the image-capturing device.

They even learned how to select different videos to watch.

The chimps-behind-camera production was the idea of Betsy Herrelko, a primatologist studying for a PhD at Scotland’s University of Stirling.

Rumor has it that ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS, in continuing efforts to cut expenses, are interested in outsourcing work to the camera-experienced chimps.

Best of all, the large anthropoid apes, should quickly become top bananas in their field…or, rather, conclude each scene topped with bananas as rewards.

‘Over-the-hill’ television writers win discrimination case

The answer to why mature folks wonder why much television fare these days is aimed at the younger crowd, right down to teenagers, is found in a legal case settled Friday and mostly overlooked by weekend editors, notes Grumpy Editor.

In short: In their quest to lure younger audiences, 17 TV networks and production studios, plus talent agencies have snubbed drama and situation comedy writers older than 40 because they are “over the hill.”

Among defendants agreeing to pay $70 million:

ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC,  UPN, Columbia TriStar Television, Inc., Universal Media Studios, Regency Television, Spelling Television, Touchstone Television, Twentieth Century Fox Television, Warner Bros. Television, the Gersh Agency, Paradigm Talent & Literary Agency and the William Morris Agency.

While the class-action case, filed in 2002, was spearheaded by 165 writers, the legal battle affected thousands of Writers Guild of America members, victims of ageism. 

Complaints about age discrimination long have persisted in Hollywood.

TV decision makers have failed to recognize the U.S. population is getting older.  Almost 13 percent of the country is at least 65 years old.  With median income higher than the national average, they seek mature entertainment.

Yet, recent TV output frequently shows young characters, often at or below high school level.  And it’s not unusual to see electrical bolts shooting out from fingers or scenes showing humans disappearing into a mass of sparks.

That’s quite a contrast from earlier TV days when scripts featured dialog-heavy solid dramas, by veteran writers, spotlighting top Hollywood film stars.

AARP Foundation Litigation, co-counsel for the plaintiffs, called the settlement a bright spot “at a time when older workers are being buffeted by negative cross-currents of a sort they have not faced in many years.

“The importance of the settlement cannot be overestimated, given the fact that television shows --- even in this era of multiple entertainment platforms --- remain crucial in shaping our culture.”

Ashland, Ore., newspaper box fee curbs street sales

Picking up newspapers from sidewalk boxes in Ashland, Ore., will be tough now that local and national publications are yanking most of their street units in the downtown area in response to a $25 annual fee per box imposed by city officials, notes Grumpy Editor.

Along with the local newspaper, the Ashland Daily Tidings, distributors of the Medford Mail Tribune, The Oregonian, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today and New York Times also are retrieving their boxes.

They pointed out the new fee would cut into slim profit margins from the newspaper boxes.

One distributor calculated each sidewalk box brings in about $5 to $30 profit a month.

Also affected were several free publications that utilized publication racks.

Interestingly, city officials designated a sole “fee-free zone” for newspaper boxes.

And where is that?

In front of Starbucks which is close to the Ashland Chamber of Commerce in the city of about 22,000.

Apparently that is where heavy readers hang out.  (Or perhaps one or more of the fee decision makers, or associates, hold an interest in the specialty coffee outlet.)

Slapping fees on sidewalk newspaper boxes have stirred up heated pros and cons in other cities, including Milwaukee, Atlanta, Nashville and Minneapolis.

Peter Quince, Ashland area distributor of the New York Times and USA Today, told the Ashland Daily Tidings that the city’s actions intrude on Americans’ rights to free expression and freedom of the press.

Another distributor declared, “Ashlanders should be outraged because it’s their rights that are being violated.”

Business editor slams PR pitches with naked photos

One thing editors can count on every day:  Phone calls and news releases from assorted public relations folks, many of them not familiar with the publications --- or editors --- they are contacting, notes Grumpy Editor.

PR targets extend well beyond the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune.

Tony Kindelspire, business editor of  The Times-Call in Longmont, Colo. was left grumbling after receiving “two press releases in the past two weeks that had me inadvertently opening e-mails containing photos of naked women.”

In his Sunday column, he mentioned, “I’m all for the female form, but I don’t need it in my in-basket.”

One pitch, from a “senior publicist” with a California PR firm, dealt with the work of plastic surgeons.  The other press release, written by a woman, promoted the emergence of plus-size women.

In both cases, accompanying art showed nude ladies.

”Look,” wrote Kindelspire, “I’ve got no problem with pitching either of these as a story, and even including a link to photos if I wanted to see them. But do I have to be subjected to having to look at them if I don’t want to? Is this somebody’s idea of being provocative and cutting edge?

“Trying to pitch a story by appealing to one’s prurient interests seems to be a pretty low step on the ladder, even in the PR profession.”

These episodes led Kindelspire to sound off with this lead in his column:

“Dealing with public relations people comes with the territory when you work in the newspaper business. But the skill level of these ‘professionals’ can run the gamut from being a pro, in the strictest sense of the word, to being a degreed moron who somehow managed to convince someone even more ignorant than they are into hiring them.”

New White House communications chief pokes Fox News

Dan Pfeiffer, into one month as White House communications director, picks up where his predecessor, Anita Dunn, left off:  taking a hearty swipe at Fox News, notes Grumpy Editor.

Any veteran public relations person knows taking a public poke at a major news outlet is a big no-no.

Fox News is available to 102 million households in the U.S. plus other viewers internationally.  Fox News also is heard on many radio stations.

In the corporate world, a communications chief --- usually someone with a strong media background --- would never be heard publicly beefing about a major news outlet.

But things are different in the political world.

Pfeiffer replaced Dunn who left the White House communications post two months ago, shortly after describing to Time magazine that with Fox News, “It’s opinion journalism masquerading as news.”

In a Monday New York Times chat on video, Pfeiffer said, “I have the same view of Fox that Anita (Dunn) had, which is that Fox is not a traditional news organization. They have a point of view. That point of view pervades the entire network both the opinion shows, like Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly, but also through the newscasts during the day.”

That brought a statement from Fox News:  “Obviously new to his position, Dan seems to be intent upon repeating the mistakes of his predecessor... and we all remember how well that turned out.”

Fox News stresses “fair and balanced” in its coverage and invites Democrats to spar with Republicans on news and talk shows.

The news organization also irks some politicians and competing news outlets by digging into issues that others in print and broadcasting neglect to cover.

 

 

Grumpy Editor lists days off for U.S. Congress in 2010

As Congress gets back on full schedule today, following the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, taxpayers --- eager to follow 2010 legislation activities --- will find some difficulty in pinpointing days when members are actually busy at work in Washington, points out Grumpy Editor.

Washington media covering Congress enjoy time off themselves and like to imply just about every day, even during holiday periods, carries a full slate of legislative matters by lawmakers busy at their desks.

So Grumpy Editor, as guidance to taxpayers, unveils this year’s days-off schedule (subject to change), not including weekends.

Note:  “State work period” with Senate members, or “district work period” with the House (noted below), translates into recess and often overseas “fact finding” trips time.  Also, time off actually starts two or three days prior and ends two or three days later, factoring in Saturdays, Sundays and holidays that are on Mondays.

 

2010 Senate schedule, 111th Congress, 2nd session

Jan. 19, reconvene
Feb. 15 -19, state work period
March 29 - April 9, state work period
May 31 - June 4, state work period
July 5 - July 9, state work period
Aug. 9 - Sept. 10, state work period
Adjournment date to be determined

2010 House schedule, 111th Congress, 2nd session 

Feb. 15 -19, district work period
March 29 - April 9, district work period
May 31 - June 4, district work period
July 5 - 9, district work period
Aug. 9 - Sept. 10, district work period
Oct. 8 - target adjournment

 

Editor & Publisher deletes obituary, gets new owner

After its obituary a month ago, the 126-year-old Editor & Publisher --- with the aid of a new publisher --- has sprung to life and will produce a February issue, finds Grumpy Editor.

Staffers on the monthly journal that covers the newspaper business thought turning out the January issue would be E&P’s last when owner Nielsen Business Media announced its decision to cease the magazine’s operations.

But to the rescue, in a transaction that closed late last week, came boat-oriented Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc., Irvine, Calif.-based magazine and newspaper publisher.

Company chief Duncan McIntosh declared, "Such a critical information source for a newspaper industry so desperately in need of help should not go away.  I've been a reader of E&P over the course of 30 years and know its incredible value to readers and advertisers."

McIntosh publishes boating magazines, including Boating World, Sea and America's Western Boating plus The Log and FishRap newspapers.

The company also produces two shows:  the Newport Boat Show in the spring and the Lido Yacht Expo in the fall at Newport Beach, Calif.

With all the nautical influences, don’t be surprised if salty terms appear in future E&P issues.