Grumpy Editor

Theories abound on cause of South Korean ship blast

The latest high seas saga, involving the sinking of a South Korean naval ship five days ago leaving 46 crew members missing out of 104 on board, has all the elements of a whodunit and yet is not grabbing a lot of print space, notes Grumpy Editor.

Latest development has four U.S. Navy ships assisting in the area off South Korea’s Baengnyeong Island, in the Yellow Sea, near the North Korea border.

But what caused the blast at the ship’s stern that split the 1,200-ton patrol boat Cheonan in two remains a mystery.

Among theories:

•  The South Korean vessel may have hit “intentionally floated underwater mines,” says South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young.

•  The incident occurred within sight of a North Korean military base where surface-to-ship guided missiles and artillery are deployed, according to a statement from the office of president Lee Myung-bak.

•  Possibility of a torpedo attack, relates Kim Sung-chan, South Korea’s navy chief of staff.

•  “Human torpedoes” could have been used, suggests a North Korean defector now living in Seoul.

North and South Korea technically remain in a state of war stemming from the 1950-1953 Korean War that also involved thousands of U.S. military personnel heading a United Nations force.

 The conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

U.S. commander in Afghanistan bans fast-food outlets

A military senior morale, welfare and recreation specialist in Afghanistan certainly wasn’t living up to his title in announcing the curbing of “comforts of home” --- from fast food to first-run movies --- for U.S. troops serving lengthy and often repeated tours, finds Grumpy Editor.

Other than USA Today, Fox News, the U.K.’s Guardian newspaper and some McClatchy newspapers, including the Miami Herald, few U.S. publications mentioned the sock-it-to-morale decision by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan.

Aimed primarily at Kandahar and Bagram megabases, his directive called for the closing of Burger King, Orange Julius, Pizza Hut, Dairy Queen and TGI Friday’s eateries along with reducing first-run movie showings and non-USO entertainment shows.

Shutting down the reminders of home order by the general was relayed to the troops by Army Sgt. Major Michael Hall whose duties include overseeing morale and recreation for the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

Also being shuttered:  Military Car Sales, where troops can buy pickup trucks to be delivered to home addresses.

"This is a war zone –- not an amusement park," declared Hall in a message to the troops in southern Afghanistan.

"From the moment Gen. (Stanley) McChrystal and I arrived in Afghanistan last summer, we began looking for ways to do things more efficiently across the battlefield --- the optimization of ISAF. This effort includes moving and reallocating resources to better accomplish our mission."

Closing these facilities, he added, “will free up much-needed storage facilities at both Bagram and Kandahar, space which is critical as 30,000 additional American and up to 7,000 international troops flow into Afghanistan over the next several months."

The new order, by the way, exempted the Green Beans coffee house.

Hmmm.

Obama names 15 to key posts, but media mum on most

Just hours after members of Congress took off for a spring break (returning April 12) president Barack Obama announced recess appointments to fill 15 posts --- but key media omitted most names in weekend reports, notes Grumpy Editor.

Recess appointments circumvent the Senate’s authority to confirm nominees.

Associated Press in a 23-paragraph story appearing in Sunday newspapers, mentioned only three names:  Craig Becker, who has been a top lawyer for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the AFL-CIO, named to the National  Labor Relations Board (NLRB); and to two top Treasury posts, Jeffrey Goldstein, an executive at a New York private equity firm and a former managing director at the World Bank, for under secretary for domestic finance, and Michael F. Mundaca, a senior policy advisor at Treasury, for assistant secretary for tax policy.

Reuters, in 14 paragraphs, mentioned four names:  Goldstein and Mundaca, along with Becker and Mark Gaston Pearce, another labor lawyer slated for the NLRB.

A 10-paragraph story for McClatchy Newspapers and other outlets mentioned only one of the appointees, Becker.

 

Grumpy Editor lists 11 skipped by media

So, besides Becker, Goldstein, Mundaca and Pearce, Grumpy Editor lists below the 11 other appointees not named in news stories over the weekend and their targeted posts.

•   Eric L. Hirschhorn, undersecretary for export administration and head of the Bureau of Industry and Security, Department of Commerce.
•   Michael Punke, deputy trade representative - Geneva, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
•   Francisco (Frank) J. Sanchez, undersecretary for international trade, Department of Commerce.
•   Islam A. Siddiqui, chief agricultural negotiator, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
•   Alan D. Bersin, commissioner, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security.
•   Rafael Borras, undersecretary for management, Department of Homeland Security.
•   Jill Long Thompson, Farm Credit Administration Board.
•   Jacqueline A. Berrien, chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
•   Chai R. Feldblum, commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
•   Victoria A. Lipnic, commissioner, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
•   P. David Lopez, general counsel, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Las Vegas Strip among sites set to go dark tomorrow night

Psst!  Want to make a sure bet?

The usually brightly-lit Las Vegas Strip with high-profile, neon-splashed hotel-casinos will be going dark tomorrow night, reducing Saturday night Sin City glitter for thousands of tourists, predicts Grumpy Editor.

It’s part of the annual global Earth Hour that calls for large and small power users to turn off exterior lights for 60 minutes at 8:30 p.m. local time.

More than 4,000 cities in 87 countries participated in the one-hour of darkness last year.  That included Las Vegas and 317 other cities in the U.S.

The event, spurred by World Wildlife Fund and started in Sydney, Australia three years ago, is designed to “make a stand against climate change.”

Climate indeed is changing.

In the U.S. alone, tomorrow’s overnight temperatures (just five days before April) are expected to drop to a cool, post-blackout 49 degrees in Las Vegas, 31 in Boston, 35 in Detroit, 34 in New York, 28 in Denver and 36 in Washington, D.C.

The exercise also nips power companies.

During last year’s Earth Hour, demand for power in Las Vegas, for example, fell by 65 megawatts, or 3 percent, reports NV Energy, the local electric company.

Among other worldwide landmarks expected to go dark again tomorrow are the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, Sydney Harbour Bridge and the CN Tower in Toronto.

Bank of America plans further expansion in China

While many Bank of America customers around the nation grumble that it is rather difficult these days to obtain fresh or additional financing, the largest U.S. bank in assets is about to expand further in China, notes Grumpy Editor.

Brian Moynihan, B of A’s chief executive since the start of the year, is in China this week.  The bank’s board recently approved a plan to seek incorporation there.

That would allow the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank to increase its offerings in the communist nation where it plans to boost corporate and commercial banking.

B of A also holds a minority stake in China Construction Bank, a state-owned financial institution with 13,629 branches.

As expansion plans are being pursued in China, B of A seven months ago announced at home it plans to shutter about 10 percent of its 6,100 branches in 32 states.

B of A stockholders have been coping with a quarterly dividend of a penny a share for a year (latest is payable tomorrow).  The bank was paying a quarterly dividend of 64 cents a share in 2008 before slicing it in half to 32 cents, then chopping it further to 1 cent.

Meanwhile, B of A is mellowing on the home loan front.  Yesterday it announced reductions of as much as 30 percent in loan principal will be offered to an estimated 45,000 struggling borrowers who have subprime or so-called option adjustable-rate mortgages.

Loan customers --- those with loan balances at least 120 percent of estimated home value --- have to be at least 60 days overdue on payments and demonstrate a financial hardship that prevents them from making payments at the current level.

In New York move, editor of T shifts to W magazine

Yes, editorial hiring decisions can be fast.  Among media buzz in New York yesterday was the editor of T departing to become editor in chief of W --- in a PDQ move from talks just last week, finds Grumpy Editor.

Brevity in magazine titles accompanies Stefano Tonchi.  Editor of T since 2003, he starts at W on April 12. 

T is short for the full title, T:  The New York Times Style Magazine, distributed with the Sunday Times.

W is one of about two dozen Condé Nast publications that include Vogue, Glamour, The New Yorker, GQ, Modern Bride, Vanity Fair and Wired.

With oversize pages and innovative photography, W focuses on high-end fashions.

However, there may be some changes ahead.

Tonchi indicates he wants to make W more accessible and perhaps “more of a general-interest style magazine and less of a fashion-obsessed publication.”

No stranger to Condé Nast, Tonchi, 50, earlier was fashion and creative director of the company’s Self and L’Uomo Vogue.

Word of a new editor in chief at W follows last week’s announcement that Condé Nast would be changing W’s organizational makeup, moving it from the trade-oriented Fairchild group to the consumer Condé Nast group.

Survey: Teens stumble on money matters, budgeting

Money management and budgeting loom as problem areas for teenagers, a new survey finds, as a majority think they should get credit cards by age 21, notes Grumpy Editor.

This indicates more information on consumer matters should be emphasized in schools and covered in newspaper business pages.

Chances are that a story on findings of a Junior Achievement and Allstate Foundation survey, released yesterday, does not appear in your local daily --- which illustrates the point.

The survey discovers 45 percent of  U.S. teens say they are unsure about how to invest their money effectively and 22 percent admit they do not budget their money.

Among teens who do not manage their money, 42 percent aren't interested in money management, 37 percent don't know how to manage their finances and 32 percent think budgeting is for adults so it doesn't matter how they spend their money, uncovers the survey in a sampling of 1,000 teens.

What’s more, 54 percent of them say they are unsure about how to use credit effectively, yet 74 percent think they should get a credit card by age 21.

"Teens are admitting that they don't have knowledge of some of the basic money management skills around investing, budgeting and using credit. Despite the alarming numbers, teens overwhelmingly have high hopes for future financial stability," says Jack E. Kosakowski, president of Junior Achievement USA.

"The poll shows we need to do a better job of ensuring our youth are financially literate," he adds.

Vicky Dinges, assistant vice president, public social responsibility at Allstate, adds, "This volatile chapter in the nation's economy is bringing teens and parents together in agreement about at least one topic: there is a huge need in this country for financial literacy education.”

Some cash-strapped states moving to allow school bus ads

With heavy cuts in school budgets around the nation, more school districts are eyeing school buses as a source of revenue from placement of advertisements, notes Grumpy Editor.

They figure if many municipal buses can carry commercial moving messages, why not the same for the big yellow buses.

Latest region to consider ads on school buses is Washington state. 

An Associated Press tally shows the concept also is being considered in Ohio, New Jersey and Utah.

States already allowing school bus ads include Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Tennessee and Texas.

Strangely, California, especially hard hit with a drop in revenue, is frowning on the idea.

Despite ads on other vehicles, from plumbers to taxis, plus billboards along city roads and freeways, John Green, supervisor for school transportation at the California Department of Education, tells AP that ads on school buses distract drivers and lead to accidents.

On the other hand, Jim O'Connell, president of Media-Aim of Scottsdale, Ariz., says school bus advertising can be lucrative and in five years of selling the ads for more than 30 districts in Colorado and Arizona, he's never once heard of an accident tied to bus advertising.

The Mississippi Senate earlier this month killed a bill that would have allowed ads inside or outside school buses. 

School bus ad supporters say it’s an innovative way for districts to generate money in tight times.

Opponents claim children shouldn't be exposed to advertising in a setting where they're not supervised by parents.

Perhaps those parents don’t have the Cartoon Network or Disney Channel --- with ample exposure to commercial breaks --- at home.

Syfy channel plans to launch 3 reality shows in July

Ready for more television reality shows?  The Syfy channel will be going that route on Thursdays, starting July 15, with a trio of new reality programs, finds Grumpy Editor.

Debut of those shows comes as the channel, still part of NBC Universal, marks its first year as Syfy, a renamed variation of Sci Fi which it used since the channel was launched in 1992.

“We don’t want to be in the niche space; we want to be in general entertainment,” Syfy president Dave Howe tells Andrew Hampp, writer for Advertising Age.

Hampp quotes Mark Miller, Syfy’s executive vice president-ad sales, saying, “We’re getting a more upscale audience than we have in the past, and also more women, which I don’t think Syfy has traditionally been in that consideration set before.”

Females made up 48 percent of Syfy’s prime-time viewers last year, according to Miller.

Comcast, the nation's biggest cable and broadband Internet provider, is awaiting the green light from the Federal Communications Commission to finalize its acquisition of NBC Universal from General Electric Co.

Media miss Obama mention of 3,000% rather than $3,000

Key print and broadcast media following President Barack Obama’s health care reform speeches around the country have been seeking a fresh nugget or two in the addresses --- which reached number 53 on the subject this week --- but just didn’t get around to mentioning a major gaffe in Strongsville, Ohio, on Monday, notes Grumpy Editor.

Speaking to an enthusiastic audience, the president (reading from a teleprompter) asked:

“How many people are getting their insurance through their jobs right now?

“Raise your hands.

“Your employer, it’s estimated, would see premiums fall by as much as 3,000 percent which means they can give you a raise.”

That shook up the place with hearty cheers and applause, as the president took a long pause.

But it was another gaffe.

A White House press spokesman later said the president misspoke, that he meant to say annual premiums would drop by 3,000 dollars rather than percent.

Or was the cause stemming from being unfamiliar with the text on the teleprompter?

Early last month at the televised National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, the president stumbled when he ran across corpsman on the teleprompter. 

He read it as a ghoulish-like corpse-man.  It wasn’t a one-time slip of the tongue by the commander-in-chief.  The same pronunciation was repeated 21 seconds later.

Another major error, also ignored by mainstream media but picked up widely by talk radio hosts and bloggers, was in a speech two years ago in Beaverton, Ore., when Obama said he had visited all 57 states during the presidential campaign.