Grumpy Editor

Pretty, young actresses fail to hypo Vanity Fair sales

Vanity Fair magazine’s  March issue with a cover shot by noted photographer Annie Leibovitz showing a gathering of "pretty, thin, female and white” (as some described it) young actresses did not bring an expected uptick in single sale copies, notes Grumpy Editor.

In fact, it was the worst seller of the year, based on just-released  figures.

Newsstand sales reached 300,000, compared with 435,000 for the January issue with actress Meryl Streep on the cover.

The March cover included Kristen Stewart, Amanda Seyfried, Carey Mulligan and Anna Kendrick among nine actresses in the photo shoot for the magazine. 

 "The Hollywood cover was made up of the next wave of young actresses, faces that the public is just beginning to recognize," Vanity Fair spokeswoman Beth Kseniak informed Esther Zuckerman of the New York Observer.

Top-selling issue of 2010 with Streep on the cover led to a feature on the mystery of how, at age 60, the veteran actress “has become the industry’s new box-office queen.”

Vintage Kerouac, Monroe, Hepburn items attract buyers

Grumpy Editor is ready to dust off a vintage Underwood manual typewriter stored in the garage after noting that another brand from the same era yielded $22,500 at a Christie’s, New York, auction last week.

Meanwhile, other items associated with movie stars a half century ago brought in big bucks at other auctions.

The typewriter --- a working, seafoam-green Hermes 3000 manual --- was used by Jack Kerouac, father of the Beat Generation, from 1966 until his 1969 death.

He typed out his last novel, “Vanity of Duluoz,” on the machine.

More unusual was the sale on Sunday of three Marilyn Monroe chest X-rays from a 1954 hospital visit.

Those different shots of the Hollywood actress, noted for her (exterior) chest in publicity photos and on the screen, fetched $45,000 at a Hollywood Legends auction in Las Vegas.

A chair used in Monroe’s last photo session went for $35,000.

Another item that attracted a buyer at the same auction was a dress worn by actress Audrey Hepburn in the 1957 movie musical, “Funny Face,” when she starred opposite Fred Astaire.

It brought $56,250.

Meanwhile, anyone looking for a working “green” Underwood?

It saves energy because no electricity is required in typing messages --- or writing novels.  No batteries needed, either.  So it can be used anywhere:  at the beach, by the pool, in a mountain cabin or at the park.

Obama, Medvedev visit sparks interest in burger eatery

A PR person’s dream:  Two presidents munching on cheeseburgers in a small eatery while national and international print and video photographers capture the action, observes Grumpy Editor.

Such was the case when President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday visited Ray’s Hell Burger, in Arlington, Va., which is just outside Washington, D.C.

Most newspapers and television news programs in the U.S. ran items on the event.

It even made Jay Leno’s monologue on NBC’s Tonight Show on Friday, complete with mention of Ray’s Hell Burger.

No news outlet explained why the two presidents were in shirt sleeves.

But a clue came from the prior week’s visit by “Joey,” of San Mateo, Calif.  In a Web review he described the interior had “three ceiling fans running on high but the heat was very noticeable with all the bodies inside.”

Joey also said “sitting inside was noisy,” making it difficult to talk in normal volume.

A Washington Post dining writer two years ago pinpointed the inside sound at Ray’s at 74 decibels.

That put the clamor equivalent to the noise from a washing machine or a garbage disposal unit.

With that level of cacophony, heads of state can’t quietly converse on world matters.

What were Medvedev’s thoughts on the restaurant?

“An interesting place, which is typically American,” he voiced.  “Probably it’s not quite healthy. But it’s very tasty. You can feel the spirit of America.” 

San Diego Union-Tribune fires old, hires new staffers

A newspaper firing seasoned newsroom staffers and hiring new faces at the same time?

That’s what’s happening at the San Diego Union-Tribune where about three dozen positions, half of them copy editors, are being laid off while management is seeking replacements at modest pay, notes Grumpy Editor.

The staff reduction marks the seventh round of job cuts in four years at the newspaper that ranks No. 24 on the list of top 25 U.S. dailies. 

U-T’s circulation of 241,330 in the six-month period ended March 31 represents a hefty drop of 22.68 percent.

That’s the biggest percentage loss of any daily among the top 25, putting it at just about 4,000 above bottom-ranked Newark Star-Ledger.

U-T management, in beefing up the editorial staff to fill vacancies as circulation ebbs, is hiring “junior staff writers” with pay between $30,000 and $35,000 a year.

They’ll be busy. 

The job description calls for “research and write news and straight forward short stories with low level of complexity, analysis and narrative…compile lists, contribute regularly to blogs…fill in in other areas as assigned…may use social media …and assist with daily cops calls.”

The Union-Tribune stems from the 1992 merger of  the San Diego Union, founded in 1868, and the Evening Tribune. founded in 1895. The Copley family of La Jolla last year sold the newspaper to Los Angeles-based Platinum Equity, a private equity firm.

McChrystal’s media aide in Rolling Stone flap is civilian

Turns out that Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal’s “senior media aide” who had a major hand in arranging interviews resulting in this week’s Rolling Stone article, “The Runaway General,” is a civilian who had been on the general’s staff for about a year, notes Grumpy Editor.

The story also led to President Barack Obama yesterday naming Gen. David Petraeus, former commander of U.S. forces in Iraq and currently head of the U.S. Central Command, to replace McChrystal as Afghanistan commander.

Duncan Boothby, a former staffer on the PR publication, Jack O’Dwyer’s Newsletter, resigned his senior media aide position Tuesday after the Rolling Stone article by Michael Hastings portrayed the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan and his team making critical comments about the Obama administration.

This marked the first time Grumpy Editor heard of a civilian handling upper-echelon PR work for a four-star U.S. general.

In the past, military public information officers --- many with civilian backgrounds in the PR or news fields --- handled the often-sensitive task.

Also unusual was that a writer for Rolling Stone, started in San Francisco 43 years ago to report on the hippie counterculture of that era, was allowed to trail the top officer for days. 

The magazine now focuses on music, album and artist news, movie reviews, along with political, economic and pop culture commentary.

Washington Post’s Ernesto Londoño in Kabul mentioned that “military officials say civilians are often better suited to provide constructive criticism and unconventional ideas than military public affairs professionals.”

He added, “In many cases senior generals have reached out to former journalists for an outside set of eyes. Often these civilian aides have a loose portfolio and are brought along in part because they aren't as constrained by the military's chain of command.”

Chances are the Pentagon will be reviewing the idea of utilizing civilian PR hands, especially when battle-area generals are involved in meeting the press.

California considers ad messages on license plates

For a state that has the most vehicles and is concerned about distractions with on-the-road texting and cell phone use, California lawmakers are considering electronic license plates that also show digital ad messages, finds Grumpy Editor.

A bill that pushes the mobile message boards already has sailed through the state senate on a 25 to 0 vote.  Next action comes in the state assembly.

Owners of magazines, newspapers, radio/television outlets and billboards, currently fretting about the Internet sucking more advertising dollars, now have another concern.

Known in Sacramento as SB 1453, authored by state Sen. Curren D. Price Jr., (D., Inglewood), the bill gives the Department of Motor Vehicles authority to investigate the emerging digital electronic license plate (DELP) technology “to understand its functionality, safety and administrative applications.”

Price says the “legislation provides a unique opportunity for California to work in partnership with some of the state’s most innovative enterprises to rethink how we can use our most basic assets to achieve greater efficiencies and cost savings, while generating new revenues for the state.”

He adds, “Having digital electronic license plate technology developed and engineered in California, would also create new jobs in technology, sales/marketing and service fields.” 

For a revenue-squeezed state that finds difficulty in paying its bills, “research costs” in connection with the DELP advertising plan are pegged at “about $200,000.”

The bill requires the DMV to report to the state legislature on the feasibility of DELP by Jan. 1, 2013.

With DELP technology, rear license plates when a car is moving would convert to message boards that display advertising or other images when the vehicle stops for four seconds or longer at a stoplight or in a traffic jam.

In emergencies, the plates could be used to broadcast Amber Alerts or traffic information.

A key issue:  Will public safety be compromised by drivers reading ad messages on digital plates.

CNN drops AP, puts emphasis on own newsgathering

CNN, in ending its Associated Press subscription, will now focus on its own internal resources --- plus some help from Reuters --- in gathering and reporting news, notes Grumpy Editor.

In an internal memo yesterday to staffers at the Time Warner unit, Jim Walton, CNN worldwide president, said, “We are taking an important next step in the content- ownership process we began in 2007 to more fully leverage CNN’s global newsgathering investments.”

CNN-exclusive content, he added, “”will further differentiate our platforms in the media marketplace.”

Walton declared the move “will make us more creative, resourceful and collaborative journalists and news professionals.”

AP noted that the wire service had been unable to reach agreement with the cable news operation “on its license to use our content.”

With the move, CNN is expanding its “CNN Wires” team.

It also will initiate “CNN Share,” an alert system for breaking news and that compiles editorial content and shares it via the Web and mobile.

In a new agreement, CNN will be getting some supplemental newsgathering assistance from Reuters for breaking news coverage.

Tropical storms Blas and Celia grab editors’ attention

With summer officially starting today, it’s the time of year when print and broadcast editors --- in efforts to stir up readers --- look for any indication of hurricanes or tropical storms on the horizon, notes Grumpy Editor.

Sure enough, over the weekend not one but two tropical storms developed in the eastern Pacific.

So print and broadcast folks ran with them --- even though the meteorological disturbances were far from land and will have no effect on the United States, not even a few stray cumulus clouds.

Tropical storm “Blas” developed late last week and on Saturday was about 455 miles south of the southern tip of Mexico’s Baja California.

This brought some excitement to media (perhaps seeing the word “California”).  With top-of-the-hour radio news, for example, Blas made one of the several news items.

Weekend editors didn’t bother to read the full story or consult a map.  Blas was about 1,200 miles south of the California-Mexico border, far from land and moving west in the Pacific.

That put it at a distance similar to that between Washington, D.C. and Austin, Texas.

Then later Saturday, a tropical depression, about 355 miles south-southeast of Acapulco, Mexico, was upgraded to a tropical storm and named "Celia."

Celia, off Central America and much farther south than Blas, was about 1,800 miles from the California-Mexico border to the northwest. 

Both Blas and Celia were moving slowly to the west --- and grabbing broadcast mentions and headlines along the way.

But Blas yesterday weakened to a tropical depression.   However, Celia strengthened into a hurricane last night, yet poses no danger to land.

BP CEO tackles unusual quizzing at congressional hearing

BP chief executive Tony Hayward, facing some rather unusual questions in connection with the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, managed to keep his composure during yesterday’s appearance before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations that was televised on several news channels, notes Grumpy Editor.

Some may have viewed the quizzing --- televised live --- as better than soap operas aired on broadcast networks at the same time.

Most unusual question was:  “Is today Thursday?” posed by Cliff Stearns (R., Fla).  The congressman himself had a problem with time because he referred to “this morning” when it was 3:34 p.m. Eastern at the Capitol Hill session.

A close second in goofy questions to Hayward came from Bruce Braley (D., Iowa) who sought to confirm “were you at the White House conference,” the much-heralded gathering with President Barack Obama the prior day, 49 days after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded.

That explosion wasn’t enough for coatless Peter Welch (D., Vt.), who went back in time to recap other problems BP had, including a Texas City, Texas, refinery explosion that resulted in deaths of 15 workers in 2005.  Welch drilled Hayward as to “who was in charge” at the April 20 deep water incident.

Picking up on “who was responsible for the decisions at that (Gulf of Mexico) well was Betty Sutton (D., Ohio).

Mike Ross (D. Ark.) figured he was on the right track in declaring, BP “seems to be hiding something.”

Jan Schakowsky (D., Ill) expressed concern on the treatment of oil rig workers.

Meanwhile, Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC and CNN ran split screens showing Hayward, the quizzer and live cam underwater shots of escaping oil.  The latter alternated with repeated footage of the burning oil rig in April and shots of icky oil on water or slushing onto sandy beaches, and oil-covered birds and crabs.

CNBC gave it a financial flavor by devoting half the screen to a graph showing current prices of actively-traded BP stock.  Without too much variation, the stock hovered fractions above or below 31.55 a share before closing on the New York Stock Exchange at $31.71 a share, down 14 cents, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up 24.71 at 10434.17.

Some TV viewers, seeking to bypass both soap operas and the BP hearing, found solace in TCM’s 1946 movie, “Without Reservations,” starring Claudette Colbert, John Wayne and Anne Triola. 

Omissions in dailies send readers to the Internet

PricewaterhouseCoopers, largest of the Big Four auditing firms, forecasts newspaper subscription and advertising revenue will continue to decline through 2012, observes Grumpy Editor.

This comes after the firm notes print ad revenue for North American newspapers fell almost 47 percent to $26.4 billion in 2009 from $49.7 billion in 2005.

PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts another 19 percent drop in print advertising revenue and a 9 percent drop in circulation revenue through 2012.

Bob Barrett, a partner in the firm that provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services, tells Editor & Publisher:   "We're still seeing a long-term migration of readers and advertisers to the Internet.”

A key reason why readers head for the Web is to fill in the blanks not found in their local newspapers.  Put another way, it’s the skimpier print product that is providing the thrust to the Web.

Just compare today’s newspapers to those of three or five years ago.

What’s different?

Basically, less news, including features and columnists --- as newspapers chop staffs to hypo bottom lines.

Since 2001, U.S. dailies have shed about one fourth of newsroom personnel, now down to 41,500, estimates the American Society of News Editors.

Par for the course these days are four or five stories on the front page.  That’s down sharply from the 15 to 18 pieces on opening pages when competition was fierce and some newspapers rolled out up to seven editions a day.

Business sections have taken the biggest hit.  Despite growing interest in business-finance developments, many newspapers have eliminated Monday business pages while the sections are slimmed down for the rest of the week.

Most readers are unable to check all their stocks or mutual funds in the now abbreviated (or eliminated) lists in daily newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal.  Vital dividends and earnings tables have disappeared from most business sections.

So readers with investments are forced to turn to the Web.

Other factors that set print readers grumbling:  Lengthy, often uninteresting wire stories to fill up editorial columns around ads; smaller A (or news) sections with fewer stories, especially on Mondays; charging readers extra for weekly TV sections with show information and listings; an upsurge in local and national crime coverage, and growing bias rather than straight “neutral” reporting in stories.

But can correcting or adjusting the above items save dailies when the Internet-savvy generation regards newspapers as obsolete as  dinosaurs?