Grumpy Editor

Media stumble in putting figure on Glenn Beck D.C. event

News media, which usually have no problem estimating a figure on attendance at noteworthy gatherings --- from sports to political --- were all over the place in putting a number on those attending Glenn Beck’s non-political “Restoring Honor” event Saturday in front of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., notes Grumpy Editor.

Images, including an Associated Press high shot of attendees extending from the Lincoln Memorial to nearly a mile at the opposite end of the reflecting pool, showed packed standing room on both sides.

Yet, CBS News came up with the vastly low attendance figure of  87,000.

Others referred to “tens of thousands.”

Beck placed the number “at least 500,000.”

The radio talk show host and Fox News commentator added, “The high estimate I have heard is a million. I don't personally believe that. It could be as high as 650,000, maybe 700,000 but I think the number is probably closer to 500,000 to 600,000.”

On his TV program yesterday, Beck said the “God and honor” gathering was the sixth largest in size at that location.

An interesting and timely happening that occurred moments before the event got under way was a flyover (captured by a camera) by a flock of geese in perfect V-formation at a rather low altitude over the length of the reflecting pool --- then continuing on their flight path.

In a jab at some media, Beck declared, “In my opinion, they have proven themselves to be so untrustworthy and so out of touch that it's really not even worth reviewing.”

While former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was a speaker (and not mentioned in some coverage),  some news outlets wrongly reported that House member Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) was set to speak, along with former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, now chairman of FreedomWorks which recruits, educates, trains and mobilizes volunteers to fight for less government, lower taxes, and more freedom.

Perhaps more accuracy in news reporting should be added to that list.

ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox networks face aging TV audience

With broadcast television viewers getting older, in the months ahead look for more programs beamed for mature people and less screen chicanery such as electric bolts zooming from fingertips, greasy monsters gulping people and actors disappearing in clouds of sparks, all aimed at younger viewers, observes Grumpy Editor.

Over-the-air TV networks posted median ages of viewers at 50 or above during the 2009-2010 season, reports media analyst Steve Sternberg.

The TV audience is aging at twice the rate of the general population during the past two decades.

CBS leads the older crowd with a median age of 56, followed by ABC, with 52 and NBC with 50.   Fox is the most "youthful" with a median age of 46.

Median age is the point where half of a network's audience is older and half is younger.

More than 60 percent of CBS's average audience is over 50 years old for the first time, with more than a quarter over 65, tallies Sternberg.

CBS’s "60 Minutes" grabs much of the gray-hair set with a median age of 61.  Median age watching the network’s “Two and a Half Men” is 50.

Even some cable channels are showing rises in median ages of viewers.

At USA, the median age is 50, while at TNT it's 47.

Advertisers, ad agencies and network programmers for years have been gearing TV material for what they consider the cherished 18 to 49-year-olds.

The younger set nowadays is busy with smart phones, the Internet and specialized cable channels.

So (surprise!), with more older viewers squinting at video screens, TV decision makers and advertisers are starting to adjust.

AFP finds monster traffic jam in China ‘vanished’

While newspapers and television on Wednesday and into yesterday were displaying photos of the massive traffic jam out of Beijing, China --- with mention that the mess would continue until mid-September --- Agence France-Presse said a team of its reporters drove 150 miles along the route and “did not encounter anything but intermittent traffic jams at toll booths,” observes Grumpy Editor.

“The bottleneck on the Beijing-Tibet expressway, which began on Aug. 14 due to a spike in traffic by cargo-bearing heavy trucks and was compounded by road maintenance works...seems to have vanished,” reported AFP.

The news service pointed out that for days, Chinese and foreign media issued stories on thousands of vehicles trapped in an epic traffic jam stretching for more than 60 miles on the highway to China's capital.

AFP reporters found that while “hundreds of trucks were on the road to Beijing, packed with everything from produce to live goats,” traffic was moving.

China in recent years embarked on major expansion of its national road system but traffic periodically overwhelms the grid, pointed out AFP.

“According to government data,” it added, “Beijing is on track to have five million cars on its roads by year's end,” up from four million a year prior.

Mercedes-Benz radio spot ends with speedy 'footnote'

If you’ve heard current Mercedes-Benz radio commercials pitching a “certified pre-owned event,” you probably wonder what that gibberish chatter at the end is all about.  Grumpy Editor wonders, too.

Mercedes-Benz has been using similar ultra-fast, unintelligible codas in radio commercials for at least two years.

The irritating gibberish tag has spread to other radio spots by various companies.

Yet, advertising agencies must feel the "audio asterisks" compress what would be longer  messages into a set time of 30 or 60 seconds.

It’s equivalent to tiny, unreadable print at the bottom of some television commercials and ultra-fine type in newspapers after an asterisk.

With such radio and TV spots, the Federal Trade Commission --- the nation’s consumer protection arm --- looks the other way.  And the Federal Communications Commission is too busy with other matters.

Despite an appealing pitch at a normal pace, the speeded-up audio “fine print” nevertheless raises the caution flag.

If a product is so appealing, then the pitch should be broadcast at regular speed for human ears rather than utilizing hypoed-blabber at the tail end.

But with Mercedes Benz, there’s been some movement.  The car company has reduced the super-fast speed coda in its radio spots.

The muddled audio routine now runs eight seconds at the end of the commercial compared with 15 seconds two years ago.

 

College journalism students nabbed for carrying guns

College journalism classes usually are rather serious in learning how to apply the five Ws (who, what, when, where, why) and one H (how) as key elements in news coverage, notes Grumpy Editor.

But packing weapons --- unless, perhaps, someone is gearing up for front-line reporting in a battle zone --- isn’t in curriculums.

So it is sad to note that two students, on leaving a journalism class Monday at Laney College, Oakland, are arrested after guns are found in their backpacks.

Police say one male student, 20, was packing a loaded .40-caliber pistol, the other, 21, possessed an unloaded TEC-9.

The two, police add, are alleged members of an East Oakland gang and one is on probation/parole for gun and robbery convictions, the other is on probation for robbery.

Laney College, named after Joseph C. Laney who was a journalist, among other positions, lists 44 types of associate degrees.

Its journalism department, which “offers practical newspaper experience and academic preparation,” places emphasis on new technologies and preparation for media jobs in a computer-oriented society.

Looks like some attention now also will be placed on the police beat.

Orange County Register writers’ mugs to accompany texts

Orange County (Calif.) Register readers soon will get to see head shots of the people who write stories and columns, notes Grumpy Editor.

The mug shots with writers’ bylines will be indented into the texts starting early next month.

Deputy Editor Brenda Shoun, said that suggestion came from MORI Research “to better promote our talented writing staff” and “images were specifically called out by the research team as a good way to do this.”

Thus, readers will get to see if a writer is young, bald, with gray hair, or with long, blond hair.  (The latter could be male or female these days.)

But it will be difficult for investigative reporters to remain incognito.

Among clients listed by MORI Research, an Indianapolis-based media research and consulting firm:  USA Today, Parade magazine, The Washington Post and AARP magazine.

Those at The Register without suitable images will have fresh photos snapped today and Thursday.

ShoreBank, in Chicago, 7 others closed by authorities

Many newspapers missed this over the weekend:  Following a single bank failure the prior week, eight banks were shuttered Friday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the biggest one, ShoreBank, with deep roots in Chicago, had ties to the Obama administration, observes Grumpy Editor.

Four other banks were in California, two in Florida and one in Virginia.

California banks closed were Sonoma Valley Bank, Sonoma; Los Padres Bank, Solvang; Butte Community Bank, Chico, and Pacific State Bank, Stockton.

Florida banks on the list were Independent National Bank, Ocala, and Community National Bank at Bartow.

Also closed was Imperial Savings and Loan Association, Martinsville, Va.

The FDIC actions brought the number of bank failures this year to 118.

ShoreBank, with about $2.16 billion in assets, had been on shaky ground for some time.

Its 15 offices reopened today under the name, Urban Partnership Bank, a newly-chartered institution.

President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have been acquaintances of ShoreBank’s founders and former leaders. But the White House has consistently denied any involvement in earlier rescue attempts.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, will request an investigation of ShoreBank by the FDIC, said a spokesman.

After prominent Wall Street bankers tried to raise money to save the bank, he added, Issa raised questions about whether the Obama administration had sought help for the bank, but hasn't yet received a response from the White House.

Writers' inserted words contradict survey findings

While much chatter, especially on talk shows yesterday, focused on polls that found an increasing number of Americans think President Barack Obama is a Muslim, what was missed by many was the injection of one (similar) word by writers in their versions of poll results, designed to emphasize some survey participants were wrong, ill-informed, completely off base or dopey in what they believe, notes Grumpy Editor.

That’s tampering with results of what poll participants declared --- and editorializing in one swoop.

Examples from three major news outlets with inserted negating words indicated in bold face:

•  “The number of Americans who believe --- wrongly --- that President Obama is a Muslim has increased significantly since his inauguration and now accounts for nearly 20 percent of the nation's population.”

--- The lead in a Washington Post story by Jon Cohen and Michael D. Shear reporting on a Pew Research Center survey.

•  “Americans increasingly are convinced --- incorrectly --- that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, and a growing number are thoroughly confused about his religion.”

---The lead of an Associated Press story by Alan Fram also based on the same Pew Research survey.

•  “Nearly one-third of the country thinks adherents of Islam should be barred from running for president --- a slightly higher percentage than the 24 percent who mistakenly believe the current occupant of the Oval Office is himself a Muslim.”

--- Alex Altman in the second paragraph of a Time magazine story, based on a separate poll conducted for his publication.

Better route:   News writers should save the opinions, coupled with concrete evidence, for the editorial or op-ed pages.

Federal agency seeks $1.3 million for cloud seeding

In these belt-tightening times, the Bureau of Reclamation is seeking $1.3 million for cloud seeding in efforts to produce more water from winter storms for Walker Lake, north of Hawthorne, Nev., notes Grumpy Editor.

The lake, on Highway 95 between Reno and Las Vegas, is 12 miles long, 5.2 miles wide and up to 78 feet deep.

Even with that depth there is concern --- for fish in the lake.

The recreational area is a haven for boating, water skiing, fishing, camping, hiking and bird watching.   And it’s a stopover for migrating waterfowl.

The cloud-seeding process attempts to modify the weather by dispersing substances into the air in hopes of yielding more precipitation from clouds.

It’s always a challenge in an arid area where clouds are few during most of the year.

Walker Lake’s water level has dropped about 145 feet.

But that’s in span of about 140 years.

The lake is fed by 50-mile long Walker River that also flows into Topaz Lake near the California border.  Along with normal evaporation, agriculture takes much of the water diversions. 

The Bureau of Reclamation would channel cloud-seeding funds to the Desert Research Institute, the nonprofit research campus of the Nevada System of Higher Education, which would handle the task.

Obama's visit to L.A. snarls traffic, angers drivers

Grumpy Editor finds that when a power transformer blows and impedes traffic flow in Manhattan, newspapers, wire services and television (often with airborne camera shots) jump on the coverage for national consumption but when President Barack Obama snarls Los Angeles traffic during peak evening hours, coverage of the effects --- other than in the L.A. area --- is virtually nil.

Such was the situation Monday night when the president visited Los Angeles, one of his stops in a fund-raising swing through several states this week.

His motorcade from Beverly Hills to the home of “West Wing” TV producer John Wells took 10 minutes. 

But traffic was snarled for several hours leading to thousands of angry bottled-up drivers, some demanding an apology from the White House.

Reports indicated the fund raiser took in about $1 million.  Security costs, including use of  Beverly Hills, Los Angeles police and other agencies, was estimated at about $2 million.

Stuck-in-traffic Hunter Walker, writing TV Hunter at The Wrap Web site, provided an on-scene report with, “I  am coming to you live from the center of the worst traffic jam I have ever seen in my life. I've been trapped here for over three hours because President Obama and a group of Hollywood insiders are having a fancy fundraiser.”

He suggested that “if the president was unable to get to John Wells' house without causing this level of disruption, then perhaps he should have done his fundraising somewhere else --- like somewhere accessible by helicopter.”

Up-to-the-minute TV traffic reports were missing as news helicopters were grounded because of a no-fly zone in effect over a wide area.

A morning-after story on the Los Angeles Times Web site said the massive traffic jam resulting from the president’s motorcade and fund raiser “is prompting calls for an investigation from some residents, who say they were caught in traffic for hours.”

Earlier, The Times reported that with traffic snarled for hours, “many people simply abandoned their cars and tried to walk home.”

But another report mentioned even foot traffic was banned on some streets.

Read more about upset L.A. area residents in today's Los Angeles Times under the headline:  It's unanimous, president's visit leaves L.A. boiling.