Grumpy Editor

TV, the morning after, lingers on superstorm Sandy

The morning after superstorm Sandy smacked the East Coast, especially the New York City-New Jersey area, brought Grumpy Editor some interesting observations. 

A sweep of the television dial Tuesday morning started at CNN which framed live coverage with lightning flashes in efforts to stir viewers --- even though no lightning was associated with the historic hurricane as it hit the East Coast. 

CNN also picked up live shots of a WABC, New York, TV reporter sloshing through water in a flooded Little Ferry, N.J. street.  The live action was simultaneously fed to HLN. 

With the New York Stock Exchange closed for the second day, CNBC market experts discussed how post-Sandy trading would affect business. 

The Weather Channel continued to track Sandy as it headed northwest, with 10 staffers at various sites set to give updates. 

NBC still had reporters standing in the brisk wind at Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan, with a backdrop of New York Harbor waves churning against a gray sky.

CBS also posted on-camera folks at Battery Park, a favorite location with TV coverage, and then replayed the previous day’s comments by President Barack Obama on how he is going to cut red tape for folks in the storm’s aftermath. 

ABC remained fascinated with the dangling crane atop a Manhattan building under construction and mentioned Sandy brought out the “biggest use of manpower since 9/11” to get things back on track. 

Fox News focused on overlooked Delaware with flooded streets at Rehoboth Beach as waves continued to splash against docked pleasure craft.

Meanwhile, an eyebrow-raising word was heard on CBS radio in the early morning when on-the-hour news led off with the “typhoon” hitting the northeast. 

Typhoon is the term used in the western Pacific area, including China and Japan, along with India, for what is called a hurricane in the U.S.

Byline strike shelved by staffers at New York Times

Whew!  Looks like a talked-about byline strike by hundreds of New York Times staffers has been avoided after the newspaper reached a tentative agreement with the Newspaper Guild on a new labor contract after more than 18 months of negotiations, notes Grumpy Editor 

Times staffers last week were considering withholding bylines and photo credits to emphasize their unhappiness. 

If all goes well, readers no longer will be “threatened” with looking at stories and photos with missing bylines/credit lines. 

The withholding credits idea isn’t new.  Staffers at other news outlets --- including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and Associated Press --- have employed the tactic in recent years.

What credit-scrubbing news staff participants failed to realize:  most readers --- other than family members, close friends and fellow staffers --- aren’t even aware of the vanished bylines/photo credits. 

Veteran and retired newspaper editors will point out that in earlier days not every story was topped by the writer’s name.  And not every photo carried the lensman’s identification.

Writers or photographers credits were scribbled in by editors for stories and art that involved exceptional merit.  It was a reward for performance above and beyond routine, often involving difficult work in reporting/writing or photography.

Caddell notes media mum as new Benghazi details out

As fresh information on the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, surfaced over the weekend, Pat Caddell, public opinion pollster, had strong words in wondering why mainsteam media have been mum in reporting it, observes Grumpy Editor. 

Fox News revealed urgent requests for military assistance during the deadly attacks last month at the U.S. compound in Benghazi were denied.

Overlooking the latest information included the New York Times, which Caddell said, “has been in the tank on this in the way I have never seen.”  

(A key reason:  The Times on Saturday came out and endorsed President Barack Obama for a second term.) 

Caddell, who worked for presidential candidates George McGovern in 1972, Jimmy Carter in 1976 and 1980, Gary Hart in 1984, Joe Biden in 1988 and Jerry Brown in 1992 --- all Democrats --- appeared on Saturday’s “Justice With Judge Jeanine” on Fox News. 

In a stern voice, Caddell declared:  “I am appalled right now, this White House, this president, the vice president, the secretary of state --- all of them --- are willing, apparently, to dishonor themselves and this country for the cheap prospect of getting reelected” and are “willing to coverup with  lies." 

“And the worst thing is the very people (the mainstream media) who are supposed to protect the American people with the truth have become a threat. 

“Coverup is too nice a word.” 

Caddell also pointed out, “This president didn’t care enough to stay in the White House and find out what was going on.” 

He was referring to the day after the terrorist attacks in Benghazi when Obama, after learning four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the assaults, boarded Air Force One for a Las Vegas fundraiser.

Grumpy Editor off this week, returns Oct. 29

Grumpy Editor is taking a break this week. 

Will be back Monday (Oct. 29) in time for Halloween --- and never-ending print/broadcast coverage on the trio of presidential debates leading to the Nov. 6 election.

Schieffer set to be ‘clock watcher’ for Monday debate?

Hopefully, with eyes on the countdown clock, CBS’s Bob Schieffer will bring a little calm --- and “equal time” --- to the third and final presidential debate Monday with President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney, figures Grumpy Editor. 

Uneven time allotments favoring the Democrats’ side from this year’s two prior presidential and one vice presidential debates have caused some grumbling. 

National Review’s Katrina Trinko noted Democrats received more time in all three 2012 debates. 

Citing the CNN debate clock (the timer “bug” at the lower right of the TV screen), Trinko pointed out, “President Obama spoke at greater length than Mitt Romney during both debates, as did Vice President Biden during his debate with Paul Ryan.” 

So Schieffer, who has been with CBS News since 1969, knows something about watching sweep hands on clocks --- or timers --- while broadcasting. 

Moderator of Sunday’s CBS public affairs show, “Face the Nation,” Schieffer is a veteran moderator of presidential debates. 

Schieffer since 2004 has been moderator for the third presidential debate. 

He was moderator of the third presidential debate on Oct. 13, 2004 between president George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry.  

Then on Oct. 15, 2008, he moderated the third presidential debate between then Sen. Obama and Sen. John McCain.

Pew: Reading print papers ebbs; digital platforms grow

Print editors saw the material, but few ran the findings:  only about one fourth of Americans now read print newspapers, notes Grumpy Editor.

Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, in its 2012 news consumption survey, finds “just 23 percent” read a print newspaper as “many readers are now shifting to digital platforms to read the papers.”

That compares with 38 percent in 2006 and 41 percent a decade ago.

Obviously, print editors are reluctant to run screaming headlines about dwindling print readership.

“Figures for newspaper readership may not include some people who read newspaper content on sites that aggregate news content, such as Google News or Yahoo News," Pew points out.

“Substantial percentages of the regular readers of leading newspapers now read them digitally,” mentions Pew.

“Currently, 55 percent of regular New York Times readers say they read the paper mostly on a computer or mobile device, as do 48 percent of regular USA Today and 44 percent of Wall Street Journal readers, adds Pew.

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Newsweek departs print version with Dec. 31 issue

Print versions are fading on the magazine front, too.

Newsweek, after undergoing internal and external contractions over the past five years, today announced it will abandon its print edition. 

The Dec. 31 issue will be its last print version. 

The weekly news magazine’s first issue hit newsstands on Feb. 17, 1933.

Plans call for it to go to an all-digital format “in early 2013” as Newsweek Global.

 

 

Weather Channel restructuring affects up to 80 staffers

Storm clouds rolled in yesterday at the 30-year-old Weather Channel when a reported 75 to 80 staffers were laid off as part of the cable network’s restructuring, observes Grumpy Editor. 

Alex Weprin at TVNewser, in reporting the development, said Atlanta headquarters was hit hardest. 

He quoted a Weather Channel spokesperson who confirmed the operation was eliminating positions across the company with about 7 percent of the workforce affected. 

Launched on May 2, 1982, the Weather Channel broadcasts weather information and related programming, such as “Storm Stories,” around the clock. 

NBCUniversal acquired a controlling stake in 2008. 

“In late September we began an effort to reorganize our company into business units based around our customers and the products and services we create and deliver to them,” said a statement from the Weather Channel.

“This effort was recently concluded and has resulted in the elimination of positions in several divisions of the company,” it added.

“With these organizational changes and our new structure, we are better positioned for future growth. Employees who are directly affected by this position elimination or reorganization are being informed and we are working closely with them through this period of transition.”

The Weather Channel, received by more than 99 million U.S. households, makes it the second most distributed cable network, according to NBCUniversal.

Social Security COLA for 2013: a modest 1.7 percent

The 1.7 percent increase in the 2013 cost of living adjustment (COLA) for seniors, announced today, means about 60 million Americans receiving Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments starting in January will be squeezed in keeping up with bills, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Latest COLA represents about half the 3.6 percent boost for 2012 that came after two years with no raises. 

That translates to an annual average increase since 2009 of only 1.3 percent, hardly enough to keep up with higher costs for utility, gasoline, food, health-medical and most other bills. 

The Social Security COLA is based on increases in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). 

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) officials compare inflation in the third quarter with the same prior-year period.

Things could get even tighter for many retirees. 

Some of the 2013 increase could be wiped out by higher Medicare premiums --- to be announced later --- that are deducted from Social Security payments. 

Government projections indicate Medicare Part B premiums are expected to rise about $7 a month in 2013 from this year’s $99.90 for most seniors. 

Medicare covers services, such as lab tests, surgeries and doctor visits plus supplies (like wheelchairs and walkers) considered medically necessary to treat a disease or condition. 

The Social Security Administration says most retirees rely on monthly Social Security payments for 90 percent of their income.

Noteworthy this year is that today’s slim COLA for retirees comes exactly three weeks before Election Day.

Navy ‘tight’ on details involving sub-cruiser collision

Details remained scant two days after an unusual collision involving a U.S. Navy submarine and a U.S. Navy cruiser off the East Coast, notes  Grumpy Editor. 

On Saturday, a Navy news release --- the basis for a brief Associated Press story picked up in print and broadcast news --- identified the vessels as the submarine USS Montpelier and the Aegis cruiser USS San Jacinto. 

The news release mentioned the collision occurred at about 3:30 p.m. Saturday, no one was injured and the extent of damage to the vessels was not clear. 

Perhaps it was the weekend, but sparse details put the information released to media on par with limited World War II reports. 

The Montpelier was launched Nov. 14, 1986 while the San Yacinto was launched Nov. 14, 1986.  Both call Norfolk, Va. home port. 

A story on the incident in the Virginian-Pilot, which covers the vessels’ home port, followed the AP information. 

However, Luis Martinez, in an ABC News posting 5½ hours after the collision, reported three ships (including the aircraft carrier Harry S Truman) off Florida’s northeast coast were participating in an anti-submarine exercise in preparation for an upcoming deployment.

Martinez quoted a Navy official saying the bridge watch aboard the San Jacinto saw the submarine Montpelier rise to periscope depth about 100 to 200 yards ahead and the bridge ordered an “all back,” but still collided with the sub. 

According to the official, Martinez continued, initial assessment of damage was that there was a complete depressurization of the sonar dome aboard the San Jacinto. 

After the collision the official said the submarine surfaced and communications were established between all the ships on the scene, Martinez added, and the two vessels involved were operating under their own power.

Book: Presidential perks reach $1.4 billion a year

Major U.S. media refrain from mentioning the extent of aircraft operations linked to President Barack Obama, thus most taxpayers are unaware of the $419 million annual cost associated with that activity reported in a new book, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Author John F. Groom gives a rundown on “presidential perks” in “The 1.4 Billion Dollar Man: Costs of the Obama White House.” 

Annual cost to operate the growing presidential aircraft fleet is $44 million, finds Groom.  Add to that $75 million in salary costs for the “presidential airlift squadron” and $300 million for the presidential helicopter fleet. 

Few taxpayers (and editors, too) are aware that 31 helicopters are in the presidential fleet now, a figure Groom unveils. 

Ground transportation for the president runs $2.2 million, while vacations cost $20 million, tallies the author. 

"One of the most important things to note about the $1.4 billion figure is that it specifically does not include the cost of running the White House’s policy operations," writes Groom.  "The $1.4 billion is money that is directly related to the president and his family."

That sum pays for staffing, housing, transportation and entertaining.

Groom points out an Obama “date night” in flying to New York City, including dinner and a show, costs taxpayers $1 million.

“We need to return to the idea of the president as first citizen --- a very important person, but not a deity,” Groom writes in the book.

The president and his administration “should run their lives as examples to the nation, with frugality and simplicity, at least until the huge institution they run, the United States government, returns to some degree of solvency,” adds the author.