Despite a heavy flow of news stories on fiscal crisis and spending cuts at year-end 2012, somehow overlooked by major media was President Barack Obama’s executive order granting federal workers a pay raise, notes Grumpy Editor.
The Weekly Standard’s Daniel Halper got wind of it and covered the development on Dec. 28.
That was on a Friday afternoon, a time when most key media are snoozing.
The raise becomes effective March 27.
As an example of the pay increase: Vice President Joe Biden will make $231,000 a year, up from $225,521.
See how other federal workers fare here:
Halper points out that a senior Republican congressional aide who reviewed the executive order and consulted with the Congressional Budget Office says the pay raise for federal workers will cost $11 billion over 10 years.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Fiscal cliff” much overused by media in 2012
Fiscal cliff, meanwhile, was one of the most overused phrases by print and broadcast media in 2012.
Yet, the phrase is now new.
Some writers credit Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke with the words when he warned the House Committee on Financial Services last Feb. 29 of the coming “fiscal cliff” that would take effect with upcoming spending cuts and tax increases.
Annalyn Kurtz, a reporter at CNNMoney, finds the earliest reference to the term was in a 1957 New York Times article on home ownership.
Kurtz also notes Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) used fiscal cliff in 2008 in describing Obama’s spending program while Reuters used the phrase in several articles two weeks prior to Bernanke uttering the words in February.
* * * * * * * * * *
Future owner candidates eye Tribune Co. assets
Now that Chicago-based Tribune Co. enters 2013 emerging from bankruptcy, talk centers on new owner candidates.
Tribune Co. properties include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Baltimore Sun, Daily Press (Newport News, Va.), The Morning Call (Allentown, Pa.) plus 23 television stations.
Coming out of bankruptcy, senior creditors Oaktree Capital Management, Angelo, Gordon & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. now control the Tribune Co.’s portfolio of publishing and broadcasting assets, which are expected to be sold.
Among names mentioned as possible future owners:
Aaron Kushner, owner of the Orange County Register.
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. (for the Los Angeles Times).
Doug Manchester, San Diego real estate developer who bought the Union Tribune (now U-T San Diego) newspaper in 2011.
Austin Beutner, former venture capitalist and former deputy mayor of Los Angeles (for the Los Angeles Times).
* * * * * * * * * *
In case you missed these...
Ten minutes into the 2013 Tournament of Roses parade yesterday, it was cutaway time in coverage for ABC and NBC networks which decided to air commercials just as the 100-plus-member precision-marching Marine Corps band passed the reviewing stand. But the HGTV network, without commercial interruptions throughout, showed all…The Pasadena parade included the first Defense Department float. It depicted the Korean War Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. while an added attraction was an Air Force B2 bomber timed to fly over the reviewing stand at 1,000 feet as the Korean War float passed…The Food and Drug Administration moved toward approving genetically-modified salmon for human consumption…Chicago’s Sun-Times Media Group said it will consolidate its suburban newspaper chain…Most discussed story on news/talk radio in 2012 was the presidential election, topping chatter on the fiscal cliff, according to Talkers magazine…A dopey move by District of Columbia police was starting an investigation of David Gregory, Meet the Press host, after he held up to NBC cameras a high-capacity magazine during a gun control discussion. Police said possession of a high-capacity magazine was not permissible. One wonders if police would get as excited if a Washington Post photographer, for example, used a similar magazine to illustrate a story on guns.
* * * * * * * * *
Note: Going into 2013, Grumpy Editor with daily postings since September 2006, will now appear in expanded format weekly.
Comments