Grumpy Editor

Washington Post stats slump as executives scratch heads

As circulation and advertising figures slide at the Washington Post Co., management is probably wondering why --- and the Internet is not wholly to blame, notes Grumpy Editor. 

The Post reports print advertising skidded 12 percent in the 2012 fourth quarter, to $67.5 million.  The Post also cites average daily circulation in 2012 declined 8.6 percent to an average of 471,800, while average Sunday circulation fell 6.2 percent to 687,200. 

What’s behind advertising and circulation drifting lower at most newspapers?

When businesses, large and small, envision less money to spend, advertising is one of the first things slashed. 

Daily news reports are loaded with uncertainty, especially with predictions --- and scares from the nation’s capital --- of economic messes ahead. 

A heavy flow of new business/personal rules, regulations and taxes coming out of Washington plus the confusing financial wake looming from ObamaCare and the upcoming sequestration are among key contributors to the wide-scale uncertainty. 

For businesses, that’s not conducive to boosting advertising. 

Thus, the constant negativity running in news columns triggers less advertising space sold, putting a major dent in the bottom line of newspaper publishers. 

Eventually, and sadly, this also results in newspapers’ periodic staff trimming, among other measures. 

With circulation, when readers find their favorite newspaper is more of a lap dog rather than a watchdog --- echoing information, especially fuzzy math and misleading facts, fed from the White House and some lawmakers without newspaper fact checking or solid investigating --- they move on to other news sources. 

Getting back to the Washington Post:  Seeking to highlight a bright spot in the company’s glum 2012 financial figures, the Post cited:  “One benefit of the paper’s woes: lower newsprint costs,” down 10 percent.

 

 

AP okays ‘husband,’ ‘wife’ for same-sex couples

Updated in the Associated Press Stylebook, used by most newsrooms:  

Regardless of sexual orientation, use of husband or wife is acceptable in all references to individuals in any legally-recognized marriage. 

Spouse or partner may be used if requested, adds AP.

 

In case you missed these… 

Time magazine runs the longest article in its 90-years of publishing with a 24,000-word piece on “Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us” by Steven Brill…The New York Times Co. is putting the “for sale” sign on its Boston Globe which also includes the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette…CBS News’  Bob Schieffer will receive the National Association of Broadcasters distinguished service award on April 8 in Las Vegas…David Axelrod, former White House senior adviser and senior strategist for President Barack Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns, joins NBC News and MSNBC as a senior political analyst…Los Angeles Times scrubs its daily prime time television schedule from the newspaper’s Calendar section starting tomorrow…CNBC acquires the long-running Nightly Business Report from PBS and will move production from Miami to CNBC headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. on March 4…Generally overlooked in coverage of the wide-scale manhunt for rogue ex-Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner, who later died in a Big Bear (Calif.) cabin fire, was the early-morning shooting in Torrance, Calif. of two L.A. Times delivery women by eight LAPD officers who mistook them for Dorner.  The injured women’s attorney says he counted 102 bullet holes in their blue Toyota Tacoma…Comedian Conan O'Brien, who hosts a nightly show on TBS, will emcee the annual White House Correspondents Dinner on April 27, airing on C-Span…Journal Register Co., which owns --- and plans to sell --- Michigan dailies The Oakland Press, The Macomb Daily, Morning Sun and Daily Tribune, says it plans to lay off more than 840 employees, with hopes that the new owner will rehire them. 

Media not stirred by Obama’s 70,000 bridges to repair

Absent from most print/broadcast coverage of President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech last week:  those 70,000 “structurally deficient” bridges popping up again, this time with a repair price tag of $50 billion, notes Grumpy Editor. 

Initial mentions of the 70,000 bridges started five and a half years ago. 

Repairing bridges comes as Congress debates a jobs bill. 

Media’s focus last week was on Obama’s agenda of upping the minimum wage, climate change and gun control legislation. 

 

Broadcast newsrooms need larger maps 

One of the lead items on broadcast news last week was “a moderate earthquake has struck in rural Nevada near the California state line.” 

That doesn’t quite pinpoint the shaky area. 

For eastern news writers, the Nevada-California state line runs 650 miles.  That’s the distance between New York City and Chicago. 

Actual center of the 4.9 magnitude shaker was 45 miles west of Tonopah, Nev.  Closest California city: Bishop.

 

Rubio gulps water about 155 times on MSNBC

Television media put the focus on Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s Republican response to the State of the Union address on his water sipping rather than content. 

In the forefront was MSNBC which replayed Rubio’s swig about 155 times --- with 101 of them played on loop at the bottom left of the screen Wednesday during the Rachel Maddow Show. 

CNN replayed the water action 34 times. 

In a fair-and-balanced mode, Fox News, meanwhile, showed a clip of President Barack Obama also sipping water from a plastic bottle during an earlier speech.

In case you missed these… 

Carnival Corp. faces a mammoth PR problem in the wake of power-food-sewage problems for five days on its cruise ship Carnival Triumph that was towed to Mobile, Ala…Comcast Corp. agreed to pay NBCUniversal $16.7 billion to acquire General Electric Corp.’s remaining 49 percent of the entertainment company…Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs joins MSNBC and NBC News as a contributor…Thomson Reuters plans to slash 2,500 jobs this year.  That’s 4 percent of its global work force…Time Warner Inc. is in talks to sell a chunk of its Time Inc. magazine division to Meredith Corp.  The plan calls for Time Warner to retain Time magazine, Fortune and Sports Illustrated.  But People and Entertainment Weekly, among 16 others, would mesh with Meredith’s 14 titles including Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal, and Better Homes and Gardens. 

Editors overlook event marking last U.S. bayonet battle

Overlooked by U.S. media was an anniversary ceremony at South Korea’s Osan Air Base last Thursday marking the U.S. Army’s last known bayonet charge, known as the Battle of Bayonet Hill on Feb. 7, 1951, during the “forgotten” Korean War --- which remains open ended, notes Grumpy Editor.

The battle --- involving the Army’s 27^th Infantry Regiment’s Easy Company --- pitted Americans against North Korean and communist Chinese soldiers.

Nine U.S. infantrymen died in capturing so-called Hill 180 while 47 enemy troops were left dead on the slope.

 

Revised Condé Nast contract irks writers

Freelance writers are grumbling over a revised Condé Nast master contract that includes a line declaring the publisher owns television and movie rights to all stories that appear in its magazines.

It could mean a financial loss into six figures for contributors.

Condé Nast’s two dozen titles include Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, GQ, Glamour, Self, Golf Digest and Brides. Advance Publications is Condé Nast’s parent.

No Saturday mail affects some publications 

The Postal Service’s planned termination of Saturday deliveries starting Aug. 3 will affect distribution of some publications.

The National Newspaper Association notes about 30 percent of its member papers rely on Saturday mail deliveries.

Time magazine subscribers receive the mailed weekly on Fridays or Saturdays.  Bloomberg Businessweek, which already is using alternate means to get its weekly issues to some subscribers, figures a quarter of its subscribers will see mail deliveries extended to Mondays.

The Postal Service figures ending Saturday deliveries would help save the agency about $2 billion a year.

 

In case you missed these…

The Weather Channel stirs up its own storm by labeling the weekend northeast blizzard Nemo.  Turning thumbs down on the name include the National Weather Service and independent meteorologists…Look for President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address tomorrow to work in the often mentioned-for-months line:  The economy is heading in the right direction…Not a good time for copy editors.  The sharp-eyed word/fact/grammar watchers are sacrificed more than any other newsroom personnel --- with a 50 percent reduction in the past five years…No major headlines, as a Navy budget is being considered in Washington, on how the Navy’s fleet is down to 287 ships, the smallest American armada since the early 1900s.  A 2010 independent panel called for a fleet of 346 ships…The Washington Post Co. signs an agreement to sell its Herald, in  Everett, Wash., daily it has owned since 1978.

‘Skeet shooting’ Obama aims rifle low at clay target

A photo of President Barack Obama skeet shooting, released by the White House over the weekend, has some participants of the sport  raising eyebrows, notes Grumpy Editor.

Most editors who ran the photo, shot last Aug. 4 at Camp David, failed to notice the “skeet shooting” president’s rifle barrel is almost parallel to the ground.

That’s not the way to shoot at an up-in-the air clay disk.

It looks more like trying to bag a crow on a low fence.

Nevertheless, the left-handed president, wearing goggles and ear protectors, peers down the barrel of the shotgun while his left index finger pulls the trigger, resulting in a puff of smoke emitting from the rifle.

The aim did catch the eyes of Rick Davenport, of the Erie County Sportsmen’s Federation.  As reported by Carl Campanile in the New York Post, the photo shows “Obama is shooting straight ahead.”

Davenport explains, “In skeet shooting, you’re either shooting high or you’re shooting low. This is nothing but pandering to the sportsmen and hunters.”

 

Is this the way to treat new owner Buffett?

A bit of blushing by editors at the Greensboro, N.C. News & Record in announcing its acquisition by Warren Buffett's Omaha-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

The top front-page story on Friday misspelled Buffett, putting only one t on the name in a headline. 

On the same Friday page, Executive Editor Jeff Gauget announced the introduction of a new crossword puzzle to readers of the News & Record, with a daily circulation of 58,000 and Sunday circulation of 86,000.

Since many readers dislike changes in crossword puzzles, Gauget admits it is “the scariest move for any editor” and adds, “I welcome your feedback.”

Chances are he’ll be busy today going over many emails and phone messages.

 

In case you missed these…

Time Inc., the magazine group unit of Time Warner Inc., is cutting its global staff by about 480 jobs or six percent, as newsstand sales and ad revenue continue to fall…The New York Times, via buyouts and layoffs, trimmed its newsroom by about 30 staffers…President Barack Obama spent nine hours round-trip on trusty Air Force One to fly to Las Vegas last Tuesday for a 25-minute speech on immigration…Also in Las Vegas, a local radio station, which normally runs a live news feed from Washington D.C. in morning hours, somehow on Jan. 30 aired a tape covering the news heard Jan. 22…More vintage material:  To illustrate the Washington Post Co. exploring the sale of its D.C. headquarters, The Wall Street Journal on Saturday ran a photo of the Post’s entrance --- showing reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward leaving the building in April 1974…Geraldo Rivera, with a daily syndicated radio program and a weekly Fox News TV show, is mulling running for U.S. senator from New Jersey.