Grumpy Editor

Grumpy Editor taking Memorial Day week hiatus

 

With Memorial Day, Grumpy Editor is taking a break --- and will return on Monday, June 1.

Stephanopoulos' actions show lack of true journalism

 

ABC News’ chief anchor George Stephanopoulos --- former communications director and senior adviser for policy and strategy for former President Bill Clinton --- faces a credibility crisis in political coverage even after apologizing to viewers Friday for failing to disclose donating $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation, observed Grumpy Editor.

In 2012, 2013 and 2014, Stephanopoulos made $25,000 donations each year to the charitable organization headed by Bill and Hillary Clinton, and daughter, Chelsea.

In an interview last month with author Peter Schweizer about his book "Clinton Cash,” Stephanopoulos did not disclosed that Clinton link to viewers.

In addition to being chief anchor and chief political correspondent for ABC News, Stephanopoulos is co-anchor of ABC's "Good Morning America" and host of Sunday’s "This Week."

Like many others working these days in broadcast and print news, Stephanopoulos was a political science graduate (from Columbia University, New York), rather than holding a degree in journalism, thus lacking solid education/basic training in the specialized news-gathering field.  It’s much like allowing an unqualified “dentist,” without a doctor of dental surgery degree, to drill on teeth or going to a fake certified public accountant, who doesn’t hold an accounting degree, to tackle figures for taxes.

Mark Levin, on his Friday talk show, called Stephanopoulos a “phony journalist.” 

Jeremy W. Peters and John Koblin in the New York Times on Thursday said, “Even after more than a decade as an analyst, anchor and public face for ABC News, George Stephanopoulos has never been able to shake the image that many Republicans have of him: Clinton hatchet man.”

AP television writer David Bauder on Friday pointed out “ABC News' rules permit charitable donations, but reporters are required to inform management before covering a story related to the organization.”

Bauder added, “The story is a threat to Stephanopoulos' ability to cover politics for ABC, said Mark Feldstein, a veteran broadcast journalist now a professor at the University of Maryland” and “he couldn't have given the Republican Party a greater sword to decapitate him.”

Meanwhile, Free Beacon on Friday reported Heather Riley, spokeswoman for ABC News programs “Good Morning America” and “This Week,” worked in the White House press office from 1997 to 2000.

 

FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE EDITORS MISSED THESE…

Among federal agencies missing from current news stories:  Anyone read or hear about Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) coming to the rescue of tornado victims in many states this month, or over the weekend?  However, FEMA has been busy concentrating on states that must, as of next March, properly address climate change to be eligible for grant funding…Industrial output fell for the fifth straight month in April, triggered by a drop in energy-related drilling and sluggish manufacturing, reported the Federal Reserve on Friday…So does this mean sending more jobs overseas?  Manufacturing jobs in the U.S. declined by 7,231,000 (or 37 percent), since employment in that category peaked 36 years ago, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data…Among government waste items in the "2015 Pig Book":  $120 million for the continued upgrade of the M1 Abrams tank --- despite objections by senior Defense Department officials…Comcast, largest U.S. cable provider, in efforts to repair its poor relations with customers, said it plans to hire 5,500 workers over the next three years to handle customer service…The $4.4 billion deal by Verizon Communications Inc. to acquire AOL Inc., includes the Huffington Post.

 

Gee! In the no-kidding department:

Grumpy Editor noted this front-page headline ---

 ACLU:  Tough-on-crime bills will lead to more inmates.

ABC News devotes 8 seconds to WWII anniversary flyover

 

While other news outlets covered in some detail the Washington, D.C. flyover involving a rare sight of 56 vintage aircraft marking the 70^th anniversary of Victory in Europe (V-E Day), ABC World News Tonight with David Muir on Friday devoted a scant eight seconds (in a negative way) to the event, observed Grumpy Editor.

Since TV emphasizes visual events, the anniversary was tailor made as World War II aircraft flew at about 1,000 feet on a route that took them above the Potomac River, to the Lincoln Memorial and Independence Ave. and on to the House office buildings. 

Among aircraft in the flyover was a Boeing B-29 Superfortress, the only known model still flying, similar to the one that dropped atomic bombs on Japan, spurring the end of World War II. 

Thousands of spectators cheered along the National Mall, from rooftops and balconies.

Other aircraft in the sky parade included P-47 Thunderbolts, P-38 Lightnings, P-40 Warhawks, P-39 Aircobras and bombers: B-24 Liberators, B-25 Mitchell and B-17 Flying Fortress.

So what did ABC News focus on for its mighty eight seconds of coverage?

Footage solely of a single engine Grumman Avenger with a sputtering engine that was forced to break away from the formation.  (It made an emergency landing without incident at Reagan National Airport.)

Considering the great national interest and the rarity of getting almost five dozen vintage aircraft from World War II days in the sky at the same time, it was a solid example of bad news judgment by ABC news editors.  

Earlier in the day at the World War II Memorial on the Mall, dozens of veterans placed wreaths in memory of 400,000 Americans and 60 million people worldwide killed during the war.

With a dwindling number of WW II fliers on hand, news media that recognized the significance of the rare event interviewed some of the veterans.

 

FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE EDITORS MISSED THESE…

Investors on Friday cheered word from the Labor Department that the U.S. economy created 223,000 jobs in April after a sluggish first quarter this year.  That sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 267.05 points to 18191.11 --- with some calling that move a Goldilocks market…With indications of an improved job market leading to more money in pockets, the American Automobile Association predicted more than 37 million Americans will travel for Memorial Day, the most since 2005.  AAA expected those taking a trip of 50 miles or more will rise 4.7 percent to 37.2 million…Media Research Center president Brent Bozell, on Friday’s Fox News’ Neil Cavuto program, said news media, in losing the trust of the American public, have become more "marginalized" and "radicalized" during the Obama years, deliberately ignoring news "if it harms the narrative of the left”…The Wall Street Journal continues as the nation’s most influential financial news organization, according to a survey of more than 400 financial journalists by two DePaul University professors.  Bloomberg News came in second, followed by The New York Times, The Financial Times, CNBC and Reuters…Tribune Publishing Co., parent of the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, The Baltimore Sun, among others, entered into an agreement to purchase the almost 147-year-old U-T San Diego (better known over the years as Union-Tribune) as well as nine community weeklies and related digital properties in San Diego County for $85 million…In a fresh show of force to the U.S. and others, North Korea on Saturday claimed it successfully test-fired a newly developed ballistic missile from a submarine.  Later, came a report that North Korea fired three anti-ship cruise missiles into the sea off its east coast…Keeping Air Force One busy:  Landing in South Dakota on Friday marked President Barack Obama’s visits to all 50 states.

Now about global warming --- with snowballs followed by baseballs on Mother’s Day:  Up to five inches of wet, heavy snow fell in Denver early yesterday.  But Coors Field was cleared in time for the baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Colorado Rockies.

It’s Monday. Will stocks end lower, after up session?

 

Strange that no official financial eyebrows are being raised (publicly, at least) with the lengthy “yo-yo” stock market, generally up one day, down the next, observed Grumpy Editor, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been bouncing like a ping-pong ball above and below 18000 points since February.

Soft economic data was blamed for Thursday’s D J drop of 195.01 points to 17840.52.

But on Friday, without any earth-shaking news, the market recouped most of the previous day’s drop, gaining 183.54 points to again cross the 18000 line to 18024.06.

"The last four months have been quite a roller coaster,” Richard Yoken, founder of the Portfolio Strategy Group, White Plains, N.Y., informed The Wall Street Journal, adding when clients ask about a 150-point fall in the market, he tells them “not to worry since the Dow would probably be back up 150 points the next day.”

 

Update on last Monday's 'sinking' Santa Catalina

Mention here last Monday about a Los Angeles Times story, based on word from a Stanford graduate student researcher that Santa Catalina island, a tourist destination off the Southern California Coast, is sinking --- an average of one millimeter every five years --- turns out to be nothing new.

Grumpy Editor uncovered an earlier warning about Santa Catalina island “sinking” in a story that appeared in Popular Science News --- more than a century ago.

Under the headline, “Catalina Island Slowly Sinking,” in the November, 1902 issue, J. Mayne Baltimore wrote that University of California professor William E. Ritter “made a most scientific discovery in regard to Santa Catalina island.”

Baltimore added, “In his opinion, and also in the opinion of other scientists of the university, that island is slowly sinking into the Pacific Ocean. The rate is not rapid, but it is considered certain that unless some great geological change takes place, Santa Catalina island will eventually disappear from the face of the sea.”

(NOTE:  Mount Orizaba remains Santa Catalina’s highest point, holding at a steady 2,097 feet above sea level.)

 

FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE EDITORS MISSED THESE…

No global warming effect.  Abundance of snow has extended New England’s snow resorts season into May…While some in Washington are deeply focused on climate change/global warming among other distractions, China is building a stronger navy.  Bloomberg Businessweek revealed the Chinese navy is shifting from small, short-range submarines used in Cold War days, now has at least 70 subs and “over the next decade it’s looking to add as many as 20 boats capable of traveling long distances submerged in deep water for days at a stretch”…Sports writers missed an angle with last Wednesday’s empty house (first of its kind in the major leagues) in tense Baltimore for the Orioles-White Sox game.  All the action was wrapped up in a swift two hours and three minutes, well below the usual three hours-plus.  Incidentally, while attendance was in the books at zero, a Getty Images photo showed two people sitting in the sixth row behind home plate…More PR work ahead for Bank of America.  A J.D. Power survey ranked the nation’s second biggest lender worst among its peers in retail customer satisfaction in states where it has the most branches…A Harvard University Institute of Politics poll of more than 3,000 18-to-29 year olds found only 2 percent said they trusted the media to do the right thing "all of the time”…Allied with this was a survey reported in AdvertisingAge that only 4 percent of Americans think the marketing industry behaves with integrity while nearly half of consumers surveyed say they don't trust any news source…The New York Times Co. posted a $14 million net loss for the first quarter.  A key factor was a drop in print advertising…Latest guideline issued to Wall Street Journal copy editors: Avoid using “Hillary” alone in a headline.  It added that Clinton is fine for most headlines with a reminder that she is Mrs. Clinton, by her preference, not Ms. Clinton…"State of the News Media,” Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, found cable news prime-time viewership in 2014 dropped by 8 percent and newspaper circulation fell by 3 percent.

 

This just in:

A top-of-the-page headline in a major daily in the West:  Imported furniture can be found in local shops.