Grumpy Editor

Reporters unload colorful words to describe Trump

 

With scores of media members following Donald Trump as he makes the rounds around the country as a Republican presidential candidate --- with the highest poll numbers ---  wide editorializing prevails in stories, notes Grumpy Editor.

As an example, here’s how writers Steve Holland and Andy Sullivan describe Trump in a lengthy Reuters story in Saturday newspapers, following his visit to the U.S.-Mexico border:

“The mud-slinging mogul with a complicated hairdo”… (worked into the lead).

“Trump’s trash-talking ways and eye for the spotlight”…

“Trump’s headline-grabbing antics”…

"Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric”…(leaving out the word illegal preceding immigrant, as many others in broadcast/print media continue to do).

Reuters’ own tracking poll, updated on Thursday, shows Trump tied with Jeb Bush for the lead (with 16 percent of the vote) in the GOP presidential race.

(A CNN poll, released Sunday, showed Trump getting 18 percent support among Republicans, with Bush in second place with 15 percent.)

With Trump among the 10 top candidates at the first televised debate next week, the Reuters writers indicated concern, with Trump facing cameras, about the two-hour Fox News session degenerating “into a carnival-barking sideshow.”

Fretting in the third paragraph that Trump may dominate air time, the Reuters writers admitted deep in their story:  “In past years front-runners have held a central position on stage and received a greater share of questions and speaking time.”

Yet none of this raised editors’ eyebrows.

Stay tuned.

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No interest in The Donald?

Donald Trump’s visit to the U.S.-Mexico border near Laredo, Texas on Thursday attracted about 100 media folks who filled two press buses.  At a news conference, about 15 microphones faced him.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

Among those accompanying President Barack Obama on Air Force One on his Africa visit were more than a dozen members of Congress from both parties and both houses…Unhappy with a Des Moines Register editorial calling for him to pull out of the GOP race, Donald Trump banned the paper from attending his Iowa campaign event on Saturday…Usually news on jobless claims reaching a 41-year low would give the stock market a boost.  But Thursday’s Labor Department figures showing workers filing for jobless benefits in the week ended July 18 fell by 26,000 to a seasonally-adjusted 255,000 had little effect with the Dow Industrials losing 119.12 points to 17731.92 that day, then slumping another 163.39 points to 17568.53 on Friday…While it usually takes one or two years for U.S. agencies to compile wide-ranging, multi-source figures, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in just three weeks from the end of June said global land and sea surface temperatures in this year’s first six months were 1.53 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average…Stars and Stripes reported a study found 271,000 Vietnam veterans suffer from PTSD, with symptoms like flashbacks, nightmares and startle reactions, with a third of them also suffering from depression or anxiety…NewsBusters pointed out “another example of bias by omission” by ABC, CBS and NBC television networks in not covering Tuesday’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on sanctuary cities and murders committed by illegal immigrants who benefitted from the policy.  It added, “Fox News Channel’s Special Report was there to pick up the pieces left by their network equivalents with a full segment”…With 122 prisoners remaining, the White House is in final stages to shutter the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba…Nikkei Inc., Japan’s largest media company, purchased Britain’s Financial Times (known for printing on tan newsprint) for about $1.3 billion…Final edition of San Diego’s The Daily Transcript, which began publishing in 1886, will be on Sept. 1…Fortune magazine’s Global 500 list, out this week, placed Walmart as the world's largest company by revenues, while the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was number one in profits.

 

Snail mail sidetracked.

A Philadelphia postal service carrier was accused of stashing 22,500 pieces of mail in his car and garbage bags in his garage over an eight-month period.  But the undelivered pieces were finally on the way to intended recipients last week.

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Major Garrett deserves a boost in "rank" to colonel

In pursuit of information, journalism students are urged to ask solid, often tough, questions in efforts to gain a full picture, reminds Grumpy Editor, who once taught a news writing course at a California university.

So when Major Garrett, CBS News’ chief White House correspondent asked President Barack Obama at a press conference last Wednesday why he was “content” with the Iran nuclear deal --- with nothing said about negotiations on releasing four Americans (including two journalists) being held in Iran --- an irritated president admonished Garrett by saying, “that’s nonsense, you should know better,” adding, “nobody’s content and our diplomats and our teams are working diligently to try to get them out.”

Garrett, a 1984 University of Missouri graduate with journalism and political science degrees, later said it was odd that the hostages were not part of the negotiations and he didn’t mean to imply that the president was “content” leaving Americans hostage, adding the administration has used the phrasing multiple times before with families of the hostages.

Surprisingly, some members of the White House press corps attacked Garrett as “disrespectful.”

“All I was trying to do was elicit from the commander-in-chief where these four Americans in Iran fell in his prioritization of obtaining a nuclear deal and whether he fought for their release,” said Garrett.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

President tackles two New York City fundraisers in four days.  After a Friday night fundraiser that raised nearly $1 million, President Barack Obama and his two daughters strolled through Central Park late Saturday morning.  But it wasn’t a quiet, hardly-observed walk.  With them were about four dozen Secret Service agents plus New York police officers on scooters and an overhead helicopter.  The president was due to fly in for another New York fundraiser on Tuesday…Not getting attention of news editors in the wake of shooting deaths of four Marines and a sailor at a military post in Chattanooga, Tenn., were quick decisions by governors of several states directing their state flags to be flown at half-staff to honor those victims --- yet President Obama has not directed the U.S. flag be lowered to half-staff at the White House and other public buildings…A bit off course.  Covered heavily on television, a major brush fire Friday that ignited about two dozen vehicles and halted traffic on California's busy I-15, a key highway to and from Las Vegas, was pinpointed by a MSNBC host as “east of San Diego” when the precise location was 115 miles to the north, near Victorville…A Friday Wall Street Journal opinion piece on “immigrant bashers” mentioned “immigrant” or “immigrants” 16 times without reference to “illegal.”  The material came close, however, with “immigrants in this country unlawfully, whether they overstayed a visa or crossed a border, should be required to face serious consequences to make amends”…Republican Sen. Ted Cruz's new book, “A Time for Truth,” finally made the New York Times best seller list (as No. 7 in the non-fiction category) a week after the newspaper rejected it as a best seller, claiming sales were inflated by "bulk purchases”…A tally by Rasmussen Reports found 55 percent of likely voters are opposed to the president’s immigration amnesty while 34 percent favor.  In addition, 63 percent feel “gaining control of the border is more important than legalizing the status of undocumented workers already living in the United States” --- highest level of support for more border control since December, 2011…Democrat California Gov. Jerry Brown signed a bill into law that eliminates reference to husband and wife, replacing each with the generic term “spouse”…After publishing for 46 years, The National Journal will end publication of its print magazine at year end and shift resources to digital journalism.

Tired of constant media references, with accompanying stock market gyrations, to upcoming rising interest rates?

No end is in sight.  First it was by June, then September, then October, now “later this year.”

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Number of U.S. troops, ships drops as other nations build

 

Broadcast and print media during the week were so focused on heavy coverage of the Confederate flag being lowered in South Carolina that they missed a significant development --- further slicing the number of U.S. military personnel, observed Grumpy Editor.

How big of a cut?  Elimination of about 40,000 active-duty military positions. 

That’s equivalent to about three Army divisions.

Ex-military members are shaking their heads as the downgrading comes at a time when other nations, such as China and Russia, have been boosting their military and equipment.

The deterioration may not be over.  Pentagon leadership said the cuts could expand with additional mandatory budget reductions from Congress.

The reductions are due to the Budget Control Act of 2011, that aimed to reduce defense spending. With another round of budget cuts, known as sequestration, the Army would be forced to reduce ranks by an additional 30,000 soldiers.

Critics said the cuts would leave America unable to respond appropriately to international threats.

Army Director of Force Management Brig. Gen. Randy George said further reductions would constitute a “significant risk.”

That development came on the heels of another shocker that failed to make front pages:  With a shortage of U.S. Navy ships (lowest number since before World War II), the Marine Corps was exploring a plan to deploy its forces abroad in response to global hot spots --- by hitching rides on foreign vessels.

The current Navy is too small, said Jim Webb, former Secretary of the Navy under President Ronald Reagan.  He pointed out when he left his post in 1988 there were 568 Navy ships vs. 280 today.

 

FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

No way to boost a declining audience.  CNN with Anderson Cooper’s segment on Friday fumbled exclusive live coverage of Donald Trump by cutting away for an in-studio panel discussion as Trump started to bring a half dozen people to the microphone to detail killings of family members by illegal immigrants, a hot topic stemming from a San Francisco incident in which a young woman randomly was shot and killed by an illegal alien felon who had been deported five times…Allied with that, anyone notice that San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi, a former county supervisor, looked like a brass-heavy Army general when facing media in connection with the shooting of the young woman?  Displaying his rank, he wore 16 clearly visible stars: four on each side of his shirt collar and four on left and right shoulders of his jacket…New way to mark an anniversary?  The Wall Street Journal experienced an outage on its Web pages on Wednesday (it’s 126^th anniversary) amid other same-day tech troubles at the New York Stock Exchange and United Airlines…ABC News reported former President George W. Bush charged $100,000 to speak at a 2012 charity fundraiser for U.S. military veterans severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan…Inflation barometer?  Starbucks raised some drink prices by five to 20 cents…Accuracy of book best seller list raises eyebrows.  The New York Times told book publisher HarperCollins it will not include Ted Cruz's new biography, “A Time for Truth,” on its best sellers list, even though the book has sold more copies in its first week than all but two of the Times' bestselling titles…Under a USA Today headline --- Apple's stock falls into the danger zone ---  a story mentioned Apple shares “continued their steep fall, violating several ominous key levels and starting to cost investors some real money” adding, “The gadget maker’s shares Thursday cratered $2.53, or 2.1 percent, to $120.06 a share – their lowest closing price in five months.”  So what happened on Friday, the next day?  Escaping “the danger zone,” the stock jumped 2.67 percent or $3.21 a share to $123.28.  Today, AAPL gained 1.93 percent or $2.38 to $125.66…Friends, fans and family were upset that under consideration is a name change from "Burbank Bob Hope Airport” to “Los Angeles Burbank Airport.”  Now that should create confusion for fliers --- Los Angeles or Burbank?  With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Bob Hope, who died in 2008 at age 100, appeared on stage, radio, television and in films, and was a key entertainer of troops overseas, making 57 tours between 1941 and 1991…Greece’s liquidity crisis was spilling over to some newspapers which faced a paper supply problem, mainly with payments.

 

A federal judge ruled that inmates in Cook County Jail, Chicago, have constitutional rights to access newspapers if they want them. 

The jail currently bans newspapers.

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S.F. shooting underscores Trump’s ‘illegals’ remarks

 

Major media are hesitant to admit it but the random killing of a 32-year-old woman in San Francisco last week underscores Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s remarks of crimes committed by illegal immigrants who enter the U.S. via the porous southern border, noted Grumpy Editor.

Francisco Sanchez, 45, was arrested Wednesday night after police said he shot and killed Kathryn Steinle as she walked with her father at Pier 14 along the crowded Embarcadero, a destination popular with tourists and families.

Sanchez, who was deported five times, has a rap sheet with seven felonies, and in March was released from jail in San Francisco --- despite immigration authorities asking that he be kept in custody.  In the Wednesday incident, Sanchez told police he was shooting at sea lions.

In commenting on the shooting, Trump on Friday said, “This senseless and totally preventable act of violence committed by an illegal immigrant is yet another example of why we must secure our border immediately. “This is an absolutely disgraceful situation and I am the only one that can fix it. Nobody else has the guts to even talk about it. That won’t happen if I become president.”

Liz Sullivan, mother of the shooting victim, on Friday said Sanchez “should have never been out, and now our daughter is gone forever,” adding “it’s a terrible travesty, and we lost our daughter. Everybody is trying to put the political spin on it, but it happened, and there’s no taking it back.”

In the presidential race, a CNN poll out last Thursday showed Trump in second place with 12 percent of Republican voters and GOP-leaning independents, up from 3 percent before he announced his candidacy on June 16.  Jeb Bush held top spot with 19 percent, up from 13 percent in May.

 

FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

The press must be able to see, hear, witness and question the President and his or her aides on a routine basis, in addition to the daily White House briefing.  That’s one of the White House Correspondents Association’s primary goals, unveiled in detail Saturday, in search of “meaningful and consistent access to the President and his or her aides whenever and wherever they conduct the public’s business”…Delayed findings:  Hillary Clinton, Democrat presidential candidate, on Saturday accused China of stealing commercial secrets and “huge amounts of government information” and its “military is growing very quickly”…California’s Bay Area continued to be risky for TV news crews in the field.  San Francisco’s KNTV and KTVU staffers, covering a homicide, were robbed at gunpoint by two men, a cameraman was pistol whipped and $100,000 in camera equipment was stolen --- with some of the action captured live…Sneaker-maker New Balance continued to press the Pentagon to buy American-made footwear (through the company’s Boston facility) for U.S. military instead of Chinese-made footwear from rival Nike.  The Department of Defense in April announced military recruits would start using athletic shoes 100 percent manufactured in America…Chris for Hillary?  A photo snapped at a July 4 parade in suburban Washington, D.C. showed MSNBC’s Chris Mathews marching next to a woman holding a Hillary for America banner…Press passes come at a price, a lofty $500, at Wednesday’s FreedomFest in Las Vegas.  Organizers said the high figure was designed to distinguish real journalists from, say, bloggers in covering appearances by GOP presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio, radio-TV personality Glenn Beck, Fox Business host John Stossel and Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. However, organizers will give a free press pass to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada’s dominant newspaper.

 

In California’s first statewide rate overhaul since the 2000-01 energy crisis, electric bills for most household customers will rise over the next few years, following approval --- on quiet semi-holiday Friday --- by the state Public Utilities Commission.

The rate hikes will show up on bills starting next year.

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