Grumpy Editor

GOP convention TV coverage stressed gab, not speakers

What was touted as “complete GOP convention coverage” turned out to be mostly talkathons on TV news outlets, observed Grumpy Editor.

Some of the most interesting speakers in the Cleveland gathering were snubbed while TV hosts --- on both cable and over-the-air outlets --- chatted with each other as podium action was relegated to a split screen.

Networks’ convention booths saw up to nine people around a table offering comments as on-stage speakers were muted.

At times, only one of the three main TV cable channels aired speakers live.  CNN had an edge, presenting more live speakers than its talkative competitors. 

NBC, ABC and CBS also did much yakking among themselves.

For example, a stirring presentation by Laura Ingraham, radio talk show host, and often seen on Fox News where she also has filled in for Bill O’Reilly, was snubbed by all commercial TV outlets.  And that, strangely, also included Fox.

A surprise headline later on CNN’s web site:  Laura Ingraham rocks the GOP convention.

With live action on stage, some outlets ran film clips, did interviews on the floor and elsewhere, ran talkers comments from other channels --- while overlooking speakers that viewers sought.

Another interesting speaker, seen only on CNN, was Kimberlin Brown, an actress and owner of several small operations ranging from a design business to avocado farming.  As she cited overregulation “is killing small businesses,” other channels’ personalities were busy chatting, agreeing or disagreeing on political matters and GOP developments.

Brown declared Donald Trump is “the only man to get businesses and the country back on track.”

 

It’ll be interesting to see if the same treatment is carried out today when the Democrats start their convention in Philadelphia.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

Happy hours temporarily extended in Philadelphia. Philadelphia bars and eateries hosting the Democratic National Convention this week will be allowed to serve alcohol beyond the usual 2 a.m. cutoff.

 

Earlier food safety woes were still affecting Chipotle Mexican Grill as same-store sales missed expectations in the second quarter.

 

A female Middle East correspondent for The Wall Street Journal said she was detained for over an hour at Los Angeles International Airport as authorities also sought her two cellphones. Gerald Baker, Journal editor-in-chief, said he was “disturbed” by the action.

 

Citing lagging demand for some products, General Mills will be cutting 1,400 jobs, part of a year-long effort to slice expenses.

 

Who was on lookout? Britain’s HMS Ambush, the Royal Navy’s most advanced nuclear submarine, smacked into a commercial ship off Gibraltar.

 

Another example of deteriorating U.S. military equipment --- on a larger scale. The USS Gerald R. Ford, a $12.9 billion aircraft carrier, has some reliability issues with onboard systems, delaying delivery that was originally set for September, 2014.

 

So how are airlines doing? There’s some confusion. A story on Friday cited terrorism fears, plunging airfares and currency swings affecting results. Another story the next day reported planes are full, jet fuel remains much cheaper than a year ago and the U.S.’s four biggest carriers collectively reported a $3.9 billion second quarter profit.

 

An estimated 32.2 million people watched Donald Trump deliver his GOP nomination acceptance speech Thursday night, topping the 30.3 million who viewed Mitt Romney’s 2012 address, tallied the Nielsen Co.

 

Associated Press reported the Pentagon revised its Law of War guidelines to remove wording that could permit U.S. military commanders to treat war correspondents as “unprivileged belligerents” if they think the journalists are sympathizing or cooperating with enemy forces.

 

Dallas-headquartered Comerica Inc., a financial services company, said it will lay off about 800 Michigan workers as it closes 40 branches in that state, following a 23 percent profit decline in its last quarter.

 

Taylor Terrell, morning news anchor at 41NBC News in Macon, Ga., died Thursday after she fell from the peak of a waterfall in North Carolina.

It happened in the evening before her 25th birthday.

Editors snub kids’ lemonade sales with funds to police

Human interest stories these days are becoming hard to find in print, observes Grumpy Editor.

There was a time when such stories were scattered throughout newspapers. Human interest pieces focus on people, even animals, in an emotional way, leading to sympathy or motivation in readers.

Such was the case --- or actually two similar cases in different cities --- last week when young girls set up lemonade stands to raise money for police.

In Dallas, four girls, ages 8 to 12, set up a lemonade stand that raised an amazing $10,000 in two days in the wake of five policeman killed and seven injured by a lone gunman.

At the same time in a St. Louis suburb, 10 children organized a lemonade stand to raise funds for a police officer in critical but stable condition after being shot from behind by a man he stopped for speeding.

The youngsters hoped to raise about $20 but ended the day with $4,000 for the policeman’s family. The activity attracted several police and fire officials who came to the stand to lend support.

Meanwhile, also not getting play (for obvious reasons) in media was a Rasmussen Reports survey that found “Americans strongly believe the media is emphasizing shootings by police officers involving black suspects over ones in which whites are shot and that media coverage is prompting attacks on police.”

The survey tallied 62 percent of Americans felt media coverage of shootings by police officers inspires people to attack police while 22 percent disagree and another 16 percent are not sure.

Rasmussen added, “Only 34 percent of Americans believe there are more police shootings in America today."

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

Despite what some in media reported, Donald Trump did not use a teleprompter at Saturday’s session introducing Mike Pence as his vice presidential running mate. The event was widely covered by over-the-air and cable news networks --- except for NBC-TV which went for golf coverage of the 2016 Open Championship, teaming with the Golf Channel in providing 10 hours of live action.

 

Air pollution remains top news (since way back in 1945) in Los Angeles where the mayor appointed a panel that will study how to reduce emissions at the city’s huge port facilities which the Los Angeles Times reminded “supports hundreds of thousands of jobs, but it also represents the largest source of air pollution in Southern California.”

 

As some experts have mentioned over the past year: the electric grid in the U.S. could go dark at any time. The Wall Street Journal reinforced that in reporting security at electrical substations is so bad, almost anyone can break in unnoticed and create enough damage to take down huge portions of the grid.

 

Headline writers face sensitive times. Even an accurate headline triggered protests. The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, apologized after protestors complained about a headline --- Gunman Targeted Whites --- in the wake of the deadly police shooting in Dallas.  Protestors soon gathered outside the newspaper’s office in downtown Memphis to express displeasure, some holding signs that read “Black Lives Matter.” Newspaper president George Cogswell, said the headline, “although not inaccurate, was very insensitive to the movement and we recognized that quickly."

 

Headline over a Los Angeles Times story, based on its own poll: As Clinton stumbles, Trump takes an apparent slim lead in new tracking poll. Apparent? The newspaper probably was shocked by its own findings that Trump led Clinton 43 percent to 40 percent.

 

Where the jobs are: Supporters of a Nevada ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana said the industry could support 3,300 direct jobs once it’s in full swing in 2024

 

“It’s stretching it a bit but, hey, we found another one,” a breaking news editor probably said after pushing to get this headline on the web: Man shot by police in Rotorua, New Zealand.

The only shooting in Rotorua, a quiet area, usually is from its geysers, along with other attractions, including bubbling mud pools and natural hot springs.

Marines succumb to PC, remove “man” from specialties

It didn’t get much play in print/broadcast media when the Marine Corps announced it is yielding to political correctness and is removing “man” from 19 of its job specialty titles in a move to be more gender-neutral, notes Grumpy Editor.

Antitank missileman, for example, will become antitank gunner; field artillery operations man will become field artillery operations chief. and reconnaissance man identifier and its subcategories will shift to reconnaissance Marine, according to documents obtained by Stars and Stripes.

Rifleman and mortarman classifiers will remain, as they are embedded in Marine Corps culture, writes S&S staffer Alex Horton, who adds, “Other changes are meant to align with updated terminology, said a Marine personnel official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.”

The change comes after Navy Secretary Ray Mabus in January ordered Gen. Robert Neller, the Marine Corps commandant, to end gender-segregated training, Horton points out.

The S&S writer says Mabus wrote, “This is an opportunity to update the position title and descriptions themselves to demonstrate through this language that women are included,” adding “man” should be removed from titles.

The memos follow Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s decision in December to open all combat-related jobs to women.

Meanwhile, a poll by Economist/YouGov finds only 39 percent of women support registration of women for the draft in legislation working its way through Congress.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

Look for higher cost to satisfy your latte habit.  Starbucks plans to hike prices of some drinks tomorrow, with some items rising as much as 30 cents…With all the action going on in the U.S., President Obama yesterday was visiting a naval base --- in Spain…Following dozens of layoffs at its main newsroom in New York, Newsweek is planning to launch an Indian edition...Donald Trump isn't the only one:  71 percent of those polled by Marketplace and Edison Research think the U.S. economic system is "rigged in favor of certain groups."  The pollsters note with those saying "rigged,” it didn't matter if the person was white, black or Hispanic or whether they identified as Republican, Democrat or Independent...Truth in Advertising accuses Wal-Mart Stores of misleading customers by branding products with high foreign content as "Made in the U.S.A."...Fox Business Network, which ended 2015 as the fastest-growing cable news channel, continues that growth in this year's first half, according to Nielsen Media Research...Restaurant sales are virtually flat and some analysts worry that’s a bad sign for the U.S. economy as a whole, reports Business Insider...Getting a green light to start non-stop airline service this fall to Cuba are United Continental, Delta, American, JetBlue, Southwest, Alaska, Spirit and Frontier.

 

                     Who was George Washington?

A report by the American Council of trustees and Alumni finds only 23 of the top 76 colleges deemed to be "best" by U.S. News & World Report's 2016 rankings require history majors to take at least one U.S. history course.

Eating 150 million hot dogs seen on Fourth of July

 

Grumpy Editor, in holiday spirit as we celebrate the Fourth of July, notes it is a hot day for hot dogs with 150 million of them due to be consumed, contributing to total spending on food today of $6.77 billion, according to personal finance website WalletHub.

 

WalletHub also sees (overlooked) chickens in the holiday picture, too.  It anticipates 700 million pounds of the birds are purchased in the week prior to the holiday.

 

In addition, about $324 million worth of fireworks will be ignited today, although fireworks this year are cancelled in many dry brush areas around the country.

 

While the Fourth of July, or Independence Day, marks the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, annual value of American flags --- most made in China --- is $4.4 million, figures WalletHub. 

 

WalletHub also cites the top five most popular Fourth of July destinations as Chicago, Las Vegas, Washington, Orlando and San Diego.  Las Vegas, however, also has the highest average price for a Fourth of July party ticket --- $124, making it eight times more expensive than Atlanta, the lowest, at $15.

 

And which city has the longest fireworks show? 

 

St. Petersburg, Fla., where the pyrotechnics run a full hour. 

 

 

 

Now, Grumpy Editor has to fire up the grill for a batch of hot dogs.

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