Grumpy Editor

MEDIA LEAST TRUSTED INSTITUTION GLOBALLY, FINDS EDELMAN

For the first time, media have become the least trusted institution globally, finds the 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer, notes Grumpy Editor.

Research by Edelman Intelligence, a global insight and analytics consultancy, says in 22 of 28 countries surveyed, media are now distrusted.

“The demise of confidence in the Fourth Estate is driven primarily by a significant drop in trust in platforms, notably search engines and social media," points out Edelman. “Sixty-three percent of respondents say they do not know how to tell good journalism from rumor or falsehoods or if a piece of news was produced by a respected media organization.”

“Lack of faith in media,” adds Edelman “has also led to an inability to identify the truth (59 percent), trust government leaders (56 percent) and trust business (42 percent).

“The United States is enduring an unprecedented crisis of trust,” mentions Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman.

The Edelman “barometer” also reveals trust in the U.S. suffered the largest-ever-recorded drop in the survey’s history among the general population, falling nine points to 43, placing it in the lower quarter of the 28-country Trust Index.

Collapse of trust in the U.S. is driven by a staggering lack of faith in government, which fell 14 points to 33 percent among the general population, and 30 points to 33 percent among the informed public, adds Edelman.

And what are the most trusted U.S. industries?

Technology (75 percent) remains the most trusted sector followed by education (70 percent), professional services (68 percent) and transportation (67 percent) while financial services (54 percent) is once again the least trusted along with consumer packaged goods (60 percent) and automotive (62 percent), according to Edelman.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

ROUGH TIMES AT THE TIMES.  Along with other newsroom turmoil at the Los Angeles Times, Kimi Yoshino, business editor for four years, is abruptly ushered away from her desk and out of the office and not allowed to turn off her laptop or collect her belongings.

THE LAST STRAW?  Ian Calderon, Democrat majority leader in the California State Assembly, introduces a bill to stop sit-down restaurants from offering customers straws with their beverages unless they are specifically requested. Under Calderon's law, a waiter who serves a drink with an unrequested straw would face up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000 because “we need to create awareness around the issue of one-time use plastic straws and its detrimental effects on our landfills, waterways, and oceans."  

INFLIGHT MAGAZINE LOSES WEIGHT.  United Airlines finds a way to save 170,000 gallons of fuel a year costing $290,000:  By cutting one ounce in printing each copy of Hemisphere, its inflight magazine.

TRAIN-LOVING DOG TAKES THREE-HOUR TRIP ALONE.  In Britain, a Doberman takes a three-hour train trip, even changes trains by himself at a station before being found wandering around Birmingham New Street station on his own.  While microchipped, there was no contact number.  His owners are being sought.

MINNIE MOUSE MAKES WALK OF FAME.  Minnie Mouse finally makes it to Hollywood’s Walk of Fame --- 40 years after Mickey Mouse received a gold star.

REPORTER GETS A SHOCK.  A reporter who raced to a Benton, Ky. high school shooting that left two students dead and 21 injured is shocked to learn the 15-year-old boy suspect is her son, reports the Louisville Courier-Journal.

HOLD THOSE BYLINES.  Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writers are withholding their names from  articles they write in a protest with management, citing their treatment over the past 12 years.

MARRIED VETS FACE GREATER SUICIDE RISK: STUDY.  Veterans who are married or in a live-in relationship have a higher risk of suicide than their single counterparts, according to a study from the Department of Veterans Affairs and the University of Connecticut, reports Stars & Stripes.

AWARDS SEASON INCLUDES TRUMP'S 'FAKE NEWS' LIST

With the “awards season” in full force, President Donald Trump last week reveals via Twitter the winners of his self-proclaimed ‘Fake News’ awards, observes Grumpy Editor.

GOP.com, which ran the list, notes “studies have shown that over 90 percent of the media’s coverage of President Trump is negative” and called 2017 “a year of unrelenting bias, unfair news coverage and even downright fake news.”

Topping the list is New York Times columnist Paul Krugman who predicted  the stock markets would never recover from Trump’s election.

It is followed by ABC News’ Brian Ross for his bungled report that Trump advised former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to make contact with Russian officials during the 2016 campaign.

Among others on the fake news list:

CNN falsely reporting the Trump campaign had early access to hacked documents from WikiLeaks.

A Time magazine report that Trump removed a Martin Luther King, Jr. bust from the Oval Office.

The Washington Post’s Dave Weigel tweeting that a December rally in Pensacola, Fla. wasn’t packed --- when supporters were lined up outside waiting for doors to open.

CNN footage suggesting Trump overfed fish in Japan during a visit with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

A Newsweek report that Agata Kornhauser-Duda, Polish first lady, did not shake Trump’s hand.

A New York Times story that the Trump administration hid a climate change study.

 

Trump declares Russian collusion "is perhaps the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people.  THERE IS NO COLLUSION."

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

 

 "SNOW CAR" LOOKS LIKE THE REAL THING.  A Montreal man neatly crafted a fake car made from snow and it looked real enough that when police came around to look for cars parked on the side of the road during snow-plowing hours, they wrote a ticket and left it under a real windshield wiper.

GOOD READING.  For writers, especially those who focus on books, just released is the free quarterly Writers Tricks of the Trade written by writers for writers and produced by veteran author Morgan St. James.  See it at https://joom.ag/aErL

BRIEF DEMOTION FOR SCHUMER.  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in a page one story on government shutdown in some editions of Friday’s Wall Street Journal is incorrectly identified as House minority leader.

L.A. TIMES PUBLISHER TAKES LEAVE.  Los Angeles Times publisher and chief executive Ross Levinsohn, hired five months ago, agrees to take an unpaid leave of absence while allegations of workplace misconduct at prior jobs are investigated.

TAXPAYERS HAPPY WITH ECONOMY.  A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll finds Americans satisfaction with the economy reaches a 17-year high and support for the Republican tax law is growing.

BETTER LOOK FOR WIDE TREES.  With the federal government shutdown, many national parks remain mostly open.  However, public restrooms are closed.

ANIMAL PROBLEMS IN AIR.  Facing a jump in problems with animals in cabins, Delta Air Lines is calling on passengers to provide more documentation for service and support animals.

AMAZON CUTS SECOND HQ LIST.  Seattle-headquartered Amazon narrows its list of a possible second headquarters city to 20.  The new facility could employ up to 50,000 workers, compared with 67,000 full timers in Seattle.

SUDDEN JUMP IN VEGAS SHOOTING EVIDENCE.  After almost four months with scant evidence available to media in the Oct. 1 Las Vegas massacre that resulted in 58 people killed and hundreds injured, a Metro Police report over the weekend says the killer left an enormous amount of evidence for investigators to go through. 

TECH GIANT SQUEEZES SUBSCRIBERS.  Amazon hikes its monthly Prime fee by 18 percent to $12.99 a month. Subscribers get free two-day shipping service. 

NEWS FEED CUT.  Facebook Inc. is cutting the amount of news in its news feed, saying it is prioritizing information from publishers that are deemed most trustworthy.

GLOBAL WARMING A FACTOR?  CNN reports "a substantial amount of snow" fell in Ain Sefra, a desert town in Algeria known as the "Gateway to the Sahara.”  The location is one of the world’s hottest places. 

BAD YEAR AT THE BOX OFFICE.  Movie attendance last year is down by 92 million, compared to 2016, but average ticket price is up 3.7 percent since 2016, reports the National Alliance of Theater Owners.

 

 

 

KIPLINGER’S MAKES IT EASY FOR READERS TO CONTACT STAFF

Too many magazines, and some newspapers, make it very difficult to contact staffers --- which is just plain dumb, grumbles Grumpy Editor.

Readers may have hot tips, article suggestions, added information or just plain praise. 

So it’s interesting to note Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine’s editor Mark Solheim, in the February issue, devotes a whole page to “Thanks for the Feedback.”

Four pages further into the magazine all staffers, from editorial to sales are listed.

As Solheim points out on his page:  “At Kiplinger, the best feedback of all comes directly from you.  One of the guiding principles of the Kiplinger family of publications is reader service.  We aim to be as useful to you as possible and to respond when you reach out to us.  That’s why I include my e-mail address at the end of my column, and it's why articles now include writer’s e-mail addresses.”

Kiplinger’s also employs another method to get feedback --- a panel consisting of several hundred readers who volunteer to rate each issue.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

WHAT, NO COURT MARTIAL?  Maj. Gen. Ryan Gonsalves, who recently headed the 4^th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colo., is denied promotion to three stars because he referred to a female congressional staffer as "sweetheart" during a meeting in October, 2016. 

FAVORITE WORD ON CNN.  After President Donald Trump reportedly asked why the U.S. should welcome migrants from “sh-tholes” like Haiti, Central America or African nations, that word was mentioned at least 36 times Thursday on CNN, tallies Gateway Pundit.

 FORGET STEERING WHEEL, PEDALS.  General Motors thinks folks would drive a car without steering wheel or pedals, reports Fortune.  The automaker petitioned the federal government for permission to deploy self-driving Chevrolet Bolts that lack steering wheel, pedals and other manual controls ahead of the planned launch of a robo ride-sharing service next year.

SOMETHING TO BARK ABOUT.  The FBI has a new agent --- with four legs, a yellow coat and a wet nose:  Harley, a two-year-old Labrador retriever.  She works with the FBI’s New York outpost and the Westchester County Police Department sniffing for flash drives, hard drives, SIM cards and other storage devices in criminal cases where electronic evidence is sought.

BACK TO WORLD WAR II GARB?  The Army will decide later this year if it should switch back to its classic World War II-era “pink and green” dress uniform as part of an effort to link troops more closely to the service’s history.

COST OF OIL RISES AGAIN.  Oil reaches $70 a barrel for the first time in three years as production cuts by OPEC and rising demand drain the global surplus.

NEW FLAVORS LOOM FOR DIET COKE.  Look for new flavors such as “ginger lime” and “twisted mango” and a revamped can design for Diet Coke, first change with the Coca-Cola beverage since 1982.

MORE APPEAL FOR STOCK OWNERSHIP.  Bloomberg reports Warren Buffett says U.S. tax cut legislation makes stock ownership more attractive by making companies more valuable by giving owners a bigger share of profits.

NOAA CITES WEATHER-LINKED DAMAGE.   Massive damage from the unprecedented number of hurricanes along with fires, floods and other weather-related events, cost the U.S. a record $306.2 billion last year, estimates the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 

SUDDEN RICH KID.  For Shane Missler from Port Richey, Fla., it was time to retire at the ripe old age of 20 after winning the whopping $451 million Mega Millions prize in the Florida Lottery.

15 YEARS ON OVERNIGHT RADIO.  George Noory this month marks his 15^th year as host of “Coast to Coast AM,” an overnight radio show fed by Premiere Networks.  The program features interesting interviews on various topics with the focus on paranormal or conspiracy theories.  On Tuesday's show, for example, the key topic will be on the coming ice age.

UNDELIVERED MAIL.  In Louisiana, a federal prosecutor says a 50-year old former U.S. Postal Service worker took mail from his rural postal route to his home in Pitkin where he burned at least 20 tubs of mail. 

'NUCLEAR BUTTON' EXCHANGE STIRS MEDIA COVERAGE

Grumpy Editor finds it interesting that most U.S. news --- and social --- media went ballistic last week, spilling over to the weekend, when North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump compared buttons --- nuclear buttons, that is.

The nuclear button exchange started when Kim said in his New Year’s speech that North Korea’s nuclear arsenal was now essentially complete and the launch button was “always on the desk in my office.” Trump responded by tweeting “I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”

The response online and in print was generally one of concern that a subject so stark and potentially catastrophic as nuclear weapons was being blithely discussed by men with the power to use them.

Answering that, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said:  “I don’t think that it’s taunting to stand up for the people of this country,” adding that people should be concerned about Kim’s “mental fitness."

Surveying stories on the buttons during the past week, Grumpy Editor noted not one mentioned the Korean War --- technically still not officially ended --- which the U.S. entered on June 25, 1950, long before most current news folks were born.

Labeled “The Forgotten War” because over the years little was mentioned about it despite 33,739 U.S. military personnel killed and 103,284 wounded in action during the three-year conflict.

Since 1953, despite countless talks, North Korea continued saying it is ready for war with America. 

Now it brags that it has nuclear missiles that can strike any part of the U.S. 

Tough talk is what the communist nation understands.  And, shocking as it is to much of U.S. news media, talk of “a bigger button” gave Kim and company something to ponder as this week North Korea readies what satellite imagery shows another possible rocket test at the Sohae Satellite Launching Station close to the northern border with China.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

SOLID ECONOMY AHEAD, BUT…   Fortune’s Alan Murray said that while all signs point to a solid economy in 2018, with tax cuts boosting growth, “that’s precisely the reason to start worrying.”  He noted economic expansion is eight-and-a-half years old, and come spring, it becomes the second longest on record, unemployment is at all-time lows in 13 states and wages are starting to rise. “As a result," he added, “there’s a steadily growing danger that something will happen to end the streak— a spike in interest rates powered by the Fed, a collapse in the stock market caused by a re-valuation of tech companies, a trade war sparked by the president, or a nuclear standoff with Kim Jong Un, to name a few.”

AROUND-THE-CLOCK FODDER FOR CABLE NEWS CHANNELS.  Michael Wolff’s inside-the-White-House book — Fire and Fury— loaded with details (some questionable along with errors pointed out by readers) about the White House under Donald Trump, prompted the president to fire salvoes against former aide Steve Bannon for derogatory quotes. Cable news channels went wall-to-wall with discussions linked to the book.

BANISHED WORDS LIST FOR 2018.  Wordsmiths at Lake Superior State University issued the 43rd annual banished words list for “Mis-use, Over-use and General Uselessness.”  Among them with their comments:

Tons. Refers to an exaggerated quantity, as in tons of sunshine or tons of work. “Lots” would surely suffice.

Dish. As in to dish out the latest rumor on someone. Let’s go back to “talks about” and leave dishes in the cupboard.

Pre-owned.  What is so disgraceful about owning a used car now and then?

Let that sink in.  One could say shocking, profound, or important. Let that sink in.

Let me ask you this.  Wholly unnecessary statement. Just ask the question already.

Fake News.  Once upon a time stories could be empirically disproved. Now “fake news” is any story you disagree with.

Hot water heater.  Hot water does not need to be heated. “Water heater” or “hot water maker” will keep us out of hot water.

LETTERMAN RETURNS TO TV.  Among Dave Letterman’s guests when he returns with a TV talk show on Friday on Netflix is former president Barack Obama.  Other guests slated include George Clooney and Howard Stern.  Name of Letterman’s hour-long show:  My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with Dave Letterman.

ANOTHER BOMB.  Scary new phrase getting a big play in broadcast and print last week was “bomb cyclone.”  It applied to a massive winter storm in which the barometric pressure drops rapidly, at least 24 millibars in 24 hours.

MORE SEARS STORES TO SHUTTER.  Sears announced it will close more than 100 Sears and Kmart stores.  The move follows several previous rounds of closures in recent years.

CADDIES ZOOM IN CHINA.  General Motors sold more Cadillacs in China than in the U.S. last year:  175,489 to 156,440.  GM began selling in earnest in China only in the last decade.

CABLE NEWS CHANNELS GO DARK.  Life Time, a multi-state fitness operation based in Minnesota, has banished all-news cable channels — MSNBC, CNN, Fox News and CNBC — from its screens at its centers, because a growing number of patrons think they don’t fit a healthy lifestyle.  Only USA, A&E, Discovery, HGTV, ESPN and local stations remain on the TV screens.  A spokesperson said the fitness centers dropped cable news outlets based on “many member requests received over time across the country and in keeping with our overall healthy way of life philosophy and commitment to provide family-oriented environments free of consistently negative or politically charged content.”