Grumpy Editor

DOES MEDIA DO A GOOD JOB COVERING IMPORTANT STORIES?

There’s a big gap between how the public and journalists rate the work of news organizations, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

A Pew Research Center report finds 41 percent of the public believes media do a "good" job covering important stories, compared  to 67 percent of  journalists while 42 percent of journalists believe the public has "little" or "no" trust in information from news organizations, vs. 44 percent who believe the public has "some" trust. 

 

Also, 85 percent of surveyed journalists think the media organizations they work for are trusted by the public.

 

While 65 percent of 11,889 surveyed journalists feel news outlets do a "very" or "somewhat" good job at reporting news accurately, only 35 percent of 9,388 polled adults agreed.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

ARMY OFFERS $35,000 BONUS TO RECRUITS.  The Army is offering a $35,000 bonus to new recruits willing to sign a four-year contract and ship out to boot camp within 45 days.  As it struggles to fill open training slots, it is the first time the Army is offering an amount that large for a bonus to any career field.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ON EARTH?   How many people live on Earth?  With the population growing steadily, best estimate puts it at about 7.76 billion people.

TV NEWSROOM STAFFING FALLS.  The Radio Television Digital News Association’s annual survey of local TV full-time newsroom staffing finds a 6.3 percent drop last year to 26,250.  Better financial times did not produce newsroom expansion.

 

BLOODHOUND WINS IN DOG SHOW.  Trumpet, a 4 1/2-year-old bloodhound, wins Best in Show at the 146th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show in a competition with more than 3,000 dogs from 200 breeds and varieties.  It marks the first time a bloodhound wins the contest.

 

RAINBOW TROUT HIT BY BACTERIA.  A bacteria outbreak in two Golden State hatcheries is forcing the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to euthanize about 350,000 rainbow trout.  That could affect fishing stock in some state waterways in coming months.

 

ONE THIRD OF PEOPLE GET EIGHT HOURS SLEEP.  A Rasmussen Reports survey finds 38 percent of people report getting about eight hours sleep on most weeknights, while 53 percent get less. Another six percent say they usually get more than eight hours sleep. 

 

OKINAWA MARKS WORLD WAR II BATTLE.  Okinawa on Thursday marked the 77th anniversary of the end of one of the bloodiest battles of World War II.  The Battle of Okinawa killed about 200,000 people, nearly half of them residents of the island.

 

PAST MARIJUANA USERS CAN BE HIRED.  The Senate Intelligence Committee passes legislation that would allow U.S. intelligence agencies to hire people who used marijuana in the past.

LESS BANG FOR THE BUCK SEEN FOR FOURTH OF JULY FIREWORKS

 

Look for July 4 fireworks to cost more, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

Although there is more inventory this year, prices are up 25 percent, says an official of a main manufacturer.

 

Shipping costs, a main factor, have increased $8,000 to $10,000 per container to about $45,000 per container since 2019, tallies the American Pyrotechnics Association.

 

Outlays for fireworks will be competing with food, gasoline and other items that have jumped in price.

 

Also affected:  Some fireworks shows may be affected by the lack of pyrotechnic specialists.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

TWO BREEDS DEBUT AT DOG SHOW.  The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show debuts two new breeds, the Mudi and the Russian Toy.  The Mudi is a herding dog breed from Hungary. The Russian Toy is a small, lively dog with long legs, fine bones and lean muscles. 

DEATH VALLEY HEAT CLAIMS VISITOR.  A California man was found dead in Death Valley National Park after running out of gas and walking in an extreme heat wave, park officials say. A heat wave brought temperatures up to 123 degrees.

CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT SEEN.  Climate change could have a dangerous impact on about one-quarter of the world’s population by 2050, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change.  Scientists in the study claim that if the Earth’s temperature goes up 2 degrees Celsius, drought conditions will be inevitable to 25 percent of the population

SMALL-BUSINESS OWNERS PESSIMISTIC.  Small-business owners' expectations for the future are at a 48-year low, according to a survey.  Small-business owners remain pessimistic about the second half of this year over supply chain disruptions, inflation and labor shortage.

LEGO PLANS FACTORY IN VIRGINIA.  Lego Group, world’s largest toy maker, plans to invest more than $1 billion to build a factory in Virginia that will be entirely carbon-neutral.  The factory will be Lego’s seventh globally.  It also plans to open a factory in Veitnam.

 

ROUSH PUBLISHES 10TH BOOK.  Chris Roush, business journalism expert and behind Talking Business News (TBN) on the web publishes his 10th book, “The Future of Business Journalism: Why It Matters for Wall Street and Main Street.”

 

ALASKA CRUISES REQUIRE MASKS AGAIN.  Cruise lines Princess Cruises and Holland America on select Alaska trips are again requiring masks for voyages to that area amid a COVID uptick in the state. 

 

DOG SETS HOUSE AFIRE.  A dog in Missouri accidentally manages to activate a touchscreen button that operates the kitchen stove. That fills the kitchen with smoke that leads to a full-on fire in a home.

 

CHINA LAUNCHES 'SOPHISTICATED' AIRCRAFT CARRIER.  A third aircraft carrier launched by China is termed "sophisticated."  It's equipped with electromagnetic catapults for launching aircraft. 

NATIONAL REGULAR GASOLINE PRICE HITS $5 A GALLON

Grumpy Editor notes national average retail price for regular gasoline hit $5 per gallon on Saturday for the first time in more than two decades, based on data from AAA.

 

The situation is likely to get worse as oil demand continues to outpace global oil supply, driving barrel prices even higher.

 

Prices at the pump Saturday were 63 cents higher than they were a month earlier and nearly $2 more than a year ago, according to the AAA tally.

 

Factors causing more pain at the pump for drivers include sanctions placed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, higher fuel demand as drivers are "reclaiming their travel time" after being restricted over the past two years and the official start of the hurricane season --- which could further threaten supply.

 

Probably the highest in the nation --- a gas station in Mendocino in Northern California posts regular gas for $9.60 a gallon.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

ABC ATTRACTS MOST VIEWERS ON TV SPECIAL.  The prime time telecast of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was watched by 20 million TV viewers.  ABC attracted the most, followed by MSNBC, NBC, CBS and CNN.

 

HOUSEHOLD NET WORTH FALLS.  Total U.S. household net worth fell $5.4 billion to $149.2 trillion in the January-March quarter, says the Federal Reserve.  It is the first net worth decline after seven quarters of expansion.

 

REVLON EYES CHAPTER 11.  Debt, competition, inflation and supply chain problems are factors in Revlon’s plans to file for Chapter 11 protection, perhaps this week.

 

PANDEMIC SMACKS SAN FRANCISCO.  Remote work boosted by the pandemic hits San Francisco harder than any other major U.S. city, according to new census data.  The city lost 6.3 percent (54,813 people) of its population from July 2020 to July 2021.

 

NEW ALCOHOL RULE FOR BARS AND RESTAURANTS.  By the end of summer, every California bar and restaurant employee who serves alcohol --- including those at wineries, breweries, distilleries, brewpubs, event centers and stadiums --- must obtain a new certification.

 

CHICAGO RESCUER AWARDED CAR.   A Chicago man who jumped onto train tracks to rescue a person who had fallen onto an electrified rail during a fight at an L station earned praise --- and was awarded a car plus a $25 gasoline card.

SOUGHT: RETAIN FIVE NAVY SHIPS.  The House Armed Services Committee seeks to save from retirement five Navy ships, including the cruiser USS Vicksburg and four landing dock vessels. 

37 MILLION BIRDS HIT BY FLU.  Bird flu in Arizona leads to the death of 37 million birds in the central and eastern U.S., say wildlife officials.  First detections then highly contagious avian flu was four months ago in Indiana. 

 

TODAY MARK'S WORLD WAR II D-DAY EVENT IN 1944

A major event during World War II occurred 78 years ago today: D-Day, notes Grumpy Editor.

Is your newspaper running a story on that today?

 

The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944 brought together land, air and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest invasion force in history. The operation delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France.

The invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 navy personnel from eight allied countries.

About 133,000 troops from England, Canada and the United States landed on D-Day.  Casualties from the three countries during the landing numbered 10,300.

By June 30th, more than 850,000 men, 148,000 vehicles, and 570,000 tons of supplies landed on the Normandy shores. Fighting by soldiers, sailors and airmen of the allied forces western front led to the defeat of German Nazi forces. 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

WORLD’S FASTEST SUPERCOMPUTER.  Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. says it has developed the world's fastest supercomputer, Frontier, in partnership with Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  At 1.1 exaflops, Frontier makes over 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (or one billion-billion) calculations per second.

 

ADVERTISING, PR JOBS FALL.  Employment in advertising, public relations and related services fell by 2,400 jobs last month, a  turnabout for a sector that until recently had been scoring solid gains, according to a U.S.Bureau of Labor Statistics report.

 

MOST AMERICANS EXERCISE.  Latest Rasmussen Reports survey finds 85 percent of American adults exercise at least once a week, including 23 percent who exercise four or five times weekly and 21 percent who exercise daily or almost every day.

 

CNN’S "BREAKING NEWS" TO FADE.  Chris Licht, CNN's new boss, says the network overuses "Breaking News" and he has added a “Breaking News” guideline to its stylebook, addressing overuse of the phrase.

 

GOLDEN STATE THINKS BEES CAN SWIM.  To get bumble bees protections from agricultural practices, California court judges determined that bees could actually be considered fish.

 

MESSAGE IN BOTTLE MAKES IT TO SHORE.  A message in a bottle launched from a North Carolina island in early April turns up nearly two months later after floating more than 700 miles to a Massachusetts island.

 

WOMAN HEADS COAST GUARD.  Admiral Linda Fagan becomes the first female officer in charge of a U.S. armed service branch — the Coast Guard. The 1985 Coast Guard Academy graduate previously served as commander of the Coast Guard Pacific Area.

 

FOX TERRIER CROWNED OLDEST.  A 22-year-old toy fox terrier is crowned the oldest living dog.  She enjoys listening to country music and sleeping until five p.m., say her owners in Taylors, South Carolina.