Grumpy Editor

CORONAVIRUS CHANGES APPEARANCE OF NEWSROOMS

 

The appearance of newsrooms is changing due to the coronavirus, notes Grumpy Editor.

 

Over the years you’ve seen movies depict active newsrooms:  from clacking of typewriters to phones ringing to busy city desks.

 

Many metropolitan newspapers now have staffers working from their residences.

 

“Newsrooms don’t look or sound like that at the moment.  And they might never again,” says Tom Jones, senior media writer at the Poynter Report.

 

“These days, because of the coronavirus, most newsrooms are dining room tables and living room couches and spare bedrooms turned into local, one-person news bureaus,” he mentions, adding “as time goes by, and journalists have become accustomed to working at home and still putting out an excellent product, a question has emerged:

 

“Are newsrooms — the actual physical offices — even needed anymore?  We will soon find out.”

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

 

NORTH KOREA MOVES AHEAD WITH NUCLEAR PROGRAM.  Over the weekend, North Korea says relations with the U.S. have “shifted into despair” and promises the regime would be moving ahead with its nuclear-weapons program.

 

MARINES SKIP STORMING BEACH.  While about 3,000 troops are taking part in one of the U.S. Navy’s largest maritime drills in the Baltic Sea, for the first time Marines won’t be conducting amphibious landings and storming the beach during the exercise because of coronavirus concerns.

 

GANNETT CLOSES TWO TEXAS NEWSPAPERS.  Gannett closes its Edinburg Review and Valley Town Crier newspapers at the southern tip of Texas, not far from the border with Mexico.

 

ACTION IN HOLLYWOOD GETS GREEN LIGHT.  Los Angeles health officials give Hollywood the green light to resume film and TV production...but action in front of cameras won't be starting soon.

 

HARPER'S BAZAAR GETS FIRST BLACK EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.  Samira Nasr, a former Vanity Fair fashion director, is named editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar, making her the first black editor-in-chief of a Hearst-owned publication.

OLDEST LIVING GREAT DANE HONORED.  Freddy, a Great Dane crowned the world’s tallest living dog by Guinness World Records in 2017, adds a new title as the oldest living Great Dane, reaching eight years.  He is over seven feet tall when standing on his hind legs at his home in the U.K.

HOLD IT.  Not making coast-to-coast headlines is that folks who "have to go” while visiting Times Square in New York find few restrooms open to the public. Restaurants, bars and coffee shops where visitors could find relief in the past have shuttered restrooms to the public during the coronavirus. 

BANKS CONSIDER CLOSING SOME BRANCHES.  Banks are mulling closing some branches because customers are visiting them less frequently during the pandemic.

 

TRUMP FROWNS ON RENAMING MILITARY BASES.  President Donald Trump resists the push to rename 10 U.S. military bases named after Confederate officers.

 

TV'S 'COPS' DROPPED.  Following protests against police, “Cops,” after 33 seasons on television, is dropped by the Paramount Network.

WOULD TODAY’S MEDIA KEEP D-DAY PLANS A SECRET?

 

 

D-Day landing, 1944

 

 

With the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landing in France being observed on June 6, press action — or more precisely inaction at that time — on activity leading up to the event that led to liberation of Europe would never happen today, declares Grumpy Editor.

 

Those representing print and radio at that time were patriotically mum on the most heavily guarded secret on the planet:  Invasion of Normandy across the English Channel.  It was the major turning point in the war.

 

Nowadays most members of the media can't keep a secret, or even a rumor, without firing it off.

 

On that noteworthy day in 1944 surprise was crucial, especially with Germany’s 55 divisions in France.

 

Six parachute regiments, with more than 13,000 troops, flew from nine British airfields in more than 800 aircraft, part of a massive flight of more than 11,000 planes.

 

More than 300 aircraft dropped 13,000 bombs over coastal Normandy in advance of the invasion when more than 160,000 troops stormed the beaches.

 

The main Allied invasion force of almost 7,000 naval vessels carried troops, weapons and heavy equipment, including tanks.  The armada included 1,200 warships that transported the troops and nearly 30,000 vehicles.

 

Ships of various sizes dotted the 100 miles across the channel, stretching as far as the eye could see.

 

True journalists at that time kept the secret that resulted in a surprise landing in Normandy.

 

Most of today’s media, with many members holding political science rather than journalism degrees, simply wouldn’t abide by a top-secret label on a major event.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

 

NAVY UNIFORM PATCH UNDER REVIEW.  The federal government was reviewing Defense Department policy regulations on dress code after some service members wore a uniform patch with the words “Make Aircrew Great Again” along with a likeness of Donald Trump during the president’s visit to the USS Wasp in Japan.

WETTEST 12 MONTHS SETS RECORD.  The National Weather Service said there's never been a wetter 12 month period in the past 124 years. The continental U.S. averaged six inches of precipitation above average during the period.

 

PATRIOTIC PARADE GETS SLIM COVERAGE.  Outside of the nation’s capital, there wasn’t much coverage of the thousands of spectators who lined Constitution Avenue to pay tribute to the past and present U.S. military in the National Memorial Day Parade.  Parade participants wore uniforms dating back to the Revolutionary War.  Along with floats, vehicles carried the parade's grand marshals — World War II veterans — as well as Medal of Honor recipients and celebrities.

 

MAN SHOOTS PROWLERS, GETS ARRESTED.  A 64-year-old man was arrested for possession of an illegal handgun after he fatally shot a pair of prowlers burglarizing his home in Deerfield, N.Y.  He told the district attorney the weapon he used in self-defense was his late father’s.   He was charged with felony possession of an illegal handgun.

SINGLE PURCHASE BOOSTS STORE SALES.  Costco performed a price check after noting a nearly $400,000 purchase at one of its stores during its most recent quarter. The lofty price tag was linked to one item — a diamond ring.

 

CANINE RULES TOWN.  Maximus Mighty-Dog Mueller II (Max for short), has been Idyllwild, Calif.’s mayor since 2014. The non-incorporated community in the San Jacinto mountains has has been electing canines for its highest office since 2012.  

 

BANK ROBBER NABBED IN CASINO.  A suspect in at least four armed bank robberies in Massachusetts and Rhode Island was captured as he gambled at the Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, Mass.

 

CHINESE COUNTERFEIT GOODS CITED.  Military Times reported military and government agencies plus others purchased more than $20 million worth of Chinese-made counterfeit goods designed to look like domestically produced gear from a company that defrauded the government and helped to orchestrate the counterfeiting process between January, 2013 and October, 2018. 

 

51ST STATE LOOMING?  A House committee will hold a hearing July 24 on a bill that proposes Washington , D.C. be recognized as the nation’s 51st state.  The bill calls for two senators and one representative for D.C.