Disgruntled Bloomberg Employees Either Too Beaten Down or Burnt Out To Bitch About Their Bosses Anymore
One of the things reporters like to do almost as much as cover the news is whine. Management gives them plenty of ammunition. They're too cheap, mercurial, Mussolini reincarnated, or just plain stupid. And so on.
While reporters usually conduct their hate fests over pitchers of cut-rate beer, it's rare for their enmity to be available to all. Which is what had made www.ourbloomberg.com such a guilty pleasure.
The site is sponsored by The Newspaper Guild, which is trying, so far in vain, to unionize employees in Bloomberg newsrooms. Reporters get to anonymously vent against management, which has provided plenty to bitch about.
Chief bitchee is Bloomberg news czar Matt Winkler, who is accused of varying degrees of hypocritical behavior and the reckless disregard of employees' lives, who complain of such indignities of being called at all hours of the night by second- and third-guessing editors trying to avoid Winkler's wrath, spending all their time matching the competition's stories rather than breaking their own and Winkler caving in to the subjects of unfavorable stories.
Ourbloomberg.com has also chronicled the alarming exodus of a talented crew of reporters, many of whom were tempted to work for the company by solid wages, even-better benefits and the ability to be a major player in financial journalism.
But a dip in profits hit even Bloomberg and the cost-cutting began. Those who had drank the company's Kool-Aid were suddenly spitting it up. With the Winkler reign of terror running unchecked, especially when Bloomberg the owner became Hizzoner, the Guild started sniffing around.
So far, not enough takers to force a vote. And lately, not enough outrage either.
The last posting was on May 15, preceded by one on March 4. In fact, after a steady stream of rantings in 2004, just 11 poor souls are urging their brethren to stop the insanity.
Bloomberg has either won the war, or its vassals are too busy or tired to rise up. Either way, getting rid of the status quo is a no-go.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Dan Rather Not The Savior Needed By CNN
Newsday TV writer Verne Gay's trenchant observations about the tube are usually on target. But he lost his way yesterday campaigning for ratings-challenged CNN to lasso Dan Rather into its fold pronto.
Don't get me wrong, I like the guy. His reporting credentials are unquestioned (the Bush National Guard memo stink notwithstanding) and as he approaches age 74 he's still in a position to bring instant gravitas into any employer (Full disclosure: I wrote some commentaries and radio newscasts for Dan).
Gay postulates Rather would be more than a novelty attraction at CNN. Which would be true -- for about a week.
Let's not forget that Rather on the CBS News was not only in third place, but was a distant third. True, some of that could be chalked up to poor lead-ins in major market (e.g. Oprah helps many ABC stations kick daytime butt).
However, there were times in places like Chicago where Rather was the sixth-place show, meaning sitcom repeats were valued by more viewers than the news, at least the version rendered by CBS.
In other words, Rather could well find a home on CNN, but don't look for him to deliver it from the wilderness since Fox and its red-state denizens decreed who ruled the cable-news roost. And given that CNN appears to be trending more toward a shorter, peppier and, yes, younger approach, is there really room for a high-priced tarnished star to come on in?
Lots of intrigue. Lots of anguish. As Dan might be heard saying again someday: "Courage."
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/nyc-ettel4321627jun27,0,899231.story
Don't get me wrong, I like the guy. His reporting credentials are unquestioned (the Bush National Guard memo stink notwithstanding) and as he approaches age 74 he's still in a position to bring instant gravitas into any employer (Full disclosure: I wrote some commentaries and radio newscasts for Dan).
Gay postulates Rather would be more than a novelty attraction at CNN. Which would be true -- for about a week.
Let's not forget that Rather on the CBS News was not only in third place, but was a distant third. True, some of that could be chalked up to poor lead-ins in major market (e.g. Oprah helps many ABC stations kick daytime butt).
However, there were times in places like Chicago where Rather was the sixth-place show, meaning sitcom repeats were valued by more viewers than the news, at least the version rendered by CBS.
In other words, Rather could well find a home on CNN, but don't look for him to deliver it from the wilderness since Fox and its red-state denizens decreed who ruled the cable-news roost. And given that CNN appears to be trending more toward a shorter, peppier and, yes, younger approach, is there really room for a high-priced tarnished star to come on in?
Lots of intrigue. Lots of anguish. As Dan might be heard saying again someday: "Courage."
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/tv/nyc-ettel4321627jun27,0,899231.story
Thursday, June 23, 2005
How Not To Get A Job--Maybe You Shouldn't Rob The Joint Before You Start Work
You'd think filling out an employment application and going for a job interview would be easy enough. You'd be wrong.
Exhibit A: Two geniuses in the Bay Area apply for a job. Maybe the money wasn't enough, for they were foraging in a nearby office for cash and credit cards. How they got nailed is even a better story than how stupid the two of them are:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/06/23/BAapplicants23.DTL
Exhibit B: Memo to would-be robbers: Don't fill out a job application before you empty the cash register. Another loser in Las Vegas.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Jun-22-Wed-2005/news/26761515.html
Exhibit A: Two geniuses in the Bay Area apply for a job. Maybe the money wasn't enough, for they were foraging in a nearby office for cash and credit cards. How they got nailed is even a better story than how stupid the two of them are:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/06/23/BAapplicants23.DTL
Exhibit B: Memo to would-be robbers: Don't fill out a job application before you empty the cash register. Another loser in Las Vegas.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Jun-22-Wed-2005/news/26761515.html
Pirates In Vermont? FCC Gets Tough On Radio Outlaws
Authorities Rattle Brattleboro Over Tiny Station That Was A Big Pain In The Butt
So, the FCC finally got around to raiding a pirate radio station in Brattleboro, VT, just over the border with Massachusetts, one that had become a virtual fixture in the community.
The question is what took it so long, given that complaints first surfaced in 2003.
http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8860~2934641,00.html
Of course, pirate stations are nothing new. But with increasingly crowded airwaves, they often interfere with legitimate signals. Maybe the FCC is too busy with other stuff to go medieval on these rogue signals. Or perhaps they keep popping up in enough different locations that it's hard to pin them down. Or both. The bottom line is they're a pain, even if they might broadcast something you might want to hear.
The New York Radio Message Board is rife with stories about pirates in Brooklyn broadcasting Caribbean and Jewish programs albeit on different frequencies.
And at a time when commercial radio is locked in what could become a mortal struggle with its satellite rivals, anything that diminishes the ability of people to tune in is enough to set off waves of panic in the sales office. But is the FCC listening?
So, the FCC finally got around to raiding a pirate radio station in Brattleboro, VT, just over the border with Massachusetts, one that had become a virtual fixture in the community.
The question is what took it so long, given that complaints first surfaced in 2003.
http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8860~2934641,00.html
Of course, pirate stations are nothing new. But with increasingly crowded airwaves, they often interfere with legitimate signals. Maybe the FCC is too busy with other stuff to go medieval on these rogue signals. Or perhaps they keep popping up in enough different locations that it's hard to pin them down. Or both. The bottom line is they're a pain, even if they might broadcast something you might want to hear.
The New York Radio Message Board is rife with stories about pirates in Brooklyn broadcasting Caribbean and Jewish programs albeit on different frequencies.
And at a time when commercial radio is locked in what could become a mortal struggle with its satellite rivals, anything that diminishes the ability of people to tune in is enough to set off waves of panic in the sales office. But is the FCC listening?
Monday, June 20, 2005
Wall Street Weenies? Not Working Six Days At The "Journal" Makes You A Wimp
"The idea is to allow people to relax with the Wall Street Journal," notes Journal publisher Karen Elliott House in today's NY Times article about the Saturday Weekend edition to grace newsstands and front porches starting Sept. 17.
It's nice Elliott wants people to be relaxed reading the paper. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for her reporters and editors, even though House told the Times having the Saturday paper would somehow be easier on the staff.
"People won't be working six days a week. But any of the real stars of the Journal work a six-day week now."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/business/media/20journal.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1119295050-ayS62nBPsMGBN1IXZeCxWQ
So, are we to take from that comment that anyone who has the temerity to have a life away from the newsroom and perhaps spend some time with their family is akin to some civil-service clockwatcher who's using valuable oxygen that the 80-hour-a-week warriors desperately crave?
While it's doubtful House meant to imply she had a newsroom full of slackers, it was no doubt a dig at the newsroom's union and its chieftains, with whom she has had frosty relations, at best.
Indeed, House's comments were read with gusto at the union, who reminded its members that more work, equals more pay, regardless of whether the Journal sees it that way.
http://www.iape1096.org/
As far as the union's concerned, the real wimps are the ones who don't put in for the overtime they work.
It's nice Elliott wants people to be relaxed reading the paper. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for her reporters and editors, even though House told the Times having the Saturday paper would somehow be easier on the staff.
"People won't be working six days a week. But any of the real stars of the Journal work a six-day week now."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/20/business/media/20journal.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1119295050-ayS62nBPsMGBN1IXZeCxWQ
So, are we to take from that comment that anyone who has the temerity to have a life away from the newsroom and perhaps spend some time with their family is akin to some civil-service clockwatcher who's using valuable oxygen that the 80-hour-a-week warriors desperately crave?
While it's doubtful House meant to imply she had a newsroom full of slackers, it was no doubt a dig at the newsroom's union and its chieftains, with whom she has had frosty relations, at best.
Indeed, House's comments were read with gusto at the union, who reminded its members that more work, equals more pay, regardless of whether the Journal sees it that way.
http://www.iape1096.org/
As far as the union's concerned, the real wimps are the ones who don't put in for the overtime they work.
Friday, June 17, 2005
XM Gets Really Weird
XM Satellite Radio has managed to carve out enough music channels to satisfy those of us who've been disenfranchised by the stultifying safety of commercial radio. But while there's something for just about everyone, there's such a thing as too much narrowcasting, even for XM.
That's where it can help to also spend time listening to them online, which is the only place you'll find channels devoted to Retro Lounge, Southern Gospel and especially Heavy Metal. But my favorite of the online-only offerings is the Special X channel, which is billed as "Just Plain Weirdness."
True enough.
It's sort of like a Dr. Demento show on warp drive, lots of stuff you've never heard, totally forgot about, or never should have been recorded in the first place. It also makes for some unique segues. Where else would you hear Liberace playing "Flight of the Bumblebee" followed by Frank Zappa's "Stevie Spanking"?
A few other samples from recent listens:
William Shatner--King Henry V (he reads Shakespeare, sort of)
Kurt Russell--Sugar, Sugar (Yes, the Archies tune)
Lee Marvin-Wand'rin Star (Makes Shatner seem like Pavarotti)
Surf Punks-Klo-Rene
Jack Kerouac reading lots of his poetry
And so on. You'll leave with quite a buzz. But it's a lot cheaper than getting stoned.
That's where it can help to also spend time listening to them online, which is the only place you'll find channels devoted to Retro Lounge, Southern Gospel and especially Heavy Metal. But my favorite of the online-only offerings is the Special X channel, which is billed as "Just Plain Weirdness."
True enough.
It's sort of like a Dr. Demento show on warp drive, lots of stuff you've never heard, totally forgot about, or never should have been recorded in the first place. It also makes for some unique segues. Where else would you hear Liberace playing "Flight of the Bumblebee" followed by Frank Zappa's "Stevie Spanking"?
A few other samples from recent listens:
William Shatner--King Henry V (he reads Shakespeare, sort of)
Kurt Russell--Sugar, Sugar (Yes, the Archies tune)
Lee Marvin-Wand'rin Star (Makes Shatner seem like Pavarotti)
Surf Punks-Klo-Rene
Jack Kerouac reading lots of his poetry
And so on. You'll leave with quite a buzz. But it's a lot cheaper than getting stoned.
Glum in Guam Over ESPN.com Cheap Shots
ISLAND LEADERS LASH OUT OVER BEING PORTRAYED AS TROPICAL BUMPKINS IN COCKFIGHTING STORY; CONTRITE CHIEFTAINS IN BRISTOL PULL THE STORY
Apparently, it's easy to take swipes at local customs and portray residents as backward savages when they're not part of your core demographic. Or so ESPN.com thought.
Freelancer Mike Ogle wrote about going to a night of cockfighting, which is legal in Guam. But Ogle wasn't content in his May 24 article (since pulled by ESPN, but you can find it cached if you look it up on Google) to give his up-close-and-personal account of an evening watching roosters being gored by each other. But instead of merely offering up an offbeat slice of life, he also felt a need to throw in a few racially insensitive remarks for good measure. To wit:
Evidently, this is what the locals do to pass the time on this 341-square-mile island (about three times the size of Washington, D.C.) stuck all by itself in the middle of the Pacific. Truly, the middle of nowhere. Entertainment options are limited.
Oh, you mean he came for the nightlife? Oops. Actually, he probably could've killed an hour or two at the island's KMart, the world's largest. Never mind. Ogle was just getting started.
Guam, though, is not exactly Manhattan (23 percent live below the poverty line), and the crowd was not exactly the upper crust of the population. They say if an American man walks through a particular poor village in Guam, families will offer their daughters.
Ogle doesn't tell us, though, if he got laid that night.
It appears it took a while for Guam elders to catch wind of the article, as they first complained to the network on June 14. A few days later, ESPN got around to saying it's sorry. So far, Ogle remains mum. It could be argued, he's just plain chicken.
http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050618/NEWS01/506180303/1002
Apparently, it's easy to take swipes at local customs and portray residents as backward savages when they're not part of your core demographic. Or so ESPN.com thought.
Freelancer Mike Ogle wrote about going to a night of cockfighting, which is legal in Guam. But Ogle wasn't content in his May 24 article (since pulled by ESPN, but you can find it cached if you look it up on Google) to give his up-close-and-personal account of an evening watching roosters being gored by each other. But instead of merely offering up an offbeat slice of life, he also felt a need to throw in a few racially insensitive remarks for good measure. To wit:
Evidently, this is what the locals do to pass the time on this 341-square-mile island (about three times the size of Washington, D.C.) stuck all by itself in the middle of the Pacific. Truly, the middle of nowhere. Entertainment options are limited.
Oh, you mean he came for the nightlife? Oops. Actually, he probably could've killed an hour or two at the island's KMart, the world's largest. Never mind. Ogle was just getting started.
Guam, though, is not exactly Manhattan (23 percent live below the poverty line), and the crowd was not exactly the upper crust of the population. They say if an American man walks through a particular poor village in Guam, families will offer their daughters.
Ogle doesn't tell us, though, if he got laid that night.
It appears it took a while for Guam elders to catch wind of the article, as they first complained to the network on June 14. A few days later, ESPN got around to saying it's sorry. So far, Ogle remains mum. It could be argued, he's just plain chicken.
http://www.guampdn.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050618/NEWS01/506180303/1002
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Give Me An S! On Second Thought....
THE POSITIVELY TRUE ADVENTURES OF THE TEXAS CHEERLEADERS WHO PUT POOP ON PIZZA
Hey, we cover all the news, including this item about a really shitty prank. Literally.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/states/texas/northeast/11908121.htm
Hey, we cover all the news, including this item about a really shitty prank. Literally.
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/local/states/texas/northeast/11908121.htm
Monday, June 13, 2005
Wall Street Journal In Need Of A Roadmap
WHERE THE HELL IS POMPANO BEACH, ANYWAY?
If you're doing a story headlined "The Hottest Vacation House Markets," it would help to have a handle on where those places actually are.
In today's Wall Street Journal, June Fletcher and her copy editors could use a remedial cause in map reading.
While touting Pompano Beach, FL, Fletcher placed it as the "southernmost settlement in newly fashionable Palm Beach County." Only problem? It's not. Pompano's actually in the northernmost part of less-than-fashionable Broward County.
Of course, residents trolling in their seven-figure waterfront mansions and condos in Boca Raton and Delray Beach might be surprised to learn they were newly fashionable.
If you're doing a story headlined "The Hottest Vacation House Markets," it would help to have a handle on where those places actually are.
In today's Wall Street Journal, June Fletcher and her copy editors could use a remedial cause in map reading.
While touting Pompano Beach, FL, Fletcher placed it as the "southernmost settlement in newly fashionable Palm Beach County." Only problem? It's not. Pompano's actually in the northernmost part of less-than-fashionable Broward County.
Of course, residents trolling in their seven-figure waterfront mansions and condos in Boca Raton and Delray Beach might be surprised to learn they were newly fashionable.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Imus Still Apologizing for Sorry Sid Rosenberg
I-MAN MAY BE TRYING TO PREEMPT A LAWSUIT FROM TOM CRUISE FOR "HOMO" REMARK
Sid Rosenberg got the boot from the Imus In The Morning show two weeks ago for a disgusting joke about Kylie Minogue's breast cancer.
So even though the Sidster's finally been silenced -- at least on Imus -- it seems the I-Man is still cleaning up after his former sports guy's mess, according to the New York Post's John Mainelli. http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/47790.htm
The latest transgression involved Rosenberg calling Tom Cruise gay. Just kidding, Imus told his listeners yesterday.
Nobody's talking about why Imus first got around to being contrite weeks after he let the remark go by without much of a peep. But you don't need a lawyer to point you in the direction this one was heading.
Cruise hasn't been shy in the past about marching into court, as the UK tab The Express found out the hard way in 1998 when Cruise and then-wife Nicole Kidman sued over an article that said their marriage was a sham.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/203779.stm
Sid Rosenberg got the boot from the Imus In The Morning show two weeks ago for a disgusting joke about Kylie Minogue's breast cancer.
So even though the Sidster's finally been silenced -- at least on Imus -- it seems the I-Man is still cleaning up after his former sports guy's mess, according to the New York Post's John Mainelli. http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/47790.htm
The latest transgression involved Rosenberg calling Tom Cruise gay. Just kidding, Imus told his listeners yesterday.
Nobody's talking about why Imus first got around to being contrite weeks after he let the remark go by without much of a peep. But you don't need a lawyer to point you in the direction this one was heading.
Cruise hasn't been shy in the past about marching into court, as the UK tab The Express found out the hard way in 1998 when Cruise and then-wife Nicole Kidman sued over an article that said their marriage was a sham.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/203779.stm
Kvetching About Kvetch, Or Evidence The New York Post Copy Desk Doesn't Have A Clue About Jews
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A REPORT ABOUT ANTI-SEMITISM IS GUILTY OF SAME
I caught up this morning to Saturday's New York Post, which had a bad case of the copy desk run amok.
It contained a Marsha Kranes dispatch about a 13-year-old human rights case, where a rabbi was subjected to anti-Semitic remarks in an East Side restaurant. He had asked for a coffee in a paper cup instead of a china cup in accordance with kosher law, which doesn't allow for non-kosher dishware.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06042005/news/regionalnews/47712.htm
The rabbi was finally awarded $500 for his mental anguish.
A good story, ruined by the headline: Coffee Kvetch.
Now we know the Post is known for its catchy headlines, which usually succeed in hitting their mark. But being cute and accurate should not be mutually exclusive.
Kvetch is a Yiddish word that can be used as a noun for somebody who's a whiner or complainer. It's an uncomplimentary term, which in no way should be part of a story about a rabbi who was called in public the most filthy four-letter word you can say to a Jew.
Someone who stands up for his dignity should never be mistaken for a kvetch. And in a city that has more Jews than Jerusalem, the Post should have known better. And if it did, but for the sake of expediency went ahead and ran with it anyway, shame on them.
I caught up this morning to Saturday's New York Post, which had a bad case of the copy desk run amok.
It contained a Marsha Kranes dispatch about a 13-year-old human rights case, where a rabbi was subjected to anti-Semitic remarks in an East Side restaurant. He had asked for a coffee in a paper cup instead of a china cup in accordance with kosher law, which doesn't allow for non-kosher dishware.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06042005/news/regionalnews/47712.htm
The rabbi was finally awarded $500 for his mental anguish.
A good story, ruined by the headline: Coffee Kvetch.
Now we know the Post is known for its catchy headlines, which usually succeed in hitting their mark. But being cute and accurate should not be mutually exclusive.
Kvetch is a Yiddish word that can be used as a noun for somebody who's a whiner or complainer. It's an uncomplimentary term, which in no way should be part of a story about a rabbi who was called in public the most filthy four-letter word you can say to a Jew.
Someone who stands up for his dignity should never be mistaken for a kvetch. And in a city that has more Jews than Jerusalem, the Post should have known better. And if it did, but for the sake of expediency went ahead and ran with it anyway, shame on them.
O'Brien Mania at CNN: Miles and Soledad Getting Hitched In The Morning
BILL HEMMER BIDDING BYE-BYE TO CNN AFTER FINDING THE PROSPECT OF BEING FED TABLE SCRAPS BY SCOTT MCLELLAN LESS THAN APPETIZING
Despite being low on the radar, CNN's American Morning is more often than not a decent rendering of the night before and the day ahead. It manages to sufficiently steer clear of propping up too many talking heads and drowning in its own gravitas, although it avoids the froth of the other network's morning shows. In other words, a Jeannie Moos piece and uncanned banter among the anchors instead of a Faith Hill concert and a cooking segment.
But CNN would dearly love for more viewers to show American Morning some love. Which is why Miles O'Brien is being shipped up from Atlanta to spend three hours next to Soledad O'Brien in New York.
Out goes Bill Hemmer, who thought better of moving on to become CNN's senior White House correspondent. Too many hours spent doing too many standups for too many programs probably helped Hemmer take a pass. Look for him on a rival network near you in the near future.
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/cnn/0605/07cnn.html?UrAuth=`N_NUOcN[UbTTUWUXUTUZTZU\UWU_UVUZU`U\UcTYWYWZV
CNN also unveiled new details about its three-hour afternoon block, brilliantly enumerated by Lisa de Moraes in the Washington Post this morning, who noted American Morning's Jack Cafferty will be part of the rogues gallery:
"[H]e will join Happy, Dopey and Grumpy -- otherwise known as former "Crossfire" banterers Paul Begala, James Carville and Robert Novak -- along with a slew of political analysts, a former terrorism adviser to President George W., a former defense secretary, a former Homeland Security inspector general, an ex-acting director of the CIA and a sprinkling of generals, for a fun-filled three hours anchored by Wolf "Look, the Paint -- It's Drying!"
Blitzer."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601826.html
What should give CNN viewers pause is President Jonathan Klein calling the personnel moves changes in the "cast" of American Morning. The O'Briens should take no comfort in finding out they are performing for us, although for the sake of ratings maybe it wouldn't hurt for an anchor every now and then to come from the Yale School of Drama instead of the Columbia School of Journalism.
Despite being low on the radar, CNN's American Morning is more often than not a decent rendering of the night before and the day ahead. It manages to sufficiently steer clear of propping up too many talking heads and drowning in its own gravitas, although it avoids the froth of the other network's morning shows. In other words, a Jeannie Moos piece and uncanned banter among the anchors instead of a Faith Hill concert and a cooking segment.
But CNN would dearly love for more viewers to show American Morning some love. Which is why Miles O'Brien is being shipped up from Atlanta to spend three hours next to Soledad O'Brien in New York.
Out goes Bill Hemmer, who thought better of moving on to become CNN's senior White House correspondent. Too many hours spent doing too many standups for too many programs probably helped Hemmer take a pass. Look for him on a rival network near you in the near future.
http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/cnn/0605/07cnn.html?UrAuth=`N_NUOcN[UbTTUWUXUTUZTZU\UWU_UVUZU`U\UcTYWYWZV
CNN also unveiled new details about its three-hour afternoon block, brilliantly enumerated by Lisa de Moraes in the Washington Post this morning, who noted American Morning's Jack Cafferty will be part of the rogues gallery:
"[H]e will join Happy, Dopey and Grumpy -- otherwise known as former "Crossfire" banterers Paul Begala, James Carville and Robert Novak -- along with a slew of political analysts, a former terrorism adviser to President George W., a former defense secretary, a former Homeland Security inspector general, an ex-acting director of the CIA and a sprinkling of generals, for a fun-filled three hours anchored by Wolf "Look, the Paint -- It's Drying!"
Blitzer."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601826.html
What should give CNN viewers pause is President Jonathan Klein calling the personnel moves changes in the "cast" of American Morning. The O'Briens should take no comfort in finding out they are performing for us, although for the sake of ratings maybe it wouldn't hurt for an anchor every now and then to come from the Yale School of Drama instead of the Columbia School of Journalism.
Monday, June 06, 2005
News Flash: Jon Pareles Actually Has An Opinion
TIMES ROCK CRITIC SPEWS OUT GALLONS OF SAVED VENOM AT NEW COLDPLAY CD
Nothing like the imminent release of a blockbuster CD to get a rock critic's blood boiling. For the new Coldplay album "X and Y" will sell millions of copies no matter what any critic says about it, good or bad.
That must get the goat of New York Times chief rock critic Jon Pareles, who trashed the CD in yesterday's paper.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/arts/music/05pare.html?
What's more remarkable, though, about Pareles' review isn't his assessment -- which I don't agree with -- but the fact that he was as strident with his opinion as he was.
Pareles has too often been afflicted with Show-Off Syndrome in his reviews, preening in his copy to show readers how much he knows about music theory and composition, every variation of world beats -- Bhutanese throat music, anyone? -- and his know-it-all attitude about rock history, that he often forgets to tell you how he actually felt about a concert or record. Witness this passage on a Kraftwerk concert, which just came out on June 3.
Just as video games have evolved from Pong to "Grand Theft Auto," Kraftwerk's music has also gained dimensions. Its timbres have thickened and deepened; its harmonies have moved beyond major and minor chords; its rhythms have evolved from steady-ticking eighth notes to dance-floor syncopations, drawing on the ideas of the disco, house and techno producers who were inspired by Kraftwerk in the first place. The contrast between songs from the 70's and more recent material was still there, but in both old and new pieces, Kraftwerk had pop reflexes, making its hooks clear and its choruses distinct. As a band that has always loved repetition, Kraftwerk is still in sync with dance tracks that layer patterns above a sparse beat.
But did you like it?
Readers never found out, and Pareles' editors apparently didn't care either way. It's a review, Jon, not a dissertation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/arts/music/03kraf.html
Perhaps the newer culture domos at the Times, first Jonathan Landman, now Sam Sifton, finally put a cattle prod to Pareles to remind him about a crucial ingredient of a review, namely an opinion. For there's no shortage of one when it comes to Coldplay, whom he labels the "most insufferable band in a decade."
Coldplay has verged on self-parody. When he moans his verses, Mr. Martin can sound so sorry for himself that there's hardly room to sympathize for him, and when he's not mixing metaphors, he fearlessly slings clichés.
And on it went. The Times thought enough of Pareles' prose to put it above the fold in the Sunday Arts and Leisure section.
Maybe Pareles is feeling the heat of colleague Kalefeh Sanneh, who will never be mistaken for a shrinking violet. Maybe he's been numbed by all the mediocrity that passes for popular music nowadays. Whatever it takes to make sure Pareles gets on his soapbox and stays there.
Nothing like the imminent release of a blockbuster CD to get a rock critic's blood boiling. For the new Coldplay album "X and Y" will sell millions of copies no matter what any critic says about it, good or bad.
That must get the goat of New York Times chief rock critic Jon Pareles, who trashed the CD in yesterday's paper.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/05/arts/music/05pare.html?
What's more remarkable, though, about Pareles' review isn't his assessment -- which I don't agree with -- but the fact that he was as strident with his opinion as he was.
Pareles has too often been afflicted with Show-Off Syndrome in his reviews, preening in his copy to show readers how much he knows about music theory and composition, every variation of world beats -- Bhutanese throat music, anyone? -- and his know-it-all attitude about rock history, that he often forgets to tell you how he actually felt about a concert or record. Witness this passage on a Kraftwerk concert, which just came out on June 3.
Just as video games have evolved from Pong to "Grand Theft Auto," Kraftwerk's music has also gained dimensions. Its timbres have thickened and deepened; its harmonies have moved beyond major and minor chords; its rhythms have evolved from steady-ticking eighth notes to dance-floor syncopations, drawing on the ideas of the disco, house and techno producers who were inspired by Kraftwerk in the first place. The contrast between songs from the 70's and more recent material was still there, but in both old and new pieces, Kraftwerk had pop reflexes, making its hooks clear and its choruses distinct. As a band that has always loved repetition, Kraftwerk is still in sync with dance tracks that layer patterns above a sparse beat.
But did you like it?
Readers never found out, and Pareles' editors apparently didn't care either way. It's a review, Jon, not a dissertation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/arts/music/03kraf.html
Perhaps the newer culture domos at the Times, first Jonathan Landman, now Sam Sifton, finally put a cattle prod to Pareles to remind him about a crucial ingredient of a review, namely an opinion. For there's no shortage of one when it comes to Coldplay, whom he labels the "most insufferable band in a decade."
Coldplay has verged on self-parody. When he moans his verses, Mr. Martin can sound so sorry for himself that there's hardly room to sympathize for him, and when he's not mixing metaphors, he fearlessly slings clichés.
And on it went. The Times thought enough of Pareles' prose to put it above the fold in the Sunday Arts and Leisure section.
Maybe Pareles is feeling the heat of colleague Kalefeh Sanneh, who will never be mistaken for a shrinking violet. Maybe he's been numbed by all the mediocrity that passes for popular music nowadays. Whatever it takes to make sure Pareles gets on his soapbox and stays there.
Friday, June 03, 2005
Deep Throat Got It All Wrong, Sort Of: John Dean Chimes In
STILL TRYING TO CLEAN UP THE MESSES NIXON LEFT FOR HIM WHEN HE WAS WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL, DEAN SAYS FELT IS FAR FROM FLAWLESS
Give John Dean credit for at least this much. Instead of reflexively becoming an attack dog when assessing Mark Felt like clown-felon G. Gordon Liddy and White House lackey Pat Buchanan, he puts Felt's impact and legacy in proper perspective, in a column that appeared today on www.findlaw.com.
"It is time to learn from what happened, not refight battles Nixon has, for good reason, lost," Dean writes.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20050603.html
Which is not to say Dean is riding shotgun on the Felt bandwagon. He notes Deep Throat may have been a worthy whistleblower, but one who was far from perfect. In fact, he's still a bit puzzled over how much Felt told Woodward was misleading or, in his perhaps jaundiced view -- dead wrong.
Given the complexity of Watergate, it is not difficult to understand how Felt made some mistakes when meeting with Woodward in the dead of the night. Yet in other instances, it is not easy to comprehend how the No. 2 man in the FBI could have provided such bad information, knowing it could become public. And why has Felt let this bad information sit on the historical record for the past three decades?
Felt's outing prompted Dean to return to "All The President's Men" and offers an appendix to show instances where the book is wrong, based on what he says are Watergate documents he's reviewed as well as his own, considerable knowledge of what went down.
Interestingly, Dean looks beyond Felt to tip his hat to who he says is the real hero of Watergate, none other than Ben Bradlee "who not only supported Woodward and Bernstein, but had the trust of the Post's owner, Katharine Graham ... Although The Washington Post never "cracked the case," their keeping the story in the news within the Beltway had a great influence on the Congress, making it an important story. Had Bradlee not done so, history might have been much different."
Give John Dean credit for at least this much. Instead of reflexively becoming an attack dog when assessing Mark Felt like clown-felon G. Gordon Liddy and White House lackey Pat Buchanan, he puts Felt's impact and legacy in proper perspective, in a column that appeared today on www.findlaw.com.
"It is time to learn from what happened, not refight battles Nixon has, for good reason, lost," Dean writes.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/dean/20050603.html
Which is not to say Dean is riding shotgun on the Felt bandwagon. He notes Deep Throat may have been a worthy whistleblower, but one who was far from perfect. In fact, he's still a bit puzzled over how much Felt told Woodward was misleading or, in his perhaps jaundiced view -- dead wrong.
Given the complexity of Watergate, it is not difficult to understand how Felt made some mistakes when meeting with Woodward in the dead of the night. Yet in other instances, it is not easy to comprehend how the No. 2 man in the FBI could have provided such bad information, knowing it could become public. And why has Felt let this bad information sit on the historical record for the past three decades?
Felt's outing prompted Dean to return to "All The President's Men" and offers an appendix to show instances where the book is wrong, based on what he says are Watergate documents he's reviewed as well as his own, considerable knowledge of what went down.
Interestingly, Dean looks beyond Felt to tip his hat to who he says is the real hero of Watergate, none other than Ben Bradlee "who not only supported Woodward and Bernstein, but had the trust of the Post's owner, Katharine Graham ... Although The Washington Post never "cracked the case," their keeping the story in the news within the Beltway had a great influence on the Congress, making it an important story. Had Bradlee not done so, history might have been much different."
Deep Throat TiVo Alert: McGovern and Buchanan Tell How They Feel About Felt
Give The History Channel credit for going beyond newsreels to tackle "Deep Throat," on its HistoryCenter program, though the initial broadcast this Sunday at 8:30 a.m. ET is a tad on the early side for those of us on late-night baby-feeding duty. Thank you, TiVo.
On the docket is former Nixon speechwriter and apologist Pat Buchanan, alongside George (I even lost my home state in 1972) McGovern and historian Robert Dallek, whose next book is about Nixon.
While it's no secret where their sentiments lie, if Buchanan and McGovern get into it, you might not need that extra cup of java for your Sunday morning jolt.
On the docket is former Nixon speechwriter and apologist Pat Buchanan, alongside George (I even lost my home state in 1972) McGovern and historian Robert Dallek, whose next book is about Nixon.
While it's no secret where their sentiments lie, if Buchanan and McGovern get into it, you might not need that extra cup of java for your Sunday morning jolt.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Op-Ed Rumble At The Times; Krugman vs. Okrent In a Public Public Editor's Tiff
AS DANIEL OKRENT WINDS DOWN AS PUBLIC EDITOR, PAUL KRUGMAN GETS IN A PARTING SHOT. BUT IT'S NOT THE LAST WORD. (6/1/05--Update below)
This could get interesting.
In Sunday's Letters to the Editor in The New York Times, the final letter came from none other than Paul Krugman, who objected to getting less-than-star treatment in Daniel Okrent's final column as public editor.
Okrent accused Krugman of selectively using stats to bolster his argument in his Bush-bashing column that is ostensibly about economics but has come to mean something much more in stridently liberal precincts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/weekinreview/22okrent.html?ex=1117684800&en=461b88a9bd5590e7&ei=5070
Krugman called the criticisms "simply wrong" and wrapped up by proclaiming "This should be the end of the story."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/29/weekinreview/29publicletters.html?pagewanted=2
But it's not.
An editor's note at the bottom promised Okrent and Krugman will be going at it again on new public editor Barney Calame's blog later in the week, www.nytimes.com/byroncalame.
It's not the nature of the Times to have feuding columnists air out their spats in public. It conjured a whiff of nostalgia to the Village Voice of the 1970s, when columnists and writers would regularly snipe at each other or their employer in the letters page rather than yell at each other in the office.
It was alternately sad or amusing to see the likes of Howard Smith, Nat Hentoff and Richard Goldstein get all in a huff over some calamity (Robert Christgau only gave the new Pere Ubu album a B-minus? Horrors!) while those who may have actually paid for the Voice -- back when such a thing was mandated -- were allocated less space to rant.
You felt like shouting at them "Take it outside, guys." Which is pretty much the purpose a blog serves nowadays. Which will make the Okrent-Krugman steel-cage smackdown a must-read.
JUNE 1 UPDATE:
Here's the link to the online slapfight:
http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/thepubliceditor/publiceditorswebjournal/index.html?
This could get interesting.
In Sunday's Letters to the Editor in The New York Times, the final letter came from none other than Paul Krugman, who objected to getting less-than-star treatment in Daniel Okrent's final column as public editor.
Okrent accused Krugman of selectively using stats to bolster his argument in his Bush-bashing column that is ostensibly about economics but has come to mean something much more in stridently liberal precincts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/weekinreview/22okrent.html?ex=1117684800&en=461b88a9bd5590e7&ei=5070
Krugman called the criticisms "simply wrong" and wrapped up by proclaiming "This should be the end of the story."
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/29/weekinreview/29publicletters.html?pagewanted=2
But it's not.
An editor's note at the bottom promised Okrent and Krugman will be going at it again on new public editor Barney Calame's blog later in the week, www.nytimes.com/byroncalame.
It's not the nature of the Times to have feuding columnists air out their spats in public. It conjured a whiff of nostalgia to the Village Voice of the 1970s, when columnists and writers would regularly snipe at each other or their employer in the letters page rather than yell at each other in the office.
It was alternately sad or amusing to see the likes of Howard Smith, Nat Hentoff and Richard Goldstein get all in a huff over some calamity (Robert Christgau only gave the new Pere Ubu album a B-minus? Horrors!) while those who may have actually paid for the Voice -- back when such a thing was mandated -- were allocated less space to rant.
You felt like shouting at them "Take it outside, guys." Which is pretty much the purpose a blog serves nowadays. Which will make the Okrent-Krugman steel-cage smackdown a must-read.
JUNE 1 UPDATE:
Here's the link to the online slapfight:
http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/thepubliceditor/publiceditorswebjournal/index.html?
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Not Such A Grand Old Flag At The Detroit Free Press
WITH FRONT PAGE REPLACED BY AN AD AND MITCH ALBOMGATE, ONCE-MIGHTY PAPER SEES ITS CREDIBILITY SLIPPING AWAY
Go to the Detroit Free Press Web site and click under ethics policy. The first line nobly proclaims: "Credibility is the franchise of journalism."
http://www.freep.com/help/ethics_policy.htm
Darn right.
Yet, while the missives set forth in the ethics policy are obviously devoted more to newsgathering, those five words also apply to the newspaper itself, whose publisher and editor Carole Leigh Hutton conveniently forgot them.
How else to explain yesterday's front page that largely contained a flag. What may have been initially viewed as a Memorial Day tribute was actually an advertisement for Marshall Field's.
Not to be outdone, the Detroit News, which has a joint operating agreement with the Freep, went even further with its version of the ad and labeled what would usually be the front page A-3.
But given the recent fiasco with Mitch Albom fabricating events in a column last month and getting nothing more than a slap on the wrist from his bosses, the Freep newsroom is looking at a steep optometrist's bill with all the eye rolling that must be going on.
I'll at least give the Freep credit for running letters lambasting this lunkheaded decision to desecrate the front page.
http://www.freep.com/voices/letters/efrontpage26e_20050526.htm
If similar objections were raised at the News, it's not apparent from the letters posted on the Web site this morning. Maybe the editors are too busy shopping at Marshall Field's.
Go to the Detroit Free Press Web site and click under ethics policy. The first line nobly proclaims: "Credibility is the franchise of journalism."
http://www.freep.com/help/ethics_policy.htm
Darn right.
Yet, while the missives set forth in the ethics policy are obviously devoted more to newsgathering, those five words also apply to the newspaper itself, whose publisher and editor Carole Leigh Hutton conveniently forgot them.
How else to explain yesterday's front page that largely contained a flag. What may have been initially viewed as a Memorial Day tribute was actually an advertisement for Marshall Field's.
Not to be outdone, the Detroit News, which has a joint operating agreement with the Freep, went even further with its version of the ad and labeled what would usually be the front page A-3.
But given the recent fiasco with Mitch Albom fabricating events in a column last month and getting nothing more than a slap on the wrist from his bosses, the Freep newsroom is looking at a steep optometrist's bill with all the eye rolling that must be going on.
I'll at least give the Freep credit for running letters lambasting this lunkheaded decision to desecrate the front page.
http://www.freep.com/voices/letters/efrontpage26e_20050526.htm
If similar objections were raised at the News, it's not apparent from the letters posted on the Web site this morning. Maybe the editors are too busy shopping at Marshall Field's.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Sid Rosenberg's Heat Too Hot For Imus -- Morning Drive Attack Dog Muzzled
SID TOO VICIOUS EVEN FOR IMUS OR HIS MANY BOSSES
The usually reliable New York Radio Message Board is reporting that Sid Rosenberg has been banished for good from "Imus in the Morning" after making a crack about Kylie Minogue's breast cancer that stepped over the line, even by that show's low standards.
No word yet whether it was the I-Man who showed the Sidster the wrong end of one of his cowboy boots, or whether the suits at WFAN, or MSNBC, which simulcasts Imus, were tired of rolling their eyes and making excuses for his malicious malingering at the mike.
Rosenberg will still be co-hosting his regular midday sports talkfest on the FAN, though he reportedly makes most of his radio dough from the Imus gig. All of a sudden tumors aren't so funny anymore, right Sid?
UPDATED WEDNESDAY: LINKS TO ARTICLES ON SID'S SKID:
New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/312693p-267443c.html
New York Post
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/47135.htm
The usually reliable New York Radio Message Board is reporting that Sid Rosenberg has been banished for good from "Imus in the Morning" after making a crack about Kylie Minogue's breast cancer that stepped over the line, even by that show's low standards.
No word yet whether it was the I-Man who showed the Sidster the wrong end of one of his cowboy boots, or whether the suits at WFAN, or MSNBC, which simulcasts Imus, were tired of rolling their eyes and making excuses for his malicious malingering at the mike.
Rosenberg will still be co-hosting his regular midday sports talkfest on the FAN, though he reportedly makes most of his radio dough from the Imus gig. All of a sudden tumors aren't so funny anymore, right Sid?
UPDATED WEDNESDAY: LINKS TO ARTICLES ON SID'S SKID:
New York Daily News
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ent_radio/story/312693p-267443c.html
New York Post
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/47135.htm
Monday, May 23, 2005
WFAN Looks Like It May Shut Up Sid Rosenberg For Good
CRACK ABOUT KYLIE MINOGUE'S BREAST CANCER MIGHT BE ENOUGH FOR BOSSES TO KEEP HIM OFF IMUS AND GIVE THIS JOCK A SHOCK
As we noted last week, it's one thing to be a radio bad boy. It's another thing to simply be a schmuck. Sid Rosenberg is a schmuck.
The sports guy on the "Imus in the Morning" show made a crack last week about what Kylie Minogue would look like after breast-cancer surgery, as part of his attack-dog routine. In the process, he crossed the line from being merely outrageous to full-out disgusting, all the more galling as he makes most of his living being on a show whose host runs a camp for kids with cancer.
Since then, the bosses at WFAN have pulled Rosenberg from Imus, though he continues to co-host his regular midday sports talk show with Joe Benigno.
The Sidiot -- as the New York Daily News' Bob Raissman is fond of calling him -- is trying to make nice, by being contrite on the air, donating a week's salary to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and doing everything but wearing sackcloth in public to show he's just a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who makes a living saying dumb things and deserves a fourth and fifth chance at redemption.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/braissman/
No word, though, on whether that'll be enough to get him back in morning drive, even though WFAN may not want to tinker with talent -- and we use that term advisedly -- who helped it bill $52.5 million, the fourth-highest in the New York market.
But even if Rosenberg does get back with the I-man it'll be only a matter of time before we start gagging on his gags once again. This could be the right time to get rid of Sid.
As we noted last week, it's one thing to be a radio bad boy. It's another thing to simply be a schmuck. Sid Rosenberg is a schmuck.
The sports guy on the "Imus in the Morning" show made a crack last week about what Kylie Minogue would look like after breast-cancer surgery, as part of his attack-dog routine. In the process, he crossed the line from being merely outrageous to full-out disgusting, all the more galling as he makes most of his living being on a show whose host runs a camp for kids with cancer.
Since then, the bosses at WFAN have pulled Rosenberg from Imus, though he continues to co-host his regular midday sports talk show with Joe Benigno.
The Sidiot -- as the New York Daily News' Bob Raissman is fond of calling him -- is trying to make nice, by being contrite on the air, donating a week's salary to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and doing everything but wearing sackcloth in public to show he's just a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who makes a living saying dumb things and deserves a fourth and fifth chance at redemption.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/col/braissman/
No word, though, on whether that'll be enough to get him back in morning drive, even though WFAN may not want to tinker with talent -- and we use that term advisedly -- who helped it bill $52.5 million, the fourth-highest in the New York market.
But even if Rosenberg does get back with the I-man it'll be only a matter of time before we start gagging on his gags once again. This could be the right time to get rid of Sid.
Suzanne Malveaux: White House Correspondent Turned Drama Queen
Much of Suzanne Malveaux's face time on CNN is spent doing stand-ups on the White House lawn parroting whatever a "senior Bush administration official" is peddling that day, or the day before, as she's often working weekends.
But she was actually liberated from Pennsylvania Avenue to cover Laura Bush's Mideast trip. Good for her. Until she blew it. On a report I caught early this morning, Malveaux wanted more than just the spotlight. She craved being a part of the story herself.
The report in questions was about some ostensibly tense moments when the First Lady entered the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem to pay her respects at the Muslim holy shrine. Malveaux went in with her, head scarf and all.
There were a few protesters nearby as they were ushered in, but between the Secret Service and Israeli security, nobody was getting near. Still, Malveaux breathlessly worded a report as if she was about to be branded an infidel and have her limbs ripped asunder. She unforgivably slipped into the first person twice while recounting events.
A pleasant encounter? Hardly. But even CNN's cameras had trouble mustering images of more than a few Muslim protesters. Malveaux's dispatch made it seem like Mrs. Bush was in danger, which was never close to being the case given the numerous guys with earpieces and automatic weapons.
There were louder protests from Jews when the First Lady visited the Western Wall, but Malveaux gave them shorter shrift. Maybe it was because she didn't have to wear a head scarf, just like when she's back on the White House lawn.
But she was actually liberated from Pennsylvania Avenue to cover Laura Bush's Mideast trip. Good for her. Until she blew it. On a report I caught early this morning, Malveaux wanted more than just the spotlight. She craved being a part of the story herself.
The report in questions was about some ostensibly tense moments when the First Lady entered the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem to pay her respects at the Muslim holy shrine. Malveaux went in with her, head scarf and all.
There were a few protesters nearby as they were ushered in, but between the Secret Service and Israeli security, nobody was getting near. Still, Malveaux breathlessly worded a report as if she was about to be branded an infidel and have her limbs ripped asunder. She unforgivably slipped into the first person twice while recounting events.
A pleasant encounter? Hardly. But even CNN's cameras had trouble mustering images of more than a few Muslim protesters. Malveaux's dispatch made it seem like Mrs. Bush was in danger, which was never close to being the case given the numerous guys with earpieces and automatic weapons.
There were louder protests from Jews when the First Lady visited the Western Wall, but Malveaux gave them shorter shrift. Maybe it was because she didn't have to wear a head scarf, just like when she's back on the White House lawn.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
What A Dick
AS MEN ALL OVER SAY OUCH, "JOHN DOE" GETS SCREWED BY COURTS AFTER HE SUES EX FOR DAMAGING DONG DOING THE MATTRESS MAMBO
It's always interesting to see how the AP approaches stories like this. In this case, it was right down the middle, without having to resort to euphemisms. Not that you really need any in a case like this.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/16/national/a183807D42.DTL&type=bondage
It's always interesting to see how the AP approaches stories like this. In this case, it was right down the middle, without having to resort to euphemisms. Not that you really need any in a case like this.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/16/national/a183807D42.DTL&type=bondage
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Outrageous Radio Funny Man or Garden Variety Douchebag?
SID ROSENBERG THINKS KYLIE MINOGUE'S BREAST CANCER IS A GOOD JOKE
As the sports guy on Imus In The Morning, Sid Rosenberg knows he's paid to be outrageous. He called George Steinbrenner a "fat pussy" and Venus Williams an "animal," remarks that got him fired and then rehired (For a full version of that witless exchange, go to http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/4389/view/print.
OK, so he's a stooge for Imus, which means he's supposed to be edgy and out for blood. Of course, that could be accomplished with some semblance of taste. But then again, we're talking about Sid Rosenberg.
In riffing on Kylie Minogue's announcement that she had breast cancer, he proclaimed: "She won't be so pretty when she's bald with one titty!"
[Cue laugh track].
Yes, it's a free country. No, you don't have to listen. And as one poster on the New York Radio Message Board cogently observed, Rosenberg should be pitied not pilloried, in part for being a heartless prick, for thinking that somebody would find this funny, and for being devoid of empathy. Laugh to keep from crying? You need material to laugh at first.
Rosenberg returned to the airwaves last month after spending a month in rehab trying to clean up problems with crack addiction, booze and gambling. Looks like he got out too soon.
As the sports guy on Imus In The Morning, Sid Rosenberg knows he's paid to be outrageous. He called George Steinbrenner a "fat pussy" and Venus Williams an "animal," remarks that got him fired and then rehired (For a full version of that witless exchange, go to http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/4389/view/print.
OK, so he's a stooge for Imus, which means he's supposed to be edgy and out for blood. Of course, that could be accomplished with some semblance of taste. But then again, we're talking about Sid Rosenberg.
In riffing on Kylie Minogue's announcement that she had breast cancer, he proclaimed: "She won't be so pretty when she's bald with one titty!"
[Cue laugh track].
Yes, it's a free country. No, you don't have to listen. And as one poster on the New York Radio Message Board cogently observed, Rosenberg should be pitied not pilloried, in part for being a heartless prick, for thinking that somebody would find this funny, and for being devoid of empathy. Laugh to keep from crying? You need material to laugh at first.
Rosenberg returned to the airwaves last month after spending a month in rehab trying to clean up problems with crack addiction, booze and gambling. Looks like he got out too soon.
"60 Minutes" Stops Ticking On Wednesday
MOONVES SAYS IT'S ALL ABOUT THE RATINGS, NOT THE CONTENT; ANOTHER KICK TO CBS NEWS WHEN IT'S DOWN
It shouldn't come as a shock when a show is canceled when it has more viewers who familiar with Geritol than Gerber's. But when it's "60 Minutes Wednesday" that gets canned, it should send a shudder through anybody who's ever worked in a broadcast newsroom.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/business/media/18cnd-media.html?hp&ex=1116475200&en=3afe439a3a59e589&ei=5094&partner=homepage
CBS head honcho Les Moonves says it's all about the ratings, not the content. If you can't get enough affluent 18-49s to watch, your program's a goner. Indeed, "60W" may have been a victim of CBS's success.
"The reality of the current television marketplace is that as CBS has become increasingly strong every night of the week over the past few years, the bar for inclusion on the Network's primetime schedule has been set higher and higher," CBS News prez Andrew Heyward penned in a memo to news division employees today.
In other words, it doesn't matter if your show was a reliable bastion of high-quality storytelling, no matter the occasional stumbles such as the botched story on President Bush's National Guard service that hastened Dan Rather's exit from the Evening News anchor chair. Still, even that was not a factor in "60W's" fate, if Moonves is to be believed.
CBS was no longer content to treat "60W" as a high-quality placeholder while the network had its clock cleaned by "American Idol" and "Lost."
That may be sound business decision, but do you mean to tell me that a place can't be found on the schedule for a program that has consistently delivered and won as many awards (two DuPonts, four Peabodys and 10 Emmys) as "60W?" Given time, the junior edition could have been retooled to focus on topics perceived as more ratings-friendly, without having to descend to the depths of a "Dateline" or "20/20." In other words deliver the steak and sizzle.
Heyward delivered one consolation prize -- that CBS has approved some "60 Minutes" primetime specials. But most of the existing staff won't be around for that. Today, according to a source there, they held a long meeting, punctuated by tears and hugs -- some of them coming from Rather.
The CBS eye becomes ever more bloodshot. As those who work in the business are constantly reminded, just being good isn't good enough.
It shouldn't come as a shock when a show is canceled when it has more viewers who familiar with Geritol than Gerber's. But when it's "60 Minutes Wednesday" that gets canned, it should send a shudder through anybody who's ever worked in a broadcast newsroom.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/18/business/media/18cnd-media.html?hp&ex=1116475200&en=3afe439a3a59e589&ei=5094&partner=homepage
CBS head honcho Les Moonves says it's all about the ratings, not the content. If you can't get enough affluent 18-49s to watch, your program's a goner. Indeed, "60W" may have been a victim of CBS's success.
"The reality of the current television marketplace is that as CBS has become increasingly strong every night of the week over the past few years, the bar for inclusion on the Network's primetime schedule has been set higher and higher," CBS News prez Andrew Heyward penned in a memo to news division employees today.
In other words, it doesn't matter if your show was a reliable bastion of high-quality storytelling, no matter the occasional stumbles such as the botched story on President Bush's National Guard service that hastened Dan Rather's exit from the Evening News anchor chair. Still, even that was not a factor in "60W's" fate, if Moonves is to be believed.
CBS was no longer content to treat "60W" as a high-quality placeholder while the network had its clock cleaned by "American Idol" and "Lost."
That may be sound business decision, but do you mean to tell me that a place can't be found on the schedule for a program that has consistently delivered and won as many awards (two DuPonts, four Peabodys and 10 Emmys) as "60W?" Given time, the junior edition could have been retooled to focus on topics perceived as more ratings-friendly, without having to descend to the depths of a "Dateline" or "20/20." In other words deliver the steak and sizzle.
Heyward delivered one consolation prize -- that CBS has approved some "60 Minutes" primetime specials. But most of the existing staff won't be around for that. Today, according to a source there, they held a long meeting, punctuated by tears and hugs -- some of them coming from Rather.
The CBS eye becomes ever more bloodshot. As those who work in the business are constantly reminded, just being good isn't good enough.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Putting Some Pith In The Sith
NY Times chief movie critic A.O. Scott found a clever and not-too-cute way to assess the latest and last entry in the "Star Wars" saga:
Would my grown-up longing for a return to the wide-eyed enthusiasm of my own moviegoing boyhood - and my undiminished hunger for entertainment with sweep and power as well as noise and dazzle - be satisfied by "Revenge of the Sith"?
The answer is yeth.
http://movies2.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/movies/16star.html?
Two thumbs up, A.O.
Would my grown-up longing for a return to the wide-eyed enthusiasm of my own moviegoing boyhood - and my undiminished hunger for entertainment with sweep and power as well as noise and dazzle - be satisfied by "Revenge of the Sith"?
The answer is yeth.
http://movies2.nytimes.com/2005/05/16/movies/16star.html?
Two thumbs up, A.O.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
The Lights Go Out on John Simon at New York magazine
ACID-TONGUED CRITIC SHOWN THE DOOR AFTER DECADES OF SAVAGELY ATTACKING MOST OF WHO DARED TO WALK A STAGE
When John Simon started his 37-year run as New York magazine's acidic theatre critic, Jeremy McCarter was a long way off from making his debut.
But now Simon's being pushed off the masthead to make way for the New York Sun theatre critic. All of 28, McCarter gets his chance to play on a bigger stage with his writing than his current perch at the conservative five-day-a-week daily that continues to amaze its critics by its continued existence.
Similar sentiments have been expressed about the tart-tongued Simon, never shy about spewing his venom at many a hapless actor, one of whom once dumped soup on Simon's head.
New York magazine editor Adam Moss, perhaps to make nice with Broadway or maybe just wanting his own guy on the aisle, fired the 79-year-old Simon, whose profile had grown more slight ever since Moss came over last year from The New York Times Magazine.
At times it was something of an event when Simon actually liked a production. Usually, though, he lobbed grenades toward the proscenium. When deserved, he could be wickedly funny. From a recent review of the revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" it was Kathleen Turner's turn to be raked over the coals:
She has a voice like a baritone sax issuing from an oil drum, and hams even with her silences. Your standard-issue college president’s daughter can only aspire to being such a foulmouthed fishwife, and no younger history teacher, however hell-bent on climbing the academic ladder, would have married this anti-sexual, castrating slattern.
http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/theater/reviews/11667/
But how do you really feel John?
In all fairness, something often in short supply in a Simon review, he could do more than muster enthusiasm for a show that met his approval. He could turn into a press agent's dream. Simon kept falling over himself conjuring up adjectives only he'd use in praise of a Lincoln Center production of Henry IV.
And how thaumaturgically Jack O’Brien has directed! Everywhere you attend there are masterly touches, ranging from the microscopic to the all-encompassing, such as you have never seen before, could not have imagined, and are magically caught up in.
http://nymetro.com/nymetro/arts/theater/reviews/n_9543/index.html
Maybe Moss got tired of looking up words like thaumaturgically, the adverb form of thaumaturgy -- the working of miracles or magic feats (no, I didn't know what it meant either).
Suffice to say, McCarter, regardless of whatever enthusiasm, erudition or wit he brings to the job -- will have the Maestro of Mean's shadow hovering over him for some time to come. For now, you can still read Simon's archived reviews at www.nymetro.com.
If you want to see what to expect from McCarter, you'll have to subscribe. The always-slim Sun is parsimonious handing out freebies at www.nysun.com.
When John Simon started his 37-year run as New York magazine's acidic theatre critic, Jeremy McCarter was a long way off from making his debut.
But now Simon's being pushed off the masthead to make way for the New York Sun theatre critic. All of 28, McCarter gets his chance to play on a bigger stage with his writing than his current perch at the conservative five-day-a-week daily that continues to amaze its critics by its continued existence.
Similar sentiments have been expressed about the tart-tongued Simon, never shy about spewing his venom at many a hapless actor, one of whom once dumped soup on Simon's head.
New York magazine editor Adam Moss, perhaps to make nice with Broadway or maybe just wanting his own guy on the aisle, fired the 79-year-old Simon, whose profile had grown more slight ever since Moss came over last year from The New York Times Magazine.
At times it was something of an event when Simon actually liked a production. Usually, though, he lobbed grenades toward the proscenium. When deserved, he could be wickedly funny. From a recent review of the revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" it was Kathleen Turner's turn to be raked over the coals:
She has a voice like a baritone sax issuing from an oil drum, and hams even with her silences. Your standard-issue college president’s daughter can only aspire to being such a foulmouthed fishwife, and no younger history teacher, however hell-bent on climbing the academic ladder, would have married this anti-sexual, castrating slattern.
http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/arts/theater/reviews/11667/
But how do you really feel John?
In all fairness, something often in short supply in a Simon review, he could do more than muster enthusiasm for a show that met his approval. He could turn into a press agent's dream. Simon kept falling over himself conjuring up adjectives only he'd use in praise of a Lincoln Center production of Henry IV.
And how thaumaturgically Jack O’Brien has directed! Everywhere you attend there are masterly touches, ranging from the microscopic to the all-encompassing, such as you have never seen before, could not have imagined, and are magically caught up in.
http://nymetro.com/nymetro/arts/theater/reviews/n_9543/index.html
Maybe Moss got tired of looking up words like thaumaturgically, the adverb form of thaumaturgy -- the working of miracles or magic feats (no, I didn't know what it meant either).
Suffice to say, McCarter, regardless of whatever enthusiasm, erudition or wit he brings to the job -- will have the Maestro of Mean's shadow hovering over him for some time to come. For now, you can still read Simon's archived reviews at www.nymetro.com.
If you want to see what to expect from McCarter, you'll have to subscribe. The always-slim Sun is parsimonious handing out freebies at www.nysun.com.
Sunday, May 08, 2005
They Could Never Get Away With A Lead Like This At The "Times"
The New York Post has many deficiencies as a newspaper. But at least it's never boring. And occasionally, it lets its outlaw self leave you laughing instead of rolling your eyes.
An example is the Friday lead on the runaway bride story:
May 6, 2005 -- Bolting bride Jennifer Wilbanks was chaste away — by her fiancé's insistence on abstinence, friends of the sex-deprived couple claim.
And the Post has not let its location stand in the way of trying to own this story. Witness today's dispatch, which told of how Jennifer Wilbanks ditched another fiance eight years ago.
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/43738.htm
In comparison the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was content today to rehash, preferring a voluminous article that offered little or nothing in the way of new information -- hardly a way for the top metro paper in the area to bigfoot a story.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/0505/08bride.html?UrAuth=`N\NUOcN\UbTTUWUXUTUZTYU^UWU_UVUZUcU`UcTYWYWZV
Meantime, this story fell below the fold in the hometown Gwinnett Daily Post, with a ho-hummer about whether the Duluth City Council will hit Wilbanks for the tab for her search.
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=32&url_article_id=1913&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2
An example is the Friday lead on the runaway bride story:
May 6, 2005 -- Bolting bride Jennifer Wilbanks was chaste away — by her fiancé's insistence on abstinence, friends of the sex-deprived couple claim.
And the Post has not let its location stand in the way of trying to own this story. Witness today's dispatch, which told of how Jennifer Wilbanks ditched another fiance eight years ago.
http://www.nypost.com/news/nationalnews/43738.htm
In comparison the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was content today to rehash, preferring a voluminous article that offered little or nothing in the way of new information -- hardly a way for the top metro paper in the area to bigfoot a story.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/0505/08bride.html?UrAuth=`N\NUOcN\UbTTUWUXUTUZTYU^UWU_UVUZUcU`UcTYWYWZV
Meantime, this story fell below the fold in the hometown Gwinnett Daily Post, with a ho-hummer about whether the Duluth City Council will hit Wilbanks for the tab for her search.
http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/index.php?s=&url_channel_id=32&url_article_id=1913&url_subchannel_id=&change_well_id=2
Good Night And Have A Pleasant Tomorrow: Remembering Herb Sargent
BUT THE NEW YORK TIMES' OBIT GUILTY OF OVERLOOKING MAJOR CHAPTER IN THE LIFE OF THIS KING OF COMEDY
It was nice to see Tina Fey last night pay tribute to Herb Sargent during "Weekend Update" on "Saturday Night Live." After all, it was Sargent who was the writer/producer mainly in charge of "Update" during the 20 years he spent at "SNL" as the eminece grise among all the comedy newbies who learned at the feet of one of the masters.
As prolific and just plain damn funny as he was, Sargent attended to more sobering matters as the president for the last 14 years of the Writers Guild of America East, where I had the chance to meet him in 1999 when I was on a WGA committee negotiating a new contract with CBS News. He stopped by to offer us encouragement and a few jokes.
Despite his stature, Sargent was never above it all. He was one of us, even though he was more talented than most of us.
It was disappointing to say the least that The New York Times, in its obit today, chose to ignore this part of his life.
It was nice, in un-Timesian fashion, to have fleshed out the obit with what were fresh quotes from Lorne Michaels and Al Franken. That may have been the case of not having much in the can and having to start from scratch, instead of dusting out some chestnut written a decade before with generic biographical information.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/07/arts/television/07sargent.html
But for a man who dedicated so much time to making sure writers got the proper respect at networks and in Hollywood, his WGA legacy deserved at least a line or two.
Those who knew him or who benefited from his leadership and dedication, won't forget him anytime soon.
http://www.wgaeast.org/features/2005/05/06/sargent_obit/
It was nice to see Tina Fey last night pay tribute to Herb Sargent during "Weekend Update" on "Saturday Night Live." After all, it was Sargent who was the writer/producer mainly in charge of "Update" during the 20 years he spent at "SNL" as the eminece grise among all the comedy newbies who learned at the feet of one of the masters.
As prolific and just plain damn funny as he was, Sargent attended to more sobering matters as the president for the last 14 years of the Writers Guild of America East, where I had the chance to meet him in 1999 when I was on a WGA committee negotiating a new contract with CBS News. He stopped by to offer us encouragement and a few jokes.
Despite his stature, Sargent was never above it all. He was one of us, even though he was more talented than most of us.
It was disappointing to say the least that The New York Times, in its obit today, chose to ignore this part of his life.
It was nice, in un-Timesian fashion, to have fleshed out the obit with what were fresh quotes from Lorne Michaels and Al Franken. That may have been the case of not having much in the can and having to start from scratch, instead of dusting out some chestnut written a decade before with generic biographical information.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/07/arts/television/07sargent.html
But for a man who dedicated so much time to making sure writers got the proper respect at networks and in Hollywood, his WGA legacy deserved at least a line or two.
Those who knew him or who benefited from his leadership and dedication, won't forget him anytime soon.
http://www.wgaeast.org/features/2005/05/06/sargent_obit/
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
Revisiting The Legacy Of Ernie Pyle 60 Years Later
By all accounts, Ernie Pyle acted, felt and wrote like an Everyman, which is what made his dispatches from America and World War II battlefield so compelling for millions of readers. Cut down by a Japanese sniper's bullet on April 19, 1945, his legend and legacy were polished in the ensuing decades and hardly diminished over the years.
As proof, he's part of a frightfully small fraternity of journalists who adorn a postage stamp.
Pyle's just-folks approach is remembered fondly in Dana, Indiana, near where Pyle grew up. It's home to the Ernie Pyle State Historic Site, that's as much a homage as history lesson. Charles Howard, writing for Scripps-Howard News Service, tells why it's worth the trip.
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=ERNIEPYLEMUSEUM-05-03-05
By the way, Pyle roamed the world for Scripps Howard, and he was nothing, if not prolific, says Chuck Woodbury. http://www.outwestnewspaper.com/erniepyle.html. In fact, Pyle cranked out a column six days a week from wherever he was. Sometimes that was Albuquerque, home to the Ernie Pyle Memorial Library, housed in the only home he ever owned. The public Pyle never betrayed a troubled private life, marked by his alcoholism and a wife who twice tried to kill herself.
On the 50th anniversary of Pyle's death David Andrews in Stars and Stripes Pacific, wrote about how Pyle would likely wash out of the modern newsroom, identifying perhaps too closely with the troops, often forgetting to identify a soldier and at times being overly provincial or sentimental. Yet it was also that style that brought the war a little closer to home for millions. http://www.toad.net/~andrews/pyle.htmlWith one simple sentence about the death of an Army captain, Pyle erased any illusions about the glory of war.
"You feel small in the presence of dead men, and ashamed at being alive, and you don't ask silly questions."
http://www.kwanah.com/txmilmus/36division/archives/sanpiet/ernie.htm
It was such dispatches that elevated Pyle to a media superstardom as bright as any network anchor could aspire to then and now. Rare is the correspondent whose death would be felt by so many, so deeply (the untimely passing of David Bloom in Iraq comes close albeit for different reasons).
As James Tobin noted in his 1998 book "Ernie Pyle's War":
The bulletin went via radio to a ship nearby, then to the United States and on to Europe. Radio picked it up. Reporters rushed to gather comment. In Germany General Omar Bradley heard the news and could not speak. In Italy General Mark Clark said, "He helped our soldiers to victory." Bill Mauldin, the young soldier-cartoonist whose warworn G.I.'s matched the pictures Pyle had drawn with words, said, "The only difference between Ernie's death and that of any other good guy is that the other guy is mourned by his company. Ernie is mourned by the Army."
It's hard to imagine too many Pentagon higher-ups getting worked up over the death of a reporter today.
Pyle famously wrote: "War makes strange giant creatures out of us little routine men who inhabit the earth."
Fortunately for us, there was nothing routine about Ernie Pyle.
As proof, he's part of a frightfully small fraternity of journalists who adorn a postage stamp.
Pyle's just-folks approach is remembered fondly in Dana, Indiana, near where Pyle grew up. It's home to the Ernie Pyle State Historic Site, that's as much a homage as history lesson. Charles Howard, writing for Scripps-Howard News Service, tells why it's worth the trip.
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=ERNIEPYLEMUSEUM-05-03-05
By the way, Pyle roamed the world for Scripps Howard, and he was nothing, if not prolific, says Chuck Woodbury. http://www.outwestnewspaper.com/erniepyle.html. In fact, Pyle cranked out a column six days a week from wherever he was. Sometimes that was Albuquerque, home to the Ernie Pyle Memorial Library, housed in the only home he ever owned. The public Pyle never betrayed a troubled private life, marked by his alcoholism and a wife who twice tried to kill herself.
On the 50th anniversary of Pyle's death David Andrews in Stars and Stripes Pacific, wrote about how Pyle would likely wash out of the modern newsroom, identifying perhaps too closely with the troops, often forgetting to identify a soldier and at times being overly provincial or sentimental. Yet it was also that style that brought the war a little closer to home for millions. http://www.toad.net/~andrews/pyle.htmlWith one simple sentence about the death of an Army captain, Pyle erased any illusions about the glory of war.
"You feel small in the presence of dead men, and ashamed at being alive, and you don't ask silly questions."
http://www.kwanah.com/txmilmus/36division/archives/sanpiet/ernie.htm
It was such dispatches that elevated Pyle to a media superstardom as bright as any network anchor could aspire to then and now. Rare is the correspondent whose death would be felt by so many, so deeply (the untimely passing of David Bloom in Iraq comes close albeit for different reasons).
As James Tobin noted in his 1998 book "Ernie Pyle's War":
The bulletin went via radio to a ship nearby, then to the United States and on to Europe. Radio picked it up. Reporters rushed to gather comment. In Germany General Omar Bradley heard the news and could not speak. In Italy General Mark Clark said, "He helped our soldiers to victory." Bill Mauldin, the young soldier-cartoonist whose warworn G.I.'s matched the pictures Pyle had drawn with words, said, "The only difference between Ernie's death and that of any other good guy is that the other guy is mourned by his company. Ernie is mourned by the Army."
It's hard to imagine too many Pentagon higher-ups getting worked up over the death of a reporter today.
Pyle famously wrote: "War makes strange giant creatures out of us little routine men who inhabit the earth."
Fortunately for us, there was nothing routine about Ernie Pyle.
Monday, May 02, 2005
From Rehab Into the Arms of Dr. Phil: Pat O'Brien's Sweeps Shock Therapy
TOO GOOD TO PASS UP FOR SWEEPS, OR IS IT A SIGNAL MOONVES WANTS TO GIVE JUNIOR "60 MINUTES" EDITION THE BOOT?
Since we still haven't moved to a 52-week TV season and ad buyers still look to sweeps to justify ponying up billions to the networks, a prime-time special on Wednesday where Dr. Phil interviews "The Insider" co-host Pat O'Brien about his stint in rehab for being a drunk and about some salacious voice mails he left appears to be a no-brainer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/02/business/media/02rehab.html
But that can't be viewed as good news in the BMW Building on West 57th St., where "60 Minutes Wednesday" is bunkered.
The show is not exactly a ratings darling, going up against "Lost" and "American Idol." It also attracts some of the oldest demographics of any prime-time show, which translates into lower spot rates.
CBS head honcho Les Moonves hasn't decreed the program's fate yet. But the silence is getting increasingly deafening, and he may be off in some back room burnishing his machete. Keeping it off for a week during sweeps doesn't exactly help 60W's chances. Or does it?
60W can rise to the occasion for three weeks of its top-shelf material and make its case for survival. At this juncture, CBS may be looking for nothing more than a respectable showing, and some evidence that at least a few people ineligible for Medicare are tuning in.
Or, it could be a ratings Catch 22 to set 60W up for a fall. I can see it now. The show was canceled because it didn't get enough ratings. But it wasn't on enough to get ratings in the first place.
Of course, it doesn't make sense. You'd think that 60W would be eminently capable of interviewing Viacom-mate O'Brien without having to involve Dr. Phil, who just happens to be, like O'Brien, under contract to Paramount Television. But somehow I don't see Scott Pelley or Vicki Mabrey being inclined to give O'Brien some tough love and make him cry.
And, of course, they don't have a syndicated daytime show named after them on which, not coincidentally, O'Brien will make another appearance, this time with guests to discuss rehab.
Now it makes perfect sense.
Since we still haven't moved to a 52-week TV season and ad buyers still look to sweeps to justify ponying up billions to the networks, a prime-time special on Wednesday where Dr. Phil interviews "The Insider" co-host Pat O'Brien about his stint in rehab for being a drunk and about some salacious voice mails he left appears to be a no-brainer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/02/business/media/02rehab.html
But that can't be viewed as good news in the BMW Building on West 57th St., where "60 Minutes Wednesday" is bunkered.
The show is not exactly a ratings darling, going up against "Lost" and "American Idol." It also attracts some of the oldest demographics of any prime-time show, which translates into lower spot rates.
CBS head honcho Les Moonves hasn't decreed the program's fate yet. But the silence is getting increasingly deafening, and he may be off in some back room burnishing his machete. Keeping it off for a week during sweeps doesn't exactly help 60W's chances. Or does it?
60W can rise to the occasion for three weeks of its top-shelf material and make its case for survival. At this juncture, CBS may be looking for nothing more than a respectable showing, and some evidence that at least a few people ineligible for Medicare are tuning in.
Or, it could be a ratings Catch 22 to set 60W up for a fall. I can see it now. The show was canceled because it didn't get enough ratings. But it wasn't on enough to get ratings in the first place.
Of course, it doesn't make sense. You'd think that 60W would be eminently capable of interviewing Viacom-mate O'Brien without having to involve Dr. Phil, who just happens to be, like O'Brien, under contract to Paramount Television. But somehow I don't see Scott Pelley or Vicki Mabrey being inclined to give O'Brien some tough love and make him cry.
And, of course, they don't have a syndicated daytime show named after them on which, not coincidentally, O'Brien will make another appearance, this time with guests to discuss rehab.
Now it makes perfect sense.
He's Baaaack! But Is Mitch Albom Really Sorry?
HE CLIMBS DOWN FROM HIS CRUCIFIX TO SORT OF APOLOGIZE AND RIP HIS CRITICS A NEW ONE, BUT IN A NICE WAY
His Royal Albomness finally re-emerged over the weekend, after being exiled by the Detroit Free Press while it conducted its "investigation" of last month's column, where he wrote about an event that never happened to meet a deadline for an early Sunday edition.
The latest column was a mixture of forgiveness and giving the finger to his many critics, while nonetheless offering to turn the other cheek. Thanks, St. Mitch, you are so the man. If you missed his missive, let's deconstruct the most salient portions to see what he said and what he really meant.
http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm3964_20050430.htm
The last three weeks have been the darkest yet most enlightening of my professional life. The dark part is obvious. I made a careless mistake in a column. It wasn't malicious. It didn't harm the subjects. But it was factually incorrect in four paragraphs. I assumed something would happen that didn't. That was wrong.
So far, so good. But wait.
I apologized to my bosses. We were going to run a correction. Then we decided to go further. I apologized on the front page of the sports section, something unprecedented, but indicative that we took it seriously.
The April 7 mea culpa was actually a three-paragraph note, in which Albom did use the word "apology," but spent most of the rest of his space rationalizing how he screwed up and offered his early deadline as one excuse for a mistake most cub reporters know not to make.
http://www.freep.com/sports/albom/mitch7e_20050407.htm
And then, as Dick Enberg says, "Oh my!"
A volcano erupted. An explosion that mixed the criticism I deserved with a lava flow of anger, hate, self-righteousness and people who once called themselves friends preferring to act as my judge and jury.
I went from sorry, to shocked, to saddened, to silent. I didn't want to lash out. I felt terrible for the mistake, terrible that my newspaper had to take heat, terrible that my editors were besieged.
Is this where we're supposed to be grateful to Albom for not lashing out? What snappy retort would we be treated to?
"Hey, I sacrificed my credbility and that of my newspaper by writing a column that turned out to be fiction? But so what? I'm filthy, stinkin' rich and Oprah returns my calls. I won't be meeting you in Heaven, sucka!"
Albom is no dummy. He kept his mouth shut because the wagons kept on circling ever tighter and there was still no guarantee the Free Press would take him back, though in hindsight that was a no-brainer given Albom's marquee value, something in short supply at the Freep.
Time passed. Lumps were taken. And people moved on. I have been slow to return to this column because a lot has been said and done, and a lot seems changed. The boundless joy I always felt for this newspaper business has been socked in the stomach.
Now you know how we feel.
If I ever needed a humbling reminder to slow down, something I've struggled with for years, here was that lesson again. That column was filed in a hurry on a day when I wrote another column right after it. Too fast. Too dangerous.
Don't forget, he also does a radio show, appears on TV and writes books. A column is very tempting to turn into an afterthought. Slow down? Don't count on it. The money's too good. And what a crushing blow Albom would deal to his ego if he admitted that maybe he really can't do it all.
And if I ever needed to learn the stinging irony of this business, I've had my chance. In the race to report on my journalistic error, you could barely count the mistakes and falsehoods that were committed. From a TV station that called me a Pulitzer Prize winner (I'm not) to a major sports magazine that chastised my column on two players who weren't at the Final Four, then got it wrong by saying I wasn't at the Final Four.
This is Albom's way of saying, "I know you are, but what am I?" Falsehoods? Please. That's a word you see in briefs filed for a libel suit. Grow up.
So it might be easy to go from sorry to screaming. Hate people back. But to what end? Having asked for forgiveness myself, I can do no less than give it.
So I will not swipe at those who swiped at me. It was my mistake. I'll own up to it. Besides, in 20 years of doing this column, I have never written for those people.
I write for you.
Some have argued that Albom doesn't fall into Jayson Blair and Janet Cooke territory because he didn't willfully fabricate an event -- that he wrote about something that was supposed to happen, but never came off for various reasons.
But it was still dumb, reckless and toying with one of the few tangible commodities a newspaper has with its readers -- telling the truth. You take it on faith that when a columnist writes about two Michigan State alumni at the Final Four to root on their school, their fannies were in the seats doing just that. But when they were not, and Albom indicates otherwise, how seriously can you take him as a columnist, or the newspaper that continues to employ him?
Every journalist has made a mistake here or there. Fortunately, most don't rise to a firing offense, which is what printing fiction in a column would be for anyone with the less-exalted status that Albom enjoys.
I know there are kids who read this newspaper. I know there are kids who read my column. Some teachers even use it in schools.
Well, you kids need to know that what I did was a mistake. It was careless, and you should learn from it. Be better than I was on that day. Know that you can't assume something is going to happen, even a sunrise, because the one time you write it as if it happened, the sun might not rise. Nobody's perfect. But that doesn't mean you don't try. And if you mess up, say you're sorry, as I am saying again here.
Quick! Call the podiatrist. There's a columnist in Detroit who requires a foot extraction from his mouth. Albom shouldn't have to write a smug journalistic primer like above. It was something so simple, so basic, yet it was expedient to simply hope what he wrote about would go down. After all, he's Mitch Albom! What could possibly go wrong?
The sermon concluded thus:
And know this: Just as you can't assume the future, you also can't assume human nature. It won't always be kind. It won't always be fair or friendly. But if you want to grow into good, balanced journalists, the thing you should most remember is the thing that was most forgotten these last few weeks:
Perspective.
Protect it. Cherish it. And you -- and I -- with God's grace, will be fine.
Words to live by. We'll see if he has that perspective if he ever feels tempted to question the manhood of some middle linebacker who missed a crucial tackle.
Kids, here's a better lesson: Take those last few paragraphs to heart. Just ignore who wrote them, as the author has a long way to go to figure out what they really mean.
His Royal Albomness finally re-emerged over the weekend, after being exiled by the Detroit Free Press while it conducted its "investigation" of last month's column, where he wrote about an event that never happened to meet a deadline for an early Sunday edition.
The latest column was a mixture of forgiveness and giving the finger to his many critics, while nonetheless offering to turn the other cheek. Thanks, St. Mitch, you are so the man. If you missed his missive, let's deconstruct the most salient portions to see what he said and what he really meant.
http://www.freep.com/news/latestnews/pm3964_20050430.htm
The last three weeks have been the darkest yet most enlightening of my professional life. The dark part is obvious. I made a careless mistake in a column. It wasn't malicious. It didn't harm the subjects. But it was factually incorrect in four paragraphs. I assumed something would happen that didn't. That was wrong.
So far, so good. But wait.
I apologized to my bosses. We were going to run a correction. Then we decided to go further. I apologized on the front page of the sports section, something unprecedented, but indicative that we took it seriously.
The April 7 mea culpa was actually a three-paragraph note, in which Albom did use the word "apology," but spent most of the rest of his space rationalizing how he screwed up and offered his early deadline as one excuse for a mistake most cub reporters know not to make.
http://www.freep.com/sports/albom/mitch7e_20050407.htm
And then, as Dick Enberg says, "Oh my!"
A volcano erupted. An explosion that mixed the criticism I deserved with a lava flow of anger, hate, self-righteousness and people who once called themselves friends preferring to act as my judge and jury.
I went from sorry, to shocked, to saddened, to silent. I didn't want to lash out. I felt terrible for the mistake, terrible that my newspaper had to take heat, terrible that my editors were besieged.
Is this where we're supposed to be grateful to Albom for not lashing out? What snappy retort would we be treated to?
"Hey, I sacrificed my credbility and that of my newspaper by writing a column that turned out to be fiction? But so what? I'm filthy, stinkin' rich and Oprah returns my calls. I won't be meeting you in Heaven, sucka!"
Albom is no dummy. He kept his mouth shut because the wagons kept on circling ever tighter and there was still no guarantee the Free Press would take him back, though in hindsight that was a no-brainer given Albom's marquee value, something in short supply at the Freep.
Time passed. Lumps were taken. And people moved on. I have been slow to return to this column because a lot has been said and done, and a lot seems changed. The boundless joy I always felt for this newspaper business has been socked in the stomach.
Now you know how we feel.
If I ever needed a humbling reminder to slow down, something I've struggled with for years, here was that lesson again. That column was filed in a hurry on a day when I wrote another column right after it. Too fast. Too dangerous.
Don't forget, he also does a radio show, appears on TV and writes books. A column is very tempting to turn into an afterthought. Slow down? Don't count on it. The money's too good. And what a crushing blow Albom would deal to his ego if he admitted that maybe he really can't do it all.
And if I ever needed to learn the stinging irony of this business, I've had my chance. In the race to report on my journalistic error, you could barely count the mistakes and falsehoods that were committed. From a TV station that called me a Pulitzer Prize winner (I'm not) to a major sports magazine that chastised my column on two players who weren't at the Final Four, then got it wrong by saying I wasn't at the Final Four.
This is Albom's way of saying, "I know you are, but what am I?" Falsehoods? Please. That's a word you see in briefs filed for a libel suit. Grow up.
So it might be easy to go from sorry to screaming. Hate people back. But to what end? Having asked for forgiveness myself, I can do no less than give it.
So I will not swipe at those who swiped at me. It was my mistake. I'll own up to it. Besides, in 20 years of doing this column, I have never written for those people.
I write for you.
Some have argued that Albom doesn't fall into Jayson Blair and Janet Cooke territory because he didn't willfully fabricate an event -- that he wrote about something that was supposed to happen, but never came off for various reasons.
But it was still dumb, reckless and toying with one of the few tangible commodities a newspaper has with its readers -- telling the truth. You take it on faith that when a columnist writes about two Michigan State alumni at the Final Four to root on their school, their fannies were in the seats doing just that. But when they were not, and Albom indicates otherwise, how seriously can you take him as a columnist, or the newspaper that continues to employ him?
Every journalist has made a mistake here or there. Fortunately, most don't rise to a firing offense, which is what printing fiction in a column would be for anyone with the less-exalted status that Albom enjoys.
I know there are kids who read this newspaper. I know there are kids who read my column. Some teachers even use it in schools.
Well, you kids need to know that what I did was a mistake. It was careless, and you should learn from it. Be better than I was on that day. Know that you can't assume something is going to happen, even a sunrise, because the one time you write it as if it happened, the sun might not rise. Nobody's perfect. But that doesn't mean you don't try. And if you mess up, say you're sorry, as I am saying again here.
Quick! Call the podiatrist. There's a columnist in Detroit who requires a foot extraction from his mouth. Albom shouldn't have to write a smug journalistic primer like above. It was something so simple, so basic, yet it was expedient to simply hope what he wrote about would go down. After all, he's Mitch Albom! What could possibly go wrong?
The sermon concluded thus:
And know this: Just as you can't assume the future, you also can't assume human nature. It won't always be kind. It won't always be fair or friendly. But if you want to grow into good, balanced journalists, the thing you should most remember is the thing that was most forgotten these last few weeks:
Perspective.
Protect it. Cherish it. And you -- and I -- with God's grace, will be fine.
Words to live by. We'll see if he has that perspective if he ever feels tempted to question the manhood of some middle linebacker who missed a crucial tackle.
Kids, here's a better lesson: Take those last few paragraphs to heart. Just ignore who wrote them, as the author has a long way to go to figure out what they really mean.
Friday, April 29, 2005
"Heaven" May Be A Ripoff, At Least The Movie Version
ANOTHER GO-ROUND FOR RESTON'S PLAGIARISM CLAIMS AGAINST RIDLEY SCOTT AGAINST HIS CRUSADES EPIC "KINGDOM OF HEAVEN"
The Associated Press finally got around yesterday to airing James Reston Jr.'s claims that Ridley Scott ripped off the first 100 pages of one of his books as the basis for Scott's latest cinematic bloodletting starring Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson.
http://www.manyonline.org/AboutBoard.htm
That means most of the rest of the media is finally getting around to picking up a story that first made its rounds in The New York Times on March 28, although most of the backbiting has been confined to the trades.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/movies/29king.html
Fox says Reston's claims are baseless, and Scott claims never to have read Reston's book "Warriors of God: Richard the Lionhearted and Saladin in the Third Crusade."
At the very least, "Kingdom of Heaven" is a catchier title.
If Reston does go ahead and sue -- he'll probably take a gander at the box office first -- good luck, especially since he wrote about historic events. While Scott will never be confused with a biography maven, he is an old hand at planting a foot in the past, real or imagined (read: Gladiator).
Since Reston's book had been pitched to Scott for a movie in 2001, he's claiming it was a bit too much of a coinky-dink that a Crusades movie just happened to come out with Scott's name attached after he took a pass on a screenplay based on Reston's book. It all sounds like a lot that's open to interpretation. Translation: Only the lawyers will come out winners if Reston takes to the courts.
One revealing nugget came from variety on April 19, which reported Reston would love to be included in any stories or features about the film, even though he may sue. Just a hunch: Scotty Jr. shouldn't expect any help from Fox publicity toward that end.
The Associated Press finally got around yesterday to airing James Reston Jr.'s claims that Ridley Scott ripped off the first 100 pages of one of his books as the basis for Scott's latest cinematic bloodletting starring Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson.
http://www.manyonline.org/AboutBoard.htm
That means most of the rest of the media is finally getting around to picking up a story that first made its rounds in The New York Times on March 28, although most of the backbiting has been confined to the trades.
http://movies.nytimes.com/2005/03/29/movies/29king.html
Fox says Reston's claims are baseless, and Scott claims never to have read Reston's book "Warriors of God: Richard the Lionhearted and Saladin in the Third Crusade."
At the very least, "Kingdom of Heaven" is a catchier title.
If Reston does go ahead and sue -- he'll probably take a gander at the box office first -- good luck, especially since he wrote about historic events. While Scott will never be confused with a biography maven, he is an old hand at planting a foot in the past, real or imagined (read: Gladiator).
Since Reston's book had been pitched to Scott for a movie in 2001, he's claiming it was a bit too much of a coinky-dink that a Crusades movie just happened to come out with Scott's name attached after he took a pass on a screenplay based on Reston's book. It all sounds like a lot that's open to interpretation. Translation: Only the lawyers will come out winners if Reston takes to the courts.
One revealing nugget came from variety on April 19, which reported Reston would love to be included in any stories or features about the film, even though he may sue. Just a hunch: Scotty Jr. shouldn't expect any help from Fox publicity toward that end.
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Not All Critics Juiced By New Bruce
STILL, MANY ARE BEWITCHED BY SPRINGSTEEN'S "DEVILS AND DUST" AS THE BOSS SHOWS HE'S BORN TO DO A LOT MORE THAN RUN IN THE U.S.A.
Sorry, I couldn't take off work to scoot down to Tower Records to get my copy of "Devils and Dust" this morning. Not worth the schlep when you can get it four bucks cheaper online. No offense, Boss. He still challenges, delights and enraptures me like no other musician. It's just that I can get by for a couple of days on downloads of the title cut and tonight's VH1 Storytellers meditation on his 13th album.
For the critics who have gotten the full listen, there is a mix of hosannas and ho-hum. Some genuinely love the brooding tracks, others suspect they've heard this before and done better, no less.
Sean Daly in The Washington Post encapsulates the conflicts felt by many a Springsteen fanatic. They're happiest when he's a rockin', but then there are those slow, quiet songs. Fear not.
"[T]he blue-collar bard has managed to make an album that is both personal and accessible, good news for fans who feel guilty that "Tom Joad" was listened to once and never again."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/25/AR2005042501567.html.
But Jim Farber in the New York Daily News is among those who find those ghosts still linger, which can make "Devils and Dust" an endurance test more than a musical monument.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/303148p-259531c.html
Unfortunately, "Devils & Dust," like "Tom Joad," mainly finds Springsteen in a murmuring rut. While other players appear on the CD, the focus remains on Springsteen's rickety guitar and broken vocals. Both seem so weighed down by their dire subject matter, they're often squashed.
Jeepers. I guess that mean no trips down Thunder Road in a Pink Cadillac for us.
The AP's David Bauder is more blunt. He says the album is just plain "boring" and a blip at best in the Springsteen canon that can be easily forgotten.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1675&dept_id=18179&newsid=14414969&PAG=461&rfi=9
Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times noted it's easy to see how these meditations can be akin to taking foul-tasting medicine for some fans. But he found the album "pleasantly inviting," even though "songs give us the bare bones Boss croaking like a guy from Jersey imitating a guy from Oklahoma over a sad and naked acoustic ."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-bruce26.html
In Detroit, where Springsteen kicked off his latest tour, the Free Press' Brian McCollum noted the album title may have helped inspire a dose of old-time religion in Springsteen.
[I]it's been a spirituality of the opaque sort: the perpetual hunt for redemption after the fall, or for catharsis amid the muck. Here he gets direct, calling straight out to God..."
http://www.freep.com/entertainment/music/sjlede24e_20050424.htm
In what was more of a homily than a review, Michael Riley in The Asbury Park Press -- Springsteen's hometown paper -- took the album's spiritual themes maybe even further than the Boss himself intended. Which may not be much of a reach for Riley, given that he's also an ordained Baptist minister.
"The broken souls in "Devils & Dust" pray hard and often, even if they don't realize it, even if they give voice to those prayers in wishes and vows. "
Amen to that, I think.
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050424/ENT04/504240322/1031/ENT
Dan Aquilante of the New York Post liked the album, sprituality and all, but seem disappointed that Springsteen, a loud John Kerry supporter, has made an essentially non-political statement with "Devils and Dust."
"Even the title track, inspired by the invasion of Iraq, isn't political, it's personal. The songs opens with Springsteen plaintively singing, "I got my finger on the trigger, but I don't know who to trust ... I feel a dirty wind blowing devils and dust."
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/45151.htm
Which obviously leaves his Democrat-chewing bosses at the Murdoch-owned Post crestfallen.
Sorry, I couldn't take off work to scoot down to Tower Records to get my copy of "Devils and Dust" this morning. Not worth the schlep when you can get it four bucks cheaper online. No offense, Boss. He still challenges, delights and enraptures me like no other musician. It's just that I can get by for a couple of days on downloads of the title cut and tonight's VH1 Storytellers meditation on his 13th album.
For the critics who have gotten the full listen, there is a mix of hosannas and ho-hum. Some genuinely love the brooding tracks, others suspect they've heard this before and done better, no less.
Sean Daly in The Washington Post encapsulates the conflicts felt by many a Springsteen fanatic. They're happiest when he's a rockin', but then there are those slow, quiet songs. Fear not.
"[T]he blue-collar bard has managed to make an album that is both personal and accessible, good news for fans who feel guilty that "Tom Joad" was listened to once and never again."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/25/AR2005042501567.html.
But Jim Farber in the New York Daily News is among those who find those ghosts still linger, which can make "Devils and Dust" an endurance test more than a musical monument.
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/story/303148p-259531c.html
Unfortunately, "Devils & Dust," like "Tom Joad," mainly finds Springsteen in a murmuring rut. While other players appear on the CD, the focus remains on Springsteen's rickety guitar and broken vocals. Both seem so weighed down by their dire subject matter, they're often squashed.
Jeepers. I guess that mean no trips down Thunder Road in a Pink Cadillac for us.
The AP's David Bauder is more blunt. He says the album is just plain "boring" and a blip at best in the Springsteen canon that can be easily forgotten.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1675&dept_id=18179&newsid=14414969&PAG=461&rfi=9
Jim DeRogatis of the Chicago Sun-Times noted it's easy to see how these meditations can be akin to taking foul-tasting medicine for some fans. But he found the album "pleasantly inviting," even though "songs give us the bare bones Boss croaking like a guy from Jersey imitating a guy from Oklahoma over a sad and naked acoustic ."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-ftr-bruce26.html
In Detroit, where Springsteen kicked off his latest tour, the Free Press' Brian McCollum noted the album title may have helped inspire a dose of old-time religion in Springsteen.
[I]it's been a spirituality of the opaque sort: the perpetual hunt for redemption after the fall, or for catharsis amid the muck. Here he gets direct, calling straight out to God..."
http://www.freep.com/entertainment/music/sjlede24e_20050424.htm
In what was more of a homily than a review, Michael Riley in The Asbury Park Press -- Springsteen's hometown paper -- took the album's spiritual themes maybe even further than the Boss himself intended. Which may not be much of a reach for Riley, given that he's also an ordained Baptist minister.
"The broken souls in "Devils & Dust" pray hard and often, even if they don't realize it, even if they give voice to those prayers in wishes and vows. "
Amen to that, I think.
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050424/ENT04/504240322/1031/ENT
Dan Aquilante of the New York Post liked the album, sprituality and all, but seem disappointed that Springsteen, a loud John Kerry supporter, has made an essentially non-political statement with "Devils and Dust."
"Even the title track, inspired by the invasion of Iraq, isn't political, it's personal. The songs opens with Springsteen plaintively singing, "I got my finger on the trigger, but I don't know who to trust ... I feel a dirty wind blowing devils and dust."
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/45151.htm
Which obviously leaves his Democrat-chewing bosses at the Murdoch-owned Post crestfallen.
Monday, April 25, 2005
Golden Boy Mitch Albom Tarnished, But Gets To Keep Job
GUTLESS MANAGEMENT DECIDES FICTION IN THE "FREE PRESS" NOT SUCH A BAD THING AFTER ALL, AS LONG AS IT'S WRITTEN BY A SUPERSTAR COLUMNIST
The Detroit Free Press brass had their chance to take a stand. Instead, they cowered under their desks for fear of what might happen if they canned columnist-superstar Mitch Albom for penning a column about something that never happened but written as if he was there.
Albom's been on paid leave since April 7, the newspaper launched an "investigation" into what happened. Over the weekend, Free Press editor and publisher Carole Leigh Hutton wrote in a note to readers that Albom and four editors would be disciplined, and that the column would return.
"We took into account many factors, including the seriousness of the offense, the importance of our credibility, the history of those involved and Albom's 20 stellar years at the Free Press," Hutton wrote.
Which meant she left many questions unanswered, and still has. She clammed up when quizzed by Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp. Pressed on why Albom wasn't fired for writing about something that didn't occur, she said only "I didn't think that was the appropriate discipline in this case."
And that's about all Hutton would offer, except to promise that the Free Press would publish an article at some point to explain what happen.
Then again, this was the same paper that spiked a bad review of Albom's latest book "Five People You'll Meet In Heaven," so don't get your hopes up.
And remember, Hutton is editor AND publisher. It's not just about the integrity of the news product, especially when your bottom line could fall through the trap door. And in a city like Detroit, whose two papers have since precipitous circulation drops, you can't lose whatever edge you may have.
And one of the few the Free Press may possess is Albom, who by all accounts has a genuine following and has justly built his street cred as a revered media titan in the Motor City. Until now.
The Free Press doesn't want to find out the hard way if giving Albom the boot will siphon away even more readers. After all, what's the use in having credibility if nobody's reading the paper, right?
The Free Press assumes most of its readers are in forgive-and-forget mode. And they may be right. So it really should come as no surprise the paper will welcome back Albom with open arms, or at least make sure the door doesn't hit him and his outsized ego on the way back in. But it's sad and pathetic all the same.
Look for Albom's next column and see if the words "I'm sorry" appear. Now that would be something worth reading about. Assuming, of course, it was true.
The Detroit Free Press brass had their chance to take a stand. Instead, they cowered under their desks for fear of what might happen if they canned columnist-superstar Mitch Albom for penning a column about something that never happened but written as if he was there.
Albom's been on paid leave since April 7, the newspaper launched an "investigation" into what happened. Over the weekend, Free Press editor and publisher Carole Leigh Hutton wrote in a note to readers that Albom and four editors would be disciplined, and that the column would return.
"We took into account many factors, including the seriousness of the offense, the importance of our credibility, the history of those involved and Albom's 20 stellar years at the Free Press," Hutton wrote.
Which meant she left many questions unanswered, and still has. She clammed up when quizzed by Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp. Pressed on why Albom wasn't fired for writing about something that didn't occur, she said only "I didn't think that was the appropriate discipline in this case."
And that's about all Hutton would offer, except to promise that the Free Press would publish an article at some point to explain what happen.
Then again, this was the same paper that spiked a bad review of Albom's latest book "Five People You'll Meet In Heaven," so don't get your hopes up.
And remember, Hutton is editor AND publisher. It's not just about the integrity of the news product, especially when your bottom line could fall through the trap door. And in a city like Detroit, whose two papers have since precipitous circulation drops, you can't lose whatever edge you may have.
And one of the few the Free Press may possess is Albom, who by all accounts has a genuine following and has justly built his street cred as a revered media titan in the Motor City. Until now.
The Free Press doesn't want to find out the hard way if giving Albom the boot will siphon away even more readers. After all, what's the use in having credibility if nobody's reading the paper, right?
The Free Press assumes most of its readers are in forgive-and-forget mode. And they may be right. So it really should come as no surprise the paper will welcome back Albom with open arms, or at least make sure the door doesn't hit him and his outsized ego on the way back in. But it's sad and pathetic all the same.
Look for Albom's next column and see if the words "I'm sorry" appear. Now that would be something worth reading about. Assuming, of course, it was true.
Friday, April 22, 2005
The Weekly Read Out---Internet Hunting, Icebergs 101, and a Tax On Chewing
Everything you wanted to know about icebergs, but were too cold to ask, courtesy of Daniel Engber at Slate:
http://www.slate.com/id/2117097/
You'd think gun-lovin' Texans would have no problem with Internet hunting, that is controlling a gun from a computer to blast away at varmints. But the Lone Star State apparently wants you to do your killing up close and personal, as Nancy Vogel writes in the Los Angeles Times.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-liveshot21apr21,0,4157569.story?coll=la-home-headlines.
Singapore's saying I told you so: Now it's Liverpool that wants to make life difficult for chewing gum manufacturers.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/localgovt/news/0,8368,1466659,00.html.
http://www.slate.com/id/2117097/
You'd think gun-lovin' Texans would have no problem with Internet hunting, that is controlling a gun from a computer to blast away at varmints. But the Lone Star State apparently wants you to do your killing up close and personal, as Nancy Vogel writes in the Los Angeles Times.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-liveshot21apr21,0,4157569.story?coll=la-home-headlines.
Singapore's saying I told you so: Now it's Liverpool that wants to make life difficult for chewing gum manufacturers.
http://society.guardian.co.uk/localgovt/news/0,8368,1466659,00.html.
Thursday, April 21, 2005
Newspapers Looking For Love And Readers
THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING! BUT ONE DAY YOU MAY ONLY BE ABLE TO READ ABOUT IT ONLINE
Gone are the days when owning the local newspaper was essentially a license to print money. The Internet and shifting readership habits saw to that.
Not to worry, the 1,450 daily newspapers in the U.S. are not on the fast track to extinction -- yet. With more than half of us reading some 58 million copies daily, there's still plenty of paper to recycle.
Still, those numbers keep slipping despite many papers' yeoman efforts to keep themselves compelling and relevant. Of course, that hasn't meant diddly to shareholders still feasting on the spoils from the glory days of earlier decades. Witness the cutbacks at the Los Angeles Times, despite winning seven Pulitzers in the last two years alone.
A lot of hand-wringing has been going on this week in San Francisco, at the annual conference for the Newspaper Association of America, where attendees have gotten used to hearing bad news. Among the latest nuggets: A report that newspapers could lose $4 billion a year to the Internet in classified ads within two years.
One NAA official took a glass-is-half-full approach: "It's not too late to recover, but the door of opportunity is closing quickly."
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44826#
You can forgive those in attendance if they're not convinced about that. After all, how many of them have cut their newshole, staff and other expenses because the money doesn't just roll up to the door like it used to? Classified ads are virtually pure profit. If they go away, so does the holiday bonus, or worse.
Gone are the days when owning the local newspaper was essentially a license to print money. The Internet and shifting readership habits saw to that.
Not to worry, the 1,450 daily newspapers in the U.S. are not on the fast track to extinction -- yet. With more than half of us reading some 58 million copies daily, there's still plenty of paper to recycle.
Still, those numbers keep slipping despite many papers' yeoman efforts to keep themselves compelling and relevant. Of course, that hasn't meant diddly to shareholders still feasting on the spoils from the glory days of earlier decades. Witness the cutbacks at the Los Angeles Times, despite winning seven Pulitzers in the last two years alone.
A lot of hand-wringing has been going on this week in San Francisco, at the annual conference for the Newspaper Association of America, where attendees have gotten used to hearing bad news. Among the latest nuggets: A report that newspapers could lose $4 billion a year to the Internet in classified ads within two years.
One NAA official took a glass-is-half-full approach: "It's not too late to recover, but the door of opportunity is closing quickly."
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44826#
You can forgive those in attendance if they're not convinced about that. After all, how many of them have cut their newshole, staff and other expenses because the money doesn't just roll up to the door like it used to? Classified ads are virtually pure profit. If they go away, so does the holiday bonus, or worse.
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Cardinals Bless The Media By Picking Frontrunner
REPORTERS BREATHE SIGH OF RELIEF AS FAVORITE WINS VATICAN HORSE RACE
No doubt correspondents at the Vatican had plenty of B-matter already written on Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he emerged from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica as Pope Benedict XVI. It would have been interesting if a dark horse had emerged as a consensus candidate, and reporters had to instead scratch their heads and scramble to write a few fresh grafs before hitting the send button.
But Ratzinger it was, which allowed The New York Times to hit the web at 1:35 p.m. ET. with a bylined article from Ian Fisher and Christine Hauser, whose name was swapped out for religion writer Laurie Goodstein in a writethrough 10 minutes later, and sent to the bottom of the story.
The Times took a wire-serviceish approach in the lead, allowing the context to follow later:
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope today, taking the name Benedict XVI, then telling a wildly cheering crowd from a balcony on St. Peter's Basilica, "I entrust myself to your prayers."
Perfectly serviceable, and not as dry as the Washington Post lead that followed 10 minutes later.
The Los Angeles Times, though, tried to set up right away what was to come, or not to come, from the Vatican, calling Ratzinger a "hard-line doctrinal watchdog."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-041905pope_lat,0,3525431.story?coll=la-home-headlines.
Visitors to the Chicago Tribune Web site were told the paper was putting out an extra edition this afternoon, which may explain why it used AP copy in its initial Pope dispatch.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-pope,1,2407790.story?coll=chi-news-hed. So did the Philadelphia Inquirer, although they trotted out an analysis of Ratzinger that was already in the can, where David O'Reilly notes the legacy of John Paul II won't be fading anytime soon.
Tradition and orthodoxy will surely be the hallmark of the Ratzinger pontificate. He not only condemns homosexuality as "an intrinsic moral evil" but has suggested that Catholic altars should face east, to Jerusalem.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/special_packages/pope/11433617.htm
To paraphrase The Who: Meet the new pope; same as the old pope.
Boston Globe readers had to go past photos of yesterday's Boston Marathon and click on a small icon for breaking news to find out about the pope, a curious omission given the number of Roman Catholics who live in the area. Early on, the Globe relied on the AP and didn't glom on to its corporate cousin, The Times.
USA Today might have been better off sticking with the AP, rather than cobbling together a staff-wire hybrid on its Web site that led off with this mess:
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and a high-profile conservative, Tuesday was elected the 265th pope of the Catholic Church and chose the name Benedict XVI.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-04-19-newpope_x.htm
Holy Father, get me rewrite.
No doubt correspondents at the Vatican had plenty of B-matter already written on Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he emerged from the main balcony of St. Peter's Basilica as Pope Benedict XVI. It would have been interesting if a dark horse had emerged as a consensus candidate, and reporters had to instead scratch their heads and scramble to write a few fresh grafs before hitting the send button.
But Ratzinger it was, which allowed The New York Times to hit the web at 1:35 p.m. ET. with a bylined article from Ian Fisher and Christine Hauser, whose name was swapped out for religion writer Laurie Goodstein in a writethrough 10 minutes later, and sent to the bottom of the story.
The Times took a wire-serviceish approach in the lead, allowing the context to follow later:
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope today, taking the name Benedict XVI, then telling a wildly cheering crowd from a balcony on St. Peter's Basilica, "I entrust myself to your prayers."
Perfectly serviceable, and not as dry as the Washington Post lead that followed 10 minutes later.
The Los Angeles Times, though, tried to set up right away what was to come, or not to come, from the Vatican, calling Ratzinger a "hard-line doctrinal watchdog."
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-041905pope_lat,0,3525431.story?coll=la-home-headlines.
Visitors to the Chicago Tribune Web site were told the paper was putting out an extra edition this afternoon, which may explain why it used AP copy in its initial Pope dispatch.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-ap-pope,1,2407790.story?coll=chi-news-hed. So did the Philadelphia Inquirer, although they trotted out an analysis of Ratzinger that was already in the can, where David O'Reilly notes the legacy of John Paul II won't be fading anytime soon.
Tradition and orthodoxy will surely be the hallmark of the Ratzinger pontificate. He not only condemns homosexuality as "an intrinsic moral evil" but has suggested that Catholic altars should face east, to Jerusalem.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/special_packages/pope/11433617.htm
To paraphrase The Who: Meet the new pope; same as the old pope.
Boston Globe readers had to go past photos of yesterday's Boston Marathon and click on a small icon for breaking news to find out about the pope, a curious omission given the number of Roman Catholics who live in the area. Early on, the Globe relied on the AP and didn't glom on to its corporate cousin, The Times.
USA Today might have been better off sticking with the AP, rather than cobbling together a staff-wire hybrid on its Web site that led off with this mess:
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and a high-profile conservative, Tuesday was elected the 265th pope of the Catholic Church and chose the name Benedict XVI.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-04-19-newpope_x.htm
Holy Father, get me rewrite.
Monday, April 18, 2005
The Best Show on TV Can't Get "Arrested" By Nielsen
A bittersweet night on Fox yesterday, when the season (and please let it be just that) finale of "Arrested Development" aired.
The show was its usual hilarious self, but I couldn't help but be a bit wistful given that Fox hasn't decided whether "A.D." will be back for another go-round this fall. Right now, it's not looking good for the 6 million or so of us hopelessly devoted to the misadventures of the hapless Bluth clan.
Sure, the show's won three Emmys and a Golden Globe, yet it's caught in a time-slot purgatory and a lead-in from "The Simpsons" that doesn't deliver up enough devotees.
Fox launched a kill-the-show-in-order-to-save-it approach to A.D., cutting the 22-episode season order to 18. Then network big cheese Gail Berman said she was doing the show a favor so it wouldn't have even lower ratings during May sweeps. Gee, thanks, Gail. Sort of.
Fox says it doesn't want to deep-six "A.D.," so now it wants listeners to left-click their sentiments at http://www.getarrested.com/ in order for us to show proper fealty and get others of like mind to follow suit. Hey, whatever it takes, I'm on board. Barring that, I'm sure HBO wouldn't have a hard time finding a slot given that most of their shows are signing off or withering on the vine.
Which brings me to Kansas City Star TV critic Aaron Barnhart, whom I'm normally a big fan of. In his latest column posted on his TV Barn blog, http://www.tvbarn.com/archives/028745.php, Barnhart regrettably regards "A.D." as overpraised.
"Arrested Development” is a likable if not quite lovable program, solidly entertaining but more in the league of “Scrubs” than of “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” the two shows I think it would like to be when it grows up.
Ouch, Mr. B. I'm actually a big "Scrubs" fan, too. Dunno, but all the abusurdities, parodies, in-jokes and irony that pile up there and on "A.D." provide a good chunk of the laughs I'm able to dredge up on the network schedules (Cable is a whole different animal).
Giving the network credit for putting the show on the air in the first place and keeping it on the air despite mediocre ratings is no longer enough. Can Fox do better in "A.D.'s" time slot? Of course not. Does it matter? Ditto.
It's usually simpler to cancel a show rather than figure out how it can find an audience. How nice it would be for the gang in Murdochville to not take the easy way out.
The show was its usual hilarious self, but I couldn't help but be a bit wistful given that Fox hasn't decided whether "A.D." will be back for another go-round this fall. Right now, it's not looking good for the 6 million or so of us hopelessly devoted to the misadventures of the hapless Bluth clan.
Sure, the show's won three Emmys and a Golden Globe, yet it's caught in a time-slot purgatory and a lead-in from "The Simpsons" that doesn't deliver up enough devotees.
Fox launched a kill-the-show-in-order-to-save-it approach to A.D., cutting the 22-episode season order to 18. Then network big cheese Gail Berman said she was doing the show a favor so it wouldn't have even lower ratings during May sweeps. Gee, thanks, Gail. Sort of.
Fox says it doesn't want to deep-six "A.D.," so now it wants listeners to left-click their sentiments at http://www.getarrested.com/ in order for us to show proper fealty and get others of like mind to follow suit. Hey, whatever it takes, I'm on board. Barring that, I'm sure HBO wouldn't have a hard time finding a slot given that most of their shows are signing off or withering on the vine.
Which brings me to Kansas City Star TV critic Aaron Barnhart, whom I'm normally a big fan of. In his latest column posted on his TV Barn blog, http://www.tvbarn.com/archives/028745.php, Barnhart regrettably regards "A.D." as overpraised.
"Arrested Development” is a likable if not quite lovable program, solidly entertaining but more in the league of “Scrubs” than of “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” the two shows I think it would like to be when it grows up.
Ouch, Mr. B. I'm actually a big "Scrubs" fan, too. Dunno, but all the abusurdities, parodies, in-jokes and irony that pile up there and on "A.D." provide a good chunk of the laughs I'm able to dredge up on the network schedules (Cable is a whole different animal).
Giving the network credit for putting the show on the air in the first place and keeping it on the air despite mediocre ratings is no longer enough. Can Fox do better in "A.D.'s" time slot? Of course not. Does it matter? Ditto.
It's usually simpler to cancel a show rather than figure out how it can find an audience. How nice it would be for the gang in Murdochville to not take the easy way out.
Toiletmania---Thailand To Be Next Year's Porcelain King
A recent wire story picked up from the Bangkok Post told of how Thailand would be the host for next year's World Toilet Summit. What a pisser.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=817&ncid=757&e=10&u=/ap/20050414/ap_on_fe_st/world_toilet_summit course, you might find an item about international experts huddling for what could be called Flush Fest (this year's will be held in Shanghai) unless you've happened to use a public toilet in many parts of Asia. Suffice to say, these guys have a lot to talk about.
A visit to www.worldtoilet.org shows what much of the world is up against:
Public toilets serve the male and female but it goes beyond that. What about the visually, physically and mentally handicapped, the child, the elderly, or people with babies, as well as certain religious and cultural toilet requirements? The female visits the toilet 3 times longer than the male; logically they need more toilet cubicles because of the absence of urinals.
And most women in the United States find that just about everywhere they try to pee in public is illogical.
To be sure, there are many places in the United States where the concept of cleanliness being next go godliness has not reached the bathroom. However, the U.S. affiliate for the World Toilet Organization is the Baltimore-based International Paruresis Association, whose reason for being is a disorder that prevents people from urinating in public places or in the presence of other people [not a good situation for Olympic athletes who have to pee on demand while some lucky soul gets to watch].
If you believe the claims at http://www.paruresis.org, 7 percent of the population has bashful bladders. The rest of us just hold our nose and hope for the best.
IN OTHER W.C. NEWS, UPDATED MAY 31.
In Finland, they don't have a problem holding it in, it's what to do after it comes out, thanks to a shortage of T.P. for the W.C.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1410062.html?menu=
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=817&ncid=757&e=10&u=/ap/20050414/ap_on_fe_st/world_toilet_summit course, you might find an item about international experts huddling for what could be called Flush Fest (this year's will be held in Shanghai) unless you've happened to use a public toilet in many parts of Asia. Suffice to say, these guys have a lot to talk about.
A visit to www.worldtoilet.org shows what much of the world is up against:
Public toilets serve the male and female but it goes beyond that. What about the visually, physically and mentally handicapped, the child, the elderly, or people with babies, as well as certain religious and cultural toilet requirements? The female visits the toilet 3 times longer than the male; logically they need more toilet cubicles because of the absence of urinals.
And most women in the United States find that just about everywhere they try to pee in public is illogical.
To be sure, there are many places in the United States where the concept of cleanliness being next go godliness has not reached the bathroom. However, the U.S. affiliate for the World Toilet Organization is the Baltimore-based International Paruresis Association, whose reason for being is a disorder that prevents people from urinating in public places or in the presence of other people [not a good situation for Olympic athletes who have to pee on demand while some lucky soul gets to watch].
If you believe the claims at http://www.paruresis.org, 7 percent of the population has bashful bladders. The rest of us just hold our nose and hope for the best.
IN OTHER W.C. NEWS, UPDATED MAY 31.
In Finland, they don't have a problem holding it in, it's what to do after it comes out, thanks to a shortage of T.P. for the W.C.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1410062.html?menu=
Friday, April 15, 2005
Weekly Read-Out--"Trek" bit players have 15 minutes extended; making love the Green way, a really bad day in New Jersey and pizza wars
The Los Angeles Times found there are some who got to orbit in the "Star Trek" universe are getting their 16th minute of fame, thanks to lots of undersexed men who still live in their parents' basement.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-bitplayers8apr08,0,5077740.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Birds do it, bees do it, and so do a couple of environmentalists who have a found they can hug trees and hump each other for fun, profit and to promote a good cause.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/04/13/gree.DTL
Think you had a bad day? The Bergen Record's Rich Cowen reports on a couple of guys in New Jersey who can easily beat you in a game of "Can You Top That?"
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0NSZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NjY3OTE1MSZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTM Ed Levine just put out "Pizza: A Slice Of Heaven," where he talks about where to find a slice that's a transcendent experience rather than a gloppy mess of sauce, tasteless cheese and rancid dough. Levine traveled the U.S. and Italy in search of that all-defining pie. One place that got the hook was Chicago, whose deep-dish pizza Levine called a good casserole, but certainly not pizza.
As you can imagine, Chicagoans don't like being left out of the pizza pantheon. And though Mike Thomas in the Chicago Sun-Times doesn't mention Levine by name, you can tell right away he has little use for him.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/food/foo-news-pizza30.html
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-bitplayers8apr08,0,5077740.story?coll=la-home-headlines
Birds do it, bees do it, and so do a couple of environmentalists who have a found they can hug trees and hump each other for fun, profit and to promote a good cause.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2005/04/13/gree.DTL
Think you had a bad day? The Bergen Record's Rich Cowen reports on a couple of guys in New Jersey who can easily beat you in a game of "Can You Top That?"
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0NSZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NjY3OTE1MSZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTM Ed Levine just put out "Pizza: A Slice Of Heaven," where he talks about where to find a slice that's a transcendent experience rather than a gloppy mess of sauce, tasteless cheese and rancid dough. Levine traveled the U.S. and Italy in search of that all-defining pie. One place that got the hook was Chicago, whose deep-dish pizza Levine called a good casserole, but certainly not pizza.
As you can imagine, Chicagoans don't like being left out of the pizza pantheon. And though Mike Thomas in the Chicago Sun-Times doesn't mention Levine by name, you can tell right away he has little use for him.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/food/foo-news-pizza30.html
Much About Mitch: Why Don't More Think There Should Be An Albom Cut At The "Free Press"
Maybe I'm missing something. Or perhaps the media have been so beaten down by the Jayson Blairs, the Jack Kellys and their odious ilk to muster sufficent outrage over the fact that Mitch Albom submitted an advance column about something that wound up never happening, but he penned it as if he was right there all along.
Albom made the mistake that even most pimply-faced cub reporters wouldn't attempt, let alone an award-winning, millionaire Friend Of Oprah columnist.
The reaction of editors has been, to say the very least, puzzling. Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp recently polled a bunch of them at the ASNE convention, and only one came right out and said Albom should be canned outright.
"It is dishonest, and if you look at what we do, that is one of the things we cannot afford to do," said Rocky Mountain News editor and publisher John Temple, who nevertheless eqivocated on whether Albom should be ousted.
Then you have to wonder about guys like Bill Thomas, editor of the Record-Eagle in Traverse City, MI, who called Albom "sloppy," but praised him as "an accomplished writer who is entitled to one mistake."
Thomas is assuming there is just one mistake. But even if it's just this transgression, shouldn't that be enough when fiction masquerades as a column?
To be sure, Albom has engendered less sympathy in the trenches -- to a point. Aaron Bracy, who writes for the Courier-Post in suburban Philadelphia, took Albom to task for further widening the credibility gap between the media and readers, but said if this is a one-time offense, let it pass and have Albom and others learn from what happened. All well and good, but if Albom needs to learn not to deceive readers, does he really deserve his column?
http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/sports/s041505l.htm
Fortunately, the blogosphere has no shortage of seeing this issue for what it is. Among them is Bill Gallagher:
He could have written the piece in a number of different ways or he could have chosen to write about something else. His editors would have taken anything Lord Albom deigned to submit. But it's clear he followed his appetite for mushy, feel-good stuff and fictionalized the scene accordingly.
http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/gallagher209.html
Then there are bloggers who think they know what they are talking about, but stumble badly when trying to spew out their tired left-leaning media conspiracy bromides to explain away Albom. Such is James Joyner's OutsideTheBeltway.com.
I would point out that columns and even straight news stories are written ALL THE TIME as if the story had already happened. It's not unusual to get a story from the wire services or major newspapers written several hours before, say, a presidential speech that already has the quotes (via advance copy) of what the president will say and, indeed, (via reactions to the advance copy) the reaction of Democratic opponents and Republican supporters.
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/10026
Yes, and no. In his rush to make the facts fit his opinion, Joyner leaves out a crucial element. While the stories are written before the speech is delivered, they say so ("In remarks prepared for delivery tonight, the president said....."). There's no deception. The stories are advancers and everybody knows that up front. If the president deviated from the script, the story can be updated in later editions. Albom didn't provide himself any wiggle room, and when the events he described didn't pan out, he made himself and the Detroit Free Press look foolish.
Joyner then launches a non-sequitur missile when he argues what Albom did was akin to writing obituaries in advance of somebody dying. What he conveniently forgets, or maybe never knew, is that newspapers didn't tell you the pope died before he actually did. Writers of non-fiction don't assume.
In a conclusion that only someone who gives the impression that they've never set foot inside a newsroom could make, Joyner says what Albom did was "not unethical, unprofessional or unusual."
Let's hope Albom's bosses at the Free Press don't feel the same.
Albom made the mistake that even most pimply-faced cub reporters wouldn't attempt, let alone an award-winning, millionaire Friend Of Oprah columnist.
The reaction of editors has been, to say the very least, puzzling. Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp recently polled a bunch of them at the ASNE convention, and only one came right out and said Albom should be canned outright.
"It is dishonest, and if you look at what we do, that is one of the things we cannot afford to do," said Rocky Mountain News editor and publisher John Temple, who nevertheless eqivocated on whether Albom should be ousted.
Then you have to wonder about guys like Bill Thomas, editor of the Record-Eagle in Traverse City, MI, who called Albom "sloppy," but praised him as "an accomplished writer who is entitled to one mistake."
Thomas is assuming there is just one mistake. But even if it's just this transgression, shouldn't that be enough when fiction masquerades as a column?
To be sure, Albom has engendered less sympathy in the trenches -- to a point. Aaron Bracy, who writes for the Courier-Post in suburban Philadelphia, took Albom to task for further widening the credibility gap between the media and readers, but said if this is a one-time offense, let it pass and have Albom and others learn from what happened. All well and good, but if Albom needs to learn not to deceive readers, does he really deserve his column?
http://www.courierpostonline.com/news/sports/s041505l.htm
Fortunately, the blogosphere has no shortage of seeing this issue for what it is. Among them is Bill Gallagher:
He could have written the piece in a number of different ways or he could have chosen to write about something else. His editors would have taken anything Lord Albom deigned to submit. But it's clear he followed his appetite for mushy, feel-good stuff and fictionalized the scene accordingly.
http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/gallagher209.html
Then there are bloggers who think they know what they are talking about, but stumble badly when trying to spew out their tired left-leaning media conspiracy bromides to explain away Albom. Such is James Joyner's OutsideTheBeltway.com.
I would point out that columns and even straight news stories are written ALL THE TIME as if the story had already happened. It's not unusual to get a story from the wire services or major newspapers written several hours before, say, a presidential speech that already has the quotes (via advance copy) of what the president will say and, indeed, (via reactions to the advance copy) the reaction of Democratic opponents and Republican supporters.
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/10026
Yes, and no. In his rush to make the facts fit his opinion, Joyner leaves out a crucial element. While the stories are written before the speech is delivered, they say so ("In remarks prepared for delivery tonight, the president said....."). There's no deception. The stories are advancers and everybody knows that up front. If the president deviated from the script, the story can be updated in later editions. Albom didn't provide himself any wiggle room, and when the events he described didn't pan out, he made himself and the Detroit Free Press look foolish.
Joyner then launches a non-sequitur missile when he argues what Albom did was akin to writing obituaries in advance of somebody dying. What he conveniently forgets, or maybe never knew, is that newspapers didn't tell you the pope died before he actually did. Writers of non-fiction don't assume.
In a conclusion that only someone who gives the impression that they've never set foot inside a newsroom could make, Joyner says what Albom did was "not unethical, unprofessional or unusual."
Let's hope Albom's bosses at the Free Press don't feel the same.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
So Why Hasn't Mitch Albom Been Fired Yet?
There are the working stiffs in the newspaper business, and then there are the poseurs, the local legends, the star columnist who may actually be the reason, or one among many that people buy the paper. Mitch Albom is all of these.
Which is why he may actually survive penning a column about something that never happened, but made it seem like he was there the whole time.
If you're tuning in late, Albom wrote in his April 3, Detroit Free Press column about two former Michigan State hoop stars flying to St. Louis for the NCAA basketball championship to root on their former team. Only thing wrong? The players never made it to the game. But to hear Albom tell it:
"[I]n talking to both players ... it was a chance to do something almost all of us would love to do: recapture , for a few hours, the best time of their lives."
Albom rolled the dice, writing a Sunday column on Friday for an event on Saturday. Oops. Now his column is suspended, and Albom's on paid leave while the Free Press investigates what happened.
Maybe I can help them out: Mitch lied.
And he took the newspaper's credibility along his journalistic road to perdition. Not quite Jayson Blair territory, but scary close, don't you think?
But wait, you say. Doesn't Mitch have editors? And why didn't red flags pop up in the newsroom like the cherry blossoms come spring? Excellent questions both. If Mitch gets canned and/or caned for this work, then the editors who slotted for the early Sunday edition of the sports section shouldn't be spared.
One excuse has already emerged, namely they were blinded by Mitch's star power. After all, it's not every paper that has a columnist who also pens runaway bestsellers like "Five People You Meet On Tuesdays With Morrie In Heaven." And has a radio show. And appears on ESPN. Sometimes he even writes for the Free Press.
In the end, that's why we're still talking about Mitch's column in the present tense. Mere mortals would've gotten the boot and an escort from the building by a couple of moonlighting bouncers who'd ensure the door wouldn't hit us on the way out.
Mitch is a brand, and the Free Press needs all the help it can get to differentiate itself from the Detroit News, where the gloating marathon is no doubt continuing unabated.
So, what becomes a legend most may wind up being a trip to the woodshed rather than the woodchipper. And that would be a shame, especially given that the guilty party has been less than contrite and seems more sorry about getting caught than acknowledging his misdeeds.
Getting rid of Albom should be as easy a decision as it was to run his column without question. Payback's a bitch, Mitch.
Which is why he may actually survive penning a column about something that never happened, but made it seem like he was there the whole time.
If you're tuning in late, Albom wrote in his April 3, Detroit Free Press column about two former Michigan State hoop stars flying to St. Louis for the NCAA basketball championship to root on their former team. Only thing wrong? The players never made it to the game. But to hear Albom tell it:
"[I]n talking to both players ... it was a chance to do something almost all of us would love to do: recapture , for a few hours, the best time of their lives."
Albom rolled the dice, writing a Sunday column on Friday for an event on Saturday. Oops. Now his column is suspended, and Albom's on paid leave while the Free Press investigates what happened.
Maybe I can help them out: Mitch lied.
And he took the newspaper's credibility along his journalistic road to perdition. Not quite Jayson Blair territory, but scary close, don't you think?
But wait, you say. Doesn't Mitch have editors? And why didn't red flags pop up in the newsroom like the cherry blossoms come spring? Excellent questions both. If Mitch gets canned and/or caned for this work, then the editors who slotted for the early Sunday edition of the sports section shouldn't be spared.
One excuse has already emerged, namely they were blinded by Mitch's star power. After all, it's not every paper that has a columnist who also pens runaway bestsellers like "Five People You Meet On Tuesdays With Morrie In Heaven." And has a radio show. And appears on ESPN. Sometimes he even writes for the Free Press.
In the end, that's why we're still talking about Mitch's column in the present tense. Mere mortals would've gotten the boot and an escort from the building by a couple of moonlighting bouncers who'd ensure the door wouldn't hit us on the way out.
Mitch is a brand, and the Free Press needs all the help it can get to differentiate itself from the Detroit News, where the gloating marathon is no doubt continuing unabated.
So, what becomes a legend most may wind up being a trip to the woodshed rather than the woodchipper. And that would be a shame, especially given that the guilty party has been less than contrite and seems more sorry about getting caught than acknowledging his misdeeds.
Getting rid of Albom should be as easy a decision as it was to run his column without question. Payback's a bitch, Mitch.
Monday, April 11, 2005
No Call Waiting: Cell Phones Better Than Sex
A study by BBDO Worldwide finds an alarming number of people will stop in the middle of a sex act to answer their mobile phone.
Which may say a lot about their partners. Or, it may speak volumes about how cellphones are the new heroin. Verizon, Sprint and Cingular have us right where they want us.
Sex? Been there, climaxed that. But that new ringtone from Chingy's latest single? Now you're talking, baby. And it'll respect you in the morning to boot.
As Alice Cuneo notes in Advertising Age: The findings arrive as the wireless industry is aggressively ramping up its effort to promote the cell phone as a content- and advertising-delivering device to potentially rival that of TV or the Internet. Cynics, however, question whether most consumers will want to watch programming and ads on a screen hardly larger than the face of a wristwatch. Wireless content evangelists rebut that the emotional connection between individual consumers and their cell phones is an extraordinary one.
An emotional connection you scoff? See what happens next time you're in bed and it's the Motorola that's doing the vibrating.
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44753
Which may say a lot about their partners. Or, it may speak volumes about how cellphones are the new heroin. Verizon, Sprint and Cingular have us right where they want us.
Sex? Been there, climaxed that. But that new ringtone from Chingy's latest single? Now you're talking, baby. And it'll respect you in the morning to boot.
As Alice Cuneo notes in Advertising Age: The findings arrive as the wireless industry is aggressively ramping up its effort to promote the cell phone as a content- and advertising-delivering device to potentially rival that of TV or the Internet. Cynics, however, question whether most consumers will want to watch programming and ads on a screen hardly larger than the face of a wristwatch. Wireless content evangelists rebut that the emotional connection between individual consumers and their cell phones is an extraordinary one.
An emotional connection you scoff? See what happens next time you're in bed and it's the Motorola that's doing the vibrating.
http://www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44753
Friday, April 08, 2005
Weekly Read-Out--A Pope Scoop, An Overly Erect Statue, Breastfeeding Tigers and a Not-So-Gay Wedding
British tabs are ruthless in being first on a story. But sometimes it's a happy accident when that happens, as one Daily Mail scribe found out when the Pope was shot in 1981.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,12272,1453353,00.html
Is that a statue or are you just glad to see me? A Dutch homage to the end of the German occupation is not what some folks have in mind.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1338901.html?menu=news.quirkies.badtaste
Sometimes, a short headline is all you need to click on the story. How about this one? "Woman breastfeeds tigers." Gotcha.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Unusual-Tales/Woman-breastfeeds-tigers/2005/04/04/1112489391612.html.
I just caught up to this series the Boston Globe put out last year on one family dealing with two weddings. Getting married is stressful enough, but when one is a gay wedding at a time when there was question about whether such unions would be legal makes for a compelling tale, not to mention that the family has enough back stories for a four-part series that's worth the time.
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/bestmen/
It's also interesting to note the Globe's long note on its reporting techniques for the story, including these revealing and refreshing sentences: Unless otherwise noted in the text, all direct quotes were either heard by a reporter or confirmed by two or more parties present when the conversation took place. When someone's thoughts or feelings are described, the source is that person.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pope/story/0,12272,1453353,00.html
Is that a statue or are you just glad to see me? A Dutch homage to the end of the German occupation is not what some folks have in mind.
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1338901.html?menu=news.quirkies.badtaste
Sometimes, a short headline is all you need to click on the story. How about this one? "Woman breastfeeds tigers." Gotcha.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/Unusual-Tales/Woman-breastfeeds-tigers/2005/04/04/1112489391612.html.
I just caught up to this series the Boston Globe put out last year on one family dealing with two weddings. Getting married is stressful enough, but when one is a gay wedding at a time when there was question about whether such unions would be legal makes for a compelling tale, not to mention that the family has enough back stories for a four-part series that's worth the time.
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/bestmen/
It's also interesting to note the Globe's long note on its reporting techniques for the story, including these revealing and refreshing sentences: Unless otherwise noted in the text, all direct quotes were either heard by a reporter or confirmed by two or more parties present when the conversation took place. When someone's thoughts or feelings are described, the source is that person.
Thursday, April 07, 2005
Popepourri--All Sorts Of Spin And Sidebars From The Vatican
Here's a lead you likely won't see in any American newspaper, but a winner all the same. From The Australian:
In death, Pope John Paul II has achieved what he failed to in life - bringing the commander in chief of the world's superpower to his knees.
George W. Bush made history yesterday as the first American president to attend a papal funeral, kneeling in silent prayer before the Catholic leader who opposed US intervention in Iraq.
Over in the UK, The Daily Mirror, which usually never resists an attempt to bash Bush, instead had a dispatch from reporter Alexandra Williams, who stood on line for the Pope walk-by.
The look on John Paul II's face was pained. I could not help thinking that his final hours might not have been quite as serene as we have been told.
Peter Popham in The Independent noted that Bush may be seated close to Iran's president Khatami tomorrow at the funeral, putting Dubya remarkably close to one of his "evildoers."
And lest we forget, the Pope is nothing if not big bucks, at least for the landlords and others fleecing the media for prime Vatican views.
A television producer for a European company said that several years ago the owners of a prime building asked him to pay $200,000 for the peak coverage period.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-0504060239apr06,1,853641.story?coll=chi-homepagenews-utl
In death, Pope John Paul II has achieved what he failed to in life - bringing the commander in chief of the world's superpower to his knees.
George W. Bush made history yesterday as the first American president to attend a papal funeral, kneeling in silent prayer before the Catholic leader who opposed US intervention in Iraq.
Over in the UK, The Daily Mirror, which usually never resists an attempt to bash Bush, instead had a dispatch from reporter Alexandra Williams, who stood on line for the Pope walk-by.
The look on John Paul II's face was pained. I could not help thinking that his final hours might not have been quite as serene as we have been told.
Peter Popham in The Independent noted that Bush may be seated close to Iran's president Khatami tomorrow at the funeral, putting Dubya remarkably close to one of his "evildoers."
And lest we forget, the Pope is nothing if not big bucks, at least for the landlords and others fleecing the media for prime Vatican views.
A television producer for a European company said that several years ago the owners of a prime building asked him to pay $200,000 for the peak coverage period.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-0504060239apr06,1,853641.story?coll=chi-homepagenews-utl
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Pulitzers: Kudos Give Way To Reality In The Newsroom
Amid the popping of champagne corks, hugs, and high-fives in some newsrooms that produced winning Pulitzer Prize entries was the sobering reality that a news organization that could nurture great work would also take steps to ensure that such lofty journalistic heights would never be scaled again.
Exhibits A and B come from the Tribune Co., whose Newsday and Los Angeles Times won Pulitzers, which is nothing unusual for either paper.
Newsday shared the award for international reporting for Dele Olojede's four-part series on the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide 10 years later. A worthy honor for a reporter who often shone because he was cut loose to do enterprise reporting across continents. But to bask in the kudos that flowed his way for the Pulitzer, Olojede had to make a special trip. You see, he was among the reporters and editors who took a buyout last year, not long after his series was published.
Newsday was cutting bodies to trim costs and let Olojede -- who had become Newsday's foreign editor -- walk. Not everyone who wanted the buyout bucks was as fortunate. Safe to say, it may not have been the way that Olojede wanted to leave the paper he joined as an intern out of Columbia J-School in 1988.
Would Newsday have barred the door if Olojede had won the prize earlier? Hard to say. Tribune's lately been run from its HQ free of sentiment.
The L.A. Times has learned this the hard way. It won the Public Service prize -- the Big Kahuna for the Pulitzers -- and the other half of the International award, for reporting from Russia by Kim Murphy.
The Times, which has won 37 Pulitzers, has suffered for its drops in circulation. The gang in Chicago continues to nip, tuck, squeeze and wheedle savings out of its largest property. So far, the product we see hasn't frayed even if it's in danger of showing signs of wear.
It is telling in the Times' Pulitzer article that it mentioned "Reporters and editors gave a loud and extended ovation to Publisher John P. Puerner, who has been seen as a champion of the newspaper's editorial operations in an era of cost-cutting. Puerner announced last month that he would take a "self-imposed career break" at the end of May, to be replaced by his protege, Jeffrey M. Johnson."
Being good is not good enough. Pulitzer Prizes don't sell papers. That's the problem. And a shame.
Exhibits A and B come from the Tribune Co., whose Newsday and Los Angeles Times won Pulitzers, which is nothing unusual for either paper.
Newsday shared the award for international reporting for Dele Olojede's four-part series on the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide 10 years later. A worthy honor for a reporter who often shone because he was cut loose to do enterprise reporting across continents. But to bask in the kudos that flowed his way for the Pulitzer, Olojede had to make a special trip. You see, he was among the reporters and editors who took a buyout last year, not long after his series was published.
Newsday was cutting bodies to trim costs and let Olojede -- who had become Newsday's foreign editor -- walk. Not everyone who wanted the buyout bucks was as fortunate. Safe to say, it may not have been the way that Olojede wanted to leave the paper he joined as an intern out of Columbia J-School in 1988.
Would Newsday have barred the door if Olojede had won the prize earlier? Hard to say. Tribune's lately been run from its HQ free of sentiment.
The L.A. Times has learned this the hard way. It won the Public Service prize -- the Big Kahuna for the Pulitzers -- and the other half of the International award, for reporting from Russia by Kim Murphy.
The Times, which has won 37 Pulitzers, has suffered for its drops in circulation. The gang in Chicago continues to nip, tuck, squeeze and wheedle savings out of its largest property. So far, the product we see hasn't frayed even if it's in danger of showing signs of wear.
It is telling in the Times' Pulitzer article that it mentioned "Reporters and editors gave a loud and extended ovation to Publisher John P. Puerner, who has been seen as a champion of the newspaper's editorial operations in an era of cost-cutting. Puerner announced last month that he would take a "self-imposed career break" at the end of May, to be replaced by his protege, Jeffrey M. Johnson."
Being good is not good enough. Pulitzer Prizes don't sell papers. That's the problem. And a shame.
Friday, April 01, 2005
Can't Anybody Here Write About This Game? The Wall Street Journal's Baseball Illiteracy
More often than not, the Wall Street Journal does an eminenty decent job covering sports, even when it looks overly priggish when it uses courtesy titles with such items ("Mr. Matsui, nicknamed Godzilla....."), something even The NY Times dispenses with.
Still, somebody was asleep at the copy desk, or just plain clueless, while looking over Stephen Barbara's piece about the possible resurgence of my beloved Mets on the back of yesterday's Personal Journal section.
"More colorful advertising is on its way, with Ray Romano reportedly in talks to do a radio spot."
Actually, Steve, it was beyond the talking stage as of March 25, and you can hear the ad whenever you want on http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050328&content_id=979551&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym.
"I asked Dave Howard of the Mets marketing team if the Mets ownership will continue to buy expensive players..."
Technically correct, although it makes it seem like he's something less than what he is, which is Executive Vice President of Business Operations. If anything, Howard is the head of the Mets marketing team.
"[T]he Mets have hired Willie Randolph as their coach...."
Wrong-O, Steve-O. Sure, Willie was relegated for far too long as a coach while with the Yankees. But he's the manager now, Mr. Randolph to you.
The coach-manager thing is something Steve Hartman screwed up on "60 Minutes Wednesday" during his otherwise-fun piece on why the Detroit Tigers don't deserve his loyalty anymore. He called the team's manager Alan Trammell "coach" and nobody caught it in the editing room?
It was the only blip during a show that made a strong case for why "60W" should live long and prosper and not be sitting in Moonves Purgatory. The Anderson Cooper segment on football players and steroids rightly drew national headlines, and Dan Rather deftly engaged in some friendly sparring with Jack Welch, although the former GE chieftain had to clam up when asked about his ex-wife. A slip of the tongue there would not have accrued to his bottom line.
Still, somebody was asleep at the copy desk, or just plain clueless, while looking over Stephen Barbara's piece about the possible resurgence of my beloved Mets on the back of yesterday's Personal Journal section.
"More colorful advertising is on its way, with Ray Romano reportedly in talks to do a radio spot."
Actually, Steve, it was beyond the talking stage as of March 25, and you can hear the ad whenever you want on http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050328&content_id=979551&vkey=news_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym.
"I asked Dave Howard of the Mets marketing team if the Mets ownership will continue to buy expensive players..."
Technically correct, although it makes it seem like he's something less than what he is, which is Executive Vice President of Business Operations. If anything, Howard is the head of the Mets marketing team.
"[T]he Mets have hired Willie Randolph as their coach...."
Wrong-O, Steve-O. Sure, Willie was relegated for far too long as a coach while with the Yankees. But he's the manager now, Mr. Randolph to you.
The coach-manager thing is something Steve Hartman screwed up on "60 Minutes Wednesday" during his otherwise-fun piece on why the Detroit Tigers don't deserve his loyalty anymore. He called the team's manager Alan Trammell "coach" and nobody caught it in the editing room?
It was the only blip during a show that made a strong case for why "60W" should live long and prosper and not be sitting in Moonves Purgatory. The Anderson Cooper segment on football players and steroids rightly drew national headlines, and Dan Rather deftly engaged in some friendly sparring with Jack Welch, although the former GE chieftain had to clam up when asked about his ex-wife. A slip of the tongue there would not have accrued to his bottom line.
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