First Take on "The Takeaway"

Debut of The Anti-Morning Edition Sounds Like It's Still A Work In Progress

I didn't think I needed another public-radio news show to listen to when I woke up. And after hearing the debut of "The Takeaway" this morning, I'm pretty sure I still don't.

But that doesn't mean I won't listen again.

In case you didn't get to hear it -- and that would be in most of the country -- "The Takeaway" is meant to serve as a counterweight to "Morning Edition," ostensibly aimed at a younger demographic. It's a news show for folks who ordinarily listen to news on the radio. Or so the show's creators want you to believe.

WNYC in New York is producing the program in conjunction with Public Radio International. The BBC, The New York Times and WGBH in Boston will also be contributing to "The Takeaway."

"There are many people who are curious and intelligent and looking for a news show, but many of them are turned off by the style of public radio," WNYC president and CEO Laura Walker told The Wall Street Journal.

What Walker doesn't say is exactly what void "Morning Edition" has left those curious and intelligent types in. Are they turned off by in-depth reporting from around the world? Cogent, informed interviews? The heart-rending tales heard every Friday from Story Corps?

Can see how all of that would be a real turn-off.

"The Takeaway" offers up journalistic bona fides with broadcasting vets John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji (above), and attempts a more-conversational style to reflect on the news of the day rather than rely on reports in the field.

All well and good, except when the conversation goes on for a bit too long, as it did with oil expert Lisa Margonelli. And the interview with Zimbabwe's U.N. ambassador was a waste of time even before it started. No one associated with "The Takeaway" should have presumed this clown was going do anything less than lip-sync Robert Mugabe's warped perspective. And he didn't disappoint.

While we're at it, WNYC could also do away with the electronica it beds underneath the local news update at the bottom of the hour. Anyone who tries too hard to be hip just isn't.

Still, "The Takeaway" deserves a chance to succeed, even if it means you must chase after the second live hour of "Morning Edition" on the AM dial from 6-7, when "The Takeaway" is on WNYC-FM (the uninterrupted "Morning Edition feed is heard on FM from 7-9).

For one, Hockenberry has built up a strong reservoir of goodwill from public radio listeners over the years, none of which he squandered during his TV stints. He's capable of righting this ship if it's ever in danger of listing.

Second, given the organizations behind "The Takeaway," there is ample talent behind the scenes to put a little more polish on the finished product. At times what went on the air felt a little raw. One of the show's conceits is it'll let listeners email and comment on what stories they want to hear next or have talked about in greater depth.

Maybe they should hold off on that for now. News on the fly doesn't work when you're still learning how to walk. For now, "The Takeaway" can aspire to be bold, but take baby steps. Slow but steady now means you won't crash and burn later.

Behind The Swagger and Foul Mouth, Sam Zell Coming Up Empty Answering the Hard Questions

Track Records Don't Mean Squat to Scared Banks

Here's how the numbers have crunched for Sam Zell so far: He buys Tribune with very little of his own money, but takes on $8.4 billion in debt.
OK, debt's a part of doing business as anything else. No biggie. Except when it is. And is is the rapid implosion of the newspaper business around the time Zell, flush from the billions he made as a real-estate mogul, took charge in 2007
All of a sudden the jeans-wearing, profanity-spewing, bearded tycoon has reason to sweat. There's the matter of a $650 million debt payment this year, to go with another $750 million the banks are anxious to get in 2009.
So, it's no surprise that Zell is selling Newsday, putatively to Rupert Murdoch, and wants to get rid of the Chicago Cubs and Wrigley Field.
Let's say all that happened, and all is right with Tribune's debt load through next year.
Then what?
Neither Zell nor anyone else has a clue, or they're not letting on. Either that, or providing the right answer is too horrible to contemplate, especially if print revenues keep plunging and profits at the 23 Tribune TV stations go soft, especially post-election.
If there's "significant erosion" now, as Zell conceded in an April 17 conference call, nothing in the economy suggests an about-face anytime soon, if ever.
Zell may feel hot under the collar now, but that'll be nothing compared to the heat generated by the fire sale that will ensue if Tribune defaults on its bonds and is forced into bankruptcy.
Zell told the A.P. last year "I probably am not as pessimistic about the future of the newspaper business as others might be."
Forgive Zell if he got in bed with the pessimists this year and doesn't bother crawling out.

How Marcus Brachuli and Newsday Are Linked

Forget All the Antitrust Stuff -- Murdoch and Long Island Are a Bad Mix

Rupert Murdoch is already treating Newsday as his, even though he may have to jump through a few hoops with the FCC and the Justice Department before the deal is sealed.
Sure, Mort Zuckerman is preparing a bid, and Cablevision and the not-very-deep pockets of New York Observer scion Jared Kushner may wade into the pool should Murdoch start drowning in the regulatory red tape of his own making.
But for the moment, let's assume Murdoch can convince regulators that the sickly newspaper industry can stomach Newsday and The New York Post having the same owner. The bigger question is, can Newsday's readers? The answer, for anyone who's been witness to events in recent days, should be an unequivocal no.
Exhibit A is Marcus Brachuli's ouster at The Wall Street Journal. Yeah, yeah, he resigned and I'm sure he'll get a very nice package for walking the plank.
Fact is, he was not Murdoch's guy and never was going to be. Life was already gloom and doom for Brachuli, who was fast being put in a position of implementing marching orders from Murdoch and Journal publisher Robert Thomson, rather than imposing his own vision, as Journal managing editors normally would.
Murdoch was able to get his way and, in turn, get around the limitations on his ability to fire the managing editor per the deal he made with the Bancroft family to buy the paper. We won't fire you, we'll just make you bloody miserable as soon as you walk in the door. They did, and now Brachuli's a "consultant" for News Corp.
What does this have to do with Newsday? Plenty. True, the deal is officially a joint venture so Tribune can avoid getting whomped with a hefty capital-gains bill. But everyone knows who'll be wearing the pants at the end of the day, and it won't be Sam Zell.
Murdoch has said both papers would be operated separately. As with anything, that's open to wide interpretation when Murdoch's involved. You could still have separate newspapers, but a ukase could be handed down that says both really don't really each need theatre critics, beat writers for the local sports teams or travel editors.
The result will be a newspaper that for years has been a shell of its former self being desiccated even further. It's been a long time since Newsday has been a consistently compelling read, and Murdoch's imprint could send even more readers scurrying elsewhere.
After all, the Post is reportedly losing $50 million a year. Murdoch covets Newsday's profits and captive audience on Long Island to help erase that deficit. Shedding personnel wouldn't hurt either.
Bear witness to the Post, which has never exactly been top heavy with reporters to begin with. The same can be said in recent years about Newsday, whose editorial ranks have been thinned by buyouts and the closing of its foreign bureaus, while its outposts in Washington and Albany have also been trimmed.
Murdoch has never been confused with a savior. That's why he's a billionaire. And it's also why his purchase would be bad news for Newsday, its employees and, most of all, its loyal readers.

N.Y.Times Star Reporters Head for the Door...

But It May Not Be Enough. Why Mood is Black at the Gray Lady

Radar yesterday had more of the names who are taking buyouts from The New York Times. They include mainstays like Murray Chass, Jane Gross and Lawrence K. Altman, along with Philip Shenon and Karen Arenson.
They'll join such brand names as Linda Greenhouse, John Noble Wilford and David Cay Johnston.
But now we learned geting those veterans' above-scale salaries off the book won't be enough. The Times was looking to trim the newsroom head count by 100. But apparently enough editors and reporters think enough of the paper to want to stick around. Or maybe they don't think enough of the buyout offer.
Either way, the number who signed up was less than 100, which will mean a "limited number" of layoffs.
After the dust settles, it'll be instructive to see which beats are filled and which will lie fallow. Of course, someone will take Greenhouse's spot at the Supreme Court, but it's doubtful Chass will get replaced as the Times' baseball eminent grise.
Either way, it means even the Times will now be doing less with fewer. The Times has always propped itself on its formidable reputation. But with fewer bodies putting out the daily report, this may be the time when signs of strain are finally beginning to show.

MSNBC Take-Out On Unfriendly Skies Gives Back-Handed Props to CNN

Report on Pilots Flying Low on Fuel -- by Airlines' Alleged Design Scary Stuff

After spending a good chunk of the morning flying, it was grim enough reading today about how United wants to bump its domestic fuel surcharge another $20, which would mean that $70 of every round-trip ticket would go toward underwriting the airline's bill at the pump. So far, other airlines haven't matched it, but you know they'll try.
But the scariest airline item found online today was MSNBC's excellent piece on claims too many pilots are making that they are being pressured into flying with low fuel.
The allegations are at once fascinating and disturbing. But also telling was how the piece ended, quoting from a report by an airline first officer:

“I am absolutely confident that if this is the way this company is going to play the game we will soon be on ‘CNN,’ and not in a good way.”

Let's hope MSNBC would also be covering that story. More importantly, let's hope it never has to.

Food, Glorious Food Propping Up Teetering Magazine Business

Publishers Starving for Results Get Them Served On A Platter By Rachel Ray and Martha Stewart

No surprise: magazine advertising is off. Way off for some in the first quarter, reports Keith Kelly in the New York Post.
But the one bright spot was food titles, especially populist books like Everyday With Rachel Ray and Everyday Food, put out by Martha Stewart.
Both titles focus on unfussy recipes that are easy to make, and let people enjoy a home-cooked meal without slaving all day in the kitchen. There's also an emphasis on value, especially appealing in light of one of the Post's most-emailed stories right next to the Kelly article: Food Prices Rising At Fastest Rate in 17 Years.
But the news is grim elsewhere in magazine land. Folio has the numbers, and they are uglier than Betty for some venerable titles, including Scientific American (off 45.5 percent in ad pages); U.S. News & World Report (down 37.5 percent); and Rolling Stone (off 32.6 percent).

Chicken Little Lays An Egg in Newsrooms

The Sky Is Falling on Most Media Profit Margins; Still Reporting and Editing Ranks Get Thinner and Reasons to Watch and Read Become Fewer

Even if you're not a regular Romenesko reader, you know there's been a contagion of cutbacks at newspapers, TV and radio stations in both content and personnel.
Ostensibly, all of this is being done to slow a decline in revenues and audience. At the same time, you're led to believe that declines equate to red ink, thereby making all this bloodletting more justifiable. Not so, in most cases.
The top newspaper analyst, John Morton, points out in American Journalism Review that publicly traded newspaper companies still have an average profit margin of 17 percent. True, that's less than they used to have when their media hegemony could bring home a lot more bacon, but most corporations in other sectors can only lust after such returns.
The situation is even better at local TV stations, which are also not as fat and happy. But that means profit margins are merely in the 20s. Sob. Still, that's enough for the CBS-owned stations, where dozens of high-profile anchors and reporters have been let go to save money. Penny-pinching is also evident behind-the-scenes, reports The Los Angeles Times.

In a report released in July, the Writers Guild of America, East, reported that CBS and ABC news writers said recent workforce cutbacks had led to fewer investigative stories, less fact checking and an increased use of promotional video news releases at their news outlets.

The bottom line, says Morton, is get used to a new bottom line.
You can still make money, just not as much as you're used to. You won't get back to where you were, and you shouldn't even try by cutting staff and content, thereby reducing an already-shrunken value proposition to watch and read.
It's a point I've harped on repeatedly while following the travails of the likes of Dean Singleton, Brian Tierney and Sam Zell.
No doubt, debt service is a bitch for all of them, but so is the prospect of a rotting husk where a newspaper once stood.

Demise of TV Business Prompts Philips CEO To Make Up Words

The New York Times reported this morning that Philips would no longer make TVs to sell in the U.S. or Canada, but would instead license its name to a cut-rate Japanese manufacturer.
That prompted a quote from Paul Zeven, Philips' North American CEO that the move "allows the Philips brand to be very evident in the North American market and de-risks the profit potential."
Ugh.
First, he's redundant by saying "very evident." Then he concocts "de-risks," because as a CEO he's mandated to speak in corporate gobbledeygook and not take the trouble to use a few extra words to say what he really meant in proper English.
Then again, there's nothing that says a reporter, in this case Eric Taub, is compelled to quote him verbatim spouting nonsense. Taub could have paraphrased that more artfully with little or no effort. Or, since he was interviewing Zeven and not quoting from a press release, Taub could simply have asked him what he really meant.

Imagine that. Then he could have de-risked the possibility that we wouldn't have understood the story better.

For Its Editorial Cartooning Prize, Pulitzer Board Gets It Right (Wing)

The most remarkable part about Michael Ramirez, the editorial cartoonist for Investors Business Daily winning the Pulitzer Prize was not that he won -- he had already done that once before in 1994 while at the Memphis Commercial-Appeal -- was finding out that IBD actually has an editorial cartoonist.

That's actually just his homebase -- Ramirez is syndicated by Copley News Service in 450 newspapers who lop up his rather right-wing perspective. You may not agree with his world view, but they do make you stop and look, not to mention react.

Of course, that's what an editorial cartoon is supposed to do, but doing it consistently and fearlessly is another matter.
Ramirez is hardly an equal opportunity offender, a relief, no doubt, to the denizens of the White House. But even blue-state types will read him. They'll get angry, but they'll read him.
It's not easy nowadays trying to get people to swallow the GOP's glass-is-half-full dogma. Most of the time, Ramirez succeeds with an indelible mix of sugar and bile.

Jingoism Doesn't Mix Well With Vodka

This Ad Absolutly Had A Hard Time Crossing The Border

Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. And maybe it still is.

In an ad for the Mexican market, Absolut showed a pre-1848 map of the U.S., which would put California and Arizona, among other states, firmly on the Mexican side of the ledger.

Apparently, some folks north of the border got the impression that Absolut was fomenting rebellion and urging Mexicans to take up arms and get back what's rightfully theirs. Maybe they were drunk on the competition's vodka. Whatever.

The ensuing reaction forced Absolut to play defense, at least publicly. "In no way was this meant to offend or disparage, nor does it advocate an altering of borders, nor does it lend support to any anti-American sentiment, nor does it reflect immigration issues," the company said on its Web site.

Still, Absolut has pulled the ad.

Which may have been the intention all along. You could view this as damage control for some bad PR. But I'll give Absolut a lot more credit than that. Their marketing savvy has been proven time and again. The company knew the ad would eventually be seen here, and cause a shitstorm in the process.

Sure, you'll get the Glenn Beck acolytes scurrying to the attic to raise their flag and call for boycotts, pour their Absolut down the drain and all of that other jingoistic nonsense. But those with at least a jigger of common sense, in other words, the likely buyers of Absolut, can see the ad for what it is, a continuation of a deft ad strategy that has fired on all cylinders for the better part of two decades.

Absolut may have pretty much invented the concept of premium vodka, but it long ago lost its cachet as the edgiest brand out there. It needs to clamor for attention. This might not be the way they teach you how to get it in PR school, but so what?

It worked.

Ignorance Hardly Bliss: Internet's Not The Media's Salvation On College Campuses

That Students Wall Themselves Off From The News Continuation of a Sad Story That Has Media Crying More Than Crocodile Tears

Caught up yesterday to a piece from the Chronicle of Higher Education by former Washington Post scribe Ted Gup, who told of how his students are a collective bunch of dullards when it comes to knowing about the world around them.

Despite their BlackBerrys, cellphones, and Wi-Fi, they are, in their own way, as isolated as the remote tribes of New Guinea. They disprove the notion that technology fosters engagement, that connectivity and community are synonymous. I despair to think that this is the generation brought up under the banner of "No Child Left Behind." What I see is the specter of an entire generation left behind and left out.

Gup mentions how most students in some of his classes couldn't cite what country Kabul was in, name the U.S. Secretary of Defense, or define rendition. Despite that, Gup labels his students collectively as "earnest, readily educable, and, when informed, impassioned."
Not sure when that would actually be applicable, under the circumstances, but still I know how he feels.
When I was a graduate student at the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications at Syracuse University in 1983, I was a teaching assistant for a mandatory introductory course on communications. Part of my job was to administer a current-events quiz two or three times a semester.
Like Gup, my test was the equivalent of a dumbed-down version of the news of the day. But for many supposed future communications pros, not dumb enough.
To wit: During a week when King Hussein was in Washington meeting with President Reagan, I asked what country did he rule over. Only about 10 percent of the 70 students in the class answered correctly, with several telling me he was the king of Israel.
On another quiz, I asked who was the vice president. Several informed me it was Jimmy Carter.
Yet somehow they got into college, not to mention a high school diploma.
So, this might be news to Gup, but his cautionary tale is one that has had intractable roots in the hallways of academia far too long.
For those of us like myself who grew up in homes that received at least two newspapers daily, the thought of not knowing such basic facts is not only anathema but utterly incomprehensible.
No more, as Gup demonstrates. His students not only don't read newspapers, but they grew up with parents who didn't subscribe to one either.
Which may be the biggest reason why newspapers are in such dire straits today. Forget the Internet. Today's generation isn't just migrating away from print media, they're turning away from any meaningful engagement in the world around them and no one is encouraging them to do otherwise.
It's a sad story, and one that needs to be rewritten in a hurry.

XM-Sirius Merger Finally Approved By Justice Department. Now What?

The FCC Still Has To Sign Off On Deal, Though. Let The Lobbying Begin

Consumer groups and the National Association of Broadcasters took a bruising today, after the merger-happy Bush Justice Department gave its blessing to Sirius taking over XM to create satellite radio hegemony.
Or so we're led to believe.
Now it's the FCC's turn. No clear indication, based on previous FCC rumblings, that this is a fait accompli. But it's probably more of a done deal than not, especially if the commission's deliberations and likely court challenges are swept aside before Jan. 20, 2009.
After that, all bets may be off, especially if a Democrat starts redecorating 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Either way, if this drags on too long, the ultimate loser will be the millions of sat radio listeners. The more both companies have to remain independent entitites, the more debt piles up. More debt will mean more cutbacks eventually.
You can already gird for redundant channels being combined. That's a given. Two channels devoted to classic alternative rock or progressive country just won't be needed when there's only one roof to broadcast under.
The larger issue is whether the new Sirius will skimp on what's left -- doing just enough of what it needs to do to retain listeners while it still bleeds red ink, rather than continue to innovate. Sirius big cheese Mel Karmazin is saying all the right things -- now. But Mel's all about the money, and while he recognizes the value of good talent (see Howard Stern), that may only take him so far if the banks start breathing heavier around Sirius HQ.
Stay tuned.

How To Ensure You're An Also-Ran Paper In The Big Apple

New York Sun Makes Thud Instead of Splash Hyping Stories That Don't Deliver

I want to root for The New York Sun, really I do.
Its neo-con editorial page may be cretinous, but I'm all about having as many media voices in the city as possible. Besides, the arts coverage is often laudable, as is Paul Adams's trenchant observations on the restaurant scene. And the paper's shoestring of a sports section features some intriguing columnists, including basketball writer John Hollinger and Tom Perrotta on tennis.
So, even if it's a distant fourth in the newspaper wars -- assuming you believe the slim broadsheet is even in the skirmish -- you want it do well, or at least well enough to survive.
But the Sun does nothing to help its cause when it prints -- at disturbingly frequent intervals -- news that really isn't. In an effort to do more than parrot the other N.Y. papers, the Sun will lead with some kind of analysis or news feature. Good approach, but be careful what you wish for.
Friday's edition led with a story headlined "Albany Starts To Wonder At Paterson," which sought to keep alive the New York's newest governor's revelations days before about how he and his wife cheated on each other.

The story from Jacob Gershman led off:

Concern is growing in Albany over the prospect that, even as Governor Paterson races to get on top of the budget crisis, the disclosures of his private sexual affairs have damaged — perhaps irreparably — his capacity to execute the state's highest office.

Says who? Apparently, attribution's not a strong suit at the Sun, and we'll soon see why. Two grafs down is a quote from Baruch College political science professor Doug Muzzio about how Paterson's already damaged goods. Muzzio puts in an appearance later in the story.
But that's it.
Nowhere else is anyone quoted to back up the lead, let alone find someone in Albany, where concern is allegedly growing. Muzzio's office is on Manhattan's East Side.
Instead, Gershman -- a little too pleased with himself, but with the apparent blessing of his editors -- sounds more like a columnist than a reporter. To wit:

Mr. Paterson finds himself lumped together with two disgraced former state leaders, Eliot Spitzer and James McGreevey, as charter members of the "Governors Gone Wild" club.
Albany lawmakers are now questioning the political wisdom of his decision to hold a press conference on Tuesday, at which he invited the Albany press corps to quiz him on his sex life for half an hour.

It should be noted it was Gershman, who generated a scintilla of buzz, when he asked Paterson (watch clip) at his first news conference after being sworn in if he had ever patronized a prostitute.
So, it's not that he's clueless or connected. Gershman's been in and around Albany long enough to develop sources. And judging by other newspapers' blogs that quote him, he is read by his peers.
The answer is the Sun's limited resources mean it couldn't afford a Chinese wall between news and editorial. Which means it really can't be taken seriously as a news outlet except by those who are like-minded, in other words venemous Democrat-bashers.
That allows you to be a writer and not a reporter, thereby allowing you to quote a professor who just happens to agree with your preconceived notions.
And if you think it's just a matter of Gershman being lazy rather than having an agenda, then ask why he and his managing editor, Ira Stoll, penned a piece in neocon bible Commentary in November evaluating Spitzer's first term.
Which means that Paterson's peccadilloes are prime fodder for Gershman & Co. He may be smelling blood. But I smell something else emanating from articles like these.

R.I.P. Harp Magazine

Hard Rain Continues To Fall for Titles Covering Indie, Alternative Music

Sorry to hear that Harp magazine bit the dust last week, during the SXSW Festival, which was arguably Harp's ultimate comfort zone.

Harp trafficked in covering the artists most often heard on Triple-A and Americana stations. So, if you were into the likes of Ryan Adams, Wilco, Bright Eyes and My Morning Jacket, chances are you'd be into Harp.

Which makes me feel a little guilty, in that I used to subscribe, but faced with a never-ending time crunch found I could only read one music magazine with regularity. And I chose Paste, in part because it also offered a free CD with every issue. Paste covers a lot of the same musical ground, though it ventures a little further afield with books and movie coverage.

However, my patronage ultimatley didn't seal Harp's fate so much as the turbulence in the music business that's been roiled by declining CD sales, cheap digital downloads and illegal file sharing. That meant labels weren't spending on ads like they used to.

Harp also appealed to working musicians, but advertising for music software and the like cratered as well.

"Unfortunately, Harp's critical acclaim never translated into sustaining commercial success," says Glenn Sabin, CEO of Guthrie, Harp's publisher.

And for those who kept in touch with Harp via its Web site, alas, that won't be around much longer either.

Magazine Death Pool notes Harp unfortunately has some company in this genre, after Resonance and No Depression announced plans earlier this year to fold, and comes about two years after yet another indie-rock mag, Tracks, shut down.

There's actually plenty of depression to go around among publishers. If you read the magazines'e farewell notes, they turn out to be ever-so-slight variations on the same, lamentable theme.

As the costs of paper, printing, distribution and marketing soar, while advertising and circulation stagnate or slip and credit lines vanish entirely, look for others like them to pen their farewells sooner than later.

As If Newsday Staffers Didn't Have Enough To Worry About

Rupert or Mort Could Quarterback A "Joint Venture" and Give Sam Zell a Little Breathing Room

Tribune high priest Sam Zell has said he didn't want to sell any of his newspaper properties after he bought the company.
But Zell says a lot of things, some of them meaningful, others profane, and some he has had to backtrack on. Some of that's understandable, as advertising revenue continues to shrink -- and this once-mighty bastion of journalism leaks vats of red ink.
So, now comes opportunity, in the form of a possible sale of Newsday , which could fetch $350 million and up.
And in the hunt are Mortimer (Daily News) Zuckerman and Rupert (Post) Murdoch, who the Times described as being interested in a joint venture.
Oh, yeah, there's also James Dolan of Cablevision, but despite that company's deep pockets, Dolan has proved himself to be a doofus of the first order in his stewardship of Madison Square Garden, in particular the woeful Knicks. He knows newspapers like I know quantum physics.
So, let's stick with Mort and Rupe. Obviously, they're looking, initially, to find a way to broaden their reach to advertisers and maybe hurdle the other to oblivion once and for all. And despite its diminished size and stature, Newsday -- despite its previous lies about its circulation -- is still the 10th-largest newspaper in the country and primarily serves two of the country's wealthiest counties.
So, it could make sense from a business standpoint, not to mention a salve for the raging egos of this pair.
But I'd worry, as I'm sure many Newsday editors and reporters do, as to what a joint venture could morph into -- not the least of which is an eventual outright purchase.
First, you're merging ad staffs and back-office operations. Then, hey, as long as we're at it, do we really need to send reporters from both papers on the road to cover the Mets? Couldn't we get by with two fewer reporters covering eastern Suffolk? Couldn't one theatre critic suffice? Etcetera.
Chicken Little? Don't think so, if you look at what's left of the Media News-owned newspapers in California that have had their staffs eviscerated by "Lean Dean" Singleton. It could happen out east if things get bad enough, and despite the economies of scale that a joint venture could bring, it may not be enough in the long run to stop the outflow of circulation and ads.
Having read the paper for parts of four decades, I know first-hand that Newsday was a great newspaper. Now it is merely good. Still better than most, but with the latest round of buyouts, traveling in the wrong direction to a fork in the road, where Murdoch or Zuckerman anxiously wait.

Being A Convicted Felon Means CNBC Doesn't Have To Spell Your Name Right

An Exclusive That's Not: Dennis Koslowski, er, Kozlowski To Tell All (Maybe) In "First Interview From Behind Prison Walls." That May Be News to "60 Minutes"

CNBC is patting itself on the back for landing a sit-down with the hubris-challenged Dennis Kozlowski at Mid-State Correctional Facility in upstate New York, where the former Tyco chief is doing 8 to 25 years for treating the company, as one prosecutor said, as his "personal piggy bank."
Tonight's interview with the man with the golden shower curtain is billed in an ad in The Wall Street Journal as his "first interview from behind prison walls."
Oh, really?
Actually, it's more like the first interview from behind prison walls since Morley Safer took the "60 Minutes" cameras to Kozlowski in a segment that aired nearly a year ago.
And while they were touting the second first interview, CNBC spelled Kozlowski's name in the ad wrong, making it "Koslowski."
Trying to find info on CNBC.com about the interview, which is part of the "American Greed" series, is maddening at best.
Wanna watch a video clip? Good luck. The ones on the site either don't load, provide any controls, or only play the audio. On top of that, much of the information on the web page for the Kozlowski piece is actually devoted to another story.
In other words, a real mess. Hopefully, the story, reported by Bertha Coombs, is markedly better. Just remember, though, this isn't the first time you heard it.

Wire-Service Roulette at Dow Jones Newswires

Murdoch Gives Home Team The Boot

Dow Jones Newswires and the Associated Press engaged in a game of chicken over higher rates the latter wanted to charge the former.
In the end, they both lost. DJ loses a vital news source, and the A.P. a reliable source of revenue, though it will pick up Agence France-Presse has a kinda, sorta substitute.
All this could mean a last-minute reconciliation, as both sides actually share office space and other operations, which makes undoing this arrangement a pain in the butt more than anything else.
The weirdest part of all this was reading about how DJ was dumping the AP for AFP on Reuters, DJ Newswires' bitter rival.
Everybody wants a piece of this action.

Restaurant Reviews Should Be Accurate But....

Hartford Courant May Be Guilty of Boosterism in Giving Critic The Boot

If you want to read online the review by Elissa Altman from the Feb. 28 Hartford Courant of Prime Steak & Seafood in Torrington, Conn., you're out of luck on the newspaper's Web site, though you can find it in the Google cache.
Among the choicer morsels:

"Of all the dishes on the menu, the swordfish won the prize for perfection, and the apple and spinach salad was delicate and delicious. When your rare steak shows up a dark steel gray, it's within your rights to send it back. Because you'll have to."

"Very nervy, this place, to open during a near-recession and then charge Max-style prices for food that falls qualitatively below a chain family restaurant."

"Tables are outsized, and there are simply way too many packed into this moderate space, leaving one to deduce that a key part of the restaurant's business plan is to squeeze diners in tight and charge them outrageous sums for mediocre food. After our meal, it was certainly hard to think otherwise."

The Courant yanked the review after the restaurant complained it was inaccurate and laden with hyperbole. Then the paper issued a correction and publicly announced that Elissa Altman had written her last for the Courant.
All of that set off message-board speculation about censors afoot, although many slammed Altman for dinging a restaurant they loved.
It does appear that Altman was guilty, at the very least, of being sloppy. She got wrong some prices and inaccurately wrote that the restaurant has no Web site. She also write of being there with "dining companions" when, in fact, she just had one other person with her. Altman's defense? "While I referred in my review to my 'dining companions,' I was indeed dining with just one other person. This is, to my understanding, accepted and commonplace reviewing practice done both for the sake of maintaining anonymity...," she lamely told reader representative Karen Hunter.
Hunter excoriated Altman for the dining-companion lapse, but sent the wrong message, when she quoted from the ethics code from the Association of Food Journalists that reads in part: "Negative reviews are fine, as long as they're accurate and fair. Critics must always be conscious that they are dealing with people's livelihoods. "Negative reviews, especially, should be based on multiple visits and a broad exploration of the restaurant's menu."
Taken to the nth degree, that puts Altman, or any reviewer that can't return to a restaurant multiple times in an untenable position if they don't like a place. Altman told Hunter that "the budget places strict limitations on both the number of guests a reviewer is able to bring, and the number of times a reviewer is able to visit."
Is the Courant, given its precarious fiscal state under Tribune ownership, going to pony up for a revisit if a critic says the place stinks? Doubtful.
The key, then, is to back up the critic if the review sparks a backlash like this one did -- so long as the review is based on accurate information. Altman's piece doesn't meet that criterion. But Hunter's display of the AFJ code gives you the uneasy feeling the Courant won't want to get singed by other negative reviews going forward and may avoid them entirely.
That's one move that would certainly leave a bad taste.

Reading Between The Lines of Confessions of Alleged McGreevey Boy Toy

You'd Think Dina Matos McGreevey Would Lay Low While Teddy Pedersen Gets His 15 Minutes. But No.

Now that Eliot Spitzer's been safely tucked away to ignominious oblivion, those of us in the metro NY area can re-fix our gaze on the battling McGreeveys. That would be Jim, the former New Jersey governor and would-be gay icon, and his supposedly oblivious soon-to-be-ex Dina Matos McGreevey.

The two are duking it out in divorce court and civil court, over everything from custody of their daughter, to punitive damages for being cheated out of perks she anticipated getting her mitts on before McGreevey prematurely bade the governor's mansion farewell.

Matos McGreevey has portrayed herself as a victim, who said she had no inkling her hubby was playing for the other team. Which has apparently cheesed off a former McGreevey aide, who says that's a crock because he had a lot of three-way sex with both of them.

Teddy Pedersen gave interviews to The New York Post (who dubbed him a "three-way sex stud") and the Star-Ledger, both of which are worth reading because each one fills in blanks from the other's stories.

Pedersen told the Post he spent many an evening with the McGreeveys before they were married that started with dinner and culminated in a "hard-core consensual sex orgy" that Pedersen says shows she was a "willing participant" rather than a "victim."

In fact, Pedersen implied his presence was welcomed by Dina "to get Jim's motor running," so she could fulfill her ambitions to become a governor's wife, although it was Matos McGreevey who says she was duped by McGreevey so he could ride a beard all the way to Trenton.

The Post said Pedersen "lives with his girlfriend of several years," but uncharacteristically never directly addresses whether Pedersen and the gov got it on, though he said McGreevey liked watching him do the mattress mambo with Dina.

The Star-Ledger was more direct, making no mention of a girlfriend. "Pedersen did not say if he was gay or bisexual and only described having contact with Matos McGreevey during the trysts. He also said he never knew for sure if McGreevey was gay. "I had heard the rumors in circles outside of work," he said. "In hindsight, there might have been light interest (in me), but it didn't seem like he was gay."

So is Pedersen just looking for a quick payday and an appearance on TMZ? Actually, he was subpoenaed by Dina for the divorce trial, although she probably didn't calculate he'd blab about that.

Probably the best response in this situation is to clam up, especially before a court session. However, Dina also has a book to sell, a book that could quickly become fodder for the fireplace if it's proved she willingly lived a lie. Which forces her to go on offense and tell the A.P. that Pedersen's claims are "completely false."

No One Immune From MediaNews Carnage in California

Star Sports Columnist Urged (In a Somewhat Nice Way) Not To Let The Door Hit Him On The Way Out

It's been nearly a week since I printed something negative about Dean Singleton or MediaNews, though I'm sorry this post from former San Bernadino Sun sports editor and columnist Paul Oberjuerge has to fill the void.

Oberjuerge gives an impassioned and heartbreaking rendition of his separation from the paper, where he had become an icon among journalists in the Inland Empire. Of course, that doesn't matter in Singletonland. Never has.

What's as striking about Oberjuerge's dispatch are the dozens of comments, many from former colleagues, including more than a few who regard Oberjuerge as a major influence who mentored them when no one else would.

Wrote Nate Ryan:

No one has had a bigger influence on my career — and in several ways, my life — than you. You’ve been a professional role model for almost 15 years, and I’m having a difficult time reconciling how something so stomach-turning can happen in a profession that I’ve loved so dearly for so long (and mostly because of all those nights at 399 North D Street).

Surely, someone who had that kind of impact was worth more than six weeks of severance and a check for his unused vacation time after 32 years of service.

Of course the answer is no. This is MediaNews we're talking about, after all.

Let's hope, despite the desultory newspaper climate, we can soon talk about the new job Paul Oberjuerge is starting.

Sirius Gets In Bed With Eliot Spitzer

Client 9 Channel To Spend The Weekend With A Penetrating, Probing Look at Soon-To-Be-Ex Gov With Rogue's Gallery Including Judith Regan, Bill Bennett

It helps to be a satellite radio company and have a few channels lying around.
Sirius will open up a channel this weekend and call it Client 9 Radio to thoroughly dissect, roast and drink the blood of the carcass that was Eliot Spitzer.
Because let's face it, you just can't enough of The Spitz.
That's why right-wing talker Andrew Wilkow will break bread with James Tedisco, the powerless Republican leader in the New York state Assembly, who grabbed more face time on TV than he's ever had by being the first to call for Spitzer to resign or be impeached.
That's why lefty-turned-righty Ron Silver will explore the cuckolded prominent Jew angle with Alan Dershowitz. We made up the cuckolded Jew part, but, hey, you never know.
And that's why, most importantly, the morning show on Playboy Radio will hear the deep thoughts of high-priced hookers about the scandal. Yes, penetrating thoughts indeed.
With programming like this, betcha can't wait for that merger with XM to go through, huh?

Spitzer's Downward Spiral Helps Him Go Viral

Like a Virgin? Not.

How long before Spitzer makes his way onto Shoebox Greeting cards? Cayman Island bank ads? The Pink Pussycat Boutique?

The Future May Be Online for Maine Newspapers, But Only To A Point

Latest Cutbacks at Portland Press-Herald Even Affect Web Site

An item in the Portland Press-Herald about 27 positions being eliminated at Maine's largest paper is, at first blush, no different than the dozens of articles other newspapers have printed about their own staff reductions.
But what is revealing here is that the cutbacks affect "almost every department" in the newspaper including its web site, Maine Today.
Given that's where many of its readers are heading, you'd think Maine Today would be the one sacred cow Down East.
If not, then it only highlights how lousy the advertising climate is, if as publisher Charles Cochrane says, the numbers this year are off from "the weak results posted last year."
And you thought Maine was already cold enough this time of year.

Where Was Spitzer 20 Years Ago When The Albany Press Corps Really Needed Him?

Maybe Reporters Need Mario Cuomo To Bring Sexy Back to the Statehouse

Back when I covered the Albany statehouse for UPI in the mid-80s, coverage of state news was not only desired by editors but actively coveted.

The Legislative Correspondents Association press room was brimming with reporters from papers from Watertown to Staten Island, and many points in between.

Interest in what they did from editors was piqued then by the intriguing possibility that Mario Cuomo --then the Democrats' chief rock star -- would shed his gubernatorial garments and preen for president.

For the Albany press corps, the spectre of being anointed one of the boys on the bus traveling with "our guy" had delusions of journalistic grandeur in overdrive.

Alas, Cuomo burst that balloon in 1987, and we went back -- collective sad puppy look and all --to covering the more-routine stuff emanating from the capital and the courts.

Still, Cuomo was never boring. He was a brilliant orator, and a skillful combatant with the Legislature and press alike.

Cuomo was also scandal-free, not hard given that he could often be found working well into the night -- on policy matters, and little else.

True, us reporters always suspected he brought in a few ringers from the State Police so his team could beat the LCA every year in softball, but we never had firm proof.

Redemption came when Cuomo agreed to play us in basketball, where the reporters finally triumphed, in a game highlighted by my former colleague Bob Bellafiore. Cuomo was guarding him as he tried to inbound a pass. As he was on the verge of being called for a 5-second violation, Bellafiore bounced the ball off Cuomo's knee so it would go out of bounds and he could regoup (Bellafiore -- now a PR executive -- went on to become the chief spokesman for George Pataki, the man who ousted Cuomo. That pass no doubt looked good on the resume).

The lesson of Cuomo -- and 12 years later -- Eliot Spitzer was you need a firebrand in the governor's office to get editors to care much about anything going on in Albany.

That doesn't happen when the leadership defaults to its familiar gridlock and vicious partisanship, which made it easier for newspapers faced with ever-shrinking budgets to slash away at state coverage.

To the extent possible, Spitzer made Albany sexy. In his own way, Cuomo did too, he just didn't need to spend $1,000 an hour and up to make it happen. That made him the real Emperor of the Empire State.

It Could Have Been Worse At the Mercury-News, But Isn't It Already Bad Enough?

Layoffs, Buyouts Reduce Already-Emaciated Ranks By Another Five Percent


Today was when employees at The San Jose Mercury-News were told to wait by the phone at home to find out if they still had a job.
In the end, 34 employees were pink-slipped that way, while another 16 took buyouts. That brings the newsroom headcount down to about 180, less than half of what it was in 2000.
There had been previous staff reductions in 2006 and 2007. We'll have to wait and see whether these are the only roster buzzcuts this year.
Given the state of the economy, that's far from a sure thing, as opposed to the guarantee that just about anybody still at the Mercury-News, especially those who remember what once was, isn't happy they're still there.

Samantha Power Flunks Punditry 101

A "Monster" Of A Verbal Boner: Sammy, It's "Off The Record" First, Potshots at Hillary Second

You kinda feel good when really smart people do really dumb things, to remind everyone they can be just like us.

Samantha Power is a distinguished professor at Harvard, a Pulitzer Prize winner and now a former unpaid foreign policy adviser to Barack Obama.

Power's hasty exit from Obama's campaign came after The Scotsman quoted Power calling Hillary Clinton a "monster." Here's the full quote for context.

"She is a monster, too – that is off the record – she is stooping to anything." The Scotsman said Power "hastily" tried to take back the quote. Too late.

Now, if she said "Off the record, she is a monster..," then reporter Gerri Peev would have had something to think about.

For some reporters, it's not off the record, unless they agree it is. Others, may tacitly agree that what follows such a pronouncement is indeed not for repeating. To do otherwise, risks burning some serious bridges. At least in this country.

In fact, Peev addressed this dilemma in the article that outed Power.

Journalists are always looking for knowledge and want the information they receive to be available for publication. But occasionally an interviewer will accept an exchange is "off the record" and that the conversation is not attributable....

....If a conversation is to be off the record, that agreement is usually thrashed out before the interview begins. Sometimes, public figures say something and then attempt to retract it by insisting it was "off the record" after the event. But by then it is too late, particularly if it is in the public interest that the story be published.

In this instance, Samantha Power was promoting her book and it was established in advance that the interview was on the record.

In the end, Power knows she should have known better.

"I should not have made these comments, and I deeply regret them. It is wrong for anyone to pursue this campaign in such negative and personal terms."

Either way, don't look for the ice to melt aboard the Obama campaign plane when reporters are around anytime soon.

As The Film Critics Turn: A Surprise Twist at the Daily News

Beleaguered Tabloid Bucks Trend of Pruning Critic Roster; Replaces Jack Mathews With Joe Neumaier

Newspapers big and small, such as the Sun-Sentinel in south Florida, and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, anxious to trim budgets, have decreed that arts critics of various stripes are expendable, in favor of running reviews from syndicates and wires.
So, when longtime Daily News chief film critic Jack Mathews announced recently he'd spent enough time in screening rooms, and would be headed to a long-awaited retirement on the Oregon coast, the betting money was on the News using that as an excuse to eliminate his position.
Happily, that is not the case and FishbowlNY reports Joe Neumaier, the paper's Sunday feature editor, now has the job.
Neumaier's a seasoned film writer for a variety of pubs, and at least in the press release, he's saying all the right things about the right way to approach a film critic's job, someone passionate about the movies without being an obsessive, nit-picky fan or egghead academic.
His reviews of "10,000 B.C." and "Married Life" show he's off to a good start.

National Car Collides With Common Sense Trying To Improve Customer Service

Marketing Folly: First Rule of Conducting A Survey is Know What You're Doing Before You Ask Questions. Are You Listening, Synovate?

For both business and pleasure, I've rented cars from National many times without incident thanks to membership in their Emerald Club, which allows me to bypass the counter and pick my own car in most locations.
A seamless car-rental process is far from a sure thing, and as corporate travel tightens and leisure trips may slacken due to a recession, it behooves a company to know its customers' likes and dislikes.
So, a survey of the vox populi could certainly prove helpful. So can hiring the likes of Synovate, a leading market-research firm, to conduct the survey and parse the numbers. But even supposed experts like Synovate can show they're seriously lacking a clue, and wasting National's money in the process.
Last week I received an invitation to complete a survey "evaluating the car rental process." I was favorably predisposed to take part until I got to the part about it taking "approximately 40 minutes to complete."
I never clicked on the link to see whether they were joking, but surely they do indeed jest. What chucklehead at Synovate reasonably expects business travelers, National's bread-and-butter, to take that much time from already-crammed schedules to answer a survey without any incentive?
Other online surveys I've been asked to fill out -- and which take 5-10 minutes tops -- often provide entry into a contest for iPods, gift certificates, plane tickets and the like. It's a small but significant carrot to get you to carve out a few minutes.
But 40 minutes? Now you're getting into focus-group territory, where market researchers dole out more than a few pennies for your thoughts.
Anyone who has the time and inclination to fill out the National survey could hardly be construed as a representative customer, given the company's emphasis on the corporate traveler (leaving the leisure driver to its sibling Alamo).
If you want my time, you need to do more than simply say "thank you." Offer up a little something extra and maybe you'll get my attention, not to mention those whose opinions really matter to National.

Who Will Be The Lucky Ones At The San Jose Mercury-News

Close Race Between Those Who Get Pink-Slip Phone Call on March 7, and Those Who Don't (But May Wish They Had)

Romeneseko's been lousy with posts the last few days that make you want to reach out to anyone working at a Media News-owned paper in California and give them a hug.
Item: If you work for the San Jose Mercury-News, you've been told to wait by the phone Friday morning. If no one calls to say you've been canned, then it's safe to head to work in the morning. Gotta love having that hang over your head all week.
No word yet on how much the newsroom will shrink, but bear in mind, at roughly 200, it already is down to half the bodies it had in 1999.
Yet, there is one happy camper amidst the Merc mess: that would be Susan Goldberg, now the editor at the Plain-Dealer in Cleveland, who left the top editiong job at the Merc last year. In a revealing interview with Cleveland magazine, she said: “I just wanted to get out of the whole situation. It was just very unhappy. I didn’t see where it was going to end.”
Unforutnately, those left at the Merc might get the opportunity to find out.
They could get a preview by looking to their corporate brethren in SoCal.
First stop, the San Fernando Valley, where Daily News editor Ron Kaye got all teary-eyed last week, as he told staffers that another 22 editorial positions were going bye-bye. That leaves just 100 of them to put out the paper.
Then came word that Lean Dean Singleton was essentially folding the Daily Breeze in Torrance and the Long Beach Press-Telegram into one operation. Both papers will exist, at least to readers, as separate entities (for now), but the P-T loses its copydesk to the Breeze, which itself cut nine newsroom positions.
So there are fewer people doing less. A lot less.
And as newspaper chieftains try to figure out a way to recapture at least some of the revenue that has been leaching out of their ledgers, still Singleton -- and others of his ilk -- believe that cutting the muscle and the heart out of the product you want people to buy is somehow a way to stanch the bleeding.
No easy answers, I realize, but the one Singleton keeps coming up with rings hollow.

Too Old To Rock N' Roll In Kansas City

Dumped Jocks at Former Classic-Rock Station KYYS-FM Sue for Age Discrimination

Some radio stations nowadays change formats about as often as we change socks.
That's their business, even if such moves are often misguided and made in a panic. But usually left out of the equation is the impact on those who work at the station, especially the jocks.
Format changes usually lead to the unemployment line.
So when classic-rock station KYYS in Kansas City changed its moniker from KY-99.7 to a so-called "quality rock" format as 99.7 The Boulevard, out went the staff. Only thing: some of them didn't go quietly.
In fact, four of them, including Max Floyd, the morning show co-host who was still plugging along at 67, are suing Entercom, the station's owners, for age discrimination.
Now anyone who's worked in radio knows you could be tops in the ratings one month and be out on your ass the next. Civil-service jobs they ain't.
When formats change, stations often want a fresh start. It's also a way to cut payroll. Floyd's been in the market forever and no doubt pulls in a fair share of shekels.
But here's the rub. It appears the format change, in this case, was little more than broadening the playlist and including a few more artists. It's not like KYYS went from classic rock to classical.
When he was first dumped last month, Floyd told a local TV station: "I was here in '74. I've won an Emmy -- it's been a great ride. I hope I didn't stay too long at the dance."
Sounds like Floyd now thinks he still has a few moves left in him.

It Didn't Take Long, But William Buckley Is Already Spinning In His Grave

As the lonely conservative voice in the Big Apple, you'd expect the New York Sun would be all over the death of William F. Buckley Jr.
They didn't disappoint, with a humongous AP photo on the front page, which accompanied a long obit, editorial by neocon Sun founder Seth Lipsky, an excerpt from an early Buckley book and an op-ed from American Spectator founder, Sun contributing editor and Buckley groupie R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr.
Tyrrell was friends with Buckley for 40 years, so a reverent and eloquent paean to the man was to be expected. More jolting, however, was the next to last line of his piece.
"And so the baton is passed. On the conservative side it passes from Buckley to Ann Coulter."
It does?
If so, it probably tells you as much about the conservative movement as you need to know.

IFBA vs. IFMD

When Ben Met Jimmy

You just knew Jimmy Kimmel wasn't going to give his squeeze Sarah Silverman the last word in the Matt Damon sweepstakes.
And we're all the better off for it, as the nine jillion people who will watch it online -- and those still awake when it was on last night -- shall attest.

Don't Make a TV Critic Cranky on Oscar Night

New York Post's Adam Buckman Pissed He Had To Stay Up Late to Review Oscars, and He Makes Sure Jon Stewart Knows

The life of a TV critic? Pretty cushy. The networks send you advance screening copies. You watch them at your leisure, more or less, then you bang out a review.
Sure, a lot of what you watch sucks, but it still beats working night rewrite or being holed up in police headquarters waiting for something to happen.
But occasionally you might be called upon to review something that's live and crank out something pithy on deadline. Adam Buckman of The New York Post had to do that for the Oscars last night. Thumbnail assessment: thumbs down (note: online and print editions are somewhat different).
Buckman had it in for Jon Stewart and his mild political shtick -- no big surprise given the Post's right-wing stances and Stewart's usual skewering of same. Buckman got all hot and bothered about such quips as: "Oscar is 80 this year, which makes him now automatically the front-runner for the Republican nomination."
Was last night one of Stewart's best moments? Hardly, but more than enough to make you forget David Letterman and Whoopi Goldberg if not Billy Crystal.
And while Buckman was correct about the ceremony having the perennial stink of self-congratulation, he did demonstrate he probably needs to turn off the TV once in a while and get out more.
"[Stewart] never directly acknowledged what many of us at home were thinking, which was that, as a group, this year's nominated films stunk so badly that few of us were actually interested in going out and seeing them."
Actually, many film critics were lamenting how tough it was to pick top-10 lists last year because of the bumper crop of movies made here and abroad. And since when does box-office success equate with Oscar worthiness?
For example, raise your hand if you went to see that movie about Edith Piaf, "La Vie en Rose," the film for which Marion Cotillard won a Best Actress Oscar last night," Buckman screeches. "
Edith who? Marion who? I figured as much."
So, he never heard of Edith Piaf and all movies with subtitles bite the big one. Nothing like an informed critic to rile up the masses.
By Buckman's standard, "Saw III," "Norbit" and "Transformers" should instead by vying for Best Picture. Obviously, he's more than a little peeved about the ending for "No Country for Old Men." But that's no reason to take a dump on all of moviedom,
And about that Stewart joke? Betcha McCain got a few guffaws out of that, provided he hadn't already turned in for the night. Buckman reads like he wishes he could've done the same.

A Trainwreck of a PR Disaster for American Airlines

First Woman Is Denied Oxygen, Then Plane Supposedly Doesn't Have Any --- Result: Dead Passenger, Cannon Fodder For Hungry Media

You can be sure the PR staff at American Airlines is walking a perilous tightrope this morning.

On the one hand, you don't want to appear callous when a passenger dies on one of your flights, as Carine Desir of New York did Friday on a Haiti-JFK run after complaining she couldn't breathe.
At the same time, the airline is facing accusations that two oxygen tanks were empty and a defibrillator that could have saved her life wasn't working. Which means the potential for a nasty lawsuit is high.
Conclusions were no doubt drawn by lots of people who watch the story lead off Eyewitness News on WABC-TV right after the Oscars, which features an interview with the woman's tearful cousin, who was on the plane with her when she died.
All American would initially say Sunday was that doctors and nurses on the plane tried to save Desir. But first came another PR bombshell -- Desir had asked a flight attendant for oxygen and was initially refused. That was followed by allegations that all the medical equipment on the 757 was faulty, which American is denying, as the Airline Biz Blog in the Dallas Morning News notes:

We are investigating this incident, as we do with all serious medical situations on board our aircraft, but American Airlines can say oxygen was administered and the Automatic External Defibrillator was applied.
Among the preflight duties of our highly trained Flight Attendants is a check of all emergency equipment on the aircraft. This includes checking the oxygen bottles -- there were 12 in this particular aircraft.
We stand behind the actions and training of our crew and the functionality of the onboard medical equipment.

But nothing about the flight attendant who turned down Desir and relented only after other passengers spoke up.
While it's probably not a good idea for American to get into a he-said-airline-said battle, it's also vitally important to provide an on-camera spokesperson to at least explain what kind of equipment is onboard, emergency SOPs and that crew members are trained for these situations.
That can be done without having to refute address the actual incident except to say that all protocols were followed, assuming that's actually the case.
A prepared statement is no longer enough. By giving Desir's family unfettered access to
local media, especially in the New York market, you risk losing any control of the story, which can get very expensive when it comes time to settle the lawsuit that's sure to be filed in the days ahead.

Real Information or Advertorial? The Daily News Makes It Hard To Decide

Mount Sinai Medical Center May Be Happy. So What If It's Shoddy Reporting?

Admittedly, I'm more of a reader of the New York Daily News online nowadays than in print. But I picked up a copy of the paper yesterday to help pass the time during a flight and stumbled upon what looked like an advertorial, similar to two others that were in the paper.
But on closer examinaton, there was no disclaimer like "advertising supplement to The Daily News" attached.
Instead, it was full-fledged article about sleep apnea by Katie Charles for what purports to be a regular column called "The Daily Checkup," which is actually weekly.
The problem: while there's lots of information about sleep apnea, its symptoms and risks, it quotes throughout but one doctor, Allison Schecter of Mount Sinai Hospital, who also gets a rather out-sized photo in the middle of the one-page spread.
No disputing Schecter's bona fides, but since when does an alleged health reporter content herself with a single source? And why would one or more editors think that was also OK?
This wasn't an aberration. On Feb. 13, Charles wrote an article about heart disease with a single source from, you guessed it, Mount Sinai, complete with big picture. It even had a fluffy headline -- A Mount Sinai cardiologist makes sure your heart's in the right place.
The hospital didn't have to buy an ad, it had the News write one up for them in the guise of an article. Just doctor ordered, maybe, but an editor?
What gives, if not just the fact the Charles and her editors are extremely lazy? There's no sign or disclaimer that the News and Mount Sinai are working together on a health series, a dubious proposition in and of itself. But if so, it's an arrangement that should be disclosed.
If it's just a coinky-dink that two Mount Sinai docs are profiled, fine. But there's nothing wrong with a little shoe leather on the health beat, just like what's demanded at the News by those working in the police shack, covering the Yankees or Bloomberg.
Having a single source means you're not getting the whole story, no matter how authoritative the source. It's a hospital flack's wet dream, which usually equates to lousy journalism.
In its current form, The Daily Checkup should check out.

Knicks Sink To A New Low In The New York Times

New York-area basketball fans have pretty much thrown in the towel on this season. The Knicks have been one bad joke without a punchline.
The Nets: well, they're the Nets and they're in New Jersey. Despite being for years the best local and more-interesting team to watch, The New York Times decided they were no longer worthy of a beat writer and only cover home games with whatever reporter doesn't have anything else to do at night. On the road, it's the A.P. or bust.
The Knicks beat reporter at the time is Howard Beck, who reliably covers a team that keeps finding new ways to define pathetic. Beck has been with them home and away, serving more as the chronicler of the soap opera called As Isiah Turns, than reporting on meaningless games.
Yet, there he wasn't in today's Times.
Beck was instead dispatched to the Meadowlands to cover the overtime thriller won by the Nets, for the first time without Jason Kidd, who was traded to the Dallas Mavericks.
Instead, it was the Knicks who got the wire-service treatment. The Times couldn't even muster a stringer for the game. Maybe just as well. The Knicks lost by 40 points to the Philadelphia 76ers.
But that the Times wasn't there to record the carnage was telling, not just of the trainwreck of a team, but the ever-tightening budget at the sports department, which has already decimated its hockey coverage, despite having three local teams in playoff contention.
If the assumption is that now that spring training is started, New Yorkers no longer care about any other sport, well, that's a lousy assumption, and one of many poor judgments by the Times, whose chieftains may like to think they consistently put out an eclectic, thorough sports report.
Again, a lousy assumption.

Good Morning America Goes For The Lump In The Throat Without Pandering

Your Three Words Segment A Challenge For Viewers, But In a Good Way

Time to catch up with the "Your Three Words" segment on the Saturday edition of "Good Morning America" if you haven't already.

The concept is deceptively simple. Viewers send in videos of them holding up a sign with three words that sum up how they're feeling or what is most important in their lives. The montage is then set to some tender music like Wilco's "Sky Blue Sky" or "Drive Slow," from Tiki Lewis.

In so doing we have a woman whose head's wrapped in a kerchief proclaiming "I'm cancer free," or a picture of a child that says "Daddy's comin' home" from a military tour, followed by another one that says "Mama's goin' next."

Or, three one-word signs from a girl that say "Locks of Love," as her hair is cut. And then there was the simple "We miss you" that preceded an ultrasound of a fetus.

The segments make you smile. They provide lumps in the throat. And don't be surprised to find tears welling up.

It's the ultimate human-interest story. It's not conventional journalism, but it's not supposed to be. In this case, that's not a problem. It's what makes the segment great.

In the spirit of "Your Three Words," all I can tell you is Watch. This. Saturday.

Valentine's Day Special: Jimmy Kimmel Gets Surprise from Sarah Silverman

Turns Out She's Found A New Oscar-Winning Beau, and They're a YouTube Sensation

Yeah, yeah, I'm late to the party with this clip, but if you haven't seen Sarah Silverman's raunchy ode to doing the nasty with Matt Damon, now's your time to join the millions on You Tube who've partaken over the last two weeks.
And if you have seen it already, then you'll know you'll laugh again.
Watch it with someone you love. Not.

Russ Stanton: Next Lamb Being Led To The Slaughter?

Why Is This Man Smiling?



I'm not sure whether to congratulate Russ Stanton for being named the next editor of The Los Angeles Times, or to feel sorry for him.
Stanton gets to become the third editor in less than three years at what is still one of the nation's top newspapers, despite Tribune's best efforts.
And he takes the helm just a day after publisher David Hiller announced up to 150 job cuts at the Los Angeles Times Media Group.
Stanton, a 10-year Times veteran who most-recently served as Innovation Editor, has no choice but to play the role of good soldier.
Hiller, as shown by the ouster of
Stanton's predecessor, James O'Shea, will likely keep Stanton on a short leash. That smile you see above could be quickly wiped out if the Times is asked to make a disproportionate sacrifice to help pay down Sam Zell's debt service.
Still, Stanton may be the one who is in the best position to meld the print and online versions, which could very well determine the future viability of the paper, as it continues to hemorrhage readers and advertisers as the California economy grinds to a standstill.
For now, I'm skeptical about how much he can accomplish given the Sisyphean task that awaits. But if you care at all about quality newspapers, you have no choice but to root for him. Every other editor and reporter at the Times would do well to follow suit.

Good News For the Daily News, But Really Bad Copy

Item About All-Color Presses A Little Too Colorful

The Daily News in New York has never been shy about wearing its heart on its sleeve. You'll never see the journalistic equivalent of a shrinking violet on the copy desk.
That's not always for the better, especially when they feel Rupert Murdoch's flame lapping at their butts and they try to out-Post the Post.
So, a bit of hype about the News' eventual move to printing the entire paper in color by next year should be expected.
Not to be expected was the florid prose that I sure as hell nobody on the city desk actually wrote and was instead left to one of the newspaper's over-eager flacks.
The first two paragraphs set the sorry tone:

The Daily News is writing a new colorful chapter in its storied history with the announcement today that it will build America's most modern newspaper print center!
By the end of 2009, the Daily News will be produced in 100% color on new industry-leading presses, guaranteeing and reinforcing its future as the country's leading tabloid and enabling its millions of readers to enjoy the city's first major daily newspaper in full color.

Cue barf bag.

How hard would it have been for a News reporter to write even-handedly about this admittedly significant event without serving as a shill.?
I did it as a reporter for the Bergen Record some 19 years ago, when I was assigned to cover the opening of the paper's newest plant in Rockaway, N.J.
Did I feel a little weird interviewing publisher Mac Borg about his new baby? Did he seem a bit bemused that someone from his paper was doing something besides offering hearty congratulations? Yes, on both accounts.
But I covered the event like I would any other story, nor would it have been expected or accepted that I would do otherwise.
Then again, Mort Zuckerman's ego, from all I can gather, is considerably more out-sized than Borg, not exactly the meekest of men. Amid all the hoopla, Zuckerman was too busy patting himself on the back to sanction putting real news in The News.

Accuweather, Schmackuweather

Doesn't Really Matter What The Forecast Is When Jim Kosek Gets On A Roll

As I sit here tonight in an Albuquerque hotel hearing how lousy the weather is back home in New York, I shuttle between weather.com and accuweather.com for any glimmer of hope that a winter monsoon won't wash any hope of landing tomorrow at LaGuardia, never a sure thing even when it's sunny out.

For its 90-second online video forecast, forecaster Jim Kosek can often be found doing the New York edition. Which means you can get shtick along with a cold front, as we did tonight.

"What ticks me off?" Kosek says. "What crawls up my backside?

Then he bellows, "WHAT GETS ME FIRED UP? Can't be just snow. Can't be just ice or flooding rain. It has to be a combination of everything." And he doesn't even have to deal with that mess. Kosek's tucked away at Accuweather HQ in State College, PA.

This is also the same guy on New Year's Day who pretended to be too hung over to do a real forecast, or at least assumed most of those watching were too blitzed to care about the weather. Which could very well have been the case.

Give Kosek credit for taking his job seriously if not himself. Now if he could just do something about the weather over LaGuardia....

New York Finally Gets A Triple-A Radio Station, Sort Of

Smooth Jazz CD101.9 Bites The Dust, Makes Way for 101.9 RXP

In New York, the nation's most-conservative radio market -- because of the money at stake -- any change in a station's format is a big deal. That's even more so when a station that's played the same kind of music dumps its format without warning.

But so it went at 4 p.m. for CD101.9 , which had been the smooth jazz station in the Big Apple for 20 years.

The perception had been that while the station -- never my cup of tea -- was never gangbusters in the ratings, it attracted the right demographics to bill a healthy-enough amount to satisfy its overseers at Emmis Broadcasting.

But apparently not.

Now it's called 101.9 RXP, and flipped to a Triple-A-esque format that, at first blush, is more active than what can normally be heard at non-commercial WFUV.

A sample of the first hour, as posted on the Web site:

1. The Velvet Underground - Rock 'n' Roll

2. R.E.M. Supernatural Superserious
3. Elvis Costello - Pump It Up
4.Tom Petty - Mary Jane's Last Dance
5.Blondie - Call Me
6.The Bravery - Believe
7.Bruce Springsteen - Blinded By The Light
8.The Flaming Lips - Do You Realize
9.U2 - Angel Of Harlem
10.Nickelback - Rockstar
11.Red Hot Chili Peppers - Zephyr Song
12.The Black Crowes - Hard To Handle
13.The Killers - Somebody Told Me

Of course, it's early and the format will be subject to tweaking. First tweak: Anything by Nickelback, which doesn't fit into any incarnation of a Triple-A format.

Nonetheless, having a station like this in the market is most welcome, as rock music on commercial radio in New York has never been more stultifying, save for WFUV and WXPK, in the northern suburbs, which definitely has cause for concern.

The station's promising that it won't be deadened by corporate playlists -- we'll see -- and that it'll actually let its jocks have a big say in what music gets on, sort of hearkening back to the glory days of WNEW-FM.

So far, the only deejay announced is Brian Schock, who most notably was the PD at San Diego's alternative rocker 91X. He'll do PM drive and serve as music director. RXP's program director is CD101.9 holdover Blake Lawrence, a 30-year radio vet albeit one light on rock experience.

"It's unheard of in radio these days, but 101.9 RXP is about the music and not so much the music business - we're merging rock styles and generations into a singular community that we call The New York Rock Experience," Lawrence told FMQB.

The station will also frequently spotlight New York bands, such as The Hold Steady and Nada Surf.

So far, they're saying the right things.

Now they just have to play them.

The Oregonian's Invisible Human-Interest Story

Baffling Policy of Separating Articles and Photos; Sacrificing Clarity for Ad Revenue
Everyone loves a good human-interest story, especially ones about plucky seniors who refuse to be relegated to the rocking chair. It's a great way for editors to deflect the incessant gripes that they only focus on bad news.
One such item appears in The Oregonian about one Vera Wilson, who has worked at the same book and stationery store for 73 years, and has no plans to retire now that she's 90 years young.
Only problem reading the story online: there's no picture of Wilson.
Two ads, yes. Photo of subject of article: no.
Actually, that's not totally correct, in the sense that The Oregonian actually puts on the web its staff photos from that day's paper. If you go to that link, you can find a snap of Wilson, who indeed looks very much the part of a spry nonagenarian.
That pattern repeats itself with other stories. Why separate those elements? The photos are part of the way you tell the story. They're not just there for window dressing. Keep them with the articles, just like you do in print.
Online readers have enough of a collective attention deficit and are challenged for time without The Oregonian making them do more work to read the full package.

Daily News Cancellation of AP Core Services: A Whole Lot of Posturing, But Nothing More

Which is Not To Say Member Gripes Aren't Legit, But Pulling Plug Will Never Be The Answer

Editor & Publisher reported yesterday how The Daily News in New York is a year into its two-year notification to the Associated Press that it would cancel its core services next year.
The official explanation: the DN is peeved over the two-year termination policy and it's pulling up stakes in protest.
AP regional vice president Linda Stowell told E&P the co-op isn't exactly quaking in its boots. Cancellation notices do crop up, but they get resolved and members almost never leave. For the simple reason that they can't.
I mean, they could, but then how do you fill your paper? Sure, you could head over to Reuters and AFP, which is fine if you need to keep up with the latest out of Burkina Faso or Turkmenistan.
Yes, if something big happens in a large population center, correspondents from The Washington Post, McClatchy or Tribune could possibly fill the gap.
But there's no one else to enter the breach consistently when news happens anywhere else, and no one to get it out faster -- all the more important as readers migrate to the Web and stay there.
As media cut back or eliminate bureaus, stop sending reporters on the road to cover teams and get rid of arts critics, they blithely assume the AP will be there to bail them out. And it almost always is.
The AP knows it, so does The Daily News. Which is why the termination notice doesn't herald a paradigm shift for newspapers, nor does it portend a new business model. The wire is actually the one indispensable component in a newsroom. With it, you know you can always fill the paper with something.
Sure, some editors are peeved about AP's new rate structure, which will bolster breaking news to core members, while putting some other services on an a la carte menu.
But all the bitching and moaning will be just that. Editors know they can't leave when there's an 800-ton gorilla sitting on top of their news hole.