CNN and Co. Were Getting Real Sick Of The Middle East, Anyway
All JonBenet just about all the time, as if we expected anything less.
But with the blanket coverage comes hours of speculation, useless sidebars, along with the usual innuendo, half-truths and distortions, much as we were used to over the last decade.
Particularly desperate to try to advance the story today was CNN's Kyra Phillips, who tried to get correspondents in the field to read tea leaves.
Ed Lavendera, to his credit, was among those who didn't take the bait. He was covering the cryptic press conference by Boulder D.A. Mary Lacy, who was revealing little and for good reason.
Lavendera was happy to tell Phillips he really didn't know the answer to her speculative, what-if questions. Lesser reporters would've vamped. Lavendera chose to deal with the facts.
Dan Simon, a recent CNN hire via the now-defunct "Celebrity Justice," was at a California courthouse looking at Carr's divorce records, and sounded more desperate to give the ravenous Phillips something, anything.
At one point he quoted "unconfirmed reports" about some nugget of Carr's alleged sordid past with children.
So, Simon was giving viewers what was at best third-hand information that may not have been true in the first place.
It was better than nothing, right? Actually, no. But that hasn't stopped the cable newsies, especially CNN, which distinguished itself for its Middle East coverage and has spent the last 24 hours cashing out that journalistic goodwill.
If nothing else, the coverage allows John Roberts, Christiane Amanpour and Anderson Cooper to continue catching up on their sleep. And for the rest of us to watch something else.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
When Bad Things Happen To Bad Airlines
Northwest Becomes Early-Line Favorite For PR Boner Of The Year
Every writer needs an editor, loathe as we often are to admit such a shortcoming.
But for that naturally adversarial relationship to have any chance of succeeding, both sides need to have a clue.
Suffice to say, Northwest Airlines is lacking in said clue. Ditto the chuckleheads at alleged "employee-assistance" firm NEAS, the company that wrote a handbook for airline employees being laid off on how to cope with their diminished lives now that they were being restructured.
Word that the handbook had such helpful hints as using old newspapers for cat litter, asking friends and family for hand-me-down clothes and pull stuff you like out of the trash, in order to save money, spread fast and furious for obvious reasons.
And what makes for great copy makes for humongous headaches for companies. NWA said they were sorry, although a company spokesman tried to pass the buck to NEAS, which didn't take the bait and clammed up.
What's both amusing and sad is that when you visit the NEAS Web site, it proclaims:
When life or work become a balancing act, a helping hand provided by highly skilled and compassionate professionals, not just technology, can make all the difference.
Forgive Northwest employees if they engage in a collective guffaw over that whopper.
And NEAS might have gone amok with its good intentions, but remember, it was Northwest that paid for this missive.
It's hard to believe that someone at Northwest -- which doesn't deserve much credit for anything nowadays, especially labor relations -- actually read this thing before it was sent out. Or, it could have been the latest episode of the airline giving its employees the finger during its extended stay in Chapter 11 protection.
Either way, it tells you something about Northwest and why it teeters with extinction. It doesn't deserve better. Their employees do.
Every writer needs an editor, loathe as we often are to admit such a shortcoming.
But for that naturally adversarial relationship to have any chance of succeeding, both sides need to have a clue.
Suffice to say, Northwest Airlines is lacking in said clue. Ditto the chuckleheads at alleged "employee-assistance" firm NEAS, the company that wrote a handbook for airline employees being laid off on how to cope with their diminished lives now that they were being restructured.
Word that the handbook had such helpful hints as using old newspapers for cat litter, asking friends and family for hand-me-down clothes and pull stuff you like out of the trash, in order to save money, spread fast and furious for obvious reasons.
And what makes for great copy makes for humongous headaches for companies. NWA said they were sorry, although a company spokesman tried to pass the buck to NEAS, which didn't take the bait and clammed up.
What's both amusing and sad is that when you visit the NEAS Web site, it proclaims:
When life or work become a balancing act, a helping hand provided by highly skilled and compassionate professionals, not just technology, can make all the difference.
Forgive Northwest employees if they engage in a collective guffaw over that whopper.
And NEAS might have gone amok with its good intentions, but remember, it was Northwest that paid for this missive.
It's hard to believe that someone at Northwest -- which doesn't deserve much credit for anything nowadays, especially labor relations -- actually read this thing before it was sent out. Or, it could have been the latest episode of the airline giving its employees the finger during its extended stay in Chapter 11 protection.
Either way, it tells you something about Northwest and why it teeters with extinction. It doesn't deserve better. Their employees do.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
EW's Box-Office Crystal Ball On The Fritz
Pointless Prognostications A Waste Of Time And Space
Entertainment Weekly normally puts out a more-than-workmanlike product, providing both an insider's edge, along with enough bark and bite when the subject warrants, which is often.
For those of us who by sheer dint of the media covering them so thoroughly, have become absorbed by box-office grosses, EW runs the numbers and then some.
But what is the point of predicting what a movie will rake in before it actually happens? Why can't we just wait for Sunday to find out who scored big with the popcorn set? All of this supposed psychic ability to see into the hearts and minds of moviegoers can turn into sloppy journalism.
To wit, EW.Com's number cruncher Joshua Rich, who predicted that "World ade Center" would be tops at the box office over the weekend, with $25 million in tickets sold. It actually came in third with $18.7 million.
"Talladega Nights" was number-one for the second week in a row with $22.1 million, which Rich said would come in second with $24 million. The real runner-up was the surprising "Step Up," which grossed $20.7 million. Rich slotted it number four with $11 mil.
Detecting a pattern here?
Maybe Rich should put his crystal ball back in the closet, and be bothered to take time out from his busy schedule on Sunday to analyze the real numbers and actually give readers something worth reading.
Entertainment Weekly normally puts out a more-than-workmanlike product, providing both an insider's edge, along with enough bark and bite when the subject warrants, which is often.
For those of us who by sheer dint of the media covering them so thoroughly, have become absorbed by box-office grosses, EW runs the numbers and then some.
But what is the point of predicting what a movie will rake in before it actually happens? Why can't we just wait for Sunday to find out who scored big with the popcorn set? All of this supposed psychic ability to see into the hearts and minds of moviegoers can turn into sloppy journalism.
To wit, EW.Com's number cruncher Joshua Rich, who predicted that "World ade Center" would be tops at the box office over the weekend, with $25 million in tickets sold. It actually came in third with $18.7 million.
"Talladega Nights" was number-one for the second week in a row with $22.1 million, which Rich said would come in second with $24 million. The real runner-up was the surprising "Step Up," which grossed $20.7 million. Rich slotted it number four with $11 mil.
Detecting a pattern here?
Maybe Rich should put his crystal ball back in the closet, and be bothered to take time out from his busy schedule on Sunday to analyze the real numbers and actually give readers something worth reading.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Larry David Already In Mid-Season Form As New Season of "Curb" Announced
Good news for those of us who find Sunday nights just aren't as cranky as they used to be. HBO and Larry David are bringing back "Curb Your Enthusiasm" for a sixth season, though an air date has not been announced, according to USA Today.
Judging by this item on Page 6, looks like Larry is rarin' to go, and may have even gotten some inspiration for a future episode.
It's rare that gossip columnists can help their targets make lemons out of lemonade, but what the heck. Props to Richard Johnson and crew for getting it wrong.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Emeritus, Schmeritus: Mike Wallace Nabs Interview With Iranian Prez
Semi-Retirement's For Pussies
Mike Wallace is a journalist who just happens to be Jewish, rather than a Jewish journalist. At least in the mind of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's Zionist-hating, Holocaust-doubting president/Hezbollah best pal.
Which is why Wallace nailed an interview with Ahmadeinejad after cooling his heels for a week in Tehran, always lovely this time of year.
A preview of that chat will be on Thursday's CBS Evening News, followed by a longer session on "60 Minutes," which gets woken out of its summer repeat slumber with this scoop.
Wallace told the AP's Dave Bauder that Ahmadeinejad came across as "more rational than I had expected."
Israel might beg to differ on that account.
Mike Wallace is a journalist who just happens to be Jewish, rather than a Jewish journalist. At least in the mind of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's Zionist-hating, Holocaust-doubting president/Hezbollah best pal.
Which is why Wallace nailed an interview with Ahmadeinejad after cooling his heels for a week in Tehran, always lovely this time of year.
A preview of that chat will be on Thursday's CBS Evening News, followed by a longer session on "60 Minutes," which gets woken out of its summer repeat slumber with this scoop.
Wallace told the AP's Dave Bauder that Ahmadeinejad came across as "more rational than I had expected."
Israel might beg to differ on that account.
N.Y. Times Turns To Bloomberg To Fill Sports Section
Mayor Mike's Money Machine Migrates From Business Day As Gray Lady Tries To Do Sports On The Cheap
CJR Daily reports today on Bloomberg News' obsession with how often its dispatches appear in The New York Times biz section.
Wonder if Matt Winkler and his minions are as concerned about how their sports writers (yes, they do have them) make it into the Times, which has occasionally used Bloomberg for briefs, but little more.
So, it came as a bit of a shock to see most of the sports section's second page taken up by a long Bloomberg takeout about where the Achilles tendon implanted in Bengals QB Carson Palmer came from.
It was a nice piece of shoeleather from football beat writer Curtis Eichelberger [who got his byline knocked off in the Web version], the kind the Times might do if it wasn't being a big-time Scrooge with its sports budget.
This could be the next step in the ever-so-gradual shift by the Times to tap other sources besides the AP for news. Sometimes, the International Herald-Tribune scribes make it into print. Ditto, more sporadically, for reporters from the NYT regional papers in Florida.
As the belts get ever-tighter on West 43rd St., it wouldn't be far-fetched to see Boston Globe or Worcester Telegram product make its way south.
Which only bodes well for the Bloombergers, especially when they can provide the Times with a story nobody else has.
CJR Daily reports today on Bloomberg News' obsession with how often its dispatches appear in The New York Times biz section.
Wonder if Matt Winkler and his minions are as concerned about how their sports writers (yes, they do have them) make it into the Times, which has occasionally used Bloomberg for briefs, but little more.
So, it came as a bit of a shock to see most of the sports section's second page taken up by a long Bloomberg takeout about where the Achilles tendon implanted in Bengals QB Carson Palmer came from.
It was a nice piece of shoeleather from football beat writer Curtis Eichelberger [who got his byline knocked off in the Web version], the kind the Times might do if it wasn't being a big-time Scrooge with its sports budget.
This could be the next step in the ever-so-gradual shift by the Times to tap other sources besides the AP for news. Sometimes, the International Herald-Tribune scribes make it into print. Ditto, more sporadically, for reporters from the NYT regional papers in Florida.
As the belts get ever-tighter on West 43rd St., it wouldn't be far-fetched to see Boston Globe or Worcester Telegram product make its way south.
Which only bodes well for the Bloombergers, especially when they can provide the Times with a story nobody else has.
Monday, August 07, 2006
Air America Springs More Leaks In The Corporate Suite
A Good Idea In More Danger Than Ever Of Becoming Irrelevant (Or Extinct)
Another exit from the upper ranks of progressive talk network Air America, this time COO Carl Ginsburg, who judging by recent events may have had his job relegated to arranging the sheet music for the radio equivalent of the dance band on the Titanic.
Recently, the network announced its shifting its New York flagship signal from the spotty signal of WLIB to even-weaker WWRL, which has rarely made an appearance in the Arbitron books since its heyday as a soul station 25 years ago.
Nice move.
Do you listen to AAR? Do you want to, but can't pull in a signal? That many people answer no and yes, respectively, to those questions is something Al Franken need to address, and in a hurry.
Another exit from the upper ranks of progressive talk network Air America, this time COO Carl Ginsburg, who judging by recent events may have had his job relegated to arranging the sheet music for the radio equivalent of the dance band on the Titanic.
Recently, the network announced its shifting its New York flagship signal from the spotty signal of WLIB to even-weaker WWRL, which has rarely made an appearance in the Arbitron books since its heyday as a soul station 25 years ago.
Nice move.
Do you listen to AAR? Do you want to, but can't pull in a signal? That many people answer no and yes, respectively, to those questions is something Al Franken need to address, and in a hurry.
Joe Francis Gone Wild
Or How A Soft-Porn Kingpin Could Use A Good P.R. Man (Not Woman) In A Hurry
I'm not sure whether to offer Claire Hoffman of The Los Angeles Times kudos or my sympathy for a riveting profile of "Girls Gone Wild" guru Joe Francis, complete with her being manhandled by her subject.
Whether the guy was serious or just in love with his public party-all-the-time persona is hard to tell.
Hoffman declined to press charges, which in hindsight may have been a mistake, after you read exchanges like this:
He rubbed my shoulder. His gestures were oddly gentle—even fond. I felt sick.
"I'm sorry," he said, reaching over to tousle my hair. "We love our little reporter. Don't we guys? We love our little reporter."
I stared down at the dirt as he whispered in my ear, "I'm sorry, baby, give me a kiss. Give me a kiss."
She felt sick. And so did we.
I'm not sure whether to offer Claire Hoffman of The Los Angeles Times kudos or my sympathy for a riveting profile of "Girls Gone Wild" guru Joe Francis, complete with her being manhandled by her subject.
Whether the guy was serious or just in love with his public party-all-the-time persona is hard to tell.
Hoffman declined to press charges, which in hindsight may have been a mistake, after you read exchanges like this:
He rubbed my shoulder. His gestures were oddly gentle—even fond. I felt sick.
"I'm sorry," he said, reaching over to tousle my hair. "We love our little reporter. Don't we guys? We love our little reporter."
I stared down at the dirt as he whispered in my ear, "I'm sorry, baby, give me a kiss. Give me a kiss."
She felt sick. And so did we.
Monday, July 31, 2006
News Judgment Takes The Weekend Off at New York TV Stations
Newscasts For The Journalistically Impaired
In just a short time of channel surfing last night, I was witness to a panoply of sloppiness and cluelessness on New York newscasts even worse than usual. Chalk it up to the summer heat, or perhaps the usual crews on holiday. Either way, it was bewildering and disappointing at the same time.
Exhibit A: WPIX-Channel 11 had a report on the New York Fire Patrol possibly being disbanded. Left out of the three-minute piece, however, was any real explanation of what the Fire Patrol does.
According to the patrol's union, it is underwritten by the insurance industry and responds to "commercial fires in the five Boroughs and risk their lives to minimize and prevent adverse consequences of commercial fires."
But that was not made clear in the report, which heavily relied on union mouthpieces. The package was more of a press release than an episode in explanatory journalism.
Over on WWOR-Channel 9 (My 9 News), a graphic for the piece on drunk-driving, Jew-hating Mel Gibson was plastered with the misspelled "Anti-Semetic Remarks."
Meanwhile, Chris Wragge on WCBS-Channel 2 led off the first segment of his sports wrap-up show with a package on the Yankees. Fair enough. But then he goes to a break and teases the next segment filled with footballl, including his non-news interview with Giants' star LeVar Arrington.
Gone begging: only the Mets, you know, the team with the best record in the National League who just happened to sweep the Atlanta Braves on the road, the first time that's happened since 1979.
Wragge would do well to his show should be full of sports not himself.
In just a short time of channel surfing last night, I was witness to a panoply of sloppiness and cluelessness on New York newscasts even worse than usual. Chalk it up to the summer heat, or perhaps the usual crews on holiday. Either way, it was bewildering and disappointing at the same time.
Exhibit A: WPIX-Channel 11 had a report on the New York Fire Patrol possibly being disbanded. Left out of the three-minute piece, however, was any real explanation of what the Fire Patrol does.
According to the patrol's union, it is underwritten by the insurance industry and responds to "commercial fires in the five Boroughs and risk their lives to minimize and prevent adverse consequences of commercial fires."
But that was not made clear in the report, which heavily relied on union mouthpieces. The package was more of a press release than an episode in explanatory journalism.
Over on WWOR-Channel 9 (My 9 News), a graphic for the piece on drunk-driving, Jew-hating Mel Gibson was plastered with the misspelled "Anti-Semetic Remarks."
Meanwhile, Chris Wragge on WCBS-Channel 2 led off the first segment of his sports wrap-up show with a package on the Yankees. Fair enough. But then he goes to a break and teases the next segment filled with footballl, including his non-news interview with Giants' star LeVar Arrington.
Gone begging: only the Mets, you know, the team with the best record in the National League who just happened to sweep the Atlanta Braves on the road, the first time that's happened since 1979.
Wragge would do well to his show should be full of sports not himself.
The Conundrum of Travel Guides: Obsolete Before They're Printed
During my family's recent travels to the Canadian Rockies, we relied mainly on two books, the Moon Handbook and the Dummies Guide to the region.
The former was more comprehensive and knowledgable than the latter, which took an overly liberal scattershot approach to the region -- even for dummies.
But both had the dubious distinction of having information -- particularly about pricing -- that was wildly out of date.
Of course, that is par for the course for most guidebooks. The Moon book was published in 2005, for example, which meant that most of the information was revised and verified (hopefully) in 2004. When both books tell you that a Canadian parks family pass costs $89 CAD, but you wind up shelling out $123.50, it's a bit of shock to the system.
However, the Moonies and Dummies and their ilk can't be faulted if prices change, roads close and attractions go up in flames after they go to press. Nonetheless, in this age of instant information, it shouldn't be so hard for the publishers to attempt to update some of the most salient info on their Web sites at least once a year.
Moon has a good overview of its Canadian Rockies book on its site, but with prices from the outdated book. This is especially important when Moon and Lonely Planet, its main competitor, may go 2-4 years between editions on its titles.
This is just the task to sic a few interns on, not to mention the guidebook authors. To show how it could be done, Wizard Publications, the small publisher of four excellent Hawaii guidebooks, has an update page for each of their refreshingly honest and spot-on titles. "We are the only publisher who updates our books every time we reprint them," they boast. But when that's not possible, they turn to the Internet between editions, such as the latest one for the Ultimate Kauai book. No surprises, just a lot of aloha.
The former was more comprehensive and knowledgable than the latter, which took an overly liberal scattershot approach to the region -- even for dummies.
But both had the dubious distinction of having information -- particularly about pricing -- that was wildly out of date.
Of course, that is par for the course for most guidebooks. The Moon book was published in 2005, for example, which meant that most of the information was revised and verified (hopefully) in 2004. When both books tell you that a Canadian parks family pass costs $89 CAD, but you wind up shelling out $123.50, it's a bit of shock to the system.
However, the Moonies and Dummies and their ilk can't be faulted if prices change, roads close and attractions go up in flames after they go to press. Nonetheless, in this age of instant information, it shouldn't be so hard for the publishers to attempt to update some of the most salient info on their Web sites at least once a year.
Moon has a good overview of its Canadian Rockies book on its site, but with prices from the outdated book. This is especially important when Moon and Lonely Planet, its main competitor, may go 2-4 years between editions on its titles.
This is just the task to sic a few interns on, not to mention the guidebook authors. To show how it could be done, Wizard Publications, the small publisher of four excellent Hawaii guidebooks, has an update page for each of their refreshingly honest and spot-on titles. "We are the only publisher who updates our books every time we reprint them," they boast. But when that's not possible, they turn to the Internet between editions, such as the latest one for the Ultimate Kauai book. No surprises, just a lot of aloha.
Never Far From Home: You Never Know What'll Pop Up On Canadian Cable Systems
Follow The Bouncing Satellite. Want To Find Your Favorite Network Program North Of The Border? Good Luck.
Some much-needed R&R was recently completed in the Canadian Rockies. A swell time was had by all, as would be inevitable in such a setting.
We did have a little downtime early in the morning and late at night when the tube beckoned beyond the Canadian channels. Fortunately, most cable systems obliged, though in some rather unusual ways.
The usual superstations were often represented, including WGN-Chicago, WSBK-Boston, KTLA-Los Angeles and WPIX-New York, which allowed me to watch hometown traffic updates in Calgary. Ooh-wee.
But then it got a little funky when it came to network affiliates. In Calgary, we saw Seattle stations. Up in Banff, it was Spokane. Notwithstanding the fact that Alberta is in the mountain time zones, an hour ahead of Washington state.
For a one-nighter in Revelstoke, British Columbia, we were all set for an hour of Gordon Ramsay turning chef wannabes into mush on "Hell's Kitchen." Only problem: It had been on three hours earlier, as the cable system there -- which went on the fritz in the whole city later that night -- brings in Detroit stations.
Back over to Jasper, it was Seattle for the nets except for Fox, which was represented by WFXT in Boston. Say what?
Yeah, I know, you're not on vacation to watch TV, but still. Seems there's a method to the madness in a way.
That would be the Canadian Radio-and television Telecommunications Commission, which has a list of stations that may be retransmitted.
Supposedly, cable systems can have a second network feed on a digital discretionary basis, whatever that means. But that doesn't quite explain how a system would choose stations from three time zones away exclusively.
Can anybody help out a wayward Yankee on this one?
Some much-needed R&R was recently completed in the Canadian Rockies. A swell time was had by all, as would be inevitable in such a setting.
We did have a little downtime early in the morning and late at night when the tube beckoned beyond the Canadian channels. Fortunately, most cable systems obliged, though in some rather unusual ways.
The usual superstations were often represented, including WGN-Chicago, WSBK-Boston, KTLA-Los Angeles and WPIX-New York, which allowed me to watch hometown traffic updates in Calgary. Ooh-wee.
But then it got a little funky when it came to network affiliates. In Calgary, we saw Seattle stations. Up in Banff, it was Spokane. Notwithstanding the fact that Alberta is in the mountain time zones, an hour ahead of Washington state.
For a one-nighter in Revelstoke, British Columbia, we were all set for an hour of Gordon Ramsay turning chef wannabes into mush on "Hell's Kitchen." Only problem: It had been on three hours earlier, as the cable system there -- which went on the fritz in the whole city later that night -- brings in Detroit stations.
Back over to Jasper, it was Seattle for the nets except for Fox, which was represented by WFXT in Boston. Say what?
Yeah, I know, you're not on vacation to watch TV, but still. Seems there's a method to the madness in a way.
That would be the Canadian Radio-and television Telecommunications Commission, which has a list of stations that may be retransmitted.
Supposedly, cable systems can have a second network feed on a digital discretionary basis, whatever that means. But that doesn't quite explain how a system would choose stations from three time zones away exclusively.
Can anybody help out a wayward Yankee on this one?
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
What The Puck? Los Angeles Times Latest Paper To Freeze Hockey Coverage
Lord Stanley Spinning As Number-Four Sport Falls Off The California Coast
The latest cost-cutting at The Los Angeles Times has put the sports section there in the penalty box. LAObserved.com reports writers assigned to The Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Mighty Ducks will not go on most road trips. Also, hockey columnist Helene Elliott becomes a general columnist and won't write her weekly league roundup.
Instead, the AP and stringers will get to shoulder the hockey burden. So, when the nation's fourth-largest newspaper decides to curtail coverage of a still-major sport, what hope is there for smaller newspapers? Actually, little or none, as they don't make road trips either.
Hey, at least the Tribune gang in Hollywood is actually covering the teams when they're home. The New York Times has cut back to one hockey writer who covers the Rangers, although even that team was subject to road wire coverage occasionally.
As for the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils, who between them have won seven Stanley Cups, they might as well have not even existed. Rare was a reporter sent even to a home game. That the Times relied instead on the AP was apparently viewed with little embarrassment on West 43rd St.
And with word that the Times will shrink in size by 2008, cutting the newshole by 5 percent, expect a lot more of the same.
The latest cost-cutting at The Los Angeles Times has put the sports section there in the penalty box. LAObserved.com reports writers assigned to The Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Mighty Ducks will not go on most road trips. Also, hockey columnist Helene Elliott becomes a general columnist and won't write her weekly league roundup.
Instead, the AP and stringers will get to shoulder the hockey burden. So, when the nation's fourth-largest newspaper decides to curtail coverage of a still-major sport, what hope is there for smaller newspapers? Actually, little or none, as they don't make road trips either.
Hey, at least the Tribune gang in Hollywood is actually covering the teams when they're home. The New York Times has cut back to one hockey writer who covers the Rangers, although even that team was subject to road wire coverage occasionally.
As for the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils, who between them have won seven Stanley Cups, they might as well have not even existed. Rare was a reporter sent even to a home game. That the Times relied instead on the AP was apparently viewed with little embarrassment on West 43rd St.
And with word that the Times will shrink in size by 2008, cutting the newshole by 5 percent, expect a lot more of the same.
Friday, July 14, 2006
A Wee-al Big Story: When The W.C. Isn't P.C. and Another Loo-Loo Of A Toilet Tale
Keeping The Place You Pee Ad-Free
The Daily Mirror in the U.K. offers up this advertising nightmare. Thousands of urinals and toilets destined for the new Wembley Stadium were 86'ed after it was found the manufacturer's name was on the front. Apparently, that's a big no-no. If you have to go, there can't be a logo.
And is it art, or a place to take a leak? An American tourist chose none of the above, so now a Dutch McDonald's needs to install urinals that are a touch, um, less whimsical.
Westchester Recovers From F2 Twister and So Does The Journal-News
Editors Finally Realize They Badly Misplayed The Story The Day Before
When a rare tornado tears up your backyard, it's time for the hometown newspaper to spring into action. Such was the case for The Journal-News, in Westchester County, N.Y., albeit a day late.
Today's package, including most of the front page and four inside pages was a thorough breakdown of the devastation, the aftermath and what comes next. It's a fairly thorough and workmanlike rendering of the surprise twister that had winds of up to 157 mph.
The only problem: A lot of what's in today's paper should have been in yesterday, as I've pointed out.
Sure, every news outfit plays catch-up, but not when you should have been owning the story from the get-go, and missed crucial plot lines, such as the state trooper, whose car was tossed around by the wind and then slammed upside down. A seatbelt meant he escaped with minor injuries. The car was totaled.
The trooper's story made it to The New York Times yesterday. But that thread was absent from The Journal-News, which gave the impression most of its hurricane coverage Thursday emanated from its Harrison headquarters.
Fortunately, Phil Reisman filled in the blanks on the trooper story, and today's photos were exponentially superior to yesterday's efforts, though that was mostly the fault of the layout and the scant space afforded the story Thursday, rather than the shooters themselves.
One hiccup today: A sidebar that led off "A 264-acre Thornwood property owned by the Legionaires of Christ, a Roman Catholic order, was not spared by the twister."
Which implies it was supposed to escape the tornado's wrath, but the Lord above didn't get the memo. Maybe next time.
Hopefully, The Journal-News could use the tornado coverage as an exercise for how to mobilize for crisis coverage on the day it happens, not the day after. In other words, more news, less journal.
When a rare tornado tears up your backyard, it's time for the hometown newspaper to spring into action. Such was the case for The Journal-News, in Westchester County, N.Y., albeit a day late.
Today's package, including most of the front page and four inside pages was a thorough breakdown of the devastation, the aftermath and what comes next. It's a fairly thorough and workmanlike rendering of the surprise twister that had winds of up to 157 mph.
The only problem: A lot of what's in today's paper should have been in yesterday, as I've pointed out.
Sure, every news outfit plays catch-up, but not when you should have been owning the story from the get-go, and missed crucial plot lines, such as the state trooper, whose car was tossed around by the wind and then slammed upside down. A seatbelt meant he escaped with minor injuries. The car was totaled.
The trooper's story made it to The New York Times yesterday. But that thread was absent from The Journal-News, which gave the impression most of its hurricane coverage Thursday emanated from its Harrison headquarters.
Fortunately, Phil Reisman filled in the blanks on the trooper story, and today's photos were exponentially superior to yesterday's efforts, though that was mostly the fault of the layout and the scant space afforded the story Thursday, rather than the shooters themselves.
One hiccup today: A sidebar that led off "A 264-acre Thornwood property owned by the Legionaires of Christ, a Roman Catholic order, was not spared by the twister."
Which implies it was supposed to escape the tornado's wrath, but the Lord above didn't get the memo. Maybe next time.
Hopefully, The Journal-News could use the tornado coverage as an exercise for how to mobilize for crisis coverage on the day it happens, not the day after. In other words, more news, less journal.
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Tornado Sweeps Away News Judgment At The Journal-News
Westchester Twister Fails To Rouse Gannett Suburban Mediocrity Out Of Its Journalistic Slumber
Residents in the tony suburban towns and villages of Westchester County, north of New York City, are more accustomed to reading about tornadoes than being hit by one.
So imagine their surprise when a funnel cloud made its way from the Hudson River near the Tappan Zee Bridge and across the middle of the county, leaving a lot of damage, rattled nerves but fortunately no injuries to speak of.
Sounds like a great story, right? Wicked weather that rarely hits the Northeast tears through the area without warning. Perfect fodder for the local newspaper to own this puppy, with lots of great photos, anecdotes and graphics. Then again, the newspaper is The Journal-News, the perennial underachiever in metro N.Y. journalism (full disclosure: I worked there in 1988-89 and left for greener pastures on good terms).
This is what the paper does, or is supposed to do, cover the big stories in its backyard, the kind everyone will be talking about tomorrow and which might actually spur higher sales the next day. At least on the former account, it fumbled badly.
True, most of the front page was devoted to the storm, but two of the three photos were shrunk down to the point of being irrelevant. The two stories on the front page should have jumped inside to be accompanied by a spread of sidebars and photos to showcase the damage. A double-truck spread in the middle -- make it up to the advertisers later, heaven forfend -- would have been appropriate for starters.
Instead, on A6, there is the continuation of a reaction story with two color photos, while a whole page of coverage on A8 had its three images in black-and-white. A dozen reporters were credited with working on the "coverage," yet The Journal-News could only muster the space for three stories and a tiny sidebar, along with a timeline for previous tornadoes in the lower Hudson Valley. A dozen reporters and scant evidence that few of them made it out of the newsroom.
If they had, maybe they would have gotten a good sidebar from County Executive Andy Spano, who related how a state trooper's car was picked up and spun around, as reported in The New York Times, which deigned to put the tornado story on page B3 and strangely, given the paper's heavy suburban readership, didn't even tease it on the front page. However, its photos of the worst damage by Alan Zale outshone those by three Journal-News photographers.
And the newspaper industry wonders why readers are abandoning them in droves for the Internet -- where the newspaper didn't fare much better. The Journal-News is exhibit A.
-------------
Now some of you in other locales might think I'm overreacting. Sure, it's a tornado, but nobody was hurt except for some roofs, trees and power lines. These things happen all the time, Steve, so chill.
Exactly, they happen all the time, except in places like Westchester. When a tornado passes less than two miles from my home and causes damage on streets I travel every day, I want to know anything and everything. So do my friends and neighbors.
Local TV stations understood this need. For example, Fox 5 had four reporters and a weathercaster up in the area doing live shot filled with lots of compelling anecdotes and tidbits that The Journal-News barely touched on, if at all. Case in point: the most severe damage was at a California Closets store in Hawthorne, where the walls collapsed.
The reaction story on the front page led with a quote from a woman who was interviewing for a job at the store and was trapped in the building, but escaped without a scratch. There's one quote from her. One. Doesn't that episode warrant further examination? We heard more from the woman, Tara Kelly, on TV. Why not The Journal-News?
That there's no good answer for that question has too often been the case at the newspaper, where the overlords are more content to kowtow to their Gannett chieftains whose priority has long been its shareholders rather than its readers. That's why the ads -- including the one unconscionably resting at the bottom of the front page -- are in color, while photos devoted to the lead story inside are not.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, Gannett released its second-quarter earnings yesterday -- down 8.3 percent. Among the reasons: higher newsprint costs.
If that's an excuse for why The Journal-News came up short today, it's a lame one, just like its tornado coverage.
Residents in the tony suburban towns and villages of Westchester County, north of New York City, are more accustomed to reading about tornadoes than being hit by one.
So imagine their surprise when a funnel cloud made its way from the Hudson River near the Tappan Zee Bridge and across the middle of the county, leaving a lot of damage, rattled nerves but fortunately no injuries to speak of.
Sounds like a great story, right? Wicked weather that rarely hits the Northeast tears through the area without warning. Perfect fodder for the local newspaper to own this puppy, with lots of great photos, anecdotes and graphics. Then again, the newspaper is The Journal-News, the perennial underachiever in metro N.Y. journalism (full disclosure: I worked there in 1988-89 and left for greener pastures on good terms).
This is what the paper does, or is supposed to do, cover the big stories in its backyard, the kind everyone will be talking about tomorrow and which might actually spur higher sales the next day. At least on the former account, it fumbled badly.
True, most of the front page was devoted to the storm, but two of the three photos were shrunk down to the point of being irrelevant. The two stories on the front page should have jumped inside to be accompanied by a spread of sidebars and photos to showcase the damage. A double-truck spread in the middle -- make it up to the advertisers later, heaven forfend -- would have been appropriate for starters.
Instead, on A6, there is the continuation of a reaction story with two color photos, while a whole page of coverage on A8 had its three images in black-and-white. A dozen reporters were credited with working on the "coverage," yet The Journal-News could only muster the space for three stories and a tiny sidebar, along with a timeline for previous tornadoes in the lower Hudson Valley. A dozen reporters and scant evidence that few of them made it out of the newsroom.
If they had, maybe they would have gotten a good sidebar from County Executive Andy Spano, who related how a state trooper's car was picked up and spun around, as reported in The New York Times, which deigned to put the tornado story on page B3 and strangely, given the paper's heavy suburban readership, didn't even tease it on the front page. However, its photos of the worst damage by Alan Zale outshone those by three Journal-News photographers.
And the newspaper industry wonders why readers are abandoning them in droves for the Internet -- where the newspaper didn't fare much better. The Journal-News is exhibit A.
-------------
Now some of you in other locales might think I'm overreacting. Sure, it's a tornado, but nobody was hurt except for some roofs, trees and power lines. These things happen all the time, Steve, so chill.
Exactly, they happen all the time, except in places like Westchester. When a tornado passes less than two miles from my home and causes damage on streets I travel every day, I want to know anything and everything. So do my friends and neighbors.
Local TV stations understood this need. For example, Fox 5 had four reporters and a weathercaster up in the area doing live shot filled with lots of compelling anecdotes and tidbits that The Journal-News barely touched on, if at all. Case in point: the most severe damage was at a California Closets store in Hawthorne, where the walls collapsed.
The reaction story on the front page led with a quote from a woman who was interviewing for a job at the store and was trapped in the building, but escaped without a scratch. There's one quote from her. One. Doesn't that episode warrant further examination? We heard more from the woman, Tara Kelly, on TV. Why not The Journal-News?
That there's no good answer for that question has too often been the case at the newspaper, where the overlords are more content to kowtow to their Gannett chieftains whose priority has long been its shareholders rather than its readers. That's why the ads -- including the one unconscionably resting at the bottom of the front page -- are in color, while photos devoted to the lead story inside are not.
Perhaps not so coincidentally, Gannett released its second-quarter earnings yesterday -- down 8.3 percent. Among the reasons: higher newsprint costs.
If that's an excuse for why The Journal-News came up short today, it's a lame one, just like its tornado coverage.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
No Big Love In Borneo: A Beastly Fine For Bigamy
Our Asia desk is working overtime to find the most important news of the day. To wit, this dispatch of a Malaysian man caught on the wrong side of a marriage certificate and fined by a tribal court one buffalo and pig.
The buffalo we can understand, but the pig? Harsh!
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/12/D8IQDLRO5.html
The buffalo we can understand, but the pig? Harsh!
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/12/D8IQDLRO5.html
Monday, July 10, 2006
Bridgeport Becomes Urinetown: Local Paper Gets Mayor To Pee In Cup
Who Was Grandstanding More, Mayor Fabrizi Or The Connecticut Post?
To say that Bridgeport, CT, is a city with a lot of problems is like proclaiming there are a lot of holes in Swiss cheese.
It's painfully obvious that the city, halfway between Stamford and New Haven saw its better days vanish long ago along with a lot of its viable tax base.
After all, this was a city that installed speed bumps in some of its neighborhoods, so drug dealers would have a harder time jumping on I-95 if they were chased by cops.
The same ignominy applies to City Hall, where Mayor John Fabrizi was once quite the cokehead. He came clean last month in a tearful appearance before the editorial board of the Connecticut Post, and said he had not partaken in the nose candy since 2004, and offered to take a drug test "anytime anywhere."
OK, the Post said last week, how about Thursday? To which Fabrizi replied, how about right now?
http://www.connpost.com/news/ci_4030220
And off he went with the Post's managing editor to a lab. The next day, results showed Fabrizi's piss was clean even if his reputation was not.
So, the Post confirmed the mayor can legitimately say "Just say no." But at what cost? The Post effectively acted as judge and jury. Fabrizi may have put out the offer, but the newspaper didn't have to be the one to act on it.
Fabrizi no doubt knew what the results would be and effectively manipulated the Post into turning a contentious political issue into a media sideshow.
Then again, the Post was a willing accomplice. The unquenchable thirst to find more dirt muddied the judgment of its news chieftains, who instead got caught up in their self-aggrandizement to forget a Journalism 101 maxim -- you report the story, you don't become the story.
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Chef On A Shoestring Hangs Ira Joe Fisher Out To Dry
Oversized Weatherman Gets Dissed For Dessert On The Saturday Early Show
Guess who won't be getting invited back to the Saturday Early Show? That would be cook/author Nancy Silverton, who was frantically whipping up a three-course meal in the seven-minute Chef On A Shoestring segment.
Normally, these are tasty if innocuous affairs, with one of the hosts kibitzing with a star chef -- who usually has a cookbook to push -- on how to concoct three dishes spending no more than 40 bucks.
At the end, the other host, along with normally jovial weatherman Ira Joe Fisher, come on camera to help sample the wares. Fisher is, um, plus-sized, if you will, and is always eager to plunge into the gastronomic bounty that awaits.
Today's show was no exception, as Silverton described dessert, a blackberry-yogurt soup with vanilla ice cream and blackberry compote. So far, so good.
Fisher comes in for the kill as host Tracy Smith is helping Silverton prepare dessert. She asks Silverton about the ice cream:
Smith: "One scoop or two?"
Silverton: "I think I'll do one today" and then turns to Fisher on her left, "I don't think you need two, right?"
To which the abashed but poker-faced and ravenously hungry Fisher replies: "No, but let's have two."
Of course, Silverton spoke what many people think, but this is TV, after all.
If you'd like, you don't have to blame Silverton, although where would be the fun in that?
Instead, point a finger at the segment producer,who had Silverton outside grilling burgers and being consumed by the ensuing smoke when the live piece started. Normally, the guest chefs will start a dish from scratch, start cooking it and whip out a finished version prepared earlier.
This time, Silverton was frantically tending her beef and Smith had to coax her away from the flames. She was game but frazzled.
Too many distractions set her up for a fall, and left her eating crow. And she probably didn't save a piece for Ira Joe.
Guess who won't be getting invited back to the Saturday Early Show? That would be cook/author Nancy Silverton, who was frantically whipping up a three-course meal in the seven-minute Chef On A Shoestring segment.
Normally, these are tasty if innocuous affairs, with one of the hosts kibitzing with a star chef -- who usually has a cookbook to push -- on how to concoct three dishes spending no more than 40 bucks.
At the end, the other host, along with normally jovial weatherman Ira Joe Fisher, come on camera to help sample the wares. Fisher is, um, plus-sized, if you will, and is always eager to plunge into the gastronomic bounty that awaits.
Today's show was no exception, as Silverton described dessert, a blackberry-yogurt soup with vanilla ice cream and blackberry compote. So far, so good.
Fisher comes in for the kill as host Tracy Smith is helping Silverton prepare dessert. She asks Silverton about the ice cream:
Smith: "One scoop or two?"
Silverton: "I think I'll do one today" and then turns to Fisher on her left, "I don't think you need two, right?"
To which the abashed but poker-faced and ravenously hungry Fisher replies: "No, but let's have two."
Of course, Silverton spoke what many people think, but this is TV, after all.
If you'd like, you don't have to blame Silverton, although where would be the fun in that?
Instead, point a finger at the segment producer,who had Silverton outside grilling burgers and being consumed by the ensuing smoke when the live piece started. Normally, the guest chefs will start a dish from scratch, start cooking it and whip out a finished version prepared earlier.
This time, Silverton was frantically tending her beef and Smith had to coax her away from the flames. She was game but frazzled.
Too many distractions set her up for a fall, and left her eating crow. And she probably didn't save a piece for Ira Joe.
Friday, July 07, 2006
Sun Sets On Foreign Coverage In Baltimore, While Newsday Has A Bad Day
Shuttering Foreign Bureaus: Cost-Cutting Because We Don't Care About The Rest of the World?
If you need to know what's going in Patchogue and Hicksville, then Newsday has been the place to turn. But Newsday was never really a suburban newspaper. It was a newspaper that just happened to be in the suburbs, in this case Long Island.
Its ambitions were always much grander, and that's why it put together a formidable Washington bureau, an office in Albany usually crammed with more reporters than the Times, and a more-than-respectable foreign report often filled with courageous enterprise reporting.
But that was a long time ago, or so it seems.
The Washington bureau has been dessicated since Newsday was acquired by Tribune as part of the Times-Mirror deal. Albany is but a shell. And now the remaining foreign bureaus, in Beirut and Islamabad (the last of six), are on the way out, a prospect that Newsday left to the wires. "The Tribune-wide staffing changes will not reduce our commitment to providing an enterprising foreign report," said Newsday editor John Mancini.
And if you believe that, Newsday has a bridge in Brooklyn that you might be interested in purchasing. Oh, I forgot. The paper got rid of most of its reporters in the city.
Now Newsday will have to rely the wires and a team of Tribune correspondents, mostly from the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, who will now be writing for the whole chain.
This is the same newspaper where current foreign editor Roy Gutman won a Pulitzer in 1993 for his unrelenting series of reports about human-rights atrocities in Croatia and Bosnia that were chilling in their detail, and remarkable given how they were written in a war zone where Gutman was constantly in peril.
More recently, former foreign editor Dele Olojede won a Pulitzer last year for his unstinting look at Rwanda 10 years after the genocide there. Tellingly, Olojede left Newsday in 2005, taking a buyout rather than reduce his commitment to foreign news, as the parent company embarked on yet another cost-cutting spree.
That's all gone now. Newsday continues its evolution as a shell of its former self. "I don't know what's going to replace them. The paper thrived on that," Gutman told the Baltimore Sun, another Tribune paper which is losing its last remaining foreign bureaus too (Moscow, Johannesburg), while its Jerusalem reporter will be absorbed into the Tribune foreign network.
Sun Editor Tim Franklin says the amount of space devoted to foreign news won't change. It just won't come from Sun reporters. The paper had eight bureaus just a decade ago.Franklin did everything but launch into "Tomorrow" from "Annie" as he spun these latest developments, proclaiming: "We'll continue to have a storied tradition of foreign reporting - just in a different form."
But Sun foreign editor Robert Ruby knows better. As he told the AP, the bureau closings were a "very sad development for the newspaper."And for anyone who cares about the news business.
If you need to know what's going in Patchogue and Hicksville, then Newsday has been the place to turn. But Newsday was never really a suburban newspaper. It was a newspaper that just happened to be in the suburbs, in this case Long Island.
Its ambitions were always much grander, and that's why it put together a formidable Washington bureau, an office in Albany usually crammed with more reporters than the Times, and a more-than-respectable foreign report often filled with courageous enterprise reporting.
But that was a long time ago, or so it seems.
The Washington bureau has been dessicated since Newsday was acquired by Tribune as part of the Times-Mirror deal. Albany is but a shell. And now the remaining foreign bureaus, in Beirut and Islamabad (the last of six), are on the way out, a prospect that Newsday left to the wires. "The Tribune-wide staffing changes will not reduce our commitment to providing an enterprising foreign report," said Newsday editor John Mancini.
And if you believe that, Newsday has a bridge in Brooklyn that you might be interested in purchasing. Oh, I forgot. The paper got rid of most of its reporters in the city.
Now Newsday will have to rely the wires and a team of Tribune correspondents, mostly from the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, who will now be writing for the whole chain.
This is the same newspaper where current foreign editor Roy Gutman won a Pulitzer in 1993 for his unrelenting series of reports about human-rights atrocities in Croatia and Bosnia that were chilling in their detail, and remarkable given how they were written in a war zone where Gutman was constantly in peril.
More recently, former foreign editor Dele Olojede won a Pulitzer last year for his unstinting look at Rwanda 10 years after the genocide there. Tellingly, Olojede left Newsday in 2005, taking a buyout rather than reduce his commitment to foreign news, as the parent company embarked on yet another cost-cutting spree.
That's all gone now. Newsday continues its evolution as a shell of its former self. "I don't know what's going to replace them. The paper thrived on that," Gutman told the Baltimore Sun, another Tribune paper which is losing its last remaining foreign bureaus too (Moscow, Johannesburg), while its Jerusalem reporter will be absorbed into the Tribune foreign network.
Sun Editor Tim Franklin says the amount of space devoted to foreign news won't change. It just won't come from Sun reporters. The paper had eight bureaus just a decade ago.Franklin did everything but launch into "Tomorrow" from "Annie" as he spun these latest developments, proclaiming: "We'll continue to have a storied tradition of foreign reporting - just in a different form."
But Sun foreign editor Robert Ruby knows better. As he told the AP, the bureau closings were a "very sad development for the newspaper."And for anyone who cares about the news business.
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Adam Pascal and Darlene Love Don't Get Any Facetime Amid Fireworks
Meanwhile, the GOP plays it safe at Ford's Theatre
If you watched last night's NBC telecast of the Macy's fireworks, it was a pyrotechnicapalooza, to be sure.
But lost amid the boom-booms was the fact that for the VIPs and the folks watching at home, there was a live orchestra and singers, including Syosset's own Adam Pascal and that ever-shimmering Crystal, Darlene Love.
At various times, they cut to an insert of the orchestra playing at Waterside Plaza, so you could see it was live, not Memorex. And we also had to watch too many shots of people watching fireworks.
Yet, at no point did we see Pascal or Love sing. No doubt, they would have appreciated a little face time with America. Instead, we got what amounted to a voice over from them. Their agents might need a good talking-to right about now.
And was the sound a little bit out of whack with the photos, or was Liza Minnelli lip-syncing "New York, New York" for the broadcast's finale?
Later on, ABC aired the previously taped "An American Celebration at Ford'sTheatre," with the Dubyas front and center guffawing and clapping with the rest of the tuxedoed crowd. Did anyone happen to notice any known Democrats during the audience cutaway shots? And was it just me, or is GOP-gun lover Tom Selleck, last night's emcee, looking more butch than ever? Just asking.
N.Y. Times' Debt Story Owes Us More Of An Explanation
Should We Be Shocked That People Owe Money and Collection Agencies Want That Money? The Horror!
On the front page of today's New York Times is a piece that goes across the bottom of the top fold headlined An Outcry Erupts As Debt Collectors Play Rough
Is this news? Collection agencies aren't exactly known for playing patsy with deadbeats, but now they apparently have been getting a bad case of the nasties.
I guess the Times felt that it's readership in Scarsdale and Short Hills, not to mention Riverdale and Murray Hill, needed to be reminded that not everyone is like them, and, jeepers, aren't able to make their credit-card payments every month.
The nub of the story, by hyper-prolific Sewell Chan, is actually contained in the 19th paragraph:
Robert J. Hobbs, the deputy director of the National Consumer Law Center, an advocacy organization based in Boston, attributed the rise in complaints about abusive collection practices to three broad trends: the rapid growth in the number of collection agencies, the tightening of bankruptcy-protection laws last year and the record level of consumer debt, now totaling $2.2 trillion, complicated by rising interest rates and stagnant personal incomes. Identity theft and Internet fraud are also cited as factors.
All well and good, assuming you jumped to B4 to read it.
What would have been a lot more helpful, not to mention, gasp, more explanatory, is for a breakout box that explains what abusive collection practices are, and the rights consumers have under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. In other words, what you can do to fight back if you're the victim of what Chan spends the better part of 1,500 words talking about.
Or maybe Joe Sexton and the well-compensated denizens on the Metro desk simply assume that if you can plunk down a buck for the paper, you and bill collectors shall never meet. How blithe of them to make that assessment.
But beyond that value judgment it's a matter of good journalism to fill in the blanks. First you say that complaints about collection practices have soared, but there's virtually nothing about how to fight back.
Time to empty the news vacuum on West 43rd St. and suck in some of the real world.
On the front page of today's New York Times is a piece that goes across the bottom of the top fold headlined An Outcry Erupts As Debt Collectors Play Rough
Is this news? Collection agencies aren't exactly known for playing patsy with deadbeats, but now they apparently have been getting a bad case of the nasties.
I guess the Times felt that it's readership in Scarsdale and Short Hills, not to mention Riverdale and Murray Hill, needed to be reminded that not everyone is like them, and, jeepers, aren't able to make their credit-card payments every month.
The nub of the story, by hyper-prolific Sewell Chan, is actually contained in the 19th paragraph:
Robert J. Hobbs, the deputy director of the National Consumer Law Center, an advocacy organization based in Boston, attributed the rise in complaints about abusive collection practices to three broad trends: the rapid growth in the number of collection agencies, the tightening of bankruptcy-protection laws last year and the record level of consumer debt, now totaling $2.2 trillion, complicated by rising interest rates and stagnant personal incomes. Identity theft and Internet fraud are also cited as factors.
All well and good, assuming you jumped to B4 to read it.
What would have been a lot more helpful, not to mention, gasp, more explanatory, is for a breakout box that explains what abusive collection practices are, and the rights consumers have under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. In other words, what you can do to fight back if you're the victim of what Chan spends the better part of 1,500 words talking about.
Or maybe Joe Sexton and the well-compensated denizens on the Metro desk simply assume that if you can plunk down a buck for the paper, you and bill collectors shall never meet. How blithe of them to make that assessment.
But beyond that value judgment it's a matter of good journalism to fill in the blanks. First you say that complaints about collection practices have soared, but there's virtually nothing about how to fight back.
Time to empty the news vacuum on West 43rd St. and suck in some of the real world.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
All That's Missing Are The Pitchforks and Angry Villagers: Journalists Turn On Each Other In Times Bank Records Flap
Memo To Richard Valeriani: Shut Up
Everybody and their editor has an opinion on The New York Times money-tracing story that has the Bush administration in a tizzy while the National Review has all but called for the paper's First Amendment privileges to be revoked.
Nothing unexpected there. But it is a bit startling when the vitriol comes from someone who should know better, in this case Richard Valeriani, the former long-time NBC correspondent who often dwelled in the national-security trenches.
In the Huffington Post, Richard Valeriani is foaming at the mouth over what he views as borderline treason by Bill Keller's gang.
This was show-off journalism, pure and simple. Look at us. Look at what we found out. Look at how good we are uncovering secrets.
em>
Yeah, so what?
Valeriani almost sounds hurt as if he wishes he was still at the network so he could've been the one on with Brian Williams breaking the story rather than everybody else, who had to chase after the Times, when the story first posted at 9 p.m.
In a vain attempt to justify his sanctimony, Valeriani offers up two analogies and fails miserably both times. First:
After the take-over of the American Embassy in Iran in 1979, I found out that six American diplomats had escaped and were at large somewhere in Teheran. The Executive Editor at NBC Nightly News wanted to run the story, but fortunately, management was more sensible, and we did not report the story at the time.
Bully for him, but how do you equate this story with hostages escaping from dangerous radicals? You don't. We're talking about lives in the balance, as opposed to yet another dash to secrecy by the White House, where the slope becomes ever more slippery for the Constitution. Yes, nothing is illegal about the program. At least from what we've learned so far.
Valeriani saves the best for last:
Running the story about the money-tracing program is a version of giving Anne Frank’s address to the Nazis.
Whoa, Dick! That's a crappy comparison in all kinds of ways.
Reality check time. The Times had the story, with The Wall Street Journal and L.A. Times soon on its tail. In other words, leading newspapers liberal and conservative did their job -- disclosure trumped government secrecy. If anything, the adminstration has only itself to blame. By constantly trying to operate in the dark, even in matters that don't involve security, it was easy not to give the White House the benefit of the doubt.
The Times isn't the enemy. Valeriani should know better along with the other latter-day nattering nabobs of negatavism who all of a sudden think freedom of the press wasn't such a good idea after all.
Everybody and their editor has an opinion on The New York Times money-tracing story that has the Bush administration in a tizzy while the National Review has all but called for the paper's First Amendment privileges to be revoked.
Nothing unexpected there. But it is a bit startling when the vitriol comes from someone who should know better, in this case Richard Valeriani, the former long-time NBC correspondent who often dwelled in the national-security trenches.
In the Huffington Post, Richard Valeriani is foaming at the mouth over what he views as borderline treason by Bill Keller's gang.
This was show-off journalism, pure and simple. Look at us. Look at what we found out. Look at how good we are uncovering secrets.
em>
Yeah, so what?
Valeriani almost sounds hurt as if he wishes he was still at the network so he could've been the one on with Brian Williams breaking the story rather than everybody else, who had to chase after the Times, when the story first posted at 9 p.m.
In a vain attempt to justify his sanctimony, Valeriani offers up two analogies and fails miserably both times. First:
After the take-over of the American Embassy in Iran in 1979, I found out that six American diplomats had escaped and were at large somewhere in Teheran. The Executive Editor at NBC Nightly News wanted to run the story, but fortunately, management was more sensible, and we did not report the story at the time.
Bully for him, but how do you equate this story with hostages escaping from dangerous radicals? You don't. We're talking about lives in the balance, as opposed to yet another dash to secrecy by the White House, where the slope becomes ever more slippery for the Constitution. Yes, nothing is illegal about the program. At least from what we've learned so far.
Valeriani saves the best for last:
Running the story about the money-tracing program is a version of giving Anne Frank’s address to the Nazis.
Whoa, Dick! That's a crappy comparison in all kinds of ways.
Reality check time. The Times had the story, with The Wall Street Journal and L.A. Times soon on its tail. In other words, leading newspapers liberal and conservative did their job -- disclosure trumped government secrecy. If anything, the adminstration has only itself to blame. By constantly trying to operate in the dark, even in matters that don't involve security, it was easy not to give the White House the benefit of the doubt.
The Times isn't the enemy. Valeriani should know better along with the other latter-day nattering nabobs of negatavism who all of a sudden think freedom of the press wasn't such a good idea after all.
Cutting Anderson Cooper Just A Little Slack
CNN Pretty Boy Actually Has Some Journalistic Heft Under His Hair
So it's fashionable to dump on TV news It Boy Anderson Cooper. Sometimes, the silver-haired one makes it a little too easy, like during his fawning Angelina Jolie interview ,where he embarrassed himself asking questions about childbirth.
And, as The New York Observer's Rebecca Dana gleefully points out, all the hype hasn't translated into ratings for his two-hour newsfest on CNN. In fact, they slip most nights in comparison to his somnabulant predecessor, Aaron Brown.
http://observer.com/20060703/20060703_Rebecca_Dana_pageone_nytv.asp
For now, let's try to give the guy at least an eensy bit of credit. If he was all hair, blue eyes and empty-headed, he'd be interviewing hucksters on infomercials by now. Instead, he's hit the highway numerous times in search of a good story and has often come through. CNN isn't exactly blowing its travel budget on a bubble-head.
Covering the tsunami, Cooper found the right mix of gravitas and emotion. He may have gone off the rails at times during the Katrina coverage, but so did most of us as we watched the story unfold.
The Coop's also gotten down and dirty in Afghanistan and Pakistan, among other dubious ports of call. And his brief excursions to "60 Minutes" were solid to a fault, which bodes well for the five stories he's slated to do there in the coming season.
For now, let's forgive him his Jolie trespasses and see what happens next. You might be pleasantly surprised.
So it's fashionable to dump on TV news It Boy Anderson Cooper. Sometimes, the silver-haired one makes it a little too easy, like during his fawning Angelina Jolie interview ,where he embarrassed himself asking questions about childbirth.
And, as The New York Observer's Rebecca Dana gleefully points out, all the hype hasn't translated into ratings for his two-hour newsfest on CNN. In fact, they slip most nights in comparison to his somnabulant predecessor, Aaron Brown.
http://observer.com/20060703/20060703_Rebecca_Dana_pageone_nytv.asp
For now, let's try to give the guy at least an eensy bit of credit. If he was all hair, blue eyes and empty-headed, he'd be interviewing hucksters on infomercials by now. Instead, he's hit the highway numerous times in search of a good story and has often come through. CNN isn't exactly blowing its travel budget on a bubble-head.
Covering the tsunami, Cooper found the right mix of gravitas and emotion. He may have gone off the rails at times during the Katrina coverage, but so did most of us as we watched the story unfold.
The Coop's also gotten down and dirty in Afghanistan and Pakistan, among other dubious ports of call. And his brief excursions to "60 Minutes" were solid to a fault, which bodes well for the five stories he's slated to do there in the coming season.
For now, let's forgive him his Jolie trespasses and see what happens next. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Dan Would Have Rathered Taken The High Road But Found It Was Full Of Potholes
CBS Is A Network Not Always Big On Big Goodbyes
Dan Rather said all the right things today as his departure from CBS after 44 years became official.
So did CBS, but the end result was different.
Usually, this is a time for every bromide to be taken out of cold storage for a valedictory statement. Rather -- whom I did some writing for during my time at CBS News Radio -- was having none of that.
Still, the public candor and residual bitterness in his statement was remarkable given how rare it is.
My departure before the term of my contract represents CBS's final acknowledgement, after a protracted struggle, that they had not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work there. As for their offers of a future with only an office but no assignments, it just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing.
CBS demurred by responding in kind -- their contract offer or lack thereof had already spoken volumes.
Instead, it issued a pat: "We value and respect Dan's tremendous career at CBS News. Despite the fact that we couldn't reach an agreement that satisfied everyone, we wish him all future success."
CBSNews.com, though, to its credit, did mention Rather's criticism and linked to the entire statement.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/19/national/main1727285.shtml
The network says it's working on a primetime special honoring Rather's career to be aired in the fall (should we hold our breath?). We'll see if it's all hosannas all the time, or will they mix in some of the lower moments ("Ready, Set, Gorbachev", "Courage", walking off when the U.S. Open tennis ran long, the Afghan fashion statement and that little Bush/National Guard thing).
A lot may depend on how much he pisses off his now-former bosses in his interviews over the next few days.
What I'll miss about him is that despite all the idiosyncrasies and Ratherisms -- "this race is hotter than a Laredo parking lot" anyone? -- is that CBS had in its anchor chair for 24 years a dogged reporter whose bullshit detector was almost always on high.
Unlike Brian Williams, to name one, Rather didn't have to be seasoned in the field to establish his credentials. Vietnam and the Nixon White House had long since taken care of that. He liked presiding in the big tent that a network anchor is afforded, but still yearned to be pounding the pavement in search of a good story to tell. And when he latched onto one, there were few better in his prime.
Dan often surprised us grunts in radio with how generous he was with his time to provide analysis on a story, or give us a preview of an interview he'd just scored with some head of state or newsmaker du jour.
Many TV correspondents thought radio was not worth their bother -- even though more people heard the hourly newscasts than watched the evening news -- but not Dan, who remembered from whence he came. He was always introduced as CBS News Correspondent Dan Rather, rather than CBS Evening News Anchorman Dan Rather.
Of course, he was more than just a reporter. Getting paid $10 million a year does that to a guy. But he was all about the news -- lots of steak -- Texas-sized, to be sure -- easy on the sizzle.
So, it's not surprising that he's declined to go quietly. Rather, cowboy boots and all, was having none of that, and is happy to hitch his ride at some other outpost.
Good for him.
Dan Rather said all the right things today as his departure from CBS after 44 years became official.
So did CBS, but the end result was different.
Usually, this is a time for every bromide to be taken out of cold storage for a valedictory statement. Rather -- whom I did some writing for during my time at CBS News Radio -- was having none of that.
Still, the public candor and residual bitterness in his statement was remarkable given how rare it is.
My departure before the term of my contract represents CBS's final acknowledgement, after a protracted struggle, that they had not lived up to their obligation to allow me to do substantive work there. As for their offers of a future with only an office but no assignments, it just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing.
CBS demurred by responding in kind -- their contract offer or lack thereof had already spoken volumes.
Instead, it issued a pat: "We value and respect Dan's tremendous career at CBS News. Despite the fact that we couldn't reach an agreement that satisfied everyone, we wish him all future success."
CBSNews.com, though, to its credit, did mention Rather's criticism and linked to the entire statement.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/06/19/national/main1727285.shtml
The network says it's working on a primetime special honoring Rather's career to be aired in the fall (should we hold our breath?). We'll see if it's all hosannas all the time, or will they mix in some of the lower moments ("Ready, Set, Gorbachev", "Courage", walking off when the U.S. Open tennis ran long, the Afghan fashion statement and that little Bush/National Guard thing).
A lot may depend on how much he pisses off his now-former bosses in his interviews over the next few days.
What I'll miss about him is that despite all the idiosyncrasies and Ratherisms -- "this race is hotter than a Laredo parking lot" anyone? -- is that CBS had in its anchor chair for 24 years a dogged reporter whose bullshit detector was almost always on high.
Unlike Brian Williams, to name one, Rather didn't have to be seasoned in the field to establish his credentials. Vietnam and the Nixon White House had long since taken care of that. He liked presiding in the big tent that a network anchor is afforded, but still yearned to be pounding the pavement in search of a good story to tell. And when he latched onto one, there were few better in his prime.
Dan often surprised us grunts in radio with how generous he was with his time to provide analysis on a story, or give us a preview of an interview he'd just scored with some head of state or newsmaker du jour.
Many TV correspondents thought radio was not worth their bother -- even though more people heard the hourly newscasts than watched the evening news -- but not Dan, who remembered from whence he came. He was always introduced as CBS News Correspondent Dan Rather, rather than CBS Evening News Anchorman Dan Rather.
Of course, he was more than just a reporter. Getting paid $10 million a year does that to a guy. But he was all about the news -- lots of steak -- Texas-sized, to be sure -- easy on the sizzle.
So, it's not surprising that he's declined to go quietly. Rather, cowboy boots and all, was having none of that, and is happy to hitch his ride at some other outpost.
Good for him.
Editor's Resume Victim of Bad Copyediting
Ex-Wisconsin ME Sues Over Not Getting A Second Chance To Make A First Impression
Sure, it's embarrassing when you send out a resume and it's rife with typos, even more so when you're a former newspaper editor in search of greener pastures in flackdom.
Such is the plight of poor Barbara Uebelacker, former managing editor of the Janesville Gazette in Wisconsin.
For some reason, known only to Uebelacker, she paid $1,720 to an employment agency to help her find a job. That exorbitant fee included writing her resume and sending it out to prospective employers.
http://www.gazetteextra.com/typosuit061606.asp
Just one wrinkle in that scheme: The agency sent out hundreds of letters, with Uebelacker's faked signature to boot, with gibberish in the letter, which , shall we say, doesn't exactly leave the right impression for a job where attention to detail is paramount.
Now she's suing for humiliation, mental anguish, etc. Despite the gaffe, it's still not a slam dunk as to whether she actually has a case or whether it's really worth the expense of litigating. Of course, that's never stopped anyone from filing suit, and this one will never get as far as the courtroom.
Still, the larger question remains is why someone would pay all that money for someone to help them find a job. A little sweat equity can go a long way.
Nowadays you rarely need a stamp to apply for a job, as Monster, Hot Jobs and Career Builder will no doubt tell you.
A job change is a big deal and trusting some anonymous agency to do the legwork for you is practically begging everyone who knows you to yell in unison "I told you so."
Which is not to say Uebelacker got what she deserved, but she came pretty damn close.
Sure, it's embarrassing when you send out a resume and it's rife with typos, even more so when you're a former newspaper editor in search of greener pastures in flackdom.
Such is the plight of poor Barbara Uebelacker, former managing editor of the Janesville Gazette in Wisconsin.
For some reason, known only to Uebelacker, she paid $1,720 to an employment agency to help her find a job. That exorbitant fee included writing her resume and sending it out to prospective employers.
http://www.gazetteextra.com/typosuit061606.asp
Just one wrinkle in that scheme: The agency sent out hundreds of letters, with Uebelacker's faked signature to boot, with gibberish in the letter, which , shall we say, doesn't exactly leave the right impression for a job where attention to detail is paramount.
Now she's suing for humiliation, mental anguish, etc. Despite the gaffe, it's still not a slam dunk as to whether she actually has a case or whether it's really worth the expense of litigating. Of course, that's never stopped anyone from filing suit, and this one will never get as far as the courtroom.
Still, the larger question remains is why someone would pay all that money for someone to help them find a job. A little sweat equity can go a long way.
Nowadays you rarely need a stamp to apply for a job, as Monster, Hot Jobs and Career Builder will no doubt tell you.
A job change is a big deal and trusting some anonymous agency to do the legwork for you is practically begging everyone who knows you to yell in unison "I told you so."
Which is not to say Uebelacker got what she deserved, but she came pretty damn close.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Lyrical Wire Prose for Phil Mickelson's Epic Collapse
AP Copy Doesn't Have to Be Boring. Honest.
When Phil Mickelson bungled his way to a second-place finish yesterday in the U.S. Open, it was a stunning story. No doubt, more than a few laptops were whirring in the press tent about Lefty winning his third-straight major, tying Tiger Woods
The gallery loves the doughy Lefty, he of the warm smile, telegenic wife and cute daughters. It was the story of the day, except a double-bogey on 18 got in the way. Which, of course, turned into a better story that the AP's Doug Ferguson turned into a compelling narrative remarkable not just for its lyrical grace but because it ran on the AP, whose sports report usually errs on the side of staid, even by wire-service standards.
Instead of being linked with Woods in the majors, the comparisons turned to Jean Van de Velde at Carnoustie in 1999, when the Frenchman took triple bogey on the last hole of the British Open. But at least Van de Velde got a chance in a playoff.
Mickelson could only cup his hands over his cap and acknowledge a New York crowd that he disappointed again.And he had only himself to blame.
He had a two-shot lead with four holes to play, but his stubborn side continued to hit driver, and his miscues finally caught up with him ... And while he found a way to escape most times, Winged Foot got its vengeance at the end.
http://www.wjxx.com/sports/news-article.aspx?storyid=59538
Good stuff, especially in the unforgiving world of get-it-to-me-five-minutes-ago deadlines in the wire-service world.
Other nice leads riffing on The Double Bogey, included Hank Gola in the New York Daily News:
A four to win, a five to tie. Phil Mickelson made a six, and not since the Red Sox beat the Yankees in seven in 2004 has New York felt such a sickening punch to the solar plexis.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/427948p-360887c.html
Sam Weinman of The Journal News, the tournament's hometown paper, led off with this nice detail:
When it was over, after the men in blazers lined up, and the speeches had already begun, and the trophy was improbably handed to someone else, there was Phil Mickelson left in the corner of the pro shop.
He was seated in the back, with his wife, Amy, at his side. The golfer ran one hand through his hair. He held Amy's hand in another. At one point, he dropped his head down flat on the table as if he wanted to crawl underneath it.
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060618/USOPEN/606190309/1249
Oh, and there's that unsung hero of the day, you know, the guy who won the whole thing, Aussie Geoff Ogilvy. Still, even though he came out on top of the leader board, Ogilvy sounded a bit surprised that it was he, not Mickelson or Colin Montgomerie, as Ed Sherman reminds us in the Chicago Tribune:
Ogilvy, though, knew he was lucky to be holding the trophy.
"I think I was the beneficiary of a little bit of charity," Ogilvy said.
Mickelson and Montgomerie should check if their donations are tax deductible.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/golf/chi-0606190092jun19,1,7818128.story?coll=chi-sportsnew-hed
When Phil Mickelson bungled his way to a second-place finish yesterday in the U.S. Open, it was a stunning story. No doubt, more than a few laptops were whirring in the press tent about Lefty winning his third-straight major, tying Tiger Woods
The gallery loves the doughy Lefty, he of the warm smile, telegenic wife and cute daughters. It was the story of the day, except a double-bogey on 18 got in the way. Which, of course, turned into a better story that the AP's Doug Ferguson turned into a compelling narrative remarkable not just for its lyrical grace but because it ran on the AP, whose sports report usually errs on the side of staid, even by wire-service standards.
Instead of being linked with Woods in the majors, the comparisons turned to Jean Van de Velde at Carnoustie in 1999, when the Frenchman took triple bogey on the last hole of the British Open. But at least Van de Velde got a chance in a playoff.
Mickelson could only cup his hands over his cap and acknowledge a New York crowd that he disappointed again.And he had only himself to blame.
He had a two-shot lead with four holes to play, but his stubborn side continued to hit driver, and his miscues finally caught up with him ... And while he found a way to escape most times, Winged Foot got its vengeance at the end.
http://www.wjxx.com/sports/news-article.aspx?storyid=59538
Good stuff, especially in the unforgiving world of get-it-to-me-five-minutes-ago deadlines in the wire-service world.
Other nice leads riffing on The Double Bogey, included Hank Gola in the New York Daily News:
A four to win, a five to tie. Phil Mickelson made a six, and not since the Red Sox beat the Yankees in seven in 2004 has New York felt such a sickening punch to the solar plexis.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story/427948p-360887c.html
Sam Weinman of The Journal News, the tournament's hometown paper, led off with this nice detail:
When it was over, after the men in blazers lined up, and the speeches had already begun, and the trophy was improbably handed to someone else, there was Phil Mickelson left in the corner of the pro shop.
He was seated in the back, with his wife, Amy, at his side. The golfer ran one hand through his hair. He held Amy's hand in another. At one point, he dropped his head down flat on the table as if he wanted to crawl underneath it.
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060618/USOPEN/606190309/1249
Oh, and there's that unsung hero of the day, you know, the guy who won the whole thing, Aussie Geoff Ogilvy. Still, even though he came out on top of the leader board, Ogilvy sounded a bit surprised that it was he, not Mickelson or Colin Montgomerie, as Ed Sherman reminds us in the Chicago Tribune:
Ogilvy, though, knew he was lucky to be holding the trophy.
"I think I was the beneficiary of a little bit of charity," Ogilvy said.
Mickelson and Montgomerie should check if their donations are tax deductible.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/golf/chi-0606190092jun19,1,7818128.story?coll=chi-sportsnew-hed
Monday, June 12, 2006
David Carr Leaves Us Hanging While He Lets Ann Coulter Off The Hook
So the Princess of Pablum has released another hysterical screed entitled "Godless: The Church of Liberalism" and is now flogging it or having others, like David Carr of The New York Times, do it for her.
In his column today, Carr earnestly tries to show he's onto Coulter, who at 45 is looking more haggard as she gets more strident, but is hoplessly, desperately trying to show he's not one of those Coulter has gotten rich trying to hard to despise.
After nearly 1,000 words of trying and generally failing to explain her away, Carr writes:
Without the total package, Ms. Coulter would be just one more nut living in Mom's basement. You can accuse her of cynicism all you want, but the fact that she is one of the leading political writers of our age says something about the rest of us.
And exactly what is that something, David?
Coulter may have a devoted audience, but so do many right-wing columnists and talk-show hosts. They're a loyal fringe who revel in their own myopia. They like that someone is bold enough to be the politically incorrect/class clown that they are too cowered to be -- a warped Greek chorus, if you will.
And that the someone who calls Katie Couric "Eva Braun," Cindy Sheehan a "C-list celebrity" or 9/11 widows "harpies" who enjoy being millionaires now that their husbands are dead is tall, thin, blonde -- and to some, good looking -- is so much icing on their odious cake.
Conservatives are good at trying interrupting and ridiculing others who disagree with them and trying to be the loudest in the roomn, as if he who bellows most is the one who's right. Coulter excels at being a bully, which is why you see her on TV a lot. It's also the key to her success as an author, not to mention why journalists like David Carr bother writing about her.
And that says something about the Fourth Estate. But it doesn't say something, anything about the rest of us.
That may be the answer you're looking for, Dave.
In his column today, Carr earnestly tries to show he's onto Coulter, who at 45 is looking more haggard as she gets more strident, but is hoplessly, desperately trying to show he's not one of those Coulter has gotten rich trying to hard to despise.
After nearly 1,000 words of trying and generally failing to explain her away, Carr writes:
Without the total package, Ms. Coulter would be just one more nut living in Mom's basement. You can accuse her of cynicism all you want, but the fact that she is one of the leading political writers of our age says something about the rest of us.
And exactly what is that something, David?
Coulter may have a devoted audience, but so do many right-wing columnists and talk-show hosts. They're a loyal fringe who revel in their own myopia. They like that someone is bold enough to be the politically incorrect/class clown that they are too cowered to be -- a warped Greek chorus, if you will.
And that the someone who calls Katie Couric "Eva Braun," Cindy Sheehan a "C-list celebrity" or 9/11 widows "harpies" who enjoy being millionaires now that their husbands are dead is tall, thin, blonde -- and to some, good looking -- is so much icing on their odious cake.
Conservatives are good at trying interrupting and ridiculing others who disagree with them and trying to be the loudest in the roomn, as if he who bellows most is the one who's right. Coulter excels at being a bully, which is why you see her on TV a lot. It's also the key to her success as an author, not to mention why journalists like David Carr bother writing about her.
And that says something about the Fourth Estate. But it doesn't say something, anything about the rest of us.
That may be the answer you're looking for, Dave.
XM Radio's Lee Abrams Wants Credit For The Good, Softpedals The Bad
Programming Guru Who Has Helped Make Satellite Radio Great Also Among The Reasons Terrestrial Radio Sucks
First things first: Give Lee Abrams a lot of credit for recognizing back in the early 70s that FM radio was poised to take over in a big way and was the architect of the AOR format that so many stations rode to success for two decades or more.
The problem is, he created a monster that he prefers to distance himself from now that he is the brains behind the music programming at XM Radio, which much more often than not is brilliant, inspired and realizing the possibilities of radio in a way that a commercial station could never even hope to dream about.
In an interview with FMQB, Abrams recalled how he bridged the gap between what he called "vulnerable Top 40 listeners" and the few underground/progressive stations that were but a blip at a time when you still had to pay extra to get a radio with FM.
They liked about every fifth record. When the Stones or Cream would come on they liked it. But they didn’t care for the Neil Diamond and Bobby Goldsboro records in between. However, that was a little easier for them to handle than some of the progressive stations where, if it was raining you’d hear hours of rain songs, or if the night guy didn’t like Jethro Tull he didn’t play any Jethro Tull. There wasn’t a lot of discipline in those stations.
http://www.fmqb.com//article.asp?id=226605
Fair enough. But in creating the Album Rock/Superstars format that soon ruled the roost at hundreds of stations, Abrams effectively parroted the rigid formatting of a Top 40 station albeit with a somewhat larger playlist. Hey, radio's a business first and foremost, and AOR struck a crucial balance.
The problem: Abrams's success begot a host of imitators, all trying to outdo the master. That led to program directors besieged by focus groups, and music and audience research to the point where the wannabes were afraid to take chances on new music. Deejays were spanked if they said something else than what was on their liner cards.
Abrams succeeded big-time from an Arbitron and revenue standpoint, and that was all that really mattered, especially as corporate ownership became the norm at radio stations and mind-numbing predictability by stations playing it safe led to a slew of disenfranchised music fans, particularly those in the 25-44 demographic who remembered the good old days.
Abrams told FMQB he provided a mix of depth and discipline, though you could certainly argue the former. Yeah, it was more than Top 40 but if you spent anytime listening to college radio or the progressive stations still out there, AOR stations often provided the sizzle but a very pallid steak.
Now he's more than redeemed himself at XM, where he has a canvas of dozens of music channels to work with. By catering to many narrow audience he can please just about anyone. He just doesn't have to do it at the same time.
It's a good thing he doesn't have to give in to temptation or the pressures rained down upon programmers from Arbitron. Otherwise we'd be right back where we started. For the stations devoted to just playing the hits also happen to be the most popular music channels on XM.
P.S. If you want to keep track of what's on the mind of XM's programming head honcho, Abrams is one of the quadrillions of us out there with a blog at http://leeabrams.blogspot.com.
First things first: Give Lee Abrams a lot of credit for recognizing back in the early 70s that FM radio was poised to take over in a big way and was the architect of the AOR format that so many stations rode to success for two decades or more.
The problem is, he created a monster that he prefers to distance himself from now that he is the brains behind the music programming at XM Radio, which much more often than not is brilliant, inspired and realizing the possibilities of radio in a way that a commercial station could never even hope to dream about.
In an interview with FMQB, Abrams recalled how he bridged the gap between what he called "vulnerable Top 40 listeners" and the few underground/progressive stations that were but a blip at a time when you still had to pay extra to get a radio with FM.
They liked about every fifth record. When the Stones or Cream would come on they liked it. But they didn’t care for the Neil Diamond and Bobby Goldsboro records in between. However, that was a little easier for them to handle than some of the progressive stations where, if it was raining you’d hear hours of rain songs, or if the night guy didn’t like Jethro Tull he didn’t play any Jethro Tull. There wasn’t a lot of discipline in those stations.
http://www.fmqb.com//article.asp?id=226605
Fair enough. But in creating the Album Rock/Superstars format that soon ruled the roost at hundreds of stations, Abrams effectively parroted the rigid formatting of a Top 40 station albeit with a somewhat larger playlist. Hey, radio's a business first and foremost, and AOR struck a crucial balance.
The problem: Abrams's success begot a host of imitators, all trying to outdo the master. That led to program directors besieged by focus groups, and music and audience research to the point where the wannabes were afraid to take chances on new music. Deejays were spanked if they said something else than what was on their liner cards.
Abrams succeeded big-time from an Arbitron and revenue standpoint, and that was all that really mattered, especially as corporate ownership became the norm at radio stations and mind-numbing predictability by stations playing it safe led to a slew of disenfranchised music fans, particularly those in the 25-44 demographic who remembered the good old days.
Abrams told FMQB he provided a mix of depth and discipline, though you could certainly argue the former. Yeah, it was more than Top 40 but if you spent anytime listening to college radio or the progressive stations still out there, AOR stations often provided the sizzle but a very pallid steak.
Now he's more than redeemed himself at XM, where he has a canvas of dozens of music channels to work with. By catering to many narrow audience he can please just about anyone. He just doesn't have to do it at the same time.
It's a good thing he doesn't have to give in to temptation or the pressures rained down upon programmers from Arbitron. Otherwise we'd be right back where we started. For the stations devoted to just playing the hits also happen to be the most popular music channels on XM.
P.S. If you want to keep track of what's on the mind of XM's programming head honcho, Abrams is one of the quadrillions of us out there with a blog at http://leeabrams.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
The Donald Picks The Right Apprentice, Sort Of
In the end, you knew that unless Sean Yazbeck screwed up royally on his final task, Donald Trump would name him the winner of season 5 of "The Apprentice," the best edition of the show since its rookie edition.
Yazbeck had the experience, good looks, really cute girlfriend and engaging British accent, to, um, trump Lee Bienstock, very capable, extremely determined, but still baby-faced at 22.
Nonetheless, Trump was very impressed by both of them. "I'd like to hire both of you, but I can't."
Well, yes and no.
Yes, there's only supposed to be one Apprentice. But that choice had been unequivocal until last season, when Randall Pinkett wowed the Donald, though he was also smitten with Rebecca Jarvis.
Pinkett got hired, but Trump didn't want to say goodbye to Rebecca just yet. So, he asked, Randall, if he was in Trump's shoes, would he also hire Rebecca. To which he replied, to the scorn of many:
“Mr. Trump, I firmly believe that this is ‘The Apprentice,’ that there is one and only one apprentice, and if you’re going to hire someone tonight, it should be one. It’s not ‘The Apprenti,’ it’s ‘The Apprentice.’”
Not wanting to risk sending Sean into a hissy fit so soon after his triumph, not to mention a buzzkill among the audience in the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, Trump decided not to lose control of his show anymore and bade Lee farewell the old-fashioned way.
What remains to be seen is whether Lee will have a future with Trump after all. During the extended closing sequence -- spurred by Trump saying goodnight before the show really had to end -- there were extended shots of people on stage, and at one point it looked like The Donald was telling The Lee something like "I'll talk to ya," indicating there might be something in the offing.
Or not.
And, yes, Sean really did say he was going to marry Tammy. Great catch and mazel tov. Maybe you could find out where they'll be registered at www.seanyazbeck.com, assuming you can navigate past the first page. So far, I can't.
ADDED AT 8:48 p.m. :
If you want to hear more from Lee, who is being very much the good sport, at least in public, check out:
http://www.canonist.com/?p=884
Thanks to Steve Weiss for sharing this.
Yazbeck had the experience, good looks, really cute girlfriend and engaging British accent, to, um, trump Lee Bienstock, very capable, extremely determined, but still baby-faced at 22.
Nonetheless, Trump was very impressed by both of them. "I'd like to hire both of you, but I can't."
Well, yes and no.
Yes, there's only supposed to be one Apprentice. But that choice had been unequivocal until last season, when Randall Pinkett wowed the Donald, though he was also smitten with Rebecca Jarvis.
Pinkett got hired, but Trump didn't want to say goodbye to Rebecca just yet. So, he asked, Randall, if he was in Trump's shoes, would he also hire Rebecca. To which he replied, to the scorn of many:
“Mr. Trump, I firmly believe that this is ‘The Apprentice,’ that there is one and only one apprentice, and if you’re going to hire someone tonight, it should be one. It’s not ‘The Apprenti,’ it’s ‘The Apprentice.’”
Not wanting to risk sending Sean into a hissy fit so soon after his triumph, not to mention a buzzkill among the audience in the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, Trump decided not to lose control of his show anymore and bade Lee farewell the old-fashioned way.
What remains to be seen is whether Lee will have a future with Trump after all. During the extended closing sequence -- spurred by Trump saying goodnight before the show really had to end -- there were extended shots of people on stage, and at one point it looked like The Donald was telling The Lee something like "I'll talk to ya," indicating there might be something in the offing.
Or not.
And, yes, Sean really did say he was going to marry Tammy. Great catch and mazel tov. Maybe you could find out where they'll be registered at www.seanyazbeck.com, assuming you can navigate past the first page. So far, I can't.
ADDED AT 8:48 p.m. :
If you want to hear more from Lee, who is being very much the good sport, at least in public, check out:
http://www.canonist.com/?p=884
Thanks to Steve Weiss for sharing this.
As Kimberly Dozier Keeps Getting Better, The News From Iraq Keeps Getting Worse
Context and Perspective from the Killing Fields
Of course, it's great to hear that Kimberly Dozier continues on the slow but steady road to recovery from the bomb blast that severely wounded her and killed her camera man and sound man.
As a former colleague of Kimberly's, you shudder when you hear her name used in such grave terms. It especially rattled friends over at my old stomping grounds at CBS News Radio, as she had just been in New York recently, and she looked as good as ever. You never heard "shrapnel" and "Dozier" used in the same sentence until last week.
When her Dad told CBS last week that Kimberly's "sharp as a tack," the sigh of relief on West 57th St. was palpable.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/30/iraq/main1664012.shtml
But the story continues, and it's a grim reminder of just what Kimberly and her journalistic brethren are up against.
Nearly 1,400 civilians were killed in May -- many of them execution style -- and that number doesn't include those killed by bombs.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/06/iraq.main/index.html
Which only underscores how being an intrepid journalist in Iraq is hazardous to your health. And Kimberly, at the time of the attack, wasn't even covering the car bomb du jour, or the other selections on the bad news menu that the military flacks rail against.
She was serving as a 21st-century Ernie Pyle, showing how Memorial Day back home was just another dangerous tour of duty outside the Green Zone for a typical G.I.
The fact that she was even embedded is a remarkable feat nowadays. Reporters, to the extent that they feel safe, often feel more protected going out with the military. But those arrangements nowadays can take weeks.
If you ever thought about the glamour and excitement in the life of a war correspondent, Iraq has done a great job to disabuse you of those notions. It certainly has for those working there, who have covered many a conflict.
Along those lines, must reading is a recent New York magazine profile by Jennifer Senior about Iraq-based correspondents, and the toll their assignment has taken on them, written before the Dozier attack.
You admire what they do at the same time you're glad you're as far away from that mess as possible. It's the kind of story that at once is emblematic of why people want in to the news business, but it's also the kind that might send you running and screaming from a laptop once you've realized what you've gotten yourself into.
http://www.nymetro.com/news/media/17014/index.html
Of course, it's great to hear that Kimberly Dozier continues on the slow but steady road to recovery from the bomb blast that severely wounded her and killed her camera man and sound man.
As a former colleague of Kimberly's, you shudder when you hear her name used in such grave terms. It especially rattled friends over at my old stomping grounds at CBS News Radio, as she had just been in New York recently, and she looked as good as ever. You never heard "shrapnel" and "Dozier" used in the same sentence until last week.
When her Dad told CBS last week that Kimberly's "sharp as a tack," the sigh of relief on West 57th St. was palpable.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/30/iraq/main1664012.shtml
But the story continues, and it's a grim reminder of just what Kimberly and her journalistic brethren are up against.
Nearly 1,400 civilians were killed in May -- many of them execution style -- and that number doesn't include those killed by bombs.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/06/iraq.main/index.html
Which only underscores how being an intrepid journalist in Iraq is hazardous to your health. And Kimberly, at the time of the attack, wasn't even covering the car bomb du jour, or the other selections on the bad news menu that the military flacks rail against.
She was serving as a 21st-century Ernie Pyle, showing how Memorial Day back home was just another dangerous tour of duty outside the Green Zone for a typical G.I.
The fact that she was even embedded is a remarkable feat nowadays. Reporters, to the extent that they feel safe, often feel more protected going out with the military. But those arrangements nowadays can take weeks.
If you ever thought about the glamour and excitement in the life of a war correspondent, Iraq has done a great job to disabuse you of those notions. It certainly has for those working there, who have covered many a conflict.
Along those lines, must reading is a recent New York magazine profile by Jennifer Senior about Iraq-based correspondents, and the toll their assignment has taken on them, written before the Dozier attack.
You admire what they do at the same time you're glad you're as far away from that mess as possible. It's the kind of story that at once is emblematic of why people want in to the news business, but it's also the kind that might send you running and screaming from a laptop once you've realized what you've gotten yourself into.
http://www.nymetro.com/news/media/17014/index.html
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Is That Your Severed Penis, Or Are You Just Glad To See Me?
UPDATED 9/18/06
Lorena Bobbitt, Call Your Office
From the Asian desk, this ditty:
(AP) KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia A man who apparently severed his penis in an attempt to convince his wife that he was faithful to her was recovering after surgery to reattach the organ at a northern Malaysian hospital, a news report said Tuesday.The 41-year-old man, who was not identified, got into an argument last Friday with his wife, who found a text message on his mobile phone from another woman. The man was heard by his son shouting that he wanted to prove he was not having an affair, the New Straits Times reported.The assertion was followed by loud screams and the man emerged from his room bleeding profusely, his 14-year-old son quoted as saying. His wife rushed him to hospital.
AND IN OTHER PENIS NEWS.....
Artificial Foreskin for Circumcised Men - The Enhanced 'SenSlip' Mk 2 is Launched
SALISBURY, England, May 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Viafin-Atlas is proud to announce the launch of the Enhanced "SenSlip" Mk 2 Artificial Foreskin which has been developed for circumcised men who lack sensitivity in their penis. "The 'SenSlip' is a simple, natural, and unique therapeutic penis cover which to date has helped many men and their partners with their sex lives," said James Williams, CEO of Viafin-Atlas. "The worldwide success of the original 'SenSlip' has allowed conclusive and positive feedback to be used in the development for the enhanced lightweight version which is more effective and easier to apply and wear."
The original patented "SenSlip" launched in 2005 by Viafin-Atlas is the first of its kind in the world and was developed in response to recent medical research. "The 'SenSlip' undergarment consists of fine double-skinned and protective layers produced from high-grade natural latex and viscose rayon fibers. Many men lose penile sensitivity over time, but when the 'SenSlip' is worn daily, it naturally enables the head of the penis to de-keratinize and regain the normal sensitivity which is so often lost through circumcision and age," said Williams.
Trial packs containing three of the enhanced "SenSlip" products can be purchased from http://www.viafin-atlas.com/. An animated video and images can be seen at http://www.senslip.com/.
And in yet more manstick news, the folks at The Wow Report offer up this sad tale of a Chinese penis suffering from a bad case of rejection.
Just try not to squirm.
Lorena Bobbitt, Call Your Office
From the Asian desk, this ditty:
(AP) KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia A man who apparently severed his penis in an attempt to convince his wife that he was faithful to her was recovering after surgery to reattach the organ at a northern Malaysian hospital, a news report said Tuesday.The 41-year-old man, who was not identified, got into an argument last Friday with his wife, who found a text message on his mobile phone from another woman. The man was heard by his son shouting that he wanted to prove he was not having an affair, the New Straits Times reported.The assertion was followed by loud screams and the man emerged from his room bleeding profusely, his 14-year-old son quoted as saying. His wife rushed him to hospital.
AND IN OTHER PENIS NEWS.....
Artificial Foreskin for Circumcised Men - The Enhanced 'SenSlip' Mk 2 is Launched
SALISBURY, England, May 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Viafin-Atlas is proud to announce the launch of the Enhanced "SenSlip" Mk 2 Artificial Foreskin which has been developed for circumcised men who lack sensitivity in their penis. "The 'SenSlip' is a simple, natural, and unique therapeutic penis cover which to date has helped many men and their partners with their sex lives," said James Williams, CEO of Viafin-Atlas. "The worldwide success of the original 'SenSlip' has allowed conclusive and positive feedback to be used in the development for the enhanced lightweight version which is more effective and easier to apply and wear."
The original patented "SenSlip" launched in 2005 by Viafin-Atlas is the first of its kind in the world and was developed in response to recent medical research. "The 'SenSlip' undergarment consists of fine double-skinned and protective layers produced from high-grade natural latex and viscose rayon fibers. Many men lose penile sensitivity over time, but when the 'SenSlip' is worn daily, it naturally enables the head of the penis to de-keratinize and regain the normal sensitivity which is so often lost through circumcision and age," said Williams.
Trial packs containing three of the enhanced "SenSlip" products can be purchased from http://www.viafin-atlas.com/. An animated video and images can be seen at http://www.senslip.com/.
And in yet more manstick news, the folks at The Wow Report offer up this sad tale of a Chinese penis suffering from a bad case of rejection.
Just try not to squirm.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
When Being Fearless Isn't Enough: Admiration and Anxiety Over Kimberly Dozier
If you've never been a combat journalist -- and I haven't -- you often wonder if you'd have what it takes to not only cover a conflict but to do what's necessary to ensure you don't become a casualty.
If you venture beyond the hotel bar, or the military press briefing room, do you become fearless because you have to? Do you remember that you're a journalist, not a soldier? Do you never forget that it's called a war zone for a reason?
CBS' Kimberly Dozier and her crew had years of experience answering those questions correctly. And still it wasn't enough to prevent an IED from killing cameraman Paul Douglas and sound man James Brolan, while Dozier was left seriously wounded.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/30/iraq/main1664012.shtml
During my time at CBS Radio I was on the receiving end of many a Dozier dispatch from one hotspot or another. It could have been Kosovo or Macedonia, some godforsaken hole in the dead of the Afghanistan winter or the hot spot du jour in the Middle East.
Suffice to say, she's a field reporter first, a journalistic grunt -- in the best sense of the term -- often working in what could be generously called arduous conditions, but considered that a small price to pay for being our eyes and ears as history unfolds.
And few have understood, appreciated that role better and relished it even more.
I especially remember one chilling dispatch from Ramallah where a mortar shell got a little too close for comfort. It startled but didn't shake her and it made for gripping radio, one reason she's won three Gracie awards from American Women in Radio and Television.
Even in such moments you were concerned but not afraid for her. Her dedication was never supplanted by recklessness. The same could be said for Monday in Baghdad. But this time, that wasn't enough.
As she begins what will be an extended recovery, save a good thought for Kimberly. And two more for the families of her fallen comrades.
If you venture beyond the hotel bar, or the military press briefing room, do you become fearless because you have to? Do you remember that you're a journalist, not a soldier? Do you never forget that it's called a war zone for a reason?
CBS' Kimberly Dozier and her crew had years of experience answering those questions correctly. And still it wasn't enough to prevent an IED from killing cameraman Paul Douglas and sound man James Brolan, while Dozier was left seriously wounded.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/30/iraq/main1664012.shtml
During my time at CBS Radio I was on the receiving end of many a Dozier dispatch from one hotspot or another. It could have been Kosovo or Macedonia, some godforsaken hole in the dead of the Afghanistan winter or the hot spot du jour in the Middle East.
Suffice to say, she's a field reporter first, a journalistic grunt -- in the best sense of the term -- often working in what could be generously called arduous conditions, but considered that a small price to pay for being our eyes and ears as history unfolds.
And few have understood, appreciated that role better and relished it even more.
I especially remember one chilling dispatch from Ramallah where a mortar shell got a little too close for comfort. It startled but didn't shake her and it made for gripping radio, one reason she's won three Gracie awards from American Women in Radio and Television.
Even in such moments you were concerned but not afraid for her. Her dedication was never supplanted by recklessness. The same could be said for Monday in Baghdad. But this time, that wasn't enough.
As she begins what will be an extended recovery, save a good thought for Kimberly. And two more for the families of her fallen comrades.
Monday, May 22, 2006
They Surgically Repair Horses, Don't They?
Trying To Understand Our Emotions While Thinking Good Thoughts About Barbaro
As we wait to find out whether Barbaro, the confident, even cocky winner of the Kentucky Derby will survive the surgery following his gut-churning breakdown in the Preakness, it's time to come to grips with what millions watching that sad moment felt on Saturday.
It doesn't matter whether you're an inveterate horse player, who someone who just tunes in for the Triple Crown races to watch a spectacle, maybe even history in the making.
What you don't expect is to see a majestic athlete get injured -- perhaps mortally so -- while you're watching -- as it valiantly tries to understand what happened and why it can't do what it's trained to do, namely run faster than anybody else.
Which is why your emotions grip you so, why you cry out, or just plain cry, watching a frightened colt battle the pain as his jockey dismounts and tries to keep him calm. You see the shots of the trainer racing to the track, the horse's owners dressed in their finest breaking down into tears, and not because a big payday has gone up in smoke.
Injuries are part of sports. But rarely are the consequences of those injuries so immediately apparent. With rare exception -- Joe Theismann, Daryl Stingley, e.g. -- the athlete is helped off the field or at least carted away to a hospital. The crowd politely applauds his grit and everyone moves on.
But when you see a horse ambulance scream across the track, you only fear the worst, and for good reason. There's a very fine line between surgery and euthanasia with injured thoroughbreds, so magnificent, yet so vulnerable, so gallant in their prime, yet so irretrievably fragile.
We know all this, but still we pray or mourn in a way that would be alien in any other sport. But why? There's a nice piece that tries to answer that question in The New York Times today by Jane Schwartz, who wrote another book about Ruffian, a tragic filly who broke down in a match race and later had to be destroyed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/22/sports/othersports/22ruffian.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
"When we care about someone, or some animal, our first instinct is to reject the idea of death. Most people want to leave open at least a small window of opportunity for hope," Schwartz writes. "Perhaps the real miracle — the one that matters to all of us, whether we know it or not — is that so many of us are still capable of caring so much. "
Another answer might be found in what may be the most outstanding article ever written about thoroughbred by William Nack, who spent much of his sportswriting career in and around a track. Nack, like many of us, fell in love with Secretariat. But unlike any of us, he got to know the horse and those who cared about him the most like no other. Which made his piece on the Triple Crown-winner's last moments in 1989 a heart-rending masterpiece.
I phoned Annette Covault, an old friend who is the mare booker at Claiborne, and she was crying when she read the message: "Secretariat was euthanized at 11:45 a.m. today to prevent further suffering from an incurable condition. . . ."
The last time I remember really crying was on St. Valentine's Day 1982, when my wife called to tell me that my father had died. At the moment she called, I was sitting in a purple room in Caesars Palace, in Las Vegas, waiting for an interview with the heavyweight champion, Larry Holmes. Now here I was, in a different hotel room in a different town, suddenly feeling like a very old and tired man of 48, leaning with my back against a wall and sobbing for a long time with my face in my hands.
http://www.smythe.nbcc.nb.ca/class97/fanjoy/pure%20heart
Consider his books "Secretariat: The Making of A Champion" and a collection of his writing, "My Turf: Horses, Boxers, Blood Money, and the Sporting Life" -- which includes that unforgettable piece -- must reading.
As we wait to find out whether Barbaro, the confident, even cocky winner of the Kentucky Derby will survive the surgery following his gut-churning breakdown in the Preakness, it's time to come to grips with what millions watching that sad moment felt on Saturday.
It doesn't matter whether you're an inveterate horse player, who someone who just tunes in for the Triple Crown races to watch a spectacle, maybe even history in the making.
What you don't expect is to see a majestic athlete get injured -- perhaps mortally so -- while you're watching -- as it valiantly tries to understand what happened and why it can't do what it's trained to do, namely run faster than anybody else.
Which is why your emotions grip you so, why you cry out, or just plain cry, watching a frightened colt battle the pain as his jockey dismounts and tries to keep him calm. You see the shots of the trainer racing to the track, the horse's owners dressed in their finest breaking down into tears, and not because a big payday has gone up in smoke.
Injuries are part of sports. But rarely are the consequences of those injuries so immediately apparent. With rare exception -- Joe Theismann, Daryl Stingley, e.g. -- the athlete is helped off the field or at least carted away to a hospital. The crowd politely applauds his grit and everyone moves on.
But when you see a horse ambulance scream across the track, you only fear the worst, and for good reason. There's a very fine line between surgery and euthanasia with injured thoroughbreds, so magnificent, yet so vulnerable, so gallant in their prime, yet so irretrievably fragile.
We know all this, but still we pray or mourn in a way that would be alien in any other sport. But why? There's a nice piece that tries to answer that question in The New York Times today by Jane Schwartz, who wrote another book about Ruffian, a tragic filly who broke down in a match race and later had to be destroyed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/22/sports/othersports/22ruffian.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
"When we care about someone, or some animal, our first instinct is to reject the idea of death. Most people want to leave open at least a small window of opportunity for hope," Schwartz writes. "Perhaps the real miracle — the one that matters to all of us, whether we know it or not — is that so many of us are still capable of caring so much. "
Another answer might be found in what may be the most outstanding article ever written about thoroughbred by William Nack, who spent much of his sportswriting career in and around a track. Nack, like many of us, fell in love with Secretariat. But unlike any of us, he got to know the horse and those who cared about him the most like no other. Which made his piece on the Triple Crown-winner's last moments in 1989 a heart-rending masterpiece.
I phoned Annette Covault, an old friend who is the mare booker at Claiborne, and she was crying when she read the message: "Secretariat was euthanized at 11:45 a.m. today to prevent further suffering from an incurable condition. . . ."
The last time I remember really crying was on St. Valentine's Day 1982, when my wife called to tell me that my father had died. At the moment she called, I was sitting in a purple room in Caesars Palace, in Las Vegas, waiting for an interview with the heavyweight champion, Larry Holmes. Now here I was, in a different hotel room in a different town, suddenly feeling like a very old and tired man of 48, leaning with my back against a wall and sobbing for a long time with my face in my hands.
http://www.smythe.nbcc.nb.ca/class97/fanjoy/pure%20heart
Consider his books "Secretariat: The Making of A Champion" and a collection of his writing, "My Turf: Horses, Boxers, Blood Money, and the Sporting Life" -- which includes that unforgettable piece -- must reading.
Good Night And Good Luck, Mike Wallace
Still You'd Think the Grand Old Man of "60 Minutes" Could Have Come Up With a Better Sign-Off
The "60 Minutes" crew offered up a nifty valentine last night to Mike Wallace, who is leaving ship where he's been the chief cook and bottle washer since the show got off to a quiet, innocuous start in 1968.
All of his long-time colleagues, Bradley, Kroft, Stahl and sparring partner/friend Safer got the chance to interview Wallace, who was at once chastened and relieved when Safer asked him if he ever tried to kill himself.
Wallace answered in the affirmative, without reflection or tears. In fact, the only time he came close to being emotional about anything besides his work was when Safer asked about the death of one of his sons. But he moved on. After all, Barbara Walters wasn't in the room.
Wallace got the last word after Andy Rooney told us that "60 Minutes" wasn't going to be as good anymore now that Wallace was leaving, which I'm sure warmed the heart of Executive Producer Jeff Fager.
But as Wallace closed out his valedictory, he decided to go with a sawhorse, rather than his own unique goosebump moment.
"As for the last word, I cannot improve on those spoken for many years by a true legend who preceded me at CBS News. He would say simply, 'good night and good luck.'"
Well, I guess, it's better than "Courage."
The "60 Minutes" crew offered up a nifty valentine last night to Mike Wallace, who is leaving ship where he's been the chief cook and bottle washer since the show got off to a quiet, innocuous start in 1968.
All of his long-time colleagues, Bradley, Kroft, Stahl and sparring partner/friend Safer got the chance to interview Wallace, who was at once chastened and relieved when Safer asked him if he ever tried to kill himself.
Wallace answered in the affirmative, without reflection or tears. In fact, the only time he came close to being emotional about anything besides his work was when Safer asked about the death of one of his sons. But he moved on. After all, Barbara Walters wasn't in the room.
Wallace got the last word after Andy Rooney told us that "60 Minutes" wasn't going to be as good anymore now that Wallace was leaving, which I'm sure warmed the heart of Executive Producer Jeff Fager.
But as Wallace closed out his valedictory, he decided to go with a sawhorse, rather than his own unique goosebump moment.
"As for the last word, I cannot improve on those spoken for many years by a true legend who preceded me at CBS News. He would say simply, 'good night and good luck.'"
Well, I guess, it's better than "Courage."
Friday, May 12, 2006
A Rare Bit of Good News At The L.A. Times
Most staff appointments at newspapers are little noticed, although that may be changing nowadays as many newsrooms have either frozen staffing levels or trimmed bodies in recent years.
Among the latter has been the Los Angeles Times, still mighty and putting out a quality product, even though it continues to bleed circulation (about 852,000, down about 5.4 percent from a year ago).
The sports section has not been immune to cutbacks, with the result that fewer local college teams get coverage, there's less agate in the back pages and reporters don't travel quite like they used to.
So, it should raise more than a few heads when newish sports editor Randy Harvey names a three-man team to do investigations and enterprise reporting in the section.
Smart move. If the Times, or any newspaper, is to thrive in today's cutthroat media environment, it needs to provide content you can't get anywhere else. And that starts with old-fashioned, shoe-leather investigations.
Game coverage is, of course, vital. But it's no longer a reason to pay for a paper. Enterprise projects are. That the beancounters at Tribune Co. let this go through -- assuming they knew about it -- is quite a feat.
The key will be writing these pieces in such a way that they impress more than just Pulitzer judges. Brevity has never been the soul of wit at the Times. Provide the meat. Just don't forget to make it tasty.
Read the memo on the appointments at: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2006/05/muscling_up_in_sports.html
Among the latter has been the Los Angeles Times, still mighty and putting out a quality product, even though it continues to bleed circulation (about 852,000, down about 5.4 percent from a year ago).
The sports section has not been immune to cutbacks, with the result that fewer local college teams get coverage, there's less agate in the back pages and reporters don't travel quite like they used to.
So, it should raise more than a few heads when newish sports editor Randy Harvey names a three-man team to do investigations and enterprise reporting in the section.
Smart move. If the Times, or any newspaper, is to thrive in today's cutthroat media environment, it needs to provide content you can't get anywhere else. And that starts with old-fashioned, shoe-leather investigations.
Game coverage is, of course, vital. But it's no longer a reason to pay for a paper. Enterprise projects are. That the beancounters at Tribune Co. let this go through -- assuming they knew about it -- is quite a feat.
The key will be writing these pieces in such a way that they impress more than just Pulitzer judges. Brevity has never been the soul of wit at the Times. Provide the meat. Just don't forget to make it tasty.
Read the memo on the appointments at: http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2006/05/muscling_up_in_sports.html
Unearthing A Gem In The N.Y. Times Metro Section
Creative Mob Hit Provides Inspiration for Bill Rashbaum Article
The Mafia may not be what it once was -- and who of us are ? -- but when the time is right they still know how to TCB old-style.
But eventually you feel like you've read about one whack, and you read about them all. Which presents a challenge for crime and court reporters to liven things up.
Which is what makes William Rashbaum's piece in the N.Y. Times a winner, if for no other reason the third paragraph:
The charges reveal another interesting aspect to the case: The mob associate and former marine who prosecutors say was paid $8,000 by a Bonanno crime family soldier to carry out the hit is black. And one of his accomplices disposing of the body that day is Hispanic. Both are something of a rarity in the Mafia, not an enterprise known for its commitment to diversity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/nyregion/12mob.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
What could have been a little throwaway line is instead a sly combination of wit and matter-of-fact reportage, no doubt inspired by this Gang Who Couldn't Kill Straight.
If new metro editor Joe Sexton's behind allowing such creativity onto his pages, all we can say is more of the same. Much more.
The Mafia may not be what it once was -- and who of us are ? -- but when the time is right they still know how to TCB old-style.
But eventually you feel like you've read about one whack, and you read about them all. Which presents a challenge for crime and court reporters to liven things up.
Which is what makes William Rashbaum's piece in the N.Y. Times a winner, if for no other reason the third paragraph:
The charges reveal another interesting aspect to the case: The mob associate and former marine who prosecutors say was paid $8,000 by a Bonanno crime family soldier to carry out the hit is black. And one of his accomplices disposing of the body that day is Hispanic. Both are something of a rarity in the Mafia, not an enterprise known for its commitment to diversity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/12/nyregion/12mob.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
What could have been a little throwaway line is instead a sly combination of wit and matter-of-fact reportage, no doubt inspired by this Gang Who Couldn't Kill Straight.
If new metro editor Joe Sexton's behind allowing such creativity onto his pages, all we can say is more of the same. Much more.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
Nothing Like A Bad Show To Make A Headline Writer's Day
Universal Pans for "Tarzan" on Broadway Prompt Newsroom Knife Sharpening
Seldom was heard a non-discouraging word about Disney's musical version of "Tarzan," the Phil Collins musical that opened last night.
Tarzan may be king of the jungle, but judging by last night's notices he won't be King of Broadway anytime soon.
Sometimes, it's enough to read the headlines to see whether it's worth plunking down $110 for an orchestra seat.
The New York Post sums it up thus: "Bungle In The Jungle"
The UK's Daily Telegraph opines: "Tarzan swings, the songs don't," while the Sydney Morning Herald, in a roundup of reviews, notes "Word on the vine is that Tarzan's a stinker."
Best: the Daily News proclaiming on top of Howard Kissel's review: "Me critic, you lame!" Which, judging by the pans spread out across the papers today, about says it all.
Pedophilia In The Name of Ratings: N.Y. Shock Jock Star Finds Out Hard Way He Crossed Over The Line
Clear Channel On the Hook for a Big Case of Whoop-Ass From the FCC, Not to Mention New York's Asian Community
On morning radio, there's a distinction between being entertaining and merely being dumb. Admittedly, it's often a hazy distinction, but it's the difference between a shock jock being fawned over by management and given his walking papers.
The latter category is where we find Troi Torain, a/k/a Star, the, ahem, star of the morning show at hip-hop station Power 105.1 in New York, who has gained most of his notoriety for trash-talking other jocks, especially the ones at archrival Hot 97, his former employer.
As the Daily News reports:
Torain offered listeners $500 to tell him where the daughter of nemesis DJ Envy, of Hot 97, went to school.
"Yes, I disrespect your seed," Torain ranted. "If you didn't hear me, I said I would like to do an R. Kelly on your seed. On your little baby girl."
Torain, 42, described in graphic detail what he meant by the reference to the R&B singer Kelly, who allegedly committed an unnatural act on an underage girl, a stunt captured on a widely circulated video.
http://www.nydailynews.com/05-11-2006/news/gossip/story/416656p-352005c.html
Oh, yeah. The daughter in question is all of four.
And he wasn't done yet. He called DJ Envy's half-Asian wife Gia a "slant-eyed whore," "lo mein eater" and a "gook," which prompted City Councilman John Liu to proclaim in a news conference that Star should be "terminated from the face of this Earth."
Good thing for Star, then, that Liu represents Queens, not some district in Tehran.
Not that two wrongs make a right, but DJ Envy is hardly a choir boy, as the New York Post reminds us. Last year, he and his radio partner Miss Jones were suspended for two weeks without pay for a "We Are The World" tsunami parody that mocked the victims and used Asian slurs. No doubt, that didn't earn him any brownie points at home, but it fell short of a call for a jihad by Councilman Liu.
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/65865.htm
What was somewhat amusing is the statement from Clear Channel that says "we sincerely apologize to those who may have been offended by his remarks."
May have been offended? Which implies there were those who weren't offended and undoubtedly there were many. Don't expect an apology, though, to that faction for taking their morning man off the air.
Go to http://www.musicradio77.com/wwwboard/messages/286155.html for a short clip of Star talking his way out of a job and hear what passes for radio nowadays.
And a Webmaster alert. This morning, if you go to the Power 105.1 Web site, Star and his partner Buc Wild are out there front and center on the home page albeit not on the list of djs.
http://www.power1051fm.com/main.html
Sometimes it's just so hard to say goodbye. So we'll say it. Goodbye, Star.
Monday, May 08, 2006
Chicken Little Need Not Apply At The Boston Herald
Patrick "Glass Is Half Full" Purcell Says Scrappy Tabloid Not Headed For Scrap Heap: Is He In Denial Or Does He Know Something We Don't?
The Boston Herald is the distant second newspaper in a two-newspaper town where circulation continues to hemorrhage.
But the sun will come up tomorrow, insists Patrick Purcell, the Herald's owner and publisher. This, despite the $225 million sale late last week of a chain of Boston-area weeklies and small dailies that Purcell owned.
That basically leaves Purcell with the Herald, which is losing money, a reason the suburban papers' suitors declined to take on their big-city brother.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/05/06/heralds_owner_to_sell_suburban_papers_deal_is_put_at_225m/However, However, before you cue the Titanic's dance band, Purcell was in the Herald today, as sanguine as you could ever hope a newspaper publisher to be nowadays.
"I believe no paper does a better job at finding and telling the stories of Boston. We’re going to keep doing it. This newspaper and what it does are my passion. You bet we’re alive - and kicking."
http://news.bostonherald.com/opinion/view.bg?articleid=138352&format=&page=2'
Rah, rah, Pat.
There's optimism. And then there's advertising and readers. The latter two are in precious short supply lately for the Herald and Boston Globe, which saw its circulation plummet 8.5 percent compared to last year.
Exactly where is Purcell's optimism founded? Good question, as Dan Kennedy notes in his MediaNation blog.
http://medianation.blogspot.com/2006/05/citizen-purcell.html
Say what you want about the Herald, and many politicians in Boston have said plenty. A two-paper town is shamefully a rarity today. So, you have to root for the Herald's survival, even if you're not sure if Purcell really knows how he's going to ensure that will happen.
The Boston Herald is the distant second newspaper in a two-newspaper town where circulation continues to hemorrhage.
But the sun will come up tomorrow, insists Patrick Purcell, the Herald's owner and publisher. This, despite the $225 million sale late last week of a chain of Boston-area weeklies and small dailies that Purcell owned.
That basically leaves Purcell with the Herald, which is losing money, a reason the suburban papers' suitors declined to take on their big-city brother.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/05/06/heralds_owner_to_sell_suburban_papers_deal_is_put_at_225m/However, However, before you cue the Titanic's dance band, Purcell was in the Herald today, as sanguine as you could ever hope a newspaper publisher to be nowadays.
"I believe no paper does a better job at finding and telling the stories of Boston. We’re going to keep doing it. This newspaper and what it does are my passion. You bet we’re alive - and kicking."
http://news.bostonherald.com/opinion/view.bg?articleid=138352&format=&page=2'
Rah, rah, Pat.
There's optimism. And then there's advertising and readers. The latter two are in precious short supply lately for the Herald and Boston Globe, which saw its circulation plummet 8.5 percent compared to last year.
Exactly where is Purcell's optimism founded? Good question, as Dan Kennedy notes in his MediaNation blog.
http://medianation.blogspot.com/2006/05/citizen-purcell.html
Say what you want about the Herald, and many politicians in Boston have said plenty. A two-paper town is shamefully a rarity today. So, you have to root for the Herald's survival, even if you're not sure if Purcell really knows how he's going to ensure that will happen.
Happy Anniversary, You're Fired
Nothing Magical for DJ Celebrating 20th Anniversary at Miami's Majic 102.7
Eric Brandon would have preferred a cake. Instead, he got a pink slip on his 20th anniversary at Majic 102.7, the oldies station in South Florida, where he did middays.
However, working 20 years in one place means you get paid a certain amount, which was apparently too much for the station. So, Brandon gets his walking papers, which is not a position that a 50-year-old DJ who worked most of his career in the same market wants to be in.
But that's radio biz, which in the era of mega-corporate owners, voice tracking and ever-changing formats is a cruel place to be.
Give Brandon credit for leaving on a high note, although he'd certainly be forgiven if that was not the case: "My sons were both raised on the radio and are now young men. It was a great experience and I'd do it all over again.''
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/14506360.htm
Let's hope, though, that the kids don't follow Dad into the family business.
Media Mostly Giving Free Pass to Patrick Kennedy
But There's Always An Exception, As The Boston Herald and Howie Carr (left) Will Be Quick To Remind You
Most of the MSM has let their audience do their eye-rolling for them in the latest embarrassment from Patrick Kennedy, Rhode Island's favorite drug-addicted, alcoholic, manic-depressive Congressman.
Kennedy last week blamed his passel of prescriptions for crashing his car in the wee hours in Washington and checked himself in -- again -- at the Mayo Clinic to cure him of his pill-popping, booze-swilling ways.
The Providence Journal, the most influential media outlet in Kennedy's home state, has closely covered the latest episode. Maybe too closely.
The editorial and op-ed pages have been free of any harsh assessments of Kennedy. Which may explain why he let them accompany him from a Friday news conference -- where he took no questions -- to the airport on his way to the Mayo Clinic, complete with a stop at his father's house, where he got a hug and "Love you" in full view of a reporter.
http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20060506_pat6.319aeb1.html
Of course, the ProJo will tell you there's no quid pro quo. But surely Kennedy knows how his hometown paper treats him. And surely it knows that he knows. It's good for scoop-garnering purposes, but not necessarily good journalism.
I suppose they will actually wait for him to be indicted on something before actually swinging for the fences, as they do with jailed ex-Mayor Buddy Cianci, who's angling to make a big comeback in public life.
But then there's the Boston Herald, which is firing on what cylinders it has left to skewer Kennedy, just like they've done to his dad all these years.
Political columnist Dave Wedge got to have it both ways -- covering the Kennedy contretemps as a reporter during the week, while unsheathing his machete for his Sunday column:
One aide to a high-level Washington official who encountered Kennedy a few months ago said the official was stunned by bizarre behavior on the congressman’s part.
Another source said Kennedy had been acting “zany” and “goofy” of late.
And then there was the barely legible accident report he filed after getting in a fender-bender in the parking lot of a Rhode Island pharmacy recently.
It’s pretty clear now why he was in such a rush.
http://news.bostonherald.com/localPolitics/view.bg?articleid=138271
Business columnist Brett Arends with a bare-knuckled, hilarious rendering of how Kennedy's pill-popping could explain the actions of other politicians, GOP and Democrat, though this being the Herald, mostly Democrat.
Doctors say Ambien addicts can talk, walk, and even drive while fast asleep. But that’s nothing. Kerry managed to sleepwalk through an entire presidential campaign. He spent months dazed, confused and disoriented on national TV.
http://business.bostonherald.com/businessNews/view.bg?articleid=138325&format=&page=2
But the man loving this the most is Herald columnist and radio host Howie Carr, who long ago dubbed Ted Kennedy "Fat Boy" and branded Patrick as "Patches." Suffice to say, it's been a good week to be Howie Carr and the hits just keep on coming 3-7 p.m. weekdays at www.wrko.com.
In listening to Carr's Friday podcast, there is one bit of good news for Patches. After the latest accident Carr says "I’m less inclined to believe he’s a member of a sexual minority than he once was."
Seems the bachelor 38-year-old Congressman was with a lady friend, he told the ProJo, when he suddenly got out of bed and said he had to go to Capitol Hill for a vote. The only problem: It was 2:45 a.m.
You can either scratch your head or let Carr do it instead for four hours at a time, fulminating about the kids-glove treatment he says Kennedy got from police, in contrast to how Cynthia McKinney was treated by Capitol cops when she tried to blast through a security checkpoint.
Raise a toast to the Kennedys, Howie. Just make it a Shirley Temple.
Thursday, May 04, 2006
AP's Reason For Firing Vermont Bureau Chief Christopher Graff Revealed
But Termination Letter and Subsequent Fallout Beg Question of Real Reason for Ouster
So, now we have a tiny peek into what led the Associated Press to give Christopher Graff, their Vermont chief who was one of the Green Mountain State's top journalists, an unceremonial boot from his job in March.
The tipping point was -- as was widely suspected -- Graff putting on the wire an op-ed by Sen. Patrick Leahy that promoted open access to information in conjunction with Sunshine Week.
http://www.chrisgraff.com/
Graff has to abide by his severance agreement, and isn't commenting beyond this letter, which the AP allowed him to release. And the wire service is using its "personnel matter" excuse to clam up.
What's left unexplained is how could running the Leahy column be a firable offense when a similar column from Leahy in conjunction with Sunshine Week ran on the wire last year with nary a complaint from Graff's overseers.
http://www.samessenger.com/graff.html
Journalists love to hold others accountable, but often shriek like a vampire confronted with the dawn's early light when asked to explain their own actions.
The AP's self-righteous stance in canning Graff while not giving a real reason for why a 27-year veteran of the wire is no longer worthy of their employ calls into account the very credibility it professes to cherish not only with its media members but those whose activities they cover.
Leahy, for one, is not taking this lightly. As he stated in Editor & Publisher:
Those of us in public life never agree with all the news coverage we receive. But within the two rough-and-tumble professions of public service and journalism, I have never heard anything but praise about Chris Graff for his professionalism and his evenhandedness, and he has earned that praise.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002462017
If Pat Leahy doesn't have a problem, then the AP should have no trouble following suit.
So, now we have a tiny peek into what led the Associated Press to give Christopher Graff, their Vermont chief who was one of the Green Mountain State's top journalists, an unceremonial boot from his job in March.
The tipping point was -- as was widely suspected -- Graff putting on the wire an op-ed by Sen. Patrick Leahy that promoted open access to information in conjunction with Sunshine Week.
http://www.chrisgraff.com/
Graff has to abide by his severance agreement, and isn't commenting beyond this letter, which the AP allowed him to release. And the wire service is using its "personnel matter" excuse to clam up.
What's left unexplained is how could running the Leahy column be a firable offense when a similar column from Leahy in conjunction with Sunshine Week ran on the wire last year with nary a complaint from Graff's overseers.
http://www.samessenger.com/graff.html
Journalists love to hold others accountable, but often shriek like a vampire confronted with the dawn's early light when asked to explain their own actions.
The AP's self-righteous stance in canning Graff while not giving a real reason for why a 27-year veteran of the wire is no longer worthy of their employ calls into account the very credibility it professes to cherish not only with its media members but those whose activities they cover.
Leahy, for one, is not taking this lightly. As he stated in Editor & Publisher:
Those of us in public life never agree with all the news coverage we receive. But within the two rough-and-tumble professions of public service and journalism, I have never heard anything but praise about Chris Graff for his professionalism and his evenhandedness, and he has earned that praise.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002462017
If Pat Leahy doesn't have a problem, then the AP should have no trouble following suit.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Shon Gone
Gables Goes From WCBS-TV To Points Unknown
Shon Gables is officially history at WCBS-TV/2, according to the New York Post.
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/67635.htm
That's what's called not-unexpected news in the news business, given that she was among the parade of anchors shuffled off the morning newscasts. So, while a station flack said Gables was offered other slots to remain an anchor, she chose to bolt instead.
Presumably, another anchor slot meant working weekends (Mary Calvi had moved to noon and 5 p.m.), which might not have seemed so appetizing, after being a major domo during the week albeit on a bottom-rated show.
Of course, doing weekends on Channel 2 has been akin, as of late, to having one foot out the door. Michael Pomeranz, after getting moved from mornings to weekends, ankled for a weeknight gig in the Twin Cities.
Then there's Todd McDermott, who did weekday shows before being exiled to the weekends. He left in 2004 and can now be seen on WUSA in Washington, with former Channel 2 sports anchor Brett Haber.
Honeymoon In San Jose For Singleton Could Be Short-Lived
As One Columnist Resorts to Butt-Kissing, Harder Reality Lays in Store
Now that Dean Singleton has locked up a good chunk of the Bay Area newspaper market with the purchase of the San Jose Mercury News and three other papers unwanted from the McClatchy purchase of Knight Ridder, the waiting game begins.
Specifically, to see whether it's the Singleton who resuscitated his hometown Denver Post by adding staff (though not as many as he promised), or the Singleton who buys a paper and then napalms the newsroom to cut costs.
The Mercury News shouldn't necessarily be expecting more staff cuts -- Knight Ridder did that quite nicely, thank you -- they and the other minions in Singleton's MediaNews empire have been put on notice that the status quo has got to go.
To wit, this passage buried in the N.Y. Times report about the purchase.
He said it was time to start giving consumers what they want, which was more entertainment news and 'less long series that we love to do but our readers hate to read.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/27/business/media/27paper.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Ouch.
Maybe Singleton is still smarting over the fact that the arch-rival Rocky Mountain News -- which the Denver Post has a joint operating agreement for business operations -- recently won two Pulitzers.
http://www.westword.com/Issues/2006-04-27/news/message_full.html
Even if he's right, and I'm not sure that he is, such pronouncements could signal a sea change in newsgathering at the Mercury News and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, another large KR paper being acquired.
Meantime, Singleton has an ally in Merc News columnist Mike Cassidy, who while he tells us he rooted for someone else besides Singleton to take over his beloved newspaper, he'll butt-kiss like there's no tomorrow now that Dean-O is signing his checks.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/14440660.htm
Now that Dean Singleton has locked up a good chunk of the Bay Area newspaper market with the purchase of the San Jose Mercury News and three other papers unwanted from the McClatchy purchase of Knight Ridder, the waiting game begins.
Specifically, to see whether it's the Singleton who resuscitated his hometown Denver Post by adding staff (though not as many as he promised), or the Singleton who buys a paper and then napalms the newsroom to cut costs.
The Mercury News shouldn't necessarily be expecting more staff cuts -- Knight Ridder did that quite nicely, thank you -- they and the other minions in Singleton's MediaNews empire have been put on notice that the status quo has got to go.
To wit, this passage buried in the N.Y. Times report about the purchase.
He said it was time to start giving consumers what they want, which was more entertainment news and 'less long series that we love to do but our readers hate to read.'
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/27/business/media/27paper.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Ouch.
Maybe Singleton is still smarting over the fact that the arch-rival Rocky Mountain News -- which the Denver Post has a joint operating agreement for business operations -- recently won two Pulitzers.
http://www.westword.com/Issues/2006-04-27/news/message_full.html
Even if he's right, and I'm not sure that he is, such pronouncements could signal a sea change in newsgathering at the Mercury News and the St. Paul Pioneer Press, another large KR paper being acquired.
Meantime, Singleton has an ally in Merc News columnist Mike Cassidy, who while he tells us he rooted for someone else besides Singleton to take over his beloved newspaper, he'll butt-kiss like there's no tomorrow now that Dean-O is signing his checks.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/14440660.htm
Monday, April 24, 2006
Following The Bouncing Puck In The New York Times Sports Department
Multi-Tasking For The Sake of Multi-Tasking?
OK, it's swell for the N.Y. Times to double-staff the Devils-Rangers series with two staff reporters. After all, this is a newspaper that had one writer during the season covering the sport, even though there are three teams in the metro area.
Jason Diamos was the Rangers beat reporter, while the Devils and Islanders were mostly relegated to wire coverage.
Which then raises the question of why Diamos isn't covering the hometown series. Instead, he's in Buffalo, writing about the Sabres in today's edition.
Instead, Lee Jenkins, currently flitting from sport to sport and acquitting himself rather nicely, and Jets writer Karen Crouse are covering the home teams.
I'm sure if you quizzed the Times brass, they'd point with pride to how versatile their reporters are, resulting in seamless coverage.
But if you assigned a reporter to cover a team for a whole season, it would stand to reason you'd want his insight, expertise and access at a time when interest of the team is heightened. If not, then there's no point to having a beat reporter.
Even more curious, Joe Lapointe, who once served as the Times' national hockey writer, at a time when such a position existed, was off covering the Yankees instead. Multi-tasking for the sake of multi-tasking doesn't necessarily serve the reader better.
OK, it's swell for the N.Y. Times to double-staff the Devils-Rangers series with two staff reporters. After all, this is a newspaper that had one writer during the season covering the sport, even though there are three teams in the metro area.
Jason Diamos was the Rangers beat reporter, while the Devils and Islanders were mostly relegated to wire coverage.
Which then raises the question of why Diamos isn't covering the hometown series. Instead, he's in Buffalo, writing about the Sabres in today's edition.
Instead, Lee Jenkins, currently flitting from sport to sport and acquitting himself rather nicely, and Jets writer Karen Crouse are covering the home teams.
I'm sure if you quizzed the Times brass, they'd point with pride to how versatile their reporters are, resulting in seamless coverage.
But if you assigned a reporter to cover a team for a whole season, it would stand to reason you'd want his insight, expertise and access at a time when interest of the team is heightened. If not, then there's no point to having a beat reporter.
Even more curious, Joe Lapointe, who once served as the Times' national hockey writer, at a time when such a position existed, was off covering the Yankees instead. Multi-tasking for the sake of multi-tasking doesn't necessarily serve the reader better.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Meet The New Boss, Same As The Old Boss: Goodbye and Good Riddance, Scott McClellan
The not-unexpected resignation of Scott McClellan as Bush Mouthpiece-In-Chief will likely not be greeted with hoops and hollers within the White House press room.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/19/AR2006041900897.html
This is an administration so totally on message -- skewed, distorted and out of step as it might be -- that any semblance of candor will be snuffed out with extreme prejudice.
Reporters knew McClellan was just the servant boy for all the prevarication emanating from the West Wing. But he turned into something more, as he uttered inane soundbite after bite, refusing to provide illumination on even the most innocuous of subjects.
Chances are they'll get someone else dripping with contempt for the Fourth Estate from the get-go, just the way Dubya likes it.
Remember when Mike McCurry beget Joe Lockhart in the Clinton White House? Hardly a barrel of laughs or warmth emanating from the podium following that transition.
Look for more of the same this time around. Much more.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/19/AR2006041900897.html
This is an administration so totally on message -- skewed, distorted and out of step as it might be -- that any semblance of candor will be snuffed out with extreme prejudice.
Reporters knew McClellan was just the servant boy for all the prevarication emanating from the West Wing. But he turned into something more, as he uttered inane soundbite after bite, refusing to provide illumination on even the most innocuous of subjects.
Chances are they'll get someone else dripping with contempt for the Fourth Estate from the get-go, just the way Dubya likes it.
Remember when Mike McCurry beget Joe Lockhart in the Clinton White House? Hardly a barrel of laughs or warmth emanating from the podium following that transition.
Look for more of the same this time around. Much more.
Monday, April 17, 2006
News Flash: Brad Pitt Knows How To Read!
To The Literate Go The Spoils
The N.Y. Times had a short piece today about how Glamour was giving itself a bit of a journalistic makeover, with a monthly column by Marianne Pearl, widow of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
At the end, she mentions how Brad Pitt's making a movie about her book that's a memoir of her life with Danny.
And just how did Pitt's production company become the one to snag the rights? Simply, "he was the only one who had read the book."
Imagine that.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/business/media/17pearl.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Of course, disinterest in reading books is hardly alien to Hollywood. After all, many an author on a book tour has been confronted by talk-show hosts and interviewers who may have read the dust jacket or press release, but couldn't be bothered to have at least cracked the spine of the hardcover.
Larry King, for one, makes no secret of not reading the books of authors he's interviewed, but nobody at CNN has the guts to tell him that's nothing to be proud about.
Pearl probably figured that if Pitt could be bothered to read the story of her life and the legacy of her husband, then he might actually care enough to get the story right rather than see it head off the rails with some garden-variety producer and turned into the next Lifetime Movie of the Week.
Here's hoping she's right.
The N.Y. Times had a short piece today about how Glamour was giving itself a bit of a journalistic makeover, with a monthly column by Marianne Pearl, widow of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
At the end, she mentions how Brad Pitt's making a movie about her book that's a memoir of her life with Danny.
And just how did Pitt's production company become the one to snag the rights? Simply, "he was the only one who had read the book."
Imagine that.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/17/business/media/17pearl.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Of course, disinterest in reading books is hardly alien to Hollywood. After all, many an author on a book tour has been confronted by talk-show hosts and interviewers who may have read the dust jacket or press release, but couldn't be bothered to have at least cracked the spine of the hardcover.
Larry King, for one, makes no secret of not reading the books of authors he's interviewed, but nobody at CNN has the guts to tell him that's nothing to be proud about.
Pearl probably figured that if Pitt could be bothered to read the story of her life and the legacy of her husband, then he might actually care enough to get the story right rather than see it head off the rails with some garden-variety producer and turned into the next Lifetime Movie of the Week.
Here's hoping she's right.
New Painter Of Word Pictures for Mets Radiocasts Makes An Impression
Tom McCarthy, Battle-Tested in Philly, A Cool Customer In Flushing Hot Seat
New Yorkers have been fortunate to have not had to endure baseball broadcasters in recent generations who are relentless homers that look at the diamond with rose-colored glasses even when the Mets and Yankees are stinking up the joint.
Of course, the obvious exception was Phil Rizzuto, but the Scooter was excused because, well, he was the Scooter, you huckleberry.
The latest addition to the Mets' radio booth keeps the high quality of those broadcasts firmly intact. Tom McCarthy, ex of Phillies broadcasts, replaced Gary Cohen, who has made a seamless transition to SportsNet NY for the Mets TV games.
Cohen and Howie Rose had created a warm rapport over the last two years on radio, melding an intimate knowledge of the team with a smooth, authoritative call of the game and an unforced sense of humor. These were two guys who had grown up watching the Mets, and sometimes sounded like they were pinching themselves for having the jobs they did, but never let their professionalism flag or call attention to themselves more than what was on the field (John Sterling, call your office).
McCarthy and Rose are still navigating their chemistry, but not by much. There's still a sense of familiarity to be acquired, but McCarthy (also a boyhood Mets fan growing up in Brick, N.J.) pretty much already has the fit of a well-worn glove. A silky voice reveals a broadcaster who does his homework, and look out for just the right detail and when to feed off an observation made by Rose.
Besides calling a game, Rose and Cohen were two guys who just liked to talk about baseball. The pair possessed an easy banter, a stark contrast to the many years when Cohen shared the booth with the beloved Bob Murphy.
Rose loses none of that with McCarthy, who may find himself with his biggest audience yet, now that he's covering a team that, as of this early writing, just happens to have the best record in baseball.
New Yorkers have been fortunate to have not had to endure baseball broadcasters in recent generations who are relentless homers that look at the diamond with rose-colored glasses even when the Mets and Yankees are stinking up the joint.
Of course, the obvious exception was Phil Rizzuto, but the Scooter was excused because, well, he was the Scooter, you huckleberry.
The latest addition to the Mets' radio booth keeps the high quality of those broadcasts firmly intact. Tom McCarthy, ex of Phillies broadcasts, replaced Gary Cohen, who has made a seamless transition to SportsNet NY for the Mets TV games.
Cohen and Howie Rose had created a warm rapport over the last two years on radio, melding an intimate knowledge of the team with a smooth, authoritative call of the game and an unforced sense of humor. These were two guys who had grown up watching the Mets, and sometimes sounded like they were pinching themselves for having the jobs they did, but never let their professionalism flag or call attention to themselves more than what was on the field (John Sterling, call your office).
McCarthy and Rose are still navigating their chemistry, but not by much. There's still a sense of familiarity to be acquired, but McCarthy (also a boyhood Mets fan growing up in Brick, N.J.) pretty much already has the fit of a well-worn glove. A silky voice reveals a broadcaster who does his homework, and look out for just the right detail and when to feed off an observation made by Rose.
Besides calling a game, Rose and Cohen were two guys who just liked to talk about baseball. The pair possessed an easy banter, a stark contrast to the many years when Cohen shared the booth with the beloved Bob Murphy.
Rose loses none of that with McCarthy, who may find himself with his biggest audience yet, now that he's covering a team that, as of this early writing, just happens to have the best record in baseball.
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