The Wabuska Mangler ...

David Morrow dies

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 11:01:29 -0800

David Morrow, who had barely begun his new post at the University of Nevada, Reno, died on Monday at age 49.
You can read a tribute at TheStreet.com, where he was editor in chief for eight years before heading to UNR.
He had been appointed the first Reynolds Endowed Chair in Business Journalism and had launched a new curriculum at UNR before finding out just a month ago that he had cancer.
I met him only once, but the energy and enthusiasm his colleagues describe was evident.

New ad touts newspaper readership

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 10:35:56 -0800

The Newspaper Project got good response last year to its ad campaign following the Super Bowl, and we expect a similar reaction this year.
It touts the size of newspapers’ Sunday readership, combining print and online audiences for a total of 171 million people.
Here’s an interesting fact that may astonish you: I calculate that last year Nevada newspapers sold a total of 118 million copies. And they gave away almost 40 million more (free circulation papers like the View, CityLife and Reno News & Review.) That’s more than 150 million newspapers in 2009 in a sparsely populated state.
I don’t have web-site visits for most members, so I can’t add those into the total. And I’m not including out-of-state papers such as the Sacramento Bee, LA Times, Wall Street Journal or USA Today, all of which have substantial readership in Nevada.
Oh, and I could pad the numbers by counting the Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun separately because, technically, readers are getting two papers. But I didn’t. I don’t think I need to.

One newspaper writes about another

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 10:31:45 -0800

It’s always interesting when one of our members covers another member.
In this case, it’s Las Vegas CityLife reporter Amy Kingsley writing about the peaks and valleys at the Las Vegas Sun, which won a Pulitzer Prize and then several months later had to lay off personnel.
Here’s a link to the story.

Government subsidy of newspapers

Mon, 1 Feb 2010 11:05:34 -0800

Here are links to a story and the report itself on government subsidy of newspapers — and, especially, its long history.
First, the New York Times story.
And the study.

Here are some highlights:

"It is a common myth that the commercial press in the United States is independent of governmental funding support," says Geoffrey Cowan who co-authored the report and is USC Annenberg School dean emeritus and director of the Center on Communication Leadership & Policy (CCLP). "There has never been a time in U.S. history when government dollars were not helping to undergird the news business to ensure that healthy journalism is sustained across the country."

The late 1960s marked a high-water mark of government support for the news business. The postal service was subsidizing about 75% of the mailing costs for newspapers and magazines, roughly $2 billion in today's dollars. Today, however, publishers' mailing discounts for their printed news products are down to 11% or $288 million.

This public notice income is especially important to weekly and other community newspapers, accounting, in 2000, for 5 to 10 percent of all revenue. But now, proposals are pending in 40 states to allow agencies to shift publication to the Web.

Tax breaks given to news publishers are likely to decline because many are tied to expenditures on paper and ink and cash-strapped states are seeking to find new sources of revenue. Federal and state tax laws forgive more than $900 million annually for newspapers and news magazines, with most of the money coming at the state level.

Some additional excerpts:

·         In 2009, federal, state and local governments spent well over $1 billion to support commercial news publishers

·         The cumulative effect of reducing these government subsidies is not the primary problem afflicting the news business today. At most, government assistance has dropped by a few billion while newspapers alone have lost more than $20 billion in revenue in the last three years. Yet, government support represents a critical element of economic survival.

·         Policymakers cannot afford to be mere spectators while these changes flash by. American government does not work very well if citizens do not have a reliable supply of news and information. What is playing out in the news business is a vital national interest

Bad news in Fallon

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 10:16:40 -0800

This one has me baffled.
I have never heard of an incident in which the principal and superintendent said it’s OK to publish a critical story in a student newspaper, but the teacher’s union demanded the story be censored.
Yes, the teacher’s union.
Here’s an account by reporter Kristi Jourdan in the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the earlier story from the Lahontan Valley News.
As a free-press advocate, I see the issue as pretty cut and dried. The school officials have it right. The only thing you accomplish by trying to cover up a hot issue in a small town is fan the coals.
What I cannot understand — what makes this news — is that the teachers union would actually try to stop publication of the article.
What are these people thinking?
Well, the folks who have been bashing teachers unions for years will have ready answers: The union is more concerned with the teacher than the student. The union is willing to look past First Amendment freedoms if it means protecting a teacher’s reputation. The union doesn’t see its primary purpose as educating students but as protecting teachers’ jobs.
I am not a teacher-union basher. I have frequently been a teacher-union defender. But I would have to say this incident confirms all those statements.

Why oh why ....

Thu, 28 Jan 2010 09:54:29 -0800

... do public officials strain to circumvent open meetings laws?
In this follow-up by Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter James Haug, Clark County’s school superintendent tries to explain why an advisory committee isn’t subject to Nevada’s open meeting law. You can read more, including my comments, in Haug’s original story.
It all begs the question: Why not just comply with the law? It isn’t onerous. The committee intends to hold open meetings. What’s the problem?
Let’s be frank here. Too many people already have a basic distrust of their governments, from local to national. They should be skeptical, but right now the mood is downright cynical. The only way to establish trust is to do everything above-board and in the open.
Well, the superintendent promises these meetings will be open, yet doesn’t think the law applies. The next logical thoughts for a taxpayer likely would be, ‘Is this the way the school district operates? If they can get around the law, they’ll try? Do they not comprehend the fundamental ideas behind open government?” And, finally, ‘What are they trying to hide?’
There’s no extra cost to following the open meetings law. There’s no extra time involved. There’s just some basic rules to ensure the public is fully informed.

When letter writers complain ...

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 09:32:34 -0800

You get a letter to the editor criticizing a local business. Run it, or not?
It’s the kind of question that gets passed around the International Society of Weekly Newspaper Editors, whose members ask for and offer lots of practical advice to each other.
This topic — which bends the blurry lines between editorial integrity and economic survival for a weekly newspaper — generated a ton of responses on a recent afternoon. I thought I would gather a selection of them, because they’re the plain-spoken voices of experience.

First the question:

I've got a hotline question for the troops. It pertains to letters that slag local businesses.
I just received this letter criticizing the high prices and poor service seen at local food chains (see below). It urges local action. I like that.
However, because consumer criticism of business is hard to verify
(including the price of peanut butter... what brand? how much was it
last week, anyone remember? Have fuel prices increased? Labour costs? Is
there a strike in Georgia?), we have tended to avoid publishing such letters.
The issue has sparked a debate in our office. Do we run such things, or not?
I believe such edicts in this crazy business never work well.
Though some people want black or white, letters are often grey. The tone of the letter, the writer's approach and even the issue all change the context and the editor's decision.
After a little discussion with the publisher, we're considering asking such writers to confront the business with their concerns in writing, and then approaching us with the paper trail when (if) they get an unsatisfactory response from management. That, too, has some pitfalls, but might produce more solid complaints.
However, I'd appreciate any thoughts or insights you, my colleagues, might see fit to provide on this consumer watchdog issue.
Thanks (letter follows)

Complacent public results in poor service
So there I was in (store), wanting to buy my favorite peanut butter only to discover it has increased 50 cents in two weeks. It previously cost $3.69, now it is $4.19 – a 12 per cent increase.
Let me be clear: it’s not just the principle; it’s the money. Who can afford to see food prices rise 12 per cent? I’m not aware of a peanut shortage so I cannot accept any excuse other than corporate greed. I pay $2.89 for the same product at the same retailer in Victoria, and that’s what really bugs me. It may be my peanut butter
this week but it will be your item next week.
And the attitude of the staff is lacking. When I asked about the increase, I was told: “Prices go up. Do you want the peanut butter or not?” That was the best the customer service representative could come up with.
This isn’t an isolated incident. My co-workers groaned in agreement
when I mentioned the (store) and its failing reputation. There was
the time I was shopping for produce only to discover (store) had run
out of clear plastic bags. I asked Mr. Happy, the produce man, what gives? “Management forgot to order them,” was the curt reply. No apology, no smile, not even any eye contact.
A few weeks ago they were out of chick peas. This week they are out of premium popcorn. On numerous occasions they are out of ground turkey. I’m sure you have your own instances of poor service and low inventories. I find it strange that a conglomerate isn’t able to keep the shelves stocked. And what about those lineups at the till? It’s
like queuing in Russia.
I know that (store’s) head office has sent a person up here to try to sort out the problems with this location. However, I cannot help but assume that people in Whitehorse have become complacent and believe this is the best service they can get. It simply isn’t true. Canadian Tire has no shortage of helpful, friendly staff who are knowledgeable and there to help you, the customer.
(Store) isn’t alone. There was the time in (another store) when the clerk sneezed all over my stuff – no offer to replace it, no “excuse me” just a fine aerosol from someone’s lungs for me to enjoy at home.
I urge citizens of this fine community to write letters to this paper, to the management of local businesses that fail in customer service, and to head offices of the large chains who are failing in their duty – yes, duty – to provide a pleasant customer experience. We pay higher prices than elsewhere in Canada and yet we get inferior service. We
deserve better.

Now, here are responses:

From an editor in Texas:
Our policy (and we let the letter writers know it) is to forward the letter to the offending business. Typically, the purpose of such letters is to bring harm upon the business that wronged them. There have been cases in which the writer has received free accommodations.

From an editor in Oregon:
My view is that the letter borders on defamation. Maybe you can't legally defame a store, but I'd like to see specific dates, times and the names of the employees if one is going to make accusations like this. A store's level of service is what it depends on. If it's lacking, let's see the beef, not just the sizzle.
If you go ahead with the letter, I'd let store management have space for a side-by-side reply.
And if there really is a service issue, why not set a reporter loose to do first-person investigation?

From an editor in Arizona:
We don't run letters of complaint. It's just too easy to get ticked off (and this writer sounds like he has lots of time to get annoyed at lots of things) and send off scathing letters. And, as you mentioned, letters of complaint are difficult to verify. If, however, a large group of individuals are affected by poor performance from a company which they are forced to patronize (utility company for instance) we might look into the situation and run a story on what we find out.

An editor in Tennessee:
Considering that your space is limited to start with, do you open your letters column to regular attacks on businesses? Should one disgruntled customer be able to criticize one private business owner to your whole circulation?
My view is that the letters column is meant to discuss community issues, and the price of a jar of peanut butter at one store does not meet that test.
You touched on the best idea — tell the writer to deal directly with store management of the business he's not happy with.
Lastly, it's obvious what these type of letters will do to your advertising base over time.

Another Arizona editor:
I have received letters saying, “My family dined at (insert restaurant name here) in Goodyear the other night. We waited a long time to be served, the food was cold, the waiter was rude and I will never, ever, eat there again.” That’s too bad, and I sympathize. However, your problem isn’t a very topical issue and the letter might very well have been written by an employee of (insert restaurant’s name here) competitor in a very sneaky way to use this newspaper (and I hate to be used) to heap negative publicity on a business competitor.
The same holds true for letters praising the restaurant (“We ate at The Feed Bag restaurant, and I must say the food was great, the waiter was prompt and pleasant and I want to recommend The Feed Bag restaurant to everyone.”)
OK, now how much did you pay to have this paper delivered to your driveway? Zilch. Zero. Not one thin dime. How can we do that? Because we depend entirely on advertising dollars to pay for the production of the newspaper. We don’t charge to publish a letter to the editor, but we do charge businesses to place ads in the paper. If we run their ads disguised as letters, we go out of business.
However, there are times when a business becomes the topic of news in a public-policy issue. In cases like that, we accept letters either praising or criticizing the business if the letter-writer’s comments pertain to the public-policy issue.

We received a letter criticizing the service at a local hotel. There was something potentially libelous in it, so we sent it to our newspaper association attorney. His reply, which he has said before about business complaint letters:

I wouldn't publish this LTE. The writer seems sincere, but there is no way to verify the claims he makes, it's not really an issue of broad public concern, and it's possible something else is driving the criticism that we don't know about.

As you said, there is always gray in our guidelines and this letter does seem more broad than the one specific issue ours addressed. The paper trail idea seems worthwhile, but I'm not sure how many people would follow through or how much time you want to take for a letter.

From a Minnesota editor:
We received a letter criticizing the service at a local hotel. There was something potentially libelous in it, so we sent it to our newspaper association attorney. His reply, which he has said before about business complaint letters:
I wouldn't publish this LTE. The writer seems sincere, but there is no way to verify the claims he makes, it's not really an issue of broad public concern, and it's possible something else is driving the criticism that we don't know about.
As you said, there is always gray in our guidelines and this letter does seem more broad than the one specific issue ours addressed. The paper trail idea seems worthwhile, but I'm not sure how many people would follow through or how much time you want to take for a letter.

From an editor in British Columbia:
Sometimes there is a company which readers are forced to patronize — for these we run the letters past our lawyer's eye and if given legal advice to do so, run the letters of complaint, following up with a reporter speaking with the company on the situation to get both sides the due coverage.
Sending the letter of complaint about a local business directly to the business is best, although I typically ask the writer to do so. He/she should not have a problem doing that if he/she was willing to send it to the paper for distribution.

From an editor in Alberta:
Complaints about businesses can be sticky situations. Many years ago I worked at a newspaper in B.C. where store was caught selling rotten
meat to customers. The editor would not run anything about it because the
grocery store was the single biggest advertiser.
My policy about complaints regarding local business is that a written
complaint must be given to the business owner first, with the note that the
editor required this approach.
If the business owner and complainer come to an agreement, then the issue is
dropped.
If the business owner does nothing to handle the situation, then I will
listen to the complaint. If it's a valid complaint ("the staff member
sexually harassed me") then I will do something about it.
If it is not what I consider valid ("his prices are too high") then I will
leave that sleeping dog to lie.

Another Alberta editor:
My experience is that when we get caught in a pissing match we are the ones who get wet.

An editor in Nevada:
I usually get a hold of the letter writer and inform them that our space is limited. I also ask if the letter write contacted the business. As a rule we don’t publish letters like this. If, for some reason, we hear inklings from others about the same thing, then we may follow up with a story. We’re in a Catch 22 and I hate to say it because it’s not right. As tight as advertising dollars are, I don’t want to take a chance and have the paper lose a major account.

And from an editor in Saskatchewan:
If the issue raised in a letter is of public interest, we run it. If a store was actually selling expired produce or meat, it would be appropriate for a news article, not just a letter, because it becomes a health issue.
I don't think there is any public interest in a store's pricing policy or whether a clerk at WalMart has a cold, however. If you wouldn't run a story on the price of peanut butter going up 50 cents, I don't know why you would run a
I would have taken up a collection around the newsroom to see if we could come up with 50 cents so the letter writer could get his peanut butter.

Deep background

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:04:15 -0800

I’m confused about the off-the-record rules that John Heilemann and Mark Halperin used for their book ‘Game Change‘ — specifically the quote that has Harry Reid in so much hot water.
From what I have gathered, Reid sat down for a taped interview with the two writers. It’s not clear whether this interview was on the record, or deep background, or if there was some unstated understanding about how the material was to be used.
Reid has apparently said he felt burned by the use of the quotes about Barack Obama (Politico). Heilemann and Halperin say they didn’t violate any agreements they had with sources. Something doesn’t add up.
If the interview was on the record, then Reid not only made inappropriate remarks but had a false sense of trust about what the reporters were going to use. That’s naive for a veteran politician.
Still, if it was on the record, why does the book say Reid made the remarks ‘privately’? This suggests to me that the interview was off the record, but that Heilemann and Halperin justified using the quote because they could confirm it with another ‘deep background’ source — even though they were there and heard it themselves.
This is a convoluted application of journalism ethics, yet I can’t think of another way it could have happened and still be consistent with the circumstances as reported.
Maybe I’m just misunderstanding how this all came about. I’m not defending Reid for his comments, nor am I saying the journalists shouldn’t have reported it. I’m just trying to figure out how they justified it ethically.
A couple of points about ‘deep background’ or off-the-record interviews:
• You only get to burn a source once. It better be for something important.
• If the rules aren’t clear up-front, somebody’s going to be angry.
• In my opinion, a source should never be surprised to read something he said in the newspaper. Either it was clearly on the record, or I called to confirm it. “Did you, in fact, say this?”

Who’s picking up the slack?

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 08:52:33 -0800

I wanted to link to Tom Mitchell’s blog, which links to a Pew study that’s not very encouraging for anybody in the journalism business.
The study shows that during a one-week period in Baltimore, nearly all the news came from traditional sources, mainly the newspaper. And because of cutbacks in those traditional media outlet, there was simply less news — original, independent reporting — being published or aired.
We suspect this is the case pretty much everywhere. The ‘new media‘ — bloggers, online news organizations, Twitter feeds, etc. — simply pick up what’s being reported by the old guard and do little or no original work. Worse, the standard of independently confirming information before spreading it wider seems to have fallen by the wayside.
The theory is that all these Internet-connected voices — the community sometimes referred to as citizen-journalists — will help bring new perspective to the news-gathering business. But so far it isn’t working out that way. Misinformation gets spread far and wide, and everybody weighs in with an opinion — whether it’s based on the facts or not.

UNLV journalism professor dies

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 08:59:21 -0800

Longtime journalism professor Barbara Cloud has died. She was 71 and had been at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas since 1979.
Here’s the story in the Review-Journal.