$cuttled by the recession

I'm not sure if the Alabama Coast is seeing any of this, but the NY Times is reporting boat owners are abandoning their vessels because they can't sell 'em, can't afford to keep 'em up, and can't even afford to properly dispose of them. Think of the aquatic version of homeowners mailing the keys to the mortgage holder when they hit bottom.

School Daze

The EPA is going to install air monitors near two Birmingham area schools (and schools in 21 other states) to gauge the danger to children. Birmingham News reporter Thomas Spencer has the story of the Birmingham locations...both in industrial North Birmingham. USA Today and others have the big picture of the 62 schools nationwide that will be monitored.

Firing Outrage

I had to catch it twice on the tube before I was sure I heard it correctly. And sure enough, there was Republican (i.e. Minority) leader John Boehner complaining about President Obama forcing the head of GM to resign: "I think the idea of the government telling anyone in the private sector who they'll employ and who they won't is deplorable" Uh, is that the same "private sector" that's taking billions of dollars from taxpayers pockets (OK, from the pockets of taxpayers' grandchildren)? Agree or disagree with the "bailout" of the auto industry, aren't all bets off once they cash the check? And I suppose those laws against employment discrimination should be tossed as well, since we wouldn't want the government telling the Private sector... The Wall Street Journal reports on the reaction of other CEO's to the White House pressure.

Chicago Sun-Times...

...files for Bankruptcy this morning in Delaware. The company publishes some 65 newspapers in Illinois. The namesake publication is the largest.

Toilet Wars

Remember the conflict between the U.S. and Soviet characters in 2001, A Space Odyssey? It mirrored an apparent cold war on earth. There just wasn't a lot of cooperation on the space station that acted as a way-station for Dr. Heywood Floyd's trip to examine the mysterious object found buried on the moon. According to a BBC story this morning, that's what's happening right now aboard the International Space Station, including restrictions on who can use the U.S. manufactured toilet. By the way, that double-wheel movie space station, the one shown in the drawing, was based on a design by none other than Verhner von Braun of Huntsville fame. They used a seven foot model for the movie.

Is this the future of newspapers?

In Detroit, a jump from dead trees and ink to electronic handheld readers. And they say there is no plan "B". Here's the story.

Mystery Photo

My interest in Civil War photography was heightened during 2008 while working on the CSS Alabama Project, the ill-fated documentary about Alabamian Raphael Semmes. Why is there no good quality photo of the ship that made such a celebrated tour of the world? There are two shots showing the ship in the Far East, but they are not of very good quality. And there are some existing good quality shots of crewmen on board, but , again, no wide angle photo of the ship herself. A civil war photo that does exist, of three children, is the key to a five part story that began today in the N.Y. Times. 'Who's Father Was He?" is the story of the search for the identity of the children.

MMMM# 34 - The Price of New$

For a long time, printing a newspaper or running a TV station was equated with having a license to print money. It was never really that simple, as the bones of bankrupt publishers and broadcasters will attest. But now the media financial universe has been turned upside down, and there aren't many making any profit at all, much less big ones. There are lots of people visiting newspaper websites, but they're usually not paying a dime, and advertisers haven't been as willing to pay for online ads as they were with the dead tree products. There are exceptions to the "no-pay" model. In Alabama, both The Anniston Star and The Decatur Daily charge for access to their full online product. The Daily is a family-owned paper that just acquired The Times Daily in Florence, which does not charge. We'll be watching to see which model the new owners impose on their new product. This week's CBS Sunday Morning included a report on the dire condition of newspapering, and predicted that "micro payments" may be the solution. You can see all of the headlines, but pay a minimal amount...maybe a dime...to actually read the story. That's the model many papers have used for access to their archives, though they generally charge more than a dime. [The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

[UPDATED ON 4/1/09: The new owners appoint a former Montgomery Advertiser Publisher to head the Times Daily]

PACT story

Hats off to Stan Diel at The Birmingham News for a comprehensive story today about the PACT program difficulties, including an examination of the questions I asked some time ago: is the Alabama Securities Commission investigating PACT for possible fraud?

How Safe is Your State?

There's a new study out that ranks the States from safest to least safe...New Hampshire is on top (safest), Nevada on the bottom (least safe). And Alabama drops two spots from last year's report for a ranking of 38th. You can read the entire list and order the book in various forms at the CQ Press website. Alabama fares better than all of our surrounding South-Eastern neighbors except Mississippi. And Georgia dropped the most since the previous report...seven positions for a ranking of 39th.

White Hall BINGO update...

An injunction has been issued against the state's shutdown of the BINGO facility...and Alabama officials must now return the machines and money seized and not mess with the center until the judge rules. Judge Mark Kennedy questioned the legality of the warrants in the case and in the way they were carried out.

***

On a related note...Arkansas became the 43rd state to offer a lottery last week, and Nevada is headed in the same direction. If you look at a map of states without a lottery, Alabama and Mississippi are looking mighty lonely. Arkansas' game will fund college scholarships.

The Gulf Park Decision

It wasn't even close. A unanimous decision by the Alabama Supreme Court on Friday rejected the Riley Administration's attempt to build a luxury hotel on State Park Property on the gulf. The original state owned hotel was destroyed by Hurricain Ivan in 2004. Riley and Co wanted to lease the property to Auburn University which would then lease it to private developers for 70 years to build the place. But the court found that state law limits contracts for concessions in state parks to 12 years. The court specifically ruled against the attempt to use a legal side-step to get around the limit by using Auburn. Riley's press office cries that the decision means the state will continue to lose convention business to Florida. Next step? They'll probably try to convince the legislature to change the law to allow their project, but a lot of folks for varying reasons will be fighting it, including the Alabama State Employee Association. State Park employees are state workers. Employees of the new private facility place would not be. And then there's the argument that state facilities should be affordable by the average Alabama resident, not only the top tier. If the hotel and convention center is such a good idea, why not let some for-profit company buy private land and build it?

Unemployment Up

Unemployment in Alabama is up to 8.4 per cent, higher than the national average and the highest in the state in 22 years. So reports al.com this morning. More than one County has double digit joblessness...with Wilcox at top (or bottom) with 21.5% of the population not working. Still, Alabama's rate is 4th lowest in the SouthEast.

Some GOOD News for TV

Across all age groups, TV remains the number one source for video...."TV accounts for 99 percent of all video consumed in 2008...Even among the 18-to-24-year-olds, it was 98 percent,” according to new research. The study is reported in today's N.Y. Times. It indicates that TV has so far managed to block viewers from switching to those other video sources...cellphones and computers.

None of that helps local TV News though...the latest Pew study on the State of The News Media found a continuing decline in viewership...In 1998, nearly two-thirds of the public (64%) told the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press that they regularly watched local television news. By 2008, that number had fallen to 52%.

So lots of folks are watching TV, but not necessarily the news.

Alabama is edging back into the passenger train business...or at least the Birmingham News reports we've agreed to pay our dues to a group pushing high-speed rail. The Director of ADECA had refused to pay the dues because his agency "isn't in the transportation business". Uh, can't the same thing be said of almost any of the gazilion special-purpose grants that pass through ADECA every year? There are police departments and schools and water boards that have all received ADECA money, yet ADECA is not a police or education or utility agency either.

Times Cuts

The Times joins the rest of the pack, cutting jobs and salaries. The Reuters story says The Washington Post did the same earlier.

The King Probe, continued...

My friend Bob Gambacurta at The Montgomery Independent is connecting the dots in the Grand Jury investigation of Attorney General Troy King. Read his column in this week's paper online. Among other things, he raises an interesting question about the U.S. Attorney's office and the process of recusal.

201k

Six financial experts take on the question of 401k Investment accounts in today's Times, but you may want to do the same thing many of the 60 Million account holders do with their statements: ignore 'em. There's not a lot of comfort in the essays for those of us who've lost about half the value of our investments because of the Stock Market crash. But reading them did remind me that not too long ago, the previous administration wanted to replace Social Security with individual accounts invested in...The Stock Market. Sure, Social Security itself is endangered, but at least there's some chance I'll have it as a minimal support system when the time comes.

RealAge Test

Millions of folks have taken the so-called "RealAge" online test to see what their biological age is compared to their age based on other factors like smoking. The 150 question self-exam even been featured on Oprah. But according to a story in the N.Y. Times, people who take the test are feeding valuable information to the pharmaceutical industry, which then targets them with ads. "Viral" marketing indeed.

Newspaper Sold

The Times Daily, a Florence newspaper, has been sold by the New York Times to the company that owns the Decatur Daily. The Times Daily story says "almost all employees will be asked to stay with the paper." That may the about the only stabiity in newspapering these days. Best of luck to the staff and the new owners!

Canadian Cuts

Media job losses aren't restricted to this side of the Northern U-S Border. The CBC is eliminating hundreds of employees and selling assets to balance its budget.

In The U.S., added cuts are expected at PBS this Spring.

Loyal to the Party

An Appeals court has upheld the Texas Democratic Party's loyalty oath, similar to one Democrats are required to take in Alabama. It basically is a promise to support the eventual nominee. The decision is fine with me. I've always thought the political parties can pretty much do what they want, since their nomination procedure is akin to the local Rotary Club electing a president. The primaries are not government elections...they're private affairs. The real election is after the parties have selected their nominees. With that said, let me go onto my soapbox and say the parties should be required to pay for the process...reimbursing the state or local municipality if that's easier. Why the taxpayers pay for the primaries is a mystery to me.

YOU are not suffering enough!

That seemed to be the underlying thought in the question asked last night of President Obama by NBC's Chuck Todd. He started this way: "...some of your programs, whether for Main Street or Wall Street, have actually cushioned the blow for those that were irresponsible." But then he went on to ask the President if he would ask the American people to make some sacrifice since we are in a kind of economic war! Was that question exhibit "A" for the Media Elite? There are many tens of millions of Americans who are sacrificing quite enough, thank you, Mr. Todd, though we're delighted to hear that you are secure and happy. And that's pretty much what President Obama told him.

[Also: In this morning's Washington Post, Howard Kurtz points out the President didn't call on a single reporter from any of the nation's big newspapers. And in case you missed it, the three largest papers in Alabama are forcing mandatory unpaid 10-day furloughs on their non-union, i.e. almost all, employees.]

[UPDATE: Legislation has been introduced to allow newspapers to operate as non-profits, with the accompanying tax breaks. Heck, so many are already non-profit they may as well get whatever benefits there are!.]

Pssssst...wanna join PACT?

So the PACT folks are officially seeking taxpayer assistance, and have decided not to accept any new enrollments. New enrollments? Are they saying there are people who are still trying to enroll, despite all of the stories on and off line about the program's crash and burn??? Heck, I say take their money...run it like a Ponzi Scheme in which new money is used to pay the original investors. And let me say again: Where is the taxpayer relief for the rest of us who may not have a PACT account, but who followed the advice of all the experts and put money into IRA and 401k accounts? Is it because the State Treasurer keeps crying about "the children"? Is that why those investors are going to get a break at taxpayer expense?

Those Converter Box "Coupons"...

...are good again, even if they expired. The stimulus package included some additional cash to fund the program. Mine expired, and I certainly wasn't alone...17 Million others did too, according to a story out this morning. David Pogue has a cute story about his experience with one in the Times today. Anyway back to Circuit City, uh. better make that Best Buy or any of the Big Box retailers, it's converter box time.

NEWS? on the RADIO?

You won't find much these days, and that's helped fuel big increases in the audience for the one place where it thrives...NPR. So says today's Washington Post. Following radio veteran Jim Merlini's death last year, there isn't a single radio news reporter in Alabama's Capitol city. Not one. Yet despite the audience increase at NPR, more cuts are headed their way this Spring. Sounds like the situation at the NY Times. They have more hits than ever on their great website, yet income hasn't kept pace. Back to radio, there is no shortage of talk on radio, and the first FM talk arrives in Montgomery this week when WACV's signal goes on 107.9 FM too. And we wish them well!

Health Insurance - COBRA

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is out with a new study on health insurance that shows a slightly lower percentage of Alabamians have no insurance than a few years ago. And while we're on the subject...glad to see that the Federal Stimulus program helps unemployed folks with the exorbitant cost of COBRA...continuing your health insurance after you are no longer employed...but the stimulus provision only covers workers who lost their jobs between September and December of 2008. How many tens of thousands have become unemployed since then? Why the restriction? And yes, I do have a dog in this fight. (-:

Coil Restrictions

Birmingham News reporter Ginny McDonald has the story today of the new restrictions on trucks carrying steel coil on Alabama highways. She quotes Trucking Association folks as describing the fines as the highest in the nation.The fines could be as high as $10,000. Yet the story also estimates damage to highways from the 30 coils that fell off flatbed trucks onto Birmingham area Interstates in the last 21 years at $7.5 Million. Let's see, $7.5 Million divided by 30 is what $250,000? What the story doesn't answer is how much of that $7.5 Million was paid by the truck companies, but a $10,000 fine for a quarter-million dollars damage sounds to me like "the cost of doing business". I'll email my friend and former Co-worker Evan Lockridge, star of a trucking show on Sirus Radio, and ask him to post his thoughts (if nothing else, Evan's math has to be better than mine....). Somebody remind me to tell you about the time Evan was videographer for an interview I did with artist Dale Chihuly in Birmingham...its one of my favorite TV stories.

Wednesday 3/25 Here's Evan's reply: The real important part of this new law is that it calls for a fine of up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail for uncertified truckers caught hauling these coils and up to ten grand on the driver (or trucking company) if an uncertified trucker is involved in an accident. This is a real deterrent to truckers because this law can mean the loss of their job. As for carriers, the penalty for them would mean they would loose money on the load--something they certainly don't want to happen when freight levels are down so much this year. Truckers are ultimately responsible to make sure these loads are properly secured and regulations for doing so come from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. I talked about this new law on my March 24th broadcast on Sirius XM Road Dog, (Sirius channel 147/XM channel 171) and every truck driver that called in said they supported this new law, though a few did say they thought the penalties were a bit high and had questions over how to get their certification. The bottom line is when you talk to truckers for 2 hours a day, five times a week like I do for my show, you can't help but realize most are very safety conscious. It's just the few bad apples out there that give the public a bad perception of them and the entire trucking industry. Evan Lockridge Host, The Lockridge Report Anchor, Sirius-XM Trucking News Sirius XM Satellite Radio's Road Dog Trucking, Ch. 147 & Ch. 171 http://www.sirius.com/roaddogtrucking

MMMM #33 - Broadcast News Pet Peeves

Nobody asked me, but heck, it's my blog, so here are some of my pet peeves about broadcast news writing (and since most radio stations left the newsgathering and writing field, it's mostly local TV we're talking about here):

• "WSSS has learned that such and such..." That phrase is supposed to be reserved for stories in which the station's news department obtained through hard work, not some Associate Producer clicking on a list of the latest AP stories. It implies a certain amount of investigative journalism was involved, not a mouse click.
• "WSSS obtained the exclusive interview...." If nobody else was trying for an interview with the Assistant to The Assistant Secretary of Chicken Coops, it's not an "exclusive". There has to be a certain amount of competition involved, otherwise it's just an interview nobody else wanted, not an "exclusive".
• "WSSS was first to report..." Just an observation: there's always been competition in the news biz. Breaking stories provides a sense of satisfaction that somehow makes up for the minimal salaries so many reporters are paid. Now the Wall Street Journal (under Rupert Murdock ownership) is reviving that competitive spirit with a vengeance. Break stories or else. And there's this too: back in the day, you guarded your exclusive stories jealously till they were in print or on-air. Now, with the web, you basically are handing your story details to your competition as soon as you post it online. Perhaps utilizing Twitter and RSS feeds will help reporters maintain an edge?

• "Thanks for the report, John...". Enough. Unless it is a live report and the reporter can actually hear you, no need to say thanks. When a network offers a live report for affiliates to use at the top of newscasts, dozens of stations will likely pick it up. "Back to you" is the generic toss back to the individual stations. But since the reporter can't hear the anchors, just who are they saying thanks to? On the other hand, being good southerners, would we criticise them for not saying thanks if they followed my advice?

• "We have a developing story..." What story isn't developing? Somewhere along the line consultants decided the word "developing" has power, so lots of stations use it. But really now, wouldn't that description fit all of the other stories in your cast too? A murder is followed by an arrest and then a trial and then sentencing and then appeals and then, if nothing else, an anniversary... all stories are developing.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog]

Weekend Blues

When you are employed, the arrival of Friday is a cause for celebration...but when you are not working, it means two days in which there is little hope for return phone calls or reaching a potential employer at the office. Weekends, therefore, seem to last way too long! And while I'm sharing... The N.Y. Times has a story about ways the employed can help their unemployed friends (and no I am not recommending this for myself. I'm fine. But I am closer to the pain of unemployment than I have been in a while, and am a touch more sensitive to the issue!) There was also a Times story about the competition between young and old workers. Seems retired folks are taking the low-pay job entry level young workers would normally fill. Those baby boomers just won't, or can't, stay retired.

"They're Embryonic Bingo Machines..."

That seems to be the argument former Jefco D.A. David Barber is making about the 100 or so machines seized from a White Hall Bingo center in Lowndes County before sunrise Thursday. If they have the potential for becoming a bingo machines, then they are bingo machines. There were about 950 machines at the center. Barber took only a representative sample. All of this will end up in court, as Barber, acting for Governor Riley, knows. The ultimate decision will be made by Alabama Supreme Court. But the core issue may be the fanatical battle against gambling that virtually all recent Alabama Governors have waged. And the decision to raid the bingo place in White Hall might have a connection to legislation being considered in the current session that would allow voters to decide if they want to regulate bingo AND start collecting taxes from the bingo halls AND from the Native American gaming facilities (they would be allowed to offer expanded gaming options under a "pact" with the state, but would agree to pay taxes for the first time too). You may have received in the mail the brochure pictured above, arguing for the legislation. And if you watch much TV, you've no doubt seen the ads featuring country music stars who are backing legislation to allow "charitable" electronic bingo at a string of music halls that would include bingo machines, including one near Dothan called "Country Crossing". Governor Riley gets into the act to with a Youtube video. He starts off telling us Alabama has "a quality of life that is unmatched anywhere in the world", so you know it's time to put on the boots (oh wait, he wears 'em!). I live in Alabama because it's a great place to live, but please...nobody has a better quality of life? What about the fact that Alabama has the 7th worst poverty rate in America. Do the children in Alabama who live in poverty think their quality of live is unmatched anywhere in the world? But I digress.

I've never been to a bingo hall. Been to Vegas once for a convention. Lost a few bucks on slots. Went with my parents to an Atlantic City Casino once and left a few dollars poorer. I have no dog in this fight at all. But it sure seems to me we're spending a disproportionate amount of time and money on preventing people who want to gamble, and who will do so no matter what the state commands, from doing do. The unemployment rate is headed up, and all of the traditionally high troubles we face can only get worse as the economy continues to sink. Is this the time for a war on bingo? Is anytime?

[UPDATE: Sunday 3/22/09, Birmingham News reporter Ken Faulk reports on charities that say they'll be hurt by bingo legislation]

Boo-rat

So once again some Alabamians of goodwill have been taken advantage of by the British actor-comedian Sacha Baron Cohen. This time at a senior citizens ballroom dancing event. He also managed to fool the Alabama National Guard (that doesn't bother me much, though I hope they take a look at their security measures). But the dancing event reminds me why I didn't go see his first movie and why I won't attend any new ones. Comedy that takes advantage of regular folks just doesn't sit well with me. The last time it was at a kind of charm school for adults in Birmingham. Now Senior Citizens. Give it up fool. These are people trying to be nice, something Southerners specialize in. No wonder he doesn't go to New York for his unkind pranks. They'd eat him alive.

Super Search

Montgomery's School Superintendent, John Dilworth, is headed home to Baton Rouge Louisiana. It took the school board there three votes before one member switched and a 6-6 tie vote was broken in his favor. Last night WSFA-TV quoted Dilworth as saying it wasn't a question of money, and that he wanted to be closer to his family members. But both Montgomery and Baton Rouge raised their offers in a bidding war. It is still unclear, at least to me, if Dilworth will be required to pay any cash for breaking his three-year contract here. After all, Boards of Education across the state end up paying off the contracts of their school heads when they fire them! Now Montgomery will go through the process of finding a superintendent again! Let's hope they find someone who'll stay longer than a measly two years.

Welcome to Spring!

Spring started half an hour ago...and depending on whom you ask, it's either cause for celebration or grumbling. If you are allergic, pollen-madness is underway. If you hate cold weather, it's a safe bet the majority of it is gone for months. For gardeners, it's the beginning of the best time of year! And if you're in love, it doesn't matter what the season is. I'm still adjusting to having a relative living on the other side of the world (Australia) where everything is reversed. My nephew and his wife in Melbourne are saying goodbye to the warmth and preparing for the arrival cold weather. The furthest South I ever lived was Jacksonville Florida, which is on the line between the tropics and the moderate zones. The leaves fall, but temperatures rarely go below freezing. The approach of the Summer in the South gets me thinking again about this region before air-conditioning. I know all about the architecture...the dog-trot designs etc. Doesn't matter. Those were simply tougher people back then, at least compared to those of us now who run from air conditioned car to air conditioned office to air-conditioned home each Summer.

If you are due an Alabama Tax refund, and you also happen to owe child support, you can expect the money to be subtracted from the refund before it gets to your mailbox. The States and The Feds caught on a long time ago to that scam, and they routinely compare lists. But apparently nobody bothered to check on the companies receiving all of that TARP money. AP reports today that at least thirteen of the companies owe back taxes to the tune of $220-Million. That's' really small change in a time when we talk about hundreds of trillions of dollars, but its another incident, like the AIG bonuses, that will make it more and more difficult for the Obama Administration to get approval for the hundreds of billions more that will be needed to clean this mess up.

The Film Incentives Bill

A bill sits on the Governor's desk awaiting his signature. It was approved virtually unanimously by the legislature, which means Riley will probably sign it. But before he does, may I suggest he read this story in today's N.Y. Times? It questions whether much of States' incentives money is really "make work" cash, that many of the movies produced because of the incentives don't get very wide viewing. Maybe that doesn't matter, as long as the incentives attract filmmakers to come to Alabama and spend money while they are here. Lights... Action..Camera...Taxes!

The Army in Samson

The AP is reporting an investigation is underway into 22 U.S. Army Military Police personnel being sent by someone to Samson Alabama in the aftermath of the shootings there. The use of the military in domestic situations is limited by the 131-year-old federal Posse Comitatus Act.

PACT Distress

There's word this morning that a legislator wants to spend $30 Million to "save" the PACT program, the college-tuition program that was supposed to help parents pay for tuition on the installment plan. I realize it has become a populist cause celebre, and as a blogger I'm supposed to scream about the state screwing the little people, but if the folks who put their money in PACT are going to get "saved", how about the rest of us who followed the advice to put our money in the stock market via IRA's? Will legislators come to our rescue as well? Surely the PACT parents aren't saying they didn't know there was risk involved...that the interest they were earning wasn't guaranteed? As I recall, wasn't it the tax benefits of PACT that were the big draw? Where did the PACT parents think the interest they were earning was coming from, if not from investment in the market? And if the State Treasurer's Office didn't make that clear in selling the program, why isn't that financial fraud? Will the Alabama Securities Commission start an investigation? In the Birmingham News story today, it's noted that "Efforts to reach State Treasurer Kay Ivey, whose office oversees the PACT plan, were unsuccessful Tuesday." Sure. Ms. Ivey is running for Governor and away from this mess. Earlier she cautioned parents not to pull their money out of the PACT accounts because there are tax consequences. I suspect there will be other consequences too.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

As you may know, I'm a "dual". In addition to my citizenship in the U.S. by birth, I obtained citizenship in Ireland a few years ago thanks to my Grandparents having been born there. I even carry two passports, yet I have not so far traveled to my "new" homeland! You know how it is, when you have the funds you don't have the time, but when you have the time... I think I'll have to make it a vacation trip once I'm reestablished in the workforce.

The picture above is of a fence around a family grave plot in Montgomery, and while it is green, it's also somehow appropriate for the holiday. It's family...and it's death. It's memory, and morose, all familiar territory for St. Patrick's folks!

A book I mentioned recently has taught me something sad about the Irish in America, and that is their racism, at least in New York City, at least in the years leading up and during the U.S. Civil War. The draft riots there were largely an Irish event, and largely a protest against the very idea that Irish blood should be spilled to end black slavery. Mobs of Irish immigrants murdered any black person they came across. My ancestors didn't arrive in American till a couple of decades after that war ended, and I've no idea what their own racial prejudices may have been, if any. When I talk with people who were children in Alabama during the 60's Civil Rights era, I'm often told you had to be there to understand, that they were insulated from the marches and protests "Downtown". And I wonder if the children of the draft riots would say the same thing.

MMMM* # 32 - Sunshine Week-will it matter anymore?

This is "Sunshine Week", a promotional effort by journalism organizations and others to promote more open government meetings and records. The irony this year is that it maight not make much difference. The drumroll of dead and dying papers continued in the past week, and newspapers are the prime originators or news in America. Will bloggers spend the enormous amount of time needed to go though those open records and attend those open meeting?

• 1,600 workers at McClatchy are out of work. (Read it at al.com.)
• Here's another blogger's list of ten papers most likely to go under in coming weeks. None is in Alabama. And an AP story about the potential for even more layoffs soon.
• Over the weekend, the announcement that a major newspaper/TV group is giving up on its Washington D.C. coverage. The Media General bureau will be shut down.

• And the annual State of The News Media is out today, and it paints a bleak but not hopeless portrait.

What all this means is that there will be even fewer eyes watching what the Feds are doing, at the same time the number of groups trying to influence what Congress and The White House do is increasing.

[*The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]

AIG

Lots of fury this Sunday about the disclosure that AIG, beneficiary of $165-Billion U.S. taxpayer dollars, is going to give bonuses to some of its employees to the tune of $150-Million. That's chump change in today's economic world, but still infuriating. AIG says the bonuses were promised before the collapse, and their hands are tied. And that in effect ties our hands too, no? It you hate Citi Bank for its own failures, you can always close your account to show your displeasure. You can pledge to never buy another Ford or GM product. But just what can you do to AIG? They sell nothing with any direct connection to the average consumer. Over the years I've mounted my own personal campaigns against corporations that did something I found objectionable. But what are my options now? Do you know somebody who is an AIG executive? How will you react when, despite the misery across much of the country, he or she all of a sudden shows up with a new Bentley, or refurbishes the spa at the country home? How about casually asking them just what it is they did to earn that bonus, considering the abject failure of their firm? And can all of us now book a day at our spa? Last night on 60-Minutes, Fed Chair Ben Bernanke said nothing made him angrier in all of this mess than the AIG situation. Maybe that spa visit will help sooth him.

[UPDATE: From Sen. Shelby on Good Morning America: ''We ought to explore everything that we can through the government to make sure that this money is not wasted,'' Shelby said. ''These people brought this on themselves. Now you're rewarding failure. A lot of these people should be fired, not awarded bonuses. This is horrible. It's outrageous.''

Not that I don't share his outrage, but who was Chairman of the Senate Banking Committe for most of the last eight years? Where is his responsibility?] [Sen. Shelby uses the same argument about the man who's run Treasury for all of a few weeks during an interview Tuesday morning.]

[UPDATE #2: The NY Attorney General wants to see if the bonuses were fraud...]

[UPDATE #3: a U.S. Senator suggests suicide for AIG executives...after an apology.

[UPDATE #4: It's a Democratic circular firing squad!

NPR Cuts

Despite a $200-Million endowment from the widow of McDonalds Founder Ray Kroc, NPR continues to cut back. Last year it was people and programs that the network let go, and today there's a memo out in which the network is cancelling all of its newspaper subscriptions. So now Public Radio has discovered the cost of news: free.

AG Update - Don't ask him.

Troy King announced in Birmingham yesterday that he'll run for re-election as AG instead of joining the crowded field of Republicans in the race for Governor. Then there's the matter of that reported Grand Jury investigation into King. But the AG professes ignorence: "I don't know anymore about it than y'all do," the attorney general said. Meanwhile Bob Gambacurta at The Montgomery Independent has updated the story, which he broke.

South Alabama Bloodshed

I suppose it is the size of the communities and the number of fatalities that make the killings around Geneva compelling and horrible. The populations of the three towns are only in the few thousands, like so many other small centers of population in the state. Scott Stantis' cartoon is as good a comment as any I've seen. Yesterday, The Governor offered his own analysis: we need to revisit the firepower available to law enforcement in the state's smaller communities, since the murderer had "assault" weapons (an SKS and a Bushmaster (pictured above, right), with magazines taped together; a shotgun; and a .38-caliber handgun) and the local police "only pistols".

Already groups that advocate more gun-control are using the shooting as an example. Should we now provide high-powered "assault" rifles to the approximately 200 towns in Alabama with between one and ten thousand residents, roughly the size of the the communities in the center of the shootings? Would those weapons be kept in patrol cars, or at the police department? The first increases the potential for theft, the second delays getting them to the scene. The entire incident around Geneva was relatively brief. Michael McLendon set his mother's house on fire around 3:30 and then shot himself about 4:15. Is more firepower really an answer? Should we further limit access to those so-called "assault" weapons? The suspect had no criminal history, nothing to prevent him from buying a houseful of armament if he wanted. What do you think?

[UPDATE: There is a report that McLendon was unhappy with family members over ownership of a family Bible, and was trying to hire a lawyer because of the dispute.]

Now why didn't I think of....

In our "Brilliant Idea" department (created just now) there is this: a device that lets you bookmark a "place" on your radio...if you are listening to some public radio stations. I don't know if any Alabama NPR affilliates have adopted the technology yet, but as someone who is always having to leave the car halfway through a great story, I'm IN! Read the story here. Its probably significant that there is no plan to offer the technology for commercial stations. After all, when is the last time you were glued to your car seat listening to one of those corporate monoliths?

Grand Jury Probes Troy King

According to newspaper reports, Alabama Attorney General Troy King is under Federal investigation....The Birmingham News suggests gambling issues may be at the heart of the investigation, which is being conducted by Northern District U.S. Attorney Alice Martin, even though King is based in Montgomery. The blogger "Doc's Political Parlor" reports King was expected to announce his political plans on Thursday night. It was Bob Gambacurta at The Montgomery Independent who broke the grand jury story just before 8pm last night.

A NYC Rosa, 101 Years Before

I'm reading a book about how the Civil War affected the place of my birth...New York City, and I've come across an amazing story. The book is Gotham At War, New York City 1860-1865, and it briefly mentions a Rosa Parks type incident in the city 101 years before Rosa's refusal to give up her seat. In NY it was a teacher named Elizabeth Jennings, who sued a streetcar company...successfully...after she was thrown off a "white's only" streetcar. You'll find the story easily with a search, but one place is this pdf from The New York State Council for The Social Studies. The book has also been an eyeopener about the racism of many of New York's Irish residents...one of the main causes of the infamous draft riots during the war.

"Literally Watch"

Charles Blow, writing in a column in Sunday's N.Y. Times: ==================================================================== THREE BLIND MICE The Republicans have reached a new low, literally. According to the most recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, the percentage of Americans who view the Republican Party positively is at an all-time low. ==================================================================== Not unless the next GOP convention is going to be held on the floor of the Grand Canyon or in a submarine deep in the Atlantic. ["Literally Watch" is a public service of this blog, an attempt to maintain the original, and we believe correct, meaning of the word.]

Selma Reenactment?

When is a reenactment NOT a reenactment? All weekend I've heard and read about the "reenactment" of the march across the Edumnd Pettis Bridge in Selma, but that's not what happened. It's also not truly a "celebration". The Montgomery Advertiser had it right when Alvin Benn described the event as "a commemorative walk" across the bridge. A reenactment is just that, and for there to be a reenactment of Bloody Sunday you would need, well, blood! At least fake blood, and actors playing the role of Alabama State Troopers with batons. The more I think about it, the more I see why organizers decided on a commemoration as more appropriate than a reenactment (no matter what some reporters call it).

MMMM #32 - The Rocky Obit, Addendum

Who killed The Rocky Mountain News? TIME magazine says it was "the suits". In a story online they quote now unemployed sportswriter Dave Krigeler: "I still don't get how a newspaper with 200,000 paying subscribers and hundreds of thousands more readers on the Web cannot make a go of it ... 'Not our fault,' the suits say. '[It's the] business model's fault.' So who came up with the business model?" The suits.

This would be as good a time as ever to ask yourself: does my local paper have that many subscribers and online readers? Which sizable Alabama city will become the first without a single daily paper? The days of the two newspaper city in Alabama are long gone...I believe it was the Birmingham Post-Herald that was the last to die. And now the survivors are endangered.

[UPDATE: NY Times story on 3/12/09 addresses that very possibility. The city with Zero daily newspapers.]

###

Radio is also have a tough time paying the bills, but some folks in Miami apparently found one radio format that was working pretty well. They were using their frequency to teach about drug dealing, as well as advertising for drug dealers. One small problem, apparently they didn't have an FCC license, so the Commission and sheriff's deputies pounced and shut them down on Friday.

Bravo to CBS...

...to mix channel metaphors. Interesting piece on 60-Minutes tonight about the unreliability of eyewitness testimony. Your can read it or watch it online. A great example of broadcast journalism.

Mass Transit addendum

In a previous post I was critical of the stimulus package for designating too much money for roads and highways and not enough for Mass Transit, specifically High Speed Rail. But a Washington Post story says the money that is in the plan will be a big improvement over previous years. Coincidentally, there's a feature story in the NY Times about our current passenger rail system, Amtrak. The writer takes a cross-country trip and is delighted, though I have to say his praise for the messy urban "scenery" near the cities is the opposite of my cynical view. On my one Amtrak trip, from Atlanta to Birmingham for a TV story, I found myself wishing the junk yards and empty downtown factories could somehow be painted over. [UPATE: Monday, March 9, 2009: New study says Mass Transit usage is up significantly.]

Safe-Sales Honesty

I suppose this post should be more about the fact that I was surprised by a comment I read in a N.Y. Times story than about the comment itself. First things first: the Times story quotes a salesman telling some customers not to buy:

“I love to sell safes, don’t get me wrong,” said Ray Cole, 58, a former New York City police officer who sells safes at his store, Cole Safe and Lock, on the Upper East Side. “But everybody’s hurting right now. You shouldn't spend money you don’t have to.”

Imagine that! A salesman saying don't buy. It's almost as revolutionary as Santa sending Macy's customers to Gimbels in A Miracle on 34st Street. Of course former policeman Cole owns the shop, so he can do whatever he pleases. I wonder how he would have reacted if some part-time employee of his said the same thing. But that's just me being cynical. I salute him, and hope that others will react the same way and if they have to buy a safe, go to his store to do so.

For sure, unemployment has made me a lot thriftier as a shopper. Out went the 5-blade $3.50 razor blades, as did the impulse purchases of Amazon books or Publix flowers. HD cable? I can live without. A friend of mine in another state got so angered at a cable company price hike that he cancelled the whole thing. Now he's hooking up converter boxes to his analogue TV's to watch free over the air TV. As for a home safe, more and more of us would like to have one for security if we had anything to put in it. Real Estate prices keep dropping, as does the value of the 401k accounts everybody told us to start "for the long haul". I can't be the only one tempted to gather what money I have left and put it in a safe, or under the mattress, which would be thriftier, if not safer.

"Literally Watch"

"Car makers are literally fighting for their lives right now..." TV anchor on a Noon newscast today. They may feel like they're going to die, but probably not. ["Literally Watch" is a public service of this blog...an effort to maintain the original, and we say correct, meaning of the word.]

Siegelman - Most charges upheld

The 11th Circuit in Atlanta has upheld all of the key charges against the former Governor...dropping only two mail-fraud counts. The story is everywhere, of course. I was knee deep in the job hunt this morning so it slipped by me for a while. Siegelman is scheduled to be on MSNBC's Rachael Maddow show tonight...not sure if that's still on now.

Tel*a*Promp*Ter

The first time I ever used a teleprompter was in the 1980's. Channel 13 TV in Birmingham (WVTM now, but it may have still been WAPI back then) had a job opening for someone to do brief local news inserts in the NBC overnight news program they were airing. I applied and was given a "test" at the prompter. I have to admit, it felt perfectly natural to read the copy as it scrolled down on the black and white screen, and I was thinking as I read it "Hey, I can do this!". Of course I didn't get the job, so perhaps my perception was off a bit? I was thinking about that first exposure to the machine today after reading a N.Y. Times story about President Obama always using a prompter, and the experience of other presidents going back to Harry S. Truman. I've gotten used to them now, of course, after fourteen years of TV, and I've also learned how they can attack without warning. The night of the very last For The Record, the prompter was showing the wrong script as the show opened...not to mention no "tally light" on the cameras, so countdown clock, no audio in my earpiece (IFB).

Prompters are all computer driven now, but not too long ago this is what they looked like...

...a small camera mounted above a long narrow printed copy of the script. The camera image would be sent to a monitor mounted at camera level. An operator would use an electronic control to advance the copy, hopefully at a pace the reader could keep up with.

And that's today's Broadcasting History-101 lesson.

ELECT ME NOW!!!!!!

The non-partisan mayoral election in Montgomery is next Tuesday, and the candidates have been doing everything they can to get inexpensive publicity, including the building and installing of some of the biggest non-billboard signs I've seen in a campaign.

These over sized Todd Strange campaign signs are all over the place in The Capitol, on rights-of-way and in people's yards. All speech is protected in America, and I would even be willing to argue that political speech is at the top of that list. But is there any limit at all to political sign size on private property? Could someone put up a 20' x 20' sign in front of their house? How about 30' x 50'? One good thing about these signs is that they will presumably come down next Wednesday, unlike some smaller campaign ads that seem to remain forever...

........like these stickers I spotted on a utility pole not too many yards from the larger current campaign signs. And it's been fifteen years since Paul Hubbert last ran (and lost) for Governor. If nothing else, the stickers are an ad for the durability of the signs themselves!

[UPDATE: How candidate Strange affords those signs...a story in this morning's Montgomery Advertiser.]

Rove on Siegelman!

Karl Rove will finally be asked about Don Siegelman under oath. al.com has the story here about an agreement being reached for Rove to testify behind closed doors to the Judiciary Committee...but under oath. [UPDATE: I came across an interesting letter posted on a left activist site. It's from a Montgomery lawyer representing Jill Simpson, the Rainsville lawyer who testified under oath before Congress in 2007 about a connection between Rove and the Siegelman case. The letter is to White House Council Greg Craig, who Simpson apparently approached at one point regarding legal representation. It asks Craig to step down because he failed to tell Simpson about his firm's connections with Rove and other Republican figures. But Craig was also an early supporter of President Obama, and "quarterbacked" President Bill Clinton's impeachment defense too. Anyway, the letter makes for interesting reading.]

Regions! Stock!

At the very least, it seems like poor public relations...Regions Bank offering stock options to it's top executives just before eliminating it's "match" for 401K retirement funds for the lesser workers. Read it in Forbes (and elsewhere). Course the stock isn't worth diddly right now, but...

Music-Ba(h)n.

Authorities in Germany have made arrests and confiscated music CD's in a crackdown on "far-right" music involving raids on hundreds of apartments across the country. In Germany there are laws against hate-mongering, an offshoot of the country's Nazi past. Being an American, the thought of raids to find music CD's is chilling. Should people be allowed to produce music that's offensive? Suppose the music is more that just offensive, and encourages violence? Conflicting rights.

What's eating Obama?

It depends on whom you ask...this morning's newspapers seem full of folks predicting which of the many crises facing the President are going to take him down. "The banks still threaten to consume the Obama presidency", writes Thomas Friedman . Maureen Dowd points instead to the pork-filled budget: "he did not ask Congress to sacrifice and make hard choices". Then there's Newsweek magazine, which on its January 31st cover asked in HUGE typeface if Afghanistan will be "Obama's Vietnam". Bob Herbert echoes that thought this morning, suggesting President Obama "might benefit from a look over his shoulder at the link between Vietnam and the still-smoldering ruins of Johnson’s presidency". And those columnists are just in this morning's N.Y. Times! [Google "Obama's Vietnam" to see how popular that phrase has become!]

Makes you wonder if GW had it right when he didn't read newspapers. One the other hand, the way that business is falling off the cliff (some would say driving off it), Mr. Obama may not have them to not read for long.

[UPDATE: listen to an interview with the author of "The Gamble", Thomas Ricks, on NPR's Morning Edition, in which he says about IRAQ (NOT Afghanastan!): "It's not going to be a democracy, it's going to have a surprising level of violence, it's probably going to be an ally of Iran and it's probably going to be ruled by some sort of dictator, some sort of little Saddam."]

Oinking all the way back to Alabama

Since Alabama was such a strong supporter of Sen. McCain, there must be mixed feelings about his failure to rid the stimulus package of earmarks. Look what's coming to Alabama courtesy of Senator Richard Shelby, who came in second place after West Virginia's Robert Byrd for bringing home the bacon: Byrd was nearly eclipsed by Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the Finance Committee and the Senate's highest-profile critic of the recent bank bailouts, snagged the No. 2 spot with $115 million. Read the full story in the NY Post or elsewhere...

Bible Belt Sinnin'

A few years ago I produced a For The Record-In-Depth segment trying to answer the question of why there's so much sin in the most outwardly religious states. It was an interesting exercise, with no simple answer from the ministers and ethicists and researchers we interviewed. Today in the Salt Lake Tribune is a story about online "adult" websites that points to Utah and some other states with a conservative reputation as have more than average subscribers to those sites. No, Alabama is not on the list of the top OR the bottom ten...somewhere in the middle 2.7 - 2.9 per thousand broadband Internet users. You can read the professor's paper online, if you like.

Hometown Rescue

RSA is lending hundreds of millions of dollars to a company building a plant in Northern Alabama, according to a Times Daily story .

But a Summer of 2007 AP story reported that the plant was expected to "have a $350 Million Dollar investment" and employ 1,600 workers when it is finished. The story today reports that RSA's total investment is now almost double that amount, and the first car has yet to be produced. RSA CEO David Bronner doesn't make many mistakes, so I have to presume he expects to get at least his principle back (plus saving a lot of jobs). The fact that National Railcar needed to turn to RSA for the money is an indication of the deep trouble the economy is in. On July 18th 2007, when the project was announced with much fanfare, Governor Riley declared that it would one day be considered a "defining moment for North Alabama". Let's hope that's not because the cost-per-job turned out to be so high. The plant was supposed to begin producing rail cars early this year.

MMMM # 31 The Price of News

Folks who study newspapering and the country's dead and dying newspapers are fond of saying the price of news online has been established. It's $0.00, meaning consumers will simply not pay for access. I know of only one Alabama paper charges for access, The Anniston Star. The largest papers share an online home at al.com.

In the L.A. times, a columnist has come up with a suggestion: follow the iTunes model. Maybe he has a point. Once the music industry stabbed Napster through the heart, millions of songs were sold through iTunes. Meanwhile over at the N.Y. Times there's a piece about the death of the TV Networks. Carry that thought forward. Without networks, just what would all of those affiliated stations do for National and International news? Have their own bureaus? Not likely.

So the big national newspapers die, the TV Nets go away and the local TV stations become strictly local. Just what are Americans left with as a source of news outside of their backyard? Alja Zerra? Bloggers? Stories swapped over the backyard fence?

[UPDATE: Some interesting observations on this subject this Monday morning in a NY Times story about the end of the Rocky Mountain News.]

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog]

S*N*O*W

Did everyone rush the grocery stores last night to buy up all the milk and bread? That's what I recall happening in Birmingham every time there was a chance of snow in the forecast...it's still falling here in Montgomery this morning, but the overall temperature is too warm for more that a brief accumulation on the grass, not much if any on roadways. I can hear the neighbors twins out taking advantage of perhaps the first snow in their lives!