The Big Peach & The Demise of Newspapers

Poynter has posted an essay written by the late John Walter, a founding editor of USA Today, in which he blames three people for newspapers' demise. It's a good read by an intelligent writer. I'm not sure I agree with all of it, but Walter makes several salient points, which Charles Batchelor nicely summarizes in the comments section:

1) It's not wise to discount the product and then ask people to value it. People expect the price to the price.

2) Many newspaper publishers (& especially their ad staffs) in many one paper markets became "dull as dog poop" because they ere arrogant, greedy and lazy after the merger mania. (This did and continues to make the web even more appealing than it would have been otherwise.)

3) Features with pretty pictures are easier and more fun to do that hard news, but many newspapers will not invest in the creative talent to pull it off in a compelling way, and instead are "soft and squishy as hell."

4) Investors are looking for the best return, not just a good return. If one day brass widgets make more money than publishing, that will be the day "when Wall Street wasn't going to love" newspapers. Short term investors are a problem for every firm--including newspapers.

One of the people Walter blames is a layout editor at The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal. This also caught my eye:

And there was the San Francisco Chronicle, which had large headline type, too, and a sports section printed on green paper and a classified section printed on bright yellow paper.

When I was growing up, The Des Moines Register published its sports section on peach colored paper, at least on Sundays. It became known as the Big Peach. I did not know other papers did similar things. I don't recall seeing it an another paper. I'm really sorry they stopped.

And, just like that, newspapers started to abandon the ugly, hodgepodge look of their vertical columns and went into the magazine business.

They lost, thereby, a sense of urgency, and the thing that made them look like, well, newspapers. And it got worse; eventually layout editors were replaced by something called design directors, and design directors took to running pictures of large vegetables, first in black and white and later in color, and newspapering went all soft and squishy as hell.

I've long enjoyed looking at old newspapers on microfilm, mainly because their design seemed so much more "newsy" when stories weren't spread across multiple columns. Perhaps its just nostalgia, for that is the design I grew up with, even in my hometown daily. Of course, the newspaper page used to be much larger. I'm not speaking of tabloid format. No paper I read as a child through college published in that format.

Today's Springfield News-Leader looks much more like a small college paper or a small town weekly than a metro daily. I understand the economics behind the changes, and I suppose I should be happy fewer trees must be cut to make today's papers. But I wonder if these changes haven't weakened the metro newspapers' standing in their communities, and contributed to their demise.

Klum & Seal Have Not Aged Well

(click for a larger view)

Heidi Klum is 34. Seal is 44. Neither look it, now do they? Can't wait to see how Klum looks in the "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show" (CBS, today, 9 p.m.).

I did NOT photoshop this. The photo caption reads ""Project Runway" host Heidi Klum says home life with her husband, singer Seal, is "colorful" and that Seal is the perfect dad." Here's the original.

[mortar-board tip to Mrs. DocLarry]

Still Need Fact Check on Aisle Nine

(click to enlarge)

Above is the latest article posted on the News-Leader site as of 10:15 a.m. Friday. Drury University has not been "college" since Jan. 1, 2000. The photo caption at least gets Tindle Mills right.

Fact Check on Aisle Nine

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Some one on the night desk at the News-Leader needs to fact-check better. Drury University has not been named "college" for nearly eight years (since January 1, 2000). And TINDLE Mills has been TINDLE for over 100 years. I captured this screen at 1:53 a.m. October 12. The story was posted at 9:47 p.m. October 11.

Another Edition of Things That Make You Go AAAAAAAAAUUUGGGGHHHH!

The Sunday News-Leader has a story about Reeds Spring biology teacher Mike Collins returning to his classroom. Toward the end is a discussion of an incident in 2005 when Collins admitted to forging a parental permission slip for one of his students.

Collins spoke to the News-Leader in March about the forgery. He acknowledged doing it, but said about 15 minutes after he turned the forgery in, he reminded it and confessed.

"He reminded it?" I know we live in the Ozarks and people don't always use proper English, but this was not a direct quote. Rather, the reporter wrote this phrasing and a copy editor approved it. According to my dictionary reminded means "To cause to remember; put in mind." So the above sentence says Collins caused the permission slip to remember, or Collins put the permission slip in mind. That latter one sort of fits, if a few extra words had been included in the reporter's sentence.

However, I don't think that's what the reporter meant at all. I'm betting the word the reporter meant to use was "remanded" which my dictionary defines as "To send or order back." In other words, Collins ordered the forged permission slip back, and cofessed to having forged it.

Simple typo? Maybe.

The more egregious error is contained in a graphic linked to the story, and reported in a side-bar story about the joint statement issued by three school board members who voted against reinstating Collins. The graphic is of the scanned statement with signatures of the three board members. It includes contact information, listing the phone number of board member Hank Smythe, followed by "not for publication" enclosed in parentheses. Smythe obviously did not want his phone number published. The News-Leader ignored that request. Why?

Smythe's phone number could have been blacked out, leaving his name and the parenthetical request. No reasonable reader would have wondered what had been blacked out and accused the News-Leader of hiding something.

I wonder, will the reporter and/or editor will apologize to Smythe?

Another "AAAAAAAAGGGHHHH" Moment

The News-Leader does it again!

Professor awarded two grants for more than $40,000
Dr. Lynn Robbins, professor of biology, was awarded two grants for more than $40,000 from Western EcoSystems Technology, Inc. to determine the presence or absence of Indiana bats in specific areas of northern Missouri.

The projects will determine the presence of the endangered bats and the species composition of other bat species on a site that is under consideration for the construction of wind generated electric turbines.

“The firm representing the power company is working closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a pro-active manner to determine if there would be any adverse consequences to wildlife if the project is to move ahead,” Robbins said. “My part is to use nets and ultrasonic detectors (Bat Detectors) to look at the presence and abundance of all bat species in the area.”

Anyone notice anything missing? Anyone?

At which college or university is Dr. Lynn Robbins a professor of biology? It's not like there's only one in Springfield. I'm certain the news release from which this was copied included the name of that institution of higher learning.

Was there truly a need to post this to the Web under "Latest News Updates" without this highly relevant bit of information? Could it not have waited until Friday morning?

Blogger, News-Leader Tell Tabby Tale

Springfield blogger Larry Litle has a post on his displeasure with the reaction of some unnamed people have had to the passing of Jerry Falwell. He uses a large brush to paint broad strokes:

My issue is squarely on the shoulders of those on the left that (sic) have been celebrating his death. I have been hearing about the parties that have been thrown in honor of his death. The jokes have not stopped in two weeks. I find this behavior to be morbid and disgusting.

The kicker of the situation is the hypocrisy. The left wing preachers of tolerance are leading the bandwagon. If you hate someone enough to throw a party at their death, then are you living a tolerant life? I don't think so.

[emphasis mine]

Litle presents no evidence that any such parties have actually been thrown "in honor of [Falwell's] death." Litle merely says he's been "hearing" about them. Where have these parties taken place? What evidence does Litle have that this assertion even vaguely resembles reality?

Litle further asserts "left wing preachers of tolerance are leading the bandwagon." Who are these bandwagon leaders? For that matter, are they truly "preachers of tolerance?" Or is Litle merely lumping everyone on the left together? We don't know because Litle provides no support for his assertion.

A Google search for "Jerry Falwell death party" produced 1,140,000 hits, none stating a party had been or was being thrown to celebrate Falwell's death. Some contain statements clearly indicating the authors are not saddened by Falwell's death. A few even outright indicate happiness over the death. One would need to read a great deal more from these authors to determine if they are truly "preachers of tolerance." None of them are popular progressive bloggers. Your mileage may vary.

The closest thing I could find to fit Litle's assertion is an "anti-memorial" staged by members of San Francisco's gay and lesbian community. Not much of a party.

What I did find were many conservative blogs parroting Litle's assertions. One resembles Litle's post a great deal, right down to the lack of evidence:

I did a search of blogs and so-far, 99 out of 100 are praising his death.

And which 100 blogs did this author search? He doesn't tell us. The author doesn't include a single link to support this assertion. Could it be that these bloggers are merely parroting each other?

Ya' know, I keep hearing several Freepers like to beat up women and spit on them and go all crazy. Those right wing preachers of faith are leading the bandwagon. What? You want me to back this up? Provide an example? Uh, that'd be too much work, dude. I'd rather just repeat what I've "been hearing."

Without any sort of supporting evidence, repeating what one has "been hearing" is nothing more than peddling gossip.

Even the Springfield News-Leader got in on this gossip gabfest by reprinting Litle's post in Wednesday's (May 30th) edition. We know the News-Leader editorial board believes signed blogs have "a higher standard," implying signed blogs are more credible than unsigned ones. To quote the editorial board, "the best blogs in Springfield and Missouri have names attached to them."

Poppycock.

What sort of high standard is set by spreading gossip? By making grand assertions with no supporting evidence? It doesn't matter whether the gossip monger signs his name or not. It's still just peddling gossip.

Things to Make You Go....Hmmmmmmmm

What's the matter with the Springfield News-Leader? OK, too broad a question. Let me be specific: Why is the writing so bad? Here are some examples from the May 28, 2007 edition:

Sarah Overstreet's column about Chuck Wooten:

At a long table, not even a desk, former state representative Chuck Wooten sits, the phone near his elbow ringing constantly.

A Bible and a book of funeral services for many religious faiths are an arm's length away.

Nearby on a coat rack is Wooten's suit jacket, which he will put on in 30 minutes to walk to the committal shelter to help with a funeral.

Sometimes, he reads from both the Bible and the book of funeral services, at a family's request.

"A lot of the funeral directors know me, and a lot of times they'll call out here ... they'll ask me to say a few words and I will," says Wooten, now cemetery program representative for the cemetery. His job is to advocate for the cemetery with legislators, the Veterans Affairs department and anyone else who will listen.

Uh, what cemetery would that be, Sarah? Obviously, you are referring to a veterans cemetery. Springfield has two. Three paragraphs later (the EIGHTH graf of the story) Sarah finally tells us which of the two veterans' cemeteries in Springfield she means:

If it weren't for Wooten, who was a Republican state representative from Springfield at the time when state leaders began talking about how quickly our veterans cemeteries would be full, our Missouri Veterans Cemetery wouldn't rest on 58 acres of gentle, rolling hills of grass with young trees lining its paved roads, surrounded by mature trees that lay in the countryside around it long before it was even an fleeting idea in someone's mind.

The cemetery should have been fully identified upon first reference. Bad writing, compounded further by this:

Wooten introduced legislation to push the impetus for a cemetery here, among other Missouri sites. He thought it was on track. Then, one night as Wooten was in the capital about 10 p.m., then-Rep. Jim Montgomery, D-Cabool, stopped by to have a talk. "Chuck, I'm pulling Springfield out of the bill." Montgomery wanted a cemetery in Cabool.

Wooten took to the mattresses, marshaling everyone he could to lobby citizens, veterans and state leaders to choose Springfield as one of the sites for five proposed vet burial grounds.

"Wooten took to the mattresses?" What in blazes does that mean? I'm not a native Ozarkian, so perhaps this is some colloquialism I've yet to hear. But I doubt it.

I hope Sarah forgot to delete a word in the following quote:

"It's so beautiful that a lot of weekends I'll just come down out and drive through it," he says.

"Come down out and drive?" Another Ozark colloquialism? Or just poor editing? With Sarah, probably the latter.

Here's another story from the May 28 edition, "Water feature to be built at Smith Park." Springfield has a Smith Park, located at 1536 E. Division Street. According to the Springfield-Greene County Park Board web site, the park has:

1 lighted softball field, 2 lighted tennis courts, outdoor basketball courts, restrooms, horseshoes, drinking fountain, children's & adolescent's play equipment, open play area, picnic tables & grills, open shelters

So reading the above headline one might believe a "water feature" will soon be added to that list. One would be confused, then, reading the first graf of the story:

The Board of Aldermen agreed 4-2 this past week to spend up to $115,000 to pay for a new water feature for the Howard Smith Community Park.

"Board of Aldermen?" Springfield has a city council, not aldermen. The News-Leader did not include a dateline, nor does it ever identify the community to which the story refers. My best guess is Branson because of the second graf:

The water feature will be similar to those at Silver Dollar City and Celebration City, but on a smaller scale with 6 sprayers on a 30-foot-by20-foot concrete pad.

Is this really acceptable to the News-Leader? I'd be happy to identify the reporter who wrote this, but said reporter is not identified. Maybe "Larry Little's" (sic) friend Tony Messenger will convince the News-Leader's news room to quit printing/posting stories anonymously. Can't wait for THAT editorial.

Here's one from last Tuesday's (May 22, 2007) edition, filed in the "newspapers in education" section: Tips on saving money.

Allow me to quote the whole article:

Did you Know?

Did I know what? That article has kept me awake all week wondering what I'm supposed to know. And when will the News-Leader tell me?

Perhaps "they" don't want me to know, so "they" are keeping it a secret.

Paranoid? Me?

Something's Fishy About Sex Offender Story

The News-Leader ran a story on Wednesday, with a follow-up on Thursday, about a Missouri State University professor with a history of pedophilia. The News-Leader also provides a PDF of the MSU news release regarding the questioning of Greenwood Lab School parents by a student working on a class assignment.

The student involved, Ryan Cooper, has a history of, as Ron Davis puts it, "stirring it up."

He sued the university in 2003, claiming his conservative group, Young Americans for Freedom, was being discriminated against because of its "political and religious viewpoints."

Cooper is executive director of Missouri State Conservatives. In his Facebook profile he lists his political views as "very conservative," though he has insisted that he's more of a Libertarian than a Republican.

Cooper says he didn't intend for the professor's past to become public knowledge, and that he did not mention the professor's name when talking to parents. But Cooper does acknowledge that he found the professor's "name on a list and decided to talk to parents about the issue of having a sex offender on campus."

In Thursday's article, MSU administrators said there are possibly two students who are registered sex offenders. Why then did the university assume Cooper was referring to the professor as being the sex offender?

In the news release, "Nietzel said he assumed the person's questions relate to Dr. Michael Hendrix...." What led to that assumption?

I spent less than an hour going through the Missouri Sex Offender Registry kept by the Missouri Highway Patrol. Three persons list 901 S. National (MSU's address) as their "school address." Two others (in addition to Hendrix) list MSU as their work address. This means there are possibly six registered sex offenders at MSU, twice the number indicated in the News-Leader article. It is also entirely possible that not all six are still at MSU.

Cooper implies he found Hendrix's name only. That could mean he had an ulterior motive. Could it be that Cooper once took a class with Hendrix and didn't like something about it and this is his way of "paying back?" Because Hendrix teaches biomedical sciences and Cooper appears to be a journalism major, this seems highly unlikely.

Is MSU throwing Hendrix under the bus to distract from the other registered sex offenders on campus? Probably not. But why not fully disclose all known registered sex offenders? Why just Hendrix?

And finally, why didn't the News-Leader do what I did and check the sex offender registry list? They could also have pointed out that six registrants list Ozarks Technical Community College as their school address.

There is more to this story. We have all the information we need about Dr. Hendrix. We should have more about the other parties involved.

Paper Stuffing, Part II

Two weeks ago the News-Leader included seven (7) copies of Sears' "2 Day Sale" flyer. I questioned then the wisdom of providing me, and possibly others, with extra copies of an ad. Now I wonder if Gannet is trying to make more money by charging for the number of ad flyers they go through, rather than the actual number of papers they sell.

Today's edition came with eight (8) copies of Kohl's "2 Days Only" flyer. While the Sears ad was but four pages, the Kohl's ad is 24 pages and thus adds some weight to an already thick-with-ads paper.

Following this emerging pattern, I should receive nine (9) copies of a 144-page JC Penney catalog in two weeks. I sincerely hope my carrier doesn't toss that one onto the roof of my house. Or car. Heck, it would probably crack my driveway.

News-Leader, are you listening?

FLASH! News-Leader Sensationalizes!

Check the headline from today's top story:

SIDE NOTE: The headline in the print version is "Greene County home values soar", which is also the hed on the web page for the story. I guess "Home values soar in Greene County" filled more space...giving the page a block look.

The subhead declares "Average sale prices jump 40 percent in assessment." Reading no further one might think Greene County is bucking the national trend of a drop in home values. In fact, it would seem that, as the News-Leader declares, home values are soaring, increasing by 40 percent. Property owners might find that disturbing since it means a substantial increase in property taxes.

The third graf says "60 percent of the 115,000 real estate parcels in the county increased in value." Wow! As a new property owner I'm rather concerned about how I'm going to pay those extra taxes. My salary hasn't increased 40 percent this year. And considering we just bought the house last summer and haven't made any improvements, we either got a great bargain, or we're about to be royally ripped off.

But wait! There's more!

According to the Springfield Board of Realtors, the average home sale price in Greene County jumped 40 percent from 1998 to 2006 — from $101,249 to $142,176.

Wait a minute. What's this? That 40 percent increase is from 1998 to 2006...an EIGHT YEAR PERIOD. And then:

More recently, the average home sold for $127,271 in 2004 and $139,558 in 2005 — an almost 10 percent rise.

In 2006, the average selling price rose again, although more slowly, to $142,176 — a 1.9 percent increase.

(emphasis mine)

What's this? The average selling price (or home value) increased only ONE-POINT-NINE PERCENT in 2006. Let's see, 1.9% most recent year, versus average of 5% per year for the past 8 years. Does that really sound like "Greene County home values soar?" According to the math I learned in public school, 1.9 is less than half of 5. So while the average home value did increase last year, the increase was LESS THAN HALF of the average annual increase for the past 8 years. And it is LESS THAN ONE FIFTH of the increase of the previous year.

I'd be OK with the headline if it was used last year. . .a 10 percent increase may be classified as soaring. But 1.9 percent? C'mon!

So why'd the News-Leader do this? What was the motivation to sensationalize this story? And did I really need that jolt this morning?