the newspaper business

One of the tightest newspaper owners in the biz has just lost his marbles. This is the same owner who built a new building for a press on the strict guidance that it not be built for the long term. He asked for a cheapo building.  At the same time, these newspaper companies are reducing staff to cover LOCAL, meaningful news, the owners are going whole hog to impress the party bosses and elite that newspapers are still relevant.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune in the past 18 months has trimmed its staff substantially through buyouts and layoffs and has frozen wages for some workers. The Rocky Mountain News has lost more than 12% of its weekday circulation in the past two years. Both MediaNews and Avista Capital, the private-equity owner of the Star Tribune, are laboring under steep debt loads.

“You forget about the P&L for this,” said Dean Singleton, chairman of MediaNews Group, which publishes both the Denver Post and Pioneer Press, among its 54 daily U.S. newspapers. “This is a week to really showcase what we do best.”

The no-holds-barred coverage comes even though broadcast and cable news television, national newspapers and a cadre of political bloggers — an estimated 15,000 people in all — are planning to blanket the proceedings at both conventions. Critics also say the proceedings are news-free events hardly worth all the media attention.

Put me in the category with Jon Stewart and that last sentence above. Political conventions are not news.

Jon Stewart took after the “established” media for getting too cozy with candidates and regurgitating campaign spin when it comes to political coverage.

Stewart said politicians in recent campaigns are “animatronic” because all of the “humanity has been managed out of campaigns.” He referenced the back-and-forth during the Pennsylvania Democratic primary over Obama’s lack of bowling skills.

Of course, I won’t be reading the Denver or St. Paul newspaper coverage, but here’s what they should do: focus on the impact locally. Forget the politics of the event.

CNN Grill (across from the Pepsi Center) Was Packed After the Convention Shut Down for the Day

Treat it like a four day siege of the city.

• Traffic can’t move,
• restaurants overflowing with undesirables,
• armed patrols on the street,
• dissent is stifled.

To quote my favorite weather cliche: It’s a War Zone.

Bruce Lunsford was sitting at the right hand of one of the richest guys in Warren County. He invited a few of his closest friends to meet with a candidate that has a real shot at knocking off Mitch McConnell for his Senate seat.

“We are a grass-roots campaign, from the bottom up, because we know Mitch is going to run a campaign from the top down,” Lunsford said from a seat next to Garvin’s desk.

Nice start Bruce and David. Leave the little man out of the meeting. Did you all have cigars to create the prototypical smoke filled room?

Forget that Obama doesn’t have his “listening” campaign anywhere near the fourth largest population center in the state. Lunsford says the area is “important.”

So they announced he may return to Beech Bend in six weeks.
In Garvin We Trust? I don’t know Garvin, I don’t know Lunsford. I would like to meet Lunsford, but because it was a private meeting, I didn’t get the chance.
“Well, you know me, don’t you?” Garvin told her (a person at the meeting). “I’m telling you that he’s a good man.”
Nope, not good enough.

Under the terms of the settlement, NAR will repeal its anticompetitive policies and require affiliated multiple listing services (MLSs) to repeal their rules that were based on these policies. NAR will enact a new policy
that guarantees that Internet-based brokerage companies will not be treated differently than traditional brokers. Under the new policy, brokers participating in a NAR-affiliated MLS will not be permitted to withhold
their listings from brokers who serve their customers through virtual office websites (VOWs). In addition, brokers will be able to use VOWs to educate consumers, make referrals, and conduct brokerage services. Such
brokers will not be excluded from MLS membership based on their business model. NAR will report to the Department any allegations of noncompliance.
http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/public/real_estate/index.htm

The Bowling Green city manager issued a policy that forbids smoking in city parks, except for the golf courses.

But he goes on to explain, the city won’t enforce it. He says he doesn’t want the vastly overworked city employees to turn into “smoking police.” He wants the citizens to just do the right thing and is depending on peer pressure to keep people from smoking in parks. But it’s OK to smoke on sidewalks?

The policy won’t apply to sidewalks but will to shared-use trail, DeFebbo said.

“It covers Greenways, because those are linear parks,” he said.

While the “most egregious violations” will be liable to prosecution, in general the city expects to rely on smokers’ politeness and peer pressure from nonsmoking park users to enforce the policy, rather than assigning already-busy employees to look for smokers, DeFebbo said.

“We’re not going to become ‘smoke police,’ ” he said.

Then why make the policy? Is it like the ordinance against spitting on the sidewalk that is currently in effect? Is it like the sign ordinance that currently isn’t enforced?

This is not the actions of a good manager: make a policy, then announce it won’t be enforced. This is the mark of a politician. If the commissioners told him to make this change it was never discussed in public.

These are the kind of actions a city manager takes so that somebody (mayor/commission) can take credit for without taking official action.

The editor at Yankton South Dakota is taking the falling bull by the horns and hoping s/he can prop it up with a secret weapon. S/he is adding more comic strips.

Showing what editors are made of, and as per the requirement taught by all the best J-schools, the editor will let the readers decide by vote.

The comics being tested include “Baby Blues,” “Bizarro,” “Mother Goose and Grimm,” “Mutts,” “The Pajama Diaries,” and “Pardon My Planet.” All are with King Features Syndicate.

Hertz said the paper’s goal is to attract more younger readers while retaining the readers who like its current comics lineup.

Obviously this editor is attuned to the marketplace in Yankton. It’s more comics people want from their newspaper - more comics. Young people are especially interested in comics on newsprint. I read it in the blogs all the time. Xers want Comics. Millennials want comics.

It’s been right there in front of us the whole time!

Sheesh.

On March 17, I made the first attempt to have tree trimmings picked up at my house.

Today the piles of tree trimmings are still there, despite repeated attempts to have them removed.

There are at least six other piles within a block of my house.

Maybe Scott Waste doesn’t know what tree trimmings look like, because two Scott Waste trucks just rumbled by the piles.

Maybe this will help.

Don’t make me paint up a sign and stand in front of your building Scott Waste. I have a can of spray paint and I know how to use it.

Before:

After:

Second pile:

The has city ordinance against modifying motorcycle exhaust systems from manufacturer’s original. I’m not positive, but I think this is one of those “look the other way” ordinances. Like spitting on the sidewalk, or that buildings must have posted a “no spitting” sign.

Have you ever heard a quiet Harley? I love the pahrump-pahrump-pahrump of a Harley. What I don’t like is the conversation drowning roar they put out when the owner shows off.

Do they teach you in Harley school to make as much noise as possible in the city limits?

I watched the Teddy Bear run one year and in the block in front of city hall, Every. Single. Harley. gunned it that whole block. As the noise echoed off the Federal building and Courthouse, the police and sheriff officers just smiled.

Here’s a case where Boomers could take a note from Millennials. Even though millennials wouldn’t be caught dead on an American made motorcycle - the Japanese manufacturer’s have learned how to muffle noise without sacrificing performance.

I can say without equivocation: every Harley rider is guilty of making obnoxious sounds every time they ride.

But since they are Boomers, cops just look the other way.

The skate park is a roaring success. Highly used by skaters of all ages, lower crime than other parts of town, and clean.

What more can you ask from a park?

Slim Nash was the believer and leader who got the park built in the face of some formidable opposition.

If there ever was a time a person could say “I told you so” it’s on the one year anniversary of the skate park.

I posted a topic on the Daily News forum a while back that is still kind of kicking around.

In a nutshell, it deals with the unofficial name of the biggest development in downtown Bowling Green since forever.

The unofficial name is Circus Square.

It’s based on a vague reference on a map from 1877 that seems to be locked in a secret place available only to those who like the name.

That’s it. Back in 1877, some map maker labeled an area “Circus Lot.”

There is absolutely no evidence that supports the contention that a circus ever was held in that area. Not even once.

So do I believe Circus Square is a “bad” name? No.

Is it meaningless? Yes.

Is there a better name? Yes.

Will I ever be around to see it called anything but Circus Square? No.

As with a lot of discussions, when they see the light of day, positions tend to harden. Instead of being a catalyst for open and candid discussion, and perhaps coming up with a better name. Those who support the name Circus Square are firm in their position. I’ve been around long enough to know when heels are being dug in.

Newspapers will die if we don’t act to improve the health of the industry, writes Kevin Martin, head of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, in an op-ed piece. The FCC “should modify” the rule that bars ownership of both a newspaper and a broadcast outlet in a single market.

There is never discussion about small markets like this one. Meanwhile, WNKY and WBKO have been allowed to double their advertising inventory by becoming affiliated with more networks. WBKO ABC/FOX/CW and WNKY NBC/CBS.

The newspaper owns a radio station, and that was grandfathered in. But if we wanted START a TV station, what choice is there? So locally, who cares what the FCC does, it won’t have an impact here.

 UPDATE: It has been reported that new FCC rules if enacted would only effect top 20 markets.  #20 is Orlando,  so you can see how restrictive this proposal really is.