Garish ads strike out

Blinking, screaming, annoying, trashy web-site ads finally drove me away from my customary pursuit of the morning’s news. 

Attempting to read through the firestorms set up by the Advocate and by MSNBC was like trying to read while looking into the lighting effects of a rock band. In spite of that, I wasn’t the least curious about the brassy advertisers or their messages so, in addition to annoying me, they also wasted a lot of money.

Here’s a perfect example of greed defeating itself. If they keep it up, if they improve on the crassness, maybe they can drive readers back to print and TV screens.

TV journalism

Dave Levingston is among featured photographers in the Newark Tea Party galleries. Here’s a note he sent me this morning ...

I just had to share with you the lead story from WHIO's 11 pm newscast tonight.  That's the CBS affiliate in Dayton.  This is important information that you need to know about:  "It's been raining.  You should stay inside or use an umbrella or you might get wet."  I couldn't resist writing to them and congratulating them on this great community service reporting since clearly anyone who watches their station for news doesn't have enough sense to come in out of the rain.

The days of black & white TV in Newark

There’s an interesting article at this WCLT web page about the old Newark City Schools’ TV station on Horn’s Hill.

Entitled “Live from Newark in Black and White,” it was written by Bill Clifford, who was for many years a reporter for WCLT. Now he’s been called out of retirement to serve as News Operations Manager.

Bill has extensive knowledge (and a good memory) about long-ago people and events, and particularly about WGSF-TV since he was closely associated with it.

Anyone who remembers those good ol’ days, anyone interested in local history, anyone who just likes to read interesting features will enjoy this report. But before you go there, take this little test to see how much you remember:

What is the name of the TV-engineer who kept WGSF patched together and where is he now?

Who was the NCS coach with a blood type called TV - Newark’s version of Jimmy Crum?

What two local newsmen did the final show in 1976?

What do the letters “GSF” in WGSF stand for?

Watch for Bush to seal some Big Oil/Energy deals

In all this time since Bush took office and oil companies have been eating America alive, mass media still can't figure out how it's being done or by whom. America's representatives in government - local, state, federal - pretend they can't figure it out and/or refuse to acknowledge the reality of it.

Mass media stupidly continue quoting "energy experts" who stupidly persist in "supply and demand" theories that work only in a free market, to which oil and other forms of energy haven't belonged for decades simply because government interference and refusal to enforce anti-trust laws negates free-market principles.

Any big news machine could get to the bottom of all this in a hurry. But none of them have - not once that I remember - nor do I expect them to.

What's going to happen instead of that is a new push for oil/energy-friendly legislation. Not free market legislation. Not anti-trust law enforcement. No. What we're going to get is more oil/energy-friendly legislation.

And right now - today - you can go to the WCLT website and read "A Local Congressman Talks About the Current Energy Problems" and see how Pat Tiberi (Republican) would give us "relief" - not by enforcement of anti-trust laws but by freeing up energy reserves in Alaska and the Dakotas and goosing up nuclear energy. Exactly the things Big Oil/Energy has been wanting.

This is the Bush Empire's first move in a final drive to seal some deals for the oil/energy brethren before he departs. Watch it unfold.

No, I insist on going out in this weather and driving for pleasure

The forecast is: Snow. Areas of blowing snow. Snow accumulation 3 to 5 inches. Total accumulation of 12 to 15 inches. Highs in the mid 20s. Northwest winds 15 to 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Chance of snow 100 percent.

Which makes me just want to bitch-slap the next smug little person on TV who reads the above words into a camera and then adds: "Don't drive if you don't have to."

(Review and discuss: Take your siren and stuff it.)

Gift to Big Media is no gift

The consolidation of media has been the worst thing that could happen to comprehensive reportage and fair advertising prices. Take for instance the chain of newspapers assembled by Thomson Newspapers in Central Ohio, then sold to Gannett, of which the Advocate is a member. When the local paper got sucked up into these chains it began getting bossed and milked by far-away fat-cat investors and squeezed ever-tighter for the last nickel and it shows.

The U.S. government, always in favor of whatever pays off for political contributors, passed new regulations last week that allows even more media consolidation. It was "Bush-appointed FCC Chairman Kevin Martin ... who rammed through the rule changes," according to King Features Syndicate columnist Amy Goodman.

But I'm okay with it. I think this gift to Big Media is no gift at all. If more consolidation makes them worse, as it surely will, then we are one step closer to rebellion by media users and media customers. We are one step closer to finding new media, better media, less expensive media, competing media. The revolution against moguls who suck up to Big Government, already evident in sinking reader trust and advertising revenue, will occur that much faster.

Bring it on.

TV news: A report on a reporter

Here's a note I received from Dave Levingston, a photographer whose work is featured in one of the Newark Tea Party Galleries ...

"I've often said that TV News is an oxymoron. Living in the area of Dayton TV stations I get frequent reminders of that truth.

"I just saw a 5-minute (I'm not exaggerating here) news report on a swing set being blown over in a back yard in Piqua. One of the high points was the 'victim' of this 'natural disaster' describing what happened, 'It was a windy wind,' he said. The report concluded with the alleged reporter informing the TV audience that people in Piqua were 'amazed' that the wind could do such things. The report also included the comment by the reporter that people in the area were still cleaning up the damage...accompanied by footage of the man uprighting his swing set.

"All true...I swear. I couldn't make this stuff up.

"Just thought you'd enjoy that. I seldom watch the local news because it's just too expensive...what with throwing things at the TV screen..."

Good report on the status of present-day reportage, Dave

By the way, Dave has taken a new challenge as photographer. For decades he has specialized in nudes against natures many backdrops. But he's been revisiting his interest in dance photography in recent weeks and publishing some of his images at his Blogger site, Exposed For The Shadows.

Blame your lazy, incompetent media for impudent government

I have been inadvertently made aware at least two dozen times in the past several hours that Brittany's sister is pregnant. I don't give a damn about her or Brittany, but that news is inescapable.

Meanwhile, the impudence of government employees rages unchecked. Why? Because media are yammering incessantly about media-created "events" like Britney-slut and her sister's vagina. Media rarely talk about what's important and when they do, their lack of depth is prodigious.

Example: The U.S.-Mexico fence project has been stopped in its tracks. Did you know that? I heard about it only because I was walking by the TV last night when Glenn Beck was popping blood from his eyes over this travesty.

This morning I spent more than an hour running down a media report about the fence on the Internet because the fact that our nation is over-run by illegal Mexicans and God knows who else is just not in the same level of importance as what Britney-slut's sister's vagina has been over-run with.

I would really like to know if my congressmen voted for or against castrating the border fence. I cannot find out. No place in the articles I saw was the bill mentioned by number. Even if there were a number, good luck sorting through the way such votes are reported on the Internet, especially voting on amendments.

What we get from media is what the so-called "Washington Press Corps" decides to send to media. Never do we hear how our congressmen voted, not unless it's a real big deal to one of the media gatekeepers. That would be the folks enthralled by celebrity vaginas.

Example: Please tell me how Jay Hottinger, your representative to the statehouse, and Tim Schaffer, your state senator, vote on anything. In fact, just tell me what there has been for them to vote on.

Example: Please tell me anything of importance reported about the Licking County Commissioners in the past several weeks, except for a small blurb about a new tax proposal. Just tell me if they're still meeting at all.

Example: Please tell me what happened at the last Newark City Council meeting if you didn't watch it yourself. You may have read the Advocate's 22-paragraph fluff lionizing Mayor Bain for his exemplary service before he was voted out of office, or you may have read the five-paragraph "report" about the city employee union addressing council. But do you know what happened at the last council meeting that affected lives and property and tax money and who voted for it and why?

No, you don't. But you probably do know the latest buzz on Buckeye football or the minutia of the police blotter - because that's a cheap and easy journalistic gimme which any clerk can be taught to handle.

It is precisely for these reasons that you're getting government employees who thumb their noses at you. You don't know who's voting on what, and the people who are paid to tell you - the Gannetts and the WCLTs and the Dispatches don't know either, don't think it's important, and would have to spend some money on reporting and editing talent to get it done.

Meanwhile they're looking for the latest celebrity vagina news and whining about readers/listeners/viewers jumping ship.

Looking for conspiracy? Check for media-government connections

Most baffling to me about my fellow citizens is their inability to make themselves heard about energy prices. It is not an issue among Presidential candidates; it is not a concern of Congress; newspapers lay it to "supply and demand." I say it's conspiracy.

If 81 percent of Americans believe it is "somewhat likely" or "very likely" that oil companies conspire to keep the price of gasoline high, (as has been determined by a Scripps Howard News Service/Ohio University poll and reported in the Columbus Dispatch this morning), why aren't they communicating about this to their government? And if they are communicating to their government about it, why isn't government investigating? And if they're not investigating, why isn't media investigating?

Here's my conspiracy theory: That not only are oil companies conspiring, but international governments are also conspiring, and our President is a ringleader. Not only is that conspiracy dogging us at the gas pump, but so is another: that big media is in on it too.

You'll wipe that snicker off your face if you'll go read the report on how the New York Times withheld a story about Pakistan for three years because Bush said so.

Now consider the biggest story ever about what I think is the biggest conspiracy of the Bush Administration, which is oil-price finagling, and guess why there are no meaningful media reports on why gasoline is $3+ per gallon.

The cure for ESPN-TV is radio

The harder ESPN tries, the more annoying it gets. Consider:

- its cute wannabe-comedian announcers who aren't terribly interested in the action on the field.

- its carney graphics team which pastes Disney over much of what's happening on the field.

- its wasted effort to attune viewers to every other game that is being/has been/will be played.

- its affinity for showcasing stupid people in the stands and press box.

- its infantile slobbering over people it thinks we should care about but we don't.

- its distracting "reports" from its token woman on the sidelines.

ESPN presents a football game as something for which viewers must search by trying to ignore their intrusive, show-biz crap.

Which is why, during the game with Illinois, I turned off ESPN's sound and turned on the radio announcers. They tell you what's going on, and that allowed me ignore ESPN whenever it started to piss me off and I could actually hear football announcers tell me about the game.

As a bonus, the radio guys were a few seconds ahead of ESPN's delayed broadcast, so that by the time I saw it on the screen I already knew the outcome. Ha. Score one for me, ESPN, because I am no longer oppressed by your creative genius.

We came here for the game, stupid

Not infrequently do sports commentators forget their telecasts are not about themselves, but are instead about a sports event. They forget that they are supposed to enhance the viewers' understanding of what's happening.

ESPN needs to take note: Understanding and enjoyment are greatly hampered when the camera is constantly being pulled from the field to whisk the viewer to unrelated replays in far-away stadiums or - more especially - to the broadcast booth to show these comedian-wannabe's commenting on unrelated, unfunny and uninteresting subjects.

I think ESPN won the Heisman for shabby commentary on a sporting event at last night's OSU-Purdue game by constant and ever-more annoying interruptions by ego-driven commentators talking about the wrong things.

Ahmadinejad: Listen to the other side, for a change

Neither Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nor his ideas nor his voice are to be feared. I am interested in what he has to say.

That our government and our government-herded media are afraid we'll hear arguments against what's being fed to us from Washington seems evident by the attempt to shout him down before he's opened his mouth.

Shut up and let the man speak.

Greed and the Big 10

"What fascinates me is the sheer gall of an organization that makes its living off the free labor of college students and which already makes quadzillions of dollars from lucrative bowl games and merchandising and ridiculous ticket prices, and yet now has the chutzpah to say to Time Warner: 'Cough up $1.10 per subscriber every month and we'll let you broadcast games' ... It's emblematic of the way things are: no matter how much money is raked in it's never enough, no matter how loyal your customers you'll still find a way to screw them given half a chance, and one thin, red dime can never be left on the table."

Well-said, Tim Smith of Hilliard, who was writing in the Sunday Dispatch to the editor of the sports section. The headline for this column was: Big Ten Network lightning rod for seething OSU fans.

None of this is news to OSU football fans or anyone who's followed the incredibly greedy practices of this state-supported university. I mentioned it briefly 9/4/07 under the title "OSU - It's all about greed"

Where are the limits to these practices? Who controls the money-changers at our state's universities? Where are Ohio legislators and what are they doing about runaway enrichment of university administrators and sports programs? Or is it the other way: do the money-changers in fact control the state legislators? And where's Jay Hottinger when you need him?

NRA says - Gun owners, speak out

NRA sent a news release this morning regarding the media's assault on the Second Amendment. It says, in part ...

"The Culture and Media Institute (CMI) recently released a report entitled 'The Media Assault on the Second Amendment.' Its findings will not surprise you.

"According to the study, in the first seven months of 2007, the three major networks ran some 650 stories on firearm-related homicides, yet only two covering the use of guns for self-defense. Considering guns are used three to five times more often for self-defense than to commit a crime, this disproportion is staggering."

Read the entire release here.

The NRA also mentioned on its web site an article published recently by the Chillicothe Gazette, written by Ross County Sheriff Ron Nichols. Ron is very much in favor of citizens being better able to protect themselves because, he says, "The right to bear arms is guaranteed by the United States Constitution, and it's not the law-abiding citizens we worry about, anyway. It's the criminals: They're going to be armed whether there's a law or not!"

You can read that article here.

Information about how to get a concealed carry permit in Licking County is available at the Licking County Sheriff's web site.

Council ignores chance for opening government to citizens

If you've followed along here on the subject of televised Newark City Council meetings and why there aren't any, you already know that it's simply because council members and the mayor don't want them.

At last the public knows why. The matter came up in the June 4, 2007 council meeting and Mr. Uible explained: "The idea of televising council meetings is not a good idea simply because our meetings are too long and I’m afraid televising these meetings might be a little be self-serving. I would not be in support of that plus I think it would be difficult to find someone who wants to pay for it."

Thus does Mr. Uible demonstrate the depth of his desire to have the public more widely informed about who says what during public meetings in which the public's business is being conducted and the public's money is being spent.

As for long meetings, he should be presenting a resolution to have council members' chairs removed from council chambers, which would certainly save everyone's time.

To review, go to Council members avoid public scrutiny - May 14, 2007. and Newark City Council election promises blown off - April 19, 2007. Council has been reminded that its contract with Time-Warner provides for the public-access channels, and members were given the name and the telephone number of the Time-Warner technocrat who is supposed to know everything about such matters.

Marc Guthrie, council president,went on record during the June 4 meeting with this:

"Regarding televising council meetings, I believe these meetings should be televised. Most council meetings of cities our size are televised so citizens can watch the meetings and I don’t think our previously televised meetings were any longer than the ones we are having now, I’m very much in favor of these meetings moving along as quickly as possible but also believe the peoples’ right to watch the public business and will continue to support an effort to get these things on television and encourage the administration to talk with Time Warner and try to get public access to these meetings as soon as possible."

As far as I know, Guthrie is and always has been for open government, for letting the public see what's happening. But one council representative isn't enough.

Members of city council have given their answers to the question of open government by doing nothing to make it happen.

Newark cable service would be affected by a proposal in the state senate

The City of Newark makes a sizable chunk of change in the hidden tax collected for it by Time Warner through what is known as the franchise fee, which is 3 percent of gross.

That tax could be jacked up by a bill in the Ohio Senate that would take from local government entities the power to enter into cable agreements and hand it over to the state government, but the city profit could be as much as 5 percent.

Though there are many disadvantages to local governments, the hidden tax of 5 percent instead of 3 percent might be a convincing carrot for the state.

Newark uses this tax, according to a resolution passed in March 2001 as follows: 60 percent for city parks, 30 percent for capital improvements; and 10 percent for litter prevention. That may have been changed, but there is no record of it filed with the franchise agreement.

You can read about Senate Bill 117 here.

Also, the Dispatch today published an article about Ohio cities' negative reaction to the proposal.

Ohio Senate Bill 117 proposes to take the regulatory authority for cable television, or "video service" (which probably includes far more than cable TV) from communities like Newark and deposit it in the lap of the state director of commerce.

There would be no more competitive service agreements between cable providers and the Ohio communities they serve. There would be no PUCO authority for oversight. There would be a single political appointee in charge.

This bill would prohibit communities from collecting fees or making any requirements on the providers. Instead it would require the VSP (video service provider) to pay a "quarterly fee" not to exceed 5% percent of gross revenue, and to include that fee in its bills to subscribers. It authorizes the VSP to construct and operate a video service network in, along, across, or on public rights-of-way, and - you guessed it - private property.

It excludes the VSP from paying sales and use taxes and it removes the authority by townships to enter cable service contracts for unincorporated areas.

The bill is sponsored by Jacobson, R. Miller, Spada, Buehrer, Mumper, Niehaus, Stivers, and Mason.

If there is supposed to be an advantage to anyone other than state bureaucrats and multi-national corporations, it isn't evident anywhere in the wording of this bill.

And nowhere have I read about the most important consideration of all - what is best in terms of service to Ohio consumers. Instead, we're hearing only about what is best for government entities - not protection of citizens, but of turf.

Massacre or not, don't mess with Kelly

Because I need worthwhile inspiration to pump an exercise bike every morning, I began many months ago to coordinate these activities with Live With Regis & Kelly. I subsequently fell madly in awe of Kelly and am now religious about exercising while she is smiling into the camera, and only then.

So it was no small thing to me when yesterday WBNS-TV (CBS - channel 10, Columbus, Ohio) pre-empted Kelly for even more coverage of the Virginia Tech massacre, of which I had already had far more than I needed.

Having no Kelly to watch, I cut my exercise short(er) and used the time to fire off indignant e-mails to Frank Willson, director of operations, and Tom Gresdorn, president and general manager, of WBNS-TV - as though my e-mails would ever be read, much less answered.

Both men responded within a few hours. They were polite and sincere in their messages to me as they explained their position on preemption. They saw it as their responsibility to put news reports above regular programming and they briefly explained why.

Channel 10 gets a perfect score for customer care - in a world where there's scarcely a big business anymore that gives a whack about anything except making more money, least of all communicating with the people they serve.

As nice as they are, I still disagree that an entertainment program should be preempted for any reason. If they have to break into the enjoyment people are getting from these programs, let them confine themselves to a crawl - which is annoying enough.

My e-mails did not change anything. But the fact that someone at Channel 10 is reading bitchy e-mails should encourage you to express yourself to them (and to every other business you care about), and tell about your preferences. And while you're at it, tell them don't mess with Kelly.

Imus reality check by black commentators

Imus fallout continues because it goes to the core of certain social problems.

Consider the "I'm victimized" position of Obama who, for the first time, has given me reason to think he's truly another dim bulb in the company of many dim-bulb presidential candidates.

His take: "He (Imus) fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America. The notions that as young African-American women — who I hope will be athletes — that that somehow makes them less beautiful or less important. It was a degrading comment..." He also called for the resignation of ol' Imus.

Fortunately, there are more intelligent African American leaders than Obama. Among them is Michelle Malkin, a black columnist for the New York Post, who wrote, in part, yesterday:

"The number one rap track is by a new sensation who goes by the name of 'Mims.' The 'song' is 'This Is Why I'm Hot.' It has topped the charts for the last 15 weeks. Here's a taste of the lyrics that young men and women are cranking up in their cars:
------
This is why I'm hot
Catch me on the block
Every other day
Another bitch another drop
16 bars, 24 pop
44 songs, nigga gimme what you got
We into big spinners
See my pimping never dragged
Find me wit' different women that you niggas never had
For those who say they know me know I'm focused on ma cream
Player you come between you'd better focus on the beam
I keep it so mean the way you see me lean
And when I say I'm hot my nigga dis is what I mean
-----
She ends her column with this:

"One dumb radio/television shock jock's insult is a drop in the ocean of barbaric filth and anti-female hatred on the radio.

"Imus gets a two-week suspension. What kind of relief do we get from this deadening, coarsening, dehumanizing barrage from young, black rappers and their music-industry enablers who have helped turn America into Tourette's Nation?"

Now, read the last two paragraphs of this column by Jason Whitlock, also an African American, published yesterday in the Kansas City Star:


"I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

"When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

"No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out."

Jason's column is on the money. I urge you to read it from the beginning.

Newspaper editors, you've been sold out

Editor & Publisher recently reported on a meeting of newspaper editors who attempted to explain why the so-called "freedom of the press" has evaporated and so-called "reporter rights" have all but disappeared.

Among the comments were: "We have lost all three branches of government for the first time in history."

"There is not fraternity among us anymore."

“There are stories that are not being told because people are afraid of going to jail.”

“You’d be hard-pressed to find a time when the cloak [of government secrecy] was more tightly wound.”

Yeah. But worse than all that was the message of "Gene Policinski of the First Amendment Center (who) quoted recent surveys that said 42% of the public believes the press has too much freedom, and that 83% believe media bias exists in some way. 'It is a disturbing fact,' he said. 'It seems that the public has moved from criticism and through skepticism to cynicism. So free to distrust the press.'"

I wonder why the American Society of Newspaper Editors sits around and wonders aloud where their "rights" have gone, as though they, like welfare recipients, have some grand entitlement.

That newspapers have stopped fighting for truth and open government is an easy observation for anyone who's watching. There was a time when reporters didn't have to back down, when publishers were as concerned about responsible reportage - and all the aggravation and money required by responsible reportage - as they were about high profits. That was when the publishers were the owners and lived in the cities and states where their reporters worked.

Today's newspaper owners are a bunch of investors. They are not newspaper people. They don't give a damn about news, about skilled reportage, about hiring lawyers to break down closed government doors. They give a damn about one thing and that is more money - as much profit as it is possible to squeeze, no matter what has to be sacrificed.

These investors are businessmen and they own government and that completes the circle: business/media/government. That is precisely why there is no freedom of the press, no reporter rights, no fraternity, and no attack on government secrecy or power, and as a practical matter, no First Amendment.

Really bad real headlines

Dave Levingston sent an e-mail yesterday morning alerting several friends, including me, that WLWT Cincinnati had published the following headline on its web site:

WOMAN DEAD AFTER SLAYING, ATTEMPTED SUICIDE

The writers there might be excused, he said, because they are broadcasters and not writers.

He was kidding, but my curiosity was pricked. I wanted to know whether it was a widespread plague among broadcasters or just one of them who works in Cincinnati. After less than an hour of surfing, I found other broadcaster headlines that seem to prove the theory that broadcasters are, generously speaking, weak in English. These headlines are all real and they are all from yesterday's web reports:

INVESTIGATORS STILL LOOKING INTO A PERRY COUNTY FATAL FIRE - WCLT-Newark

IRAN WARNS OF 'ILLEGAL' STEPS OVER NUKES - 10TV-Columbus

LONGABERGER LETS GO OF HUNDREDS OF WORKERS - WNKO-Newark

TEACHER CHIDED FOR BITE DURING WEDGIE - NBC4-Columbus

JUDGE DELAYS MURDER TRIAL OVER FUNDING - NBC4 - Columbus

MAN CHARGED WITH ASKING PARENTS TO SLEEP WITH THEIR DAUGHTER - WCLT-Newark

Are broadcast headline writers language-deficient? Case closed.

Not quite.

Among the friends to whom Dave sent his e-mail advisory was a certain morning radio talk show hostess.

Her response to Dave's Headline of the Week e-mail inadvertently addressed the subject of broadcaster literacy.

She wrote back, and this is an exact quote: "i don't get it?"