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A brand new day in the newspaper world

Is the newspaper biz eating its own in this time of upheaval?

Well, take a look toward Ba-ton-Rouge. TheAdvocate is apparently not crying over the decision to scale back printing of the Times-Picayune in New Orleans. The Baton Rouge daily plans to rework its front page giving New Orleans its own edition of the Advocate.

Plans to reduce printing of the once stalwart New Orleans daily from 7 days to 3 days has set off a lot of animosity toward the Newhouse family’s Advance Publications Inc., and the Advocate  has every intention of taking advantage of the big change in the Crescent City’s newspaper world. This includes placing staff back in NOLA, something that the Advocate has lacked there for almost three years. How many staff the paper intends to hire to populate a New Orleans bureau has not been made public.

Folks from off the street to the captains of New Orleans business have proposed everything from selling the T-P to buyers such as Warren Buffett to roughing up the fancy-pants owners of the newspaper. Well, I just made that latter part up but I can see someone in New Orleans thinking about it. New Awlens folk be laid back but don’t piss them off.

So, we wait and see if the Baton Rouge paper becomes THE daily news for New Orleans.

Speaking of Buffett, the media arm of his Berkshire Hathaway company has now assumed ownership of the Waco Tribune-Herald. Only one noticeable change on its Web page that I spotted, which was the orange strip under the Wacotrib.com brand was solid rather than noting that it was a “Robinson Media” product. The front page sometimes appears on Newseum’s “Today’s Front Pages” but wasn’t there today. I don’t know if the flag still contains “In God We Trust” that the former owners, the rich family Robinson, had installed there.

BH Media people said they don’t intend to make any big changes. Yet, editor-publisher Donnis Baggett left the paper before the paper changed hands. It will be interesting to see whether a new E-P takes over or whether a new publisher and editor is named. I guess I will stop there before I go into questionable territory. It’s an inside joke that’s not very funny. So sorry.

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Polls, e-mailing for dollars: Insanity in the living room of the disenfranchised

Polls for the 2012 presidential race make me want to chop wood. Well, that is figuratively speaking. It has been a long time since I chopped any wood and if I have it my way it will be even longer before I do it again.

It’s just that polls drive me crazy or more accurately the stories written about polls drive me nuts. Take today, for instance. Here is a snapshot of “Polls Obama” on Google News, my trusty aggregator:

President Obama, Romney Tied in Latest Washington Post-ABC Poll

‎Poll of Polls: Obama ahead of Romney, but slightly

Poll: Obama has 8-point lead over Romney in Va.‎

Obama, Mitt Romney Deadlocked In Race, Poll  Finds

And so forth.

Yes, it is partly the Internet’s fault and my fault if this variety of polling results makes me a bit on the looney side. The Internet is a showcase for tons of news and partisan sites showing everything from the national take down to a precinct in Intercourse, Pa. It is my fault that I read these stories or at least the headlines and the lead.

Such variety of polls are, of course, nirvana for political junkies. To the serious political junkie putting all these pieces together into some electoral context is a Karl Rove-ish version of the board game “Risk.”

But here Schmoe is, that would be me, just trying to figure out where things stand overall. That is so because every freaking precinct in every freaking state isn’t of vital strategic importance when it comes to the Electoral College. Where I live is a good example. Yes, I live in one of the areas of Texas that has voted traditionally Democrat. Like elsewhere in this wonderful state with its misguided voters though, the Republicans are pushing their way in and trying to root out all the old Yellow Dogs, like me. Since Shrub Bush was first elected I have felt disenfranchised for pretty much every race above ticket of county judge. My vote for president means nothing.

My pocketbook is another story. Well, not my  pocketbook. A guy asked me last week if he could borrow $10. I told him I don’t know ten people with a dollar. Or two people with a $5 bill either. Oh, I know you probably get tired of this, I certainly do, but you can go right here on this link and I can tell you how to send me money. I am in the process of putting a PayPal button on my blog for donations, but I am having a problem getting it up and running. How would your money be used? Oh, for things like … living. Times are harder than they’ve been in a long time and if you appreciate what you read here sometimes, even if you don’t appreciate it, you can go right here and I can tell you how to send me your money.

Obama’s people are wearing off on me, I suppose. Some of the e-mails I receive from the Obamas, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Joe Biden and George Clooney — they aren’t personal e-mails mind you — you would think Barack, Michelle and the girls are sitting in a dimly-lit White House making do another week on Beenie Weeniess and Shasta. And they always ask for another $3. “Just $3 more, Dick, and we can beat that old Republican money machine this month.” I doubt it. I doubt it because the Dems are always pleading poverty.

I’m glad I didn’t sign up for e-mail from the Romney people. Everybody wanting my money you would think I am Warren “Jimmy” Buffett.

But I am serious. Go here so you can send me $3. Just $3. A $3 bill. No don’t do that. I don’t need the Secret Service folks messing around here. But anything, a can of Beenie Weenies and a Shasta, even. No don’t do that. I’d hate to see Sasha and Malia go to bed hungry.

 

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The Cajun TV Explosion: Hey, don’t forget the Texas Cajuns

Ga lee ! Dey be Cajun everywhere you see. Sho nuff!

Yes, it seems like cable TV found Cajun Man and Cajun Woman and Cajun Alligator and Cajun Cop and the whole shebang. It is astonishing the number of shows on TV now with “Cajun” in its name or is featuring those who live down in the bayou country.

You can find the Landrys clan, including Troy be say “Choot ’em.” He be talkin’ ’bout de alligator no? These are among the folks –including the Gator Queen Liz Cavalier — who work all day in the swamps chasing those alligator. Sometimes the plural get lost in the bayou, he. Dang, just found that pronoun we lost down in Bayou Loco. The “Swamp People” of which I speak can be found on the History Channel. What the show has to do with history, I haven’t a clue. If it was supposed to have a tie with history they could at least talk about the “stars’ ” ancestors and how they come to be where they are. It would probably be more interesting than chootin’ gator.

Also, the History Channel has “Cajun Pawn Stars.” I can see in some loose thread how this has something to do with history because some things pawned might or might not have a link to the past. Says the channel:

  “In Cajun Pawn Stars, which puts a southern spin on History’s hit series Pawn Stars, a cast of quirky characters continues this age-old tradition. At the famed Silver Dollar Pawn & Jewelry Center in Alexandria, Louisiana, an eclectic array of historical merchandise is on display, with items ranging from vintage cars to firearms to livestock.”

Scenes of Beaumont, in Cajun Texas, are shown in Jennifer Love Hewitt’s Lifetime series “The Client List.” Jennifer might not be Cajun but with that rapidly vanishing cleavage, she can be Ukrainian if she wants.

While there may be more Cajun madness, don’t you know you have to include a cop show. Yes, “Cajun Justice.” This is on A & E and features the good folks of the Terrebone Parish Sheirff’s Department. The parish is located southwest of New Orleans and borders the Gulf of Mexico. Now this is Cajun Country. So far, the deputies have caught camp house burglars, a couple of guys drinking beer and releasing flares, and broke up a fight between shrimpers.

After BP flooded their land with oil, I am glad to see the Cajuns getting some recognition. But man, what about the rest of the Cajuns? I speak of those who reside in Cajun Texas, also known as Southeast Texas.

“Texas Almanac,” the Bible of all things Texas estimates that almost 375,000 Cajuns live in Texas. Census figures show that Houston has more Cajuns than New Orleans. That isn’t such an earth-shattering fact if you know a little about New Orleans. It is more a French Creole town than a Cajun one. With its melting pot including Italian, the city’s language seems more something coming from Brooklyn. Between 20-to-30 percent of Jefferson County, where I live, consists of Cajun residents. Being so close to Louisiana it is not too surprising Jefferson County has the second largest Cajun population in the state behind Houston’s Harris County.

One cable show, CMT’s Gator 911, is based here in Beaumont. The show — with new episodes airing beginning July 14 — follows the exploits of folks from the Gator Country adventure park who rescue gators that show up in local folks’ swimming pools or in the back of their pickup trucks. Don’t have a gator in the back of your pickup truck? Get one! I don’t know if the show’s principal, Gary Saurage, is a Cajun but if he isn’t he should be made an honorary one.

Scenes from the sexy Lifetime night soap “The Client List” are filmed here in Beaumont, but mostly fleeting glances. The show’s main character, played by buxom Jennifer Love Hewitt, supposedly lives in Beaumont and commutes to her job in Sugar Land. I don’t think the actress, who grew up in the Waco-Temple area, is Cajun but I bet she could play a good one. With the expanding cleavage Jennifer Love Hewitt so often reveals on her show, who will notice what she says anyway?

Who knows what’s next if the cable executives mine the Cajun connection here in Southeast Texas, maybe Cajun Refinery Worker, or Cajun TV Weatherman or Cajun Texan Bait Shop Owner?

*Learn more about Cajun Texas from this bilingual academic paper

 

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Paper purchases such as those in Texas by Buffett group signal signs of hope

Newspapers have taken hits over the past decade. A combination of economic factors combined with the technological explosion including the Internet have shaken the foundations of the printed paper.The turmoil continues to this day what with Advance Publications leaving a good portion of the Gulf Coast without newspapers printed daily in New Orleans, Pascagoula, Miss., and Mobile, Ala.

Still, some signs suggest the ink-stained wretch may not be relegated to the past.

Economic stresses of one type or the other seemed to plague the newspaper industry for most of the 15 years I worked full-time for three papers. Well actually four as I was managing editor for an 8,000-circulation weekly but the fit was wrong and I quit after less than a month there so I don’t count it. One factor in particular affecting papers was the cost of newsprint which rose along with the cost of energy. Various other changes in the market, while not drastic, made its impact on the industry such as in classified advertising. When I first started working as a small-town weekly newspaper editor in 1990, the classified ad was quickly headed down a dark alley. The growth of Wal-Mart also made its mark on newspaper fortunes when its stores popped up, seemingly overnight, and drove smaller, established businesses — also newspaper advertisers — out of business.

Lo and behold came the Internet and rocked newspapers to the very core of the way they operated, in both the news and monetary end. The “pajama-clad” Internet commentator hailed the demise of the printed newspaper. The “citizen journalist” would now take over and save the world. Many editors and publishers foolishly believed the anonymous experts who said newspaper would become a relic of the past thanks to their beloved “Internets,” as one U.S. president used to call it.

But not so fast my PJ-attired friends. All is not as it seems. For instance, while his neighboring newspapers to the east and west — owned by the aforementioned Advance Publications and that are set to send many score of employees packing as well as cutting back on printed editions — The Sun Herald on the Mississippi Gulf Coast has its engines set at full speed ahead.

Glenn Nardi, president and publisher, of the Biloxi-based 47,000-daily/56,000-Sunday daily wants to see the paper grow through print, Web and phone.

 “To paraphrase Mark Twain: ‘Reports of print’s death are greatly exaggerated.’ In fact, the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the nonprofit organization created and supported by the advertising community to measure newspaper and magazine audiences, reports that newspaper paid circulation grew in the last audited six-month period.”

One of the five richest people on the planet also sees something worth putting his money where his mouth is when speaking of papers. Berkshire-Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett is purchasing newspapes left and right, no pun intended, seeing as how Buffett has been a major backer of President Obama. And some see Obama as left wing. Get it? Oh forget it. The one-time paper boy, Buffett, bought his hometown Omaha World-Herald and hasn’t stopped buying newspapers.
The Omaha World-Herald Co. subsidiary of Berkshire announced last week it has bought its second Texas newspaper, the Waco Tribune-Herald, after purchasing the Bryan-College Station paper, the Eagle. The company also announced today that it closed the deal on purchasing the 63 newspaper properties of Media General with its largest property The Tampa Tribune. A full-disclosure note, this blogger is closely connected to someone who spent almost a decade as a writer at the Waco newspaper. Since I am limited by a confidentiality agreement, I can’t say much more about the Waco Trib except it was and remains a very good daily paper. The Berkshire-Hathaway people are purchasing the Trib from Robinson Media, which bought the Trib from Atlanta-based Cox newspapers. Waco insurance magnate Clifton Robinson and his son, Gordon, bought their hometown paper three years ago but said they are convinced that it should be run by “media professionals.” The paper made news not long after the Robinsons took over the Trib when they put “In God We Trust” on the paper’s flag, the Page 1 newspaper name at the top. Perhaps that isn’t so far out since Waco is home to Baylor, the world’s largest Baptist university, which was also attended by both Robinsons. Buffett has said editorial decisions will be left with local newspapers such as editorial board choice of candidates.
Maybe Buffett, like the Waco family Robinson, just always wanted to own newspapers. But the “Omaha Oracle” isn’t too sloppy with his business acumen. Perhaps the purchases by Berkshire-Hathaway are a whim. But  I would imagine many who know business much better than I do would doubt it.
It will be interesting to see how a familiar paper turns out under the chairmanship of Warren Buffett. I hope for only good, as I think the purchases by Berkshire-Hathaway signal ahead.

 

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Ann Curry to get $10 million for leaving. Heck, I could leave for $5 million.

Every now and then I read Fox News stories on the Web but not that often. That is because if I wanted news served up by a right-wing propaganda outfit I would sign up for any number of sites dedicated to making this nation a much drearier place. With that said, I did find kind of an interesting story on the Fox Web that says NBC plans to pay Ann Curry $10 million to leave the “Today” show.

If I was Ann, which I’m not, I’d take the money and leave faster than the speed of sound, light and tachyons rolled up in one. That’d be pretty danged quick, main.*

Curry is a well-respected journalist although she hasn’t set the world on fire since taking over for Meredith Vieira about a year ago. The No. 1 network morning show has had falling ratings of late, reportedly, due to Curry lacking chemistry and the skills needed for the particular program. Others say, however, that the show is just “tired” and sometimes a bit too into itself.

Here I am, not even making ends meet and I am discussing the plight of the “Today” show and what its future holds. I know that we’re talking about Ann Curry leaving, but I too can leave with the best of them and I sure as hell could leave in a grand manner for $10 million or maybe half that. Curry may become a foreign correspondent for NBC after leaving the show. I would, as well, probably head for foreign lands if someone would give me $10 million. Some island-nation in the Caribbean or South Pacific sounds good although I’ve already been to Fiji and was not all that impressed.

I wish Curry the best. I probably would see more of her on TV were she a foreign correspondent instead of an anchor on “Today.” I’ve watched the show practically all my life, but it isn’t what I watch in the a.m. these days. Right now, I don’t have a favorite and switch back and forth through the Weather Channel, CNN, the CBS morning show, and Joe Scarborough. And while I might not be TV person and personality of Curry’s stature, I think I might give her a good run for her money in the area of leaving. Pay me $10 million and I was out of here yesterday.

 *The Southern drawl equivalent of “man” or Jamaican “mon.”