Note For Those Seeking AJC Related Dirt

UPDATE FOR THOSE HITTING THIS BLOG WHILE LOOKING FOR DIRT ABOUT SOME JULIA “THE UNDERTAKER” WALLACE-RELATED MEMO:  THIS AJC-IS-TANKING STUFF IS OLD NEWS. I’M NO LONGER WASTING ONE MORE DIGIT OF TEXT (AND NEVER A FRAME OF VIDEO)  WRITING ABOUT SOMETHING THAT LOSES ONE MILLION DOLLARS A WEEK.

YOU WERE LED OFF A CLIFF BY INSANELY UN-VISIONARY AND ARROGANT LEADERSHIP.  IT HAPPENS TO ALL OF US FROM TIME TO TIME. NOW WIPE YOUR TEARS, DUST YOURSELF OFF, AND START CLIMBING OUT OF THE RAVINE.

IF THERE IS ANYTHING I CAN DO TO HELP, I KNOW A REALLY GOOD WEB DESIGNER. EMAIL ME.

Wasted Multimedia Opportunity For S.C. Newspaper

Let’s put this one in the why-newspapers-are-dying cat: so the Rock Hill (South Carolina) Herald gets a line on a truly amazing story… that the white racist who beat John Lewis at a bus station back in 1961 was seeking John Lewis’ forgiveness for his (white racist dude’s) ugly past actions. Amazing, eh?! You better believe it is.

So the white man/former racist travels to Washington to visit with Lewis, to ask Lewis’ forgiveness in person.  (The pathetic creature didn’t even realize that the black man he’d beaten-up back in 1961 was a longtime, famous Congressman now. That’s how ignorant and small-minded the racist dude really was.)

So, back to my mostly media point here, and I do have a BIG one today. The white man is from Rock Hill, SC. His story makes its way to the Rock Hill Herald, the local newspaper. The newspaper sends a reporter, Andrew Dys, to Washington, DC with the white man to document him seeking Rep. Lewis’ forgiveness.

Great story, right? And you, if you were the Rock Hill Herald, pretty much have an exclusive, except for a pesky Good Morning America crew that weaseled their way into Congressman Lewis’ office too for this great story.

Thing is, the Rock Hill Herald shows-up to their story with a pen, paper… and a still camera. Considering that you can pick-up a video camera for about $100. at Wal-Mart on your way to any interview, wherever, that strikes me as just plain backwards – with no multimedia thinking whatsoever about the Rock Hill Herald’s website presence in this near-exclusive. And we wonder why newspapers are dying…

GMA was there in Lewis’ DC office with a camera crew. (See the Herald’s slide show.) But as of 2pm on Feb. 5, 2009, GMA has yet to broadcast their version of the story, presumably captured on some kinda video format.

Meanwhile, the Rock Hill Herald could have had their video version, whipped-up cheap, all over the Internet by now if they’d taped something. Anything! The lil ‘ole Herald could have had a serious exclusive by now.

I know for a fact CNN, for instance, would have loved to have acquired any videotape of the Washington encounter, had there been any to acquire. That way, CNN too could have beaten GMA to their own “exclusive” in the process.

Come to think about it, there’s really not much you can label “exclusive” nowadays… unless you neglect to bring along a video cam. So watch GMA Friday morning if you gotta have your “exclusive” modern moving images.

Cox Plantation Selling Off Parcels

Wanna buy a Cox newspaper? Bet they’re an even better deal than an SUV about right now. Take your time, kick a few tires, consult with Clark Howard about the wisdom of such a purchase. From a large Cox parcel:

Cox Enterprises, owner of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, is selling newspaper holdings in North Carolina, Colorado and Texas, the company announced today.

The $15 billion company will keep three of its largest newspapers, including the AJC, The Palm Beach Post and the Dayton Daily News.

Company officials did not disclose a sales price for the properties placed on the market, but said revenue from the sales will be used to pay down debt.

“This decision was made as part of an ongoing strategic review of our portfolio and enables us to maintain our strong and stable financial performance,” said Jim Kennedy, Cox chairman and CEO.

Cox will also sell Valpak, the company’s direct mail advertising division, officials said.

Large newspaper companies around the country have been shedding some of their holdings because of declining revenues and the slumping economy.

Rest of story here. Think I’ll take a pass on the dino-papers, but I like those Valpak carpet cleaning coupons. I actually use those things.

Ignore The Sunday Paper

Atlanta’s The Sunday Paper has a cover story that, in the print edition at least, bizarrely claims that “moderates are tuning out the partisan cable news networks.” A quick check to the Tuesday June 3rd (the very last primary night) viewing stats shows anything but such a whoppingly off base and densely-presented claim.

Guess these things can happen when you have print-minded people attempting to report about the broadcast media. Come to think about it, I have never met a single print political reporter who ever watched ANY political broadcast news in any form or fashion on a regular basis. Mostly, printees are so disdainful of the broadcast medium they tend to brag, yes brag, about how they never, ever watch TV news. Nor am I the only one to notice this disdain.

Careful if you see a The Sunday Paper cover claiming low voter turnout in ‘08.

Scott McClellan – Media Ho of the Year

What a coward Scott McClellan is. He should have stood up and been a man and taken a stance against the thieves and liars in the White House when he was there witnessing to it all, not during the window of most profit opportunity for his new book sales.

As one commenteer to Jay Bookmans’ column about McClellan’s tell-all says:

Maybe (Tony) Snow will be next. Listening to him in the past I have thought surely he can not be THAT obtuse to believe this line of BS. You watch, Snow and then blondie (Dana Perino) will “tell all” next. The cockroaches are starting to swarm away form the garbage dumb that is this Administration.

They’re all just cheap media whores. So far, Valerie Plame has taken the fall for all these White House employee clowns. I hope she is one day remembered as a martyr for the sins of the Cheney/Bush years, including the most cowardly of ‘em all, McClellan.

If I was McClellan’s momma, I’d disown him now. No, I take that back. First I’d slap him, then I’d disown him. Then tell everyone I knew not to buy his book, but rather just steal the damn thing. Because of course we all must read it now.

Cracker Racists In Georgia? You Don’t Say?

Here we go again. A North Fulton-based magazine has stupidly chosen a very dubious picture of Obama (in cross hairs) for the cover of their rag, the Roswell Beacon. With a piece inside the not-so-delicate cover that brings-up some issues that likely need to be discussed here in Georgia: violent, white supremacist groups headquartered in the north metro Atlanta area.

Talk about a way to distribute dead-tree items in that neck of the woods, though. I will give ‘em that. Although they’ve lost at least one advertiser already with this, again, stupid cover choice of theirs. (As of 9:20am today, there is no online version of this story or controversial picture to link you to. Sorry.)

A Roswell, GA Daily Kos “diarist” (a regional blogger-contributor) got a’holt of the mag though, and now everyone’s breathing down Georgia’s back. Again. And maybe that’s a good thing. From today’s AJC:

A Roswell newspaper is defending a controversial cover illustration that placed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in a rifle’s cross hairs.

The article was pitched and reported by veteran freelance journalist Alan Sverdlik, who said he was curious how law enforcement agencies were handling the increased number of threats lodged against Obama by white supremacist groups, some of whom are based around north Fulton. Sverdlik said Tuesday he had not seen the cover and had no input in its development.

Fredericks and senior editor Tim Altork said there was little internal debate over the appropriateness of the imagery, though they were aware it was likely to create a stir.

“We knew we were on the provocative edge,” Altork said. “But it’s a very fair piece, a smart piece.”

Full story here.

FYI, neither the veteran-y freelance writer of the Roswell Beacon article, Alan Sverdlik, nor his editor, Tim Altork (a former sports writer for the laughably awful Sunday Paper), is a member of the Atlanta Press Club. So are they even “real” journalists after all?

More interesting to me, Mrs. Media Maven, is how will the Georgia blogosphere determine the fate of the Roswell Beacon (and their advertising revenue stream) now? Heads-up media types; anyone interested in ad rev to dead-tree items, you may want to watch how this one plays out, and pays out, here in GA.

Cox Reporter-Author Writes About The South

Longtime-though-former AJC reporter Bob Dart has a book of stories out on the street. About southern culture: Down Home, Dispatches From Dixie. Bob will be pimping this book (one I hope to read soon if he will send me a promotional copy) on C-SPAN2’s BookTV show throughout this very weekend. Schedule ‘O Bob on C-SPAN2 here:

Saturday, May 3, at 7:00 PM

Sunday, May 4, at 2:30 AM

Saturday, May 17, at 11:00 AM

Click here for more about the C-SPAN2 appearances and the book. I pray that should I ever meet Bob Dart (whose byline I read for freakin’ decades it seemed) he doesn’t turn out to be one of those southerners who orders fizzy water at lunch instead of sweet tea. Or worse yet, willfully chooses a restaurant for lunch purposes that only serves stuff like Pellegrino, but not sweet tea. Holy Jesus, help those kinda southerners.

FYI, Bob still resides on the Cox Media Plantation although he’s now a house boy out of the DC Bureau.