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The 3 Papers Obama Reads Each Morning

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President Obama tells "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft, "People keep on asking me, ‘Well, what are you reading these days?’ Well, mostly briefing books. You know, you get a little time to read – history or – you know, policy books that are of interest. But there’s a huge amount of information that has to be digested, especially right now." (Credit: CBS)¬†¬†

President Says It’s Workout, Breakfast, Then Newsprint

It was just a passing reference in President Obama’s account of how he spent his morning, but with traditional media outlets battling for survival, the words took on added significance.

Asked at the White House by Steve Kroft of CBS’ "60 Minutes"¬†whether he had settled into a routine, Obama said:

"After the workout, have breakfast, read the papers, read my morning security briefing. And then I come down here and talk to our national security team. Then we talk to the economic team. After that, who knows? Anything goes. But – typically – between 7 and 10, I sort of know what I’m doing."

"Read the papers," he said. Not "read a paper."¬† Nor did the man famous for his campaign’s mastery of 21st century technology say, "fire up the computer."

The chosen ones are the Washington Post, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, Corey A. Ealons, director of African American Media and coordinator of special projects, told Journal-isms.

Reading those papers is not a given.

Former president George W. Bush famously said he did not read newspapers, and left it to his staff to provide him with what he called unbiased news. The first lady, Laura Bush, later said her husband was just posturing Рthe couple actually read five national papers every morning, according to Elisabeth Bumiller of the New York Times.

Perhaps just as notably, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, campaigning as the Republican nominee for vice president, failed to name a single newspaper or magazine when CBS News anchor Katie Couric asked her in September where she got her information. Later, she told People magazine that she has always been a "voracious reader."

In 2007, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, still wounded by coverage of his bruising confirmation hearing 16 years earlier, told¬†C-Span’s Brian Lamb that reading newspapers would not be "a good use of my time."

"So, you don’t read the Post in the morning?" Lamb asked.

"No. I used to read the New York Post, but that was about it," Thomas replied. Unlike the others, Thomas let his remarks stand.

Presidents do have their preferences. The conservative Washington Times was a favorite during the George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan administrations. John F. Kennedy, the president Obama is most often compared with, displayed his pique with the New York Herald Tribune, a leading paper of the day, by canceling the White House subscription. When JFK found a puppy litter box being lined with the newspaper, he said, ‘It’s finally found its proper use.’

In what was likely a first, the nation’s first black president hosted members of the black press in the White House Friday, the same day he spoke with Kroft. Members of the National Newspaper Publishers Association presented the president with their Newsmaker of the Year award.

It turned out to be a good day. CBS won its first Sunday in months, thanks to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament and the ’60 Minutes’ interview, which followed, Toni Fitzgerald reported for Media Life magazine.

Publisher Laurel Champion says the new Ann Arbor site will be built "from the ground up."

Another Blue Monday for the Newspaper Business

It was another blue Monday for the newspaper industry, as the Ann Arbor (Mich.) News announced it will close in July, the Gannett Co. and Advance Publications both announced further furloughs, and other papers said more cuts were in the works.

"Heavy losses in revenue drove the decision" in Ann Arbor, reported the News, which claims a daily circulation of "nearly 45,000." Publisher Laurel Champion said the current "business model is not sustainable."

"A new Web-based media company called AnnArbor.com LLC will be launched later this year. In addition to publishing continuously online, AnnArbor.com will publish a print edition twice a week," the story said.

"Champion, who will be executive vice president of AnnArbor.com, told News employees they can apply for positions with the new company, although job losses are inevitable."

The newspaper did not participate in the annual diversity census of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, and neither Champion nor editor Ed Petykiewicz responded to questions about the diversity of its staff. Journalists of color seemed absent on its Web site on Monday.

Advance Publications is "instituting mandatory 10-day furloughs and a pension freeze at nearly all of its daily papers outside Michigan, according to Steve Newhouse, chairman of Advance.net and a company spokesman," Joe Strupp reported for Editor & Publisher.

"Word of the furloughs began to spread last week, but formal announcements were going out today at most of the company’s Newhouse Newspapers, including The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J.; The Plain Dealer in Cleveland; The Oregonian in Portland; The Times-Picayune in New Orleans; and The Staten Island (N.Y.) Advance, as well as the chain’s dailies in Syracuse, N.Y.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Harrisburg, Pa."

At Gannett, the nation’s largest newspaper-based company, CEO Craig Dubrow said¬†in a memo, "We are about to begin the second quarter without any real relief in sight from this unprecedented economic downturn and its challenge to our company. Despite all of your truly remarkable efforts to reverse the trend, our revenue numbers continue their downward slide and we have been faced with more difficult decisions.

"One of those choices was between more layoffs or another round of furloughs. We chose, for most employees, a furlough program consisting of at least one week of unpaid leave to be taken in April, May or June."

The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer said it would cut its workforce by 14.6 percent and reduce the pay of most remaining employees. A total of 30 newsroom positions — 19 full-time and 11 part-time — will be eliminated, it said.

The Lexington (Ky.) Herald Leader began notifying employees affected by a workforce reduction there on Monday, according to that newspaper. A cost-cutting plan is to result in the layoffs of 49 full-time and four part-time employees, and includes a 5 percent wage reduction for all employees who make $25,000 or more annually, according to the Herald-Leader. "Members of the newspaper’s executive group, including the publisher, will have a 10 percent reduction in salary, and their bonus plan will be eliminated for 2009," it added.

Employees of the Houston Chronicle were told on Monday that "the major portion" of its "reorganization plan," in which regular full-time and contract positions are being reduced about 12 percent, will take place Tuesday and Wednesday.

Columnists Tell Readers How It Feels From Inside

"When Steve Kroft of CBS’s ’60 Minutes’ asked President Barack Obama why he was seemingly light-hearted Sunday night while talking about this country’s financial woes, Obama said sometimes he and his staff use ‘gallows humor’ to get through the day," Merlene Davis, columnist for the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, told¬†readers on Monday.

"I knew exactly what he was talking about because we here at the Herald-Leader have often employed a type of humor that arises when the future looks very bleak, to deal with the stress of pending layoffs and wage reductions for a few weeks now.

"The ax fell Monday, but there was no humor to be heard.

". . . there are people who are losing their homes, losing their lifestyles, losing their self-respect.

"Nothing about that should be celebrated. Nothing."

As newspapers shrink, it has often fallen to familiar faces — some losing their own jobs — to explain to readers how it feels from the inside.

"The people who have left our fold gave much of their lives — five, 10, 20, 30, yes, even more years — to the Express-News and its readers. They never thought our work would be done, and never wanted it to be done," Robert Rivard, editor of the San Antonio Express-News, told readers on Sunday.

"This is a column I had hoped I wouldn’t have to write until I retired, 10 or so years down the road. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out that way," David Flores, Express-News high school sports columnist, began in a farewell column on Friday.

Metro columnist Ken Rodriguez wrote the same day, "Since learning in late February that my final piece would appear today, I’ve changed the focus of this column. There is a need for watchdog reporting, yes. And there is a need to expose public corruption. But there’s also a need to inspire, a need to tell stories that touch the heart and make you say: "Wow, there’s hope for this world."

He concluded, "I’m not sure where my next adventure will lead, but I hope to see you along the way."

In the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, reporter and columnist Dorreen Yellow Bird told readers on Saturday, "On March 12, I started a new chapter in my life. Although I had planned to move home this summer, my plans were moved up by three months when I was laid off along with eight other Herald employees.

"As it turns out, the layoff for me was a good thing because I can go home. The Herald also is giving me a chance to continue my column. When I‚Äôm settled into my new ‘digs’ at home near Garrison, N.D., I will write again. . . . I‚Äôll be moving to a parcel of reservation land where I‚Äôm hoping I‚Äôll have a house built in the next six months."

Arrested Journalists Taken to N. Korean Capital

"The two American women journalists who were arrested at the border between North Korea and China on 17 March have been transferred by the North Korean authorities to Pyongyang for questioning," Reporters Without Borders reported on Monday.

"The detention of Euna Lee (who is of Korean descent) and Laura Ling (who is of Chinese descent) was confirmed by the North Korean press on 21 March. The fact that the state media reported their arrests suggested the government was directly involved."

In the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Sharon Pian Chan, a Seattle Times reporter who is national president of the Asian American Journalists Association, linked the Korea case with that of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been held in a Tehran, Iran, prison for about seven weeks.

"The stories American journalists report from abroad are crucial to understanding U.S. foreign policy and what it means to be a citizen of the world," Chan wrote. "With many newsrooms cutting their foreign coverage, the public is more reliant than ever on the work of freelance and Web journalists willing to risk their personal safety so we may know more. These journalists go abroad because of their commitment to tell stories that would otherwise go untold. With their cultural upbringing, these three Asian-American women were capable of bringing more to their stories — a nuanced perspective of issues affecting Americans, Koreans and Iranians."

Judge Throws Out Golfer John Daly’s Libel Case

"Pro golfer John Daly¬†claimed a Florida newspaper libeled him in a column suggesting he failed ‘the scoundrel sniff test,’ but a judge disagreed," Ron Word reported¬†Monday for the Associated Press.

"Duval County Circuit Judge Hugh Carithers dismissed Daly’s libel lawsuit Monday and granted the Florida Times-Union’s request for summary judgment. He ruled that former columnist Mike Freeman’s statements were either true or constitutionally protected opinion." Freeman now writes¬†for CBSSports.com

"Daly had sued in 2005, alleging a column by Freeman written during The Player’s Championship that year defamed him," Word’s story continued.

"Freeman’s column said: ‘How does Daly not fail the scoundrel sniff test with fans despite possessing definite Thug Life qualifications. Look at the Daly blog. Domestic violence accusations? Yup. Substance abuse issues? Unfortunately, three different kids from three different moms, making him the Shawn Kemp of golf? Yes. A former wife indicted for laundering illegal drug profits? Roger that.’

"Carithers wrote in his opinion that the alleged defamatory statements were opinions based upon disclosed facts. . . . The judge also cited constitutional protections against libel."

2 Detroit Journalists in Need of Kidney Transplants

Hugh Grannum, "the affable, fun-loving and ‚Äî oh, let’s just say it ‚Äî ?ºbercool photographer" who worked for the Detroit Free Press for 37 years, and Jim McFarlin, "the eternal optimist who spent 16 years covering pop music and TV at the Detroit News before moving to the Metro Times," are both in need of kidney transplants, columnist Rochelle Riley wrote¬†Thursday in the Detroit Free Press.

"Neither predicted this future: hypertension leading to renal disease that requires Grannum, 69, to undergo regular dialysis and both to need kidneys as soon as possible. McFarlin, a 55-year-old with an infectious sense of humor, quit smoking, takes six medications and is on the kidney diet: ‘Anything you like, you can’t eat anymore,’ he said.

"Grannum said he has a six-year window to get a transplant."

McFarlin said, "Four of my dearest friends, a comedy writer in Atlanta, one in Kansas City, one in Los Angeles and one here stepped up and said, ‘Test me!’ I was stunned. The only one who was a match is older than me. And he’s so beat up that they politely said, ‘Thank you for your time, but your organ is almost like the one he’s got now.’

"To help Grannum, contact Harper Hospital at 313-966-4931. To help McFarlin, call Beaumont Hospital at 248-551-2283."

Twitter Appeals to Older Crowd Than Many Believe

"Twitter has become primarily a business tool used by people in their late twenties to early fifties, according to new data from market research firm Nielsen," Rosalie Marshall reported Friday for vnunet.com.

"The micro-blogging site has grown by 1,382 per cent since last year, from 475,000 unique visitors in February 2008 to seven million in February 2009.

"The Nielsen data shows that the majority of Twitter users are not teenagers or college students, as on many other social networking sites, but are from older generations."

The Nielsen report said, "The ability to twitter via a mobile phone — whether through the mobile Web or via text messages  — is a driving factor in the social network’s success. In January, 735,000 unique visitors accessed the Twitter Web site through their mobile phones. The average unique visitor went to Twitter.com 14 times during the month and spent an average of seven minutes on the site."

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