Politico: USA Today to Expand Regional Reporting: Will It Cover USA?

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Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas and Miami will get more exposure in Gannett Co.-owned flagship USA Today as the daily intends to bolster its regional coverage of breaking news and enterprise stories, Politico reported this week.

USA Today reporter Alan Gomez already has his marching orders for 2014 as he will relocate to Miami where he also will be the daily's correspondent for Latin America and South America, according to the Politico article.  USA Today has endured a turbulent 2013, doubling its newsstand price, waffling about erecting a paywall and thinning its newsroom herd through voluntary retirements (see "TUOL" posts 9/26/13 & 3/13/13).

USA Today, a hotel chain fave because it slips so easily under guest room doors, is further increasing its brand as Gannett plans in the coming year to insert a condensed version of the daily into 35 smaller dailies in its newspaper empire, with a goal toward ultimately appearing in all 81 of its print properties, according to Politico.

The Lid Is Off: Mile High City Daily Names Marijuana Editor

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Print journalism aficionados who complain newspapers have gone to pot may be onto something--The Denver Post last week named Ricardo Baca to head its marijuana coverage, Politico reported.

Baca, a 12-year Post vet and the daily's former entertainment and music critic, will cover cannabis, along with an as-yet hired freelance pot critic and freelance pot columnist (I.F. Stoner?), according to the Politico post.  Colorado voters in November 2012, passed Amendment 64 that legalized recreational marijuana use for those 21 and older, prompting the Post to augment its coverage and weed out editorial staffers in search of the right journalist to helm its doobie beat.

The Politico article notes that the Post's human resources department said the daily still prohibits workers in the newsroom from reeking of marijuana or ingesting the wacky tabacky in the newsroom itself. A sound editorial move to shore up its marijuana reporting, but "TUOL" can't help but wonder if the Denver Post is comfortable going from a daily paper to a rolling paper?

Geraldo Kicked Off the National Express; Forced to Take the 'Local'

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Cumulus Media, Inc., which has nationally syndicated Geraldo Rivera's radio show since 2012, announced that beginning in January 2014, Rivera will be heard only on 77 WABC Radio in New York City, hosting a new program devoted to social and political issues affecting Gotham, Politico reported this week.

Rivera, who still toils at Fox News, will air 10 a.m. to noon on WABC beginning January 1. The 70-year-old Rivera no longer is a marquis name to a new generation of talk radio shut-ins, lacking the national clout and bombast of a Rush Limbaugh.

Perhaps returning to his New York roots will revive the "good" Geraldo, a Peabody Award-winning journalist/lawyer for ABC News in the early '70s, rather than the "bad" Geraldo fighting with Neo-Nazi skinheads on his tabloid talk show and unveiling debris in Al Capone's vault.

Wash Times Casts Paul Adrift Over Plagiarized Column

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The Washington Times is discontinuing Sen. Rand Paul's (R.-Ky.) weekly column after BuzzFeed reported that his Sept. 20  Times column lifted passages from a Dan Stewart article in The Week without attribution, the Gawker.com Web site reports.

The Times' decision to end the column that Paul began writing last summer is the sour cherry atop a melted sundae of a week for the 50-year-old Republican and Tea Party fave who was elected to the Senate in 2010. Last week, Politico and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC alleged that speeches given by Paul have plagiarized a variety of sources, including Associated Press articles and Wikipedia pages for the films Stand and Deliver and Gattaca, Additionally, BuzzFeed claims Paul's book, Government Bullies, cribbed from a 2003 Heritage Foundation study without attribution.

Confronted with these embarrassing missteps, Sen. Paul stepped up to the plate and blamed his staff. Still, it seems as if Paul, an opthalmologist, doctors his written work as well.

Did Crossfire Newt Cross CNN Disclosure Rules?

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The quartet of co-hosts of CNN-resurrected Crossfire (see "TUOL" post 6/27/13) have barely had time to settle into full-throated shouting at one another, and already former House Speaker and perpetual presidential candidate Newt Gingrich may be headed for a woodshed spanking, Politico reports.

According to a report by the decidedly not impartial liberal watchdog Media Matters for America, Gingrich seems to have run afoul of standards and practices set by CNN ("Crossfire? No! No!") by allegedly not disclosing political contributions made by him or a PAC in which he is involved to candidates who appear on, or are the subject of discussion on the program. CNN didn't respond to Politico's request for comment.

Mother Jones magazine claims Gingrich's PAC recently has sweetened the respective pots of Sen. Rand Paul (R.-Ky.), a Crossfire guest, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R.-Tex.), a topic of discussion on the gabfest, without Gingrich acknowledging either contribution on-air.

Much ado about nothing and "gotcha" journalism, "TUOL" unabashedly concedes. It is refreshing, however, to write about a Gingrich gaffe that doesn't involve lunar colonies or isn't serial marriage-related.

Sinclair Boosts Its Local TV Station Stable

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Hunt Valley, Md.-based Sinclair Broadcast Group, already the nation's largest local television station owner, will augment its holdings by purchasing Allbritton tv stations for $985 million, the Poynter.org Web site reported today.

Robert Allbritton is unloading the tv stations, which include WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C. and Lynchburg, Va. station WSET-TV, to focus on his other enterprises, including Politico, according to the Poynter article. To comply with FCC station ownership restrictions, Sinclair will divest itself of stations in Alabama, South Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Oiling the Revolving Door

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Robert Gibbs, senior advisor to President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign, has been hired as a contributor to MSNBC and NBC News, Politico reported.

The 41-year-old Auburn, Alabama, native was the 28th White House press secretary, serving in that role for President Obama from 2009 to 2011. Gibbs' association with President Obama dates back to 2004. He also served early on as press secretary during now-Secretary of State John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.

Gibbs joins a long list of former White House shills who have crossed-over into the news media once they stop taking flak from the White House Press Corps, including Tony Snow (Fox News), Clinton White House Communications Director George Stephanopoulos (ABC News), Pierre Sallinger (ABC News), Bill Moyers (PBS) and Dana Perino (Fox News), though, to be fair, some of them were making a return trip.

Not surprisingly, public skepticism spikes whenever a former presidential spokesperson appears as a talking head on a network to offer informed, "objective" commentary about an opposition party's position or representative. It doesn't thrill lifetime journalists either to see these ex-shills begin their ink-stained wretch career on the top rung of the news media ladder.

Social Media Gains as Political Content Source

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Social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, are just as trusted--and mistrusted-- by voters as traditional media outlets when it comes to providing political information, according to a study reported by the Politico Web site.

The George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management/ORI online survey of 806 Internet users, which has a plus or minus 3.45 percent margin of error, concluded that voters found political information on social media of higher quality, or at least as good as, political data provided via traditional media, such as television and newspapers. Age was a factor among respondents, as 36 percent of older voters polled were skeptical of social media political content, while among voters age 26 and under, 71 percent believed social media platforms outshone traditional media regarding trustworthiness.

Seventy-seven percent of survey participants said they made political contributions via Email or through campaign Web sites, while 19 percent did so via Facebook. The 2012 election was first in which the Federal Election Commission permitted texted contributions, and 18 percent of respondents availed themselves of the text message option to contribute to their chosen candidates, according to the Politico post.

HuffPo Cites Politico Journo Layoffs

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The Huffington Post yesterday reported that five-year-old Politico has trimmed its editorial staff, but the Rosslyn, Va.-based online political news organization denies the job reduction is a sign of distress.

HuffPo singled out photographer Jess Kamen, who tweeted that Politico had cut him loose, and technology reporter Jay Westcott, whom HuffPo sources said was also let go, as among those pink-slipped. Reporter Dave Catanese resigned from Politico last week. The HuffPo article did not report on the total number of editorial positions affected by the layoffs. Politico's editorial staff is 156 strong, according to a Washington Post article.

Politico Editor-in-Chief John Harris insists his organization is growing, and is up 30 employees compared to last year, when its editorial and business workforce reportedly exceeded 225. HuffPo has previously reported that Politico was diverting resources to Politico Pro, a subscribers-only service concentrating on policy.

Whether Politico is shrinking or merely restructuring remains unclear, though axed staffers probably care little about the distinction. If only certain actual Washington Politicos would follow suit and leave their jobs, the nation would be better off.

FCC Whistles Pro-Life Super Bowl Ad Offsides; Terry to Appeal WMAQ-TV Ruling

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeAnti-abortion zealot and putative Democratic presidential candidate Randall Terry plans to appeal a Feb. 3 FCC ruling that spiked his effort to compel Chicago NBC affiliate WMAQ-TV to air a pro-life ad featuring images of aborted fetuses during last night's Super Bowl XLVI telecast.

According to Website accounts on Mediaite, Politico and the informative Broadcastlawblog.com., Terry's ad, which ran in several states, was rejected by the Chicago station (brings a tear to the eye of "TUOL," a former Chicago denizen). In In re Complaint of Randall Terry v. WMAQ-TV Chicago (FCC Decision No. DA 12-145), the FCC rejected Terry's argument that because he is a candidate challenging President Barack Obama for the right to head the 2012 Democratic Party presidential ticket, the NBC affiliate had to run his ad pursuant to Sections 312(a)(7) and 315 of the Communications Act.

Section 312 mandates "reasonable access" for a "legally qualified candidate" to  stations, meaning  broadcast outlets must sell ad time to a candidate, while Section 315 allows a "legally qualified candidate" equal opportunity to use broadcast facilities. In its ruling, released last Friday at 5 p.m., the FCC found Terry failed to make a substantial showing that he was a viable Democratic candidate in the state of Illinois seeking the presidency. Additionally, the agency noted that even if Terry were a "legally qualified candidate," he couldn't dictate that his ad run during the Super Bowl (which Mass.-based "TUOL" cedes was won by the NY Giants).

The Super Bowl is a one-time special program, so opposing candidates would not have had equal opportunity to have their ads run during the telecast if Terry's commercial had aired, which would have violated the Communications Act. That Terry purportedly made only two campaign appearances in Illinois and that he lacked evidence that literature boosting him had been distributed in the state bolstered the FCC decision that Terry had not campaigned in a substantial portion of the state, a prerequisite under past FCC decisions. Additionally, the Democratic National Committee fired off a letter to the agency decrying Terry and arguing he was not a "bona fide Democratic candidate." Candidates "do not have the right to air ads whenever they want," the FCC ruling noted.

Although Terry did not appear during the football game's commercial breaks, Careerbuilders did roll out another chimpanzee-in-a-suit-and-tie commercial and there were plenty of other inane, vulgar and crass ads to satisfy his followers.

Instagram: Just Add President Obama Pix and Wait,,,

Image via CrunchBaseTrying to woo young voters with his hipness, social mediaphile President Barack Obama has added to his Twitter, Facebook and Flickr online presence by joining the photo-sharing network Instagram, according to Politico.

The Politico post, written by former Boston Globe political scribe and current Politico White House reporter Donovan Slack, notes that President Obama's initial contribution to Instagram is an informal photo of  him addressing Iowa Caucus supporters through a video link (naturally) from the Capitol Hilton. President Obama has developed social media expertise, which is fitting, because an obstructionist Congress has boxed him into a virtual presidency.

Politico Punts Plagiarist

Image by @jbtaylor via FlickrArlington, Va.-based Political Website Politico has jettisoned reporter Kendra Marr after editors uncovered content in several of her articles that she used without attribution from The New York Times and other publications, according to The Huffington Post.

Politico Editor-in-Chief John F. Harris said Marr resigned. Reportedly, there were a half dozen or so articles that Politico editors said in an online note on their Website "borrowed from the work of others, without attribution, in ways which we cannot defend and will not tolerate."

UPDATE: White House Visitor Records Subject to FOIA Request, Court Rules

Image via WikipediaU.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Beryl A. Howell handed the Secret Service and the Obama Administration a setback this week, ruling that White House visitor logs are agency records subject to being produced under the Freedom of Information Act [5 U.S.C. sec. 552] unless shielded by one of the Act's exemptions.

The issue of public access to visitors lists has  plagued both the Bush and Obama White House occupancies (see "TUOL" posts 9/7/09, 7/23/09), but in Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Secret Service (Case No. 09-2312(BAH)), Judge Howell's 19-page Memorandum of Decision rejected the Secret Service argument that the records at issue belonged to the White House, not the agency, and therefore, were not subject to the FOIA.  Even if some of the records in question might involve national security issues, as the defendant argued, Judge Howell ruled it would be overreaching to withhold all the data requested by the plaintiff conservative watchdog group, the Politico Website reported.

Judicial Watch requested records for the period from January 2009, to September 2009, the point at which President Obama implemented a new policy allowing the release of the names of most visitors to the White House. Visitor records largely are maintained in two databases: WAVES (Workers and Visitors Entry System) and ARCS (Access Control Records System).

Although basically an "inside the Beltway" kerfuffle, the staff of "TUOL" awards a judicial independence gold start to Judge Howell, who was appointed to the bench by President Obama last year.

CNN Spitz the Bit; Aims to Re-Coop Ratings

Image via WikipediaPaltry ratings have led CNN to kick former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer to the curb, Politico reports.

Spitzer had rebounded somewhat from the disastrous ratings of Parker/Spitzer, which debuted in September 2010 (see "TUOL" posts 1/10/11, 9/8/10, 6/24/10), with his solo turn on In the Arena, but in the end, there weren't enough 25 to 54 year olds--advertisers' favorite demographic--sitting in the arena either. Spitzer's 8 p.m. slot will be filled beginning in August by Anderson Cooper's Anderson Cooper 360, which also will air at 10 p.m.

Former CNBC star Erin Burnett joins CNN's Prime-Time lineup in September with a gabfest that will air at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Piers Morgan, The Situation Room and John King USA will continue to be part of CNN's viewer-averse evening programming.  Not a Snookie or Real Housewife in the bunch.

Alter Uninterested in What Brown Can Do for Him

Image by elycefeliz via FlickrLong-time national correspondent Jonathan Alter has departed Newsweek, where his byline has appeared since 1983, according to the Website Politico.

It must be a beast daily for Editor Tina Brown to keep marquee journalists at the newsweekly, which merged with The Daily Beast last November (see "TUOL" post 11/12/10).  Last year saw the departure of Newsweek mainstays Howard Fineman, Jon Meacham, Michael Isikoff, Evan Thomas and Fareed Zakaria (see "TUOL" posts 9/21/10 and 8/10/10).

Fans can still worship at the Alter by reading Bloomberg News, The Huffington Post and NBC News, where he continues to write columns, blog and offer analysis. His most recent book is The Promise.