News Anchor Never 'Tires' of Helping Target of Probe

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Not everything that happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas. Just ask Nina Radetich, co-anchor of the KTNV-TV Channel 13 Action News Team.

Radetich finds herself featured in Romanesko's media news column (http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=45) for allegedly recommending the services of her public relations maven boyfriend to Tire Works owner Roshie Weightman, whose company is the target of a state probe into consumer fraud and the target of a KTNV-TV  investigative series that began last March.

Nevada's Business & Industry Dept. lodged a complaint against the 13-store Tire Works chain, alleging deceptive business practices involving purportedly charging customers for unnecessary services.  Radetich introduced a number of the stories in KTNV-TV's undercover series on Tire Works.

The San Rafael, Calif., native during recorded  telephone conversations with Weightman purportedly told her that Radetich's boyfriend, former tv journalist turned political flak Jack Finn, could handle Tire Works' media relations and counter the negative image being fostered by KTNV-TV's series.  Radetich allegedly told Weightman not to repeat their discussions about Finn to anyone.

Finn presently is a special projects manager for Nevada Energy and former spokesperson for Republican U.S. Sen. John Ensign, the born-again Christian who confessed in June 2009, to an extramarital affair with one of his female campaign staffers.  Finn denies ever speaking to Weightman.

Tire Works previously has advertised on KTNV-TV's Web site, and Weightman has made significant contributions annually to Radetich's charitable fundraiser, "Nina's Night Out." Channel 13's general manager labeled Radetich's conduct a "lapse of judgment," which may be akin to describing a parishioner burning down his church as an "overreaction."

Radetich has a bachelor in arts in Mass Communications from UCLA and 15 years' experience in broadcast journalism, with her first on-air job in Bakersfield, Calif. for KERO-TV.  “Professional electronic journalists should present the news with integrity and decency, avoiding real or perceived conflicts of interest, and respect the dignity and intelligence of the audience as well as the subjects of news." So sayeth the Ethics Code of the Radio-Television News Directors Assn. (RTNDA), which must have been covered  in UCLA on a day Radetich was absent.

Philip Morris Gets Smoked by Ninth Circuit First Amendment Ruling

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The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit gave tobacco giant Philip Morris the word this week: cigarette advertising is protected by the 1st Amendment, selling cigarettes isn't--no butts about it.

In Philip Morris USA, Inc. v. City and County of San Francisco (Case No. 08-17649), the appellate court upheld the constitutionality of a San Francisco ordinance that bans the sale of cigarettes in drug stores. The appeals court affirmed a ruling last December by U.S. District Court Judge Claudia Wilken (Case No.4:08-cv-04482).

In its unpublished decision, the 9th Circuit noted that San Francisco Ordinance 194-08 limits where Philip Morris may sell its cigarettes, but doesn't prevent the company from advertising the product. "Even assuming it incidentally restricts plaintiff's advertising in a way that wouldn't be permissible as a direct regulation, that's not enough" [to constitute a violation of the First Amendment], according to the opinion of the court.

The appellate court choked on Philip Morris' argument, which the judges suggested would invite a 1st Amendment claim anytime the government banned something.

'Franny Fox': Nasal Talk Show on Tap?

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U.S. News & World Report's Nikki Schwabb blogs that actress and political activist Fran Drescher has set aside her New York political aspirations for now and begun negotiations with Fox News for a possible talk show.

Drescher, 52, an avowed Democrat, author of  the book, Cancer, Schmancer about her battle with uterine cancer, and U.S. State Department Public Diplomacy Envoy for Women's Health Issues, reportedly is floating the idea of a gabfest that would cover health, politics, and world affairs both to Fox News and MSNBC.

Drescher and Glenn Beck as Fox buddies? "The Nanny" meets "The Ninny."

Star-Tribune Calls an Audible: Will Charge Online Readers for Vikings Coverage

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Startribune.com, will soon wall-off its "Access Vikings" coverage and begin charging readers for some of the content about their favorite football team, the Minnesota Vikings.

Terry Sauer, assistant managing editor for digital, confirmed that photo galleries, some columns, non-staff generated blogs, and reporter chats about The Men in Purple will soon carry a price tag, though much of the coverage of the team will remain free.

In 2002, the news outlet charged $30 for its "Purple Plus" expanded coverage, which drew only 1,000 subscribers. The failure was attributed in part to the team's travails, as they amassed a 6-10 record that season. Although the Star-Tribune is more optimistic about its latest venture, subscribers to the print edition, who pay more than $200 annually, may not be pleased about being asked to pony up so they can read online content about the "V-I-K-I-N-G-S, Skol Vikings, let's go!" for which they might believe they've already paid.

"TUOL" suggests the newspaper put all the "Access Vikings" revenue into a football pool and award the winnings to the reader who comes closest to guessing the number of concussions Vikings quarterback Brett Favre sustains during the upcoming season.

Courant Hiring of Hoops Coach's Daughter Out-of-Bounds

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The Hartford Courant  has hired Alysa Auriemma to contribute monthly as a "celebrity blogger" in its sports department. It does a father proud.

The father in this case is Geno Auriemma, who has coached the UConn Huskies women's basketball team since 1985, amassing five national championships along the way.  Courant sports editor Jeff Otterbein apparently sees no problem with having the coach's daughter on the payroll, which would put him in the distinct minority.

The next time Coach Auriemma sits down with a Courant reporter for an interview, it could raise the specter of preferential treatment being given to his daughter's employer.  The appearance of conflict of interest in the news business is serious business.

Whistle the Courant for a flagrant foul on this move.

"Shield 'em, Dano!"

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Hawaii's year-old shield law [Hawaii Rev. Stat. c. 621] had its first successful test run as Kauai Circuit Court Judge Kathleen Watanabe last week ruled that documentary film maker Keoni Kealoaha Alvarez may not be deposed or subpoenaed in a land dispute case in which he is not a party concerning footage he shot about Native Hawaiian burial practices.

Alvarez, who was backed by the ACLU of Hawaii and  Honolulu attorney James J. Bickerton, received the protective order under the Aloha State's shield law, which explicitly covers  non-traditional journalists, such as Alvarez, as well as print and broadcast journalists regarding protecting their unpublished work and confidential sources from disclosure. 

Alvarez, who chronicled burial practices over a four-year period, became ensnared in the case of Joseph Brescia v. Ka'iulani Edens-Huff et al, when Brescia's attorneys subpoened him.  Brescia brought a civil lawsuit against individuals he claims allegedly delayed construction of his home on Naue Point on Kauai after  30 graves were discovered on the property.

Defaming the Infamous: Grandson Claims Newspaper Libeled Josef Stalin

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Yevgeny Dzhugashvili wants folks to stop saying mean things about his late grandpa--dictator Josef Stalin, who was supreme ruler of the Soviet Union for 25 years.

Prodded by Stalinist Leonid Zhura, who is representing Dzhugashvili in court, Yevgeny sued the Novaya Gazeta newspaper for libel, seeking 9.5 million roubles, over an article that alleges Stalin signed death warrants for members of his politburo.

Zhura disputes the authenticity of documents that allege Stalin ordered the execution of 21,000 Polish prisoners of war in 1940. The suit contends that allegations that Stalin was responsible for the deaths of millions of Russian citizens are harmful to Stalin's reputation. Stalin died of a stroke in 1953. Recently, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin attempted to rehabilitate Stalin's reputation in a speech delivered in Poland.

Generally, under libel law in the U.S., because damage to one's reputation  is personal, defamation actions don't survive the death of the alleged victim.

Royalties Payoff Promotes Hollywood Hobbits

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Family members of fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien and HarperCollins have settled their royalties lawsuit with Time Warner, which gives the green light to MGM and Warner Bros. to proceed with filmed versions of "The Hobbit."

New Line Cinema, which Time Warner acquired in March 2008, was sued by the late author's relatives, who control the charitable Tolkien Trust, for $220 million in February 2008. The Tolkiens, who granted the rights to New Line to make the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, alleged they were entitled to 7.5 percent of the gross receipts of the films, which tallied an estimated  combined $6 billion gross in box office, merchandise, DVD and TV licensing, but received only $62,500 from New Line. The case was scheduled for trial in October.

Peter Jackson, director of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy: "The Fellowship of the Ring"(2001),  "The Two Towers" (2002) and "The Return of the King" (2003), and trilogy producer Saul Zaentz each settled similar lawsuits with New Line for approximately $20 million each after condemning New Line's "tookish" conduct.

Jackson is the executive producer, and Guillermo del Toro is slated to direct film versions of Tolkien's "The Hobbit," the first of which is scheduled for release in December 2011. Tolkien's fantasy/children's novel originally was published in 1937.

Print Journalists' "Whine Clubs"?

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Following the lead of  "cadillac" newspapers The New York Times and The Wall St. Journal, Gannett's flagship daily USA Today has established a Wine Club.

Members will receive a 10 percent discount on purchases from the Club, which will be run by My Wines Direct. Members may purchase six bottles quarterly for $69.99, with shipping an additional $11.99. Along with the wines, members receive tasting notes, information about the region and varietal and recipes for suggested food pairings. 

To set itself apart from the Times and Journal clubs, USA Today will involve reader tasting panels who will assist in selecting wines.  One might expect for brand identity reasons that the USA Today-selected bottles would contain less wine than its Times and Journal counterparts.

Print journalism has reached a new low--Merlot.

UPDATE: [No Need to] Guess Who's Coming to the White House?

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In a reversal of its previous position, the White House issued a press release on September 4th announcing that it will publish the names contained on visitors' logs to the White House on its Web site (www.whitehouse.gov).

Each month, records of visitors to the White House over the previous 90 to 120 days will be published.  Names will still be excluded from disclosure  for national security reasons or if the names are of a "necessarily confidential nature," such as a visiting prospective Supreme Court nominee. A watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which had filed litigation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia under the Freedom of Information Act [FOIA] (5 U.S.C. sec. 552) seeking the release of visitor logs, has agreed to withdraw its suit (See "TUOL" 6/16/09, 7/23/09), which resulted in CREW being thanked by the White House in the press release for its "participation" in the development of the revised White House policy that previously upheld the position of the Bush Administration that visitor logs were presidential papers not subject to disclosure under the FOIA.

UPDATE: Clemens Whiffs in Texas Libel Case

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Judge Keith P. Ellison of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has sent 46-year-old former pitching ace Roger Clemens to the showers, throwing out the remainder of the seven-time Cy Young award-winner's defamation lawsuit against former trainer Brian McNamee (William Roger Clemens v. Brian McNamee, Case No. 4:08-cv00471).

Judge Ellison previously had dismissed the lion's share of Clemens' libel case, finding that McNamee's alleged statements were not libelous per se and that McNamee's remarks to the Mitchell Commission investigating steroid use in Major League Baseball were beyond the court's jurisdiction (See "TUOL" 7/2/09, 8/13/09).

Clemens' and McNamee's titanic struggle is now confined to federal court in Brooklyn where McNamee sued Clemens for defamation.

An Aggregate Apology from The Hartford Courant

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Tribune Co.-owned The Hartford Courant has published a letter of apology from CEO, President and Publisher Richard J. Graziano for engaging in news aggregating practices that the Courant conceded amounted to plagiarism.

"We have determined that over the last several weeks the Courant plagiarized the work of some of our competitors," Graziano wrote. "This was not our intent, but it is in fact what happened. We are taking corrective action to prevent it from happening again. We have also disciplined the individuals involved." The letter did not detail what the remedial measures are.

The Courant aggregated news from across Connecticut, but failed to attribute the origin of some of the content that it posted, prompting a letter of complaint of misappropriation from Managing Editor Chris Powell of the Manchester Journal Inquirer. Michael Miner, who writes The Blog for www.chicagoreader.com, alleges that the Courant posted stories from other Connecticut newspapers on its Web site, some of which found their way into the print edition of the Courant under the byline of a Courant reporter. In a press release, The Society of Professional Journalists minced no words in characterizing the Courant's conduct as "theft."

The Courant  is Connecticut's largest daily newspaper. The paper has been publishing since 1764.

Military Court Marshals No Support for Reporter's Privilege

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In a case of first impression, a military appeals court rejected First Amendment and common law arguments, holding that military courts do not recognize reporter's privilege.

The decision by the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals in U.S. v. Frank D. Wuterich (NMCCA 200800183) reversed a military judge's ruling concerning the defendant staff sergeant, whom the government alleges was involved in the 2005 killing  of 24 civilians in Haditha, Iraq. The judge had quashed a subpoena to CBS's 60 Minutes for outtakes from the program's interview with Sgt. Wuterich.

The appeals court concluded: "the facts presented in this case do not support the recognition of a reporter's privilege under the Military Rules of Evidence, and that the military judge, therefore, erred as a matter of law in quashing the Government's subpoena."

Reporter's privilege is the notion that journalists have at least a limited right to withhold information gathered from news sources promised confidentiality, if asked to reveal it by a court. In Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S.665 (1972), a majority of the Supreme Court found a limited constitutional reporter's privilege exists in certain instances, though not if the information sought is relevant, essential to a case and unavailable from other sources.

Paris' "Hot" Lawsuit: A Legal Hallmark?

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Whether celebrity heiress Paris Hilton's lawsuit succeeds is in the cards--Hallmark Cards, that is.

Hilton sued the Kansas City, Missouri-based greeting cards maker in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California in 2007(Case No. 2:07-cv-05818) alleging misappropriation of publicity (i.e., invasion of privacy),false designation under the Lanham Act, and infringement of a federally registered trademark. Hallmark, in turn, filed an anti-SLAPP motion against Hilton, arguing her suit was frivolous and violated the company's First Amendment free speech right.


The row involves a greeting card that superimposes Hilton's head onto a cartoon body of a waitress serving food to a male customer, warning: "Don't touch that, it's hot." The customer responds: "What's hot?," eliciting HIlton's hilarious rejoinder: "That's hot!." Inside, the card reads: "Have a smokin' hot birthday."

Hilton registered the phrase "That's hot!" with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office. She frequently uttered the expression on her fish-out-of-water reality series "The Simple Life," that featured Hilton and her former "BFF" Nicole Ritchie as privileged "princesses" engaged in rustic or working-class settings, such as feeding livestock.

Hilton claimed the Hallmark card employing her catchphrase was lifted from the exciting episode of her series entitled "Paris' First Day as a Waitress" in which she toiled for the Sonic Burger fast-food eatery. The district court tossed Hilton's trademark infringement claim, but rejected Hallmark's anti-SLAPP motion.

This week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit weighed in (Hilton v. Hallmark Cards. Docket No. 08-55443). The appellate court upheld the dismissal of the anti-SLAPP motion and was unpersuaded by Hallmark's transformative use defense, remanding the case to the district court where Hilton may proceed on her privacy/publicity claim.  Hallmark is considering appealing the ruling to the full bench of the Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court.

The appellate court decision, in rejecting the anti-SLAPP motion, said that although Hilton's claim does not merit judgment in her favor as a matter of law, "she has at least some probability of prevailing on the merits before a trier of fact."

In the wake of this litigation, don't expect any greeting card company to take a flyer on a line of "Thinking of You" cards featuring images from the heiress' iconic Internet sex tape.

DePaul J-Students Take to the Tweets

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"Digital Editing: From Breaking News to Tweets," "Reporting for Converged Newsrooms," "Backpack Reporting," "Niche Journalism."  This is not your father's journalism school education.

J-Students at DePaul University's College of Communication, Chicago's second-largest dispenser of degrees in communications, hopes to ride the wave of digital journalism in the changing field.  Craig Kanalley, digital intern at The Chicago Tribune, a DePaul alum,  is teaching DePaul j-students a college-level journalism course devoted entirely to Twitter and its applications. The course will tie into Kanalley's Web site, www.breakingtweets.com, which has had more than 500,000 page views since it launched in January 2009.

Lovers of irony will be disappointed to learn that enrollment is not limited to 140.

AP Survey Confirms: Newspapers Really Do Eat Their Young

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The results of a 13-question survey of newspaper editors conducted by the Associated Press Managing Editors confirm that  recession-fueled massive editorial layoffs in the newspaper industry claim young reporters among the highest casualties.

AP Business Writer Michael Liedtke reports that most of the 95 editors who participated in the survey witnessed a 10 percent reduction of journalists in their newsrooms during the past year. Whereas buyouts and attrition  frequently affect older, higher paid reporters,when  factoring in layoffs in which unions dictate a "last in, first out" view toward reductions in employment, it's reporters in the 18 to 35 age bracket who suffer the most.

The loss of tech-savvy younger reporters further hamstrings newspapers that are struggling with developing a model that will save the industry and attract young readers who currently derive their news from the Internet, Twitter, and other high-tech outlets.

Playboy Sheds Circulation: Top Half of 2009 a Bust for Periodicals

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TV Guide lost 10 percent of its readers, and Playboy was close behind, shedding 9.2 percent of its circulation in the first six months of 2009, compared to first-half figures a year ago, leading the bruised magazine industry, which overall experienced a 1.2 percent decline in circulation, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC).

ABC reported that for the first half of 2009, grocery store and newsstand sales of magazines plunged from 41.4 million copies in 2008 to 36.3 million copies in 2009, a 12 percent decrease. Combined circulation for 521 consumer magazines went from 343.7 million copies sold in the first half of 2008 to 339.6 million for the comparable period in 2009, according to the ABC.  Meanwhile, ad sales declined by 21 percent at major domestic periodicals in the first half of 2009.

If this keeps up,  newsstand hawkers, the principal suppliers of information to fictional private eyes since Hollywood started making talkies, will become extinct.

Marvel Fans 'Thor' About Disney Takeover

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Bambi, Dumbo, Wolverine? Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Incredible Hulk?

Media observers are still coming to grips with The Walt Disney Co.'s decision to pony up $4 billion to acquire Marvel Entertainment and gauging the impact the megadeal is expected to have on Hollywood, theme parks, video games, comic books and the like.  Disney stock dropped 3 percent to roughly $26 a share, while Marvel stock soared  25 percent to $48.37 a share yesterday on the announcement of the purchase. The stock and cash deal reportedly was valued at $50 a share, a 29 percent premium.

Marvel is the premier comics publisher, holding both a retail dollar share and unit market share edge over rival DC Comics. By acquiring Marvel, Disney is now allied with Sony Pictures Entertainment (Spider-Man), 20th Century Fox (X-Men) and Paramount Pictures (Iron Man), which continue to churn out and distribute films featuring characters from the Marvel stable. The transaction is also a boon for Disney's theme parks and cable channels.

The respective parents of Mickey Mouse and Captain America have not always seen eye to eye. In 2004, Marvel sued Disney  in Los Angeles County Superior Court, alleging $16 million in damages stemming from Disney's takeover of the Fox Family Channel and conversion to ABC Family. When the acquisition  occurred, Fox Family Channel was airing an animated series starring Marvel characters, prompting Marvel to argue that Fox could not transfer the copyright license of the Marvel creations to Disney.

That was then. Today, entertainment honchos in both camps are singing: "It's a Small (but) Marvel-ous World After All." Marvel's mostly male fan base, however, is already having nightmares about an Incredible Hulk & Hannah Montana music video.

Bankruptcy for Financially Squeezed Orange County Register Looms

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Irvine, Calif.-based Freedom Communications, which owns eight television stations and 31 daily newspapers, including The Orange County Register, is expected to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week, handing control over to lenders who hold approximately $770 million in debt.

The Register has an average daily circulation of 230,877 and Sunday sales of roughly 300,000 for the six months ending March 31, 2009, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.  The Hoiles family has been majority owners of Freedom Communications for more than 70 years.

Freedom suspended its dividend a year ago and in June 2009, announced an across-the-board 5 percent salary reduction for employees.

Ex-Med Head Scores $10m Libel Verdict Against St. Petersburg Times

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A six-member Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Court jury has socked the Times Publishing Co., parent of The St. Petersburg Times, with a $10 million libel judgment in a case brought by Dr. Harold Kennedy, former chief of medicine at Bay Pines VA Medical Center.

Following a five-day trial, the four-women, two-man jury awarded Dr. Kennedy $5.1 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages based on three articles that appeared in The St. Petersburg Times in December 2003, written by staff writer Paul de la Garza, who died at age 44 of a heart attack in 2006. The court excluded  de la Garza's reporter's notes as evidence for the defense.

The offending articles involved Dr. Kennedy's re-assignment from chief of medicine to his cardiology subspecialty. Dr. Kennedy presently resides in St. Louis and consults for the Cardiovascular Research Foundation, according to his attorney.

The newspaper plans to appeal the verdict.