Here’s an interview McGinniss gave NBC a few months ago-

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Conrad died early Saturday of natural causes, surrounded by his family at his home in Rancho Palos Verdes, said his son David.”  -Los Angeles Times

“Washington, DC —Consumer Watchdog and the Center for Media and Democracy today asked the Obama administration to investigate how the major for-profit health insurance companies are reducing their proportion of spending on health care in advance of health reform, even as premiums spike upward. In a letter to Health and Human Services chief Kathleen Sebelius, the groups compared insurers’ actions to those of credit card companies, which spiked annual interest rates last year in advance of new federal regulations that would curb corporate abuses.

“Insurance companies appear to be making sure that when new federal rules for spending on health care kick in next year, they can keep their administrative bloat and profits intact,” said Judy Dugan, research director of Consumer Watchdog. “-Consumer Watchdog.org

* Energy interests, including oil and gas companies, electric utilities, mining companies and waste management firms, have contributed more than $337 million to federal candidates and party organizations since 2000. Only the financial sector – banks, insurance companies and other financial firms, has given more.

* Employees of and groups tied to BP, the company at the center of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, have donated more than $3 million to congressional election campaigns since 2000.

* Since 2000, energy companies have invested nearly $2.6 billion to lobby Congress and the executive branch. During the first quarter of this year alone, the industry spent about $3.2 million on lobbying for each day Congress was in session.  -Common Cause

I was astonished when I heard they were bringing these guys back.  First of all, it’s the old format that uses two male co-anchors.  Not very politically correct but that’s the way some of the stations did it back in the 50’s and 60’s with teams like Bob Ryan and John MacDougall at KSTP in Minneapolis/St. Paul.   There’s also that big white elephant in the middle of the room - the question of age.  According to Wikipedia, Kurtis is 69 and Jacobson is 73, meaning, WBBM is setting aside the current trend of “narrowcasting,” which ignores the broad-based audience (why do you think it was called “broadcasting?) and instead goes after a narrow band of viewers.  The current trend is to try and attract a young, hip and mainly female audience advertisers supposedly love because they do so much of the buying.

Here in Los Angeles, the bulk of our tv reporters seem to be increasingly young, female and  very attractive.  And dressed to the 9’s.  Like they’re heading out to a party or about to go bar-hopping.   Not businesslike at all.   Their hair looks like they’ve just come from the hairdresser even though they’re standing in the middle of a typhoon.   It’s the party-girl news.  Credibility gap, anyone?

First and foremost, these young, hip and overdressed beauty queens were hired not for their knowledge of local and state institutions or their journalistic skills or their ability to dig up a really good enterprise story on a moments notice.  No, the women tv reporters who could do that have pretty much all been kicked to the curb.  First and foremost, these newer, younger and more demographically correct hires were brought on board to attract an audience of  young women.  As were their handsome male counterparts.

Question is, will 18-49 year old women be motivated to watch Kurtis and Jacobson?   Have the managers at WBBM gone completely nuts?  Maybe not.

Somebody at the station must remember former CBS anchor and managing editor, Walter Cronkite.   “Uncle Walter,” we used to call him.   Polls indicated he was the most trusted man in America.  LBJ was famous for saying that if he lost Cronkite’s support, then he’d lose middle America and with it, the war in Vietnam.   He was right on both counts.  Political parties wanted Walter to run for president.  They were sure he’d win.  I think they were right.  Thing is, Cronkite, was no kid.  He was an aging man with a receding hairline who wore a mustache.  Occasionally, as when he announced the death of JFK,  he’d wear big black eyeglasses.  He was our national father image.  However, despite his enormous success, there is no way any tv outlet would hire him today.   The same can be said of Charles Kuralt.  He too, was successful and enormously popular, but there’s no way anybody would put him on the air in our current fear driven, take no chances, go for the narrow audience the advertisers want by hiring only beauty queens and male models environment.

Why do you supposed Diane Sawyer and Katie Couric are anchoring network newscasts?   Is it because Sawyer used to work for the enemy camp (the Nixon White House) or Couric’s extensive background exposing crooked politicians and greedy corporate wonks?  Is it because their respective audiences are small and getting smaller?

No, it’s because the network bosses thought Couric and Sawyer would attract 18-49 year old women.  And it isn’t working.  Somebody at WBBM must be watching all of this and connecting the dots.

There is an audience out there for traditional non-advocacy, objective, ethical and yes, investigative reporting, delivered in a no-nonsense fashion.  The old inverted pyramid.   The people who want it (actual news) aren’t necessarily all 18-49 year old women.  It’s a demographic that skews old (or older) because kids do not, and never will, give a damn about news, until and unless they stand to be directly impacted.  They are imbued with that false sense of immortality provided by youth we all once had, and they find the news to be largely irrelevant.   Particularly when it’s not really news that tells them what’s actually going on.  As we used to say, “it’s not brain surgery.”  People just want to know what the hell is really going on and they want somebody they can trust serving as a conduit.  Like old Uncle Walter.  Or, in the case of WBBM, the double conduit of Kurtis and Jacobson.

I don’t know if it’s going to work but good luck guys.   God knows , any number of us in the over 40 crowd are pulling for you.  As for that newspaper reporter for the Sun-Times who put together the piece saying your return to the air was a bit on the rusty side, what did he expect?  Even young anchors are given a couple of months to “settle in” before anybody gets judgmental about their delivery.   My bet, is that in a month or two the rough edges will be gone and you guys will be better than ever.   I just hope they’ve given you a producer who understands what news is.  If not, I’m sure you’ll provide an education.

Thank you WBBM for taking a chance.  If it works in Chicago, maybe it’ll work here in L.A.  Perhaps one day in the not too distant future we can all get back to doing the news again.  You will have delivered us from this infotainment nightmare.

Wait a minute.  My phone’s ringing.  Do ya think………

“Kicked out, bought out or barely hanging on, investigative reporters are a vanishing species in the forests of dead tree media and missing in action on Action News. I-Teams are shrinking or, more often, disappearing altogether. Assigned to cover multiple beats, multitasking backpacking reporters no longer have time to sniff out hidden stories, much less write them. In Washington, bureaus that once did probes have shrunk, closed and consolidated.” -American Journalism Review

Those of us in the news business have been watching this happen for years.  We used to say “every real reporter is an investigative reporter.”   With so many being fired, retired or forced out, things have gone way beyond reason.   It’s more about entertainment and the bottom line and less about journalism.  In fact, much of what passes for tv news these days has very little or nothing to do with journalism.

All of it is good news for shady politicians and greedy corporate bosses.  And bad news for America.

 ’”The public is not well-served by political coverage as it is today,” said Rather, who did not exclude himself from this criticism. “In many important ways, very big business is in bed with big government and whoever’s in power in Washington, whether it be Republicans or Democrats … and this seriously affects news coverage.”  -Dan Rather

“A look through American history shows that divisive populist appeals during times of economic anxiety have a long history. They have come from politicians or media figures, hammering home their point on a soapbox or over radio waves. Now via satellite they can reach every home, but their appeal is always the same: promising followers solutions to all their problems by providing someone to blame. It is an “Us against Them” vision of America.” -The Daily Beast

Click here-

“Right now, it’s going to be Eisner,” the person said. “The lenders are going to try to take the company. It’s the only way they are going to get some of their money. But they’re not ready yet.”-The Wrap

Ron Olsen        Joe Bosco        Walter Richards

It’s funny how things sometimes come to you.

I was reading the posts on Facebook and saw a note from Linda Deutsch, who wrote , “I’ve found a very sad flaw in Facebook.  They don’t eliminate people’s birthdays when they die.  So Facebookers are sending greetings to my dear departed friend Joe Bosco today.  Wish he was here to see the good wishes.”

I’ll second that, and admit to my shock at learning of Joe’s death.  He was 61 and had spent the past several years teaching journalism at Beijing Foreign Studies University. Beyond that, Joseph Bosco, was a colorful and accomplished character.

Joe and I became friends during the first O.J. Simpson trial.    He had a seat down in Judge Ito’s courtroom on the 9th floor, while I was stuck doing a live broadcast up on the 12th floor.  I needed someone who could give me a firsthand account of what it felt like down in the courtroom.  I needed info on the “atmosphere” down in the “lion’s den.”  There were others who appeared on camera with me, including Dominick Dunne, but Joe  frequently served as my guest analyst.   I put him on the air repeatedly, because he was smart, articulate and personable (and willing to go on the air).   He was also an interesting character.  Like the day he came to the courthouse wearing a neck brace.  I remember it clearly.   “What happened?” I said.  “Well Ron” he said,”I broke my neck.”  Those were his exact words.  I’ll never forget them.  It involved a party at a house author Joe McGinniss was renting and a swimming pool.  I won’t get into all of it here, but there he was, back on the job covering the trial.

It was at about this same time that he was subpoenaed by the defense and ordered to reveal his source for an article he had written for Penthouse.   Joe took the stand and invoked the California “shield law” for journalists and refused to give up his source.   The stress was unbelievable, as he was on and off the phone with Penthouse, trying to arrange for the magazine to hire an attorney.   Those of us who knew him,  were worried the additional stress might lead to a permanent injury, or worse.   Somehow though, he got through the ordeal.  He took the stand, held pat, and Judge Ito eventually ruled that Joe would not have to reveal his source.

Joe Bosco, did the right thing.  Not everybody always does.

Early on in the trial,  he kept telling me about Dr. Henry Lee.  Joe had seen Dr. Lee in action at an earlier trial while working on his book “Blood Will Tell:  A True Story of Deadly Lust in New Orleans.”   During the trial, Joe had to fight a subpoena ordering him to turn over tapes of confidential interviews.  He won that fight and had moved on to Los Angeles and O.J. Simpson and a broken neck.  “Just wait until Dr. Lee gets here,” he would say, repeatedly.  I was inclined to believe he might be overstating things, at least just a bit, but came to agree with his assessment of the forensic pathologist’s impact on the jury, at least in part.   Lee’s explanation of blood spatter patterns and his words, “something wrong!” undoubtedly helped tilt the case in Simpson’s favor.   And yes, in the world of forensic science they do say “spatter” and not “splatter.”  I don’t know why.

There was also the tip he gave me after gleaning word of a rift within the prosecution.   I went on the air with it.  The PR rep for the DA’s Office cornered me in an elevator and issued the angry warning that “Marcia’s pissed!  She’s really pissed!”  There was an implied threat that I had better give up the source of my information or there could be real trouble.    Joe thought he might lose his seat in the courtroom, which was a big deal, since he was both filing stories for Penthouse and working on a book.  I convinced him that it was all a bluff.   Turned out that it was.

When the trial ended, Joe wrote “A Problem of Evidence:  How the Prosecution Freed O.J. Simpson.”   Probably not Marcia Clark’s favorite book about the trial.   He also received a number of awards, including a citizenship award from the Sons of Italy here in Los Angeles.   The presentation took place at a local country club.  I was there.  So was reporter Michelle Caruso, and a few other friends and colleagues from the Simpson ordeal.

I think that was the last time I saw Joe.  I last spoke with him when he called to tell me about a magazine piece he had written involving an ex-con who was allegedly paid by one of the key players in the Simpson case to steal Nicole’s SUV, and then stalk her for several days before being arrested down in Newport for grand theft auto.  The detective who wanted to follow the trail was removed from the case, he told me.  Good stuff, but way to involved to take it much further here.

Joe Bosco, was born in Biloxi, Mississippi in August of 1948.  He died of natural causes in Beijing on July 8th.  He is survived by his son, Joe Bosco, and a sister Sylvia, in Ocean Springs, Miss.

The following poem is from Joe’s blog “The Longbow Papers”-

PLEASE

Would you forgive me
could you forget it
Would you hold it against me
if I did?
Because
I’m tired
I’ve seen too much
and too much I’ve seen
I have also felt
And too much I’ve felt
brought little joy
and too much joy
was only an illusion
of lost salvation
And too many illusions
brought only pain
and too much pain
was self inflicted
So
if you could forgive
forget
and hold no grudge
Then
I’ll ask your permission
to quit

-Joseph Bosco

“Santa Barbara Police told the Kings that their information on the aircraft came from a “private company,” John King said. It was later learned by John King that the information came from the El Paso Intelligence Center, which was initially created under the Drug and Enforcement Administration to stop drug traffic, but was given additional duties to stop terrorists after the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., in 2001. It was staffed at first by three federal agencies. It is now staffed by 15 federal agencies and two Texas agencies, one state and one local. It has never been a private company. Santa Barbara Police and the El Paso Intelligence Center said they did not have officials on duty Sunday evening who could answer questions from the media. After 30 minutes the couple was released, and King said police told them, “We have to do this,” offering no apology.”

The AOPA magazine says the Kings are two of the country’s most respected members of the general aviation community.  This incident, the magazine says, was simply “outrageous.”

The fact that this is nothing new only adds further insult to the ever increasing injury.

A case in point from Vermont:  Some time ago, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, took a group of his constituents over the border to Canada to buy cancer meds.   They were shocked to find the price was only about 10% of what they were being forced to pay for the same medications back in the U.S.

More recently, Senator Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Governor Brian Schweitzer of Montana, sent a request to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, to allow their states to import prescription drugs from Canada.  The two politicians say existing law gives HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the power to set it up as a pilot program.  It would, they say, cut the cost of prescription drugs by as much as 50%, saving consumers in their two states as much as $400 million a year.

Imagine the savings if the cuts were applied nationwide.

According to Kaiser,  “In 2007, 90% of seniors and 58% of nonelderly adults rely on a prescription medicine on a regular basis. [4] Although still only a modest part of total health care spending in the U.S (10%), with so many people relying on prescriptions, the cost implications loom large for the American public, health insurers, and government payers.  Furthermore, the drug industry’s profit margins have raised considerable attention. Pharmaceutical manufacturing was the most profitable industry in the U.S. from 1995 to 2002, and in 2008 it ranked third with profits after taxes of about 19 percent. [5] -Kaiseredu.org

Dorgan and Schweitzer say their pilot program could “lead the way for safe drug importation for the entire country. ”

I know the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the “end to combat” in Iraq (while we leave 50,000 troops in-country) are both big news stories.   However, each and every day millions of Americans continue going to the pharmacy where they have no choice but to pay more than the rest of the world for prescription medications.

No wonder tens of thousands are marching on Washington, many of them complaining about the hazards of “socialized medicine” while they continue going broke paying for health insurance and pharmaceuticals.

I have seen the enemy and he is us.

While the guys from the Fed are presumably eating surf and turf and knocking back a few apple martinis on the taxpayer’s dime,  it is being reported that:

-New home sales hit a record low in July.  Investor’s Business Daily reports,  “Sales of new homes fell 12.4% to an annualized 276,000, the lowest since records began in 1963, the Commerce Department said.”

-The Washington Post reports:  “…one in 10 mortgages in the United States is still behind by at least one payment..”

-While the national unemployment rate appears stuck at 9.5%, the unemployment rate among young people, age 16-24 was running at 19.1% in july.

-In Canada, the Globe and Mail is reporting on “The Death of the American Dream.”

-Reuters, reports the economic recovery is “faltering due to a lack of consumer demand.”

And you guys went where for your annual meeting? Oh ya!  The Jackson Hole mountain resort!  Where Mr. Bernanke (who showed up looking ready for a trail ride in jeans and a short sleeve shirt)  said the Fed “will do all it can” to sustain growth.  What growth?   Haven’t you heard?  There’s a “lack of consumer demand.” 

You mean you don’t have a plan to stimulate growth and get us out of this mess?  Isn’t that your job?

I guess you haven’t heard?  Millions of Americans not employed by the government have a full blown crisis on their hands.  People are unemployed.  Many are losing their homes.  A number are still without adequate health care.  Our neighbor to the north has proclaimed “the death of the American dream,” and you’re kicking back at a federal gab-fest in Jackson Hole?

Why don’t you just check out a fleet of Gulfstreams from the Air Force and head to Paris?

Rather than issuing heated words about Beck and his fans, Young talked about the anger being generated by confusion with regard to how we got into our current economic mess.   He said no one party or person is to blame and that the focus should be on fixing a broken system and understanding how we got here.   Or as Dr. King put it, he said, making the system work for everybody.

Mr. Young, pointed to three events which, he says, were key in getting us into our current economic crisis.

First, he pointed to the price of oil shooting up as The Organization of Oil Exporting Countries, or “OPEC,” refused to sell oil to countries that supported Israel in the Yom Kippur War in October of 1973.  Within a few months the price had climbed from $3 to $12 a barrel, with a devastating impact on the world’s economy.  By July of 2007, the price had gone above $75 a barrel.   According to the CBC, “oil prices were stable for most of the 100 years before 1973.”  After that, we were off to the races.

The other two events he spoke of were the elimination of Regulation Q and the dismantling of the Glass Steagall Act.

Regulation Q encouraged banks to channel money out into the community rather than letting it sit in interest bearing accounts earning more money for the banks.   The regulation did this by placing limits on the interest commercial banks were allowed to pay.

“The United States was suffering through the Great Depression in the early 1930s, and the Congress wanted to influence country banks; savings and loans (S&Ls) and similar thrift institutions to extend credit to local farmers and merchants. However, the practice of many banks was to deposit their funds in commercial banks and earn interest on those deposits. These deposits were demand deposits; they could be withdrawn at any time, upon demand. Modern checking accounts are demand accounts.” -Wisegeek

The third component was the repeal of whole sections of the Glass Steagall Act.  It  too was put in place during the Great Depression.  It forced banks to separate out their commercial (depository) business from investment (Wall Street) ventures and was designed to control speculation.  

“The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 effectively removed the separation that previously existed between Wall Street investment banks and depository banks and has been blamed by some for exacerbating the damage caused by the collapse of the subprime mortgage market that led to the Financial crisis of 2007–2010.” -Wikipedia

The partial repeal was introduced by two Republicans, Phil Gramm in the Senate and Jim Leach in the House.  It was then signed by Bill Clinton during his last days in office.  

Perhaps Mr. Young is right.   Better to be guided by the light of knowledge than the heat generated by angry rhetoric.

“…The reasons are these: voters know she didn’t vote most of
the time she has lived in Calif. (this doesn’t sit well with voters);
she really has not given voters a good idea of what she
would do to create more jobs and lower the deficit in Calif., but
she has said she wants to take a big ax and cut up to 40,000
state workers. Don’t know who she hates most: the SEIU,
AFSCM and Calif. Professional Firefighters OR the Calif.
Nurses Assn. who have gotten under Whitman’s thin skin.
Finally, there is an issue which really doesn’t get mentioned all
that much: does it bother voters that this billionaire is trying to
buy the governor’s office with perhaps the aim of being on the
Republican presidential ticket in 2012???”  -Calpeek 

Interesting idea.  Whitman gets elected to the Governor’s Office only to pull a Palin and leave for D.C.?