Four Monday

1. Andrew Breitbart tells the L.A. chapter of the Republican Jewish Coalition that objectivity in journalism means surrender, and unveils plans to start a Big Jerusalem site. fishbowlLA

2. An ad in today's Miami Herald congratulations the Miami Heat, which lost the NBA championships. Miami New Times

3. AOL's Patch sites are busy, but not with muckraking stories. LAT

4. ABC's Chris Cuomo embarrasses himself as he rationalizes paying sources. Poynter

Ben Sherwood gets thumb in the eye from ABC News staffers

ABC News staffers really hate their new boss, Ben Sherwood. So much so that they edited a video of the speech he gave upon accepting the job of president of ABC News to advertise what an underwhelming talent he is. For example, they call him a liar and a failure. Gawker has the video here.

Whatever other faults he has, Sherwood definitely has a weak news background (unless you consider "Good Morning America" a strong news show). That fact alone explain why some news staffers are unhappy with his selection. Usually, when a mass media company brings in an interloper to run a news division it's because the higher ups want a fiddle around with staffing (i.e., lay people off or hire flashy but substance-less talent) and experiment with programming without having a respected news veteran stand in their way.

Don't sip from the lamestream, media

For responsible journalists, figuring out how and what extent to cover publicity-stuntman Pastor Terry Jones is a complicated task.

Less difficult is pointing out the shamelessness of some media in their attempt to ride the publicity wave Jones and his Quran-burning aspirations have created. For instance, staffers at ABC News wanted to fly Jones to New York City and film the journey. The dumb idea wasn't killed by journalists at the station, but by company executives, Yahoo's Michael Calderone reports.

Calderone also reports that over at MSNBC, the "Morning Joe" crew decided to simultaneously milk the Jones publicity machine and make themselves look above it all at the same time. The show had Jones appear as a guest, but didn't let him speak, instead choosing to have soon-to-be-former Newsweek editor Jon Meacham sermonize to the pastor about New Testament values.

This kind of nonsense becomes irresistible when you live or die by ratings. Which is why a New York Times article about how newspapers are now admitting that they pay a lot of attention to page hits should be worrying.

Proponents of a digital revolution in the news business will generally applaud the paper dinosaurs for finally listening to what readers want, rather than substituting their stodgy editorial judgments for a potentially vibrant democratic discussion.

Newspapers can do a lot of things better if they have a deeper conservation with readers (and with non-readers). But measuring page views and responding to that isn't the way to do it. Indeed, page clicks is the single most dominant measure of success online and it invites the most abuse.

Here's how the Wall Street Journal uses hits to reorder its news site:

At The Journal, editors use traffic data to inform decisions on how articles should be presented on WSJ.com. “We look at the data, and if things are getting a lot of hits, they’ll get better play and longer play on the home page,” said Mr. Murray. Conversely, articles getting low audiences will be moved down more quickly if there is no compelling news reason to keep them prominent.

Predictably, the Journal's editors immediately cite an exception to the rule, saying they've investigated or reported on some issue they knew wouldn't be very popular. But exceptions are merely rationalizations for what is actually happening. And when Bill Keller, editor of the New York Times, says his paper uses page views only to determine how articles are presented online, not to direct coverage, he is being similarly disingenuous. Does anyone really think a newspaper is going to invest as much time and resources into topics that it knows won't ever get strong play on the web site? And isn't how a paper presents itself, whether in print or online, one of the key ways it communicates its editorial judgment to readers? (The answer is yes.)

Popularity is, as everyone who has ever heard of Justin Bieber knows, not synonymous with quality. What news organizations can do to protect quality is to develop more effective and nuanced ways to measure success and guide presentation. This doesn't mean they shut readers out. Newspapers should not refuse to adapt to useful feedback from the public. But to protect editorial judgment, they absolutely develop metrics that bake in editorial judgments and organizational mission. Ratings/hit-counts are passive; they will inevitably cause newspapers to substitute audience judgment for their own editorial judgment. Newspapers need a more sophisticated and active approach; they should be hiring people who know how to create the metrics that will make them better, not just more profitable.

Otherwise, they might as well book a flight with Pastor Terry Jones right now.

The revolution will be covered in ivy

Andrew Heyward, former president of CBS News, commented on the resignation of David Westin as head of ABC News:

The thing to watch is who ABC appoints as Mr. Westin’s successor, Mr. Heyward said. (No names have yet emerged as serious contenders). Someone with formal corporate training, like a person from ABC’s stations division, would most likely forecast a decision to manage costs in the short term, he said. Someone with a digital background, like a former Google executive, could signal a radical and more long-term approach.

 The choice ahead will require an extremely diverse pool of applicants, as Mr. Heyward pointed out:

“I think you’ll either see someone from Harvard Business School or a Harvard dropout.”

(via Romenesko)

Westin, head of ABC News, leaving

David Westin, president of ABC News, told staff that he's ready to "move on." From the New York Times writeup:

In his e-mail, Mr. Westin said, “There are some other things I want to do professionally — things that I cannot explore while fulfilling my responsibilities here.”

Of course, it's never as simple as that. Most reports say Westin was forced out because he wasn't forward thinking enough. Again, from the NYT:

[An] ABC News staff member informed of the decision said that Disney and ABC managers had pressed Mr. Westin for years to make the division more profitable, but had been unhappy with his efforts to accomplish that goal. ABC announced in February that it would reduce its staff by up to 400 employees, about 25 percent of its work force.

Tax day for Tea Parties

As tea party rallies spontaneously spring up around the state to protest tax day, the New York Times provides details about who supports the movement:

Tea Party supporters are wealthier and more well-educated than the general public, and are no more or less afraid of falling into a lower socioeconomic class, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. ...

Tea Party supporters’ fierce animosity toward Washington, and the president in particular, is rooted in deep pessimism about the direction of the country and the conviction that the policies of the Obama administration are disproportionately directed at helping the poor rather than the middle class or the rich.

In addition, they're generally more angry than the average Republican, they support Medicare and Social Security even though they want to shrink the federal government, and a plurality think Sarah Palin is unqualified to be president.

The full story is here.

ABC News pollster Gary Langer has more on the Tea Party movement and why polls differ in gauging their support for the still fuzzy goals of the movement.

In related news, Politico's Ken Vogel found a link between Sacramento-based Russo Marsh + Rogers, a Republican political consultancy firm, and the Tea Party Express. The story confirms that some GOP operatives see the tea parties as a cash cow.

Fear of the fact-checker

The Sunday morning news show "This Week" on ABC has teamed with PolitiFact to do a post-interview fact-check of whatever claims are made by guests during the course of the program.

"Meet the Press" host David Gregory was asked if he'd support a similar arrangement on his show. He said he'd rather leave it up to the viewers to sort fact from fiction.

Which sounds like a weak way to rationalize that MTP didn't think of the fact-check idea first. But the question remains: What harm could come from providing viewers with additional information with which to sort things out? For one, it would make high-profile spinners uncomfortable and the host look woefully unprepared. Is that the real reason why Gregory balked?

Steve Benen at Washington Monthly questions Gregory's strained logic:

Gregory's comments suggest a more traditional approach: let viewers figure things out "on their own terms." Why separate fact from fiction for news consumers when they can do that on their own?

Perhaps because they aren't well equipped to do this on their own, and rely on professional news outlets to provide them with reliable information.

(found via Romenesko)

Spare news

Local television news has been in decline for some time, but recently announced cutbacks at ABC and CBS news divisions shows an industry in decline. And, as with newspapers, industry leaders are telling themselves the same lies about how less is more. From the Wall Street Journal:

ABC has been experimenting with smaller newsgathering teams in far-flung locations. On late-night show "Nightline," staff sometimes shoot and edit their own material, a practice [ABC News president David] Westin cited in announcing his cuts.

"Maintaining the quality, or enhancing the quality, but for much less money—I think that is a very viable business model," Mr. Westin said.

NBC News also makes use of several "backpack" reporters. But NBC has no immediate plans to change its mix of traditional- and digital-reporting techniques, Mr. Capus said: "You have to pick your spots."

"Transformation" another way of saying "You're fired"

ABC News plans to cut several hundred jobs in its news division, first through buyouts and then layoffs if necessary. ABC News president Drew Westin has recast the shrinking payroll as a "fundamental transformation" of the news division.

From NPR:

Westin said it was important for ABC to seize the moment as an opportunity to redefine how it operates. Instead of maintaining expensive gold-plated bureaus dotted around the globe, ABC now relies on digital journalists in eight foreign countries who can record footage themselves or work in concert with a crew on assignment. It has added several digital national reporters as well.

I hope they're the right eight countries.

Freddie Mac CFO dead in apparent suicide

The body of David Kellermann, acting chief financial officer at mortgage-finance giant Freddie Mac, was found in the basement of his Virginia home, ABC News reports. Police say there were no signs of foul play and the cause of death was still under investigation:

From ABC News:

According to securities reports filed in March, Kellermann was to receive an $850,000 bonus.

In filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission in March, Freddie Mac said it had entered into a pact with Kellermann and two other executives to protect them from liabilities and expenses in connection to any threatened or pending lawsuits. The agreement, which kicked in retroactively from the time of the government takeover, would not protect the officials from willful criminal misconduct.

Celebrity doctor-in-chief

ABC News reports that CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta has been tapped to be Surgeon General under President Obama.

For whom the bell curve tolls

Gary Langer, polling director for ABC News, marks the passing of the Los Angeles Times' polling unit, a victim of Tribune Co. budget cuts. The Times put out its final poll nine days ago; it was an analysis of the growing economic uncertainty felt by many Americans in this economic recession*. The Times poll started 31 years ago and has been overseen by Susan Pinkus since 1995. She and her staff are being laid off.

Langer writes:

Does the loss of a single polling outfit matter? If it’s a good one, sure it does. Even when well done, a single poll often is insufficient to illuminate public opinion fully; like a flashlight on the road, it takes a bunch of them, shining in the same direction, to show the way. Without the L.A. Times Poll, our path forward will be a little less well-lighted.

*A link to the poll results. Americans are very down on Wall Street firms handing out bonuses this year.

Company for the miserable

It's not surprising that a majority of Americans are worried about the economy - 63 percent say it's in a long-term decline, according to an ABC News poll out today. What is surprising is the number of people who say they're feeling the pinch. From the ABC poll (paraphrased):

63 percent say they've been hurt by the recession; three in 10 say they've been hurt "a great deal"

51 percent say they've been hit by the stock market collapse

Two-thirds are worried about maintaining their standard of living (74 percent of women vs. 57 percent of men)

27 percent say someone in their household has had their pay or work hours cut; 18 percent say someone in their household has lost a job

21 percent worry they'll lose their job, and almost half think they'd be unable to find as good a job if they had to look

53 percent are worried about health care (59 percent of women vs. 46 percent of men); 75 percent of lower-income Americans worry about health care

15 percent have fallen behind on the mortgage or the rent; 37 percent are worried they will (the numbers are highest for women, lower income and those under 40)
57 percent say they'll spend less this Christmas

24 percent approve of Bush's handling of the economic crisis; 23 percent approve of the overall response; 55 percent say Obama's off to a good start, but just over half think he can do anything about it