Front page on May 31: “Man is shot in stomach in city”, “Best in two out of three” about Meghan Ecker finishing first for women in Red Rose Race, “Putting the brakes on youngest drivers”, “Chased by police, driver abandon cars; it drifts into house”; “Welcome wore out” about a celebrity moving from a neighborhood.

Lancaster section:  “Boy struck, dragged by car”; “There’s no place like home”, still another article on Habitat for Humanity; and “Seven staff members win statewide awards” from a “statewide journalism contest” that is an orgy of self congratulations!

WATCHDOG: Where was the “News” in “Sunday News”? We sat down for a leisurely read over breakfast and was through the paper before we got to the orange juice. Exception: “Best in two out of three” about teenage drivers.

Oh yes, Marv Adams had a very good column about the Urban League. (Although his daughter Abigail’s quip once again stole the show.) But it read like an expanded version of the article NewsLanc carried earlier in the week and featured in our newsletter.

Marv and Gil: This week the Watchdog wants its money back!

A May 30 report, headed “Murdoch: Future of Newspapers is Digital”, reports:

News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch said on Thursday that the future of newspapers is digital, but it may be 10 to 15 years before readers go fully electronic.

Murdoch, in an interview with the News Corp.-owned Fox Business Network, also said that newspapers, faced with eroding print advertising revenue and circulation, are going to have to start charging readers on the Web…

“‘Instead of an analog paper printed on paper you may get it on a panel which would be mobile, which will receive the whole newspaper over the air, (and) be updated every hour or two,’ he said.”

WATCHDOG:

This is what NewsLanc has been saying and the sooner the Lancaster Newspapers begin moving in this direction, they better off it and the community will be.

The public needs daily local newspapers. They must be paid for somehow. Perhaps when money is coming from web subscriptions rather than from advertising, they will even return to investigating.

The May 28th front page, three column wide photo of a dejected youngster appears under the heading “Speller falls short; Early error costs Stevens girl at bee.”

WATCHDOG: Is it poor taste on the part of the editors to portray (shame?) a young contestant in such a manner? A fourteen year old isn’t an adult celebrity and shouldn’t be treated as such in her moment of anguish.

The article only merited a short mention inside the newspaper without a photo, as a follow up to the earlier feature story.

A May 27 article headed “Study finds half of men arrested test positive for drugs” reports:

Not only do the findings show “a clear link between drugs and crime,” they also highlight the
need to provide drug treatment, says Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, which will make the data public Thursday.

WATCHDOG: Yet only about 300 of over 5,000 Lancastrians who suffer from heroin addiction can obtain Suboxone from physicians to enable them to live normal, productive lives. Only a hand full of local doctors are willing to treat this population, in large part because government fees are low.

And what is Lancaster General Hospital doing about this? Very little, despite the non-profit institutions $113 million in profits last year. NewsLanc will report more on this next week on the web, the radio, and in print.

According to a May 26 article headed “N. Y. Times dropped tip on Watergate”, a reporter had lunch with acting FBI director L. Patrick Gray on Aug. 16, 1972 and was told point blank that former attorney general John Mitchell was implicated into the recent break in at the Watergate headquarters of the Democratic Party and was given to understand that President Richard Nixon was also involved. The Times editor, whose book reveals his gaff, did little if anything to follow up!

WATCHDOG: This is instructive on three accounts:

First, it gives evidence that former associated FBI director W. Mark Felt was acting with the consent of Gray (and thus the FBI) when he adopted the role of “Deep Throat” and provided clues to Washington Post reporters that eventually led to the resignation of Nixon.

Second, what was then an incredible blunder by the Times editor, today would be normal practice.  Newspapers, many of which are either in bankruptcy reorganization or trying to avoid it (including the Times), have little if any money for investigations. No matter how large the corruption apparently taking place in Lancaster, the Philadelphia Inquirer would no longer be likely to take note.

Third, in Lancaster the conduct and abuses of the Big Four are not subject to investigation or even questioning by their member, The Lancaster Newspapers.

On May 24, the popular “Perspective” section was packaged with the pre-printed and separately bundled display advertisements.

WATCHDOG: Good move. Why would advertisers spend their money to appear in a separately bundled portion of the newspapers that many, if not most, subscribers simply toss in the trash! ‘Perspective’ is a section were a later deadline can properly be sacrificed to generating revenue.

In his weekly column, Editor Marv Adams advises readers:

“Any person who is out of work can have an ad printed for fours weeks under ‘Situations Wanted.’ You can also have your resume posted on LancJobs.com. Also free….The company did it in the 1970s during a tough economic period, at the behest of publisher John F. Steinman.

“”Mr. Steinman believed that the newspaper was in the best position in the community to help out-of-work Lancastrians find a job, and he wanted Lancaster Newspapers to lead the way,‘ said Harold E. Miller Jr., president (sic) and CEO of LNP.”

WATCHDOG: Three wags of the tail for the Lancaster Newspapers!

In his May 19 column “A healthy chance for health reform”, Jeff Hawkes reports: “In a talk to a Lancaster audience, Andrew Weber, head of the National business’s Coalition on Health, said Friday that the stars may be aligning in the president’s favor and a reform bill has ‘a better than even chance’ of getting through Congress.” Hawkes continues: “Obama is also letting Congress take the lead in crafting a bill, Weber said, allowing for transparency and the political give-and-take necessary to placate potential opponents.”

WATCHDOG: Grrr. (A growl)  The column is unworthy of Hawkes who recently has turned out so many thoughtful articles. Contrary to good journalism, he only quotes a business spokesperson and provides no offsetting points of view. As for allowing “political give-and-take” by Congress to determine the bill, it is likely the result of such a process is the public “giving” and the special interests “taking!”

In this column, Hawkes, who certainly must also be well read, doesn’t touch upon the major problems of the current health care system.

For a far more insightful discussion and troubling revelations, visit “Single payer issue: Corporate interests vs. what is best for country” under LETTERS which was sent to NewsLanc’s publisher by a leading advocate of single payer health insurance.

A May 19th article headed “Center may open early for training” states  “Lancaster City officials are doing what they can to help the new downtown convention center and hotel to open its doors.

“Builders of the $174.4 million redevelopment project are seeking a temporary certificate of occupancy that will allow hotel and center workers to get into the building and begin training, said Gary Horning, chief of the city’s Code Compliance & Inspections bureau.”

WATCHDOG: It is not unusual for staff to be allowed to train prior to issuance of an Occupancy Permit provided that the prime life safety features are all tested and operative.  However, there probably is no more dangerous time during the life of any building than during its first days of operations.