I like newspapers, every morning I receive The Los Angeles
Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Every
weekend I also receive The New York Times and The Claremont Courier. Do I read them
all every day, no, but do I enjoy READING them, yes.
Reading newspapers reduces my stress, slows my day down, is
easy on my eyes, and provides concise information about the world around me.
Can I get this from an iPad, iPhone, Fox News, KNX radio, CNN? Yes I can, but
it is not as fun.
Digital First Media, a struggling collection of 76 daily
newspapers including The San Jose Mercury News, The Los Angeles Daily News, The
Denver Post and The St. Paul Pioneer Press, has put itself up for sale. The
company, which is the nation’s second-largest newspaper company as measured by
circulation, was expected to be sold at some point because it was owned by the
hedge fund Alden Global Capital. But John Paton, Digital First’s chief
executive, said in a statement that it made sense to sell the newspapers now because
of the radical changes taking place in the media industry.
The need to consolidate to compete in a digital world is
forcing the industry to define its future. Bankruptcy, selling off holdings is
now the norm in the industry. Last year, News Corporation put its newspapers
into a separate print company. In August, the Tribune Company’s publishing
division, which includes well-known newspapers like The Chicago Tribune and The
Los Angeles Times and underwent years of bankruptcy proceedings, became a
separate company. Gannett Company also announced a split last month into a
separate print and broadcasting companies.
It is a difficult time to sell newspapers because most of
the traditional buyers are not buyers of newspapers anymore. Who are the
buyers? Amazon, hedge funds, private equity funds, mainly those corporations
looking for vehicles for their digital holdings.
What does the future hold for this industry? In all likelihood,
dramatic changes and the end of daily print editions, I am glad I will not be
around to see that.
Did you know the average adult uses four different devices
or technologies to access news in a given week? In today's media landscape,
readers are changing the way they access and interact with newspaper media
content. And newspapers continue to innovate and transform, reaching new audiences
and discovering new revenue streams.
SCOTCH
OR IRISH WHISKEY? – After more than 300 years of being treated like
a poor relative by the English, Scotland votes this week on a referendum for
independence from the United Kingdom. Our pick – the Scots vote Yes, and head
off into the land of “Braveheart”.
POLLS
SHOW CLOSE CALL IN SCOTLAND - Thousands of independence supporters
took to the streets of Scotland's largest city, Glasgow, on Sunday as polls
showed the rival camps running desperately close just five days before a
referendum which could bring the break-up of the United Kingdom. ... Separatist
and unionist leaders worked across the country to woo undecided voters among
the four million Scots and Scotland residents who will vote on their future on
Thursday. Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond, who has spearheaded the
drive for independence, said he was confident the 'Yes' campaign would win. ...
Alistair Darling, a former British finance minister and
leader of the 'Better Together' campaign, warned that if Scots vote to split
from the United Kingdom, it would be an irreversible decision that would bring
economic doom and gloom. With promises from British political leaders of
greater powers for Scotland in the event of a 'No' vote, Scots could have the
best of both worlds, Darling said. And Queen Elizabeth, coming out of a Sunday
morning church service near her Scottish residence Balmoral, told a well-wisher
she hoped Scots would think very carefully about the future.
COLLEGE
CHRONICLES – Student
Loan Debt Senior Citizen Style: An estimated two million
Americans age 60 and older are in debt from unpaid student loans, according to
data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The number of aging Americans
with outstanding student loans hs almost tripled from about 700,000 in 2005,
whether from long-ago loans for their own educations or more recent borrowing
to pay for college degrees for family members.
The debt among older people is up substantially, to $43 billion
from $8 billion in 2005. As of July 31, money was being deducted from Social
Security payments to almost 140,000 individuals to pay down their outstanding
student loans, according to Treasury Department data.
While older debtors account for a small fraction of student
loan borrowers, who have accumulated $1 trillion in such debt, the effect of
owing a constantly ballooning amount of debt but having a fixed income can be
onerous. Many elderly fall below the poverty line when debt is deducted from
their Social Security.
LATE-NIGHT
BEST:
"John Oliver Talks Student Debt and Goes After For-Profit Colleges" http://slate.me/WJlGCU
HOT ONLINE --
"Top Colleges That Enroll Rich, Middle Class and Poor," by NYT
Upshot's David Leonhardt: "To see which selective colleges are doing the
most, and the least, to [have economically-diverse students,] The Upshot has
analyzed data for every college with a four-year graduation rate of at least 75
percent ... by combin[ing] data on enrollment and tuition costs." http://nyti.ms/1p0H90N
...The 10 "Most
Economically Diverse Colleges": Vassar ... Grinnell ... U.N.C.-Chapel Hill
... Smith ... Amherst ... Harvard ... Pomona ... St. Mary's (Ind.) ...
Susquehanna http://nyti.ms/1lPAhs6
RANKINGS
WITH A TWIST: Pushing back against college rankings that
focus on prestige, the New York Times on Monday published a "college
access index" that lauds institutions for their ability to attract
underprivileged students. Vassar College took the top spot, followed by
Grinnell College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Amherst
College. Harvard rounded out the top five. In an article accompanying the new
rankings, editor David Leonhardt also called out institutions that don't enroll
many low-income students - such as Washington University in St. Louis, where
Pell Grant recipients made up just six percent of the recent freshman class. http://politico.pro/1pJrXFu
- It's no coincidence the access index came out one day
before U.S. News & World Report unveils its Best Colleges list - which is
always criticized but also highly anticipated. One big change this year: U.S.
News is publishing crime data on each school's profile page. But despite
requests from victim advocates and even from some members of Congress, those
statistics weren't factored into the annual rankings. (U.S. News also published
three-year federal loan default rates - but didn't factor that into the
rankings, either.) The source for the crime data is the Education Department's
Campus Safety and Security Data Analysis Cutting Tool [ http://1.usa.gov/1ug0DVF]
It breaks down incidents by type of crime, including
forcible and non-forcible sexual offenses. Find all the rankings info here: www.usnews.com/colleges
- Worth noting: A few of the top-ranked national universities
and liberal arts colleges are among the 77 being investigated by the Education
Department's Office for Civil Rights for Title IX violations. They include
Princeton, Harvard, Amherst and Swarthmore.
- Other notables: Pennsylvania State University fell 11
spots. Williams College has topped the list for best liberal arts colleges 12
years in a row. The University of California, Berkeley, is the nation's top
public school. And Dartmouth College didn't make the top 10 of best national
universities. As far as Colleges of specific interest to this author: St. Lawrence University and The University of Michigan have publicly announced their rankings, but The University of La Verne has been very quite, interesting.
THIS
BUD IS FOR YOU - Anheuser-Busch InBev (BUD) is said to be
talking to banks about financing what could be a $122 billion deal to buy beer
rival SABMiller, which just got rebuffed in its takeover bid for Heineken.
FINANCE
101 - Alibaba is on track to debut this Friday, in what could be
the world's largest ever initial public offering. Many of them are likely to become big winners
in an IPO that could raise $25 billion. Yesterday the company raised the deal's
price range to $66-$68 per share, up from $60-$66—a strong indication of robust
investor demand. Meanwhile, if you do wind up with Alibaba stock, be prepared
for a volatile ride. You will get a
clearer sense of what to expect from the IPO if you think of it not as a unique
case but rather as part of a class, meaning a broader set of similar companies.
This e-commerce behemoth founded by Jack Ma in 1999 should be interesting to
watch over the next month or so.
FACEBOOK
VALUE TOPS $200B - Facebook's market value exceeded $200 billion
to put it among the world's biggest corporations, as investors bet on the
company to capitalize on the future of mobile advertising. Facebook shares rose
0.8 percent to $77.89 ... valuing the company at $201.6 billion ... That made
it the 22nd-largest company in the world, behind Verizon Communications Inc.
and ahead of Toyota Motor Corp. .... The stock's rise has boosted [Mark] Zuckerberg's
wealth to $34.5 billion.
BIRTHDAYS
THIS WEEK – Birthday wishes and thoughts this week to: Bill Murray
(64), Dan Pugliese …how old is he???, Ava Suffredini …famous little Princess,
Matt Witt …famous fan of POTULV.
DEAR
RINK RATS –
Our
son, who is in his 30s, posts online about major events in his life. But my
husband and I don’t want to be part of his general audience on social media. We
don’t read his blog or follow him on Twitter or Facebook. So, we are often the
last to know about important events in his life because social media is his
primary means of communicating with us. How should we let him know that we want
to hear his news personally and directly from him?
Signed,
Old
School
Dear
Old School,
Whenever
you are hunting for a loving model of parental behavior, take a gander at
“Mommie Dearest,” Christina Crawford’s lurid memoir of growing up with her
movie-star mother, Joan — then do the opposite. When Christina had it (as you
seem to have) with her mother’s playing their domestic life for the cameras,
she screamed, “I am not one of your fans!” Don’t do that.
Instead,
propose a weekly Skype session with your son. Adding a techie component to the
traditional weekly phone call may appeal to him. But my stronger hope is that
you find a way to stop feeling slighted by your son’s use of social media. It
is not about you. And it’s not reasonable to expect a preview of every
semi-momentous post in advance (“Just rode my bike with friends to the Seal
Beach Pier”).
Think
of your son as a newfangled memoirist. That’s what his blog and social media posts
are aiming for. And read them. What better way to show him that you’re
interested in his life? It may even increase the likelihood of greater (and warmer)
communication with you. Otherwise, you are sending a message that he may
interpret as indifference. And who wants to talk with a mean mommy or daddy?
Also,
tell your son to get a freaking life!
Signed,
Rink
Rats
COLLEGE
FOOTBALL PICK OF THE WEEK – Thursday 9/18, 7:30 PM ET, ESPN:
SEC vs. Big 12 - #5 Auburn Tigers (2-0) at #20 Kansas State Wildcats (2-0). SEC
too tough, Auburn 32 K State 24. Season to date (2-1)
SMALL
COLLEGE FOOTBALL PICK OF THE WEEK – Saturday 9/20, 12:00 PM ET,
HGTV: The 42nd annual Admiral’s
Cup from Buzzards Bay, Mass. Maine Maritime Mariners (1-0) vs. Massachusetts
Maritime Buccaneers (0-1). The Mariners in a romp, 45 – 17. Season to date (2-0)
NFL
PICK OF THE WEEK – Sunday 9/21, 4:30 PM, CBS: Denver Broncos (2-0) at Seattle Seahawks
(1-1). Hawks are unstoppable at home, sorry Peyton, remember the Super Bowl:
Seattle 35 Broncos 21. Season to date
(0-2)
THE
SWAMI’S WEEK TOP PICKS –
(NCAA, Sept. 20) California Golden Bears (2-0) 20 at Arizona Wildcats (3-0) 30
(NCAA, Sept. 20) Whitworth Pirates (2-0) 42 at La Verne Leopards (1-0) 21
(MLB, Sept. 20) Detroit Tigers (84-66) 5 at Kansas City Royals (82-67) 4
(NFL, Sept, 20) Green Bay Packers (1-1) 24 at Detroit Lions (1-1) 17
Season
to date (46 - 41)
DRIVING
THE WEEK - Empire State Survey this morning at 8:30 a.m. expected to
rise to 15.9 from 14.7 ... Industrial production at 9:15 a.m. expected to rise
0.3 percent ... Consumer prices at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday expected to be flat
headline and up 0.2 percent core ... FOMC announcement at 2:00 p.m. Wednesday
expected to include no change in rates and another $15B cut in asset purchases
... Yellen presser at 2:30 p.m. not expected to produce big headlines but you
never know ... Scotland votes on independence Thursday with "no"
expected to prevail. Should he "yes" side win markets could go nuts
for a few days while everyone sorts out what it all means. ... Index of leading
indicators at 8:30 a.m. Friday expected to rise 0.4 percent ... Congress
expected to pass a CR funding the government past Oct. 1 and possibly extending
the Ex-Im bank unit either December or June (or perhaps longer) ... Alibaba
expected to price its earth-shaking IPO Thursday and start trading Friday.
Next
week: Fall is here, and what to do with the water company.
Until Next Monday, Adios.
Claremont, CA
September 15, 2014
#V-22, 231
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