Saturday, November 18, 2023

Invisible Ink

 The long-term decline in the number of newspapers in the U.S. is accelerating, according to a report from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.

If the present trend continues, by the end of next year, the country will have lost one-third of the newspapers it had as recently as 2005.

According to co-authors Penelope Muse Abernathy and Sarah Stonbely, “Most communities that lose a local newspaper in America usually do not get a replacement, even online.”

Among salient points made by the authors:

  • There are roughly 6,000 newspapers left in America, down from 8,891 in 2005.

  • Papers are disappearing at an average rate of more than two per week.

  • Of the papers that still survive, a majority (4,790) publish weekly, not daily.

  • The counties most at risk of becoming news deserts are located in high poverty areas in the South or the Midwest.

  • Minorities and poorer people without access to high-speed broadband are far more likely to live in areas that are news deserts or at risk of becoming one.

  • The footprint for alternative local news outlets is tiny and they are mostly clustered around metro areas that already have some local coverage.

As I’ve previously reported, there are some efforts to address this crisis. One is the coalition of non-partisan philanthropies committing more than $500 million over the next five years to initiatives that support local journalism.

In addition, there is the ongoing effort by the Local News Network in Durango, CO, to provide localized coverage to several communities in that part of the country. (I’m on LNN’s advisory board.)

These efforts are critical and we need more of them to crop up all over the land. The alternative is bleak — as the authors of the Medill study conclude: The loss of local journalism "poses a far-reaching crisis for our democracy as it simultaneously struggles with political polarization, a lack of civic engagement and the proliferation of misinformation and information online."

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Friday, November 17, 2023

Now and Then

 All around San Francisco Bay are the remnants of forts and bunkers built decades ago to secure the area from foreign invaders.

In recent decades, most of these facilities have been returned from the government to the public and now they are parks and recreational areas. One is Fort Baker, nestled near the Golden Gate Bridge on the northern side of the channel connecting the Bay with the Pacific Ocean, just around the corner from Sausalito.

One chilly night recently a group of us went there to set traps for crabs along the old wooden pier. As a large moon rose in the east, we caught quite a few in our traps. Many were Dungeness crabs, which you cannot keep in this season at this location, so we released them.

But others were browns and reds, and those large enough to fit the legal limit (four inches wide) went straight into the pail we later carried home to bake into crab cakes.

Like many of the nooks and crannies around Northern California, Fort Baker contains a set of particular memories for me. In the early 1990's it was one of the venues for the movie "Jack the Bear," starring Danny DeVito. My older three kids and I were extras in that movie, and I remember the shoot at this location vividly.

There was a lone public phone booth at the former fort, and during a break in the shoot I needed to use it for a work call. (This was before cellphones.) I had to wait in line behind a person who seemed to be intent on talking forever.

When he finally finished and I was proceeding to the booth, I suddenly recognized him -- Bruce Gilbert, the Hollywood producer of the movie I'd helped create a decade earlier for Jane Fonda called "Rollover."

We exchanged pleasantries; he went his way and I went mine, and I've never seen him since that moment. The phone booth is no longer there.

But my kids enjoyed being part of a feature film set on that occasion, with costumes, makeup, lights, and actors like DeVito (who was friendly) and whom they recognized from other films.

The kids were underaged workers at the time, so I had to secure work permits from the City of San Francisco, which probably cost more than the "wages" they earned that day, but who cared.

The West Coast has long been home to such experiences. Hollywood sets are common enough that they rarely cause you to turn your head. But they also are a reminder that all life can be seen as a movie and we're all actors in our own dramas.

So back to that recent night at Fort Baker. Shivering from the breeze whipping in through the Golden Gate, hearing the fog horns blaring, seeing the container ships leaving for Asia and the harvest moon lighting the scene, I tried to explain these particular sets of memories to my grandchildren while they rushed trap-to-trap to pull up the next load of crabs.

They listened politely to their grandfather sitting in the folding chair they’d thoughtfully set up on that old wooden pier, but a more urgent task clearly was at hand. Was that crab a Dungeness, or a keeper?

(I wrote the first version of this essay three years ago. My grandchildren have since returned to Fort Baker and caught more crabs, but I have not.)

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Thursday, November 16, 2023

China.2

 Joe Biden’s diplomatic breakthrough with China may prove to be one of the pivotal moments of his presidency. 

He achieved agreements on fentanyl, AI, military-to-military communication and a personal channel with China’s leader Xi Jinping, among other things.

But at his press conference to celebrate it, most of the questions were about the war in Gaza. Understandably.

Over the long term, however, the China deal was primary. The sheer dominance of the two countries on the global economy is breath-taking.

As measured by national GDP, the U.S. economy is roughly $27 trillion; China’s not quite $18 trillion. No other national economy is larger than $4.5 trillion.

But at two-thirds the size of the U.S., China has been slipping backward, partly due to the disruptions of Covid-19 and global supply chains. Not long ago its economy was three-quarters the size of the U.S. and it is increasingly desperate to reverse this trend.

Thus, Biden picked the right moment, from a U.S. perspective, to get a deal made. And the global economy will be better off for it.

I know it is second fiddle in the news cycle for most, but unlike the war in Gaza, this one should prove to be a big “W” for Biden. Even if he did slip up and answer on off-mic question, “Is Xi a dictator?” with a “Yes.”

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Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Fight Club

Tuesday was a memorable day in Congress, one that the Republican Party may live to regret. It featured brawls and near brawls in conduct presumably unbecoming for elected officials representing the folks back home. One of those implicated was the ex-Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy. On the other hand, he represents Bakersfield.

In a spontaneous moment of light-hearted banter during her coverage of all of this, CNN host Kaitlin Collins quoted one of her producers, and I paraphrase, “Are men too emotional to hold leadership positions in Congress?”

Tuesday night brought a similarly spectacle of unrestrained machismo when a professional basketball game between the Golden Gate Warriors and the Minnesota Timberwolves was disrupted by a fight involving multiple players from both teams. Three players, including the notorious Draymond Green, were ejected from the game as officials struggled to restore calm and keep the peace.

Watching all of this male melodrama was somewhat disquieting, so I’ve decided to republish one of my earlier essays from October 2022.

***

When I turned the key in the ignition yesterday morning, along with the sound of the car’s engine came two other sounds — the air conditioner, which I turned off, and the radio, which I turned down but left on.

My 14-year-old grandson, a high school freshman and aspiring basketball player, was with me and we both listened closely.

It was the local sports radio channel, with a popular call-in show featuring the usual suspects — hosts who babble on in a half-witted manner punctuated by calls from audience members who often sound like they must have dropped out of school somewhere around the 4th grade.

Normally I avoid this type of thing like the plague, probably because it makes me feel embarrassed to be a man, especially a man who likes sports. Why do so many have to sound so dumb when they discuss this area of great passion to most of us? 

But we kept listening because the topic was simply too salacious to ignore.

Draymond Green, one of the stars of the local NBA team, the Golden State Warriors, was caught on video slugging a teammate during practice. The reason for this attack was unknown at the time of the radio program. And Green and the Warriors are not just any basketball team, but the reigning NBA champions, multiple times over, arguably one of the greatest pro streaks for any franchise ever.

Green is the enforcer on the team, the bad guy who gets under his opponents’ skin. He gets lots of technical fouls and often is ejected from games. He is perhaps the most hated player in the NBA. He is also a very talented basketball player and a key to the team’s winning streak.

At the time I’m publishing this, there’s no word yet on how the Warriors are going to handle this situation.

Not as a comment on Green specifically, but in life generally, I’ve always been the type of person who believes in second chances. But I also have learned that once you give certain personalities a second chance, they may require a third, a fourth, and so on. At some point, you realize all you are doing is enabling a repeat offender.

I don’t know if this is one of those situations for Green and the Warriors but it may be. There are certain lines you should not cross in male culture without incurring severe consequences. This is one of them.

Recommended further reading: “Did Humans Ever Live in Peace?” (Atlantic).

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Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Slogans

It seems these days that wherever we turn, extremism and extremist rhetoric are on the rise all over the country and the world.

Donald Trump labels his political enemies “vermin,” and pledges that if he is re-elected president, he will eradicate them.

Historians note that Trump is once again using words the way Hitler did to promote his agenda -- the very same words used to justify the murder of millions of Jews during World War Two.

Meanwhile, the use by pro-Palestinian advocates of the phrase “From the River to the Sea” is cited by historians for its anti-Semitic connotations as well. People on all sides are angry about what’s happening in the Middle East and their anger easily spills over into hate.

But when I hear that phrase popping up again, I am reminded how easily it could be reconfigured to convey a very different message.

It was while I was traveling in India in 1971 that a Hindu man explained to me his religion’s philosophy about other faiths, including Islam, Judaism and Christianity, among others.

“There are many rivers but they all flow to the sea,’ he said, quoting a commonly used phrase. By that he meant it really doesn’t matter which faith you hold because they all lead to the same destination — God.

It’s hard at this point to imagine any kind of solution to the conflict in the Middle East, but I’m pretty sure using words and slogans of hate aren’t going to help. On the other hand, taking a deep breath and embracing the Hindu phrase just might.

HEADLINES:

  • Hospitals across Gaza are running out of electricity and supplies during the ongoing bombardment of the territory, as Israeli's prime minster tells CNN people should leave. (CNN)

  • Internal State Dept. memo blasts Biden, U.S. policy on Israel-Hamas war (Axios)

  • In Congress and on Campuses, ‘From the River to the Sea’ Inflames Debate (NYT)

  • US announces fresh strikes on Iran-linked sites in Syria (Guardian)

  • U.S. strikes kill Iranian proxies in Syria, officials say, a significant escalation (WP)

  • Former British PM David Cameron returns to government (MSNBC)

  • Biden meets Xi Jinping this week as more Americans see China as a critical threat (NPR)

  • Trump calls political enemies ‘vermin,’ echoing dictators Hitler, Mussolini (WP)

  • Ex-Prosecutor Urges Judge To Call Donald Trump's Bluff On Latest Legal Move (HuffPost)

  • New Speaker Mike Johnson faces first test as government shutdown looms (WP)

  • F.B.I. Examining Whether Adams Cleared Red Tape for Turkish Government (NYT)

  • What recent elections and polls tell us about 2024 (NPR)

  • Pakistan opens new border crossings to expedite Afghans' repatriation (Reuters)

  • OpenAI’s six-member board will decide ‘when we’ve attained AGI’ (VentureBeat)

  • ‘It is a beast that needs to be tamed’: leading novelists on how AI could rewrite the future (Guardian)

  • Why the Godfather of A.I. Fears What He’s Built (New Yorker)

  • Worried about AI hijacking your voice for a deepfake? This tool could help (NPR)

  • AI’s challenge of understanding the world (Science)

  • Spider Panics After Losing Track Of Human It Noticed Scurry Across Floor (The Onion)It seems these days that wherever we turn, extremism and extremist rhetoric are on the rise all over the country and the world.

    Donald Trump labels his political enemies “vermin,” and pledges that if he is re-elected president, he will eradicate them.

    Historians note that Trump is once again using words the way Hitler did to promote his agenda. Even when the words he chooses are the same ones that were used to justify the murder of millions of Jews during World War Two.

    Meanwhile, the use by pro-Palestinian advocates of the phrase “From the River to the Sea” is cited by historians for its anti-Semitic connotations as well. People on all sides are angry about what’s happening in the Middle East and their anger easily spills over into hate.

    But when I hear that phrase popping up again, I am reminded how easily it could be reconfigured to convey a very different message.

    It was while I was traveling in India in 1971 that a Hindu man explained to me his religion’s philosophy about other faiths, including Islam, Judaism and Christianity, among others.

    “There are many rivers but they all flow to the sea,’ he said, quoting a commonly used phrase. By that he meant it really doesn’t matter which faith you hold because they all lead to the same destination — God.

    It’s hard at this point to imagine any kind of solution to the conflict in the Middle East, but I’m pretty sure using words and slogans of hate aren’t going to help. On the other hand, taking a deep breath and embracing the Hindu phrase just might.

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Monday, November 13, 2023

Startup Story

 Just about the time my three-year appointment as a visiting professor at Stanford was wrapping up in 2005, a Silicon Valley billionaire invited me to lunch. We met at one of Palo Alto’s finer restaurants. He asked me to come work for a new company he was starting up with his own money.

The offer was intriguing — the idea was to structure the content from world’s leading media sites into a manageable taxonomy that would provide a topic-based news and information service to paying customers — all curated by a small team of editors.

Soon thereafter, I started getting off a few freeway stops earlier on my commute down the peninsula to a high-rise office with a splendid view of jets approaching SFO. I assumed my duties as Editor-in-Chief of this new company.

Virtually everyone else in the venture was an engineer save for me, a two-person marketing team, a research director and a customer service director. I was to supervise the latter two plus hire a couple assistant editors who would help me sort through the global media and select our content.

Our boss and founder was himself an engineer and a man of meticulous habits. He arrived precisely at 9 a.m. at the office every day, departed at noon, came back at 1 p.m. and departed for the day right at 5 p.m.

I suspected that he was the only person in Silicon Valley to maintain such a rigid schedule since the normal routine at other startups I was familiar with resembled a mid-morning to late-night work schedule.

But we patterned our culture after our boss’s tastes. Meetings began precisely at the top of the hour and wrapped up one hour later, without exception.

Soon into my time there, a couple issues came to my attention. The research director told me that the vast majority of our visitors chose the free view version of the service as opposed to the paid.

And the customer service director told me we were constantly getting complaints that the overwhelming majority of our paid customers had been essentially tricked into giving us their credit card numbers during an initial six-week free period that we heavily promoted.

After six weeks, unless they opted out, they were automatically converted into paying customers and their accounts were dinged monthly going forward.

When I explained all this to my boss, he was shocked and said that sounded unethical and that we should change it into an explicit opt-in model.

I was gratified that he wanted the company to function in an honest, up-front manner as opposed to the under-handed system somebody before me had put in place.

But it soon emerged that there was a new problem. Once we’d made the change, practically nobody opted to sign up for the paid service once their free six-week period had expired. So our venture had no way to make any money.

The company sputtered along for a few years anyway, including during an exhaustive, year-long rebranding exercise, but increasingly we all knew it was doomed. 

Meanwhile, Google released Google News to the public, effectively ending any chance our little product had to survive in the new media landscape anyway.

I hate to say it, but that was more or less typical of my years migrating from one web-based startup to another from the years 1995-2012. Then, early in 2013, at the age of 66, I retired.

That lasted around a month before, bored out of my mind, I went back to work at KQED, the largest Northern California public media company.

But that is a story for another day.

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Sunday, November 12, 2023

Changing the Rules

 (This piece is from two years ago.)

"We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change – and it has to start today." -- Greta Thunberg

___________

If there could be just one takeaway from the global Covid-19 plague it would be that we are all in this thing together against a common enemy. A cliche, true, but only a useful insight if we can apply it to our non-pandemic lives.

Unfortunately, as the climate summit winds down in Scotland, the various parties are having trouble coming together to forge meaningful new limits on carbon emissions. And if there were ever a common threat to human survival we need to unite against it would be planetary climate change.

As usual, Hollywood and science fiction are way ahead of the curve, offering dystopian visions of the crisis. But there really are no words to describe the end of the human story.

Just silence.

As a village in Wales slips into the sea, the leaders of the major powers quarrel over dollars. It's biblical, isn't it? The scope of what is to come.

Yet giving up hope in the face of this calamity is also beyond words. The voices of the children ring out. As Greta Thunberg says: "How dare you?"

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