Les Simpson's Blog

Tiger's PR machine: Pure genius

2010-04-05T18:34:00.000-07:00

Those handling Tiger Woods image are really doing a good job.

The key to rehabilitating an image - or creating it - is to control the media environment. You can't let the media take control, you must control them.

Tiger has done it perfectly. Today's interview was the logical next step in a two-month process.

First he started out with a statement in the PGA Headquarters in February. No questions. Just a prepared statement that had probably been at least a few weeks in the works.

Later, he lets two television networks - ESPN and the Golf Channel - have five minute interviews. Both were interviews were conducted standing up and the ESPN reporter was asking questions off the top of his head - not from notes. Tiger gave up a little control by allowing someone to ask questions. But the length and format of the interview kept things in check for Tiger.

Today, he gave his first press conference in front of more than 200 reporters at the Masters Tournament. This is probably the best move of all.

The officials at Augusta National maintain a tight grip on the media and how it conducts itself. Augusta National controls the situation on and off the course when it comes to information and the media room and format of today's interview was a safe first outing for Tiger.

While I like sports reporters, they are not as aggressive as ...oh, say... a TMZ vulture. There were some good questions today - including one from our own sports editor Lance Lahnert - but questions like "How's your knee" and "Will you play in the Ryder Cup" were useless and no one cared.

The story was about Tiger and his life since Thanksgiving, not about his golf game.

But I think his handlers knew out of a 30 minute interview, 15 minutes of it would be softball questions.

There were a few pointed questions, but Tiger was well coached to handle these situations.

He gave very short answers to the questions he really didn't want to answer (the problem most people run into with the media is when they talk TOO much, not when the don't talk enough) and he just didn't answer some of the questions.

When asked if he should return to golf while still trying to repair his relationship with his wife, he answered: "Well, I'm excited to play this week."

Tiger has controlled this situation from start to today. The media will tire of this story after a while and he will go back to being a golf star first and People Magazine cover second.

That will happen sooner if he's in the running on Sunday.

Like it or not, the public is very forgiving, especially to someone who admits he screwed up.

Johnny Carson would be proud

2010-01-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

Unlike our friend Mike Leach, former coach of Texas Tech, Conan O'Brien knows how to handle a dispute with his bosses.

Earlier this afternoon, Conan issued a statement announcing that he would not be part of The Tonight Show if it was forced to move to 12:05 a.m. Eastern time.

In his address to the "People of Earth," he stated the change would be damaging to the more than 50-year-old franchise .

"But I cannot participate in what I honestly believe is its destruction," the statement said. "Some people will make the argument that with DVRs and the Internet a time slot doesn't matter. But with the Tonight Show, I believe nothing could matter more."

And the statement ended with a dash of humor: "Have a great day and, for the record, I am truly sorry about my hair; it's always been that way.
Yours,
Conan"

Not only is Conan correct, but it's also showing the challenge the all media face. Once able to dominate television, networks and their local affiliates are facing many challenges. More media niches mean more choices for all consumers.

But Conan is right for trying to preserve an American television icon. Only time will tell if he's successful.

Media Monday: Will you pay for online content?

2010-01-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the biggest question being debated in the newspaper industry today is would people be willing to pay for content online.

The model for print newspapers has been that about 20 percent of the revenue comes from charging for the newspaper and 80 percent comes from advertising.

But the online model now depends nearly 100 percent on advertising revenue.

A recent study about the issue by an organization called ITZ/Belden Interactive indicates that paywalls are not a panacea.

Of the few newspapers who are charging for content, they have only 2.4% of the number of their print subscribers paying for online content.

And when you do the math, the revenue generated falls far short of the revenue made by advertising or even the print subscriptions generate by these newspapers, I imagine.

The Wall Street Journal does charge for some online content, but I wouldn't consider them the "normal" newspaper. Although they are expanding their coverage to compete more with USA Today and the national edition of the New York Times, I imagine most people are paying for access to financial information that only the Journal provides.

Unfortunately for those advocating charging for online content, the "genie," as they say has already been let out of the bottle.

This survey shows and the future will show that people are not willing to pay for online content.

Going out with a (sponsored) bang

2010-01-08T13:50:00.000-08:00

When Texas Stadium is demolished, there will be a sponsor for the event.

For a mere $150,000 Kraft Foods gets to call it a "Cheddar Explosion."

Half the money goes to charities selected by Kraft and the other half to charities selected by the city of Irving.

According to the contract for the sponsorship, the demolition must occur between March 14 and April 18.

Kraft claims it will offer the city of Irving the equivalent in $1 million in publicity (including this blog).

No word on whether there will be vast amount of macaroni and cheese planted inside the stadium for a real cheddar explosion.

Mayor, newspaper publisher get in fist fight!

2010-01-08T07:46:00.000-08:00

No, it's not myself and Mayor Debra McCartt. It's the mayor of Gallup, N.M., and the publisher of the Gallup newspaper. (Click here for story from a New Mexico television station.)

Seems they were both leaving a local bank when they started having words and part of the dust up is on video.

There appears to be a longstanding feud between the newspaper and the mayor, who the publisher calls "a thug."

I don't think it would come to that here. Mayor McCartt and I get along and if we didn't, I think we'd battle over tiddlywinks or Scrabble, not duke it out in the parking lot of Amarillo National Bank.

Only 238 days to kickoff

2010-01-08T07:25:00.000-08:00

Last night's BCS National Championship was an absolute letdown to what had been an above-average bowl season and a below-average regular system.

There weren't many highlights for either team in last night's contest.

Colt McCoy went out on the fifth snap of the game and the backup quarterback just couldn't get it going, despite a pretty good second half.

But the most disappointing part of the game is when Alabama chose to run up the score with less than two minutes left. That was a classless, "Leech-esque" kind of move.

And my goodness, did someone tell Nick Saban his team WON the game? He looks like it would kill him to smile.

College football is the best sport, period. No other sport brings the passion and excitement of college football. Too bad last night's game didn't show this.

But the good new: only 238 days until the 2010 season begins. Let the countdown begin!

And the winner is .....

2010-01-07T07:02:00.000-08:00

One of the most asked questions I've gotten since moving to Amarillo seven years ago is: "Do you miss Georgia (which is where I moved to Amarillo from)?

My response: "Only during football season."

While I certainly embrace almost everything about the Texas life, it's been hardest to switch alliances to new teams and to a new conference.

In the South, SEC football is (almost) a religion. The truth is people will show up in the worst weather on Saturday for a game, but if the weather isn't perfect on Sunday, the church pews will be half full.

My favorite football book is about the University of Alabama: Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer : A Road Trip into the Heart of Fan Mania by Warren St. John.

St. John is from Alabama but attended Columbia University in New York. He grew up an Alabama fan and met the legendary coach, Paul "Bear" Bryant shortly before his death, thanks to a friend of his father who worked for a sponsor of Bryant's weekly television show.

Bryant is a legend in the South and Alabama, but when St. John put a picture of him in his room at Columbia, his friends asked: "Who's that, your grandfather?"

What prompted St. John to write the book - chronicling a season with RV tailgaters who attend every Alabama football game - was a short television news segment interviewing a couple who had one of these RVs.

They had attended many games in a row and the interviewer asked if they had ever come close to missing one.

"Yes," they said. "Our daugther scheduled her wedding on a game day in the fall. We told her not to, but she did any way."

"It worked out," they said. "We were able to make the reception."

Deep South football addiction is intense. Alabama football addiction is insane.

Which brings me to tonight's game.

If both teams play their best, Alabama wins. The team with the fewest turnovers will win. I think it will come down to the kicking game.

If Alabama wins, it's the fourth straight BCS championship for an SEC team. And it would put the SEC at 6 of the 12 BCS championships since the inception of this system.

If Texas wins, it's the Longhorn's second championship in five years and it would put the Big 12 at second place in BCS championships with three (ACC , Big East, Pac 10 and Big 10 have one each.)

My pick: Alabama 27, Texas 24.

Thursday's Best Bet: Area Museums

2010-01-07T06:29:00.000-08:00

Ok, I'm back on line with Thursday's Best Bets.

Again, the reason I started doing this is to show that there really is a lot of quality entertainment and attractions in Amarillo.

So if I make a suggestion and you attend and don't like it, I'll give you your money back - in the form of a newspaper subscription credit!

There aren't a lot of events in the upcoming week, so I thought I would remind you that we have some tremendous museums in the area.

Many people are aware of the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. It's the largest museum in the state devoted to Texas history. And it's first class. A friend of mine from Washington, D.C., recently visited and commented on the quality of the museum - and in case you didn't know, Washington has some pretty good museums as well.

Perhaps a lesser-known, but equally fun museum is the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame and Museum. The recent renovations include some great interactive exhibits for the children and the upstairs exhibit on the Hall of Fame members gives an excellent background not only on the quarter horse, but American history as well.

And although I haven't visited the Citadelle Art Foundation in Canadian, I hear that is worth the trip as well.

Here's a list of other museums in the area that comes from our weekly Get Out entertainment section published on Friday's and online.

Amarillo College Natural History Museum Ordway Hall, Room 116, 22nd Avenue and Washington Street. 9am-5pm Mon.-Thu. or by appointment. 806-371-5081.

Amarillo Museum of Art 2200 S. Van Buren St. 10am-5pm Tue.-Wed. and Fri., 10am-9pm Thu., 1-5pm Sat.-Sun. Free. 806-371-5050, 806-371-5392 weekends, www.amarilloart.org.

American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame & Museum 2601 E. Interstate 40. 9am-5pm Mon.-Sat. Admission fee, AQHA members free. 806-376-5181, www.aqha.com.

Amarillo Railroad Museum 13000 E. U.S. Highway 60, past the airport before Highland Park, First Thu. of month, 7:30pm, second and fourth Sat., 10am-3pm Appointments are available. 806-335-3333. www.amarillorailroadmuseum.com.

Buttel Railroad Museum One mile south of Amarillo city limits. Rail cars include a caboose, box car and ice box reefer. Call for an appointment. 806-670-1314.

Harrington House 1600 S. Polk St. Tours 10am-12:30pm Tue. and Thu., June-Dec. Free; reservations required. 806-374-5490.

Kwahadi Museum of the American Indian and Performance Center 9151 E. Interstate 40. Noon-5pm Thu.-Sat., 1-5pm Sun., open until 10pm show nights. $3 adults, $1.50 children. 806-335-3175. www.kwahadi.com.

Texas Pharmacy Museum 1300 S. Coulter St., inside Texas Tech University School of Pharmacy. Guided tours 1-4pm Mon.-Fri., or by appointment. Free. 806-356-4000, ext. 268.

Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum 2503 Fourth Ave., Canyon. 9am-5pm Mon.-Sat., 1-6pm Sun. $10 adults, $9 seniors, $5 children ages 4-12. 806-651-2244, www.panhandleplains.org.

Armstrong County Museum 120 N. Trice St., Claude. Noon-4pm Tue.-Sat. Free. 806-226-2187. Art gallery features works by local and area artists. www.armstrongcountymuseum.org.

Carson County Square House Museum Texas Highway 207 and Fifth Avenue, Panhandle. 9am-5pm Mon.-Sat., 1-5pm Sun. Free, donations accepted. 806-537-3524. www.squarehousemuseum.org.

The Citadelle Art Foundation 520 Nelson, Canadian. 11am-4pm Thurs.-Sat., 1-4pm Sun. $10 for adults, $5 for ages 65 and older, free for younger than 18. 806-323-8899. www.thecitadelle.org.

Collingsworth County Museum Art Center 824 East Ave., Wellington. 9am-5pm Mon.-Fri., or by appointment. 806-447-5327.

Coronado Museum 567 Cedar, Liberal, Kan. 9am-5pm Tue.-Sat., 1-5pm Sun. 620-624-7624.
Deaf Smith County HistoricalMuseum 400 Sampson St., Hereford. 10am-noon, 1-5pm Mon.-Sat. Free; donations accepted. 806-363-7070.

Devil’s Rope Museum 100 Kingsley St., McLean. 9am-5 p.m Mon.-Fri., 10am-4pm Sat. Closed Sun. Free; donations accepted. 806-779-2225, barbwiremuseum@centramedia.net.

Eastern New Mexico University Museums Blackwater Draw Museum, Roosevelt County Historical Museum, Natural History Museum, Miles Mineral Museum, Miles Anthropological Museum. Hours vary. ENMU campus in Portales, N.M. 575-562-2202, 575-562-2592, 575-562-2174, 575-562-2103, www.enmu.edu.

Floyd County Historical Museum 105 E. Missouri St., Floydada. 10am-5pm Mon.-Fri., or by appointment. Free. 806-983-2415.

Freedom Museum USA 600 N. Hobart St., Pampa. Noon-4pm Tue.-Sat. Free; donations accepted. 806-669-6066.

Herzstein Memorial Museum South Second and Walnut streets, Clayton, N.M. 10am-5pm Tue.-Sat. Free; donations accepted. 575-374-2977, 575-374-9639, www.herzsteinmuseum.org.

Hutchinson County Museum 618 N. Main St., Borger. 9am-5pm Mon.-Fri., 11am-4:30pm Sat. Free; donations accepted. 806-273-0130.

J.B. Buchanan Windmill Park Texas Highway 207, south of Spearman. Free. www.spearman.org/windmillhistory.html.

Julian Bivins Museum Old Tascosa Courthouse, Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch. 9am-5pm daily. Free. 806-534-2211.

Lake Meredith Aquatic & Wildlife Museum 104 N. Robey Ave., Fritch. Noon-5pm Mon.-Fri., 10am-5pm Sat., or by appointment. 806-857-2458.

McLean/Alanreed Area Museum 116 N. Main. 10am-noon, 1-4pm Tue.-Fri. Free; donations accepted. 806-779-2731.

Mesalands Dinosaur Museum 211 E. Laughlin St., Tucumcari, N.M. 10am-5pm Tue.-Sat. Admission fee. 575-461-3466, www.mesalands.edu.

Muleshoe Heritage Center West American Boulevard, Muleshoe. Mon.-Fri. Free guided tours. 806-272-5873, www.muleshoeheritagefoundation.org.

Museum of the Plains 1200 N. Main St., Perryton. 9am-5pm Mon.-Fri., 10am-5pm Sat., 1-5pm Sun. Free; donations accepted. 806-435-6400, www.museumoftheplains.com.

No Man’s Land Museum 207 W. Sewell St., Goodwell, Okla. 10am-4pm Tues.-Sat. Free. 806-580-349-2670, www.nmlhs.org.

Old Jailhouse Museum 415 Main St., Silverton. 9am-5pm Mon.-Fri. Free. 806-823-2123.
Old Mobeetie Jail Museum Courthouse Square, Mobeetie. 1-5pm daily, except Wed. Free; donations accepted. 806-845-2028, www.mobeetie.com.

Pioneer West Museum 204 N. Madden, Shamrock. 1-5pm Tue.-Sat., Sun. by appointment. Free; donations accepted. 806-256-2416.

River Valley Pioneer Museum 118 N. Second St., Canadian. 9am-noon and 1-4pm Tue.-Fri; 1-3pm Sat. 806-323-6548, www.rivervalleymuseum.org.

Roberts County Museum 120 E. Commercial St., Miami. 10am-noon, 1-5pm Tue-Fri. Sat.-Mon. by appointment at 806-868-5811. Free; donations accepted. 806-868-3291.

Saints’ Roost Museum 610 E. Harrington St., Clarendon. 1-5pm Wed.-Sun. Free; donations accepted. 806-874-2546, www.saintsroost.org.

Santa Fe Steam Locomotive No. 5000, The Madame Queen available for viewing at Southeast Second Avenue and Lincoln Street. Guided tours are available from the Railroad Artifact Preservation Society. A $25 donation is suggested. Call 806-674-0472.

Stationmaster’s House Museum 30 S. Townsend St., Spearman. 1-5pm Tue.-Sat., or by appointment. Free, donations accepted. 806-659-3008.

Swisher County Archives and Museum 127 S.W. Second St., Tulia. 10am-noon, 1-4pm Tue.-Sat. Free; donations accepted. 806-995-2819.

Tucumcari Historical Museum 416 S. Adams St., Tucumcari, N.M. 8am-5pm Mon.-Sat. Admission fee. 575-461-4201, museum@cityoftucumcari.com.

White Deer Land Museum 112 S. Cuyler St., Pampa. 1-4pm Tue.-Sat. New annex building open to public, featuring the Red River War & Settlement collection. BRA TALK exhibit through Oct. 15. Free; donations accepted. 806-669-8041, wdlmuseum@graycch.com.

Window on the Plains Museum 1820 S. Dumas Ave., Dumas. 10am-5pm Mon.-Sat. Free; donations accepted. 806-935-3113, www.dumasmuseumandartcenter.org.

Woody Guthrie Folk Museum Center of Pampa Jam sessions weekly 6:30-9:30pm Fri. 320 S. Cuyler St., Pampa. 1-4pm Thu.-Sat., or by appointment. Free, donations accepted. 806-669-3241, 806-665-1180, 806-206-2860, www.woodyguthrie-pampatx.org.

Wolf Creek Heritage Museum Texas Highway 305 and Main Street, Lipscomb. 10am-4pm Mon.-Fri., 2-4pm Sun. Free; donations accepted. 806-852-2123, www.wolfcreekheritagemuseum.com.

XIT Museum 108 E. Fifth St., Dalhart. 9am-5pm Tue.-Sat. Free; donations accepted. 806-244-5390, www.xitmuseum.com.

It's not all bad news!

2010-01-06T06:07:00.000-08:00

If there's one common pet peeve that most people seem to have about the "media," it's that there are never any positive stories.

When I speak to civic clubs or other groups about the newspaper business, the question usually comes up: "Why do you print so much negative news? I never see anything positive in the paper."

Before I go to these speaking engagements, I always look at the last week's paper to make note of some "positive" stories that we have published. When I start listing these, people usually say: "Oh yeah, I remember that story."

The truth is, we do publish a lot of positive news. In fact, I would say most stories in the paper are either postive or nuetral.

Today's front page story about Ryan Yett, a Randall High School band member who is receiving a national honor, points this out.

It's a very positive story about an outstanding achievement. A great local story about an outstanding student. I think the Amarillo Globe-News does a better than average job of covering the achievements in the community by all types of individuals.

We have a weekly section called Our Town that is dedicated to nothing but postive news.

So why do people have the impression that the media is so negative. I have two theories:

1. Negative news is what we remember. It's what stays with us. When we have a traumatic event in our life, we often remember that far longer than a positive event. When I was a copy editor, I certainly remember more of the mistakes I made in writing headlines than those award-winning headlines (if there were any).

2. Readers actually want negative news in the paper and read it, but don't admit it. If you look at the top 5 stories each day on our web site, you'll see that many are "negative."

This came home to me even more when Dawn Dressler, executive editor of the Amarillo Globe-News, sent me the top 10 stories of the year on our web site:

Top news stories for the Year
1. Natural gas explosion rocks Bushland 11/05/09
2. English visitor shot and killed in Amarillo 11/06/09
3. Swingers' party protested 01/01/09
4. Wiccan to sit out two Christmas songs 12/12/09
5. Judge rules electric rate can increase 02/02/09
6. Mother of two knew abuse 04/21/09
7. State: Sterquell death a suicide 05/19/09
8. Trinity pastor resigns 08/07/09
9. Tourist killed at bar 11/07/09
10. Column - Norma White: You want change? Try these ideas 10/21/08

Guess what? I wouldn't say there is a positive one in the bunch.

Historical book almost gone

2010-01-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

If you haven't order the book the Amarillo Globe-News published for our 100th anniversary, you might want to hurry.

We have less than 300 books and they've been going fast.

We're not sure if we'll order a reprint or not, so time is of the essence.

The book has been a tremendous success with more than 3,000 sold. The books are still available at Hastings, Barnes and Noble and can be picked up at our offices: 900 S. Harrison St.

We've received tremendous compliments about this book and, who knows, maybe a sequel is in the works.

Picture perfect in Amarillo

2010-01-05T06:22:00.000-08:00

You know those postcards or greeting cards that have the perfect sunrise or sunset and some nice saying.

I find it wonderful that we can see the real thing almost every morning and every evening.

This morning's sunrise was another great one and most afternoons we're treated to an equally great view.

It seems to me that we've had more than our fair share of these in the last month or two.

You don't see this in a lot of places. Too many trees get in the way of the horizon.

Where is Shakespeare when you need him?

2010-01-04T06:14:00.000-08:00

In years of watching the sports world both on and off the field, I don't think I've seen anything more tragic than last week's Mike Leach debacle.

Why so tragic? Let me count the ways.

Leach forgot who is boss: From all accounts, the administration at Texas Tech, from the athletic director to the chancellor, made some attempt to resolve the dispute between the James family and Leach.

And Leach is now trying to burn everyone who has ever crossed him.

But Leach made the fatal mistake of too many coaches. He thought that because he was winner on the field, he could do whatever he wanted to off the field.

When I was editor of the newspaper in Athens, Ga., home of the University of Georgia, I'll never forget a conversation I had with University President Michael Adams about then-UGA football coach Jim Donnan.

While a winner on the field, Donnan couldn't handle the public relations aspect of his job off the field. He'd snap at critical callers on his weekly radio show. He wouldn't do enough with alumni on the rubber chicken circuit. And he was always cross ways with the media (Ironically, he later went to work with ESPN).

During the conversation with President Adams, he said: "What Coach Donnan has to remember is that what you do off the field is just as important - if not more important - than what you do on the field."

Jim Donnan was fired at the end of that season, despite a winning record.

Don't cross college presidents and chancellors. They will win every time.

James family fallout: What's so tragic about the James family is they underestimated the fallout over this whole thing.

Daddy James was on ESPN several days after all this went public stating that their family didn't want all this (i.e. the attention) to happen.

For someone who is so immersed in college football, it's pretty naive to think this was just going to blow over.

Texas Tech fans: What's perhaps most tragic of all is the "win-at-all-cost" mentality displayed by many Tech fans, especially in the new online world of anonymous commenting.

Posting of the home addresses of the James family members was tasteless.

And blind allegiance toward anyone is never healthy.

Tech administration: I support the final decision of the Tech administration to fire Leach. They had no choice. Not because of what Leach did to James, but because of his response to it.

But they should have done a better job of getting ahead of the story. Their silence left fans and pundits too much time to make up stories about what was going on and reasons for the discipline and firing.

And when they did talk, they needed to make more clear that the real reason for the firing was not the "shed" incident, but because Leach would not cooperate with the university to resolve the situation.

Rece Davis: The interview by the ESPN personality was perhaps the most "softball" interview I've ever seen. "Why do you think they fired you, Mike?" "What is your description of Adam James as a player?" In the online interview, Davis let Leach going on uninterrupted for minutes at a time, like many lawyers and coaches like to do.

The 30-plus minute online interview is slightly better and more aggressive than what was shown on the network, but it was still "light."

I would have hoped Rece Davis would have been smarter than this.

ESPN: For those of you who watch ESPN's College Gameday, you'll notice that they never let Kirk Herbstriet, one of three people on the show, pick a game he is going to be the announcer on for ABC. Makes sense because you don't want viewers thinking an announcer is "biased."

But they were going to have Craig James call the Alamo Bowl when his son was going to be playing? Doesn't make sense to me.

The winners out of all this: More viewers on television and online traffic at websites like espn.com and at our sister newspaper in Lubbock: www.lubbockonline.com. At the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the home page of their website had to be redesigned to allow for quicker loading to handle the additional traffic.

All around, this is a very sad situation and the quicker everyone puts it behind them, the better off everyone will be.

Media Monday: Oprah's departure highlights broadcast challenges

2009-11-23T12:31:00.000-08:00

Lost in last week's announcement of the end of Oprah Winfrey's show in 2011 was the impact that her departure will have on broadcast television channels.

It's going to be big, I'm afraid.

Just like newspapers have been facing challenges from new competition, so have our broadcast brethren in television and radio.

The advent of satellite radio and television is changing the landscape of broadcast just as Internet is impacting the newspaper industry.

But the announcement of the end of Oprah's ratings juggernaut is going to shake up local television, especially those stations that schedule her before the local news.

This includes mainly ABC network stations, including KVII.

A story in the New York Times really sums up the issues facing broadcast fairly well.

The mass audiences that used to flock to network television - remember just a few decades ago when there were just three or four stations - are now being fragmented.

It doesn't mean that we won't have local television stations - just like the issues facing newspapers will not put us out of business.

But the more important issue is that we need to continue to hope that all local sources of information continue to do well in this changing landscape.

First, competition makes us all better. And second, we need to have many sources for local information, not just a few. Let's just hope the economy can continue to fund all news gathering operations.

Local television stations have been merging their newsrooms together in cities large and small. Locally, the NBC affiliate and FOX affiliate share the same news resources.

The current economic issues along with the fragmenting of audiences is posing some challenges for all media outlets.

Final visit from Ukrainian newspaper staff

2009-11-09T19:39:00.000-08:00

Five staff members from the Panorama newspaper along with two translators are in Amarillo this week for a visit to our city and to work with the Amarillo Globe-News.

The Globe-News has been participating in an exchange program with the newspaper from Sumy, Urkaine, this year. Earlier, myself and another newspaper staff member visited Sumy and four staff members from Panorama were here in July.

Now, the publisher of the paper along with four other staff members - one from advertising and three from the newsroom - are here this week as a final visit for the program, which is coordinated by the International Research and Exchanges Board in Washington, D.C.

Like the other visits, most of the week will be spent at the newspaper exchanging and discussing ideas.

But this time, the publisher of the newspaper, Yehven Polozhiy, will be speaking to communication, government and history students at Amarillo College, West Texas A&M University, Texas Tech, Tascosa High School and Amarillo High School.

It's a chance to learn about the differences in newspapers and other media as well as past and current political issues in the country of Ukraine and their importance to the region and the world.

They arrived Saturday evening after a journey of more than 24 hours. On Sunday, they visited most Amarillo landmarks for the Cadillac Ranch to the Palo Duro Canyon.

Sunday night ended with a meal at - you guessed it - the Big Texan. However, no movie stars this time around. (In July, the group saw David Duchovny, the star of X-Files whose family is originally from Ukraine).

Monday, they began work at the newspaper and visited with Mayor Debra McCartt.

For your weekend entertainment

2009-11-06T14:41:00.000-08:00

www.peopleofwalmart.com

Washington Post story about the Panhandle: Is it good or bad?

2009-11-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

When I worked at The Augusta Chronicle, the best time of the year was during the week of the Masters Tournament. It seemed like the entire world descended on the town, including a mass of media outlets.

One thing you could always count on - besides seeing a lot of green - is that one of the out of town writers would always do a story on what a crappy place Augusta was. My favorite one was from well-known writer Mitch Albom, who was a writer from a crappy town in its own right: Detroit.

He whined that there were more Waffle Houses than people in the town and there was nothing but wig shops and tattoo joints and so on ....

It seems that on regular occasions, writers come to the Panhandle and some of them do the same.

Here's a link to a recent travel story published in The Washington Post. I can't tell if it's positive or negative. Maybe you can help me.

Thursday's Best Bet: WRCA World Championship Rodeo

2009-11-05T06:18:00.000-08:00

There are quite a few horse events around the area, but one of the best starts next week.

The Working Ranch Cowboys Association will present their 14th annual World Championship Ranch Rodeo at the Amarillo Civic Center Thursday Nov. 12 through Sunday Nov. 15.

This is an event held for the working cowboys and cowgirls from ranches all around the country.

The WRCA has signed a contract to have the event in Amarillo until 2012.

The festivities start Wednesday as the WRCA brings to town Baxter Black, a cowboy humorist who also writes a column for the Amarillo Globe-News.

Tickets are available through Panhandle Tickets. Tickets range from $14 to $26 depending on which day you go.

Thursday's Best Bet: Pirates of the Canyon

2009-10-29T07:39:00.000-07:00

The 2009 edition of the Pirates of the Canyon hot air balloon event will run three days this year beginning Friday night.

And the good news is this year, the event will be held both at Palo Duro Canyon and at John Stiff Park in Amarillo. If you haven't been able to make it to the canyon the last three years of the event, you won't have an excuse this year.

According to the event's web site, more than 30 ballons will be participating and include the regular shaped balloons, but also ones shaped like a Pepsi can and another like the space shuttle.

There are events all three mornings, including a balloon "chase" at John Stiff Park on Saturday morning and a festival on Saturday afternoon.

It's a spectacular event and it's closer than ever this year.

Media Monday: Don't overreact to circulation report

2009-10-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

The Audit Bureau of Circulation is releasing it's report on the latest circulation figures for the nation's newspapers and, at first glance, it may look like the numbers are falling off a cliff.

Today, you will see our brethren in the broadcast industry jump all over this story and talk about the demise of newspapers.

As I have said before: Not so fast my friend.

There are many reasons for this other than just some dramatic decline in readership.

First, many newspapers, including the Amarillo Globe-News, have increased the subscription prices. Others have increased their single copy prices.

Also, many newspapers are pulling back their circulation from outlying areas because of increased distribution costs. We've done the same.

Other newspapers are decreasing the amount of newspapers that allow a company to purchase and then send to customers who may not be receiving the newspaper. This is called a "third-party" transaction and newspapers have been decreasing this over the years.

Some newspapers are decreasing the amount of newspapers they sell through their Newspaper in Education program because of the cost of doing the program. Some now do it electronically, as we do here at the Globe-News.

Our most recent reports show our Sunday circulation at 49,084 and our daily circulation at 38,179. While both are down slightly, our figures are much better than the industry averages.

If you figure the average copy is read by at least two people, we reach almost 100,000 every Sunday and more than 70,000 daily.

Our montly reach on our web site, amarillo.com, is aboout 360,000 unique visitors, with about 80 percent of those not subscribing to the newspaper.

So in any given month, the combination of our web site and Sunday newspaper reaches an unduplicated audience of about 388,000.

Newspapers have more readers than ever before (but you won't here that today on the broadcast news).

What the national broadcast news reports won't show today is that audiences for their shows have been plummeting for years, often with decreases larger than the ones the newspapers are showing.

I'm sure Bill O'Reilly will blame the New York Time's decrease on their liberal bias, which has very little to do with how many people subscribe to the newspaper.

Thursday's Best Best: Texas Panhandle Volleyball

2009-10-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for an area that the Texas Panhandle excels, you've got to look at women's volleyball.

From club to high school to home school and college, there's probably not too many areas in the country that rival the Panhandle.

So for this week's best bet, I suggest you take in a volleyball game this week. You can start with WTAMU's Lady Buffs, who play tonight at 7 at the WT Fieldhouse.

You can also catch Amarillo High vs. Odessa Permian Saturday at 2 p.m. at the AHS Activity Center or Tascosa vs. San Angelo Central at the THS Activity Center at 3 p.m.

And the area also has three defending state champions for the 2008 season: Bushland, Hereford and three-time defending state champion Amarillo High.

Both Randall and Dalhart are having great seasons as well.

So even if you're not a big sports fan, I think you'll still be impressed with the quality and effort of many of the local women's volleyball teams.

"Miracle" author to visit Amarillo on Tuesday

2009-10-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

As part of Amarillo College's Common Reader program, Nando Parrado, author of Miracle in the Andes, will be visiting Amarillo and discussing his experiences at the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts on Tuesday Oct. 20 at 7 p.m.

The book is Parrado's account of the crash in the Andes Mountains of a plane carrying rugby players from Uruguay. Those who weren't killed by the crash survived by eating the remains of the dead.

After about two months on the mountain in frigid temperatures, Parrado and another team member made a descent down the mountain that led to a rescue of the survivors after 72 days.

The book was an excellent selection for the Common Reader program because it involves a number of controversial topics including the eating of human flesh, the differing roles of faith among the survivors and the teamwork it took for many to survive.

The event is free and the book is a quick read that you could get done before next week's presentation. It's an extremely interesting book from the perspective of one of a handful of people who survived a harrowing event.

Thursday's Best Best: Lone Star Ballet's TimeSteps

2009-10-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

The Lone Star Ballet of Amarillo is bringing back a favorite from last season and if you don't go see it this weekend, shame on you.

TimeSteps is a lesson on our country's history through the eyes of music with the ballet providing spectacular choreography to help tell the story.

As the saying goes: "This ain't your grandmother's ballet."

The performance features music from the 50s to the 80s, from Buddy Holly to Michael Jackson. I've got to tell you, it's the type of show that I think would be a hit anywhere.

It's also a tribute to David Simpson, one of the creative minds that helped develop the show. He died less than a month after last year's staging of TimeSteps.

Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts.

Tickets to the weekend productions range in price from $13 to $48, depending on seating. For tickets, call 806-378-3096 or visit http://www.panhandletickets.com/. Buy a ticket, go see it. And I’m so confident you’ll enjoy it, I’ll give you your money back if you give me a good reason why you didn’t like it (or at least a newspaper subscription of equal value).

ANOTHER BEST BET: The Amarillo Globe-News and Amarillo.com 2009 Best of Amarillo Party is tonight at Sunset Center, Plains and Western streets, from 5 to 8 p.m.

There will be 53 businesses at the event that you voted the best of Amarillo, including 26 restaurants serving samples. Tickets are $15 at the door.

You think newspapers have it bad? Try magazines

2009-10-14T06:33:00.000-07:00

If you keep up with the media landscape, you would think that newspapers are the only media group with problems these days.

As ESPN's college football personality Lee Corso would say: "Not so fast, my friend."

The economy has affected all media companies - from television stations to networks to radio stations and, in some cases, even companies with strong Internet revenue.

Especially hard hit are magazine titles. In the last two years, more than 1,200 magazine titles have ceased publication. That's equivalent to the number of American daily newspapers.

According to recent reports, the good news is only 383 have shut down this year, including several publications from Conde Nast such as Modern Bride.

While a few newspapers have gone out of business, the larger names - Rocky Mountain News and Seattle Post-Intelligencer - were in markets with two newspapers. For decades, it's been obvious that even large markets can't support two newspapers.

But no U.S. city of any size is without a newspaper nor will it be.

Media depend almost exclusively on advertising for revenue and the current economic recession is the driving force behind lagging revenue. And as the economy recovers, so will advertising.

In the meantime, don't believe everything you hear in the media about newspapers. It usually needs a little perspective.

Tickets are gone! Thanks for responding.

2009-10-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

Rana Klein, Leslie Cruger, Toni Rice and Justin Gable are the winners. Enjoy!

Reward for blog readers

2009-10-13T06:52:00.000-07:00

When you write a blog, you're never sure exactly how many people are reading it.

Statistics from Google tell me that a lot of people view the blogs that we publish through amarillo.com. And it looks like at least a few of my relatives are reading mine occasionally.

But today, I will boldly put this to the test.

I have 8 tickets for tonight's performance of Momma Mia at the Amarillo Civic Center. The Amarillo Globe-News and amarillo.com are the sponsor of the show.

The first four people who send me an e-mail at les.simpson@amarillo.com telling me they've read this blog entry will win a pair of tickets to tonight's performance at 7:30 p.m. (If you can't go tonight, there are two more performances this week on Wednesday and Thursday. Go to http://www.panhandletickets.com/ for more information).

Amarillo Globe-News employees are not eligible (although you could earn immense amount of brownie points by telling me you do read this), you'll have a chance to get tickets another way.

If I haven't given all the tickets away by noon (I hope this doesn't happen), we'll be promoting this giveaway on Twitter and Facebook. So act quickly!

So if I can't get you to read this blog with my great prose, I'll bribe you with tickets. You never know when you might win .... so keep reading!

Media Monday: Atlanta Journal-Constitution will no longer endorse political candidates

2009-10-12T06:17:00.000-07:00

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced last week that the newspaper will no longer be endorsing candidates in political elections.

Growing up in Georgia, the Atlanta newspaper has always been my hometown newspaper. One of its former owners, Henry Grady, was well known for attempting to get Southerners to deal progressively with racial issues in the late 1800s.

There have been a lot of changes at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution lately. Major metro newspapers, like the AJC, have been much harder hit with advertising revenue declines so the newspaper has had to eliminate many positions.

Earlier, this year, the AJC underwent a redesign that drastically changed the look and format of the newspaper.

And just today, longtime sports columnist Furman Bisher announced he was retiring.

I can handle most of those changes, but what I can't handle is a newspaper that is refusing to endorse candidates. For years - for better or for worse - newspapers have endorsed candidates.

While in the end, it's hard to tell whether it helps or hurts a candidate, it does provide some perspective.

When the Amarillo Globe-News endorses candidates, we don't expect everyone to go vote for the newspaper's candidates. But we do feel there is a responsibility to help shape public discourse and opinion.

What's next? No more movie reviews that might hurt someone's feelings because they don't agree with what's published?

For a newspaper that once helped lead change in the region to abdicate its role is a sad commentary indeed.

Best of Amarillo party tickets available

2009-10-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

Now that the Best of Amarillo has been named for 2009, it's time to celebrate.

The Amarillo Globe-News and amarillo.com Best of Amarillo Party is set for Thursday Oct. 15 at the Sunset Center at the corner of Plains and Western.

This year's event has a record number of 51 businesses who will be at the party, including 26 of the best restaurants in Amarillo providing samples.

The hours are from 5 to 8 p.m. and tickets are $13 in advance and $15 at the door. For tickets, call 806-345-3363.

Thursday's Best Bet: Amarillo Little Theater's "Whorehouse"

2009-10-08T07:18:00.001-07:00

This is the last weekend of Amarillo Little Theater's staging of "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas."

The musical runs tonight through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m.

I haven't seen it, but I can assure you it will be a great performance, just like everything else ALT does.

After moving to Amarillo about seven years ago, I saw productions by the symphony, ballet and opera not too long after getting here.

But unfortunately, it took a little bit longer - too long - before I attended ALT. The talent level of the organization is top notch and I'm sure the same will be true if you see "Whorehouse" this weekend.

It's probably not for the kids - it has a PG13 rating.

And if you don't get to see this ALT production, there are many more this season on both the Mainstage and Alternative space. Be sure to follow ALT blog as well.

For tickets, call the ALT box office, 806-355-9991.

ALT was established in 1927 and is one of the oldest continuously operating community theatres in the country.

And remember, if you attend and can give me a good reason why you didn't like the event, I'll give you a credit of equal value to your ticket in a newspaper subscription. It's a money back guarantee (kind of).

Blogging along Route 66

2009-10-06T11:42:00.000-07:00

On most days, I receive anywhere from 100-200 e-mails - or more. Many are junk and only a handful are really useful.

Somehow I became a member of a listserve for professional photographers (there are a lot of them out there and they all appear really desperate for work).

But every now and then, one comes along that's interesting. A few months ago, a photographer sent an e-mail promoting himself and included a link to a blog where he was taking a photo of everything he eats this year. Quite interesting.

But one I received last week was compelling enough for me to open it and read. It's from a woman named Sandi Wheaton and here's what it said:

I thought you might be interested in covering a Route 66 project I'm undertaking.

I'm a female Canadian photographer who is driving, documenting, and blogging along the length of Route 66 - while at the same time, creating a time-lapse sequence of the whole Route, by shooting a photograph every 3-5 seconds from a camera mounted to my dashboard.

Here's the back story: I lost my video producing job of 12 years at General Motors in Detroit recently. As devastated as I was, I thought it would be a good time to make lemons out of lemonade and pursue one of my long-held dreams: to drive and photograph the 2400+ miles of Route 66, and blog about it as I go.

I exhibited some of my black and white infrared photographs from California's Route 66 in Toronto this spring, and the response was very positive. Kodak sadly no longer makes infrared film, so I am using the last of my stock for this project. It made sense to me that I should use an obsolete film to document an obsolete highway.

I've been on the road for 2 weeks now and I am amazed at the response and following my travel blog has gotten so far (www.pictureRoute66.com). People seem to be loving following the adventures of a solo female traveler on the road after the blow of job loss.

Many comment on how they love traveling vicariously through my blog.If this is of interest to you, I am in Oklahoma now and will be coming through Amarillo in a couple of days, should you like to do a story on it.

FYI, the Windsor Star and CBC TV back home did pieces on it before I left, which can be seen via links on my homepage: www.sandiwheaton.com.My contact info is at the bottom of this email.Thanks for your time!

Either way I hope you enjoy the blog, should you spend some time perusing it.

Thank you!
Sandi Wheaton
Photographytravel blog: http://pictureRoute66.com
website: http://sandiwheaton.com

I passed the e-mail along to the newsroom. Not sure if they'll do a story or not, but the blog is pretty interesting.

Above is a photo The Elbow Inn Bar and BBQ Pit at Devil's Elbow, MO where many a woman has left their bra, including Sandi.

Be on the lookout for her, she should be here soon.

Today at noon: WTAMU Homecoming Pep Rally at Potter County Courthouse

2009-10-06T06:43:00.000-07:00

West Texas A&M University's Homecoming Pep Rally will be held today at noon on the lawn in front of the Potter County Courthouse.

The WTAMU band and cheerleaders will be there as well as head coach Don Carthel and University President J. Patrick O'Brien.

The Amarillo Globe-News and amarillo.com are the sponsors of this year's event.

The event is moving to it's new location after being held in the Amarillo Civic Center for the last few years. A catered barbecue meal is available for $6.

For more on WTAMU homecoming events this week, click here.

Media Monday: Making money on content

2009-10-05T08:06:00.001-07:00

The Internet has rapidly become a "game-changer" for many businesses. From travel agents to book publishing companies to real estate and auto sales, it's provided a new set of challenges and opportunities.

The same can be said for the information business, of which newspapers have been and are still a vital part.

Making money off information on the Internet is a challenge. Many of the successful online businesses are not selling information, but actual products. Ebay, Amazon, I Tunes and other companies are selling products to generate revenue.

Only one company selling information, Google, has really seen that much success., and mainly in the search category. They became the largest search engine and capitalized on their audience.

But most information providers aren't finding the Internet to be the panacea they expected.

Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other similar sites have found a true Internet principle: It's easy to generate a sizable online audience. It's not so easy to monetize that audience. Especially when you're dealing with information as your main product.

No one really wants to pay for information - unless its pornography.

And much of the information - at least, much of the credible information - on the Internet comes from media outlets, especially newspapers.

This poses challenges for newspapers, but despite the conventional wisdom, we are not going out of business.

The current newspaper issues don't arise from a necessarily flawed business model. In most markets, including Amarillo, newspapers are still the top single advertising revenue business.

The problem is that too many newspaper companies have too much debt. And like nearly all businesses, we've been impacted by the economy - which is really our main problem.

A recent interview with Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, addresses some of the issues that are faced by information providers. His take on the demise of newspapers is a bit over dramatic, but it is an interesting interview on how we all - including newspapers - will have to face the challenges of monetizing information.

For if we don't figure it out, there may not be as much credible information on the Internet for you to enjoy for free.

Coming this Sunday: Best of Amarillo

2009-10-02T11:15:00.000-07:00

You'll want to be sure to look in this Sunday's newspaper for our eighth annual Best of Amarillo special section.

Readers of the Amarillo Globe-News and our web site, amarillo.com, voted for the best of everything from restaurants to video game stores and everything in between.

At 64 pages, it's the largest Best of Amarillo section we've published and contains a lot of information on the best the city has to offer.

On Oct. 15, we'll have the annual Best of Amarillo Party at Sunset Center near Plains and Western streets. More than 50 best of winners, including more than 20 restaurants will be in attendance providing samples and more information about their businesses.

Tickets for the event, which runs from 5 to 8 p.m., are $13 in advance and $15 at the door.

Thursday's Best Best: Casting Crowns

2009-10-01T06:15:00.000-07:00

Do you think Amarillo is a boring place with not much to do?

I'm sure some people do, but I'm not one of them. I would tell you there is a lot to do, especially for a town of this size.

With arts groups, concerts, sports, festivals and other events, there's not a week that goes by where there is not something really great going on.

So I've decided to issue a challenge to you. Each week on Thursday, I will pick a best bet of an event in the upcoming week.

I will guarantee if you go to the event, you will not disappointed and you will learn quickly that there is a lot of quality entertainment in Amarillo.

And if you attend the event and give me a good reason why you were disappointed, I'll give you your money back.

Well, not actually your money, but I will give you a newspaper subscription equivalent to the value of what you paid to get in the event. But you have to prove you attended the event and give me a good reason why you didn't like it.

OK, clear as mud?

Anyway, here is the week's guaranteed event: Casting Crowns will perform Saturday night at the Amarillo Civic Center. Tickets are available at Panhandle Tickets online and local outlets.

The group is led by Mark Hall, who still has his day job as a youth pastor at a church just south of Atlanta. They perform on the weekends, but the band is usually back in Atlanta on Sunday morning to participate in church activities.

The tour, called "Until the Whole World Hears," is leading up to the Nov. 17 release of an album of the same name. The lyrics of many of the group's songs cut right to the chase of issues the church and Christians face.

Matt Redman opens for the event which starts at 7 p.m. Here's a video preview:

Order book of historical photos of Amarillo and the Panhandle now to get best price

2009-09-30T06:08:00.000-07:00

The Amarillo Globe-News turns 100 years old on Nov. 4 and as part of the celebration of the significant birthday, the newspaper is publishing a pictorial history of Amarillo and the Panhandle.

The book will be more than 160 pages featuring hundreds of photos from the files of the Amarillo Globe-News, the City of Amarillo public library and other sources.

Also, several community members contributed photos as well.

I've seen the proofs of the book and it is outstanding. You won't be disappointed. In looking around, I don't think there is another book like it.

It will publish in mid-November, but you can pre-order the book now and save $10 off the cover price of $39.95. It's a limited time offer, so act quickly.

To order online, click here.

Not only will you enjoy it, but you might consider it for a Christmas gift for those who might want this keepsake book.

Media Monday: Bias of the mainstream media

2009-09-28T06:10:00.000-07:00

With topics like ACORN and health care in the news constantly these days, the discussion of bias in the "mainstream" media is reaching a fever pitch.

I'm still not sure what the definition of the "mainstream" is, but I'm getting the feeling that the mainstream media is any media outlet that doesn't hold the same views as the person criticizing the mainstream media.

Some say Fox News is the only place to get the truth. Others say CNN. Some say the New York Times is biased while others claim it would be the Washington Times. Some swear by Keith Olbermann, others by Sean Hannity.

On television, claiming everyone else is the mainstream media has become a cottage industry.

As someone who has been part of the media for 22 years, I hate to tell you truth seekers out there, but: All media is biased.

Heck, even the Amarillo Globe-News is "biased."

The truth is we're all biased.

We tell our stories from our perspective and with our knowledge. Two people can write a book on the same topic and tell the same story two different ways.

Even in the Bible, Mark doesn't tell the Gospel story the same way that Matthew does. Does that mean Mark is part of the "mainstream media" but Matthew isn't? No, they just tell it from two different perspectives.

But what about bias in the Globe-News, you ask? How could I admit to such heresy?

Well, we have to be.

When a reporter goes to a city commission meeting or an accident scene, they have to look for what is most important to report first. There may be a dozen items on a commission agenda, but we can't write about all 12 of them first. One has to be chosen.

At an accident or crime scene, there are lots of facts to consider, but a reporter has to determine what's most important. If someone dies, it's in the first paragraph, not the last.

There are thousands of stories available to newspapers every day and most choose a few dozen to publish on any given day. You have to have a bias to make that determination.

For the Amarillo Globe-News, our bias needs to be local. There are too many places for people to get national and international news other than our paper. It's not always been like that and I realize that not everyone has access to the Internet and other sources of information, but most do.

Our only monopoly is local news.

I don't get a lot of heartburn from people who complain about a lack of ACORN stories in our paper (although, we have run many of them in the paper and on our web site). That's not our franchise and no, we're not covering for the Obama Administration or the Republicans.

When people ask me about media bias, I assure them that I've been around media people a long time and we're not smart enough to pull off a conspiracy.

The truth is bias in the media is based as much on the view of the consumer as it is on the media outlet.

How do I know this?

In 22 years, I have never gotten a call from a parent of a high school athlete who says: "My child plays football at Smith High School, but I really wish you should cover Jones High School more. I know Jones is our arch rival, but you really have been biased against them and they need more coverage."

There have been times where I have received an e-mail at 8:30 in the morning saying: "You are so far right of Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, it's sickening." Only to be followed up lat 10 a.m. with a phone call from someone who wants to know how I can live with being the publisher of such "a liberal rag."

It's all a matter of perspective.

Some people think we are guilty of bias when we omit something. The problem is that those in the media are not all knowing.

Many times, I've received a call demanding to know why the newspaper hasn't covered something. When I ask: "Did you tell us about it in advance," the answer is often no.

We don't know about everything. We have to be told and informed.

Likewise, we have a limited amount of staff. We can't go cover everything every day. We have to make choices as well.

Do we make the wrong choices some times, absolutely. I wish we were perfect, but we're not

So what should consumers of media who want to know the "truth" do?

We are all human and we all have our biases. You need to get a lot of perspectives and realize that not one is absolutely correct. As they say, the truth lies somewhere in between.

Amarillo Magazine!

2009-08-10T16:12:00.001-07:00

After three years as Amarillo Uptown, the magazine of the Amarillo Globe-News transformed itself earlier this summer into "Amarillo Magazine."

The response I've gotten has been tremendous. Most people say Amarillo Uptown was great, but the new magazine is even better. The magazine features a new look and the content has a much deeper, local focus.

Many of the great features from Amarillo Uptown are still there, but everything has been taken to the next level of a quality city magazine.

But Amarillo Magazine is much more than just the print edition you see that last Sunday of the month in the newspaper. There's a website, a Facebook page, a blog and a Twitter account.

If you like to receive the magazine and you live in either Amarillo or Canyon, just subscribe to the Sunday newspaper and we'll deliver it to your doorstep.

And if you would like to reach the best audience in Amarillo with your advertising, we can help you do that as well.

So be sure to look for it the last Sunday of the month and online!

Thanks for helping!

2009-08-10T08:43:00.000-07:00

There were a lot of people who helped out during the week of the Panorama staff's visit to Amarillo.

While it would be a long blog to thank everyone, here are some of those who did a great job of helping:

Ann Scamahorn and Daphne's Tours: The week got off to a great start with a tour of the the Amarillo area by Ann. From Route 66 to Cadillac Ranch, we saw it all.

Bill Green and the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum: Bill took time out on a Sunday afternoon to give a tour of the museum and the newspaper exhibit.

Paul Borchardt: Paul made everyone feel extremely welcome at Wonderland and all had a great time on the rides!

Bobby Lee and the Big Texan: Bobby arranged the limo ride and provided a great evening at the iconic restaurant, including a celebrity sighting!

Gary Carpenter, Don Treadway and the American Quarter Horse Association: Gary and Don gave a tour of the museum and AQHA offices and presented each of our guests with a nice coffee table photo book called "The Texas Cowboy."

Mayor Debra McCartt: She spent nearly an hour talking with the staff and translators.

Ali Tiegs and the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts: A great tour of a unique building.

Bill Anderson and the crew at "Texas:" Bill gave a backstage tour and some introductions to the cast. The food was great and the show was wonderful.

Phyllis Payne and the staff at the Ambassador: I heard nothing but good things about the accommodations at the Ambassador. Everyone was extremely nice, courteous and helpful.

The staff at the many restaurants we visited: It takes a little while to translate menus and explain American food. And at most restaurants we split the checks. But everyone was friendly and understanding.

The staff of the Amarillo Globe-News: I know it's very demanding to have people follow you around, discuss important topics and do your day job at the same time. A lot of time was dedicated to the week and the staff at the newspaper went above and beyond the call of duty. Susie Self and Valerie Bintliff helped plan a Friday cookout on our dock that was wonderful. And Steve Adams and Mike O'Connor did some transporting and entertaining.

And there are many others who I have mentioned by name, but I thank you as well.

In the end, I hope we made a difference for those who visited us and for their newspaper.

But this is not the end, four more staff members (along with our two translators) will be here later this year and we'll do it all over again.

Garage sales and more

2009-08-04T15:25:00.000-07:00

Our friends from the Panorama newspaper are back home now. They left the Ambassador Hotel around 8 a.m. Sunday morning and made it back to Sumy somewhere around 1 a.m. local time Tuesday morning.

They lost 8 hours on the return trip and the minivan that was to take them on the four-hour drive back to Sumy was about two hours late. It was a journey of more than 30 hours when their heads hit the pillows at home.

Saturday was a full day of shopping. It started out with garage sales. Ukraine has flea markets, but apparently not garage sales.

We went to three and I think our group bought something at every one of them. The purchases ranges from a power converter - which can be used in the US and Ukraine - to a set of Texas Motor Speedway pillows!

The rest of the day included visits to Westgate Mall, Best Buy (where two cameras were purchased at half the price it would cost in Ukraine) and, yes, Wal-Mart.

Saturday night was a farewell dinner with the newspaper staff at Macaroni Joe's.

Thanks to everyone in the community and at the newspaper for making this happen for them. I'll touch on who helped in my next post.

Wii were having some fun

2009-08-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

I invited the Panorama staff members to my house on Friday night and after a traditional Tex-Mex dinner of fajitas and sopapillas, we settle in for a night with .... the Wii.

I mentioned the Wii one night and I think one person may have heard of it before, but no one had ever played it.

In the photo, Volodymyr shows his bowling ability.

He picked up on the games really quickly. Everyone played and had some success.

But no one could ever figure out how to do the ski jump on the Wii fit!

A late night in the Palo Duro Canyon

2009-07-30T09:44:00.001-07:00

No trip to the Panhandle is complete without going to the Palo Duro Canyon to see the outdoor musical "Texas."

And there's nothing like a thunderstorm to make the experience totally complete.

Wednesday night's storm in the canyon, which lasted about 30 minutes, wasn't as severe as the night before, when the amphitheater was flooded to the fourth row. But it was still quite an experience.

Gusts before the storm below part of the set down and within minutes, the performance stopped while the storm came through.

The musical resumed after about 30 minutes and the performance was great, as usual.

A tradition at "Texas" is to award a triangle used to call the cowboys to dinner to those who traveled the longest distance to see the performance.

In 44 years, we were told, no one from the Continental United States has won. And Wednesday night wasn't an exception. The Panorama staff and their translators each received one for their 7,000 mile journey.

The only problem, I later learned, was that there was someone in the audience from Moscow.

The staff at Texas also gave her a triangle, but didn't recognize her at the intermission like our Ukrainian visitors.

When I told them about this, I think they were quite pleased because it's not often, I said, that Ukraine wins something over Moscow and Russia! It was a good night, even with the rain.

Executive Director and "Texas" Producer Bill Anderson gave a great back stage tour and introduced some of the cast to our guests.

Also, they were the first visitors from Sumy and Kyiv to see "Texas," so they were able to put a pin on those two cities on the map in the courtyard of amphitheater.

Amarillo hospitality

2009-07-29T09:33:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was full of the generous hospitality that makes Amarillo a wonderful place.

When planning the visit from the Panorama staff, I made a few calls to arrange tours of key places and meetings with some key people in our community. Everyone has been great in helping our visitors learn more about Amarillo.

Tuesday included a tour of the American Quarter Horse Association Museum and offices. And the tour was given by Gary Carpenter, the museum's executive director, and Don Treadway, AQHA executive vice president. If you haven't visited the newly renovated museum, you should do that soon. It's very well done.

They also presented the group with an autographed, coffee table book called "The Texas Cowboy," which featured information and amazing photos about the cowboy lifestyle.

From there, we visited city hall and Mayor Debra McCartt, who spent nearly and hour with the Panorama staff. The session included a tour of the major's office where she talked about everything from her accuracy on the shooting range to meeting several U.S. presidents.

The photo below was taken in her office, and later in the city commission's conference room, Iluliia presented the major with a special gift from Ukraine. They were pleasantly surprised to find a woman elected official who still acted like ... well, a woman. In Ukraine, the women in politics seemed to be a little more masculine. The current prime minister of Ukraine - probably the equivalent to our speaker of the House - is a woman who is running for president.

From city hall we visited the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts and finished the evening with dinner at the Amarillo Club.

I'm greatly appreciative of how much time many important Amarillo residents have taken to spend with my friends for Panorama. It's making a great impression on them and I know they appreciate it as well.

Celebrity spotting at the Big Texan

2009-07-28T06:09:00.000-07:00

The first day's visit of the Panorama staff at the newspaper offices began in a pretty normal fashion but ended with some excitement at the Big Texan.

The agenda included presentations about the exchange program and the Panorama newspaper to our staff, followed by a tour of the newspaper as well as the first training sessions about human resources and the Internet.

Food is always an interesting issue, so we never know what will work.

But Monday's lunch at Abeulo's was a home run. Everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Monday night was a trip to the place most everyone takes their friends and family when they visit Amarillo: the Big Texan. Bobby Lee helped arrange a ride in the limo with horns from the hotel to the restaurant for the group.

And while the food was good and the atmosphere was, as always, very interesting, our Ukranian friends got a special treat.

Right before ordering, two of them spotted a person who they thought was David Duchovny. They raced over to the table and sure enough, there he was eating with his family, including his wife Tea Leoni.

I'm told the Tea has family ties to Amarillo and that she once spent summers here with her grandparents. Maybe you know more details about it.

But Duchovny seemed to be more well known in Ukraine, perhaps because the X Files star has Ukrainian roots. I was told that his grandparents were originally from Ukraine and he even spoke a little Russian - the language of Eastern Ukraine - while taking photos with the group at the Big Texan. Duchovny is apparently a very Ukranian name and he has previously support free elections in the country.

I'm not sure if everyone in the group knew about Duchovny's recent battles with sex addiction, perhaps online pornography - or so the tabloids say. It seems that Duchovny and Leoni are still together and were enjoying family time in Amarillo.

The Ukrainians were able to get their picture taken with him for proof, including Olena in the photo above. Duchovny was extremely nice and accommodating.

I think everyone was surprised that they would travel 7,000 miles and see a star they know in their home country.

A few photos from Ukranian visit

2009-07-27T21:39:00.001-07:00

Ukrainan newspaper partners arrive in the U.S.

2009-07-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

Four staff members of the newspaper Panorama as well as two translators arrived in Amarillo late Saturday for a week-long stay. It was a more than 24-hour journey for them, including a two-hour delay on the last leg of the flight from Dallas.

It's the first of two visits for journalists and other newspaper professionals from the town of Sumy. A different group will visit in late October or early November.

For these four, it's their first visit to the States.

Not only will they spend much of the week learning and discussing newspapers operations, they will also get a taste of Amarillo.

With them for the first few days of the trip is Eleeza Agopian, program associate for the International Research and Exchanges Board in Washington D.C., which coordinates the program.

Sunday morning started off with a tour of Amarillo, which included everything from the Cadillac Ranch - where they painted one of their cars in Ukrainian colors - to Route 66 and everything in between. A former newspaper employee, Ann Scamahorn, gave a lot of interesting information about the area during the tour.

After a lunch at Dyer's BBQ - you've got to have Texas BBQ - the day included a visit to the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum and an excellent tour by Bill Green of the museum.

Our guests favorite part of the museum? The vintage automobiles. Since many Ukranians walk everywhere, maybe there's more appreciation for cars.

Speaking of walking, the group was amazed that there was no one out walking on Sunday morning - except the few doing it for exercise! One person said he was beginning to wonder if the nearly 200,000 people of Amarillo really existed, because they were no where to be seen!

We explained that many were in church and many more were probably still at home. As I mentioned after my trip to Sumy, Ukrainians walk or ride bikes everywhere, especially in the more rural towns.

After the tour and museum, it was off the Wonderland, where Paul Borchardt was a gracious host. Paul has visited Russia before and spent a few minutes talking with them. (Paul is in the photo with Iluliia Polozhly (l-r), the marketing director and wife the newspaper's publisher; Olena Byetanova, controller; Pavlo Parfentyev, website manager; and Volodymyr Nyankin, reporter and web site administrator.)

There aren't many amusement parks in Ukraine, I'm told. In fact, most of them are traveling productions that I think they called "luna parks."

But the group immediately took rides on the Texas Tornado, Drop of Fear and the Intimidator.

Also, they loved seeing the Cyclone roller coaster painted in Ukranian colors of Blue and Yellow! If you've ever ridden the Cyclone, it consists of many turns and it can jerk you around from time to time. One of the translators said it reminded her of Ukranian politics.

Thanks to Bill, Paul and others who helped make our friends' first day in Amarillo a memorable one.

Today's agenda includes a meeting with the newspaper management staff, a tour of the newspaper, lunch at Abuelo's (They are really looking forward to Mexican food!), time with our Human Resources Director and newsroom and dinner tonight at - you guessed it - the Big Texan.

Time to vote for Best of Amarillo!

2009-06-30T15:14:00.000-07:00

Voting begins this week for the eighth annual Best of Amarillo competion.

Voting is online through July 31.

Click here for a link to this year's site. If you don't already have a username and password for our web site, you'll need to register to vote.

We'll publish this year's winners in our Get Out! entertainment section on Friday Oct. 2. Our annual Best of Amarillo Party will be Thursday Oct. 15 at Sunset Center.

Some final thoughts

2009-06-22T11:37:00.000-07:00

I arrived back in the U.S. on Sunday and have spent the last day or so catching up on about 900 e-mails - mostly junk - and a few phone calls.

Last week in Ukraine went so fast and was so exhilarating, it seems like just a dream now ... a good one.

Here are a few thoughts and observations:

Training ground for NYC taxi drivers: I think that Ukraine is the official training school for potential New York City cab drivers. They dart in and out of traffic, squeezing in between vehicles of all sizes. They avoid potholes by getting in the oncoming lane of traffic only to get back in their lane a few moments before an imminent collision. I just learned to ride with my eyes closed.

Food: The quality of the food in Sumy was outstanding and affordable. Ukraine was referred to as the bread basket of Russia and is still an agricultural region. Lunch featuring a soup, salad and drink would run $4-6 USD and dinner would be about $10-12 USD depending on your order. The food in Kyiv was much more expensive - about two to three times Sumy - and not nearly as good.

Alcohol and smoking: I mentioned earlier that many Ukranians walk most everywhere they go or take public transportation. This keeps them skinny, more so in Sumy than Kyiv. But what they gain in their health in walking, they most certainly lose by smoking and drinking. Smoking is much more prevalent and public than the US. And there are no open container laws, so Ukrainians, especially on a Saturday in Kyiv, can buy beer just about everywhere and carry it with them.

American influence: There were just two American companies that seemed to be everywhere: Coca-Cola and McDonald's. Diet Coke is Coca-Cola Light and tastes a little different. Cold drinks are a little harder to find and Ukranians drink a lot of hot tea. At the newspaper, there were two electric water pitchers that constantly heated water to make tea.

A reunion thanks to Facebook: Just before I left Houston, I posted on my Facebook status that I was heading to Amsterdam. Within minutes, a high school friend of mine sent me a message asking how long my layover would be. "Five hours, " I said. "Great, I'll meet you at the airport at 9 a.m. at the red blocks called the "Meeting Point." She lives just 45 minutes from the airport and so thanks to Facebook, I had a reunion with someone I haven't seen in more than 25 years.

Bathrooms: We were warned by others who had done this type of exchange program that we might see bathrooms of all types. Traveling abroad makes you thankful for our "facilities." Most newer buildings have traditional bathroom accommodations. But a stop along the road on the way to Sumy was a little more than a hole in the ground. And the newspaper was in a very old building, so they didn't have the luxury of a commode. You were able to flush the "hole" at the newspaper, but for the most part, it was much easier for me to aim than .... well, you get my point.

But what don't you like: It was very interesting how often I was pressed by people who wanted to know what I didn't like about Ukraine. There wasn't much not too like (ok, maybe the bathrooms some times) and I didn't want to be critical, but they would keep pushing. I think, much like in Amarillo, the citizens want you to like their city and country and they keep asking. I finally gave up and opted for the taxi drivers as my least favorite part.

Friendships: What I'll value most are the friendships that have been made. Although we were there just a week, it was an intense week. It was like a team-building experience that bonds you quickly and forever. And for us and them, it was a week discussing a subject that is extremely important to everyone. The photo above was taken on our last night in Sumy at the publisher's home. There are newspaper staff members, translators and the program coordinator who made

the trip a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will forever be appreciative.

Just to let you know, there will be two groups from the newspaper visiting Amarillo. The first group - which will consist of four staff members and two translators - will visit July 25-August 2. The second group will be here in the fall, probably October or November.

A little support for the arts goes a long way

2009-06-19T23:14:00.001-07:00

I had the extreme good fortune of being able to attend a performance of the Ukranian national ballet company Friday night as we returned to Kyiv, the cultural and political center of the country.

The presentation of "La Bayadere" was tremendous.

First, there was a 45-piece orchestra performing the music of the ballet and I'm guessing at least 60-70 dancers.

At some points, there were 30 or more dancers on the stage that featured beautiful sets.

And best I can tell, this three-hour ballet was only being performed for one night. There's no telling how many weeks it took to prepare.

There were many "Bravos!" throughout the evening and at the conclusion of the performance the audience clapped in unison as the stars of the ballet took a half dozen or so bows. The audience didn't give a standing ovation, but they obviously loved the show. I think the continuous applause was the equivalent to a standing ovation in the U.S.

The tickets cost the equivalent of about $5 to $100 in U.S. dollars.

I left the performance thinking: "How in the world can they afford to present this at all, much less just one time?"

Well, if there's at least one good benefit of the old Soviet style of government, it appears they provide a good deal of funding for the arts.

From June 2 to July 5, there are 28 separate performances by the national opera and ballet company combined, including the ballet's performance of "Swan Lake" and "Romeo and Juliet" and the opera's performance of "Carmen" and "Tosca."

I dare say this city could rival any in the world with it's commitment to the fine arts.

Oh, and there was a symphonic performance by the National Philharmonic last night as well in a performance hall nearby.

Same issues for newspapers that are 7,000 miles apart.

2009-06-19T14:02:00.001-07:00

Although the staff of Panorama in Sumy, Ukraine, isn't as large as the Amarillo Globe-News and the circulation numbers not as high, the staffs of the two newspapers face almost identical challenges.

In Ukraine, citizens are reading the printed newspaper less. Same in the U.S.

The best opportunity for both newspapers lies in technology and a future in online and mobile services. But no one knows for sure exactly how a digital future will unfold and how newspapers can make money from it.

During the week of working with the newspaper staff, discussion of almost every topic was met with nodding heads. They are dealing with the same issues.

While most American weekly newspapers have small staffs, few pages and mostly local news, Panorama has more than 30 employees and has a strong journalistic and advertising staff.

Their business practices match papers that are much larger.

And they are the only media outlet in Sumy that's seriously reporting the news. On the front page this week is a story about how a government official built his house on land he didn't own. The government seems to do that a lot in Sumy and they've been covering the story for two years.

But there are some differences that need to be pointed out.

Subscriptions are sold mostly through the postal service and kiosks that sell papers are also owned by the government.

But even worse is the constant threat that the government might "shut down" a newspaper when it publishes something that it doesn't like.

The publisher of the Panorama has been "interviewed" by government officials in the past and told to keep a lid on critical stories.

He hasn't done that.

A free press is necessary for a true Democratic society. While the treatment of the media is better than during Soviet times, it's still not what it needs to be.

There need to be more papers like Panorama - in the U.S. and Ukraine.

TV, Soviet style

2009-06-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

For some strange reason, one of the locally-owned government television station asked myself, my co-worker Steve Adams, the publisher of Panorama and the local coordinator of the IREX program to appear on a television show called Rhythm of the City.

It's a 30-minute public affairs television show that will be aired on Friday.

The interview was fine, but sitting on the set of the television studio made me feel like it was going back in time to the Soviet era.

The spartan set doesn't look anything like the bright, glitzy sets of American television. It felt like being on a movie about the old Soviet Union. I wondered what information and what television propoganda has been broadcasted at the station over the years.

The station is all local and sells very little advertising, so they have plenty of time to air a 30-minute show about two Americans and a local newspaper. It's funded by the government.

The good thing for Panorama: it was pretty much a free commercial for the newspaper.

A tour of the station revealed they have fairly modern equipment and computers, but probably a good 10-15 years behind most American station technology.

Walking everywhere

2009-06-17T23:02:00.000-07:00

The first thing you notice about Ukrainians in this town of 300,000 residents is that everyone walks everywhere.

From the center city to the rural countryside, you see people walking.

There are vehicles and mass transportation, but it is incredible how many people are walking, usually in groups of two to five people or more.

There are probably more people walking in downtown Sumy in a day than walk in downtown Amarillo in a week - or longer.

Most of the downtown streets are pedestrian only with trees and wide sidewalks. There are green spaces throughout downtown.

I'm beginning to see now why Americans are so fat and Ukranians are not: cars and unhealthy food vs. walking and healthy food.

Finally, an Internet connection

2009-06-17T13:59:00.000-07:00

Finding an Internet connection in Sumy, Ukraine is not easy. The hotel where we're staying advertised Wi-Fi, but had to call in an IT person to show how to use it.

This isn't the Hampton Inn. But it's nice.

We're in the third day of working with the staff of Panorama, a weekly newspaper in the city. They have a connection, but we've been busy during the day working with their staff.

The irony of the trip is that a newspaper 7,000 miles away from Amarillo is facing the exact same challenges as most newspapers in the U.S.

Panorama is dealing with the challenges of operating a business in a recession. They are transitioning to a digital age while maintaining the print product, which still generates most of the revenue.

However, they have an entirely different circulation model than U.S. newspapers. They sell single copies of the paper in a few select stores and at goverment-owned kiosks. Subscriptions are not as common as U.S. newspapers. They are sold through the government-owned post offices not by the newspapers themselves, for the most part.

Most people live in apartments - many in the old Soviet style gray box buildings - so delivery by carriers isn't a very viable option.

The newspaper is printed three hours from Sumy and is one of three weeklies in the city. However, the other two are owned by political officials.

But this weekly Urkanian newspaper is just as sophisticated and their staff is just as smart as many American newspapers.

Helping a newspaper in the Ukraine

2009-06-15T12:30:00.000-07:00

It's about 1:30 Central Time on Friday and I'm in the Houston airport waiting on a flight that will take myself and co-worker Steve Adams to the town of Sumy in the Ukraine.

We're working with an organization in Washington, D.C. - the International Research and Exchanges Board - that has exchange programs designed to help Ukraine on issues like education, civil society development and the media.

We're working with a newspaper called Panorama, an independent weekly newspaper. From what I'm told there is a certain amount of press freedom in the country, especially since the "Orange" revolution of several years ago.

But it is not as free as the U.S. And much of the media still has a government influence.

Later this summer, four members of the Panorama staff will be visiting Amarillo.

As wi-fi allows, I'll try to update our trip here.

Swine flu

2009-04-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

OK everyone, let's take a deep breath.

It seems that some are hitting the panic button on this swine flu deal.

We do need to take precautions and we do need to be on the lookout for those family or friends who might have symptoms. But the flu is a normal occurrence that happens every year and kills thousands of people, usually the very young or very old.

It's like panicking and refusing to fly when there's a plane crash. Air travel is still the safest way to travel, but we give in to the media coverage and non-stop publicity of something that's not that big.

The World Health Organization has raised its awareness level to the highest ever, but don't panic.

World, state and local officials - like Dr. Todd Bell (photo), health authority for Potter and Randall counties - are in control and on top of the situation.

(However, I don't understand why Dr. Bell had a stethoscope for the press conference? Was he checking people at city hall? :).

How to make Texas a better place

2009-04-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

The best magazine there is, Texas Monthly, devoted the cover story of the May issue to the best ideas for improving the state of Texas.

There were some good ideas:

1. Start a state venture capital fund. A statewide Amarillo Economic Development Corporation.

2. Protect our watersheds.

OK, there were not really that many great ideas.

But there seem to be more bad ones:

1. Make the Legislature meet more often. ARE YOU KIDDING?! That's the last thing we need.

2. Build a Transit System of Personal Pods. Uh... Not gonna happen.

3. Establish a Personal Income Tax. Texas boasts about not having a personal income tax, but when you move from another state, there aren't any advantages. Property taxes and higher home owners insurance cost mean a wash for most moving to the state. And on top of that, fees for licensing for professions and other reasons are higher in Texas as well.

So what does Texas really need to do:

1. Eliminate so many different election dates. All elections should be held in November. More elections mean more costs. Asking people to come out to the polls on a Saturday in May is not a smart move.

2. Move primaries to mid to late summer. Primaries should be in July. Why elect people in March who don't serve until the following January? That happens when only one party fields candidates.

3. Non-partisan races for judges. Judicial elections should not have the same vitriol as races for governor.

4. Combine school districts. This one will never happen. The Texas education funding system is the most dysfunctional program in America. But why are there so many different school systems? Boundaries were set up years ago, but times have changed. The down size to this is that school pride - and the economic engine of a school district - is critical for many small towns.

5. State government with stronger governor. The governor should be the most powerful political figure in the state, not the House Speaker.

6. More focus on technical/vocational education. There seems to be an obsession with a four-year bachelor's degree (or higher) in the state. But most of our jobs now need some type of post-secondary education other than a traditional college degree. More funding needs to go to colleges like Amarillo College if Texas is to be stronger economically in the future.

A great loss to the arts community

2009-04-21T06:22:00.001-07:00

Extremely sad news today with the story of the passing of David Simpson.

I met David several years ago when his company, 4th Wall Ltd., created and produced the show that opened the Globe-News Center for the Performing Arts.

The show met its goal of showing off the new performance hall and showcasing the immense talent in the Amarillo area.

Since then, he had worked for the Lone Star Ballet as production manager.

His genius was shown most recently as part of the creation of a new production call TimeSteps, which was performed just a few weeks ago at the Globe-News Center.

It was an event that used dance to tell the story of music and history for a 30-year time span. The production combined dance, video and music to relive the past and give perhaps a new meaning to the music.

The biography of David on the Lone Star Ballet's web site tells about his body of work.

He's worked all over the world and could have lived anywhere. But in the last few years, he made Amarillo home and shared his talents through The New Nutcracker and many other productions.

He will be missed.

What do Mark Martin and Jon Mark Beilue have in common?

2009-04-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

As I slowly approach the age which begins with 5, I am thinking that 50 is .... the new 30.

There are at least several people out there trying to prove it.

At age 50, Mark Martin became the third oldest winner in NASCAR history with a victory at Phoenix International Raceway.

And in the same vain, Jon Mark Beilue, also 50, competed in today's Boston Marathon and finished .... well, not quite first ... but he was 10,686 with a time of 3:41.58.

Of the nine local participants, Jon Mark finished seventh. But the good news is that only two people older than JMB finished ahead of them.

I'm not sure where Batman (in photo above) finished. On second thought, maybe Jon Mark should have worn a Batman outfit.

Anway, in celebration, I think I'll have a giant Frosty from Wendy's!

In all seriousness, congratulations to Jon Mark. I can't remember the last time I ran ONE MILE much less a marathon.

Another person who has stayed too long

2009-04-16T06:40:00.001-07:00

One of my first blog postings was about how out of place Helen Thomas seemed at one of the president's press conferences.

She asks some unusual and irrelevant questions. And overall, it was kind of sad.

Well, I've got someone to add to the list of stayed beyond his time: CNN's Larry King.

I watched him do an interview the other night with some celebrity and it was painful.

Larry King: Do you Twitter?

Celebrity: Not yet, but I'm going to.

Larry King: Do you Tweet?

Celebrity: (Who didn't really seem to know a Tweet from a rotary phone): Well, I'll try anything Larry.

Larry King: Do you Twitter? (obviously forgetting that he had asked the same question just seconds before...).

I remember Larry King from his days on radio when he would interview people late at night on the radio. He was interesting and knew the questions to ask.

But not anymore. Watching him is like watching a Saturday Night Live parody of his show.

Larry King, please join Helen Thomas in retirement....

Great tournament, sad ending for Perry, Campbell

2009-04-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

This Masters was about as exciting as any in the last few years. It was the first time since 1988 that a playoff had three golfers.

But ultimately, the two the crowd wanted to win the most - Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry - couldn't pull it off. Instead the title went to Argentinian Angel Cabrera.

This Masters will be one to remember for several reasons:

1. Chad Campbell starting off the tournament with a record five birdies in a row.

2. First timer Andrew Kim fired off 11 birdies on Friday, a course record.

3. Tiger and Phil were in the same pairing on Sunday - but it wasn't the last one. However, they both still fought back and were it not for a bad decision on 12, Phil might have won or at least been in the playoff. The shot in the water took the wind out of his sails.

4. The biggest surprise is that not one but two players hit a tree on 18. I don't recall seeing many players actually hitting a tree on the PGA Tour. Tiger did it Sunday as did Cabrera, who lucked out when his ball came back into the fairway on the first playoff hole.

5. The sentimental favorite had to be Kenny Perry, who would have been the oldest player to ever win a major. He's perhaps the nicest guy on the tour and graceful even in defeat.

6. It was the last tournament for Gary Player, which is really the official end of the last generation of golf. But even in his last tournament, he never broke 80, a mark he was proud of.

Local connection to the Masters

2009-04-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

Sports Editor Lance Lahnert has done a great job with his interviews with Judd Burkett, Chad Campbell's caddy.

I look forward to tomorrow's installment. Thanks to Judd for taking the time out during an amazing week at the Masters.

Fashion at Augusta National

2009-04-12T13:04:00.000-07:00

When people attend Augusta National, it's usually one of the most exciting events in their lives - especially if they are a golf fan.

And a lot of people want to dress for the occasion.

One of the best features The Augusta Chronicle does each year is send a reporter to the course to shoot photos of what patrons are wearing for a feature called Masters Couture.

For the look at some of the fashion from the last several years, follow this link and look for "Masters Couture" on the right hand side of the page.

There are some fashionable people - and examples of some people who obviously know nothing of fashion.

How to watch a golf tournament in person?

2009-04-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

There are several ways to watch a golf tournament in person. I knew a few people in Augusta who would rather go home and watch Sunday at the Masters than see it in person because you could see so much more on television.

Here are several strategies:

1. Sit on one hole: You can arrive early and stake out a spot on a good hole. At Augusta National, you can see a lot of action on 7 green, 12 tee and 15 green and, of course, 18 green. The problem with staking out one hole is there might not be any action on that hole. One year, I stayed on the 15th at Augusta National on Sunday and saw only one pivotal shot. This isn't a real good strategy.

2. Follow the leaders: You can follow the leaders on the final pairing - along with thousands of others. I tried this one year when Tiger Woods was in the final pairing with Chris DiMarco on Saturday. After five holes, I gave up. To stay with a throng following Tiger is almost impossible. In fact, you could get trampled.

3. Stay just ahead of the leaders: This is the best strategy. Go to Hole No. 1 for the last six to seven pairings and watch them play through. When you arrive, there are usually good seats left. The hole fills up as it gets closer to the last pairing. Once the leaders play through, head to hole No. 7 and do the same. Then you might head to 13 and end up at 18. Staying ahead of the final few pairings is the best strategy and you'll get to see the most action.

Who will win the Masters Tournament on Sunday?

2009-04-11T16:11:00.000-07:00

Realistically, there are only five players who have a chance to win - the leader and those within four shots of him. Not many players have come from more than four shots back to win the Masters. Here are the contenders:

Angel Cabrera: No player in the Masters Tournament has had four rounds in the 60s. With a pair of 68s and a 69, Cabrera could make history tomorrow. But the odds of posting anything better than a 70 are against him. I don't think he can win.

Kenny Perry: Perry could also make history as the oldest player to win a major golf tournament. Augusta National is a very hilly course, which could make the second nine holes challenging. And that's where the tournament is won.

Chad Campbell: The player from Andrews, Texas, had a great first round, but he's been slipping as the tournament goes on. I'd like to see him win, but he'll have to do better than Saturday's even par round of 72.

Steve Stricker: He's silently come from nowhere to be in the 5th place but I don't see him winning on Sunday.

Tiger and Phil don't have a chance.

My pick to win is Jim Furyk. He had one of the best rounds of the day on Saturday at 68. He's been around quite a while and can handle the pressure. This is his 12th Masters and his best finish is 4th in 1998 and 2003. He posted 68 on both of those days and I think he'll do it again on Sunday. There may be a playoff, but Furyk will win if it goes that far.

It's not often that the winner doesn't come from the final pairing, but I'm hoping it will happen tomorrow with Furyk.

Regular guys on the PGA Tour

2009-04-11T15:48:00.000-07:00

In the world of Tiger Woods, there are some regular guys on the tour.

One of them is Boo Weekley, who is from North Florida and has the prototypical southern accent.

One of my favorite memories of the Masters happened in 1996. I was about to move from Augusta to Athens during the week after the Masters. So on Saturday night of the tournament, we ordered takeout from Cracker Barrel. It was near our house and we had packed kitchen utensils and our food.

While at Cracker Barrel, out of the restaurant comes a golfer named Duffy Waldorf. Like Boo Weekley, Duffy was a regular guy. He'd wear some non-traditional golf shirts (like the one shown in the photo).

He had his small kids and his wife with him, so instead of going to some high-brow restaurant, he took the family to CB. And on top of that, he was among the leaders going into Sunday's final round and finished tied for 5th.

Yes you can play at Augusta National

2009-04-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

If you want to play a round of golf at Augusta National Golf Club, there ARE several ways to do it. Some hard, some not quite so hard.

1. Become a professional golfer and qualify for the tournament (Not likely unless you're Ryan Palmer or Chad Campbell).

2. Become good friends with a member of Augusta National (Even less likely than playing as a professional!).

3. Become part of the out-of-town working media covering the tournament. During the weekend of the tournament, the names of the out-of-town members of the media are put in a hat and those who have their name drawn get to play the course on Monday. You only get to play once to give more members of the media a chance in the future.

4. Become part of local media covering the tournament. Before the course closes for the summer at the beginning of June, members of the local media who covered the tournament back in April can play the course. I was able to do this three times. At The Augusta Chronicle, most of the sports staff gets to play as well as other employees at the newspaper. The same is true for local television, radio, etc. Local media are not limited to just one year of playing the course.

5. Volunteer at the tournament. It takes a large contingent to work the cross walks, man the scoreboards and many other volunteer jobs for the week. Many of those who volunteer get to play the course at about the same time as the local media before the course closes. I'm not sure how you get a volunteer job, although you might could write the club and ask how to do it if you're interested.

6. Become an employee of the Augusta National Golf Club. I'm not sure that becoming an employee will guarantee you a shot at playing, but it sure couldn't hurt.

You could also join the Augusta Country Club, which is right next door to Augusta National. The Augusta Country Club can be seen on the other side of the 12th green and 13th tee. I'm not sure what ACC hole is next to the National, but maybe a wild shot could put you on the course. I wouldn't recommend it. I'm sure there is security galore around the course.

Yes you can attend the Masters

2009-04-11T13:08:00.000-07:00

A ticket to the Masters Tournament is called the hardest ticket to get in sports.

A waiting list to obtain tickets was started in 1972, but closed in 1978. In was reopened in 2000, only to be closed shortly thereafter. So getting a ticket to the actual tournament is hard. But there are other ways to see the greatest golf course in the world.

1. Tickets are available to the practice round Monday-Wednesday. With a ticket to Wendesday, you can also see the Par 3 Contest. To obtain a ticket, you can send a request for a practice round ticket application to:

Masters Tournament

Practice Rounds

PO Box 2047

Augusta, GA 30903-2047

Tickets are selected by random and you'll probably have a good chance at getting one. Getting your friends and relatives to apply might increase your chances. You also get access to buy Masters merchandise for you and your friends.

2. To get a ticket to the main tournament, there are plenty of people selling trips for thousands of dollars. I wouldn't recommend this.

3. The best way to get a ticket to the tournament: Move to Augusta and make a lot of friends. There are a lot of people in Augusta who have tickets, but don't go every day or may not go at all. If you live in Augusta, chances are you can ask around for a ticket.

Masters one-liner from Dan Patrick

2009-04-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

The 1996 Masters Tournament brought one of the biggest meltdowns in major golf history as Greg Norman - always the bridesmaid at the Masters - lost a six shot lead to eventual winner Nick Faldo.

Norman returned to the 2009 Masters after a strong finish at last year's British Open. Unfortunately, he didn't make the cut, missing by two strokes with a 3 over par.

His return is a reminder of his '96 tournament appearance, which also resulted in a really funny line by former ESPN sports anchor Dan Patrick.

With a six shot lead going into the final round on Sunday, Norman - also known as "The Shark" - was surely going to get the Masters green jacket that had eluded him after several second place finishes.

The front page headline on The Augusta Chronicle stated his chances succintly: "Shark Smells Blood."

On the Sunday night ESPN Sportscenter recapping the tournament, Dan Patrick, on site in Augusta, held up a copy of Sunday's front page.

"Shark smells blood?" Patrick asked.

After a slight pause, Patrick said: "Yes, the Shark smelled blood ... his own."

Best coverage of the Masters Tournament

2009-04-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

I was fortunate enough to start my newspaper career in Augusta, Ga., which is the home of the Masters Tournament.

Outside the Kentucky Derby, it is the only major sporting event that is held in the same location each year. It transforms Augusta into the golf headquarters of the world for one week each spring.

The newspaper in Augusta - The Augusta Chronicle - covers the event better than anyone else. It's owned by the same company that owns the Amarillo Globe-News. When I joined the newspaper in 1987, the newspaper covered the event mainly as a sports department event.

But as the event continued to grow, it became something that the entire newsroom would cover. There is absolutely nothing that happens either on the golf course or in Augusta during the week that The Chronicle doesn't cover.

Jim Nantz of CBS Sports mentioned what a great job The Chronicle does covering the tournament when he was talking about a "diary" that one of the players - Oliver Wilson - is doing for the newspaper this week.

If you want the best coverage of the Masters, be sure to visit the newspaper's web site for the tournament: http://www.augusta.com/.

Blogging Rule No.1

2009-04-11T10:34:00.000-07:00

Ok, I've already violated the first rule of blogging: do it often - almost every day if you can - even if it's just a short entry.

It's been a month since my last entry, but my April 11 resolution is to do better.

I'll try to make up some posts today and tomorrow.

Kindle: Niche or mainstream?

2009-03-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

Amazon recently rolled out its latest version of the Kindle, a device invented by the company to distribute books, magazines and newspapers to its users at a fraction of the cost of the "hard copy" version.

While I haven't used the newest version with its updates, I did play around with the first version last year. Greg Mitchell of Toot 'n' Totum purchased one and let me use it for a while.

Greg says he doesn't use it much when he is in Amarillo, but more often when he travels.

Some are calling the Kindle the "Ipod of print."

For newspapers, the Kindle lists stories from that day along with a limited amount of art. There are no ads in the Kindle version of the newspaper.

A Kindle subscription to a newspaper or magazine is cheaper than the printed version - ranging from $1.25 per month for Reader's Digest to $13.99 per month for The New York Times.

Books often run more than 50 percent off the cover price.

Have you used the Kindle or know someone who has? Will it become the mainstream way to read print or just another niche?

Of McNuggets and Mensa

2009-03-04T08:04:00.000-08:00

A couple of funny items in the news today: one national story and the other is a local column by Jon Mark Beilue.

A Florida woman called 911 three times to report that McDonald's refused to give her a refund on her McNuggets. Seems they had run out of the chicken staple. The three calls are on YouTube.

It's difficult to determine the strangest part of this story: 1. That the woman would call 911. 2. That McDonald's didn't refund the money. 3. That 911 actually took the call seriously. 4. That a McDonald's would ever be out of McNuggets!

Jon Mark Beilue's follow-up column on the results of his Mensa exam was funny as well. Jon Mark took the exam about a month ago and wrote a column on his experience.

I had to talk to Jon Mark after the first column because he had an error in it.

"Jon Mark, I really enjoyed your column," I said. "Very funny, as usual."

Jon Mark replied: "Thanks boss. You know, you are very funny as well ... and smart and ... a nice person ... and..."

"OK, Jon Mark, I know. You say that every time we talk. But the real reason I wanted to talk with you is because at the end of your column, there's a slight mistake."

"Really," Jon Mark replied, a little puzzled.

"You said 'At least the newspaper is reimbursing my $40 (to take the test)'," I noted. "The deal is you get paid only if you pass the Mensa test. You know, times are tough in the newspaper business and we can't blow $40 unless we get some benefit out of it. No Mensa, no money."

Silence.

"But don't worry," I said, "We can just deduct it from your next paycheck, with a little interest."

Jon Mark then walked off, mumbling something about getting reimbursed through the federal government's stimulus package.

LinkedIn: Does it serve a purpose?

2009-03-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

There's no doubt that social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are serving a need. Growing audiences suggest that.

But what about LinkedIn? Does it serve a purpose?

LinkedIn is a social networking site for business people. You enter information about yourself and create an "online resume." You invite people to be connected to you and ask some people (probably those who like you) to give you a recommendation. You can list books you may be reading and organizations you've joined.

But what happens then? I'm not sure that a recommendation on LinkedIn would be that valuable since the person being recommended has to approve it.

I guess if someone puts something stupid on their LinkedIn, it could prevent them from getting a job.

The down economy means a boom in the number of LinkedIn users.

Are you on LinkedIn? Has it benefited you?

Neither rain, nor sleet, nor snow ... will close Amarillo schools

2009-03-02T16:03:00.000-08:00

An early March winter storm is causing problems along the East Coast and especially the South, where spring - not snow - usually comes around the first of March.

In Georgia, winter is usually over by March 1. In Amarillo, it's more like May 1 - or even later when it might snow.

Most North Georgia schools were closed today, but the interesting news is that schools closed in areas that didn't receive any snow at all. But the threat of winter weather sends most people in the deep South into panic mode. Milk and bread are nowhere to be found a few hours after the first mention of any frozen precipitation.

But not so in Amarillo. In the last seven school years, I recall Amarillo ISD only closing once - and that was as much for cold temperatures in combination with the snow.

One thing that doesn't intimidate my friend Rod Schroder is the weather.

The first time my kids saw snow here they began chanting: "No School! No School!" They soon found out that doesn't happen much around here.

Amarillo goes to Austin

2009-02-24T05:46:00.000-08:00

Today is the annual Panhandle Days in Austin where local leaders visit the state capitol to try to lobby lawmakers on issues of importance to our area.

Lobbying lawmakers is a lot like herding cats .... no it's much harder than herding cats. But it's something that needs to be done nonetheless.

The trip is organized by the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce and has a great group participating this year.

Not only do participants get to lobby, but the event is a pretty good networking event.

Attending this year are Mayor Debra McCartt and commissioners Ron Boyd, Brian Eades and Madison Scott (Jim Simms had a last minute conflict and could not attend.) Gene Parker (Randall County Commissioner), Roger Williams (Bell Helicopter), Buzz David (Amarillo EDC), Anette Carlisle (AISD School Board), Rod Schroder (AISD Superintendent), John Bass (Region 16) and many other community leaders are also here (too many to list here).

It's an impressive showing of support for Amarillo and the Panhandle.

A reception was held last night at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum. All of the local legislative delegation (Kel Seliger, Warren Chisum, John Smithee and David Swinford) were in attendance.

Also present were some former Amarilloans, including Emily Klein (formerly of Leadership Amarillo/Canyon) and Reyne Telles (former of Cal Farley's), who is now Media Relations Manager with the City of Austin.

Some of the big issues for the Panhandle include funding for higher education at WTAMU and Amarillo College, a new clinical simulation center and the Texas A&M System Extension Service.

A well deserved tribute

2009-02-23T13:03:00.000-08:00

Lance Lahnert's column today was a tribute to two individuals: Bowie Middle School wrestling coach Victor Henning (left in photo) and Amarillo Globe-News writer Bruce Beck.

Lance did a wonderful job - as usual - of telling how the wrestling coach used Bruce's battle against cancer to inspire his team - both on the mat and in "real" life.

I don't personally know the coach, but if he's half the person of Bruce Beck, he's a heck of an individual.

For quite a few years, Bruce has reported on the part of our lives that matter most: our kids and our community.

While many may enter into the world of journalism to uncover the next Watergate, Bruce was content in making sure middle school students and many others received much deserved recognition in the newspaper.

I would say there are more stories from Bruce Beck in area school and church bulletin boards than any other Globe-News reporter.

What Bruce does is what journalism is really about. Connecting and reporting on a community, at the grass roots level.

Bruce is still fighting against cancer and we should continue to pray for him - as many in the community have been doing for quite some time.

If optimism and a great attitude can help defeat this disease - and I think it plays a role - Bruce will continue to help chronicle what's really important for us for a while to come.

And we'll all be better off because of him.

To quote Mark Twain .....

2009-02-20T08:12:00.000-08:00

When you are running a business that’s clearly in the public eye, it’s usually best to ignore much of what is said about your business, even if it’s not true.

To comment often gives undue credence to the source and can generate more publicity than the original comment.

But the Internet has changed some of this strategy because just about anyone can start a blog or web site and say anything they want.

Blogs are good for opinions and having a little fun, but not so good in giving you the truth. The reason? Bloggers don’t have the time to verify information and they probably don’t want to do that anyway.

Two recent blog postings – one from an Amarillo blog and another from a blogger near Lubbock – were laughable.

Both were “reporting” rumors the Amarillo Globe-News was going to discontinue the printed edition and go to an electronic edition in the fall.

Like most rumors, there is a small amount of truth in them, but not what they’ve made it out to be.

We are launching a new technology that allows us to offer electronic versions of the printed newspaper. Many newspapers across the country have done the same thing. Truth is, we're a little later than other newspapers in doing this.

But the technology will be used primarily in our Newspaper in Education program. Some AISD teachers are already using it and it will be rolled out in full later this spring and fall. It offers the same version of the paper in an electronic format as well as additional information online on how to use the newspaper in the classroom.

Thousands of newspapers are delivered daily to teachers using the print version now. But this is a new, more efficient way to provide newspapers to students and it does save us money in reducing the number of papers we have to print every day. And like most businesses - and probably like you - we're all looking at ways to save money.

But the rumor mill on this one was pretty funny. One person even posted that they had talked with someone who knew someone at the Globe-News who said we only three rolls of newsprint in our storage area.

Well, that was news to me. So we sent an "investigative" photographer to the storage area about recently and he took the pictures at the top of this post.

The truth is three rolls of newsprint wouldn’t last very long. We use about 10 or so tons per day, which is about 15-20 rolls depending on the size. And we have hundreds of rolls in storage.

Times are changing for newspapers, but we’re changing in response.

But we’re not going anywhere, no matter you may read on the Internet. There are probably a lot of rumors going around about the newspaper. But if you want to know if they're true, just send me an e-mail and I'll answer your questions the best I can.

In the meantime, I would suggest using one of the best pieces of advice I've heard about how to handle information - whether it's from a blogger or a newspaper - which comes from Ronald Reagan: Trust – but verify.

Facebook: Hip a year ago. For old fogies now?

2009-02-18T07:24:00.000-08:00

There's the old adage about how one dog year is equal to seven human years.

In the online space, one year might be equal to a generation.

Take a look at Facebook. A year ago, it was generally for college students or for those living in college towns. While MySpace was for middle schoolers and some high schoolers, Facebook gained its numbers on the backs of college kids (and their professors).

Now there are more than 100 million users, including our mothers and grandmothers. My oldest daughter says it "creeps her out" when her grandmother leaves a comment on her page.

One of my former college professors who still has a typewriter on his desk has a Facebook page (It's really more like his fan club and I think he enjoys that part of it.)

The most read story on Time magazine's web site today: Why Facebook is for Old Fogies?

My question is where are the college students going next. I think they will tire of having the old fogies around.

Wanted: Best bloggers in Amarillo

2009-02-18T06:39:00.000-08:00

Time magazine recently posted a story on its web site about what it considers to be the 25 best blogs (and five most overrated blogs).

The list made me wonder who in Amarillo and the surrounding area is doing a blog and which ones are really good.

A few weeks ago, our columnist Jon Mark Beilue launched a blog and he's doing a great job with it. Editorial page editor John Kanelis is doing one as well. And there will be more to come from those who work on our web site amarillo.com.

I'm aware of a couple of local blogs: Panhandle Truth Squad is the champion for the local liberal voice and loves to poke fun at the newspaper (and sometimes it is funny).

Another good blog is done by local author Jason Boyett, who comments about religion, his series of Pocket Guide books and his life as a writer (and many other things that he does).

Do you know of good local blogs? If so, please post a comment with a link.

We're looking at launching a new community commenting web site soon that would allow commenting as well as links to local blogs.

Amarillo.com: Best source for breaking local news

2009-02-17T08:11:00.000-08:00

When newspapers first went on the Internet, their solution was to put the stories from that day's newspaper online, thinking that is all that needed to be done.

But one of the real benefits of the Internet for newspapers is that we can tell the story much sooner. If you are a frequent viewer to our web site amarillo.com, you may have noticed a much greater effort to post breaking news stories in the last month.

From accidents involving school buses to the latest on the economic crisis (and solutions), the news staff has done a great job of updating our website with the latest news.

Likewise, we can post links to past stories and information to give you a perspective on a current story, like we did with a major trial in our community last week.

We have the largest group of reporters and editors gathering news in Amarillo and there's no need to wait for the evening news to find out what's going. Most significant news stories are now broken on amarillo.com, almost immediately.

And more people are using it. In January, there were 295,000 "unique users" who visited the web site resulting in more than 4.2 million page views. That's up from 235,000 unique users and 3.6 million page views a year ago.

You can also follow amarillo.com on Twitter and Facebook. Links are to the right of this post.

In the media: Helen Thomas vs. Bill O'Reilly

2009-02-13T13:59:00.000-08:00

President Obama's first press conference created some stir in the media business when long-time White House press corps member Helen Thomas was on the front row and asking questions.

When called upon, she didn't ask about the economic conditions, but instead wondered if Pakistan is hiding terrorists and if President Obama knew if any Middle Eastern countries had nuclear weapons. Not exactly hard hitting questions. Most probably already know the answers to both questions.

I felt a little sorry for Helen Thomas.

But Bill O'Reilly didn't. He said she was the "Wicked Witch of the East" and that if Obama had poured water on her, she would have dissolved.

Then later in the week, he sparred with Courtney Martin of the Women's Media Center.

While O'Reilly gets the ratings, he needs a filter on occasion, and this was probably one of them.

Lucky 13

2009-02-13T07:52:00.001-08:00

As the publisher of the newspaper, I receive a "budget" of stories each day that lets me and others in the building know what we'll be publishing in the next day's newspaper.

So most days, I have a good idea of most of the stories that will appear in the newspaper.

But if I haven't seen the "budget" or missed something on it, sometimes I get a surprise - some good and some not so good.

Today's newspaper had one of those good suprises. The sports department did a great job on a fun story about players with the No. 13 - of course, it was on Friday the 13th. The photo department added to the package as well.

While the story is online, it looks even better on the sports section front in the printed edition. Be sure to take a look at it if you haven't seen it. I think you'll enjoy the creative work done by the newsroom.