166 posts tagged “savannah”

Is it only in the TV business that you can lose money and market share and get a promotion?

This blurb about Savannah’s alwaysabridesmaid WSAV-TV caught my eye because the guy who has overseen the decline of the station’s fortunes over the past three years, Brad Moses, is being rewarded with a trip to a much larger market.

"During the past three years, Brad has provided exceptional leadership in all areas of broadcast management as general manager for WSAV," said Media General North Carolina President/Market Leader James R. Conschafter.”

Really Connie?

Cause the way I hear it, in addition to the layoffs imposed on the station from those corporate geniuses up in Richmond, Moses couldn’t keep a sales staff, fired a veteran anchor who was then hired at WJCL on the same day and somehow managed to run off the entire marketing department, the crime reporter, neighborhood news reporter, weekend anchor and sports director as well as the executive producer.

I can’t give you a link to the ratings, they cost money and aren’t shared freely, but my understanding is they have been flat or down significantly during his entire tenure.

I guess the good news in all this is that WSAV may improve under Moses successor; it certainly can’t get any worse. We need to say a prayer for the folks in Raleigh.

From the Vox - Dumb, Dumber and downright Stupid:

"The reason we have so much foreign trade today is greed. American merchants just want to make more money."

Yes. And?

For this little piece of ignorance I blame the schools. They apparently are no longer teaching the basics of economics.

Supply and demand… capitalism… is this ringing any bells?

"Grocery stores don't seem to be competing for our business. I'm clipping coupons and trying to save like a desperate fool. They have us figured out, charging $3.55 or more for a bag of chips."

Let me get this straight… you are clipping coupons and beeatching about it because you can’t afford a bag of chips? A bag of chips that, when consumed, will provide to your body absolutely no nutritional value. A bag of chips that, when consumed, will probably make you less healthy due to trans-fats and sodium levels and general greasiness?

How can you look at that level of intelligence and still believe in “survival of the fittest”?

"The caller who said he wouldn't buy a Chevrolet because of the stimulus funds doesn't understand that, without stimulus funds, there wouldn't be a Chevrolet to buy."

Yeah…I think that’s what they meant. There shouldn’t be a Chevy unless Chevy can survive without being propped up with tax money.

It takes a serious act of will to be this stupid or does it just come naturally?

“He sounds like a nice, unsuspecting guy who doesn't always read the fine print, believes what people tell him and suffers from lousy timing. Then bad things happen, like the condo market going off a cliff.”

An editorial in the Savannah Morning News goes on and on about this moronic guy that bought one of the condos that are inside the old newspaper building on Bay.

Okay – maybe Bartoon could say the guy was a victim of bad timing if he…say… bought at the end of 2007. The real estate bubble was slowly deflating here in Savannah and it looked like we might be recession proof or at least go shallow and recover quickly but that is not the case for this particular “victim”.

“Williams, an interior designer from New York, paid $670,000 for a fifth-floor condominium last December at News Place West at 165 West Bay Street.”

Last December? LAST December? Really?

What “fine print” did he not see? Could it have been this headline in the Savannah Morning News in September: Bailout unlikely to counter slump or perhaps this tiny little headline in December: Forecasters: Georgia's economic outlook 'dreadful' .

Truthfully though, in condo boy’s defense, it is hard to get an accurate picture of the local economy from reading Mr. Bartoon’s newspaper.

Here are a group of SMN headlines arranged by date. Can you tell how the economy is doing?

 Ga. economist: State could be facing recession 

Housing may rebound by year's end; economy to grow slowly

New reports give bleak outlook on housing, economy

Growth weaker than hoped; economy shrinks in Q4

Consumer spending gain provides hope for rebound

City Talk: Data suggest ongoing economic weakness

Report: Worst of recession likely over for Coastal Empire

Manufacturing data boosts hopes of recession end

Georgia hits record unemployment

Schizophrenic much?

OH THE INACCURACY!

I couldn’t believe this crappy Associated Press article about the city I love actually made it into print, in the Atlanta Journal of all places.

Really… y'all don’t read the article unless you want to get annoyed or have a completely distorted view of history.

“Savannah was founded in 1733 and was one of America's first planned cities, with a series of squares and parks that can still be enjoyed today.

But the reason for those public spaces might surprise modern visitors: British General James Oglethorpe designed them as part of a military grid so his troops could set up camp and have shaded meeting spots.”

Yeah….uh….no.

First most of the military men were at the forts along the perimeter of the colony. The colonists themselves were expected to protect the town if attacked so I expect the militia did drill in the squares but they were not designed specifically for that purpose. To suggest that was the primary reason belittles the urban design accomplishment that is our amazing city plan.

But this author shows her willful ignorance of our history throughout the piece.

“Originally the city had 24 squares. It's a remarkable feat of preservation that 22 are still in existence and one more is being restored.”

Yeah….uh…no.

Originally Oglethorpe’s Savannah had four squares his plan called for six but they had four ORIGINALLY. Four is the correct answer to how many squares Savannah had ORIGINALLY. We did get up to 24 in 1851 more than 118 years after “originally”.

“Today the area is one of the largest National Historic Landmark districts in the country.”

Yeah…uh…no.

I know people here like to say this but there really is no actual designation for “largest NHLD”. If you go by size there is an 825,000 acre ranch in Texas that will kick Savannah’s ample buttocks.  Butte Montana’s NHLD is now over 9000 acres. If you go by number of contributing structures Savannah may rank 2nd but that would not be largest that would be thickest or densest NHLD. Bragging is fine but this has no place as a statement of fact in a news story.

I find it Sad and Pathetic that people know so little but say so much about Savannah and we don’t ever seem to correct them.

Pretty soon…

What am I saying? Pretty soon? How bout right now?  Nobody knows or cares about our true history anymore.

We have become the Eloi .

Let’s all embrace the inaccuracy!

This will be brief.

Hopefully I won’t have to drill this one home too much.

It’s obvious that this is wrong and any respectable journalist should recognize that this is wrong and reject it on its face and refuse to play along.

From the Savannahriverismostpollutedandwe’reallgonnadie story in Thursday’s SMN:

“Environment Georgia's methodology is admittedly crude, Gayer said. It doesn't account for companies that fail to report or for other sources of pollution such as agricultural runoff or discharge from municipal sewerage systems. Nor does it take into account the size of the waterway or the varying toxicity of the chemicals listed.

"The report is open about the fact that it has holes," Gayer said. "We report on this in a way that grabs people's attention and makes them think….”

So in other words it is just a bunch of overhyped BS and funny math under a scary headline?

Yeah cause grabbing people’s attention is far more important than an accurate report that would, oh I don’t know, lead to a substantive and meaningful discussion of just how much stuff we pump into our waterways.

Making stuff up and making things seem worse than they really are might grab people’s attention but you discredit yourself and eventually lose people once they figure out that you are exaggerating.

Pathetic.

Good Luck Honey!

Somebody has the basketballs necessary to sue the SCAD Queen but apparently not the brains to know better than to mess with her highness.

“A former professor at the Atlanta campus of Savannah College of Art and Design claims she was denied promotions given to male faculty, according to a complaint filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.”

Long story short—the lady was there for years, even helped start the Atlanta Campus, always got good reviews and was loved by one and all….until she complained.

“Shortly thereafter, Bawa said, the college began its retaliation.”

“On Nov. 17, the academic director told Bawa that no one wanted her in the painting department…”

“Bawa was demoted in February…”

“She was fired in June.”

There are so many people with similar stories here in Savannah that they would have to rent the civic center for the support group meetings.

I think Ms. Bawa has a decent case but I predict it will never get anywhere.

SCAD will wear down her spirit and her cash reserves with continuances and other delays until the Aztec Apocalypse or they will simply have the feds make it go away.

The Queen used the power of the US GOVERNMENT to muscle her way into Communist China over the crushed and bleeding bodies of Chinese Arts Groups. A little federal lawsuit is child’s play.

Ya’ll know I don’t like rumors. I like facts, preferably cold and preferably hard.

But I also promised to report anything new about Savannah Morning News parent Morris Publishing’s long slow spiral down into the financial abyss.

Those two opposing desires have me at loose ends as to what to do with this piece of information.

“The rumor is Morris Publishing will either announce a restructuring of its debt or declare bankruptcy by the end of this month because the clock is ticking.”

Now whenever we hear a rumor we should always consider the source and whatever axes said source may have to grind with the subject of the rumor.

In this case the source is Metro Spirit Augusta.

The same publication that gave us this back in May:

“JP Morgan could force Morris to break up newspaper empire”

And this way back in February:

“What will Morris bankruptcy mean?”

So, in gauging this latest rumor, we must take into account the fact that Metro Spirit’s editor becomes tumescent every time Morris and Bankruptcy appear in the same headline.

Some would claim the same of me; however a close reading of my earlier posts shows only a desire for two things:

1.       1. Better local reporting on the media industry and the ongoing financial troubles therein.

2.       2. An end to the financial uncertainty at Morris which has resulted in a reduction in experienced staff and quality of reporting.

Other than this new rumor of an endofthemonth ultimatum, this week’s Metro Spirit article offers nothing we don’t already know.

Morris owes about 4x what the company is worth.

They hired a law firm famous for bankruptcy back in January.

Morris has cut employees, publications, benefits and salaries.

It has failed to make scheduled payments on the debt and been granted extensions and waivers 8 or 9 times.

Morris has stated in SEC filings that there is “significant uncertainty about its liquidity and ability to continue as a going concern.”

For the record: The latest deadline for Morris to write 2 $9 million checks is Friday.

It certainly didn’t take long for the Moronic Misanthropical Choir to warm up.

Tom Bartoon presumes to know the mind of Michael Berkow.

“City and county leaders who are still feuding over police funding succeeded in running off the chief.”

“I may be wrong. But I don't think Berkow would have been a long-timer here. He's not wired that way.

But if local leaders had searching for common ground instead of digging in their heels, he would have had a reason to stay longer.

Instead, they gave him a reason to give notice.”

I have always been of the opinion that this man doesn’t have the brain power necessary to light up a 40 watt bulb but I never thought he would be so stupid as to misinterpret and misrepresent a situation this badly.

Of course his own column was not enough the braintrust also polluted the “official editorial” of the paper too.

“Mayor Otis Johnson and Chatham County Commission Chairman Pete Liakakis must do a better job of resolving the ongoing political differences that have handcuffed the chief…”

“Essentially, the chief has been forced to serve two masters - one at City Hall, and another at the County Courthouse.”

Uh yeah….uh…that is exactly what the merger calls for you moroon. While Berkow is a City Employee, head of a City Bureau, he still has an obligation to keep county leaders in the loop. The Chief of this department will always serve two masters.

The battle over funding the department would not have impacted Berkow in the least. In fact, I speculate, keeping the electeds fussing over that kept them out of his hair in other matters.

The funding thing wouldn’t have changed what he was being paid or anything else about the day to day operations of the department. It is a non-issue for everyone but the bean counters and the politicians.

If you were going to pin his exit on anything currently going on in the local government, the ever-tightening budget belt would get my vote. Policing won’t get cut in the next city budget but it also won’t grow in that robust healthy way to which Berkow had become accustomed.

If I can crawl inside his cranium for just a moment, I would guess Berkow left for the simple reason that the opportunities, money and prestige are always better in the private sector.  

Darth Berkow is leaving Savannah.

Here is the story behind that story.

I could start back when Berkow’s old boss Billy Bratton met Altegrity CEO Michael Cherkasky but I would have to whip out my Xscape and Ace of Base albums to get in the mood. That was way back in the 90’s when Cherkasky was an ADA in New York and Bratton came over from Boston to execute Rudy Giuliani’s vision of a tough but fair police department that would attempt to prevent crime.

No… let’s just start this summer. Bratton is in charge of the Los Angeles Police Department and Cherkasky is tasked with monitoring the Los Angeles Police Department as part of a consent decree federal officials forced on the LAPD in 2001 after decades of corruption and brutality complaints.

We are supposed to ignore the fact that Cherkasky urged that a federal judge lift that decree, basically urged the court to stop making sure the police department didn’t beat anybody up, during the same time he was offering Bratton a job in the newly created Altegrity Security Consulting.

“Cherkasky and Bratton, however, acknowledged that they had been discussing the new job in earnest before the formal end of the consent decree. On Wednesday, Bratton dismissed questions of whether that timing posed a conflict of interest since Cherkasky was still monitoring the LAPD and urging the federal judge to end the decree while he and Bratton were in discussions.”

BTW Altegrity is pronounced sorta like portmanteau of Altitude and Integrity. 

I can hear you asking “Yes but where does Berkow come in?” Give me just a minute.

So Cherkasky lobbies the judge to remove the leash from Bratton’s department, the judge consents and then Bratton announces that he is quitting in order to take a job with the man formerly holding the leash.

This all happened since July 17^th, shortly after Altergity was formed out of three other companies; US Investigations Services, HireRight and Explore Information Services.

All those companies are involved in security in one way or another, basically they run background checks on cars and people for insurance companies and help businesses make sure no methheads get on the payroll.

So Bratton is hired in August to head up a new division of this new company that was created in July to:“…provide training and consulting services to law enforcement agencies and the federal government, as well as foreign entities.”

Which means…they are going to set up police departments in Kenya? Your guess is as good as mine.

Anywho… after getting the leash removed in July and announcing his resignation in August Bratton apparently called his former employee Darth Berkow and offered him a job in his new company and thus Savannah loses its police chief.

Yeah but then why did Berkow say this to Public Radio today?

"I was approached about a new career opportunity in April and I have thought about it...struggled with it... and truly agonized over what to do," he said. "In the end, I decided to accept this very unique and special position, working on issues that have been a personal passion of mine for years."

Altegrity didn’t exist in April. Bratton claims he and Cherkasky were only having “Occasional, informal discussions” before the judge lifted the consent decree in July because to do otherwise would have been a conflict of interest so….Who called Berkow in April?

But then again, who cares? He’s leaving and the Berkowian Era will go with him.

All in all, despite the increase in some crime and his elastic view of sunshine laws and his ongoing manipulation of elected officials and his massaging of the truth, Berkow was a pretty good Police Chief and made people feel safer which is, at the end of the day, the toughest part of the job.

Things that need to be fixed the day after his exit:

Police Dept. Patch – Please give us something with a sense of pride and pride of place to replace the generic label Berkow instituted.

Police Reports – Please return to the proper and legal public access to police reports we all had before Berkow ended it this year.

Citizen Advisory Groups – These neighborhood leaders used to meet with their precinct commanders on a regular basis as part of Berkow’s commitment to Community Policing. What happened to that? Bring the practice back.

How did I miss this? Oh yeah, we have no local media capable of reporting on other local media.

WJCL parental unit, New Vision Television, filed for Bankruptcy this week.

“New Vision Television, mid-sized market broadcaster, received a $28 million line of credit during its bankruptcy proceedings this week. New Vision filed for Chapter 11 on Tuesday with liabilities tenfold of assets--between $10 million and $50 million compared to liabilities of $100 million to $500 million, court documents indicated.

New Vision, doing business as NV Broadcasting, filed for Chapter 11 after reaching an agreement with first- and second-lien debt holders that converts $400 million in debt to equity in the reorganized company.”

As to what that means for the folks at the Savannah ABC affiliate:

"This agreement is powerful news for New Vision's employees, advertisers and business partners," said Jason Elkin, Chief Executive Officer of New Vision. "Our daily business operations will not miss a beat: Jobs and benefits for our employees will be intact; advertisers will continue to receive top customer service; and our stations will continue to invest in best-in-class local news coverage and other programming. And as soon as the pre-arranged court process has ended, New Vision will emerge as a nimble, well-financed company -- with some of the best management and employees in the business -- poised to take advantage of future growth opportunities."

That might seem a tad rosy for the CEO of a company going through the “BIG B” but in this case it does seem they will emerge whole in a couple of months.

They also seem to be taking a page from the “transparency” playbook with a website that details the debt restructuring for employees and viewers.

So you have to wonder why our other Media outlets, facing similar debt loads, don’t just bite the bullet and get it over with.  

You can recall the search parties. I’m still here.

Summer doldrums have set in. Maybe it is the fireworks, maybe it is just the idea of a rapidly warming laptop on a 104* day, whatever the cause, the effect is that I just don’t feel like writing. Today, however, I have chained myself to the desk Hemingway style in order to churn out at least one brief missive this week.

I often complain about the level of journalist on journalist action that we get here. One of the curious perversions I’ve found in our local media is their seeming inability to report on themselves and each other. I mean, really, they report on every other industry in town but seldom if ever focus their novelty magnifying glasses on their own business.

Today I found a decent, albeit rare, example of what I would like to see happen in Savannah.

Katherine Ludwig had a cover story on Media General in what passes for an alternative newspaper in Charlottesville VA this week. Her question: What will Media General’s financial woes mean for their daily paper, The Daily Progress?

The story is overly long, makes some dubious jumps in logic and gives far too much credit to Media General talking heads, former MG employees and academics but at least they did it.

They took the time to examine the media business and what the debt ridden corporate giant is doing to the quality of news in their community.

Will anyone in Savannah have the huevos rancheros to even try?