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Paul Shane <[email protected]>
Connecting ­ June 10, 2015
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Paul Stevens <[email protected]>
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June 10, 2015
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of the Teletype
Colleagues,
Good Wednesday morning. If you were working the overnight shift, you'd be heading
home now!
Huh? Let me explain:
Memories of the overnight shift lead off today's issue of Connecting.
Back in the day ‐ our day for many of us, I guess ‐ the overnight shift was a staple of major
hub bureaus throughout the country. Depending on the bureau, its duties included being
on the first line when breaking news broke, preparing the PMs report, handling weather
and other fixtures, and more.
For many of us, it was a starting point in our early days in the AP ‐ unless we were lucky
enough to be assigned to a bureau with a "permanent" overnight editor who preferred
the shift. Two I knew of from my career were
Wes Cook in Kansas City and Marty Anderson
in Indianapolis. (I will never forget attending a
retirement party for Wes and meeting his
friends ‐ many of whom didn't know until
then that he had worked for the AP. Wes was
an active Mason and held high offices in that
organization during his daytime hours.)
If "back in the day" goes as far back as mine,
which began in 1973 in Albany, you didn't
work the overnight alone. You were
accompanied by a Teletype operator who
punched in your typewriter‐produced copy to
send on the AP circuits. When
computerization took place, the operators
were no longer there ‐ and the overnight belonged to you alone.
Today, the true overnight shift ‐ midnight to 8
a.m. or an iteration of same ‐ is almost non‐
existent. The four AP regional news desks ‐
Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia and Phoenix ‐ combine to be sure AP members and
customers are protected 24/7. News and Sports in New York have overnights and so does
the Washington bureau, but to my knowledge, no other domestic bureaus have an
overnight shift ‐ or "trick" as shifts were called then (for a reason that still escapes me). I
am not sure if major international bureaus such as London and Tokyo still have them. But I
trust we all will be enlightened by those who do know.
Connecting colleague Mike Doan shares his memories of the overnight in San Francisco
and Washington. And Ye Olde Connecting Editor invites you to share your own
experiences on the overnight shift, if you were among those "lucky enough" to have
worked it during your career.
With that, have a good day!
Paul
'Welcome to your new bureau. Um, about your first
shifts...'
Mike Doan ‐ "Welcome to your new bureau (fill in the blank). You're going to like it
here. Now here is your schedule, temporary of course. You'll work from 10:45 p.m. to 7:15
a.m. Saturday through Wednesday."
For me "temporary" was usually six months. For some,
it was more than a year.
I'm sure I'm not the only AP staffer who kept getting
this talk on arrival‐in my case San Francisco and
Washington. Once, I played a chess match with a
bureau chief for the right to get off the early. I came up
with my best game ever and beat him‐but he reneged
on his promise.
The early was tough on your social life. I'm sure it
disrupted family life for married people. If you were
single like me, any date had to end at about 10:00. And
since I was single, the boss would say, "I'm sure you
won't mind working Thanksgiving and Christmas."
There was no good way to sleep after an early shift. If you really got into the swing of
sleeping eight hours after your shift, you would end up staying up all night on your days
off too. Generally, I slept from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and again from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Waking
up then, you are so drowsy that no amount of coffee would help. If you wanted a drink at
a bar after work, the 8 a.m. crowd was pretty seedy.
We got lots of weird calls on the overnight: Like ones from the prisoner in Tennessee, who
called regularly to talk to someone whose AP byline he had seen in the local newspaper.
Or the drunks who would want to know the score of a soccer match in England. Why did
they call us? The local radio stations referred all news inquiries to AP.
There were benefits to the early shift: Parking was really easy. And there were no bosses
around to tell you what to do, though they were quick to tell you what you should have
done.
Discipline was looser on the overnight. In Washington, the teletype operator and
custodian played cards all night. We found out later that the teletype operator kept losing
because the deck was crooked. You often heard a lot more about their lives than you
really wanted to know. But on Saturday night, with no PMs report, you could always get
some shut‐eye in a chair with your feet up on the copy desk.
At the Pittsburgh Press, the boss on my early shift still hadn't shown up one time after 4 ½
hours. At 2:30 a.m., I called his boss at home and asked for help. When this guy finally
arrived after playing poker, he was only slightly alarmed about my phone call. "But you
called my wife, too? Oh no!" he complained.
Look, Washington:
A (Kansas) Reporter Who Defies His Sources!
By RON FOURNIER
National Journal
June 9, 2015: In the middle of a budget stalemate in the middle of the country, Associated
Press correspondent John Hanna passes a closed conference room en route to his
basement office in the Kansas Statehouse. Glancing through a door window, Hanna sees
Gov. Sam Brownback's budget director addressing 27 Republican lawmakers.
That's interesting, Hanna tells himself‐the caucus was
not publicly scheduled, as would be the custom in
Kansas, and the state legislature is struggling to fix an
$800 million deficit mostly caused by Brownback's
2012‐2013 tax cuts. A long‐awaited debate on the
House floor was just canceled. Why are they meeting
in secret? Hanna opens the door, walks in, and stands
against a wall.
"This is a private meeting," one lawmaker barks. "You
weren't invited."
Hanna (pictured at right) crosses his arms. "I know
that," he says, nodding at the Brownback aide, Shawn
Sullivan, "but I'd like to hear what he has to say." After
a few minutes of awkward silence, Budget Committee
Chairman Marvin Kleeb shrugs. "It's OK," he says. "He can stay."
Just like that, a private meeting was made public. No lawyers. No protests. No big scene.
No indignant editorials or begging from the journalist community. Just one reporter
reminding the government who's in charge of his beat: "I'd like to hear what he has to
say."
This 30‐year veteran of state legislative coverage for the AP could be a model for reporters
in Washington, where "background" briefings and email, "quote approval," and other
erosions of journalist authority are too often met with passive‐aggressive acquiescence.
Hanna flipped the script.
In doing so, he learned that Sullivan was threatening, on Brownback's behalf, to lay off
prison guards, cut aid to public schools, and reduce payments to health care providers and
nursing homes if legislators didn't agree to increase taxes. This is information the public
needed to know in time to influence the debate‐and to better understand the impact of
Brownback's short‐sighted decisions.
An advocate of trickle‐down economics, the former GOP senator persuaded lawmakers a
few years ago to slash taxes by more than $700 million, including a $210 million full
income‐tax exemption for farmers and business owners. The theory: They would use the
tax windfall to invest in their businesses, which would create jobs and lift the economy.
It didn't work. The state budget is now projected to run an $800 million deficit, which
would violate the state constitution, forcing Brownback to backtrack. He wants to repeal
just $24 million in tax cuts to farmers and small businesses‐and increase sales and
cigarette taxes, which disproportionally hurt the poor.
On Sunday, the Senate approved his budget and the tax bill. The House balked, its floor
debate was canceled, and Hanna stumbled on the secret meeting to discuss the public's
business. There are certainly bigger stories in the world. Nothing nefarious was afoot. It's
not even clear whether the gathering violated state open‐meetings laws.
None of that is the point. "If the governor has a contingency plan to cut a budget, the
public ought to know about that," Hanna told me today. (Disclosure: I used to work for the
AP, and I know Hanna.)
"This is no big protest on my part," he said. "My thinking is, just because they tell you a
meeting is private doesn't mean you have to leave." I asked Hanna what he would have
done had Sullivan insisted that he go. "I can't say where something like that would have
played out, because it didn't happen."
In March, Hanna and his competitors in the
statehouse press corps walked out of a GOP
"off the record" briefing, refusing to abide
by terms that Washington journalists often
jointly accept.
Reporters tell me they're afraid to stand
their ground and anger potential sources.
That's not something that worries Hanna, a
soft‐spoken reporter known for his humble
effectiveness. "So? They may or may not get
mad. If you cover politics‐or anything,
actually‐there will at some point be a conflict with everybody you deal with."
"And what generally happens is, if you're accurate about what they say and what they're
proposing and you're fair in reporting it," Hanna said, "those places where they're upset
with you tend to be smoothed out. The respect for the work you're doing and the
professionalism you show tends to overcome momentary disagreements."
I asked him, as reporters do before ending an interview, if there was anything else I should
ask. Anything else he wanted to say.
"It's not about confrontation," Hanna replied. "It's about getting information."
(Ron Fournier is senior political columnist and editorial director of the National Journal. He
earlier served as AP's Washington chief of bureau.)
Shared by Scott Charton, Richard Chady.
Stevenson Jacobs, former AP correspondent, dies at 37
NEW YORK (AP) ‐ Stevenson Jacobs, a former Associated Press journalist who covered
political turmoil in Haiti and breaking news throughout the Caribbean before joining the
news cooperative's business desk, has died. He was 37.
Jacobs, who was a partner and head of business
development at the investment fund ShearLink Capital, died
from an apparent heart attack Monday at Mount Sinai
Hospital in New York, according to his wife, Atzin Gaytan. He
had started to feel ill the night before at their weekend
home in New Milford, Connecticut, but had no known
underlying health condition, she said.
The couple lived in New York. Jacobs moved to the city in
October 2007 from Port‐au‐Prince, Haiti, where he had been
the resident AP correspondent during an uneasy period
following the ouster of President Jean‐Bertrand Aristide and
through the election of President Rene Preval. It was a time
when kidnappings surged in the country and U.N. peacekeepers frequently clashed with
armed gangs in the capital.
Previously, he had been an AP correspondent in Jamaica and a reporter and editor in San
Juan, Puerto Rico, traveling throughout the region on assignment to cover elections and
major hurricanes and other breaking news.
"He was kind‐hearted, hard‐working and people trusted him enough to tell him their most
intimate stories," said Paisley Dodds, a former Caribbean news editor for AP.
Jacobs, who had a B.A. from the University of Texas, Austin, transferred to the business
news desk in New York and left the AP in July 2010.
News of his death spread quickly throughout the Caribbean and elsewhere with colleagues
remembering Jacobs as a wise and patient mentor.
"I looked up to him when I was starting out in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and will
always look up to his example," said Jonathan M. Katz, a former AP correspondent who
replaced Jacobs in Haiti.
Jacobs' wife said they cherished weekends in Connecticut as a break from city life, and the
day he suddenly became ill was like any other.
"He was calm, happy and seemed so much at peace and complete," she said. "He even let
me do the grilling for the first time. It was a peaceful day."
In addition to his wife, Jacobs is survived by his parents, Sharon and Steve Jacobs of
Kingwood, Texas; and his brother, Trent Jacobs of Houston.
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized.
Connecting mailbox
Speaking to quality of AP people
Brent Kallestad ‐ Today's (June 9) issue was one of best yet! Jim Reindl's report from
Ghana, Chuck McFadden's look back on his career and Nick Ut's return to Vietnam were all
fascinating. Speaks to the quality of people AP has benefited from through the years.
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Paradise Lost
George Zucker ‐ My worst mistake over a long journalism career was neither silly nor
my fault. It triggered no bulletin kill or NY rebuke. It was trumpeted around the world in
1969 as an AP Special Report and landed on scores of front pages, including The
Washington Post and the Washington Evening Star. Lou Boccardi, AP's new managing
editor, sent me a bundle of tear sheets, noting how unusual it was for both the Post and
the Star to front the same wire story. Here's how the story began on page 1 of the Post:
By George Zucker
Associated Press
BIKINI ATOLL, Sept. 15 ‐‐ The first no‐man's land
of the Atomic Age is ready to welcome back its people. The
Atomic Energy Commission reports this isolated Pacific atoll,
ravaged by a dozen years of nuclear testing, has less
radioactivity today than the U.S. mainland.
"We can't say there is absolutely no radiation danger,"
says AEC physicist Tommy McGraw, "but if there is we can't
find it." McGraw was among a team of experts who toured
the atoll last weekend with a group of American and foreign
newsmen. He said his atomic counter showed only faint signs
of radioactivity, "less than in Denver, Colo."
Time told a different story. Ten years later, scientists said they were wrong ‐‐ the
blasted atoll was still too deadly for human habitation. The world's first nuclear refugees
were devastated. They were assured in 1969 that their homeland had made an amazing
recovery from a nuclear wasteland. Since 1948, they had lived on the island of Kili, 425
miles away in the southern Marshalls. The safe readings meant they could return to Bikini
and to a relatively affluent life. In August 1969, a small group of Japanese, Australian and British newsmen, plus
two U.S. reporters (myself and Web Nolan of UPI), joined AEC scientists on a final
inspection tour. The group included Warren Roll, chief photographer for The Honolulu
Star‐Bulletin who would work with me and whose vivid images also were fronted by the
Post and Star. A $3.3 million cleanup had made room to restore the vaporized coconut
palms and the pandanus and breadfruit trees. The 550 returning villagers would inherit
the massive concrete bunkers and miles of copper cable ‐‐ the only visible reminder that
the tiny atoll had known the fury of the atom. No relic of Bikinian culture remained, save a
few scarred tombstones in the village graveyard.
We arrived at Bikini at daybreak. The military pilot circled the atoll to get a look at
the short runway. We could see the tents below for the Army men and the dozen islanders
who had been working on the six‐month cleanup. Truckloads of rusting, radioactive junk
had been dumped into the sea, or buried hundreds of miles away. When the taskforce
arrived on the island of Eneu, second largest in the atoll, they had to bulldoze their way in
from the beach. That first day, we toured the atoll aboard a large "Mike" boat, a World
War II military landing craft once used to deliver U.S. Marines to the nearby beaches of
Kwajalein, Truk and Wake Island. As we trudged through the atoll's numerous islands, AEC
scientists smiled at the low readings they were recording on their Geiger counters.
Moses Lowry, 48, a village leader, made me a thatched hat for protection from the
brutal tropical sun. We met on the island of Airukirauru, a tiny spit of land across the
channel from Eneu where 13 test atomic bombs were blasted from barges and air drops,
the last just 11 years earlier. Between 1948 and 1968, the pleasant atoll 2,500 miles
southwest of Hawaii was scrubbed of vegetation and badly scarred by 23 nuclear
firestorms. But by 1969, the year of our visit, lush tropical growth had reappeared and the
lagoons were again clear and bountiful. Moses Lowry felt he was home at last. The villagers would get a fully equipped tent city, plus the airstrip, harbor, two
barges and three landing craft. They were promised a community house, school and a few
dozen cinderblock homes. "They asked that the houses be cinderblock," McGraw said.
"They want the permanence, something solid."
But even dreams built with cinderblocks can crumble. Ten years later, Bikini Atoll
would be ruled still too dangerous for human habitation. The new coconut nursery
produced contaminated crops. Villagers hoped the 100,000 coconut palms on the two
largest islands of Eneu and Bikini would yield 30 tons of copra per month. But when the
palms began bearing fruit, the coconuts were laced with cesium‐137, a lethal leftover from
America's most powerful hydrogen bomb in 1954. Again the Bikinians packed their bags
for Kili, the hated refuge just one‐sixth the size of their homeland.
In 1979, scientists said that food grown in Bikini would not be safe to eat until well
into the 21st century. We didn't know that in 1969, when lobsters pulled from the reefs
were boiled and eaten with worry‐free gusto. Yellowfin tuna caught in the channnel was
wolfed down raw with soy sauce each evening in the mess tent. News that these seafood
feasts were seasoned with strontium 90, which tends to stay around longer in shellfish,
was yet a decade away.
Now more than 60 years after the first test A‐bomb exploded on this Pacific
paradise, the exiled villagers and their descendants remain scattered throughout the
Marshall Islands. The twice‐exiled people have insisted that the entire island of Bikini be
excavated and the toxic topsoil gouged out to a depth of 15 inches. But scientists say this
costly dig would simply turn Bikini into a desert island.
Meanwhile, Bikini Atoll has become a popular destination for sport fishermen and
scuba divers. It's also a favorite family story about grandpa's historic "mistake."
(EDITOR'S NOTE: I asked George about any aftereffects of the radiation exposure. His
reply: "No one I knew on that trip got cancer blamed on the radioactivity. I did have bouts
with bladder and prostate cancer myself ‐ all successfully treated, thank God, but not
attributed to Bikini. Ironically, I'm deemed cancer free thanks to radiation treatments."
Connecting profile‐ Hal Bock
Hal Bock (Email) ‐ On how I got to The AP, and stayed (finally):
I first walked through the door at 50
Rockefeller Plaza in the summer of 1960,
hired to work on the Olympic Desk for six
weeks. In those days, AP did not dispatch an
army to cover the Games. It was sports
editor Ted Smits, Murray Rose and Will
Grimsley along with local staff in Rome. In
New York, processing the copy were Don
Weiss, Jim Kensil, Jack Hand and me. Weiss,
Kensil and Hand were great journalists and
wonderful teachers. My job was to take
care of results summaries, the agate. I also
kept my mouth shut and my eyes and ears open. While I was on the Olympic desk, I was
surrounded by some of the finest journalists you could imagine, starting with legendary
desk editor Harold ``Spike'' Claussen. Watching them operate was like being in a clinic with
the best teachers you could imagine.
After my six weeks were up, I returned for my last semester at NYU. In the spring of 1962,
AP came calling again, this time as a six‐month summer replacement staffer, again a
temporary stint. I got my first byline then and I remember, the next morning, seeing my
story in the NY Post complete with byline. I was thrilled, thinking they had chosen my stuff
over UPI. Only later did I learn that the Post was not a UPI client. But again, I watched a
great team of writers, headed by Hand, Rose, Grimsley, Joe Reichler, Jim Becker and
others operate. Hand was particularly amazing, writing World Series leads and that was
what I wanted to do.
When that ended, I left to do some PR work, first with the NY Rangers hockey club and
later with my alma mater, NYU. In November, 1963, three weeks before the Kennedy
assassination, AP called again. Watching the way that story was worked was an exciting,
amazing experience. And this time the AP couldn't get rid of me. I stuck around for 40
years, all in New York Sports, covering every major event on the sports calendar including
11 Olympics (on site and not confined to agate), 30 World Series (fulfilling my dream to
write the leads) and 30 Super Bowls until I retired in January, 2004 to do some teaching
and write some books.
My favorite books were the narrative for The Associated Press Photographic History of
Baseball and the narrative for Willard Mullin's Golden Age of Baseball Drawings, a
collection of cartoons by the great
baseball artist. My next book ``The Last Chicago Cubs Dynasty'' is due out on Opening Day
of the 2016 baseball season.
Connecting wishes Happy Birthday
to
Howard Ulman (Email)
Welcome to Connecting
Jeff Baron (Email)
Kermit Johnson (Email)
Hank Lowenkron (Email)
Stories of interest
Vincent Musetto, 74, Dies; Wrote 'Headless' Headline of Ageless Fame (New
York Times)
Vincent Musetto, a retired editor at The New York Post who wrote the most anatomically
evocative headline in the history of American journalism ‐ HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS
BAR ‐ died on Tuesday in the Bronx. He was 74.
A former colleague, Myron Rushetzky, confirmed the death, of pancreatic cancer, at
Calvary Hospital.
The writers of newspaper headlines generally toil in
anonymity, and over time a few others have been posited
as the creator of this one. But among the salty, ink‐stained,
intemperate cadre of New York journalists who wistfully
recall the days when men wore hats and newspapers were
made only of paper, Mr. Musetto was widely credited as
the creator of this headline, spread across The Post's front
page on April 15, 1983.
The crime behind the headline was lurid even by tabloid
standards. On April 13, 1983, Charles Dingle, drinking in a
tavern in the Jamaica section of Queens, argued with the
owner, Herbert Cummings, and shot him to death. He then
took several women hostage, raping one and forcing
another, in an apparent bid to confound the police, to cut
off Mr. Cummings's head.
Click here to read more. Shared by Larry Blasko.
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For news organizations, this was the most important set of Apple
announcements in years (Nieman)
There wasn't a lot of buildup beforehand, but today's Apple keynote turned out to be the
most important for publishers in years. (To be clear, there have been many more
important Apple announcements for Apple. But this was the most important Apple
announcement for news organizations since at least 2011, I think.)
In two hours, Apple killed off its previous home for news apps on iPhone and iPad;
announced a brand new home for news orgs (though, importantly, not for news apps);
integrated individual local news stories deep into iOS; and made Apple Watch news apps
substantially more powerful and useful. Whew!
Here's what journalists and publishers need to know.
Click here to read more.
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Rieder: Fired up over investigative reporting (USA Today)
PHILADELPHIA ‐ As the media business, thoroughly disrupted by the digital explosion,
struggles to regain traction, it's easy to get discouraged.
Cutbacks continue at legacy news operations, exciting new start‐ups encounter daunting
financial challenges and the search for answers remains a formidable task indeed.
But if you're looking for a sure cure for the news blues, a visit to the annual convention of
Investigative Reporters and Editors might be just the thing. That was particularly true of
the 40th one, which wrapped up here Sunday.
It wasn't so long ago that this organization was on the ropes. That was then. This year's
convention attracted a remarkable 1,800 attendees, a record number. And many of them
were young journalists passionate about their craft, exceedingly hungry to elevate their
games and eager to do work that benefits society.
Click here to read more.
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ABC, Cox, Hearst, Media General, Raycom Station Groups Form Live Local
News Streaming Venture NewsON
ATLANTA, June 9, 2015 /PRNewswire/ ‐‐ Five major broadcast television station groups
collectively reaching two‐thirds of U.S. TV households have formed NewsON, a new
venture to provide live and same‐day local TV newscasts on demand from leading stations
around the country to consumers' mobile and selected connected TV devices.
The NewsON (www.NewsON.us) service will be provided by a new venture formed by
The ABC Owned Television Station Group, Cox Media Group, Hearst Television, Media
General and Raycom Media.
The free, advertising‐supported NewsON service will be delivered through apps available
for download from leading mobile and connected TV app stores. NewsON will enable
users to watch live and on‐demand newscasts from their local markets or from any of the
112 participating news stations, in 84 viewing markets across the country, whose owners
have already contracted to deliver their news streams through NewsON. These include
stations in eight of the Top 10 U.S. TV markets and 17 of the top 25. Multiple stations will be available through NewsON in 21 markets, giving viewers the
opportunity to "change channels" as they wish. The number of participating TV stations is
expected to grow in the months ahead as additional broadcast TV station groups activate
their streams into NewsON.
Click here to read more.
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Pittsburgh Post‐Gazette editorial page editor defends 'Caitlyn is still a
mister' column (Romenesko)
Last week, Pittsburgh Post‐Gazette columnist Jennifer Graham turned in a piece about
Caitlyn Jenner that said "Mr. Jenner joins Chaz Bono and Laverne Cox in the don't‐call‐
them‐freaks parade ... But have at it; whatever makes you feel pretty. Just know that, for
every person cheering your courage, there are others wishing you were a bit more of a
coward."
Four Post‐Gazette opinion section staffers read the column before it went to press,
according to editorial page editor Tom Waseleski.
"No one raised questions about the column to me and I'm not aware of any discussion in
which one or more of my colleagues argued against using it," he says. "Our intern told me
as he was leaving for the day that the column was sure to generate a reaction. I agreed
that it would, but that's nothing new at the Post‐Gazette. We have a robust opinion
section, and we're used to strong reactions ‐ from all points of the political compass ‐ to
various columns, editorials and editorial cartoons."
Click here to read more.
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When It's O.K. to Pay for a Story (New York Times)
St. Petersburg, Fla. ‐ JOURNALISTS frown on paying sources. This decades‐old principle
stems from the belief that the tawdry practice corrupts the authenticity of information: If I
pay you to tell me your story, you may distort its details to up the value.
So last week, WikiLeaks disturbed many journalists with an initiative to crowd‐source a
$100,000 "bounty" on the text of the Trans‐Pacific Partnership trade deal. The website,
which made headlines in 2010 when it published large caches of leaked documents from
the United States military in Afghanistan and Iraq, has been pressing hard for sources to
steal the trade documents; it has already published three leaked chapters (a reported 26
remain secret).
Setting a bounty on the treaty text turns journalistic mores on their head. In traditional
newsrooms, the idea of offering a cash incentive for the leaking of confidential documents
is anathema. But WikiLeaks, like other media disrupters, leaves us no choice but to
reconsider this prohibition. If journalism organizations refuse to do so, they relegate
themselves either to secondhand reporting on documents obtained by those outside
journalism or to being left behind.
Click here to read more.
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Andrew Lack Returns to NBC News Amid Turmoil (New York Times)
By all appearances, Andrew Lack's return to the
top job at NBC News has gone smoothly.
Last Tuesday night, at a Christian Science church
doubling as an event space on Park Avenue, Mr.
Lack and Steve Burke, NBCUniversal's chief
executive, sat shoulder to shoulder at a dinner
honoring their colleague Bonnie Hammer. As the
singer Sara Bareilles performed her hit "Brave,"
dozens waved glass candleholders in the air.
It was the second straight night together for Mr. Lack, the chairman of NBC News, and Mr.
Burke. On Monday, they went to the Rainbow Room to celebrate the publication of Tom
Brokaw's new memoir. Mr. Lack recalled a time in the 1990s when he thought that Mr.
Brokaw's plan to write his first book, "The Greatest Generation," was a distracting and
terrible idea. The book was a huge hit, he pointed out, as were the ratings for Mr.
Brokaw's nightly news show. Everyone laughed.
But for all the bonhomie, this is hardly a stress‐free time for Mr. Lack and Mr. Burke. One
person who went unmentioned was the elephant not in the Rainbow Room: Brian
Williams.
Click here to read more. Shared by Sibby Christensen.
Today in History ‐ June 10, 2015
By The Associated Press
Today is Wednesday, June 10, the 161st day of 2015. There are 204 days left in the year.
Today's Highlight in History:
On June 10, 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio, by Dr. Robert
Holbrook Smith and William Griffith Wilson.
On this date:
In 1692, the first official execution resulting from the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts
took place as Bridget Bishop was hanged.
In 1864, the Confederate Congress authorized military service for men between the ages
of 17 and 70.
In 1915, author Saul Bellow was born in Lachine, Quebec, Canada.
In 1921, President Warren G. Harding signed into law the Budget and Accounting Act,
which created the Bureau of the Budget and the General Accounting Office.
In 1940, Italy declared war on France and Britain; Canada declared war on Italy. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, speaking at the University of Virginia, said the U.S. stance toward
the conflict was shifting from one of "neutrality" to "non‐belligerency." Jamaican‐born
Pan‐African nationalist Marcus Garvey died in London at 52.
In 1942, during World War II, German forces massacred 173 male residents of Lidice (LIH'‐
dyiht‐zeh), Czechoslovakia, in retaliation for the killing of Nazi official Reinhard Heydrich.
In 1944, German forces massacred 642 residents of the French village of Oradour‐sur‐
Glane.
In 1967, the Middle East War ended as Israel and Syria agreed to observe a United
Nations‐mediated cease‐fire.
In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon lifted a two‐decades‐old trade embargo on China.
In 1985, socialite Claus von Bulow was acquitted by a jury in Providence, Rhode Island, at
his retrial on charges he'd tried to murder his heiress wife, Martha "Sunny" von Bulow.
In 1991, 11‐year‐old Jaycee Dugard of South Lake Tahoe, California, was abducted by
Phillip and Nancy Garrido; Jaycee was held by the couple for 18 years before she was
found by authorities.
In 2004, singer‐musician Ray Charles, known for such hits as "What'd I Say," ''Georgia
on My Mind" and "I Can't Stop Loving You," died in Beverly Hills, California, at age 73.
Ten years ago: President George W. Bush and visiting South Korean President Roh Moo‐
hyun pressed North Korea to rejoin deadlocked talks on its nuclear weapons program
while trying to minimize their own differences over how hard to push the reclusive
communist regime. Democrat Jim Exon, a two‐term Nebraska governor and three‐term
senator, died at age 83.
Five years ago: Army Secretary John McHugh announced that an investigation had found
that potentially hundreds of remains at Arlington National Cemetery were misidentified or
misplaced. Nelson Mandela's 13‐year‐old great‐granddaughter, Zenani Mandela, was
killed in a car accident while on the way home from a concert in Soweto on the eve of the
World Cup. The NCAA sanctioned the University of Southern California with a two‐year
bowl ban, four years' probation, loss of scholarships and forfeits of an entire year's games
for improper benefits given to Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush.
One year ago: In a stunning assault that exposed Iraq's eroding central authority, al‐Qaida‐
inspired militants overran much of Mosul. In a major victory for the tea party, House
Majority Leader Eric Cantor was defeated by Dave Brat, a little‐known economics
professor, in Virginia's Republican primary. A judge struck down tenure and other job
protections for California's public school teachers as unconstitutional, saying such laws
harmed students by saddling them with bad teachers who were almost impossible to fire.
Today's Birthdays: Britain's Prince Philip is 94. Columnist Nat Hentoff is 90. Attorney F. Lee
Bailey is 82. Actress Alexandra Stewart is 76. Singer Shirley Alston Reeves (The Shirelles) is
74. Actor Jurgen Prochnow is 74. Media commentator Jeff Greenfield is 72. Football Hall of
Famer Dan Fouts is 64. Country singer‐songwriter Thom Schuyler is 63. Former Sen. John
Edwards, D‐N.C., is 62. Actor Andrew Stevens is 60. Singer Barrington Henderson is 59.
Former New York Governor‐turned‐media commentator Eliot Spitzer is 56. Rock musician
Kim Deal is 54. Singer Maxi Priest is 54. Actress Gina Gershon is 53. Actress Jeanne
Tripplehorn is 52. Rock musician Jimmy Chamberlin is 51. Actress Kate Flannery is 51.
Model‐actress Elizabeth Hurley is 50. Rock musician Joey Santiago is 50. Actor Doug
McKeon is 49. Rock musician Emma Anderson is 48. Country musician Brian Hofeldt (The
Derailers) is 48. Rapper The D.O.C. is 47. Rock singer Mike Doughty is 45. Rhythm‐and‐
blues singer JoJo is 44. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is 44. Rhythm‐and‐blues singer Faith
Evans is 42. Actor Hugh Dancy is 40. Rhythm‐and‐blues singer Lemisha Grinstead (702) is
37. Actor DJ Qualls is 37. Actor Shane West is 37. Country singer Lee Brice is 36. Singer
Hoku is 34. Actress Leelee Sobieski is 33. Olympic gold medal figure skater Tara Lipinski
is 33. Model‐actress Kate Upton is 23. Sasha Obama is 14.
Thought for Today: "When we ask for advice, we are usually looking for an accomplice."
‐ Saul Bellow (1915‐2005).
Connecting wants to hear from ‐ YOU!
Got a story to share? A favorite memory of your AP days? Don't
keep them to yourself. Share with your colleagues by sending to
Ye Olde Connecting Editor. And don't forget to include photos!
Here are some suggestions:
‐ "My boo boos ‐ A silly mistake that you make"‐ a chance to
'fess up with a memorable mistake in your journalistic career.
‐ Multigenerational AP families ‐ profiles of families whose
service spanned two or more generations.
‐ Volunteering ‐ benefit your colleagues by sharing volunteer
stories ‐ with ideas on such work they can do themselves.
‐ First job ‐ How did you get your first job in journalism?
‐ Connecting "selfies" ‐ a word and photo self‐profile of you and
your career, and what you are doing today. Both for new members and those who have
been with us a while.
‐ Life after AP for those of you who have moved on to another job or profession.
‐ Most unusual place a story assignment took you.
Paul Stevens
Editor
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