Posts by Mark Kollar

The Week Unpeeled

Obama drama (Maureen Dowd) all week for sure amid damning and finger-pointing headlines on Benghazi and talking points, AP and an “unfettered” press, the IRS and targeting the Tea Party, among others. The IRS scandal seemed to take center stage with hearings late last week and the acting chief stepping down and stepping into the firing zone.  As Dowd suggested in her New York Times column Sunday “Taxing Times for Obama,” everyone hates the IRS, now apparently for new reasons. (Curious that the Tea Party target takes it names from a group against taxes, right?)

Elsewhere:

  • Bloomberg terminal spy scandal seemed to turn more terminally negative with Bloomberg LP enlisting former IBM chairman and chief Sam Palmisano to review practices (amid criticism by some that the new data cop is a pal of the mayor) ;
  • The Syrian Electronic Army hacked the Financial Times’  tech blog and some of its Twitter accounts;
  • The Dow ended a pretty strong week up 1.6 percent to close at 15,354;
  • Google CEO Larry Page closes that he suffers from vocal-cord paralysis in a post on the Google+ service; and
  • Barbara Walters and David Beckham announced their retirements (separately). End of Story
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Written on May 20th, 2013 by
Categories: From the News, Media Navel Gaze | No Comments »

The Week Unpeeled

Bloomberg terminals and the journalists behind them made headlines last week, after an exclusive in The New York Post alleged that reporters were “spying” on customers by looking at what functions were being used and whether they were logging into terminals (prompting calls to Goldman Sachs at one point about whether a partner had left the firm when a terminal had been left idle).  The story, which became front-page news over the weekend, Goldman and JP Morgan officials were blasting Bloomberg for snooping over security in using the ubiquitous boxes. The Fed and Treasury are now looking into the issue, so the story will have long legs no doubt.

Elsewhere:

  • The Dow continued its rally, ending at a record close Friday of 15,118, and the S&P 500 another record close of 1,633;
  • The Fed said it is planning (timing uncertain) its wind-down its massive bond-buying program, which was designed to stimulate the economy;
  • NBC News is expected to name Deborah Turness, the head of ITV News in Britain, as president, the first woman president of a network news division in the US;
  • Alan Abelson, a top editor of Barron’s and columnist for “Up and Down Wall Street, died; and

Researchers last week announced that carbon levels have reached their highest levels in “millions of years” on earth, which no doubt will brings more attention to climate change issues. End of Story

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Written on May 13th, 2013 by
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The Week Unpeeled

Amid a backdrop of ongoing investigations in motives and scope of the alleged Boston Marathon bombers and the NRA annual convention, the US economy showed ongoing signs of moderate growth with the jobs report showing the unemployment rate declining to 7.5 percent in April and non-farm payroll adding 165,000, better than expectations.  That news propelled the Dow to a record high, closing up 143 points on Friday at 14,973, briefly topping 15,000.

Elsewhere:

  • The disaster at a Bangladeshi apparel factory is forcing manufacturers to reconsider their productions and brand images tied to poor workplace safety conditions/records, with Disney already pulling out of the country; No doubt consumers will become a different type of label conscious as where clothes are made;
  • Warren Buffett hosted its annual investor hoopla, curious to see what he says about his recent buying spree in newspapers; Meanwhile, Berskhire’s profits jumped 51 percent;
  • While circulation has been on the decline for most US newspapers, circulation rose at The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times for the six months ended March 31, because of digital subscribers: WSJ held onto its rank as largest daily with average weekday circulation at 2.4 million and NYT at 1.9 million, with a Sunday total of 2.3 million;
  • JC Penney launched a big ad/digital campaign after its downfall and CEO shuffle, in a mea culpa of “It’s No Secret,” illustrating on some levels admit errors upfront;
  • Apple sold $17 billion in corporate bonds, the largest deal in history that was met with strong investor demand;
  • Making front-page headlines nearly everywhere, NBA player Jason Collins comes out as the first major league sports player (during Tony Awards announcements week, no less!); and
  • Favorite Orb wins the Kentucky Derby. End of Story
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Written on May 6th, 2013 by
Categories: From the News, Media Navel Gaze | No Comments »

The Week Unpeeled

Government leaders, thought leaders and media scribes have been busy convening a lot lately with US presidents in Texas making an appearance for the opening of the George Bush library (with US media commenting how Hillary Clinton looked so presidential herself); the World Bank and IMF finishing its round of huddles (amid talk of less austerity more growth); White House correspondents red-carpeting annual dinner in Washington (boycotted by Tom Brokaw who says it’s more about celebrity than news, and President Obama saying he will be opening the Blame Bush Library soon), and the Milken Global Conference kicking off this week in Beverly Hills.

Elsewhere, less convening, more real headlines:

  • Boston marathon alleged bomber search found evidence of plans for a second attack in Times Square;
  • Washington is confronting allegations that Syria appears to have used chemical weapons, which Obama said would “change his calculus” but many seem unsure what that really means;
  • The AP Twitter account was hacked with a Tweet of White House terrorist attack, briefing sending markets sharply lower;
  • Koch brothers of libertarian bent made headlines in their exploratory bid for a group of newspapers that include The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times;
  • Apple increased its return of cash to shareholders by $55 billion to about $100 billion over three years;
  • The UK economy narrowly missed a third recessionary dip with slight signs of growth;
  • Nasdaq OMX is expected to pay $10 million to US regulators for botched Facebook listing (separately $62 million expected to go to brokers); and
  • The Dow ended the week slightly higher at 14,703. End of Story
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Written on April 29th, 2013 by
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The Week Unpeeled

An amazingly busy and heavy news week filled with tragic headlines, with global focus on the Boston Marathon bombings and a closely watched manhunt (one of the biggest in US history) that ended in the arrest of a 19-year college student, who with his brother killed in a police firefight, allegedly were responsible for the two homemade bombs at the finish line of the famous race. The live proceedings of the dragnet become reality TV or online viewing with the most recent coverage on why this happened and how it could have been prevented. (UK coverage over the weekend focused on the “what” of Chechnyan ties and the “why” of photos of Bostonians celebrating the capture for such a tragic story.)  The vast amount of civilian coverage of the bombing from smartphones made spectators at the race news “capturerers,” not really witnessed at this intensity. London marathoners on Sunday observed a 30-second moment of silence before the start of their race.

Elsewhere:

  • A fertilizer plant in Texas exploded (at the strength of a 2.1-magnitude earthquake), killing as many as 15 people, leveling many homes and injuring up to 180;
  • An Elvis impersonator was charged in sending ricin-tainted letter to the president and others;
  • The Senate rejected new restrictions on firearms;
  • Al Neuharth, the media mogul who ran Gannett Company and created USA Today, died;
  • Blackstone ended its bid for Dell with ownership still in pursuit;
  • The Dow also suffered, ending down 317 points for the week, or 2.1 percent, to close at 14547;
  • A small Brooklyn news outlet, InsideClimate News, which was founded just six years ago and funded by charitable foundations and readers, won a Pulitzer for national reporting, along with four from The New York Times, one from The Wall Street Journal and two from The Star Tribune in Minneapolis, among others; and
  • The Sunday Times published the Richest in Britain list with the top seven coming from outside the UK, many from Russia, highlighting the “lure of Britain to a footloose global elite”; top spot goes to Alisher Usmanov, part owner of Arsenal football club. End of Story
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Written on April 22nd, 2013 by
Categories: From the News, Media Navel Gaze | No Comments »
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