Is Jerome Corsi on Drugs?

Jerome Corsi says you can't trust a drug user when they say they've given up drugs. Using an argument childishly similar to 'he who smelt it delt it', Corsi and his publisher are refusing to acknowledge that Senator Barack Obama has repeatedly stated he gave up his use of drugs - other than cigarettes - long ago. Noted this drug use was never more than casual and certainly no more than the average college student is exposed to, even those from Harvard - like Jerome. Certainly, the current President has lied about a lot but has anyone suggested he has lied about giving up blow? Or Drinking? Maybe we should ask Jerome.

Jerome Corsi has no intention of correcting the errors in his book The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality. This is despite the fact he views his effort as investigative rather than prosecutorial (why either would require a lesser degree of accuracy is beyond me). Simon & Schuster the silent publisher is only likely to be interested in the revenue which is why they signed up Mary Matalin to become a 'publisher' in the first place. Fiction or non-fiction what's the difference anymore? The book hasn't been fact corrected. It may not even have been read by Matalin who commented (NYT) that the book “was not designed to be, and does not set out to be, a political book,” calling it, rather, “a piece of scholarship, and a good one at that.” What is she doing at S&S if not political books? And given the level of scholarship and the errors cited by numerous sources perhaps this book should be excerpted in the National Enquirer.

Corsi's name is emblazoned on the cover of this book with the attendant "Phd" in a visual attempt to imply scholarship. The central points made in this book are no more accurate than those in the CIA ghost written memo noted in Suskind's book The Shadow War which came out earlier this month. Interesting that the two books are published by the same publisher. There has been no discussion about inaccuracies in the latter and indeed Suskind stands on solid ground for his diligence in reporting the facts what with all the actual interview recordings. Not so Corsi who says “The goal is to defeat Obama,” Mr. Corsi said in a telephone interview. “I don’t want Obama to be in office.” Obviously, at S&S the standards vary widely depending on the purpose. On the one hand you might have factual grounds for impeachment on the other simple political mud raking.

Court Reverses Steinbeck Copyright Ruling

The son of famed author John Steinbeck who won control over some of his father's works has had the decision reversed by the US Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit Court). In mid 2006, a judge in California ruled that the rights to Steinbeck's novels should revert to the family. LATimes. (A review from a legal perspective). From the AP:

The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will leave the rights in the hands of Penguin Group Inc. and the heirs of John Steinbeck's widow, Elaine. Author John Steinbeck died in 1968; his wife in 2003. The appeals court said a lower court judge misapplied copyright law in awarding the rights in 2006 to the son, Thomas Steinbeck, and granddaughter Blake Smyle. Both already receive a portion of the proceeds of sales. The case was returned to the lower court with instructions to leave the rights with various individuals and organizations, including the publisher Penguin and Elaine Steinbeck's heirs. The heirs include her sister, four children and grandchildren.

No word on any further action that may be contemplated by either side.

MediaWeek (Vol 1, No 32):

The Guardian reports that British magazine publishers are facing pressure from retailer ASDA for more quid-pro-quo on shelf space in their stores. Some close readers will recall some aggressive actions by Amazon and also the stance taken by A&R in Australia regarding book titles with small volumes. Perhaps an increasing trend in media retail.

The idea of a magazine giving Asda advertising space in return for appearing on its shelves, for example, is wholly implausible. Every supermarket chain would then be bound to require ads too, leading to the logical, if surreal, result that all magazines would carry several pages boosting Tesco, Sainsbury's, Somerfield, Waitrose and so on. Then there's the question of context: one publisher told me that, for many magazines, supermarket advertising would be inappropriate. How would readers of Cage & Aviary Birds or Model Railway Enthusiast take to Asda boasting of its latest cut-price offers on groceries, for instance?

Will a major city newspaper fold this year. Houston, Miami, Chicago, SF? There are sellers but no buyers according to the NYTimes. Ad revenues are off substantially at some of those free daily newspapers but in the UK Metro is starting their first online version. MAD.co Press Gazzette is giving up their print to go online. Guardian Rodale announced impressive results in face of an industry slow down.

Revenues for all operations grew by 7.6% compared to the second quarter of 2007. Rodale print advertising revenues were up 8.3% compared to an industry-wide decline of 4.9%. Revenues from all online activities increased by 27.1% over the second quarter of 2007, and uniques and page views for Rodale?s sites were up by 74% and 94%, respectively, compared to the same period last year. Revenues from international operations through June are up 14% compared to the first half of 2007.

AlleyInsider.com: Gawker notes their performance versus traditional media. Note that the chart looks like Batman. WSJ reports on the trend in Children's fiction towards more gore in an effort to appeal to more boys:

Scholastic and other publishers are heeding the research of such academics as Jeffrey Wilhelm, an education professor at Boise State University. Prof. Wilhelm tracked boys' reading habits for five years ending in 2005 and found that schools failed to meet their "motivational needs." Teachers assigned novels about relationships, such as marriage, that appealed to girls but bored boys. His survey of academic research found boys more likely to read nonfiction, especially about sports and other activities they enjoy, as well as funny, edgy fiction. Boys' literary depth is an abiding concern in educational circles. Boys have persistently lagged behind girls in reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, an influential federal test for gauging achievement. The gap widens by the time they reach 12th grade. Many experts attribute the lag to the time spent with the printed page. In a survey of bookstores this year by Simba Information, a publishing-industry market-research firm, only 2% said boys made up most of their children's book customers. As adults, females also outscore males on literacy exams, and continue to read more. In an age when the Internet is pulling many away from books, boys in particular spend more time than girls do on computers and videogaming.

Long article in Sunday's NYTimes magazine about Hanif Kureishi who wrote My Beautiful Laundrette.

This is, after all, the man who co-edited “The Faber Book of Pop” and whose films and novels — including “My Beautiful Laundrette” and “The Buddha of Suburbia” — are filled with raucous sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. But this is also the man who had the presence of mind to poke around in English mosques in the late ’80s and early ’90s, sensing that something might be stirring there, as indeed it was. Kureishi’s novel “The Black Album,” set in 1989 and named after a Prince album, explored the growing discontent, disenfranchisement and radicalism of some young British Muslims.

NYTimes notes the Waking up to Content is King at Time Warner. Profile of new Zondervan CEO Maureen Girkins. Grand Rapids Press.

Everything's Live in Prime Time

I grew up in Hawaii. Lucky me. When John Lennon died we got to experience it twice. Why, because of ‘satellite delay’. Hawaii is so far west that most ‘live’ television was taped. When most of the nation heard Howard Cosell on Monday Night Football announce that John was dead we didn’t hear him say that for more than three hours, and by then we had been listening to the monster block to end all monster blocks. Almost 30 yrs later, you could be forgiven for thinking ‘satellite delay’ had disappeared along with wooden tennis rackets, members only and Journey. Not so.

When NBC and USA broadcast Wimbledon this year they showed the majority of the matches live; that is, except for the first men’s semifinal which Federer won. Unaware viewers found out the result of the first match during the second match which was shown live. There was some hue and cry about this at the time but tennis fans are generally a polite group. Remember the world cup in Japan/Korea? Well, luckily I was in Australia but in the US fans were left scratching their heads when live games were delayed.

In 1980 there wasn’t any alternative to watching events live if the broadcaster didn’t want us to. We had no choice. Clearly that is not the case now yet NBC continues to believe they know best what the viewer is interested in. NBC believes viewers want to see ‘live’ action in prime time. Forget the fact that this morning the NYTimes had images from the opening ceremonies, we won’t see the pictures live until later tonight. Which is just about when day two action starts.

Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics, said. "We have three main constituency groups: our affiliates, our advertisers and our audience. To our affiliates and our advertisers, our responsibility is to (generate) the biggest audience that we can. And to our audience, our extensive research shows, that means putting it on when they say they want it, which is when they're available to watch it - and that's in prime time." Guardian

This type of ostrich like behavior is what’s so wrong with established media. While everything has changed the media companies try to pretend by force of will they can impose the old paradigm (on the ‘audience’). We’re all smarter than that and despite the 2,000+ hrs NBC are set to broadcast many viewers are going to be disappointed. NBC is not giving us the choices we have become accustomed to in the internet world. How far out of touch are they? An amusing anecdote regarding the LA Times which publicly patted itself on the back for a huge boost in on line traffic. Only the problem was their traffic was dwarfed by upstart Gawker media. SiliconAlleyinsider

Paradoxically, NBC maybe its own worse enemy; they recently launched Hulu.com which is a fantastic site and exactly what choice, selection and access is all about. Every Olympic event should be on Hulu the minute it finishes. I bet the traffic would be immense. On top of that I would guarantee viewers would settle in during prime time and watch again.

There are work arounds. Several web sites have jumped on this issue already. So if you are willing to stay up all night to watch curling check out alleyinsider.com for all the details.

Too Late for The Sony Reader

John Gapper in the FT believes Sony has irretrievably lost the beach-head that the first to market Sony Reader established. Is it now too late to gain back some share? Since he compares Sony's Walkman with the iPod the likely answer is yes.

The danger for Sony is that it is already too late. Amazon has grabbed the market-leading position from Sony and established a stronger brand, which is what happened with the iPod and the Walkman. Sony never managed to recover, despite trying repeatedly to match Apple. The Reader is arguably less important to Sony than any of its core entertainment businesses. Even if the Reader stages a comeback, it will not become one of Sony’s “trillion-yen” businesses like its PlayStation and Bravia franchises. But books should not be written off. Annual US sales of fiction and popular non-fiction books match those of recorded music, so there is enough revenue to be worth fighting for. Sony obviously thought it was worth staking a claim to e-books when it launched the Reader.

Why The Embargo Doesn't Work

LA Times on book review embargos and the particular case of Ron Suskinds The Way of the World. They see something fishy:

As Ulin said Tuesday, publishers' "embargoes are contrivances designed not to protect the contents of the book but to create a media feeding frenzy when a book comes out. Often, the entire purpose is to protect some kind of exclusive arrangement with a particular news outlet. That's not about news; it's about publicity, and it implicates the news media as part of the publicity juggernaut, reducing us watchdogs to lap dogs."The willingness of major publishing houses to take on projects like Suskind's is an act of public service as well as commerce. Projects such as Suskind's don't need to be marketed with the sort of calculation routinely reserved for celebrity tell-alls. In fact, the aura created by an orchestrated publicity campaign can even undermine the authority of the sort of journalism Ron Suskind practices.

Free Books

One of the funny things about writing this blog is that I have started to get some free books. This is strange since I don't review books. I read a lot, but I generally only read the stuff I like. I don't have time to read things people send me. I also find this interesting because as President of Bowker - the publisher of books in print remember - I may have received three books in seven years. Two of those were sent by Jane Friedman. So, as a blogger operating in no official capacity I get some books, but as head of house I don't. Curious.

In the past twelve months I have received four books; not a lot thankfully. I haven't read any of them. Two management books (one from Wiley so I may end up reading it), one on being more green and one from a trade publisher. The green title had me slightly concerned since the title was so precise: "78 ways to change the planet" or something. Surely if they concentrated a little more they might have reached 100. No doubt my experience with review copies speaks both to the desperation of smaller publishers to get their titles seen and to the general indiscriminate nature of the process: Send them out in the hope that someone will review them.

I am not sure how much other heads of house share their books with one another. Do they call each other up and ask for a particular book I wonder. Would they be embarassed? If I were publishing something more compact that an 8 volume directory I would have routinely sent my titles to other publishers. I would be proud of them and I would want my peers to enjoy them as I did. (I did consider sending the CD version to publishers but discarded the idea just as quick. I didn't want to visit their office and find it under a wine glass).

About 18mths ago, I realized that my unread pile extended to 60+ books, but the back log is winding down now and so sometime in the next six months I might actually be reading books that have some currency. (At the moment I am reading a biography of Sir Christopher Wren that was published in 2001). Perhaps then I might comment a little.