• reenacted
• chilled
• pensive
• refined
• blustery
  

• Between this and Debbie Medina, Glenn Beck is really starting to prove his worth as a part of the political conversation. Sure, he still has wacky moments, but his wacky moments are starting to get outweighed by astute observations such as this one, where he essentially admits that it was a waste to bring on former Rep. Eric Massa, who seemed just a wee bit uncomfortable with the appearance. In other news, the Washington Post actually wrote an article on whether lawmakers conduct political business while naked. The answer: Not really, though the showers are reportedly communal, so the Rahm incident could have happened. source

• good Bank of America, which has made millions of dollars in profit off of people not having much in their bank accounts, will end the often-pricey practice of automatically charging fees at retail this summer.
• better Consumers will have more flexibility when deciding when to accept overdrafts elsewhere – they have to accept the charge at ATMs and can still set it up for automatic payments or checks. source

• We blame Lee Abrams, right. Our friends at the Newport News, Va. Daily Press got some awful news this week, when they found out that much of their paper’s copy-editing and design facilities would be outsourced to the Tribune Corp. mothership in Chicago. 10 percent of their newsroom staff will get laid off as a result of this. Lee Abrams, above, is responsible for starting something similar with the radio industry. So, here’s a brief explanation of what’s up with the Daily Press:

• Tribune is bankrupt The iconic media company, which owns the Chicago Tribune, the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant and a ton of other major regional newspapers, is trying to cut costs whereever they can. So as a result, they’re trying to outsource where they can.
• slippery slope Tribune has already been down this road with many of their papers – they started doing a modular system for many of the inside pages of their papers last year. The result of what’s happening to the Daily Press is something of an extreme case of the process.
• Abrams is the point guy As the Chief Innovation Officer of Tribune, many of these changes happened due to his influence. He’s done this before. He invented the tools used to eventually turn radio into a soulless wasteland. Sure, he has XM under his belt, but his story’s already been written.

Turning news into Clear Channel

• This is a model that, particularly in smaller markets, although I can see it in larger markets as well, can change the economics of the newspaper business the same way Clear Channel changed the economics of … the radio business.
• Daily Press President and Chief Executive Digby Solomon • Regarding the changes, which are in the midst of taking hold. Many of the employees who followed Sam Zell to Tribune used to work for Clear Channel, which should give you an idea of what the company is trying to do. It’s everything you hate about radio, in newspaper form. Great. Hope you guys don’t succeed at sucking the life out of news. source

• 41% of young Republicans plan to vote this fall
• 35% of youthful Democrats plan the same
• 11% of independents plan to not stay home source

• I tickled him until he couldn’t breathe, and then four guys jumped on top of me. It was my 50th birthday. … You can take anything out of context.
• Former N.Y. Rep. Eric Massa • Speaking on Glenn Beck’s Fox Ne … ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah … phew … ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah … oh my god he really said that… ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah … LOL. source

• We like the meme machines that Ben Huh’s “I Can Has Cheezburger” network provides. They’re goofy, they’re funny at times, and they often drive some pretty interesting trends online. What we don’t like, however, are his wages. What’s essentially a job in a profitable niche media industry is treated as if it’s a struggling startup. Gawker has been all over this the last few days, after Huh himself backed his company into a corner thanks to a frank admission.

What “Cheezburger” makes in revenue

• $4 million in yearly revenue off
  of user-submitted content source

The “Cheezburger” employee picture

• 30 employees work for Ben Huh’s
  cat-loving empire source

• $8.55 the starting rate (40 hr./week, no benefits) at one of Huh’s sites for an office admin or a junior designer – that’s minimum wage in Washington
• $17,784 the amount that brings home for potential employees each year, before taxes of any sort – that’s just $7,000 above the poverty line source

• » A notable wrinkle: These jobs are contract jobs without benefits starting out. Contract jobs that don’t take out taxes, just an FYI, are the ones that Joe Stack railed against when he crashed that plane into the IRS building. And while Huh claims that people move up in the company, the fact of the matter is that this is a near-poverty level job starting out.

How that compares

• $30k starting rate for an entry-level office administrator source
• $29k starting rate for a Web-based graphic designer source
• $20k starting rate for a “blogger” – so Huh is even low for that source

Can you live off that? No

• $17,784the entry-level pay (before taxes) at Cheezburger Network, with the possibility of wage increases
• $18,337the living wage (after taxes) in the Seattle area, where the network is located source

The justification for low wages

• We advertise lower wages for entry-level positions because the worst candidates focus on money the most. Believe it or not, advertising lower-than-market wages actually helped us yield better candidates.
• Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh • In an article discussing how a recent ad drew candidates who were upset that he was offering so little for what are in reality jobs that require a college education. While passion is one thing, it’s another thing entirely to force low wages on college-educated people. He lists three reasons why he feels employees who ask about compensation aren’t desirable. The first? “The candidate’s inability to control their personal expenses, which inevitably leads to drama and demands at work.” He goes further, noting: “If you have high financial requirements in order to absolutely survive, I don’t really know what to say than go get a job at a bank (you know what I mean).” Know what would help them control personal expenses, Ben? A living wage. Well, maybe they could get one (and health insurance!) if they worked at a Starbucks instead. source

But wait, they’re not alone

• Look, it’s easy to focus on them. But the real problem we’re starting to see with user-generated content is that nobody’s really paying enough, and preying on passion. Lots of companies are guilty of this. Examiner.com is a great example. Journalists have for years been able to make a decent, if not great, wage by working at newspapers and other print publications. Will this go away? Will we even be able to buy cheezburgers? Just a thought.

• No one was hurt. But we have a new instant celebrity. When what we really need is to put the brakes on out-of-whack priorities.
• MarketWatch assistant managing editor Steve Kerch • Regarding the runaway Toyota Prius story getting lots of attention. He prefaces this story by noting a recent car crash in Chicago that killed four young women but got no national press coverage. “As the circus grows around every little Toyota engine burp,” Kerch notes, “turn a thought to those four women. It’ll help you keep your perspective on true tragedy.” Well-put. source