Another nail in the coffin for the Des Moines Register

Earlier this week, I read that our local newspaper, The Des Moines Register, would be raising its subscription fees—again.

Yep, again.

The increase, which take effect on September 1, follow another price increase of 20 to 40 percent which took place last year.  

This week’s edition of Cityview Magazine has an excellent Civic Skinny column which contains some interesting if hard-to-understand excerpts from a memo to Register (er. Gannett) employees which talks about the needs for the latest price increase along with a warning that the Register’s customer service center (or should we say Gannett’s customer service center) will be receiving lots of phone calls from subscribers requesting that their subscriptions be cancelled—which wouldn’t be able to handle all of them, noted Cityview’s column. 

I currently read the hard-print copy edition of the Register on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. With that subscription increase in mind, I might cut it back to only Sundays, depending on whether I can get the online version for less. Because I enjoy having a print version of a newspaper and I would miss it.

I imagine the Des Moines area will miss the print version of the Register if and when  its printing schedule is curtailed (as is the case with the New Orleans Times-Picayune) or if the print version ceases to exist altogether (as is the case with Newsweek magazine). After all, if you want to post a newspaper article on the classroom wall or a photo of your children on the kitchen, you could just get a pair of scissors and cut those out from the local newspaper. You can do the same with the online version of your local newspaper, but it might look as if it were a photo being printed on paper—the ink and halftones which characterize newsprint or other publishing material would be gone. 

The price increase for the newspaper is not the only one being reported. The company will be replacing its weekly TV supplement, which comes out on Sundays with a publication called TV Weekly. It will cost $39 per year to subscribe to this publication, for those who already subscribe to the Register. The fee for nonsubscribers in the Des Moines area is $51.48 per year.

Frankly I don’t think the TV supplement is worth reading anyway-even if I watched television on a regular basis, which I no longer do. It’s just a compilation of schedules of local and cable channels. I imagine it’s possible to find the same info online, through such papers as USA Today (also published by Gannett) or the companies which provide us with the hundreds of cable channels. 

The TV supplement should have been overhauled a long time ago. For all practical purposes it is dead. I recall when the TV section had listings of programs with info on who was in them, what took place, articles about various shows, critical analyses and even radio listings! I realize that information is largely available on the internet, but not everyone has access to the internet.

The TV listings hail from the day when The Des Moines Register was literally locally-owned. It had its offices in a building at 8^th and Locust in downtown Des Moines, Iowa (albeit in an unattractive printing plant attached to a tower whose façade was ripped off and replaced with siding in an order to make the building look “modern”). The Register published an evening paper, The Des Moines Tribune, along with a weekly general-interest magazine, Look, in the same league with the classic Life or Saturday Evening Post. It also was the first home of KRNT Radio, which later gave birth to KRNT television (later known as KCCI). The Des Moines Register and Tribune also syndicated such features as The Family Circus cartoon panel.

When my parents got bills from The Des Moines Register, they would carry a notice on the outside congratulating the one newspaper which has earned more Pulitzer Prizes than The Des Moines Register— a publication called The New York Times. That was classy and designated the high standards of The Des Moines Register. At the annual Sports & Vacation Show (sponsored by the Des Moines Register), and at other local events such as the Iowa State Fair, it was possible to pick up a plastic tote bag which read “Three Out of Five Iowans Read The Des Moines Register”. And The Des Moines Register started its cross-state bicycle ride 40 years ago this month. Moreover, Des Moines Register people were civic leaders involved in the revitalization of downtown, the establishment of the Des Moines airport (now Des Moines International Airport) and Des Moines' Drake University; two buildings at Drake—Cowles Library and Harvey Ingham Hall—are named after people involved with The Des Moines Register. 

But for the past decades, the Register has been on a decline. I cannot pinpoint when that decline started, but I think it was when the Register tried to adopt an old-fashioned look and the Des Moines Tribune tried to adopt a hip look during the 1970s. Then a few years later, there were a variety of omens—two lads on paper routes disappeared (they have not been found), a columnist committed suicide and Frank Miller, a long-time cartoonist died of a heart attack. But the big fall during that time was when the Des Moines Tribune ceased publication in 1982.  Ads said that as a result the Des Moines Register would improve.

Not so.

A couple of years later, the Des Moines Register was sold to Gannett, a Washington DC area company which publishes USA Today (the notorious “McPaper”), the Cincinnati Enquirer, the Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader, Florida Today and the Arizona Republic among others. Since then, the newspaper has tried to portray itself as a local publication, as a voice of the people of the Des Moines area, but I doubt if anyone believes it. King Features Syndicate, owned by the Hearst Corporation, picked up many of the features syndicated by the Register & Tribune Syndicate (including The Family Circus). KCCI-TV was sold to a series of owners; eventually it would be owned by the Hearst Corporation.

Brian Duffy, the cartoonist who replaced Frank Miller, was laid off a few years back. (He subsequently got hired by Des Moines Cityview Magazine!!!)

Many other staff writers have been let go. There are fewer sections of the newspaper nowadays and fewer advertising supplements and coupons to cut out. The sections aimed at senior citizens and young mothers seem to have ceased publication.  The newspaper no longer has any bureaus around the state; indeed, contrary to its slogan "The News Iowa Depends Upon", the target audience is mainly the Des Moines area. Translated: if you want news about what's happening in Council Bluffs or Cedar Rapids, read The Daily Nonpareil or The Cedar Rapids Gazette for news in those respective communities. The Register's daily readership is now down to under 90,000 as I understand it—which was before the announced price increase. Meanwhile, the Register moved out of its building at 8^th and Locust and into downsized-spaces.

I am convinced that a lack of leadership is what has been killing the Register. A publishing that had a nationwide magazine, radio/television stations and other newspapers--based in a town that many East and West Coast people couldn't find (!) is in its death throes. How long will it be until we see The Des Moines Register cease printing altogether?

I hope I’m wrong, but I fear that this price increase will be one of the last. Hold onto your printed newspaper copies, everyone—they could be collectors’ items one of these days.

New challenges--new ventures-new me

Today I undertook the oft-necessary exercise of breaking out of my comfort zone. I went over to the recreational trail in Windsor Heights by the Wal-Mart store and took photos of wilted thistles and daisies with my 100mm macro lens. To make matters more interesting, the lens was not designed for stabilization and my tripod did not extend high enough for it to capture the images which I wanted in full.

Nonetheless, I got lots of experience in hand-holding a macro lens--although that is something that I should not do all the time, according to the books, magazines and other manuals which I have consulted on photography. They recommend that I use a tripod, along with manual focus. Not surprisingly I had lots of duds, particularly when I tried to take some photos of a butterfly and a bumblebee, but I think I got at least a few gems in.

I also practiced making depth-of-field work for me. After I took the photos of the thistles and the daisies, I went to nearby Colby Park and took some photos of the flowers in the garden. I learned how to focus on a flower close to me and ensure that would be in focus while the others were out of focus. The results weren't perfect, but I am learning and that's what counts.

Finally, I got word about a construction incident near Valley High School. On my way home, I decided to head over to the construction site and see if there were any photos worth taking for publication in the West Des Moines edition of Patch magazine.

I worried about being told to leave the site, but I presented a business card and so far everything is all right. However, it appears that the Patch editors beat me to it, although I did get some photos while I was there and a few details for any follow-up stories which might be of interest to them.

All in all, I believe I learned how to improvise, how to change my plans at the last minute and go out on a limb. I would like to learn to stay up late for such events as dances and parties and how to get along with people who do not see things the way I do. I am about turn fifty years of age; but I feel that I am still young enough to try new things, learn new skills and develop new attitudes which will benefit my life.

I love to read. It's great therapy for me--keeps me from losing my mind and temper (so often). I also get to learn new techniques for my photography/computer through the window of reading. More importantly, I get to read about various historical events, topics in science, biographical subjects and more. Reading is not just a window to the world and to life; without it, I would not be able to function.

My favorite magazines include PhotoPlus (for Canon digital single-lens users), Digital Camera, Shutterbug, Popular Photography, Practical Photography, Bloomberg BusinessWeek, Aviation Week, Outdoor Photographer and the Atlantic Monthly. I favor the British photography magazines such as Practical Photography for their tutorials on how to use my camera software and hardware, along with their reviews; both fields in which they are superior to such American publications as Popular Photography. For non-photographic reading, I favor The Atlantic monthly, which has lengthy in-depth articles about a variety of topics, Consumer Reports which guides me whenever I need to make decisions on what products I should purchase and Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

I read a variety of newspapers. Of course, there is the Des Moines Register, the daily publication where I live. But I prefer the alternative publication, Des Moines Cityview, which covers many topics ignored by the Des Moines Register and also does some muck-racking on the Des Moines Register as a bonus. For nationwide newspapers, I prefer the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. I recall when supermarkets in the Des Moines area had the Omaha World-Herald, the Chicago Tribune and even the New York Post (!) for sale--those days are no longer with us, I am sorry to say.

My favorite works of non-fiction--outside of my photography and computer reference manuals--include books about military and American history. I've read many of the volumes of the Oxford History of the United States (Battle Cry of Freedom, What Hath God Wrought, Freedom From Fear, etc.), along with the works of such authors as David McCullough, David Halberstam, Max Hastings, Jean Edward Smith, Carlo D'Este and Robert Caro. As of right now, I'd have to say my favorite works include Caro's The Years of Lyndon Johnson (all four volumes--still incomplete), McCullough's Truman and The Great Bridge, Hasting's The Korean War, Halberstam's The Reckoning, and Carlo D'este's Patton: A Genius For War.

There are so many other titles and topics which I cannot think of at this time--that is one of the side effects of being an avid reader!

Ideal vacation for my 50th birthday—but it probably won’t happen

If I could, I’d like to go skiing in Steamboat Springs next Valentine’s Day weekend.

I doubt if it will happen though.

My experience with skiing this past winter in Breckenridge has soured me on skiing at least for a while. It was a disaster from day one. First of all, my townhouse did not come with a phone and I did not think of bringing along a plug for my cellphone. So I had to buy a plug for my cellphone—which cost me $25. L

Then I discovered the management had not put a map of Breckenridge in my room with a listing of all the places to go for dining, entertainment, activities and the like. Also, I didn’t know where I could pick up the free bus (it was across a busy street, via a treacherous walk down an icy flight of steps) or the gondola up to the top of the mountain on the west side of town. For that matter, I felt disoriented—not knowing which way was east or west come sunset during my first day.

That disorientation may have been connected with the splitting headache which I had the next day. I awoke with a sharp pain which seemed to cut my skull in two—guillotine sharp. I was slated to participate in the local winter carnival’s “Dating Game” that evening, but I had to balk out due to my feeling unwell.

There were a few highlights; the most notable joining in the winter carnival parade. I got to ride on one float in a kayak (!) and took this self portrait of myself. Later we watched a bonfire in the town square and even fireworks. If only the rest of my adventures had been that successful. 

Oh, I made a few mistakes of my own. I forgot to pack a ski bag and a boot bag. Ski bags are long--about to three to four feet in length. Boot bags look like bowling bags, only they’re bigger and less rigid. You needn’t carry ski boots in them; I’ve carried camera gear, books, magazines and maps among other things. But when I took ski lessons, I had to lug my ski boots—and my skis on my shoulders—which was very painful.

That pain was compounded by the tailbone fracture which I suffered during my ski lessons.  I was “promoted” from the beginner classes to the intermediate classes without having taken a single beginner class—and failed from the beginning. I fell every time, I had trouble keeping my balance when making turns and almost nearly hit a tree on one occasion. Moreover I had to pay extra money for being promoted from beginner to intermediate. I wonder if I’m exaggerating when I say that I survived that nightmare.

So I don’t think I’ll be back on the ski slopes for a while. I might try mountain biking, horseback riding or kayaking next time I go on vacation—they sound safer. 

My heads in the clouds

Yesterday and this morning, I took my cameras out to photograph the skies over my neighborhood. I photographed stratocumulus this morning at sunrise and sheets of cirrus--including cirrus spisattus yesterday afternoon. 

Recognizing and photographing clouds has been a life-long hobby of mine--practically since the first grade when our teacher gave us a coloring page with a drawing of a "nimbus" cloud; she told us that this cloud would bring rain. Since then, I have learned about cumulus clouds--which can be either low-level cotton balls or low-level towers, building up into thunderstorms; cirrus clouds--the wispy clouds leaving their streaks which resemble curlicues and blown-about hair across the skies and stratus clouds--which are low-level clouds without much form or shapes built within. I have also learned about the mid-level clouds such as the extremely tiny cirrocumulus clouds--which don't leave shadows but mackeral patterns (according to one classic book on weather for children), stratocumulus--which have been compared to entertainer Cher--they can look like anything--according to another classic book dealing with the clouds--and cumulonimbus--which are always distinguished by thunder, lightning and hail. 

Alas, the first few years of my cloud-watching were pretty bland--it appeared that most of the books and manuals which I consulted used the same photos or paintings for their inspiration. Many of these photographs came from the National Weather Service of the United States (or as it was known, the United States Weather Bureau). Most of these, moreover, were in black-and-white and seem to have dated from the 1940s or earlier. Finally I decided I had had enough. So during my last weeks in high school, I got a single-lens reflex camera and decided to start my own collection of cloud photographs--in color.

My first efforts were not very effective. I had trouble with effective focusing. Moreover, the clouds did not stand out that much from the sky. Needless to say, I went through lots of Kodacolor film--this was in the 1980s--when digital cameras had yet to be invented, and even started some albums with photos. 

Back then it seems that I did best with stratus clouds, fog and cumulus clouds taken on dry days. I had better luck a few years later when I got a polarizing filter from the old Black's photo store at the local shopping mall and discovered what difference the polarizing filters could make. Subsequently, I have introduced a wide-angle lens and a zoom lens into my techniques and also learned how to make the horizon serve the clouds and the skies.

There's much I'd like to do with my interest in cloud photography. I'd like to photograph a tornado in action. I'd like to photograph lightning bolts. I'd like to use graduated neutral density filters, a tripod and timed exposures in order put some motion into the clouds. I've come a long way when it comes to photographing clouds but I'll never stop learning. 

I am proud of the way that photographing clouds has helped my interest in weather and my interest in photography grow. They will always be part of my life. 

My very first blog

I've never done much in terms of blogging (that is, if Facebook or Patch.com don't count). Indeed, I've very little talent with website and webpage design. But since this is my first attempt at blogging, here goes.

I'm interested in photography big time. I have a Canon XSi Rebel/450D camera with the appropriate lens for the camera. One of them is wide-angle, one is general purpose and the last one is for macros (closeups). I also have an electronic flash and a variety of accessories such as lens extension tubes and filters.

Photography has been a passion and an interest of mine since I was eight or nine years old. Father would take photos of me with his Ikoflex camera (a twin-lens German-built reflex camera in which the viewfinder was on the top and the main

lens was on the bottom. Father had to look down through the top 

of the camera body in order to compose and take his photos.

Mother was also interested in photography--but her camera gear was much, much simpler.

All she had was a Kodak Instamatic camera with no controls for shutter speed, film speed or aperture width. She even had trouble focusing any camera correctly, as I found out when she tried to take my photograph prior to my graduation from high school in 1981. Never would have happened had my father or sister been alive to take the photo--they were great photographers.

My sister had a Canon AE-1 camera. It was a single-lens reflex camera with a hot-shoe attachment for a flash and controls for aperture, shutter speed and film speed. Alas, I was too lazy to worry about making photos with much thought about those factors and related concepts such as depth-of-field as it pertains to exposure and handling action. I wish I had been more diligent as a photographer back then; it would have made a difference.