Connecting - May 06, 2024

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May 6, 2024

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Colleagues,

Good Monday morning on this May 6, 2024,

We’re sorry to report that Natalie Windsor, well-respected AP Radio correspondent based in Los Angeles, died Sunday after suffering a major stroke. She was 72.

Her brother Mike Precker, also an AP alum, wrote her obituary story for today’s Connecting. He worked for the AP New York in 1977 and in the Tel Aviv bureau from 1977-80, after getting his start with relief positions in Cincinnati in 1975 and 1976.

If you have a favorite memory of Natalie, please share.

For World Press Freedom Day, this past Friday, our colleague Edie Lederer did a two-minute interview with United Nations media. Edie is the AP’s chief correspondent to the UN. Click here to view.

The Pulitzer Prizes are set to be announced today, traditionally the most anticipated day of the year for those hoping to earn print journalism’s most prestigious honor. Along with honoring winners and finalists in 15 journalism categories, the Pulitzer Board also recognizes distinguished work in areas including books, music and theater. The awards, which will honor work from 2023, are scheduled to be announced via livestream at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

Here’s to a great week – be safe, stay healthy, live each day to your fullest.

Paul

Natalie Windsor, AP Radio correspondent in LA, dies at 72

Mike Precker - Natalie Windsor Lampel, longtime AP Broadcast stalwart in Los Angeles, died Sunday morning after suffering a devastating stroke. She was 72.

Natalie was born in New York, grew up in Dayton, Ohio, and graduated from Kent State University. Her radio career took her from Cleveland to Rochester to Chicago to Phoenix, and finally to LA, her beloved home for 40 years.

She spent 11 years as an AP Radio correspondent covering country music, entertainment and whatever else came up, leaving in 2006, and freelanced for AP after that. She also wrote several books, including How to Fly and The Safe Tourist, served on the board of the LA chapter of SPJ, and volunteered as a para chaplain, working with seniors, for decades.

Among her many LA exploits, Natalie sang the national anthem at Dodger Stadium and was leading while going into Final Jeopardy until the SOBs threw a sports question at her, and that was the end of that.

She’s survived by her daughter Shoshi, her brother Michael Precker of Richardson, TX, (another AP ex) and many friends and colleagues.

Before her death at Cedars Sinai in Los Angeles, Natalie's daughter Shoshi, Shoshi's birth mother Paula, and several good friends were all there when a music therapist came in with a guitar and played an original song addressed to her, followed by Smile. He was followed by a Jewish chaplain who spoke to her, read a Psalm (121) and chanted the Vidui, a confessional prayer asking forgiveness for sins committed by and against the dying. It was a lovely, touching scene.

There is no service currently scheduled, as Natalie wanted her final good deed to be willing her body to science. But Mike plans to organize a Zoom meeting soon to honor her memory and celebrate her life. As we say in Judaism, may her memory be a blessing.

Remembering Natalie…

Brian Bland - Having been with AP Radio in Los Angeles during some of the years Natalie was there, I was saddened to learn of her passing. Natalie and I had very different jobs, but two things I remember best about her are her great love for her daughter Shoshi, and her enthusiasm for her radio work. Natalie epitomized the working parent in the best possible way -- serious about her work while treasuring the time she could enjoy with her little girl.

I know that Shoshi, no longer the little girl I remember, will miss Natalie so much. Sympathy and best wishes to Natalie's brother Mike, and to Shoshi, and to all the family.

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Linda Deutsch - Natalie Windsor was a dedicated and cheerful member of the AP family for more than a decade. Her specialty was broadcast, music and the world of entertainment. She had a mellifluous voice perfect for radio. I remember how staffers would gather around her when review packages of records arrived. She always made sure to pass them on to others. Her gifts to me were always special. She seemed to have a constant supply of Elvis books and memorabilia coming through her transom. And they always made their way to my desk. On occasion she drove over to my house to deliver a new shipment of Elvis stuff. Those goodies now reside in my extensive Elvis collection.

In recent years we met at SPJ banquets where Natalie was always helping out. At a recent distinguished journalists event we sat at a table together with other AP stalwarts. Natalie’s life took many turns but one thing was constant: her love of the news business and her colleagues. RIP dear friend.

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Rosalie Fox - Natalie and I worked for AP Radio in the same space at the L.A. bureau. She covered Country Music and I covered Movies and TV.

When I started working at the AP in 1996, Natalie, who'd been there since 1992, told me it was like being employed at a charity. Specifically, she said the AP was like the Red Cross. We did good, necessary work and what we didn't get in pay, we got in satisfaction. She would continue to mention her Red Cross analogy throughout the years.

Sunday night, I sang the Brahms Requiem in concert with a choir here in L.A. This particular piece focuses on those who mourn. So this concert is appropriate as I remember my colleague, Natalie Windsor.

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This photo, taken at the annual LA SPJ chapter’s annual Distinguished Journalists Awards Banquet in October 2023, shows, from left: Linda Deutsch, SPJ board member Joel Bellman, Stephanie Bluestein, a past president of SPJ/LA, and Natalie.

Roberta Wax, past LA chapter president of SPJ and longtime board member, and friend of Natalie's:

Natalie was an integral part of the SPJ board, serving as an associate board member for several decades. She had a deep and longstanding commitment to SPJ and to supporting journalism and journalists, especially students.

She served on several SPJ committees and was a stalwart at our annual Distinguished Journalists Awards banquet, which she attended faithfully, always volunteering to help with various tasks, including running our silent auction for several years. And she never visited without bringing food. Specifically, dessert.

Longtime board member and columnist Joel Bellman recalls working with Natalie as contest judges for other SPJ chapters, and said she was “always diligent and conscientious.”

“She was a wonderful and valued member of the board who cared deeply about upholding the values of SPJ and excellence in journalism,” added board member and broadcaster Frank Mottek.

Board member and TV reporter Rick Montanez said Natalie was “welcoming and encouraging when I joined SPJ/LA. I knew immediately she was a strong woman with so many stories to tell and a clear passion for journalism.”

Board member and journalist Richard Saxton said “She was a passionate journalist and board member who always had good questions and insightful suggestions. Her lively and cheerful personality will be really missed. She always offered to pitch in and help at SPJLA events like the megamixers, where she signed people in.”

Cranial Cardio

Doug Pizac -- Paul and I have received numerous emails from Connecting colleagues with their answers to Friday’s brain quiz where many shared their thanks for the new feature. All but two got the answer correct -- a sundial which has one moving part.

One person replied with a tongue in cheek reply, “My son’s brain: It has very few moving parts that make him do something dumb every 10 minutes or so. You can set your watch by it.” The other person had sundial, but added an explanation that took half the extra points away -- “No moving parts” which is wrong because it is the earth’s rotation that causes the sundial’s shadow to tell time.

The next Cranial Cardio question will appear June 7th, and will continue on the first Friday of each month. If you have one to share, please send it to me at my direct email address of doug@pizac.com and not to the home@ one that was in Friday’s newsletter. And please put Cranial Cardio in the subject line. (Also, there is no need to send me your answers for verification.)

Author of ‘Titan of Tehran’ to speak Wednesday

Doug Rowe - Titan of Tehran, written by former Associated Press photo editor Shahrzad Elghanayan and published by AP Books, remains as timely as ever since its publication in November 2021, and she'll be speaking Wednesday in a virtual event for JIMENA (Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa).

The event commemorates 45 years since the passing of Habib Elghanian, a prominent leader of the Jewish Iranian community and the first civilian executed by the Islamic republic regime.

Given all the Middle East news that's relentlessly making front-page (and top-of-home-page) news, you should tune in. Her unique perspective and insights will enhance your knowledge and attitudes about what's going on now.

The book recently was touted as one of "8 must-read book on the Israel-Iran conflict." Since its publication, it has received lots of attention, garnering reviews by AP itself, The Washington Post and Vanity Fair, which touted it among "9 Books We Couldn't Put Down This Month" -- among other places. It was also excerpted by NBCNews.com, where she currently works.

You can register by clicking here.

Terry Taylor memory

Hal Bock - Terry and Wick Temple were far and away the best sports editors I worked for in my 40 years at The AP. They had terrific insight and it showed in the daily sports wire report. They trusted the staff and encouraged us to produce important. meaningful work. She was a joy to work for and with and I think of her often. May her memory be a blessing to all who were privileged to work for her.

Bob Haiman recovering from operation

From left: Linda MacCluggage, Bob Haiman, Reid MacCluggage.

Mark Mittelstadt - Bob Haiman, former executive editor of the St. Petersburg Times and a friend of many Associated Press executives and bureau chiefs, has been in a rehabilitation center since his right foot was amputated in mid-March. The operation became necessary after a fight to save the infected foot proved unsuccessful.

President of the Associated Press Managing Editors in 1982, Bob remained active in the newspaper editors group and attended nearly every annual conference. He became "chairman for life" of a group of former APME presidents and other supporters known as the APME Regents; he served as master of ceremonies for what was always a fun, lively dinner one night of each conference. The Regents had hoped to continue the tradition after APME merged with the American Society of News Editors in 2019 but the new association failed last year. A Regents "Last Hurrah" dinner was held last month in New York City but Bob's operation prevented him from attending. In addition to AP friendships developed through APME, Bob served six years as a director of ASNE. He also served as president of the Poynter Institute of Media Studies.

Reid MacCluggage, former editor of The Day in New London, Conn. and APME president in 1998, was joined by his wife, Linda, when he visited Bob Saturday at his rehab center in St. Petersburg. They sent along the following: "Here he is with us wearing his Chairman for Life sash the Regents made for him in New York at the Last Hurrah. Bob was in good spirits and dedicated to a full recovery. He has been fitted for a new right leg and has already walked the length of a long corridor. Although recovery will take some time, Bob was told he is well ahead of schedule. His two goals are to walk without assistance and to drive. Bob would love to hear from his Regents colleagues and friends. His email address is bobh@poynter.org "

More Gannett observations

Ken Herman - Gannett report from Austin, where the chain now owns the American-Statesman where I worked for 26 years after my AP career.

Like elsewhere (everywhere?), print circulation is way down, despite publishing in a metro area that has grown tremendously in recent decades. The quality of the paper also has suffered as it hires less-experienced staffers than it once did. Unionized staff recently went on a four-day strike. Not sure any readers noticed such a short work stoppage. Ditto for the end of AP copy in the paper. The very thin A section now utilizes very adequate (and much cheaper) USA Today and Reuters copy. Not sure readers notice the difference.

Also like many papers, the American-Statesman is printed elsewhere, about 180 miles away in Houston, which means very early deadlines and the insurmountable problems inherent therein. And the Saturday print edition has been killed off. The paper also produces relatively few local editorials, which apparently is a Gannett trend (edict?).

Sometimes it's relatively little things that remind readers that the paper is staffed by inexperienced journalists, including some who live far away. A recent print story, written by a Gannett staffer whose bio says she lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, referred to an upcoming election as a primary. It was not a primary. There is an important difference. Despite the fact that a reader (me) pointed out the error, no correction ran in paper prior to the election. And isn't there an editor in the workflow that should have caught this error?

The paper does some good work, including Uvalde school shooting coverage that was honored as Pulitzer finalist. Metro columnist Bridget Grumet, who replaced me when I left the paper, is a consistently excellent voice in the paper. Sportswriter Kirk Bohls, who's been at the paper for more than 50 years, remains one of the nation's best.

Overall, it's a diminished product with a challenged future (like all daily papers). It's a reality driven home by the fact that Executive Editor Manny Garcia, after just three years at Statesman helm, recently quit to take similar job at Houston Landing, a nonprofit news startup. To be fair, Garcia's wife lives and works in Houston. So that probably had something to do with his departure.

But it's sad that a solid case can be made that working for a nonprofit news startup might be a better guess at still having a job in five years than working at a long-established, traditional newspaper.

Not sure it's anyone's fault. The world changed, as has how its news is covered, delivered and financed. Those changes have fallen heavily on an industry still trying to figure it out.

Me? I'm ever-grateful for pensions from AP and Cox (former Statesman owner). Doubtful that today's young journalists can count on those kind of monthly direct deposits in their futures. Good luck to them. And, as a reader, thanks for your efforts. We're rooting for you.

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Harry Moskos - I guess I am not the only former AP staffer to quit Gannett.

I stopped getting the Knoxville News Sentinel after they dropped AP. I was turned off by how they have changed, especially the Sunday paper.

I had more than a hundred staffers in the newsroom when I was editor of the News-Sentinel from 1984 to 2001. Now they have about three dozen.

Connecting wishes Happy Birthday

Greg Nokes

Stories of interest

Israel orders Al Jazeera to close its local operation and seizes some of its equipment (AP)

BY TIA GOLDENBERG AND JON GAMBRELL

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel ordered the local offices of Qatar’s Al Jazeera satellite news network to close Sunday, escalating a long-running feud between the broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-line government as Doha-mediated cease-fire negotiations with Hamas hang in the balance.

The extraordinary order, which includes confiscating broadcast equipment, preventing the broadcast of the channel’s reports and blocking its websites, is believed to be the first time Israel has ever shuttered a foreign news outlet operating in the country.

Al Jazeera went off Israel’s main cable and satellite providers in the hours after the order. However, its website and multiple online streaming links still operated Sunday.

The network has reported the Israeli-Hamas war nonstop since the militants’ initial cross-border attack Oct. 7 and has maintained 24-hour coverage in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s grinding ground offensive that has killed and wounded members of its staff. While including on-the-ground reporting of the war’s casualties, its Arabic arm often publishes verbatim video statements from Hamas and other regional militant groups.

Read more here.

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Opinion Defund NPR? As a listener, a supporter and a Republican, I say no. (Washington Post)

By Paul Haaga

Paul Haaga, former chairman of Capital Research and Management Company, was chairman of the board of NPR from 2017 to 2020 and its interim CEO from 2013 to 2014.

I am a lifelong Republican. I am also a longtime NPR listener and supporter and, at times, have been a manager.

As you can imagine, I have a few thoughts about the firestorm set off last month when an essay in the Free Press by a now-former NPR senior editor laid out all the ways he has seen an increasingly liberal bias play out in NPR’s coverage. Plenty has been said and written about the concerns he raised, so I will leave it to others to address the specific incidents. I am here to offer one conservative’s intimate understanding of a frequently misunderstood institution, and explain why I strongly oppose the calls for Congress to defund NPR.

Read more here. Shared by Russ Kaurloto, Dennis Conrad.

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Hope Hicks testimony reveals how Trump and his team dealt with reporters (Washington Post)

By Mark Berman

NEW YORK — When The Washington Post contacted then-candidate Donald Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 to ask about a recording capturing him boasting about grabbing women’s genitals, the request for comment landed in the inbox of Hope Hicks, his top spokeswoman.

The email from reporter David Fahrenthold arrived on a Friday afternoon just weeks before the general election. He had labeled the message “URGENT” in the subject line. When she saw it, Hicks was “stunned.” The campaign faced a mammoth crisis, she recalled Friday.

Her account of that tumultuous period was delivered in the Manhattan courtroom where Trump is on trial, facing charges that he falsified business records to keep secret a hush-money deal paid to the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels.

While on the witness stand, Hicks walked through her work for the former president, delivering sometimes extended accounts of how she and others responded to media reports and vexing inquiries. The jurors, there to eventually decide the historic case’s outcome, spent some time Friday getting an in-depth look at a topic close to Trump’s heart: how he is portrayed in the media.

Read more here. Shared by Dennis Conrad.

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The Berkshire Eagle marks milestone: 8th year of local ownership (and ending charter AP relationship)

Fredric Rutberg

Publisher, The Berkshire Eagle

Eight years ago, my colleagues and I undertook a project to restore some of The Berkshire Eagle’s proud history or, as Bob Wilmers put it, “to create the finest community newspaper in America.”

While we may not have completed the task that Bob set out for us, I believe we have made remarkable progress toward that very lofty goal. If you don’t know, Bob was the unquestioned leader of our group. He died about a year and a half after we bought The Eagle, but his memory permeates all we do.

I know New Englanders frown on boasting. So, please indulge me with a quick look back at the last eight years to what the entire Eagle family, including our readers and advertisers, has accomplished against the context that has crippled hundreds of other news organizations.

Read more here. Shared by Barbara Woike.

The Final Word

(Former AP/LA copyboy makes good)

‘Star Wars’ actor Mark Hamill drops by White House for a visit with ‘Joe-bi-Wan Kenobi’ (AP)

BY COLLEEN LONG

WASHINGTON (AP) — “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill dropped by the White House on Friday for a visit with President Joe Biden and walked away with a pair of the president’s aviator sunglasses and a greater respect for the office.

“I love the merch,” he said, taking off the glasses during a quick appearance at the White House daily press briefing following his visit with Biden. Hamill, 72, famous for playing Luke Skywalker, kidded with reporters that he’d take a few questions — as long as they weren’t about “Star Wars.”

“I was honored to be asked to come to the White House to meet the president,” he said. He’s been to the White House before, during the Carter and Obama administrations, but he’d never checked out the Oval Office, and that was quite something, he said. Biden showed off photographs and other Oval Office items, Hamill said.

Hamill said Biden told him to call him “Joe,” to which Hamill offered an alternative suggestion: “Can I call you Joe-bi-Wan Kenobi?”

“He liked that,” said Hamill, who also voiced the Joker in “Batman: The Animated Series.”

Both Hamill and the White House were vague about his reason for visiting. But Hamill, a Democrat and Biden supporter with a huge social media following, has been posting about the president’s reelection campaign this week.

Read more here. Shared by Linda Deutsch.

Today in History – May 6, 2024

Today is Monday, May 6, the 127th day of 2024. There are 239 days left in the year.

Today’s Highlight in History: On May 6, 1937, the hydrogen-filled German airship Hindenburg caught fire and crashed while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey; 35 of the 97 people on board were killed along with a crewman on the ground.

On this date:

In 1882, President Chester Alan Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years (Arthur had opposed an earlier version with a 20-year ban).

In 1910, Britain’s Edwardian era ended with the death of King Edward VII; he was succeeded by George V.

In 1935, the Works Progress Administration began operating under an executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1941, Josef Stalin assumed the Soviet premiership, replacing Vyacheslav M. Molotov.

In 1942, during World War II, some 15,000 American and Filipino troops on Corregidor island surrendered to Japanese forces.

In 1954, medical student Roger Bannister broke the four-minute mile during a track meet in Oxford, England, in 3:59.4.

In 1994, former Arkansas state worker Paula Jones filed suit against President Bill Clinton, alleging he’d sexually harassed her in 1991. (Jones reached a settlement with Clinton in November 1998.)

In 2004, President George W. Bush apologized for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners by American soldiers, calling it “a stain on our country’s honor”; he rejected calls for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s resignation.

In 2006, Lillian Gertrud Asplund, the last American survivor of the sinking of the Titanic, died in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, at age 99.

In 2010, a computerized sell order triggered a “flash crash” on Wall Street, sending the Dow Jones industrials to a loss of nearly 1,000 points in less than half an hour.

In 2013, kidnap-rape victims Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight, who went missing separately about a decade earlier while in their teens or early 20s, were rescued from a house just south of downtown Cleveland. (Their captor, Ariel Castro, hanged himself in prison in September 2013 at the beginning of a life sentence plus 1,000 years.)

In 2018, actor Ashley Judd sued disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein, alleging sexual harassment and defamation.

In 2021, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 48-page elections bill that Republicans said would guard against fraud and vote harvesting; Democrats and voting rights advocates said it was an attempt to make it harder for some people to vote.

In 2023, King Charles III was crowned at Westminster Abbey, in a coronation ceremony steeped in ancient ritual and at a time when the monarchy was striving to remain relevant in a fractured modern Britain.

Today’s Birthdays: Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays is 93 n Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., is 90 n Rock singer Bob Seger is 79 n Singer Jimmie Dale Gilmore is 79 n Gospel singer-comedian Lulu Roman is 78 n Actor Alan Dale is 77 n Actor Richard Cox is 76 n Actor Gregg Henry is 72 n Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is 71 n TV personality Tom Bergeron is 69 n Actor Roma Downey is 64 n Rock singer John Flansburgh (They Might Be Giants) is 64 n Actor Julianne Phillips is 64 n Actor-director George Clooney is 63 n Actor Clay O’Brien is 63 n Rock singer-musician Tony Scalzo (Fastball) is 60 n Actor Leslie Hope is 59 n Actor Geneva Carr (TV: “Bull”) is 58 n Rock musician Mark Bryan (Hootie and the Blowfish) is 57 n Rock musician Chris Shiflett (Foo Fighters) is 54 n Actor Stacey Oristano is 46 n Model/TV personality Tiffany Coyne is 42 n Actor Adrianne Palicki is 41 n Actor Gabourey Sidibe is 41 n Actor-comedian Sasheer Zamata is 38 n Rapper Meek Mill is 37 n Houston Astros infielder Jose Altuve is 34 n Actor-singer Naomi Scott is 31 n Actor Noah Galvin is 30.

Got a photo or story to share?

Connecting is a daily newsletter published Monday through Friday that reaches more than 1,800 retired and former Associated Press employees, present-day employees, and news industry and journalism school colleagues. It began in 2013. Past issues can be found by clicking Connecting Archive in the masthead. Its author, Paul Stevens, retired from the AP in 2009 after a 36-year career as a newsman in Albany and St. Louis, correspondent in Wichita, chief of bureau in Albuquerque, Indianapolis and Kansas City, and Central Region vice president based in Kansas City.

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:

- 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.

- Second chapters - You finished a great career. Now tell us about your second (and third and fourth?) chapters of life.

- Spousal support - How your spouse helped in supporting your work during your AP career.

- My most unusual story - tell us about an unusual, off the wall story that you covered.

- "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?

- Most unusual place a story assignment took you.

Paul Stevens

Editor, Connecting newsletter

paulstevens46@gmail.com