Replaying Sunday, October 9, 2005

Turning the Tables: What the Times News Staff Thinks of You

Date: 09 October 2005

By Byron Calame

Byron Calame

IF you are reading these words, it means you are one of the millions of readers of The New York Times whose desires and dislikes are never far from the minds of the paper's editors and reporters. How they envision you and your fellow readers can have a significant effect on how well they manage to inform, serve and entertain you. So I thought I would give you an opportunity to assess -- if only in some rough sense -- the news staff's perception of you, its readers, and what you want and need from the newspaper. Through e-mail, I asked about 50 news staffers, ranging from the executive editor to reporters, to describe the audience for whom they are editing and writing. More than half responded.

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News Summary

Date: 10 October 2005

INTERNATIONAL A3-13 Pakistani Leader Seeks Aid in Quake's Aftermath Twenty-four hours after the most powerful earthquake in the history of independent Pakistan, President Pervez Musharraf made an urgent televised appeal for international aid, at least 140 aftershocks rattled survivors, and rescue crews dug, often with their bare hands, for signs of the living and the dead in the rain-soaked rubble of obliterated villages. A1 Eager to show it has learned from the responses to the tsunami in Indonesia and Hurricane Katrina, the White House announced that it would provide an ''initial contribution'' of $50 million for relief efforts in Pakistan, and would dispatch helicopters and reconnaissance aircraft that are in the area hunting Al Qaeda terror groups. A12 Melting Icecaps and Big Money The Arctic is undergoing nothing less than a great rush for virgin territory and natural resources worth hundreds of billions of dollars as the thawing of the polar ice caps appears to be unlocking undiscovered oil and gas resources, lucrative shipping routes, new destinations for cruise ships and important commercial fisheries. A1 Complex Terror Web in Belgium The case of 18 suspected Belgians involved in terrorism has highlighted the problem that a wide distribution of terrorist sympathizers has presented small countries like Belgium, forcing them to employ new investigative methods and pass tougher anti-terrorism laws. A1 Liberia Readies for Free Election Two years after Charles Taylor was pushed from power, Liberia is preparing for its first truly free election in the nation's history. Of the nearly two dozen candidates running for president, the front-runners include the international soccer star George Weah and Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, an economist who hopes to become modern Africa's first female head of state. A3 Runoff Likely in Polish Election Donald Tusk, a former labor activist from the Solidarity trade union, appeared to have come in first in Poland's hotly contested presidential election, but voter surveys indicated that he would not win the majority he would need to avoid a runoff. A6 Results Emerge in Afghan Vote With votes counted for more than 70 percent of the seats from the parliamentary election on Sept. 18, a picture of the new legislative body is emerging. The Parliament appears to be predominantly socially conservative and more religious than the current government. Centrist, reformist candidates appear to have done worse than expected, according to political analysts. A9 Guatemalans Dig for Bodies Residents in Panabáj, Guatemala, worked through the weekend to dig out bodies from the mudslide that engulfed their village in the wake of Hurricane Stan, which spawned rainstorms that caused a trail of death and destruction from southern Mexico to El Salvador. A13 NATIONAL A14-17 Home Depot in Dispute Over Day Laborers In city after city, contractors as well as homeowners needing an extra hand or two drive up to a Home Depot and hire day laborers who gather at the stores looking for work. Not only has this caused friction between the stores and neighboring businesses and homeowners who do not want the men around, but it has also thrust the company into the nationwide debate about what to do about these workers, the majority of them illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America. A1 Ex-FEMA Head Makes It Pay James Lee Witt, the former FEMA director, runs a private disaster consulting firm and became a fixture at Louisiana's emergency operations center in Baton Rouge. As he applies his skills as a consultant, Mr. Witt is having to step deftly after Hurricane Katrina to avoid being perceived as a disaster profiteer. A1 Intense Pressure for Coroners The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has placed intense pressure on coroners, who have been presented with death investigations of unusual complexity and emotional weight. While Louisiana requires that most of its 64 parish coroners be physicians, Mississippi requires only that its 82 county coroners be at least 18 years old and have completed high school. A15 Sumo Wrestling in Las Vegas The first Grand Sumo Championship in the United States in 20 years was held in Las Vegas. The three-day exhibition drew nearly 25,000 spectators in its first two nights. A14 NEW YORK/REGION B1-6 Lake Deaths Cast Shadow As Seasons Change A boating accident on Oct. 2 in which 20 passengers drowned has cast a shadow across Lake George, a popular tourist destination about 200 miles north of New York City. Many merchants also attribute the slowdown to rising gasoline prices. B1 The Case of the Rare Maps W. Graham Arader III, a chief rival of E. Forbes Smiley III in the business of selling rare or important maps, says he is looking forward to vindication now that Mr. Smiley has been charged with stealing maps from Yale. Mr. Smiley has pleaded not guilty to the charges. B1 FASHION B6-7 ARTS E1-10 OBITUARIES B8 SPORTSMONDAY D1-10 Major League Baseball A home run in the 18th inning gave the Houston Astros a 7-6 win over the Atlanta Braves, and the National League championship, in baseball's longest ever postseason game. A1 The New York Yankees beat the Los Angeles Angels 3-2, forcing a fifth game in the American League Division Series. D1 BUSINESS DAY C1-10 Test for an Auto Union The United Auto Workers faces a major challenge now that Delphi, the nation's largest auto supplier, has filed for bankruptcy. C1 I.B.M.'s Privacy Policy I.B.M., the world's largest technology company, is promising not to use genetic information in hiring or in determining eligibility for its health care or benefits plans. C1 Business Digest C2 EDITORIAL A18-19 Editorials: Tax cuts are not the priority; lobbyist, senator, candlestick maker; the hear-no-evil Congress; Verlyn Klinkenborg on E.B. White and the farm. Columns: Bob Herbert and Paul Krugman. Autos D10 Bridge E8 Crossword E10 Metro Diary B2 TV Listings E9 Weather B5

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News Summary

Date: 09 October 2005

INTERNATIONAL 3-20 Deadly Quake Hits South Asia A powerful earthquake centered in the Hindu Kush mountains of Pakistan sent tremors across South Asia, killing more than 18,000 people, including at least 1,600 in remote northern Pakistan, among them hundreds across both sides of disputed Kashmir. 1 Militias Above Law in Basra In an ominous example of the degree to which militias have come to dominate Basra, Iraq, a group of 200 to 300 rogue police officiers who answer to the leaders of sectarian militias now dominate the local police force. 1 Bali Suspects Elude Capture Three men wanted in connection with bombings in Bali that killed 222 people over three years, narrowly escaped capture in the last two days, two in the Philippines and one in Indonesia, according to officials in those countries. 6 Iran's Stocks Plummet Iran's government and Parliament held emergency meetings last week on the country's plummeting stock market. The decline began after the International Atomic Energy Agency passed a resolution referring Iran to the United Nations Security Council for violating its nuclear obligations. 9 NATIONAL 23-34 Bush Defends Court Choice The White House is scrambling to control a conservative uprising over the nomination of Harriet E. Miers to the Supreme Court, with President Bush pitching his choice directly to the public as his Republican allies try to shore up support. 1 Bus Company Forced to Close Federal officials have ordered the shutdown of a company that operated a bus involved in a fire last month that killed 23 elderly hurricane evacuees along a Texas highway. 26 Delphi Files for Bankruptcy Delphi, the nation's largest auto supplier, filed for bankruptcy protection, the largest such filing ever in the domestic auto industry. The move reinforces the industry's deepening financial crisis and is a sign that the labor upheavals in the airline and steel industries have reached Detroit. 28 SCIENCE/HEALTH Bird Flu Pandemic Concerns Crucial needs are being left unmet in Southeast Asia and other front lines of the world's defense against the bird flu, in some cases for lack of a few million dollars, international health officials said. 10 NEW YORK/REGION 37-43 New Yorkers, Via Katrina More than 4,000 people affected by Hurricane Katrina have come to New York City, according to federal officials, many seeking shelter with friends and family, while others have seized the unexpected opportunity to finally make a move. 41 Gifts for Journalism Schools The graduate journalism schools at Columbia University and the City University of New York will each receive $4 million from members of the Sulzberger family in honor of Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, the former publisher of The New York Times. 39 OBITUARIES 44 Jerry Juhl An Emmy-Award winning writer who gave life to Jim Henson's whimsically irreverent Muppets on television and film, he was 67. 44 Chess 42 Weather 45

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Companies Not Behaving Badly

Date: 09 October 2005

By Gretchen Morgenson

Gretchen Morgenson

ARE you sitting down? Your dutiful and sometimes caustic chronicler of executive excess and me-first corporate managers has decided to take a different tack and recognize companies that are moving to rein in outrageous executive pay and perk policies. Although these companies remain a distinct minority, any enterprise bringing more reason to the insanity that is executive pay surely merits a moment of applause. The shifts that some companies are making include salary reductions for chief executives, a greater focus on performance-based stock awards and a heightened interest in limiting the dilution to existing shareholders from stock option grants. Some companies have even begun to monitor the pay gaps between those at the top of the ladder and those down below; a couple of standouts are making clear to their shareholders just how the corporate jet is used.

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News Analysis: U.S. breaks with tradition in putting its subsidies into play

Date: 10 October 2005

By Elizabeth Becker

Elizabeth Becker

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Good Night, and the Good Fight

Date: 09 October 2005

By Neal Gabler

Neal Gabler

EVEN now, 40 years after his death, Edward R. Murrow remains the gold standard of American journalism -- ''the patron saint of my profession,'' as the radio host Bob Edwards called him in a biography last year. Murrow's vivid reports from wartime Europe for CBS radio brought unprecedented eloquence and immediacy to the medium. His documentaries for CBS television brought an unabashedly compassionate vision to the dispossessed and disempowered. And his famous confrontations with the red-baiting Senator Joseph McCarthy on ''See It Now,'' chronicled in George Clooney's acclaimed new film, ''Good Night, and Good Luck,'' brought courage and conscience to television news. Murrow was, as a panel on Mr. Clooney's film at the New York Film Festival put it, the one mainstream journalist who dared ''speak truth to power.'' Such is Murrow's legacy that his name is often invoked to demonstrate the shortcomings of contemporary journalism, where it is almost inconceivable to imagine any TV reporter directly challenging the powers that be, or any broadcast mogul supporting him in doing so, as CBS's William S. Paley, albeit reluctantly, supported Murrow (which only goes to show that Murrow's bequest is honored more in the breach than in practice).

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Columbia and CUNY Get Grants in Journalism

Date: 09 October 2005

By Karen W. Arenson

Karen Arenson

The graduate journalism schools at Columbia University and the City University of New York will each receive $4 million from members of the Sulzberger family in honor of Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, the former publisher of The New York Times. The CUNY graduate school, which is to open next fall, said the gift was the largest it had received to date. The gifts are being made by Mr. Sulzberger's sisters, Marian S. Heiskell, Ruth S. Holmberg and Dr. Judith P. Sulzberger, and will be formally announced tomorrow.

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At Newspapers, Some Clipping

Date: 10 October 2005

By Katharine Q. Seelye

Katharine Seelye

Large metropolitan newspapers across US, including New York Times, are cutting staff because ad revenue is flat, costs are up and circulation is eroding as more readers turn to Internet; trends inhibiting newspapers' growth are expected to accelerate, and pessimism about industry continues to drive down price of newspaper stocks; many top news executives say they are reinventing themselves, becoming multimedia organizations in order to adapt to new realities and position industry for promising future; turmoil has not affected small papers, whose advertising base is more stable; Janet L Robinson, Times chief executive, comments; photos; graphs (M)

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Reporters' Mysterious Deaths Chill a Press Corps Immersed in Violence

Date: 09 October 2005

By Kirk Semple

Kirk Semple

This alone seems certain about the killing of the American freelance journalist Steven Vincent: about 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 2, he and his Iraqi interpreter, Nooriya Taiz, were dragged by several armed men into a government pickup truck on a busy commercial street in the southern city of Basra, and found several hours later, riddled with bullets. Ms. Taiz survived. The attack, the first since the invasion in which an American journalist in Iraq was killed, has been the subject of investigations by the F.B.I. and the Iraqi police, who have made no official comments.

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Ready for Their Close-Up, a Couple Consults

Date: 09 October 2005

By Linda F. Burghardt

Linda Burghardt

WHEN Shirley Wershba answered her home phone and heard a woman say she was calling from George Clooney's office, her first reaction was disbelief. What could the famous actor want? But a few days later, Mr. Clooney showed up in her living room in Manhasset Hills. ''He was like instant family,'' said Ms. Wershba, who with her husband, Joe Wershba, appear in a movie script Mr. Clooney helped write about a historic moment in television news in the 1950's. ''He was warm and friendly, with no star trappings. I made him a salad for lunch.''

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