Um, TBD: The unidentified guy in the tux is Don Graham. He runs a media company in Washington, DC. You’re welcome. tbd.ly/yVGKt0

— J. Freedom du Lac (@jfdulac) January 30, 2012

That tweet from the Washington Post’s Josh du Lac got TBD.com to rewrite its caption and post a correction:

Credit: Joshua Yospyn

A few mounted police were also used to keep protesters away from people exiting the Capital Hilton. Some members simply smiled, walking briskly, while others would stop to chat. This person strongly resembles Washington Post Company CEO Don Graham.

Correction: This photo originally did not ID the person, even in the mousy way above, as being Graham.

It’s past noon in Philadelphia and staffers at the Inquirer and Daily News have yet to get a memo from management about the New York Post’s Sunday story on the Philadelphia Media Network papers being for sale. (The only reaction was in today’s Inquirer story about the Post report.) The Guild, however, did sent a bulletin to members yesterday “to alleviate mass hysteria,” I’m told. Here it is:

From: “Guild Bulletin”
Date: January 29, 2012 2:47:17 PM EST
Subject: New York Post reports Inquirer, Daily News are for sale

Dear Guild member,

The New York Post reported this morning that Philadelphia Media Network, which owns the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com, is up for auction with a major investor, Alden Global, planning to exit.

Here is a link to the story.

We are working to find out more about this situation and have asked the company to address the matter to its employees. We hope to see some communication from PMN soon.

Meanwhile, on another matter, Guild leaders were previously scheduled to meet with senior management and the editors of the Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com on Tuesday afternoon to talk about the “One Newsroom” concept and will update the membership after that discussion.

In solidarity,

Dan Gross, President
Bill Ross, Executive Director,
and the Executive Board of the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia/Communications Workers of America Local 38010

Credit: Imgur

Don’t blame the news staff for this!

That’s what someone wrote on my Facebook wall after I posted the image on the left over the weekend.

“Hey, this is the Honolulu Advertiser, where I used to work,” wrote Christy Strobel. “Paper folded on 6/6/10. This looks like one of the Sunday auto supplements. Those didn’t go through the newsroom copy desk. Just sayin’.”

Don Lee then asked: “Wonder how many people called the paper to say they clicked and clicked and nothing happened?”

Discussion of this newspaper image segued into memories of the CueCat, the handheld scanner introduced a dozen years ago that you plugged into your computer and held while reading newspapers and magazines. You’d scan bar codes in the publications with your CueCat, then be sent to websites about the products you’re looking at. (“Who does their leisure reading sitting in front of a PC?” asked Walt Mossberg. “How many people have their PC next to the easy chair, or bed, or other typical reading sites?) Ian Donnis noted that it was “one of the most ridiculed products of the Internet era.”

HERE ARE SOME POSTS FROM MY FACEBOOK WALL:

Nancy Herrick
Cue Cat was only slightly less preposterous than the idea of giving away the entire content of the newspaper online for free. If I recall, when I heard about each my reaction was “WTF?

Jeff Girod
I remember the “demonstration” at our office. The CueCat representative only had to scan the bar code about 30 times. Finally she gave up and said, “Uh, this will all work flawlessly once we start printing them in the paper.”

Carrie Hartman McDermott
Jeff, i remember we all shook our heads and asked “why do people need this??”

Randy Eli Grothe
As a device to save newspapers, it made a pretty good putter. At the DMN [Dallas Morning News], we had a photog who could take an aluminum shaft and the Cuecat and fashion a putter for presentation to retiring members of the department. Fore!

Curt Chandler
As the emergence of the QR code shows, the Cue Cat wasn’t complete idiocy, just introduced as a bridge between the wrong platforms. It was an expensive lesson, though.

* (10/12/2000) Walt Mossberg: CueCat fails to meet promise of being convenient, useful
* (9/6/2001) Belo dumps the CueCat after investing $37.5 million in it
* (4/10/2003) CueCat founder changes name to J. Hutton Pulitzer

.@carr2n says @rupertmurdoch gets Twitter. Yet he’s following only 19 and almost never links to anything. nyti.ms/wZHj1h

— Dan Kennedy (@dankennedy_nu) January 30, 2012

Re criticism of @carr2n piece on @rupertmurdoch; @ConanOBrien follows 1 person, doesn’t RT. No one says COB doesn’t “get” Twitter.

— Rob Tannenbaum (@tannenbaumr) January 30, 2012

* David Carr: Murdoch says what’s on his mind on Twitter

New York hedge fund Alden Global Capital — one of 32 investors that acquired the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News in 2010 — wants to unload its stake in the newspapers’ parent company, according to the New York Post. A spokesman for the papers tells the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Mike Armstrong: “It would not be appropriate for Philadelphia Media Network to comment on a decision that Alden Global is making about their business.” Armstrong writes:

Private companies do not have to disclose when major shareholders increase or decrease ownership stakes. But such activity often occurs. And in general, a single minority shareholder controls only its shares and cannot, by itself, force an entire private company to be sold.

Meanwhile, the New York Times points out today that investors acquired newspapers in several major U.S. cities in the second half of 2011, including San Diego, Omaha and Chicago. Alden bought Journal Register Co. last July.

* Hedger pausing on print, reports New York Post
* Inquirer, Daily News cold be headed for sale
* Online ambitions and a dash of real estate drive newspaper deals

Texas journalist Jeremy Pafford recalls his only face-to-face meeting with Rick Perry. It was in 1998, and the then-agriculture commissioner wanted to know, “Where’s the Aggie?” — referring to the reporter who usually covered him.

Pafford explains his colleague’s absence:

-- Texas Monthly cover

That reporter, while working on his graduate degree, was working with chemicals in a lab that somehow made him sick, and he didn’t recover. He unexpectedly died, leaving behind a pregnant wife. It was a tragic reminder of how short our time on Earth can be, and now a month or so later I was breaking that news to our ag commissioner.

“Um, Mr. Perry, he unfortunately died about a month ago,” is what I remember starting out saying. Perry asked for some details, and I did the best I could, but the conversation derailed whatever the light-hearted ceremony was I was assigned to cover. Everything was off-script from there, and Perry isn’t good at going off-script — as everyone in the country now knows.

* A veteran Texas newsman on Rick Perry’s awkward ending

Adam Lashinsky discussed his new book, “Inside Apple,” during a stop at LinkedIn headquarters. During the Q&A, a former Apple employee had some observations and questions for the author and Fortune magazine writer. Some excerpts:

Audience member: It’s clear that Apple’s culture is very homogeneous.

Adam Lashinsky: Homogeneous in what way?

AM: The talent is very much alike. In fact I did work for Apple for about six years, and I could tell just — it’s sad, but just by looking at someone whether they were going to be a good fit for the company or not during the interview.

AL: Based on the 43 minutes I’ve spoken so far. how am I doing?

AM:Very, very well — very accurate.”

More from the Lashinsky/ex-Apple employee exchange:

AM: Even [Apple CEO] Tim Cook has so much charisma that he could certainly be our next president. I can say that very, very confidently.

AL: You mean of the United States?

AM: Yes.

AL: The only thing I would disagree is I don’t think he has the political chops to put up with the BS that politicians have to put up with.

Also:

AL: For 14 years there was only one ego that really mattered at Apple, and that was Steve Jobs’. This is true, I assume, in the middle of the organization — it’s very true at the highest ends of the organization — for a senior Apple executive it’s very bizarre: anywhere else they would be famous people. They might have their own PR person, they would have their own budget to do this sort of thing and they don’t.

* Watch the full 50-minute Lashinsky talk/Q&A at LinkedIn HQ