Letter to Romenesko

From BRUCE LAMBERT, former New York Times reporter: Years ago, while scrolling through old New York Times microfilms on a totally different topic, I was startled to come across the following multi-decked headline:

The publication date was June 22, 1895.

What followed under that heading was a story explaining that despite watermelon’s popularity among blacks, their consumption was NOT the cause of rising prices.

The article appeared to rebut an unstated premise (a rumor, a myth, a claim, an editor’s wrong hunch?) that melon-eating Negroes were driving up the cost in a supply/demand dynamic.

An unintentional self-parody of Times preoccupation with details, the story laboriously estimates the number of Negroes in NY, the number of railroad cars carrying watermelon (70 cars in July and August), the number of melons per car (1,100), an equal number of melons imported by steamship, and the average pounds per melon (25), then calculates how much of that total melon supply was consumed by Negroes.

It further speculates that Negroes working at restaurants and boarding houses consumed some melon in the workplace, so they weren’t buying directly.

Some Negroes were too poor to afford melon, the article says.

And – this is a real howler – some were too young:

“Out of the 23,6000 colored people in the city, at least 2,000 are under the melon-eating age,” The Times reported, “since the inventor has not yet come forward who has discovered a method of liquefying melons for use in feeding bottles.”

Too soon for watermelon smoothies, I guess.

Well, read the whole for yourself and be prepared for serial eye-rolling.

The story is oddly tagged under a short on street mapping. To find it in Times online archives, go to the “All Since 1851″ time frame and use these search terms: “watermelon, Negroes, map.”

Click on the first item, about annexed streets. A pdf file pops up with a picture of the watermelon story appended to the street map story.

[HERE'S THE LINK]

And for a real cultural eye-opener, search simply for “watermelon, Negroes” and find all sorts of stories on things like watermelon theft, a boy who jumped into the water with a melon and drowned, and a 1925 feature on “Darkies” and watermelon.

Texas Student Media, which includes the University of Texas newspaper, radio and television stations, and humor publications, has long been funded by Daily Texan ad dollars.

But…

As the print apocalypse continues ravaging the industry, the student newspaper has become a shell of its former cash-generating juggernaut. Advertising, distribution, and especially the classifieds revenue has all but evaporated. This bedrock of the TSM infrastructure used to pay 88% of the bills, but now, as The Daily Texan struggles, so too does the rest of UT’s student media.

THE NUMBERS:
The Daily Texan
Total Revenue 2012: $1,546,703
Total Loss: $224,529

KVRX
Total Revenue 2012: $131,522.
Total Loss: $13,401

TSTV
Total Revenue 2012: $174,267.
Total Gain: $18,137

Texas Travesty
Total Revenue 2012: $34,561.
Total Loss: $1,835.

The Texan reported in March that its advertising revenue fell from $2,326,411 for the 2007-2008 fiscal year, to $1,352,632 for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

The Austin Chronicle’s Luke Winkie writes: “Blame lies everywhere, of course: from an excess glut of publications to a lack of grassroots community support, and the sabotaging presence of the internet.”

* Daily Texan loses $225,000 so far this year (College Media Matters)
* U. of Texas student radio station avoids the chopping block — for now (Austin Chronicle)
* “The model is broken. We’re going to have to find a new one.” (Daily Texan)

COLLEGE MEDIA STAFFERS AND ADVISERS: HOW DID YOU DO THIS YEAR?

Ten things we learn about Business Insider blogger Joe Weisenthal from Binyamin Appelbaum’s New York Times Magazine profile:

* He wakes up around 4 a.m. and sends his first tweet, which is usually: What’d I miss?”
* He tweets about 150 times daily to over 19,000 followers.
* He works a 16-hour day and writes about 15 posts in that time.
* At 31, he’s “still a bit baby-faced, is funny, omnivorous and well versed in the mechanics of the economy.”
* Although incredibly intense, Weisenthal “is easygoing in conversation, though he rarely stops fidgeting with his cellphone.”
* “He rarely makes phone calls. His phone almost never rings.”
* He dreams about jobs numbers.
* He’s not putting on an act, say acquaintances.
* His bosses are concerned about burnout. (“We ensure that he takes his vacations.”)
* His wife of six years tries to prevent him from tweeting while they eat.

* Joe Weisenthal vs. the 24-hour news cycle
* Earlier: Weisenthal named Talking Biz News Business Journalist of the Year

WHAT THEY’RE TWEETING ABOUT THE PROFILE:
* “Joe Weisenthal… meet Mike Allen.” (Ben Williams)
* “Oh yes, huge congrats to my wonderful, genius, over-tweeting husband on his @nytimes.com profile.” (Brooke Moreland)
* “At no point during the editing process of this great @bcappelbaum profile of @thestalwart did I start to feel less lazy.” (Greg Veis)
* “Why @TheStalwart would make perfect Cable anchor. ‘I don’t think it harms your credibility to take a strong stand.’” (Jonathan Wald)
* “Someone who sleeps less than I do…” (Anthony De Rosa)