Off camera in a Roanoke TV studio, one of Paul Ryan’s aides told WDBJ7 reporter Orlando Salinas: “They budgeted five minutes for this [interview] but we find that really isn’t enough time. So we’re going to give you six, but let’s be nice about it. Six means six.”

Thanks so much for that extra minute!

* Paul Ryan enjoys a grand tradition, the softball TV chat (latimes.com)
* Paul Ryan’s one on one interview (wdbj7.com)

Going to add “Posting a graphic photo” to my list of things NYT is taken to task for that no one else gets guff about.

— Michael Roston (@michaelroston) August 24, 2012

Romenesko readers have been emailing me about the Empire State Building shooting photo that appeared for a while on New York Times’ home page. Matt Mendelsohn writes:

I’ve never seen such a graphic photo published, especially when the caption just says “victim.” Is it the shooter or innocent victim? Couldn’t they have waited to find out, or made it clearer in caption who this was. (Presumably they didn’t know who it was at the time.) But if it was the shooter’s intended target, how do you explain publishing this to that victim’s family? And if it’s the shooter, still kind of graphic for the NYT front, no?

I’ve asked the Times to comment.

UPDATE: Here is what a newspaper spokesperson says:

It is an extremely graphic image and we understand why many people found it jarring. Our editorial judgment is that it is a newsworthy photograph that shows the result and impact of a public act of violence.

* NYT’s Nick Bilton: “The image …is incredibly intense and graphic” | Larger view
* Read the comments on my Facebook wall

Related:
* Instagram photo at shooting provides window into dirty underbelly of photo licensing (wbez.com)

Earlier this month I wrote about Tucson journalist Michael McKisson turning on his television set and seeing his video used — without permission or credit — on a KOLD-TV newscast. He told Romenesko readers on August 13: “I have sent an email to the news director with an invoice attached for the use of the video footage. I billed them $300. I figured a decent rate was $100 per hour and I worked at least 3 hours shooting, editing and posting the video.”

This morning I asked McKisson, who runs the Tucson Velo site, if the check was in the mail. He sent this:

* Tucson journalist bills TV station after seeing his video in a news report

* John Cassidy on Gawker’s Bain Files: “Despite the lack of a single earth-shattering scoop, the documents are interesting and well worth posting online.” (newyorker.com)
* Howard Weaver’s memoir of the Alaska newspaper war is a free Kindle download today and tomorrow. (writeharddiefree.com) | Download it here
* “My grandmother insists on calling newspapers and trying to get me a job.” (reddit.com)
* Smithsonian hopes readers will think “smart and playful” when they see the magazine’s redesign. (Adweek.com)
* Twitter and the Empire State Building shooting. (pandodaily.com)
* A new sense of urgency surrounding Time Inc. and its push to capture digital dollars. (nypost.com)
* Tina Brown has turned Newsweek into a media freak show, says Jon Friedman. (marketwatch.com)
* Minneapolis Star Tribune’s longform experiment pays off. (paidContent.org)
* Hal Rubenstein takes a new role at InStyle magazine. (wwd.com)
* Current TV to turn half the screen over to Twitter during the conventions. (AdAge.com)

(Credit: Los Angeles Times)

Highlights from the just-released USC Annenberg-Los Angeles Times Poll on Politics and the Press:

* More than half of voters (58%) say they watch local television news broadcasts daily; older Americans are far more likely than younger voters to rely on television for their news.

* Thirty-nine percent of voters read their local newspaper in print or online each day.

* Thirty-five percent of voters watch the national nightly network news each day and 16 percent read a national newspaper like USA Today, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times daily, either in print or online.

* Voters are more likely to tune in to NPR on a daily basis (19%) than conservative talk shows like the Rush Limbaugh Show (12%).

* One in four voters get their news on a daily basis from Facebook, while 19% of voters get news on a daily basis directly from MSNBC; 21% from CNN; and 33% from Fox News.

* Forty percent of voters say the media are too liberal, 29% says it’s ideologically balanced and 13% think the news media skew conservative.

* Among Republicans, 70% say the media are too liberal; 20% of Democrats believe the media are too conservative.

* Forty-seven percent of Republicans and 50% of conservatives watch Fox News on a daily basis; just 30% of Democrats and 31% of liberals watch MSNBC daily.

* Local TV news comes out on top as the most trustworthy source of news. On a scale of 0 (no trust) to 10 (completely trust), voters give local TV news a mean score of 6.6. Local newspapers earned a mean score of 6.2, and national newspapers like USA Today, the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times earned a 6.0 mean score.

* Voters still tuned in to traditional news media, especially local TV (latimes.com)

Freelance journalist and Georgetown law student Austin Tice, 31, has been reporting from Syria for several news outlets, including McClatchy, the Washington Post, CBS News, and Al Jazeera English. He hasn’t been heard from since tweeting 13 days ago.

“We’re focused intensively on trying to ascertain his whereabouts and ensure his safe return,” says Washington Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli. “Austin is a talented and courageous journalist whose work has helped to shape the world’s understanding of this humanitarian and political crisis.”

Houston Chronicle’s Mike Tolson writes:

Tice apparently was hoping to secure full-time employment with a news organization. On his LinkedIn page, he touted what he could offer: “I can write, film, snap and speak, so if your organization is looking for an all-in-one crisis correspondent willing to get the stories others won’t, call me. I speak passable Spanish and I’m slowly getting there with Arabic. I’m not so great behind a desk.”

* Houston journalist missing in war-torn Syria (chron.com) | @Austin_Tice
* Washington Post: Tice provided “important, on-the-ground reporting” in Syria (washingtonpost.com)
* Tice on July 25: “No, I don’t have a death wish – I have a life wish.” (washingtonpost.com)

You have to register for a free Journal account to use the Wi-Fi, available through September. Here’s the Journal’s release:

The Wall Street Journal announced today it is offering free Wi-Fi through September in more than 1,300 hotspots throughout New York City and San Francisco. Labeled “The Wall Street Journal WiFi,” the network is now available in nearly 70% of Manhattan, including many of the city’s most highly trafficked neighborhoods such as Times Square, Union Square, and the West Village, as well as some areas in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. Washington Square, Nob Hill, and Fisherman’s Wharf are among the neighborhoods in San Francisco where the wireless network is also available.

To access the Journal’s Wi-Fi, new users and print subscribers must register for a free Wall Street Journal account. Current Journal digital subscribers and existing free registered users of WSJ.com can use their existing online log-in credentials to access the network.

Willamette Week announced on Thursday that it was buying Durham, N.C.-based Independent Weekly. The Portland alt’s story on the deal pointed out that “the purchase comes at a time when newspapers –including alternative weeklies — continue to suffer a long-term decline in advertising revenue and print circulation.”

I asked Willamette Week editor and co-owner Mark Zusman if he’d tell Romenesko readers more about the deal. Here’s what he said:

Why Independent Weekly?
There are a few alt-weeklies that interest us and the Indy has always been high on the list. It’s situated in a great market, filled with readers who care about local news. Moreover, the paper — under the leadership of Steve Schewel — has the kind of DNA that we are attracted to — a longstanding committment to enterprise journalism and a desire to make the significant interesting. We hope to continue that arc.

Will he become the Warren Buffett of alt-weeklies and buy more papers?
We have no specific plans to acquire any other weeklies, but [WW publisher] Richard [Meeker] and I have a lot of energy and enthusiasm for what we do,

Mark Zusman

neither of us play golf, and we both agree strongly with whoever it was who said that socially, journalists fit somewhere between a whore and bartender but spiritually, he (or she) stands with Galileo. And I can’t think of another time in recent history that was more in need of Galileos.

As to the state of alt-weeklies: like daily newspapers, there is both a range of quality and a range of financial stability. All of us are engaged in a pivot, where we are trying to change the business model, diversify the revenue base, hang on and grow readership and stay true to our ideals. It’s not easy, but its doable and perhaps more so for alt-weeklies that are dedicated to local, local, local.