Just wanted to give you the update.

Jim and Margery are the only male-female talk team on Boston Radio. Jim also has his own TV show on NECN. It’s interesting that King picked the station, which has a wide reach in New England.

At the time of the bombings in Boston, I was in the city working with reporters, anchors, and management at two properties of NBC Universal’s Sports Group, including New England Cable News, the largest regional cable news network in the U.S. Watching the story unfold, and witnessing the reaction of the citizens of the Boston area, was an exercising in examining fear, anxiety and undaunted courage.

A few days later, I returned to Philadelphia.

What happened at that point was an episode that was hardly courageous, and extremely unwise. When CNN, and others reported that there was a suspect in custody on Thursday of last week, the people of New England were relieved. The Associated Press wire service and Fox News followed with the same story. The CNN reporter John King reported the story and Wolf Blitzer broadcast it with energy and abandon.

The story was wrong.

A lot of people have criticized the cable networks in different ways, but really got to the point which is all about public safety. While NBC, ABC, and CBS didn’t fall for the bait, CNN continued its report, until it was denied by the local and federal law.

CNN backtracked, and never really offered contrition.

What’s the real point of all of this? For hours, the people of New England were led to believe there was a suspect. And therein lies the danger of taking reporting risks in the middle of a civil emergency. Was it worth it? Did the CNN report lead people to let down their guard, and believe the crisis was over?

Obviously, John King’s sources were not correct, nor was the casual backing off by the network on a story fraught with dangers, especially the danger of thinking the crisis might have been over.

I’ve said for years that information is dangerous business. Nowhere is it more dangerous than during a terrorist attack, or any emergency where good, solid information is so important to the public’s well being.

And then I remember the words of Blitzer during the Newtown massacre, when he kept using saying, “We hear.” “We hear”. “We hear that the death toll is…
We hear that…” How many people did he scare on that nightmarish day?

In the news business, we don’t casually “hear” in the middle of a clear and present danger. In the news business, we report, not based on hearsay, but on facts.

NBC, CBS and ABC obviously preferred to be second on the story and correct than first and wrong.

That is what credibility is all about. Being first, with bad information, can be deadly.

CNN should investigate how sources are used and whether John King shared his sources with his bosses.

We can be polished, charismatic and smooth. But our credibility is based not only on the truth, but our compassion for the people we serve.

It was 49 years ago , Feb 7, 1964, that the Beatles landed in New York. Things have not been the same since. Two days later, they appeared on the first of three Ed Sullivan shows. Their performance, live and in black and white, was stunning. They were such a great stage band.  Their renditions guaranteed that they would return in the summer of 1964 for the most spectacular tour in music history. I would travel to every stop on their first two American tours.

But a few days after the Sullivan show, I stood on the tarmac at Miami International Airport as they arrived  for a few days off.  Behind me glass was shattering from the force of young girls and boys who had filled the terminals. They walked off the plane with the other passengers, and a few hours later, I attended a rather small news conference with them at a Miami Beach hotel. It was strange. Only a few reporters showed up. Most of the press corps viewed them as an aberration, a bunch of long-haired pretenders who didn’t have much talent.

I was perplexed. Was this some freak show? What did those kids know that I didn’t know? It was all weird and yet there was a sense oi change, but I didn’t know where it was going.

At the News Conference, John Lennon was very funny. Paul was Paul – smoothie all the way. The other two were quiet. I didn’t know what to ask. Finally I said, “What do you hope to accomplish?”  Was that a stupid question, but I never interviewed a rock band and especially one with all that hair. Lennon responded, “Hope to accomplish…are you daft?” Daft I learned later was a British expression for being crazy. I replied, “No, are you”. And he said with a neat smile, “Yes, thats why I’m so successful and why I was kicked out of school.” I said, “Really.” He looked at the other guys, and said, “This guy is a nerd from the fifties.”

He would repeat that comment when I started traveling across North America with them in the Summer. It was a magic relationship. They loved my intensity. I smiled at their comments.  We were total opposites, but it worked.

Did I know that they would be legends? Absolutely not. But a wise person, who saw them on Sullivan told me so. My Mother, who would pass away later that year, summed it up. “Larry”, she said, “Larry, who told you that Elvis would be a star.”

“You did Mom.”

“These boys will be bigger than Elvis.”

She never lived to hear my reports from the Beatles tour. But she was right. They became bigger than Elvis and just about every one who recorded music over the last 49 years.

Moral of the story. Never minimize the news you cover. You never know when a story that looks strange, weird and unimportant, will turn out so big that it woud change your career and your outlook on life. Its also a story that eventually brought me to Philadelphia, where I would spend the last 47 years.

Where does the White House stand? Does the President have the innards to argue his case more vigorously to the American people? He seems, so far at least,  kind and gentle, while the 38 House members who are holding up the train, are not going to compromise any time soon. The President, who appears to admire the Abe Lincoln playbook. might also study the hammer-like styles of LBJ, or The Gipper.

CORBETT – ON THE ROPES?

Sources in the Pa. Republican party say that Governor Tom Corbett has three months to make an image turnaround, before potential Democratic candidates go on the attack and seriously threaten a second term.. Corbett is plagued by very poor press relations, an inability to stay on message, and reports of what are legal but questionable trips provided by campaign supporters. It is not unusual for Governors to face mid-term blues but Corbett  has several problematic issues: major cutbacks in education funding, a failure to properly tax the natural gas industry , and his uncharacteristically extreme  right-wing  stand on gun control and Obamacare.

Personally, the Governor is a fairly warm and effusive personality, but the public rarely sees that side of him. It t0ok him almost two years to appear on news/talk programs in the Philadelphia area. He first appeared on my Voice of Reason program in the summer of this year, a full 18 months into his term.

In truth, the Governor’s imagery, and approval ratings are his own fault. He needs to fix those problems fast if he really wants a second term.

Final note: I’m not getting into his decisions as Attorney General in the Penn State case. Until proven otherwise, there is no evidence whatsoever that he conducted himself inappropriately.

SCHOOL BLUES AGAIN?

The hiring of a CFO for the troubled Philadelphia Schools is a bit of history repeating itself. If there WAS an appearance of impropriety in his past record, the Governor , The Mayor and the commission should investigate it now. Arlene Ackerman was a troubling force in her school tenure, although her issue was all about personality and management style.  The former Superintendent burned bridges. Let’s hope the new CFO vetted. The kids of Philadelphia have been short-circuited for too long. The guy must be checked out immediately. Maybe the new schools boss wanted to drop this story in advance of a holiday weekend when no one was paying attention.

A MESSAGE TO POLITICAL BLOGS OF EVERY STRIPE

Stop reporting surveys that are bogus. Why is a Republican or Democrat leaning poll so important? The Susquehanna poll in Pa. was used to drum up financial support for Tom Smith in the Senate Race, and for Mitt Romney’s last push in Pa. What a waste of money! If a poll is constantly flawed, it should be ignored.  Any pollster is free to ply his or her trade. But not all polls are respected.

The pollsters were right, except for the notoriously pro-Democrat and pro-Republican pollsters who dirtied up the averages. The Susquehanna Poll in Pa. was a joke. I hope the Romney campaign didn’t rely on this poll to spend 7 million dollars in the state. Putting Tom Smith one point behind Bob Casey helped unload some money from Tom’s bank account.

The candidates, The President and Governor Romney, were better than their handlers. This election was so toxic, and divided so many people with phony accusations on both sides. I can’t believe how angry people were getting. Both Obama and Romney were demonized. It was out-of-control.

Joe Biden took a lot of heat, but he is a great campaign closer. Compared to Paul Ryan, he was a giant. Ryan’s closing shot that the President was oblivious to Judeo-Christian ethics, was a clear shot across the bow, a signal that the President, according to Ryan, was different from “real” Americans. Sarah Palin would have been proud.

Conversely, the Obama campaign’s attacks on Romney were way too personal. We know Romney is wealthy, but no one is as evil and uncaring as he was portrayed.

Finally, I am amazed at the cool of Mr. Obama, considering the way he was attacked. And Romney did a wonderful job of keeping his composure.

The candidates fought hard.

The election is over.

The biggest task is to force the Republicans and Democrats to find some common ground. We can’t take any more of the ugly ways of Washington politics.

The election was ugly. It’s time for a new mood, where we can tolerate each other’s differences.

The latest numbers, all averages of polls, underscore the tightness of this contest. In the battleground states Romney leads in three – Florida by one point two percent, Virginia .5 , North Carolina 3.8.  Obama leads in these states:  Pa 4.6, Nevada 2.7 , New Hampshire 1.8,  Iowa 2 percent, Minnesota 5 percent, Michigan 3.5,  the big one Ohio 2.7, Paul Ryan’s  Wisconsin  5 percent, and his smallest lead one percent in Colorado. It looks like he has the edge but the truth is that with margins of error, all these polls could  may have a different ending on election night. After two billion dollars of campaign spending,and a year of campaigning, the real poll is set for Tuesday.

And guess what?

After being written off by the Romney campaign in August , Pennsylvania is now a battleground according to the Romney campaign checkbook. In the last three days and the coming two an estimated 7 million dollars will be spent by the Romney campaign in a state where Barack Obama holds a 4 point 6 percent average lead.

Look at the ghosts of elections past, the overtime contest of 2000, the 2004 thin win by George W, and this one looks very similar close to the end. I think the Romney campaign sees a very narrow path to 270 electoral votes, and believes that Pennsylvania is now a must win.

Of course what I think is not a factor.

It is what you think that counts. And you have your shot on Tuesday.

His first setback was in 1967, when he ran for Mayor and lost by 9 thousand voters to powerful Philadelphia Mayor James Tate. The fact that a Republican could get so close to the Mayor’s seat in those days was unheard of, but Specter was popular, and defeat hardly unhinged him. He was reelected as DA in 1969, and continued  as a  fearless prosecutor, until a surprise defeat in 1973. The years that followed were interesting, a race for Senate, a race for Governor, both unsuccessful. As politicians are known to do, he was given up for dead politically, until he was elected to the Senate in 1980.

In five terms, Arlen Specter was more independent than any Senator alive. He stood against his party as is it became more conservative. He doomed the nomination of Robert Bork for the Supreme Court, grilled Anita Hill aggressively in the Clarence Thomas hearings, plus so many other moments of pure grit that no one could ever label Arlen Specter, ever. He became a master of the Senate, and a pure provider to Pennsylvania, bringing home the federal aid in giant amounts. He became the Senate’s number one expert on Syria. They could really use him today! He made medical research a hallmark of American public life with his support of the National Institutes of Health. He supported the concept of public health, but railed against the Clinton Health plan.

All of his elections were a challenge, except for one, in 1986. I was moderator at several of his debates. He was a tough debater and would freak out his opponents with a stare and that lawyers delivery.

Privately, he was a much different story. He and his wife brought up a wonderful family, two sons, and four grandchildren. Although he could seem cocky, there was a wonderful sense of humor, but a disregard for the superficial. He could be ornery, but he was also extremely passionate about the needs of people, an old school respect for the power of government.

In my career, he lasted longer professionally than anyone I covered, and as the years progressed, our careers and lives paralleling each other’s, we came to know each other very well.  All of us who came in contact with him were amazed at his durability, his intensity, and his life’s commitments that seemed never-ending.

He was, by any standard, one of the most courageous politicians in our recent history, and a man, by the highest standards, who, right or wrong, fought for what he thought was right.

Can we ask for more from the people who serve us?

First and foremost, the Defense Secretary’s dire warning about Iran’s capacity to stage a cyber attack on the United States. This is serious business. The “hearing hungry” Congress should hold hearings on this issue as soon as it returns from its election recess. And the United States should retaliate quickly against known hacker targets. This is a national security priority of the highest level.

The Taliban. The organization that helped to plot the attack on America targeted a 14 year old girl in Pakistan because she had the courage to speak out on women’s rights. She was shot. She survived. The Taliban leadership now says she will be targeted again until she is dead. Point? The Afghan government has talked of negotiating with the Taliban to end the war. If that happens, we should get our troops out quickly, and let the ungrateful governments of Afghanistan and  Pakistan try to defend themselves. The target date for the stand down is 2014. Any appeasement of the Taliban should be greeted with defiance by the United States.

Crime in Philadelphia. We are getting numb to the killings again. It has become so matter of fact. We’ve got a really good Police Commissioner in Philadelphia. but we need a stronger outreach by City Council to all the neighborhoods, including Center City. The Mayor has spoken out aggressively about people rising up against crime. It is time for a stronger citywide campaign against violent crime, crime that impacts people’s lives everyday, and threatens the economic progress of Philadelphia.

The Race for Attorney General. This is one of the most ignored races, yet so important. The Pennsylvania race between Republican David Freed and Democrat Kathleen Kane is too important to pass up. The elected Attorney General enforces state and local laws, and should be discouraged from playing politics with the office. Read about it. Find out about the candidates. This is very important.