Hearing that average reading rates worldwide are going down is not a surprise. According to a report by ZenithOptimedia, by the end of 2017 the time spent reading worldwide will have fallen 29 per cent since 2010, to just 7.3 minutes per day. Average American readers, for example, are only reading 19 minutes per day. When you compare that to digital video consumption, over 300 million Americans watch 1 billion hours of YouTube videos per day.

These figures show how videoblogging or video marketing is gaining prominence and how more companies should incorporate it into their content marketing plans. Today, I will discuss how cost-efficient videoblogging could help your business.

Videoblogging is usually where a business owner or a team member talks to the camera and discusses solutions to potential customers. It is personal and less heavily edited.

For example, we work on creating and promoting different types of content for one of my clients, and over the last year, we have seen how more and more clients are engaging with digital video content, as opposed to other content in written or photographic form. As a result, our focus has completely shifted to sharing our content in a short, condensed, digital video format that is promoted across their channels. In doing so, we have witnessed an increase in business sales. Clients were able to connect more with the business owner, hear him personally discuss tips, and also see his humorous side.

What is great about video blogging is that it connects brands to people. In the case of a doctor, it could be used to address issues that patients deal with. The doctor could show potential patients how to best prepare the skin before a laser hair removal treatment. For make-up brands, a video could share a tutorial on how to apply products to achieve desired results. In the case of technology, an expert could demonstrate how to install a programme, or how to deal with a malfunction if it arises.

Now let’s talk about equipment. The good thing is that you do not need to invest in much. You can start with your laptop or phone camera hooked to a mic. But if you want to produce quality video that gets noticed, then invest in a DSLR camera. Prices range from under US$400 to $3,000 depending on the quality and technology you want. As for lighting, natural lighting is best, however, what most video bloggers invest in are Diva Ring lights, which can be bought for under $200.

As for sharing the videos, you can upload them on to your YouTube channel or directly to other social media platforms. If you are active on Instagram for instance, then it is best to dir­ectly upload it there instead of redirecting users to other websites. Remember to keep the video short instead of dividing it across three or four videos.

Now on to the fun stuff – what should you create? Remember that video blogging is about connecting your brand to your clients. If you run a big company then it is good to do short interviews, or do a « day in the life » video of different team members.

Perhaps you could take your viewers behind the scenes or show how the products are made in a factory. Other tips that would work for both small and large businesses include covering a mix of the following: how-to videos related to your business, interviews with experts in your company, stories of how you built the company or came up with a product idea, or customer testimonials.

Do not stress too much about coming up with content ideas –simply play around these themes. As for editing and how to best shoot your videos, I advise checking out how others in the field are doing it and what format they are following.

Today viewers are used to fast videos with lots of movement and changes of scenery, so keep that in mind. Practise, practise, practise, and when you are ready, just hit the record button.

Video blogging is great for businesses to connect to other businesses, as well as to consumers. It provides clients with a better insight into the brand. It could also help convert potential customers to loyal clientele. It is all about perspective, and nothing feels better than a personal approach.

Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer who manages a branding and marketing consultancy in Abu Dhabi. Twitter: @manar_alhinai

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Warner Bros. and DC delivered an action packed and buzzworthy first trailer for Justice League, the biggest glimpse fans have received since the preview footage from last year’s San Diego Comic-Con. There’s plenty to see in the new footage, and now you can get a closer look in a massive Justice League gallery.

While everyone is covered at some point, special mention goes to Ray Fisher’s Cyborg, who is heavily featured in the trailer and in the images. He’s seen at one point with a hood over his head, likely taking place before he stops a vehicle from hitting some bystanders. He’s also shown using his extensive arsenal against a Parademon, and can also be seen using a new helmet as he flies high into the sky.

Aquaman also gets a few spotlight stealing moments, most of which involve Batman in some way. He still stuns though as he flies high into the air and takes out a few Parademons, but he isn’t the only one who does so. Wonder Woman also flies in to save the day, and the Flash can also be seen going one on one with a Parademon.

Hit the gallery to see all 63 images, and you can view the official synopsis for Justice League below. Justice League currently has a 4.08 out of 5 on ComicBook.com’s anticipation rankings.

In Justice League, fueled by his restored faith in humanity and inspired by Superman’s selfless act, Bruce Wayne enlists the help of his newfound ally, Diana Prince, to face an even greater enemy. Together, Batman and Wonder Woman work quickly to find and recruit a team of metahumans to stand against this newly awakened threat. But despite the formation of this unprecedented league of heroes—Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg and The Flash—it may already be too late to save the planet from an assault of catastrophic proportions.

Justice League is directed by Zack Snyder, from a screenplay by Chris Terrio, and features an ensemble cast that includes Ben Affleck (Batman), Henry Cavill (Superman), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Ezra Miller (The Flash), Jason Momoa (Aquaman), Ray Fisher (Cyborg), Ciarán Hinds (Steppenwolf), Amy Adams (Lois Lane), Diane Lane (Martha Kent), Jeremy Irons (Alfred Pennyworth), J.K. Simmons (Commissioner Gordon), Amber Heard (Mera), Kiersey Clemons (Iris West) and Jesse Eisenberg (Lex Luthor).

DC and Warner Bros. have a full slate ahead, with Teen Titans: The Judas Contract coming first on April 4, 2017. After that it’s time for Wonder Woman on June 2, 2017, followed by Justice League on November 17, 2017. The Batman is expected sometime in 2018, with The Flash debuting on March 23, 2018. Aquaman is set for October 5, 2018, and Nightwing’s solo feature is due sometime in 2019.

MORE JUSTICE LEAGUE: Zack Snyder Dishes On Team’s Awesome Chemistry / What The Director Has To Say About Superman’s Role / 5 Best Moments From The New Justice League Trailer

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Though not a recently developed concept, virtual reality and 360 degree video marketing is now growing as a winsome tool that is getting hold of internet marketing by allowing viewers to have the control of what they see.

The concept of virtual reality and 360 degree video technology originated in 1995 and since then these videos have come a long way. They display a spherical scenario where the camera records a complete 360-degree view of moments and capture it via a photo or video.

The video sharing website Youtube introduced them in March 2015 and made them available for video advertisements a few months later. Though these videos are not new to social media, many companies are now embracing the new technology for their digital promotions strategies, producing videos that leave viewers amazed.

Google’s documentation of global Pride parades using 360 cameras

Coca-Cola virtual reality Christmas ride

•Virtual reality and 360 videos motivate viewers to watch and interact more.

•These videos have a higher click-through rate and viewers are more interested in checking out the full-length of videos.

•360 videos drive viewers to share, subscribe, and view other similar videos.

•360 video technology is ideal for newly launched brands and companies, as these videos not only make people want to watch but also share them.

•360 videos have approximately 30 pc higher repeated view rate.

•70 pc of marketers using 360 videos have witnessed a boost in engagement.

No matter whether you are a newbie or a well established brand, 360 degree videos are an ideal platform to attract your audience with interactive footages. Why invest in flat videos when you have the choice to show it with multiple perspectives?

For promotional corporate videos and social networking strategy solutions, contact Asiacom.

A growing number of advertisers have recently pulled their advertising business from Google’s video service YouTube after their ads ran with offensive and extremist content.

But how did those ads even wind up near such content? The answer: programmatic advertising.

Programmatic advertising is an automatic software-driven system for advertisers to pay in advance for ads to run across all manner of online content including social media, websites and video on computers and portable devices.

Much of the $83 billion expected to be spent on U.S. digital ads this year by research firm eMarketer — more than is spent on TV or any other media — is executed via programmatic.

« Everything is done instantaneously, billing and transactions are done in milliseconds across a massive ecosystem and trillions of impressions are delivered, » said Chris Loretto, executive vice president at Digital First Media, which participates in programmatic ad sales across the sites and apps of its 106 newspapers including The Denver Post and San Jose Mercury News. DFM also has Adtaxi, a digital marketing agency, that buys programmatic ads as well as delivers ads across search, social and email.

Related:

Google is tops in digital ad revenue, due to attract nearly 41% of all spending this year. Coming in at No. 2 is Facebook, expected to generate $16.3 billion, compared to the $33 billion Google is expected to get.

And YouTube is a growing digital ad sales generator for Google, expected to account for more than 10% of its total revenue, eMarketer estimates.

But YouTube faces a growing boycott — JPMorgan Chase was among the latest to join others including ATT, Verizon, Johnson Johnson — that could leave it and other major digital ad recipients scrambling for fixes to prevent major brands’ ads running on videos featuring white supremacists or the Islamic State. More than 250 organizations including McDonald’s, Toyota and the British government have halted their advertising on YouTube in the U.K., according to The Times, whose investigation triggered the boycott.

« Brands want to see some kind of accountability on their audience and they have this second issue that their ads are being seen in places they would prefer not, » said Miro Copic, a marketing expert at San Diego State University and co-founder of BottomLine Marketing.

How does programmatic advertising work?

Think of the system as akin to computerized trading on the stock market, it happens in milliseconds. Rather than, as in traditional media, with an advertiser choosing a particular network TV show or time block — or newspaper or magazine — a digital advertiser can tweak delivery of their ads to certain consumer demographics (age, sex, location), behaviors and other characteristics. « So this technology takes all the data and automates it, matching the buyer and the seller at prices that everybody is agreeable, » Loretto said.

How does an ad wind up on an offensive or extremist site?

Advertisers can target destinations for their ads based on topics and keywords already. But sometimes the customer demographics overlap with online content that can be offensive and a programmatic ad will be delivered to such a site. « Right now all the algorithms they have cannot guarantee to an advertiser that their ads won’t be on some kind of site that is problematic, » Copic said.

How can they fix it?

YouTube is working on the problem; it and other sites have technicians manually monitoring video content to prevent problem match-ups. But even as the boycott grows daily, its automated system continued to place ads from major brands, which has led to more companies including Coca-Cola, GM and Starbucks to pull ads from YouTube, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Part of the problem? YouTube is a network that showcases user-generated content, so the volume grows infinitely. When someone reports a problem, that video or content can be flagged and will automatically not have ads displayed. « It’s a very manual process, » Copic said.

The major players in the growing digital ad industry are « very focused around improving the ad ecosystem, » Loretto said. « But it’s not an easy answer to what might seem like an easy question.

Who wins in this situation?

Eventually, consumers will win because better ad delivery mechanisms will be developed. In the short term, competitors to Google and Facebook could have an opening to gain some digital ad sales. Yahoo, which delivers ads via search, mobile and video, or Microsoft, which offers search ads through its Bing network, « can go to those guys and say, ‘Look, we can provide you this information and this guarantee, » Copic said. « So it provides an opportunity for the other players. »

Possible losers?

The biggest players, Google’s YouTube and Facebook, have the most to lose. And they are already suffering lost revenue in the short-term. However, « if Google comes back quickly and says, ‘This is what we’re doing to do: A, B and C,’ I think the advertisers come back, » Copic said. « Maybe they don’t spend as much in the short-term, but they will get back to that spending level if Google is able to address the problem. »

Read more:

Follow USA TODAY reporter Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.

In this week’s ‘Skim: Apple launches a Snapchat-inspired video editing app; LinkedIn announces big news for its Sales Navigator, adds new retargeting tools; Foursquare plots to take over the world; YouTube phases out annotations; Instagram has a surprising influence on older users; and much more…

Skim for this week’s roundup!

1. Apple unveils video creation and sharing app

Apple might not be ready to take a full leap into social media, but what it unveiled last week could be called baby steps. The technology giant introduced Clips, a new, social-media-inspired video, photo, and music editing app on iOS that shares quickly and easily across social networks.

Why social-media-inspired? Users will be able to add filters, speech bubbles, shapes, emoji, and even « full-screen posters with animated background and customizable text. » Apple’s also added what it calls « Live Titles, » animated captions and titles based on what users say.

Finding leads on LinkedIn just got a bit easier for brands, with the social network announcing a new Enteprise Edition of its Sales Navigator, its lead-generation solution. The improvements include new customer relationship management integrations, with widgets for quick profile viewing shared within CRMs such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics.

For companies already using the Professional or Team editions of Sales Navigator, a LinkedIn spokesperson described the new Enterprise Edition as one for high-functioning sales organizations, as it now includes up to 50 InMails per month and TeamLink Extend, which lets anyone in your company opt in to share his/her LinkedIn network with TeamLink so that all employees can reach out to one another for introductions to prospects, even if the employees are not directly connected.

3. Others are trying, but Facebook is dominating social video

Gary Vaynerchuk said its video feature is a brand’s best friend, and now anew report from social analytics company Quintly shows that Facebook not only dominates video for marketing campaigns but also exemplifies the trend of siloed content’s becoming a thing of the past as social networks continue to integrate features copied from one another.

Among the brands studied that use video in their Facebook campaigns, 90% used native Facebook videos, whereas just 30% and 2% used YouTube and Vimeo, respectively. Facebook native videos—those uploaded directly to the platform—also garnered 186% more engagement than other formats, and they were shared 4.6 times more than others.

4. Foursquare is quietly plotting its takeover of the world

You might think of Foursquare as long gone from the social media space, but the company has other ideas. It recently announced Foursquare Analytics and, in the process, continued its transformation from a social media company to a location-data powerhouse.

Foursquare Analytics is essentially a dashboard of insights that lets companies see how they’re performing based on measurable, real-world visits. With 50 million monthly users around the globe, and 92% of consumer spending still taking place in the physical world, Foursquare argues the real world lacks features like cookies that make digital work and the company’s no-hardware-needed setup means brands can begin providing timely offers to consumers in new ways.

Foursquare Analytics from Foursquare on Vimeo.

5. LinkedIn to boost advertising using email addresses and website visits

Although it won’t be rolled out until November, we’ve got word of a new LinkedIn ad targeting program that will bring the professional social network more in step with other platforms’ modern advertising businesses.

LinkedIn will bring back the ability for marketers to retarget consumers who have visited their websites with ads on LinkedIn, as well as let them target consumers based on email addresses. These techniques are already employed by rivals including Facebook, Google, Twitter, and Pinterest, and will be a part of LinkedIn’s new « Matched Audiences » program.

6. Older users most influenced by Instagram ads

It turns out Instagram ads could be a surprisingly effective way to influence the decision-makers in organizations who ultimately decide to buy, or subscribe to, your B2B products or services. A new report from Influence.co finds that users 65-74 and 45-54 are the most likely to search out products after seeing promoted posts on the platform.

Though Instagram has certainly become more of a pay-to-play playground for brands, that might not be a bad thing—if the ROI is worthwhile.

7. YouTube to phase out annotations, focus on mobile-friendly features

You might use YouTube as a part of your social media strategy to better showcase your products and all they can do, but maybe you’re using the platform less effectively than you could. The Google-owned social video network is phasing out one of its oldest features, annotations, in favor of newer, mobile-first capabilities including end screens and cards.

Annotations let users place pop-up calls-to-action on the screen on a video, while cards place a discreet « information » symbol at the top right corner of videos that encourages users to click through to relevant websites. End screens are placed at the end of a video, and include several types of clickable overlay images that users can select to either visit a website, subscribe to the channel, or view another video.

Do you already use end screens and cards? If not, check out the video to see how to get started!

8. How much you can expect to pay for Instagram influencers

Influencers charge $271, on average, to share sponsored content on the platform and, while that cost varies significantly according to industry, it also is strongly correlated to audience size.

Have you thought about seeking out influencers in your field as a part of your social media strategy? A recent report from Influence.co and a great recap from MarketingProfs dives into what you can expect to pay, whether a male or female influencer will cost you more, the average number of followers you can expect your targeted influencers to have based on niche, and much more.

9. Facebook makes text posts more visual with background colors

Facebook began letting Android users spruce up text-only posts with background colors and larger text back in December, and now it appears the same feature is slowly rolling out to iOS users.

The capability lets users select a custom background color to place their text against in order to make the post more visual and engaging. If brands ever need to publish something without a video, GIF, or other visual to go along with it, they should certainly take note of this new way to enhance what might otherwise be a boring, uninspiring post.

10. Musical.ly, the social music app taking over, rolls out new features

It might be the greatest success story to come out of social media’s rush to video, but also one that your brand’s never even considered as an opportunity. We introduced you to Musical.ly, which lets users set their own videos to their favorite songs, back last May. As a reminder, the app’s highly engaged users spend an average of 13 minutes per day on the platform!

Worth noting is that Musical.ly, which now claims 40 million monthly active users, continues to innovate and launch new capabilities, like its latest duet feature. Moreover, the app’s user base has grown older: Whereas at the beginning of 2016 90% of the app’s user base was in the 13-24 demo, by September that number had fallen to 60%. In other words, the door is opening wider and wider to brand opportunities. Keep an eye on this one, folks.

11. We’ll wrap with Germany’s massive threat to Facebook and Twitter

The fight against fake news and online hate speech escalated dramatically last week, when the German parliament drafted legislation that could result in fines for the likes of Facebook and Twitter—up to €50 million—if they don’t remove blatantly illegal content within 24 hours. That could lead one to believe that the timing of news that Twitter suspended over 600,000 accounts accused of promoting terrorism in just the second half of 2016 alone wasn’t a coincidence.

The German parliament suggests that social media companies have long failed to address the problems of fake news and hate speech that live on their networks, but free speech advocates in the country are expected to push back against the new law. The German government’s move comes after Chancellor Angela Merkel raised concerns that fake news and bots could influence upcoming elections.

A Virginia judge helped tee up an argument likely to be fought all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court over President Donald Trump’s efforts to restrict travel to the U.S. from six predominantly Muslim countries.

U.S. District Judge Anthony Trenga in Alexandria on Friday denied a request to block Trump’s March 6 executive order, saying he’s not going to psychoanalyze the president for his motives in drafting the travel ban. That put Trenga at odds with other federal judges who have ruled the president’s past comments can be taken into account in determining whether he intended to discriminate against Muslims.

If the Supreme Court takes up Trump’s executive order, one question it’s likely to review is whether the directive is based on religious animus, said Tara Grove, a constitutional law professor at William Mary Law School in Virginia.
 
“One of the key questions will be whether the court should look only at the text of the executive order or whether it should consider other evidence, including statements that President Trump and others have made,” Grove said.

The win in Virginia is important symbolically for Trump, said Danielle McLaughlin, a lawyer at Nixon Peabody.

« This does give some teeth to his argument, at least in the court of public opinion, » McLaughlin said. « Trump has a direct line to the American people and there’s no question he’ll utilize the ruling to tell regular folks that his ban isn’t discriminatory. »

The judge found the challengers weren’t likely to win when their case is argued in court.

‘Nation’s Security’

“As the court correctly notes in its opinion, the president’s order falls well within his legal authority to protect the nation’s security,” White House spokesman Michael Short said in a statement. “We are confident the president’s fully lawful and necessary action ultimately will be allowed to move forward.”

Trump’s Words May Haunt Him as Travel Ban Appeal Promised

The Virginia case was brought by Linda Sarsour, a well-known Muslim activist from Brooklyn, New York, and national co-chair of the Women’s March on Washington that took place the day after Trump’s inauguration. The suit was the first that sought to use Trump’s recent public remarks against him in court, in addition to his comments about Muslims during the campaign.

The Justice Department cited the ruling Friday in a filing in Honolulu federal court, where a judge is set next week to consider whether his temporary ban should be made more permanent. The government claims Judge Trenga’s decision is evidence that the revised order succeeded in eliminating implications of religious discrimination.

Next Step

The government asked U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson to reject a preliminary injunction, the next step in Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin’s call for permanently blocking the executive order. If the judge issues an injunction, the Justice Department asked that it be limited to the section of the 15-page travel ban that prohibits new visa applicants from the six Muslim-majority countries. That would leave allow enforcement of a 120-day suspension of new applications for refugees.

Hawaii’s attorneys and opponents of the travel ban in other lawsuits argue Trump’s discriminatory intent was clear in his presidential campaign.

Gadeir Abbas, an attorney for the plaintiffs in Virginia, pointed to Trump’s remarks at a March 15 rally in Nashville, Tennessee, saying they showed the president’s real motive is a bias against Islam. That would violate the Constitution’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits any government preference for one religion over another.

He said “three times in 10 minutes, in front of thousands of people and with television cameras pointed in his face, that the new executive order is a watered-down version of the first, » which courts had said unfairly targeted Muslims, Abbas said.

Past Comments

A San Francisco appeals court, in reviewing Trump’s initial travel ban, said courts could consider the motivation behind the order. Judge Watson in Honolulu accepted the invitation and in blocking the enforcement of the travel ban found that a reasonable person would conclude that the revised order was issued with “a purpose to disfavor a particular religion.”

Trenga, the Virginia judge, disagreed.

Changes made from the first executive order to the second were substantial enough that the president’s past remarks don’t carry as much weight, Trenga said.

Suggesting otherwise would require “a psychoanalysis of the drafter’s heart of hearts,” the judge said.

Trump replaced his first order by dropping Iraq from a list of seven countries whose citizens are barred from entering the U.S. for 90 days. The revised order halted admissions of refugees for 120 days, but it no longer banned Syrian refugees indefinitely and didn’t favor Christians. Permanent legal residents, also known as green card holders, and travelers with a valid visa were exempt under the new order.

The bitter fight over the travel bans has become an early test of whether the president will be able to deliver on his campaign promises. Other than an early win in Boston, the administration has lost in courts across the country as technology companies, universities, civil-rights advocates and states including Washington, Hawaii and Minnesota challenged the directive.

Legal Issues in the Trump Travel Ban Fight: QuickTake Scorecard

The losses forced Trump to revise his initial executive order, signed one week after he was sworn in, though the new version — which he called “watered down” — has also been blocked by courts.

A Maryland judge put the 90-day ban on visas for people from the six nations on hold, reinforcing a broader ruling out of Hawaii which additionally blocked a longer ban regarding refugees. The decisions stopped the second order from ever taking effect.

Trump slammed the rulings, saying that they “make us look weak” and that the travel restrictions are needed to protect Americans from “radical Islamic terrorists.” The Justice Department said Trump has broad legal authority to regulate immigration.

Government Appeal

The government is appealing the Maryland judge’s ruling.

« We disagree with the result reached by the court” in Virginia, said Lee Gelernt, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who wasn’t involved in the case. “The issue is now before the Fourth Circuit, » he said in reference to the appeals court in Richmond, Virginia.

« It does not surprise me that a judge would defer to the president in such matters, » said Stephen Wasby, a legal scholar at the State University of New York in Albany who isn’t involved in the case and is critical of the travel ban. « This is immigration and foreign affairs, an area in which judges are more deferential to the executive. »

The Fourth Circuit may combine the Virginia case with the Maryland case as part of the appeal process, he said.

The Virginia case is Sarsour v. Trump, 17-cv-00120, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia (Alexandria).

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Former Penn State president Graham Spanier was convicted Friday of one count of child endangerment over his handling of a child sex abuse complaint against retired assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

Jurors found Spanier not guilty of conspiracy and a second count of child endangerment.

According to multiple reports, first-time offenders such as Spanier face anywhere from probation to a maximum sentence of five years.

He is free on bail until sentencing later this spring. Prosecutors declined to say whether they would seek jail time, and Spanier’s lawyer said he would appeal.

Spanier, 68, showed no emotion when the verdict was read after 13 hours of deliberations.

The trial centered on how Spanier and two other university leaders handled a complaint by a graduate assistant who said he saw Sandusky sexually molesting a boy in a team shower in 2001. The school officials told Sandusky he could not bring children onto the campus anymore, but did not report the matter to police or child welfare authorities.

Sandusky was the football team’s defensive coordinator for more than 20 years and retired after the 1999 season. He was not arrested until 2011, after an anonymous tip led prosecutors to investigate the shower incident. He was convicted the next year of sexually abusing 10 boys and is serving a decades-long prison sentence.

Four of the eight young men testifying at Sandusky’s trial said the abuse occurred after 2001.

« Evil in the form of Jerry Sandusky was allowed to run wild, » Deputy Attorney General Patrick Schulte told the jury.

The scandal sent shockwaves through the Penn State community. It led to the firing of Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno — who died of cancer at 85 in early 2012 — and resulted in the school paying out more than $90 million to settle civil claims by more than 30 accusers. Paterno was never charged with a crime.

Former athletic director Tim Curley and former vice president Gary Schultz pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child endangerment charges a week ago and testified against Spanier. But all three denied they were told the encounter in the shower was sexual in nature.

A key piece of evidence was an email exchange in which the three debated what to do after getting the report from graduate assistant Mike McQueary.

Spanier approved having Curley tell Sandusky to stop bringing children to athletic facilities and to inform The Second Mile, a charity for at-risk youth founded by Sandusky.

The evidence also showed they had planned to inform the state Department of Public Welfare. Instead, Spanier approved putting that on hold, and the agency was never contacted. That failure to make a report formed the heart of the criminal accusations against him.

« The only downside for us is if the message isn’t ‘heard’ and acted upon, and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it, » Spanier told Curley and Schultz in 2001 in the email exchange. He called the plan « humane and a reasonable way to proceed. »

Spanier’s attorney, Sam Silver, said the case involved judgment calls by high-ranking university administrators in dealing with the complaint that Sandusky had been seen naked with the boy in a team locker room.

State prosecutor Laura Ditka said the three university leaders wanted to protect Penn State’s reputation at the expense of children.

« They took a gamble, » she told the jurors. « They weren’t playing with dice. They were playing with kids. »

A report commissioned by the university and conducted by former FBI Director Louis Freeh concluded that Paterno and the three others kept the allegations against Sandusky quiet, for fear of bad publicity.

Schultz and Curley testified they never told Spanier that the incident reported in the shower was sexual.

« Mr. Schultz made clear — he, Gary Schultz, told Graham Spanier that it was horseplay, » Silver said.

McQueary contradicted them, testifying he did say it was sexual.

McQueary said he told the athletic director and vice president that he saw Sandusky behind a prepubescent boy, in a dark shower at night, with his hips moving slightly.

« Do you think that’s horseplay? » Ditka asked jurors.

After the conviction, Ditka said the jurors « kept the focus successfully on children, » adding that Spanier « was convicted for all the children who came to Penn State after what Mike McQueary saw that night. »

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

House Republican leaders abruptly pull their rewrite of the nation’s health-care law]

“As you know, I’ve been saying for years that the best thing is to let Obamacare explode and then go make a deal with the Democrats and have one unified deal. And they will come to us; we won’t have to come to them,” he said. “After Obamacare explodes.”

“The beauty,” Trump continued, “is that they own Obamacare. So when it explodes, they come to us, and we make one beautiful deal for the people.”

My question for the president: Are you really willing to wait to reengage on health care until the Democrats come and ask for your help?

View Graphic Which Republicans forced Trump to pull the health-care bill

“Sure,” Trump said. “I never said I was going to repeal and replace in the first 61 days” — contradicting his own statements and that of his own adviser, Kellyanne Conway, who told CNN in November that the then-president-elect was contemplating convening a special session on Inauguration Day to begin the process of repealing the Affordable Care Act.

Turning to an aide, Trump asked, “How many days is it now? Whatever.” He laughed.

Trump returned to the theme of blaming the Democrats.

“Hey, we could have done this,” he said. “But we couldn’t get one Democrat vote, not one. So that means they own Obamacare and when that explodes, they will come to us wanting to save whatever is left, and we’ll make a real deal.”

There was little evidence that either Trump or House Republicans made a serious effort to reach out to Democrats.

Still, I wondered, why not whip some more votes this weekend and come back next week to the House with a revised piece of legislation?

“Well,” Trump said, “we could do that, too. But we didn’t do that. It’s always possible, but we pulled it.”

Trump brought up the vote count. “We were close,” he said.

How close?

“I would say within anywhere from five to 12 votes,” Trump said — although widespread reports indicated that at least three dozen Republicans opposed the measure.

[There were at least three dozen Republicans opposed to the health-care bill

That must have hurt after all of his efforts, I said. He made calls, had people over to the White House, invited House members on Air Force One. He may not have loved the bill, but he embraced the push for passage.

“You’re right,” Trump said. “I’m a team player, but I’ve also said the best thing politically is to let Obamacare explode.”

Trump said he made the decision to pull the bill after meeting Friday at the White House with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.).

Was that a tense, tough conversation with Ryan, I asked?

“No, not tough,” Trump said. “It’s just life. We had great support among most Republicans but no Democratic votes. Zero. Not one.”

I mentioned to Trump that some of his allies were frustrated with Ryan. Did he share those frustrations, and would he be able to work with Ryan moving forward on plans to cut taxes and build an infrastructure package?

“I don’t blame Paul,” Trump said.

He then repeated the phrase: “I don’t blame Paul. He worked very hard on this.”

And again.

“I don’t blame Paul at all.”

As he waits for Democrats, I asked, what’s next on health care, if anything, policy-wise?

“Time will tell. Obamacare is in for some rough days. You understand that. It’s in for some rough, rough days,” Trump said.

“I’ll fix it as it explodes,” he said. “They’re going to come to ask for help. They’re going to have to. Here’s the good news: Health care is now totally the property of the Democrats.”

Speaking of premium increases, he continued: “When people get a 200 percent increase next year or a 100 percent or 70 percent, that’s their fault.”

Trump returned again to a partisan line on the turn of events.

“To be honest, the biggest losers today are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,” Trump said of the House minority leader and the Senate minority leader. “Because now they own the disaster known as Obamacare.”

Okay, I asked, they may own it, in his view, but he will at some point be tasked with shaping whatever comes forward as a partial replacement or fix. What will that be? What kind of policy could he support?

“Oh, lots of things can happen,” Trump said. “But the best would be if we could all get together and do a real health-care bill that would be good for the people, and that could very well happen.”

Does Trump regret starting his agenda this year with health care?

“No, I don’t,” he said. “But in a way I’m glad I got it out of the way.”

“Look, I’m a team player,” Trump said of the Republican Party. “I’ve played this team. I’ve played with the team. And they just fell a little bit short, and it’s very hard when you need almost 100 percent of the votes and we have no votes, zero, from the Democrats. It’s unheard of.”

What happened with the House Freedom Caucus, the hard-line conservatives he had wooed over and over again?

“Ah, that’s the big question,” Trump said with a slight chuckle. “Don’t know. I have a good relationship with them, but I couldn’t get them. They just wouldn’t do it.”

Trump alluded to long-running, simmering dramas on Capitol Hill, which he said had little to do with him, as a reason the Freedom Caucus could not back the bill.

“Years of hatred and distrust,” he said. “Long before me.”

Was Trump saying, perhaps, that the inability of Ryan and his team to work well with that caucus was part of why talks stalled?

“Well, look, you can say what you want,” Trump said. “But there are years of problems, great hatred and distrust, and, you know, I came into the middle of it.”

“I think they made a mistake, but that’s okay,” Trump said of the Freedom Caucus.

As we wrapped up, I tried to get some clarity. The president was blaming the Democrats and was willing to let the law “explode.” Yet he also seemed to be teasing the possibility of doing something bipartisan down the road, a fresh start of sorts.

I asked: Would working on a bipartisan health-care deal a year from now be something he would find more agreeable than whipping the hard right?

“A lot of people might say that,” Trump said, laughing. “We’ll end up with a better health-care plan. A great plan. And you wouldn’t need the Freedom Caucus.”

What about the moderates, the Tuesday Group?

“They were great,” Trump said. “They were really great.”

He turned once more to the Democrats.

“They own it,” he said.

“You’ve said that,” I told him.

“This is a process,” Trump concluded, “and it’s going to work out very well. I was a team player, and I had an obligation to go along with this.”

As Trump tried to hang up the phone and get back to work, I asked him to reflect, if at all possible, on lessons learned. He’s a few months into his presidency, and he had to pull a bill that he had invested time and energy into passing.

What was on his mind?

“Just another day,” Trump said, flatly. “Just another day in paradise, okay?”

He paused.

“Take care.”

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