The Los Angeles Times
Joel Stein Attempts to Link Obama to Satan; Fails
Not content dabbling in stunt journalism and celebrity profiles, Joel Stein has decided what he really wants to do is use his writing to make a difference.
Actually, that's not quite right. He wants to use it to drum up fake controversy, as he admits in his latest Los Angeles Times column.
Mr. Stein was in Denver covering the Democratic convention (or something) when he spotted the following scene:
I was at a party thrown by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom featuring a bunch of indie bands, including Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, which played its catchy new song 'Satan Said Dance. read more »
Los Angeles Times Collateral Damage: Small Circulation Magazine Flees L.A.
Jay Babcock, the founder of culture magazine Arthur, has decided to move his operations from Los Angeles to Brooklyn.
In an interview with the Los Angeles Times' the Guide, Mr. Babcock told August Brown why he chose to leave the City of Angels:
New York is just a more hospitable environment than L.A. ever has been or will be. L.A. is devolving quickly, and I think I got out in the nick of time. The L.A. Times is imploding, our public radio is terrible, the [L.A.] Weekly’s been devolving for years. Local media’s being run into the ground and I don’t think anybody cares. read more »
Black and White, Red All Over: Is 2008 the Worst Year in Modern Newspaper History?
They'll be reporting The New York Times Company's second-quarter earnings. Last time they did one of quarterly earnings calls, The Times reported big losses; there was a plan to cut 100 newsroom jobs, some through straight-up layoffs rather than superannuation and retirement deals.
And in the past few weeks, it's only gotten worse: the company's stock has fallen to a decade low, and tumbled more than 15 percent in just this month. read more »
Lineup for June 25, 2008
John Koblin does a post-Murdoch Wall Street Journal roll call of all those writers and editors who've left and says, "it’s fair to say The Journal hasn’t experienced anything quite like this, well, ever." Plus: The Los Angeles Times' Patrick Goldstein launches a blog.
Felix Gillette wonders who will be replacing Tim Russert as NBC's Washington D.C. Bureau Chief. Whoever fills that role "must continuously grapple with producers in New York to make sure his reporters get plenty of airtime on the morning and evening newscasts."
Leon Neyfakh tells the tale of Reif Larsen, a "28-year-old Columbia M.F.A. student [who] wrote a novel about a whimsical child from Montana who likes maps, and suddenly all kinds of famous editors in New York were calling his agent, Denise Shannon, and telling her they really wanted to publish it. read more »
Make Nice, Nikki! L.A. Times Starts Hollywood Blog
“I’ve been getting e-mail for years from people who think that I’m a moron,” the Los Angeles Times’ entertainment columnist Patrick Goldstein said in an interview with The Observer this week. “I don’t think that’s gonna change.”
Mr. Goldstein, who’s been with the Tribune paper since 1979 and has written an entertainment column called The Big Picture since 1998, was talking about his newly launched blog, also called The Big Picture. “I have a thick skin,” he says, when asked how he plans to deal with any negative feedback he’s sure to get from commenters and other more established industry bloggers. read more »
L.A.Times Foreign Editor Resigns
Los Angeles Times foreign editor Marjorie Miller has quit the paper.
In the second sentence of the memo announcing the news, editor Russ Stanton tries to make clear that it has nothing to do with anything. “She requested such a move a year ago …” it begins.
So don’t worry, there’s no panic here! read more »
Finke to Defamer: No Links For You
Nikki Finke, The Observer's 2007 Media Mensch of the Year, has a bone to pick with Defamer. read more »
Sam Zell: Newspapers' Sluggishness Putting Plan to Preserve Tribune in 'Question'
The Tribune Company conference call is still going on. In introductory remarks, Sam Zell told investors that when he bought Tribune there was originally a “goal to preserve everything together.” Presumably he means all the newspapers, Wrigley Field and the Chicago Cubs, and the broadcasting properties. But the “significant erosion” of advertising money and revenue drops in the newspaper industry, he said, has “certainly put that plan into some question. And we’re forced to consider the divestiture of some of our assets.”
Expert Opinions: Meet Roger Boesche, Who Knew 'Barry Obama' in Passing at Occidental
Ever since Obama declared his candidacy for president in early 2007, news organizations have been busy trying to piece together the significant moments in his life, especially those left unaddressed in Obama's surprisingly candid autobiography, Dreams of My Father.
And so, the young Barack Obama has become a character in the campaign. And Roger Boesche, a professor of political philosophy at Occidental College who taught two classes to the young Barry Obama almost 30 years ago, is mystified at the sudden interest of political reporters in what he has to say. read more »
John Montorio, Print Apologist, 'Shocked' at L.A. Times Firing
On Friday afternoon, in one of Russ Stanton's first acts as executive editor of The Los Angeles Times, he walked into the office of one of the paper's managing editors and fired him.
"I was shocked," said the editor, John Montorio, in an interview with The Observer. "It was really quite brief and to the point. There was no emotionalism, no hostility and bitterness. It was seriously better than that—no yelling, screaming, crying."
Mr. Montorio, managing editor for features, who heads up the Sunday Calendar, Daily Calendar, Weekend Calendar, Book Review, Home, Food, Travel, Real Estate, Health and "Highway 1" sections as well as the Sunday magazine, announced the news to the paper in a memo yesterday, saying he would be gone at the end of the month. read more »
Russ Stanton Named Editor of L.A. Times
The Los Angeles Times has a new editor, according to a press release that just went out.
"The Los Angeles Times Media Group (LATMG) today unveiled significant changes to its organization and leadership team, including the announcement that Russ Stanton has been named Los Angeles Times Editor," the release reads in part. And this from publisher David Hiller: “Russ Stanton combines great personal leadership, communication skills, the highest journalistic standards and a commitment to excellence, and has been championing much of our work to become a truly multimedia news organization that’s a relevant and engaging part of the 24-hour-a-day world of news and information.”
As we reported yesterday, the choice of an editor to replace Jim O'Shea has divided the newsroom. read more »
Battle Lines Are Drawn at The Los Angeles Times
Sam Zell, the Rabelaisian real estate billionaire who bought The Los Angeles Times’ parent company for $8.2 billion in December, went out to Los Angeles last week to shake things up at the left-coast newsroom notorious for its turmoil—overturns, layoffs, bad management. read more »
Sam Zell to L.A. Times: Watch Porn at Your Desk, But Don't Piss All Over the Office!
Tribune chief Sam Zell had a meeting with the staff of The Los Angeles Times today that was so wildly entertaining it puts to shame the one he held at Newsday two weeks ago. Among other things discussed— his willingness to take a 50-cent salary!—he blasted outgoing editor Jim O'Shea, according to a newsroom source present. read more »
Whose Bastard Sun: If The Wire Is Wrong, Why Is Baltimore's Paper So Bad?
If David Simon is Captain Ahab, then call me Ishmael. Mr. Simon, the newspaper-reporter-turned-television-producer, stands accused of unhealthy obsession because he is using the current season of The Wire to revisit his old workplace, The Baltimore Sun. read more »
Seating Chart
More reporters than you could possibly believe are stacked into an auditorium at Saint Anselm college, safely far from tonight's debate.
At the front of the room is a row reserved for photographers. In the second row, news agencies AFP and AP and Reuters share space with USA Today, as well as local heroes from the Keene Sentinel, the Concord Monitor, and the Eagle Tribune. read more »
