Take off your jeans*, **

Denim and the Daily News don't mix, according to Publisher Doug Hanes. He sent out a memo warning employees against wearing jeans and tennis shoes. LA Observed got a copy.

(I remember back when I started at the Star-News in 2002 that then-Executive Editor Tal Campbell issued a similar edict. Eventually, people would ignore it and he'd have to issue the edict again.)

In other news, LAO reports that Daily News editorial page editor Chris Weinkopf is leaving.

*The denim revolt begins.

**The denim revolt succeeds.

Other Tribune Co.-related blogs

In case you wondered what unhappy workers at the Baltimore Sun, Chicago Tribune and Orlando Sentinel had to say about the latest cutbacks:

tribunetwostep.blogspot.com

newsofthesun.blogspot.com

amazingshrinkingsentinel.blogspot.com

tribuneemployeetalk.blogspot.com

Quick reads

Two today via Romenesko.

A TV reporter quits after his station pushes for a more "edgy" tone to drive up ratings. The change includes dropping the word "defendants" in favor of "thugs" and "lowlifes." The general manager, Stephen Doerr, disputed implications that this was an attempt to sensationalize the reporting: When asked about the use of the words “thugs” and “lowlifes” on air, Doerr said, “We’re a work in progress. We’re trying to be more colloquial, use plainspeak.”

In what could become a sign of things to come for smaller newspapers, The Dispatch in Lexington, North Carolina, announced plans to stop publishing on Mondays. The paper is owned by the New York Times Co. Publisher Ned Cowan, responding to a question from the staff, "acknowledged that job cuts will likely follow from Wednesday's announcement. He said the number will depend on the planning process, just initiated, for the new five-day newspaper and on the needs of the improved Web site."

Pierce's email

Simon Owens of Bloggasm talks to Los Angeles Times editor Tony Pierce about the email heard 'round the blogosophere, in which he admonishes Times' bloggers "not to blog" about allegations John Edwards had an affair that led to a love child "until further notified.”

Says Pierce, in part:

"What I should have said is that if you find information — because these are real reporters — if you find any more information, or if there’s something that’s out there that you come across put out by a more reputable source, write it up and let’s talk about it. That’s probably one thing that I wish I could have said."

The not-so-reputable source implied there is the National Enquirer.

Whether the Times' skepticism of the celebrity gossip mag's reporting is responsible journalism or proof of some deep liberal bias is for others to debate. For me, the dust up re-raises interesting questions about what it means to blog for an established newspaper - Are the bloggers beholden to the same ethics and standards as staff reporters?* Or are they somehow separate from the traditional newsroom? (Mickey Kaus finds it all an affront to Web 2.0 values - see "more layoffs, please - part xviii")

Also, this episode provides more evidence that newsroom deliberations are becoming more transparent, whether intentionally so or not. Already editors and managers are learning to tailor their emails and memos to dual audiences - the audience that's in the "To" line and the bloggers who will inevitably get hold of them.

*Blogs do seem to be beholden to page views, as another email from Pierce to his crew makes clear (via LA Observed).

Earthquake!*, **, ***

Quite a temblor just passed through... 5.8 magnitude, it's being reported... Made my interview with a Dallas professor kind of strange as I tried to decide whether to hang up or keep on talking (kept on talking)...

Here's the USGS/Caltech map. It was centered 2 miles from Chino Hills and hit at 11:42 a.m. CNN just reported a 3.8-magnitude aftershock.

Also, it looks like the shaking knocked the Los Angeles Times offline (or maybe it was a spike in traffic). Web site is back up as of 11:57 a.m. (see below***)

*USGS has downgraded the temblor to a magnitude 5.4.

**This was the first test drive of Pasadena City Hall's new base-isolator system, installed as part of a $117 million seismic retrofit. Base isolators are little round shock absorbers placed around the base of the building. How'd they perform? Pasadena PIO Ann Erdman reports:

There was a slight jolt, then gentle swaying that gave me a sense of comfort that we were safe. We were evacuated immediately and were allowed back in the building after about an hour (12:45 p.m.). Fire Department had to go through the entire building first to determine that it safe to reoccupy. I took some photos and will post them on my blog in a few minutes.

***Heavy traffic caused the LA Times' Web site to crash, according to the LAT:

The Los Angeles Times' website, latimes.com, was briefly unavailable to many users when heavy traffic swamped its servers immediately after the earthquake. Full access returned in about 10 minutes, according to Meredith Artley, the executive editor of the site. It had about 630,000 page views in the hour after the temblor, roughly double the usual amount.

Cross-platform germination

Via LA Observed, Nikki Finke reports that the former head of DirecTV is a leading contender to become publisher of the Los Angeles Times.

Sen. Ted Stevens indicted*

Alaska Senator Ted Stevens has been indicted on what appear to be corruption charges. The story is developing.

*Corruption it is. From the NYT: Mr. Stevens, 84, was indicted on seven counts of falsely reporting income. The charges are related to renovations on his home and to gifts he has received. They arise from an investigation that has been under way for more than a year, in connection with the senator’s relationship with a businessman who oversaw the home-remodeling project.

(New York Times, AP, Washington Post)

Pressed enterprise, part two

Citing weak profits and a "bleak" financial outlook, A.H. Belo Corporation announced this week that it plans to cut 14 percent of its workforce. Last night, employees at the Press-Enterprise in Riverside got a clearer picture of what that will mean for them.

According to a memo from CEO and Publisher Ron Redfern, job cuts will initially be made through "voluntary severance" offers. However, the company has not said exactly how many employees need to take the buyout. If not enough people leave voluntarily, Redfern warns, an "involuntary reduction in force with a lesser severance package" will follow.

In addition, the paper plans to shrink the width of the print edition, cut down on the use of wire and syndicate services, make its Newspapers in Education program online only, reduce circulation in outlying areas, and outsource some portion of its ad services. (Here's what the company is telling its investors and shareholders.)

From the Redfern memo:

Unfortunately, the outlook for the foreseeable future over the next 12 to 18 months continues to remain bleak for our business, particularly on the revenue front.

-snip-

· We will be implementing action plans to further conserve newsprint and reduce distribution and circulation expenses. These will include reducing our current web width from 48” to 46,” cutting back circulation in the Desert, and moving NIE from print to solely an online service. These initiatives and others will provide significant cost savings.

· On the news and content side for print and online we will be reducing syndicate and wire services, consolidating business content resources, and continuing to rethink entertainment content as well as structural changes in news and online we might make to reduce expenses and maintain optimum focus on local news coverage.

· We will be making changes in page layout and ad production, and realigning our production workflow to extend ad deadlines to reduce expenses and provide more selling time to capture additional revenue on a daily basis. And we will be looking at outsourcing more functions.

Comings and goings

Alan Mittelstaedt joins the Daily Journal as associate editor (via LA Observed).

Pressed enterprise

The Belo Corporation, parent of the Dallas Morning News and our own Press-Enterprise in Riverside, announced today that it will cut 14 percent of its workforce as part of a plan to bolster its flagging bottom line. The company will first offer buyout packages and then turn to "involuntary layoffs" to meet its goals.

It remains unclear exactly how many jobs are on the line at the PE. Employees have been asked to attend a meeting tonight at 6:30.

Marketing citizens

An interesting employment ad by way of USC...

An international marketing firm is searching for a "citizen journalist" to star in an unnamed YouTube project (are "branded webisodes" anything like commercials?) that will launch in the fall. The firm, 180 LA*, plans to film this "citizen journalist" (applicants, please provide head shots) preparing a story "from start to finish." I can only imagine the visual possibilities. Important note, "there will be compensation."

Here's the ad in full:

180 LA is looking for a citizen journalist

180 LA is looking for a citizen journalist to be featured in a series of branded webisodes that will be a part of a new You Tube program launching in the fall. The series will chronicle a "Day In The Life Of A Citizen Journalist". The documentary style project will follow one citizen journalist as they prepare a story from start to finish. The piece will be a filmed portrayal of the individual's story - how their passion for citizen journalism fits into their daily lives and the nuts and bolts of how a story comes together. We are looking for videographers, audio journalists, bloggers, activists, or any other internet-based member of the community who actively participates in the collection, interpretation or dissemination of information. The project is a great opportunity for a passionate person to get their message out to millions of people, as well as a chance to gain some exposure.

To be considered, please email a sample of your work, a recent picture to, and a description of the issues that you cover to annparker1229@gmail.com. We will begin work on this project the first week of August with one week of preparation and three days of shooting. There will be compensation. Send any questions to the email listed above.

*What or who is 180 LA? Here's a description from a company press release:

180 ( www.180amsterdam.com and www.180LA.com) is an international creative agency with offices in Amsterdam and Los Angeles. 180 employs 160+ people from over 25 countries. 180's client roster includes adidas International, Sony Consumer Electronics USA, Sony Corporation, MTV, Opel (General Motors Europe), Amstel Beer, Glenfiddich, Omega Watches and Dr. Pepper.

Web trouble*

The Web sites for the nine LANG papers are down as of just after 10 a.m. Instead of news, a "Not Found (404)" message is all that appears. Perhaps the server has been knocked offline.

LANG had some computer troubles in May, when the entire Unisys publishing system crashed and their blog server went haywire.

*Web sites are back up. Looks like the problem lasted only 10 minutes or so.

The audacity of hope

Three not-so-wise men learn the meaning of "too good to be true" the hard way.

Great expectations

Earnings expectations are a funny thing.

Imagine I told you you could earn a million dollars a month. The first time that million dollar check arrived you would feel jubilant.

Fast forward a year. Imagine I told you that you can expect to earn $800,000 a month from now on. Well, you're living a million-dollar-a-month lifestyle. The first time the smaller check arrived you would feel disappointed.

Do you start cutting back? Do you fire the charwoman and start filling your Bentley with mid-grade gasoline?

Fast forward a couple months and imagine your surprise when the check amount turns out to be a mere $750,000.

Do you panic? Do you sell the scrap gold? Is this (gulp) the end?

From the outside looking in, $750,000 still seems like a shitload of money - something most of us could get real comfortable living on. But expectations change the whole equation. Where I see three-quarters of a million dollars, Mr. Million and his debtors see a 25 percent loss.

All of which leads me to Alan Mutter's Friday posting about the likelihood of more newspaper jobs cuts. Mutter analyzes the recent earnings reports of six major publishers and finds that revenues are off by an average of 9.4 percent. Worse, operating profits are down an average of 25 percent. All of this despite sharp cost cutting at most of the papers, including cuts to the newsroom (which, some might argue, plays a role in dwindling profits).

However, Mutter also provides this important context regarding expectations:

When you look at the actual business of running newspapers, however, it is notable that the average operating profit among the six publishers is 18.5%, as measured by earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA). For all that ails the industry, this surpasses the EBITDA of such companies as Chevron (18.7%), Boeing (11.2%), Wal-Mart (7.7%) and Amazon.Com (6.0%).

If publishers, their shareholders and lenders were wiling to accept significantly lower levels of profitability in the future, then further cuts would not be necessary in staff, newshole, circulation and certain other variable expenses. If this were not the case, which it likely will not be, then more cuts would seem to be on the way.

Upward bound

Frank Girardot is slated to become metro editor of the three SGVN papers - the Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune and Whittier Daily News. Girardot replaces Edward Barrera, who is leaving for points south and then points east. The company is going to be recruiting for a deputy metro editor to take Girardot's slot.

U-T will probably be sold*

Copley Press Inc. was once a journalistic force in Southern California. The company began folding up shop in late 2006 with the sale of the Daily Breeze. A year later, Copley shuttered its bureau in Los Angeles and consolidated operations at the San Diego Union-Tribune. Now, Copley is taking steps to sell off its last major brand:

The announcement by privately owned The Copley Press Inc. follows the sale of several key assets, including its Copley News Service newswire arm and small papers in Illinois and Ohio, over the past 18 months.

The parent company of the San Diego Union-Tribune said Thursday it has retained an investment-banking firm to explore a potential sale.

-snip-

Earlier this year, the Union-Tribune cut 10 percent of its work force. The cuts included 76 buyouts, including newsroom positions, layoffs of 27 employees and the elimination of 14 pressroom jobs.

-snip-

The San Diego Union-Tribune won a Pulitzer Prize in 2006 for its reporting on the bribery scandal that landed former Republican Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham in federal prison.

*The Union-Tribune on the possible sale of the Union-Tribune.

On Off The Bus

The New York Times charts the progress Huffington Post's Off The Bus in covering the presidential campaign. The piece is largely a bio of OTB director Amanda Michel, although Mayhill Fowler makes an appearance. Arianna Huffington calls Fowler the "poster child for ordinary citizens being able to impact the campaign."

Depressing news

Tribune Co. execs Randy Michaels and Sam Zell answered questions from Tribune Co. reporters on a conference call Tuesday. I've posted the entire transcript here.

Below, Michaels responds to a question about cuts made to The Morning Call by comparing today's financial struggles to what newspapers went through in Great Depression:

And look, this is not without precedent. I just read that in 1929 after The Crash, the Colonel cut the Chicago's Tribune size, closed a lot of the foreign bureaus and cut the number of reporters in Chicago down to 83 in order to stay alive through the Depression. So this is hardly unprecedented, it's not the first time. But we're seeing revenue declines that start to approach those levels. And I think we're going to come nowhere near those kind of draconian cuts that had been made before to keep these papers alive.

No TTP in the NYC

Nat Hentoff of the Village Voice writes to protest WNYC's recent decision to drop "To The Point" from its AM station.

(My conflicts here are clear, but I'll mention them anyway: I'm one of seven producers for TTP, and therefore keenly interested in getting back on the air in New York City, and I produced the show on Zimbabwe that Hentoff makes reference to.)

Zell: Tribune Co. cutting to survive (updated)

Tribune Co. employees yesterday were invited to listen to Sam Zell and Randy Michaels speak about the recent job and page cuts at the company's various newspapers. The Baltimore Sun has a story today describing some of what was said. Zell painted a bleak picture and hedged as to whether more cuts will be needed:

"We're looking at some of the worst advertising numbers in the history of the world," Zell said.

"I have a responsibility ... to keep this business alive when cash flow has eroded at a prodigious level," Zell said.

"We went through every one of our organizations with a goal of getting efficient numbers up and head counts down so we can survive to live another day," he said.

Comings and goings

Anat Rubin, celebrated reporter for the Los Angeles Daily Journal, is leaving to become public policy director for LAMP Community (via LA Observed).

In case you missed it...

Romenesko links to a scathing piece by Chris Hedges about the state of the American newspaper industry and what that says about the state of American civic life:

The decline of newspapers is not about the replacement of the antiquated technology of news print with the lightning speed of the Internet. It does not signal an inevitable and salutary change. It is not a form of progress. The decline of newspapers is about the rise of the corporate state, the loss of civic and public responsibility on the part of much of our entrepreneurial class and the intellectual poverty of our post-literate world, a world where information is conveyed primarily through rapidly moving images rather than print.

I'd like to emphasize a point he makes about newspapers do that is different from what other businesses do. It's a mission that rarely gets mentioned anymore as we follow the job cuts, examine the financial reports and fight for survival. It's the newspaper's role as a voice for the voiceless. Those who are most willing to declare newspapers dead already have a voice. The owners who watch bottom lines, the managers who watch hit counts, the innovation gurus who brainstorm about the possibilities of whatever already have a voice. The prognosticators who giddily await news tailored for their iPhones and PDAs already have a voice. The bloggers who sling opinions and the think tankers who prescribe reader-surveyed remedies have a voice.

From Hedges: Newspapers, when well run, are a public trust. They provide, at their best, the means for citizens to examine themselves, to ferret out lies and the abuse of power by elected officials and corrupt businesses, to give a voice to those who would, without the press, have no voice, and to follow, in ways a private citizen cannot, the daily workings of local, state and federal government.

Shop talk

TellZell is exhorting his/her/their colleagues at the LA Times to meet tonight at the Redwood Bar & Grill to discuss unionizing and other ways to push back against job cuts. Also, talk of more newsroom cuts continues to pick up steam. Here's what TZ has to say about it:

By now, most of you have heard the rumors of another round of layoffs. There are many different flavors. Some say Sam wants the paper at 600 editorial staffers. Others say 550. Whatever the case, we're talking about another hundred or more jobs cut. Do you feel lucky?

Meanwhile, union reps are trying to stir up interest at the non-union LANG newspapers. The local guild making visits to the Daily Breeze in Torrance and the Sun in San Bernardino.

Sam and Randy meet their press

Tribune reporters will have a chance to ask questions of Sam Zell and Randy Michaels this morning - or afternoon, depending on where you live.

The memo from Gary Weitman, senior vice president for corporate relations for Tribune Co., is below. I couldn't get the link to work, so maybe it's locked to non-Trib folks. Also, I don't know if his reference is to Tribune Co. reporters, or reporters from the Chicago Tribune.

As we move past the six-month mark as a private company, both Sam and Randy have gotten a lot of requests for interviews. They want to respond first to the requests from our own newspapers, so this afternoon Sam and Randy will take questions from Tribune reporters in a teleconference at 1 pm CT (2 pm ET, 11 am PT). The session will be on the record and employees can listen in by clicking on the link below:

http://www.thomson-webcast.net/us/dispatching/?event_id=fee902badf1605f2207caa49cc0665b1&portal_id=a05725b291960be196039fedb1597e6c

We'll archive the Q&A on TribLink afterward for anyone who can't tune in live. The archive will be available through Friday, Aug. 1. We'll also post a transcript late tomorrow.

Please listen in if you get the chance.

Gary Weitman
SVP/Corporate Relations

The customer is always right

Keith Hempstead is suing the McClatchy-owned News and Observer in North Carolina for fraud. He says that after the newspaper laid off 70 people and shrunk the print edition he's no longer getting what he paid for.

"I liken it to someone who buys a ticket to go cross country on an airline and the airline announces that they instead will be flying only to Denver versus, say, Los Angeles," Hempstead, a real estate attorney and former journalist, told Brooke Gladstone of NPR's On The Media. He said he hopes to settle suit shortly, if he gets a meeting with the paper's management and has the chance to write an Op-ed.

Gladstone then asked Hempstead what was his "main beef." Here's his answer:

They are destroying their principle product. And if they are hoping that they will be able to adapt to the Internet age with a new business model, then they are deceiving themselves, because by the time they are able to come to a new business model, they will no longer have any reporters to actually cover the news.

It boggles the mind that these great businesses are destroying themselves within. And I realized that most of those people who work in these newspapers are afraid to speak up because their job might be next. Someone has to speak out for them.

Comings and goings

Bobby Iafolla of the Daily Journal heads east to cover the federal government for the paper (via LA Observed).

Texas Bible study

The Texas Board of Education voted 10-5 to allow high schools to carry an elective Bible study course. The board chose to leave it up to individual school districts to design their curriculum, giving little guidance on how to keep within academic boundaries and avoid First Amendment lawsuits:

"A school district has the right to choose their own Bible curriculum because they know their students best," said board member Barbara Cargill, R-The Woodlands.

Mark Chancey, professor of religious studies at Southern Methodist University, has some concerns:

"The good book deserves better than it got today, and so does the state of Texas," Dr. Chancey said. "These courses can be a wonderfully enriching educational experience, but they must be taught in a way that is academically, legally and ethically appropriate. Teachers need and want resources to help them do just that.

"Instead, the board of education is sending them into a minefield without a map."

Ideally, the board would have drawn as clear a line as possible between academic study and religious indoctrination. The board's decision seems designed to blur the line, and to force anyone who wants to stand in the way to mount a legal challenge in the Texas courts.

In debt we trust

The New York Times launches a series on debt in America. Gretchen Morgenson, one of the nation's smartest business reporters, is the lead author. If you think the credit crisis/mortgage crisis/mental recession is about Wall Street and deadbeats, you're missing an enormous cultural and social shift taking place in this country.

Here are a few stats from the first story:

Today, Americans carry $2.56 trillion in consumer debt, up 22 percent since 2000 alone, according to the Federal Reserve Board. The average household’s credit card debt is $8,565, up almost 15 percent from 2000.

College debt has more than doubled since 1995. The average student emerges from college carrying $20,000 in educational debt.

Household debt, including mortgages and credit cards, represents 19 percent of household assets, according to the Fed, compared with 13 percent in 1980.

Even as this debt was mounting, incomes stagnated for many Americans. As a result, the percentage of disposable income that consumers must set aside to service their debt — a figure that includes monthly credit card payments, car loans, mortgage interest and principal — has risen to 14.5 percent from 11 percent just 15 years ago.

By contrast, the nation’s savings rate, which exceeded 8 percent of disposable income in 1968, stood at 0.4 percent at the end of the first quarter of this year, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Set the controls for the heart of the Sun

A little over a week ago the Southern California Media Guild stopped by the Daily Breeze. Now union organizers have paid a visit to the San Bernardino Sun.

Over at the guild's blog, the Stress Telegram, some signs of frustration between Long Beach and Torrance.

One less Bee?

McClatchy today announced plans to cut 80 jobs at the Modesto Bee, which will now be printed in Sacramento.

The Bee's story raises a lot of unanswered questions. Like, which 80 jobs? And, will the Modesto paper continue on as an independent newspaper? Or, will it become a supplement of the Sacramento Bee? The quote from the publisher provides little in the way of clarity:

"This regional synergy with our sister McClatchy paper allows us to combine resources and streamline processes, resulting in significant cost savings and the avoidance of future capital expenses," [Publisher and President Margaret] Randazzo said in her memo Friday. "This is consistent with combining operations across the entire industry," including at other McClatchy papers.

(via Romenesko)

Pink slip diaries*

Both LA Observed and TellZell are fleshing out the backgrounds of the recently laid-off/bought-out Times employees. One of those on the list is Mark Masek, who left his job as news editor of the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group prior to the layoffs there only to get caught in the drag net at the LA Times. Masek tells his own story about getting laid off over at TZ. Here's a snippet:

There were lots of hushed conversations around cubicles and in hallways, and supportive and sympathetic handshakes and hugs. (And some people who seemed to be avoiding eye contact, either because they didn’t know what to say, or they thought that the layoffs might somehow be contagious.) And some questions about who would end up suffering more – the people who are leaving or the people left behind. And, of course, most people were checking the relevant blogs to see if there was any new information.

*Also, I knew Kevin Bronson had worked at the Pasadena Star-News but failed to mention it in my earlier post. Here's a snippet about his departure from LA Observed:

Kevin Bronson, deputy editor of the discontinued weekly section The Guide, was at the Times for 18 years — as an an assistant sports editor and a designer before The Guide. He wrote 250 Buzz Band columns covering the music scene and started the paper's first music blog. News of his layoff has brought him some nice kudos at LAist and other blogs. "The ones left behind face a tough road," he emails. "I was sports editor at the Star-News in 1989 when Singleton swooped in -- it was bad then, especially since the world was younger, and it was not a time of rampant slash-and-burn. But this is worse."

Jesse Jackson did what?

I wonder if Dan Rather told himself over and over before coming on the show that he was NOT going to say Osama bin Laden... But, he did. Check out the video.

The return of Rough & Tumble

Jack Kavanagh, the man behind the California political roundup Rough & Tumble, says he'll be back to posting updates on Friday. He's been out since Saturday getting treatment for a bout of colitis. Here's the update from yesterday at the top of his Web site:

**** Update.. the stomach flu turned out to be colitis.. just getting in right now. Thanks for all the get well wishes. Look for R&T to resume Friday == jk ****

Sunshine and rainbows

"This is a financial crisis for the industry of mammoth proportions. It's worsening by the day. And the vultures are circling."

A reference to Fannie Mae? General Motors?

Actually, its from a cheery piece on the newspaper industry by Mark Potts, who blogs at Recovering Journalist. Skyrocketing debt, falling stock - it sounds like the woes plaguing the mortgage and banking industry. Except the government won't rush in to bail out this industry.

I don't think it will be as bad as Potts forecasts. A few big companies could go upside down because of their massive debt loads, but I don't think the newspaper industry as a whole is on the verge of becoming vulture food.

Still, to balance things out, here is some good news. Or maybe it's bad news, depending on what you think Web traffic is doing to newsrooms.

Don't shoot this messenger, shoot that messenger

So who's to blame for the run on IndyMac Bancorp?

According to the head of the Office of Thrift Supervision, Sen. Chuck Schumer's at fault. Here's what the Wall Street Journal reported on July 12:

The director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, John Reich, blamed IndyMac's failure on comments made in late June by Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.), who sent a letter to the regulator raising concerns about the bank's solvency. In the following 11 days, spooked depositors withdrew a total of $1.3 billion. Mr. Reich said Sen. Schumer gave the bank a "heart attack."

On Monday, Schumer fired back, telling the WSJ:

"Clearly what was happened here was the OTS, having the second-biggest bank failure on their watch, sought to blame the messenger. In sum, it's sort of classically what this administration does. Blame the fire on the guy who called 911."

Having exonerated the messenger, Schumer pointed to a different culprit:

A June 28 story in IndyMac's hometown newspaper, the Pasadena Star-News, had a "very inflammatory headline," Sen. Schumer said. It read: "IndyMac appears close to collapse."

(To be fair, Schumer also said this: "I regret that depositors and investors lost money. But the blame falls with, first, IndyMac and, second, OTS.")

Read PSN Public Editor Larry Wilson's take here.

Gratuitous post

The guys at The Smoking Gun find a t-shirt trend.

Sacramento uncovered

Capitol Morning Report reports three newspapers have folded their Sacramento bureaus in the past couple of months. The latest was the Orange County Register, which continues to have a reporter in Sacramento, except that he now works out of his apartment.

The Stockton Record and the Los Angeles Daily Journal shuttered their bureaus at the end of May and fired their reporters. A friend of mine in the Governor's press office said there's a running joke that since television is the only media still around, they might as well lay off the rest of their press secretaries and save the state some money.

Here's the release from last month's Morning Report:

The Orange County Register closed its Sacramento bureau this week though reporter Brian Joseph will continue to cover the Capitol from an office in his home, an apartment at 16th and O streets. Politics editor Julie Gallego reports the office is closing "as part of an ongoing effort to save costs." It seems only a short time ago that the Register's office was expanded to accommodate a staff of five about the time Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected Governor. The bureau is the third Capitol news bureau to close in the past few weeks. The Stockton Record closed on May 29 laying off reporter Hank Shaw and the LA Daily Journal closed its bureau in April and laid off reporter Linda Rapattoni on May 30.

The Daily Journal's Capitol bureau used to be a two-person operation, most recently with Rapattoni and me splitting coverage of state politics. I left for KCRW and she stuck around until they killed off the bureau entirely. She was just hired as press secretary for state Sen. Gloria Romero. Here's that press release:

Sen. Gloria Romero has announced hiring Linda Rapattoni to be her press secretary. She'll be handling the media while Communications Director Russ Lopez is working on press conferences on budgetary issues for pro Tem Don Perata. Rapattoni, 54, had covered the Legislature and state government the last eight years for the San Francisco and Los Angeles Daily Journals, two legal dailies owned by the same publishing company. At the end of May Rapattoni was laid off as part of a corporate cost-cutting measure. During her 30-year career in journalism, Rapattoni also worked for Daily Variety, Copley News Service and UPI in Los Angeles and Arizona. Contact: Rapattoni 916 651-4024.

In related news: Jack Kavanagh, who runs the indispensable Rough & Tumble Web site, has yet to return from what he said was a bout with the stomach flu. In a message left on Saturday, July 12, Kavanagh said he was heading to the hospital for treatment and would update the site as soon as he was released.

Feed the beast

In a speech to the National Conference for Media Reform, Bill Moyers laments the state of journalism in the age of corporate media consolidation. Here's a link to the speech and here's an excerpt:

I heard this story a long time ago, growing up in Choctaw County in Oklahoma before my family moved to Texas. A tribal elder was telling his grandson about the battle the old man was waging within himself. He said, "It is between two wolves, my son. One is an evil wolf: anger, envy, sorrow, greed, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other is the good wolf: joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

The boy took this in for a few minutes and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf won?"

The old Cherokee replied simply, "The one I feed."

Democracy is that way. The wolf that wins is the one we feed. And in our society, media provides the fodder.

Our media institutions, deeply embedded in the power structures of society, are not providing the information that we need to make our democracy work. To put it another way, corporate media consolidation is a corrosive social force. It robs people of their voice in public affairs and pollutes the political culture. And it turns the debates about profound issues into a shouting match of polarized views promulgated by partisan apologists who trivialize democracy while refusing to speak the truth about how our country is being plundered.

Our dominant media are ultimately accountable only to corporate boards whose mission is not life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for the whole body of our republic, but the aggrandizement of corporate executives and shareholders.

Labor pains

The union representing editorial employees at BANG-East Bay has filed a complaint against MediaNews over recent staff reductions. From the AP:

The union representing news staff at a group of San Francisco-area newspapers filed an unfair labor practice charge Tuesday over the layoff of some union organizers two weeks ago amid a 13 percent staff cut.

The Northern California Media Workers Guild said in a filing with the National Labor Relations Board that managers chose employees to lay off based on their union activity. Marshall Anstandig, general counsel for the partnership that owns the papers, called the charge "ridiculous."

Could there be more?

FishbowlLA reports that another 100 jobs could be cut at the LA Times in two months.

Makes me think back to a correction appended to a New York Times story on the impending cuts:

Correction: July 4, 2008

An article on Thursday about job cuts at The Los Angeles Times paraphrased incorrectly from comments by David D. Hiller, the publisher, and Russ Stanton, the editor, on the possibility of additional downsizing. Both men said that they hoped the latest cuts would be the last for a long while; they did not say that they believed they would be.

'Tribune troubles' on PBS

The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer will look at what's roiling newspaper industry in light of the resignations yesterday of the publisher of the Los Angeles Times and editor of the Chicago Tribune. The email press release follows:

*******************************************
* MEDIA WATCH ALERT
* An E-mail Service of the

* NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and the Online NewsHour
*******************************************

*TRIBUNE TROUBLES

The newspaper industry took two more casualties yesterday, when Anne Marie Lipinski, editor of the Chicago Tribune, and David Hiller, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, resigned their positions. The common denominator was that both papers are owned by the Tribune Company, an industry leader that was bought last December by real estate magnate Sam Zell in an $8.2 billion dollar deal that took the company private, while saddling it with debt.

All this comes amidst turmoil at many US newspapers that are cutting back newsroom staff and news space to keep profits from falling steeply during this economic slowdown.

Tonight on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Jeffrey Brown looks at the newspaper industry's troubles with Esther Thorson, journalism school associate dean at the University of Missouri and Jon Fine, Media Columnist for BusinessWeek magazine.

Lists

Both Tell Zell and LA Observed are putting together lists of names of those who are departing the Los Angeles Times. TZ is here, LAO is here.

The new boss

Gerould Kern takes over as editor of the Chicago Tribune, following yesterday's resignation of Ann Marie Lipinksi. He tells his paper he's ready for change:

With advertising revenue in decline, Kern said the industry must respond. "Some time-honored practices are going to have to change and I'm not going to shrink from doing that."

The story doesn't go into detail about what time-honored practices Kern is talking about. However, he does seem to embrace a community journalism philosophy, and he does want to see the paper "lighten up".:

The Tribune, he said, needs to get better at providing news that is "personally helpful" to readers, stories that help them make choices and navigate through an increasingly complicated world. He also said the Tribune needs to lighten up a bit.

"I want us to be more fun to be with," he said.

(Corrected: I'd mistakenly listed Kern/Lipinski as publishers of the Tribune.)

The power of the press

City law in San Francisco obliges local agencies to publish notices before holding public meetings. So when the San Francisco Examiner failed to run an ad announcing the upcoming meeting of the Board of Supervisors, the board had no choice but to reschedule. All of this showing, of course, that newspapers are the backbone of democracy.

On that front, it should be noted that local government advertising is an important source of revenue for small newspapers and a big reason for the rise of suburban chains like MediaNews. Legal ads, public notices, doing-business-as, etc. are the bread and butter of smaller newspapers.

Correction: An earlier post blamed the Brown Act for the public meetings requirement. The Brown Act does require agencies to provide public notice but does not require paid ads.

Meanwhile, in Detroit

General Motors has a plan to save money that looks awfully familiar. From the Washington Post:

Struggling auto giant General Motors announced a number of sweeping measures this morning designed to raise cash and stay in business through 2009, including cutting an unspecified number of white-collar jobs, eliminating health-care benefits for retirees 65 and older, the possible sale of some of its model lines and the immediate suspension of dividend payments for investors.

Matt McHale has died

Sportswriter Matt McHale has died of a heart attack (via LA Observed). He left the Daily News as part of the March layoffs. McHale had been ill after suffering a heart attack last month.

WSJ cuts

Buyouts for about six journalists at the Wall Street Journal, Portfolio reports. The copy desk might be culled as well.

Hack and sack (updated*,**)

Tribune starts the agonizing process of firing up to 150 editorial employees today. LA Times Publisher David Hiller is the first to go, according to Tell Zell. Here's the story in the Times.

Kevin Bronson, deputy editor of The Guide and long-time music writer, also received a pink slip today. I won't try to keep a running tally, since I don't have the inside sources other bloggers do, but I'll try to link to any updates I see.

*Update: Copy editor Mark Masek, who joined the Times after leaving the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, is on the cut the list, he reports in the comments section.

**Update: Kevin Roderick at LA Observed is putting together a list of those leaving the Times, although he wisely chooses to get independent confirmation before he starts naming names. He says the 150 are being culled through a combination of buyouts and layoffs, with both sides receiving the same deal.

Bay Area layoffs

The San Francisco Peninsula Press Club has a list of the names of the editorial employees laid off by BANG-East Bay at the end of last month.

Trials of Tribune*

Two developing stories at the Tribune Co. As rumors swirl about the future of Los Angeles Times Publisher David Hiller, the editor of the Chicago Tribune hands in her resignation.

*Tell Zell reports that the firings at the LA Times are getting underway today.

Mad Man

A former ad rep for the L.A. Times critiques the way Tribune Co. has been running things. Tell Zell has the memo.

Putting 'there' there

Witness L.A. highlights an Urban League initiative to improve living conditions in a 70-block area surrounding Crenshaw High School. In reading the post, I immediately though back to Jill Leovy's story in last week's LA Times about neighborhoods south of the 10 Freeway that were lumped under the nebulous "South Central" tag until 2003. Left without a name, the area struggles to find a common bond with which to advocate for its needs and a common reference with which to remind people of the central role it has and does play in the city's life. Leovy spoke about her story on Thursday's "Which Way, LA?".

Sunday readings

Our savings are shrinking, our lives are getting longer, our employers are shedding pension obligations and our pool of retirees is about to overflow. Will we be the "live for tomorrow" generation?

It was said houses were being used like ATMs. Really, they were being used like credit cards. Now cash-strapped borrowers are turning for help to cash-strapped lenders and finding a less than sympathetic ear.

Turning to the past to bring clarity to problems of today often requires a careful reading of history to find just what you need, and to ignore the rest. At least, that appears to be the lesson of a few recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

And, finally, old people are becoming more dangerous.

Reconstructing a botched case

The Washington Post and washingtonpost.com team up to produce a 12-part series detailing the "chain of mistakes" that has left the high-profile murder of Chandra Levy unsolved for seven years. A lot of resources appear to have gone into this multi-platform effort. I count 21 names in the project credits.

From the "About This Series" page: The Post series provides a rare look at an unsolved homicide case from the inside, following the twists and turns of an investigation that was filled with false hopes, false leads and false suspects. It would tarnish a police department and wreck a reputation. It would move with tremendous energy and purpose in one direction and end up in another. It would be marked by an enormous effort by police - and a chain of mistakes that got longer and longer.

Name change

Readers will notice I've removed the moniker 'Reporter G' from the header and replaced it with my boring name, Gary Scott. Why? Because I was never really comfortable with Reporter G, having chosen it many years ago when blogs were mysterious things to most people. But, as with race car beds and Hot Wheels, all things must pass.

As my legion of fans swells into the double digits, and my blog gets linked to on a semi-regular basis, I'd rather be less cheeky and more direct with new readers - at least until I come up with a more interesting name. Until then, I'll keep the blog address the same and don't mind if others choose to use Reporter G for old time's sake.

More on Steffens

Sara Steffens, who helped successfully form a new union at Singleton's Bay Area papers, only to be laid off along with 28 other editorial employees, tells Editor & Publisher that her pink slip came in retaliation for her organizing activities. She said she is considering formal action against the company. Despite being ousted, Steffens was elected chair of the guild on Wednesday.

Thinning the edge

The latest Newsweek poll gives Barack Obama a slight lead over John McCain. Obama is up 44 percent to 41 percent, down from a 15 point lead, 51-36, in June.

Breaking the bank*

Federal regulators have seized Pasadena-based IndyMac bank in what the Wall Street Journal describes as "one of the largest bank failures in U.S. history."

The head of the Office of Thrift Supervision tries to pin some of the blame on Sen. Chuck Schumer, who panicked customers a couple weeks ago with a letter questioning the bank's solvency. But as the WSJ article makes clear, the IndyMac's failure is a part of a wider economic trend and a sign of what's to come:

IndyMac's arc -- rapid growth and then an even more rapid descent -- is a microcosm for much of the boom-to-bust cycle that the mortgage industry has experienced since the housing crisis surfaced in late 2006.

While dozens of lenders have gone out of business during that time, IndyMac is one of the few federally insured banks to fail. Banking regulators are bracing for a slew of failures over the next year, bulking up their staff of bank examiners and taking an increasingly tough approach toward banks that are seen as risky.

*(LA Times, Bloomberg, LA Biz Observed)

Shorties

Pin the tale on Obama

The Four Apartments of Charlie Rangel

McCain and Nancy

LA Times LA Observed

Rebuilding the right, blog by blog

Smack on the Fannie

Blogs about radio programs about newspapers

Romenesko today includes a link to Ken Doctor's Content Bridges in which Doctor opines about his appearance on Tuesday's "To The Point" in which he, and others, opined about the state of the American newspaper industry.

That's a media hat trick: A radio show on newspapers dissected on one blog and promoted on another.

The Fox and the Fowler

So, does what Fox did in broadcasting the Rev. Jesse Jackson's candid, if intemperate, remarks about Barack Obama put the media powerhouse in the vanguard of the new media revolution?

'Citizen' labor

A CBS affiliate in St. Petersberg, Florida plans to recruit 20 "lucky" people to become "citizen" journalists for the station. Each person will receive basic training on using a video camera and then will be expected to shoot a minimum of 10 clips suitable for broadcast every three months. They'll get $20 for every clip that's used on the station's newscast or Web site - and nothing for the others. At the end of the year, if they fulfill their mission, they get to keep the camera.

Take the word "citizen" out of the descriptor and what you have are 20 poorly training journalists working part time for slave wages.

Put the word "citizen" back in and you're on the cutting edge of the super democratized journalism 2.0.

Either way, the station gets video for almost nothing.

Gee, I wonder how many other ways we can use the word "citizen" to get people to work for almost free?

But first, here's the release (via Romenesko):

Tampa Bay's 10 is looking for twenty people around the Bay area to help us with a special project. We will teach twenty lucky people how to shoot a video camera, and how to get the video to us here at the station. Here is how it will work:

For one year, these twenty people will agree to send us video stories which we will air on our newscast or post on our web site.

Every three months, shooters will be required to send me ten stories, or clips which I can put on the air.

These clips can be about many different subjects. Things that happen in your community. Anything from bad weather to your childs play at school. Maybe your neighborhood meeting.

Each time you send me a video story that either makes it on the news or on our web site, Tampa Bay's 10 will pay you TWENTY DOLLARS!

If you hold up your end of the deal, after a year, you will KEEP the video camera we assign you.

Tampa Bay's 10 will issue you a video camera, a tripod, a bag for the camera, a battery, all of the necessary equipment to download video into your computer and a bag to store it.

My name is Mitchell Wallace and I will work with this citizen journalist team to get these stories in our newscasts and online.

Maybe I'll hire a few "citizen" painters to redo my living room. I won't plan to pay them, thought. I'll just let them know that I'm offering them a chance get involved in an important communitiy project. And if they do a good job, I'll let them keep the paint brushes.

Guild lobbies Daily Breeze*, **

Organizers with the Southern California Media Guild, which represents journalists at the Long Beach Press-Telegram, were outside the Daily Breeze offices in Torrance today. I'm told they handed out fliers and talked about the bad things MediaNews has done as part of its Southern California consolidation strategy.

One of those decisions was to place P-T editorial under Breeze management, which didn't go over very well in Long Beach.

The Breeze is the most recent addition to LANG. Since most of the workers there were hired back when the more generous Copley Press ran the place, I don't expect the organizing effort will gain much traction.

*Meanwhile, Inkstainedretch over Tell Zell is trying to launch a union drive at the Los Angeles Times.

**Correction: The fliers referenced the bad things that happened under MediaNews, not the organizers. My mistake.

Cutting in Chicago

A week after the axe dropped at Tribune Co.'s Los Angeles Times comes the news that the Chicago Tribune will lose a substantial portion of its newsroom:

The Chicago Tribune began informing staff Tuesday it will eliminate around 80 of its current 578 newsroom positions by the end of August and reduce the number of pages it publishes by 13 percent to 14 percent each week.

The Guide is going out of print

The Los Angeles Times plans to stop publishing The Guide as part of the printed newspaper. The final tabloid edition will go out July 24. I assume the social and events section will continue on in digital form, but I'm told a lot has yet to be determined.

Double the Russ

Russ Stanton, editor of the Los Angeles Times, joined us on today's "To The Point" to talk about the newspaper industry generally. He graciously agreed to come back and join us on "Which Way, LA?" tonight at 7 p.m. to talk more specifically about the Times.

Newspapers!

Haven't heard enough bad news about the newspaper industry? Then tune into KCRW 89.9 at noon today to hear five smart people talk about crumbling finances and difficult transition to digital. We hope to touch on downsizing, outsourcing, citizen journalism, and hit counts, along with the more obvious topics of shrinking profits and shrinking newsrooms.

If you're busy at noon, podcast it or download it at kcrw.org/tothepoint.

Here's the guest list:

Richard Perez-Pena, media reporter for the New York Times;
Russ Stanton, editor of the Los Angeles Times;
John Carroll, former editor of the Los Angeles Times and now freelance writer;
Ken Doctor, industry analyst who blogs at Content Bridges, and;
Lee Siegel, culture critic and author of "Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Internet"

Comings and goings

Thursday was reporter Shelly Leachman's last day the Daily Breeze. Before she left, she said goodbye to journalism in a note. LA Observed has a copy.

Los Angeles Steelers?

The Wall Street Journal reports that the family owners of the Pittsburgh Steelers are in the market for potential buyers, a fact that must have Ed Roski's pulse racing.

The chances that the Steelers will separate from Pittsburgh are remote, but you never know what might happen when money and family divisions are involved. After all, just consider what happened to the Wall Street Journal.

Ornstein, Weber to ProPublica

LA Observed reports that Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber, who combined to bring us the blockbuster piece on King-Drew Medical Center, are leaving the Los Angeles Times for ProPublica. Here's the link.

WaPo names new editor

Marcus Brauchli, 46, will take over as top editor of the Washington Post come September, replacing legendary Leonard Downie, 66. This according to Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times.

Brauchli comes to the job after a long career at the Wall Street Journal, where he rose to the level of managing editor before resigning in April.

More from the Times: Mr. Brauchli, who spent most of his career as an editor and overseas correspondent at The Journal, will take over a newspaper that, like most in the industry, has been hit hard by falling ad revenue and circulation. More than 100 newsroom employees recently accepted a buyout at The Post, whose news staff has declined from more than 900 early in this decade to about 700, and several Post executives say they expect the newsroom to shrink further in the next few years.

Is it you or is it me?

Here's a handy site that lets you figure out whose fault it is that you aren't able to get onto a given Web site - Is it the site's fault? Or your own?

I found out about it from this New York Times story. I wish I'd known about it last week when I was trying to determine why I was being diverted away from the Pasadena Star-News site to a warning page, although it wouldn't have answered all of my questions.

More trouble with free

The wildly popular Gawker is cutting what it pays its writers.

Guild co-chair on the cut list

MediaNews announced last week that it will cut 29 editorial positions as of July 11. Sara Steffens, co-chair of the organizing committee that successfully unionized the papers last month, is one of those slated to receive a pink slip.

The move has prompted whispers of retaliation. According to the guild's Web site, Steffens made the list after "an evaluation of the expendability or redundancy of positions." Steffens covers poverty and social services, which is indeed the kind of beat many newspapers have determined to be expendable.

A difficult trend

The number of newspaper jobs eliminated in the last few years is staggering. According to a survey pulled together by Alan Mutter at "Reflections of a Newsosaur," 102,120 positions have been cut since 1990, and nearly half of the total came in the last three years.

You'd think that would be enough satisfy even the most blood thirsty of owners. But Mutter concludes the knife should have gone deeper still if publishers were to keep earnings in line with falling revenues. That, he said, is why more cut are expected.

In the last couple of years, 26,564 jobs were axed. Another 23,580 jobs should have been cut to keep up with falling revenues.

Worse yet, the newspaper business has decoupled itself from the rest of the economy. So while revenue losses are being accelerated by a poor economy (see Mutter's graph above), an upswing in the economy won't stop the slide as it has in the past. That means the jobs aren't coming back, unless someone finds a magic formula for making money off a product that is being given away online.

Or, as Mutter says it:

The industry is well into a period where its economics are governed by new and unprecedented social, demographic and technological developments that will alter forever the behavior of both advertisers and consumers. Economists call this a “secular” decline, as opposed to the “cyclical” declines that result from the ordinary ups and downs of the business cycle.

In other words, the recovery of the newspaper industry this time will require a far more proactive strategy than simply whacking headcount, hunkering down and waiting for the economy to rebound.

The slash and consolidate approach favored by many of the bigger chains has turned out to be about as sophisticated a prescription as amputation or bloodletting. While I dislike the word "proactive," newspaper owners are in desperate need of innovative thinking - and not the kind that comes from snake oil salesmen and accountants.

Rather than resorting to changes designed to excite the more infantile parts of the reader's brain (shorter, simpler, flashier), owners should go back to first principles and decide what it is journalism is supposed to do and then build a better business model around that. Unfortunately, money lust is blinding most of our newspaper barons to real innovation. Instead, they're looking for the quickest way to turn a profit. And that's turning newspapers into fast food.

'Clarifying' the news about MediaNews

MediaNews execs Dean Singleton and Jody Ludovich sent out a memo to employees to address concerns about S&P's recent downgrading of the company's debt rating, and analyst predictions that the company risks falling into default.

The execs say recent turmoil in the financial industry has pressured ratings agencies to become more cautious when evaluating debt - extreme even. However, they acknowledge there are "economic headwinds" ahead.

The memo skirts the issue of whether more newsroom cuts will be made, but it certainly leaves the door wide open for additional layoffs. The execs also talk about doing more consolidation and an upcoming "transaction" with Hearst, although they offer no details. The memo appears to dismiss any notion of MediaNews gobbling up more newspapers anytime soon.

Here's the memo:

TO: MediaNews Group Employees
FROM: Jody Lodovic/Dean Singleton
RE: RECENT PRESS

Many of you have probably heard or read the recent negative press surrounding the newspaper industry, including MediaNews Group. The focus on MediaNews Group was prompted by a recent downgrade by Standard & Poors. Given the speculation and innuendo contained in recent stories, we wanted to provide as much clarity to each of you as possible.

Before getting into specifics, we want to put the recent S&P downgrade into context. MediaNews is not alone, nor is the newspaper industry unique. Unprecedented turmoil in the financial markets and the economic challenges faced by many industries has resulted in a great deal of dislocation and irrational behavior in the market place. Rating agencies such as S&P and Moody's have been criticized and threatened for not reacting quick enough to update their ratings. It is our opinion (shared by others) that the rating agencies have now gone to an extreme and are being overly conservative with their ratings. As a result, every newspaper company, including MediaNews Group, has been downgraded multiple times during the past year. While we can debate whether these downgrades were warranted, we acknowledge that the economic headwinds we (and many others) face pose a real challenge. Let us assure you, MediaNews Group is up for the challenge!

We also want to address the speculation regarding the recent leadership changes at Hearst. While it is not appropriate for us to address the specific reasons for the change, we can tell you that Hearst remains committed to and supportive of MediaNews Group. In fact, we expect to announce another transaction with Hearst shortly which will better position us to weather the current economic storm. We and Hearst have identified several areas where we can work together for our collective benefit, as well as for the potential benefit of the industry. Some of these strategies, such as our joint Kaango and PSA investment and formation of the Yahoo! consortium, are already underway. We look forward to expanding our efforts with Hearst in the future. Aside from the matters addressed above, we are sure other questions come to mind about the future of newspapers and MediaNews Group. Let us address a few that come to mind.

Is MediaNews Group meeting financial commitments under the terms of its various debt agreements?

Yes, MediaNews is in compliance with the terms of its bank agreements and continues to take steps to reduce its total debt and expect to remain in compliance in the future. As has been the case in the past, MediaNews may from time to time seek amendments of its debt agreements as necessary to provide maximum flexibility.

Is MediaNews concerned about the level of its debt?

Certainly, given the economic environment we are in, we would rather have less debt. But, this is not our first rodeo. In the last newspaper recession (in the early nineties), we operated with higher relative levels of debt. We came out well positioned and led the industry in growth for much of the next decade. With our collective efforts, we will lead the charge again!

Is MediaNews looking to buy more newspapers in the near term?

While Mediapews believes the future of newspapers is bright, MediaNews is not currently looking to acquire more newspapers. We believe our resources should be more internally focused on reinventing our current newspaper model to support future growth plans. That said, we believe that consolidation within the industry is inevitable and will help facilitate the change necessary for newspapers to thrive well into the future. MediaNews expects to be a leader in that consolidation effort.

MediaNews has always been focused on cutting costs. Is there a different strategy for the future?

Unfortunately, all newspapers are faced with making significant cost cuts. Declining revenue and higher newsprint prices, as well as ever increasing benefit costs, simply leave no choice. The recent necessary downsizing at some of our newspapers was a difficult decision, from both a personal and professional perspective, and we will certainly miss our cohorts. Each played an important role in the company, and there departure, through no fault of their own, leaves a whole that the rest of our employees will have to fjnd a way to fill.

MediaNews doesn't believe cost cutting is a long term strategy. However, we recognize that there is a structural change in our business, and we must align our cost structure accordingly. That is precisely why we engaged Bain last Fall - to provide us a roadmap to build the newspaper company of the future by leveraging the vast resources of the entire company. Individual newspapers can only cut costs so far without impacting the perceived value to advertisers arid readers. Accordingly, we must work together (as well as with other companies) to find new and creative ways to streamline operations in ways that are transparent to both readers and advertisers. In fact, we believe it is possible to improve our products and services and operate more efficiently at the same time.

Unfortunately, gone are the days where we can operate as a collection of standalone newspapers. We must leverage our collective resources and position ourselves to reinvest in our business going forward in order to provide the tools and resources to ensure success in the future. And, we are starting to do just that, with significant investments in the sales, marketing and research arenas.

We hope that this addresses many of your questions and conveys MediaNews Group's commitment to taking the necessary steps to ensure our future success. No one said change was easy, and the current economic environment makes it all the, more challenging. But, the rewards for successfully navigating through this period of transformation will be great.

We truly believe in the future of newspapers, the services they perform and the value they provide. You, our employees, are our most valuable asset. And, if we all work together, MediaNews will lead the industry into the future! We recognize and appreciate your efforts and dedication during this challenging time. Remember-together we can!

Barrera leaving SGVN

Edward Barrera announced today he is stepping down as metro editor of the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group (Pasadena Star-News, San Gabriel Valley Tribune and Whittier Daily News). I'm told he plans to return to his native New York after a well-deserved vacation in Guatemala.

Barrera and I started as editors together at SGVN, back in 2006. We'd both had our frustrations as reporters, watching our own newsrooms shrink, and hoped to do something constructive from the other side of the line. Barrera advanced from city editor to metro editor while I flailed about as politics editor for a paper too small to need one.

I left to take a reporting job in the Daily Journal's Sacramento bureau, but Barrera stuck around and helped steer the ship through some rough seas. The worst of it came in March with the announcement of another round of layoffs.

Eddie was one of the good guys. He will be missed.

WWJD?

It's Independence Day eve and I'm blue.

I'm putting a show together for Tuesday about the state of the American newspaper. The news is disheartening, and dangerous. Over 1,000 editorial positions slashed in the last week - the latest, and the deepest, at the Los Angeles Times.

All of this because of a revolution.

Thomas Jefferson had a soft spot in his heart for revolutions. The spot he had for newspapers was nearer the spleen. Yet, he still said this:

“Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

Jefferson, of course, was an elitist. And he didn't have access to the Internet. But I think it's safe to say he had patriotic leanings, and a certain affinity for democracy. To his mind, democracy needed stirring from time to time, a task suited to a free press.

Online publishing is making the physical press obsolete. But the word "press" also represents a collective - reporters and editors banded together to monitor institutions, public and private, that have the power and the means to turn we individuals away, ignore our concerns, resist being stirred. That press is under threat. The culprit, despite the citizen journalist's wish to take credit, is an institution.

The crippled and dying newspapers of today may well provide the ground from which a new crop of publications will spring. Destruction may well be necessary for creation. But this revolution needs revolutionaries, and fewer grave dancers.

Anyway, on to more articulate thoughts on this subject from New York Times columnist Timothy Egan, who does not see a savior in the Huffington Post (HuffPo has its own ideas of "free" and "press"):

Yes, the Brentwood bold-face types who grace HuffPo’s home page can afford to work for free, but it’s un-American, to say the least.

Long ago, I was a member of the steelworkers union, and also a longshoreman. If any of those guys on the docks heard that I was now part of a profession that asked people to labor for nothing, they’d laugh in their lunch buckets — then probably shut The Huffington Post down. Doesn’t the “progressive” agenda, much touted on their pages, include a living wage?

We could be left with a national snark brigade, sniping at the remaining dailies in their pajamas, never rubbing shoulders with a cop, a defense attorney or a distressed family in a Red Cross shelter after a flood.

My lament this Fourth of July is to ask readers to see newspapers as not just another casualty in the churn of business. Sure, reporters say stupid things and write idiotic stories. Everyone stumbles. But on its best days, a newspaper is a marvel of style and wit, of small-type discoveries and large-type overstatements, a diary of our deeds.

We may still prove Jefferson’s preference wrong: perhaps a nation can function without newspapers. But it would be a confederacy of dunces.

From love to hate

Martin Gee has a final message for the San Jose Mercury News after getting "rightsized."

Comings and goings

Melissa Lalum, managing editor at the Daily News, is stepping down to take a position in the journalism department at Cal State Northridge. Kevin Roderick at LA Observed has the memo from Executive Editor Carolina Garcia.

LA Times to slash 150 editorial positions

The Axeman cometh.

The long-dreaded day has arrived. LA Times Editor Russ Stanton and Publisher David Hiller sent out memos today announcing that about 150 editorial position will be cut and the print edition will lose about 15 percent of its pages. This fix, they say, will create the viable and sustainable LA Times of tomorrow.

Memo from Hiller:

Folks,

Last week I talked about the actions we must take to build a viable, sustainable Los Angeles Times Media Group.

A necessary, but painful, part of fixing our business for the future is getting costs in line with revenues. Russ Stanton announced today (memo below) that we are eliminating approximately 150 positions from the newsroom. In total, we are eliminating approximately 250 positions company-wide, with most business-side reductions having already taken place. Similar efforts have been undertaken all across the newspaper industry and other areas, including many of our customers in auto, real estate, banking, travel, and retail who have also had to cut their own employees — and their advertising with us.

As hard as it is to keep all this change in perspective, it is critical that we think about it in terms of the future. We must build the next generation of journalism and media and not preside over the decline of an old business model. How we think about the future, and communicate this to our customers will make all the difference.

As we move forward, our plans include:

• A re-designed flagship Los Angeles Times newspaper to debut in the fall, reflecting the work of the Reinvent team, the Spring Street Project, and related efforts underway for quite some time
• A re-designed latimes.com website
• A combined multimedia newsroom to produce excellent content for both
• More targeted products for new audience segments
• A re-organized sales team fired up to turn our revenue picture around
• Increased utilization of our operating strengths so we can print and distribute newspapers and other products all across SoCal

We also need to remember that even with staff reductions, we have extraordinary and passionate people, great brands that readers and users trust, and advertising partners who want us to succeed because that is how they succeed.

Thank you for all that you do. And as we say goodbye to some of our colleagues, please join me in remembering and thanking them for helping build this great place.

David

Memo from Stanton:

Colleagues:

You all know the paradox we find ourselves in: Thanks to the Internet, we have more readers for our great journalism than at any time in our history. But also thanks to the Internet, our advertisers have more choices, and we have less money. Add to that a poor economy, particularly for us in the California housing market, and you quickly see why a wave of cutbacks has swept through newsrooms this year from New York to Santa Ana.

We are not immune. As David Hiller mentioned in his memo last week we are embarking on another round of cost cutting. I deeply regret to report we will be reducing the size of our editorial staff, both print and Web, by a total of 150 positions, and reducing the number of pages we publish each week, by about 15%.

These moves will be difficult and painful. But it is absolutely crucial that as we move through this process, we must maintain our ambition and our determination to produce the highest-quality journalism in print and online, every day.

Through all of our changes, we continue to give readers terrific coverage, whether it's the continuing collapse of the housing market, public pools that have been taken over by gangs, or the controversy surrounding liver transplants at one of our most prestigious hospitals. We've provided insight into the historic presidential campaign, and we've delivered exclusive, on-the-scene looks at the brutal repression in Zimbabwe and the continuing war in Iraq . The future of The Times, in print and on the Web, depends on that kind of journalism -- exclusive, original, excellent. We will not retreat from that commitment.

I don't yet have all the details on the reductions to come, but we expect to complete these moves by Labor Day. We'll provide more information, including the severance terms, as soon as we can. As part of this process, we will be combining the print and Web staffs into a single operation with a unified budget.

I appreciate your patience, understanding and cooperation during this difficult time. John, Davan and I, and the rest of the senior editing team, will be available to answer your questions. With more than 700 people, we will remain one of the largest and best newsrooms in the country. And we will continue to be a strong and formidable presence in the business we so dearly love.

Russ Stanton

Editor