Apr 19, 2009
One for all
Tomorrow, April 20, is the first day of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group's universal copy desk experiment. Copy editors from the Daily Breeze, Press-Telegram and Daily News will now make the daily commute to West Covina to join a single news desk serving LANG's nine newspapers. It will be interesting to see how this works out, and whether more consolidation plans are in the works.
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30 comments:
Let me be the first to rain on their parade. Good people will be lost and if they haven't left by now, they will soon. The quality of the product will suffer even further, if that is possible, added stress, lack of solid management and decision making etc will cause additional circulation and revenue losses. Good decision boys, you should feel proud.
For those about to blog, we salute you.
pathetic
RIP Daily News copy and news desks.
I wonder how much Lean Dean enjoys killing his own papers? Seems that's why he bought them in the first place along with the buildings he made millions off of selling.
the beginning of the end. a cookie cutter.
the los angeles daily news...the FLAGSHIP and a nationally known paper has been reduced to work at a little unknown outfit called SGVNG. heartbreaking.
While relatively unknown, isn't sgvn the money maker for Bozo the owner?
SGVN may have been the money maker but they are in a downward spiral...
SGVN may be in a downward spiral (which paper isn't), but the DN has been in a spiral long before the economy went bad. It got small first and all the smaller papers were forced to follow. They DN typos and botched headlines could quickly fill a wall, even four years ago. Dean is finally bringing SGVN down with the rest of the ship.
Weren't the Daily Breeze and Press Telegram already one anyway with the Daily News not far from joining?
It's a real stretch to call the Daily News "nationally known," unless you count its appearance on countless "newspaper goofs" Web sites and blogs across the country. What's more, the perpetually-in-the-red DN's financial drain on the rest of LANG, combined with its longtime insistence that the group's smaller papers act at its behest, are a big part of the chain's problems today. One wonders how a legacy of DN administrative mismanagement and an almost comical editorial and design philosophy yielded such hubris. The so-called "flagship" has never been something that engendered much, if any, pride from the rest of the group.
The so-called "flagship" has never been something that engendered much, if any, pride from the rest of the group.Well maybe it has something to do with their circulation being twice the size of most any other paper in LANG.
But that's really not the point. Is there anything to gain from sniping at each other, or blaming our situation on anyone other than the folks at the top?
The DN didn't kill LANG, any more than the LAT killed the Tribune Co. Bad management did that. Let's not get into petty squabbles with each other over stuff that no one here had any control over. We're all victims of MediaNews' idiocy.
Even before Dino took over, the Daily News was never much of a paper. Its worst decision was to go from covering the San Fernando Valley very well to becoming a mediocre Los Angeles paper.
When Singleton took over, all the papers except the DN had good profit margins, with San Gabe and Ontario the highest.
Now they're all toast, dead by the end of the summer
Blame LANG leaders for this disgrace. I would like anyone to tell me what the management team had contributed over the past couple of years except to gut expenses, people, and creativity. The current group would have trouble counting to ten in the right order.
Mr. Reaper,
Keep on blaming Woodland Hills for your problems if it makes you feel better. I'm not going to keep trying to convince you that those glory hogs in the valley have nothing to do with your situation if you're unable to figure out who is in charge of the company.
I'm just pleased to note that most of us are sophisticated enough to grasp the reality of the situation and look past the company line to see where the real blame should go.
Bring Hanes back before it's too late.
Even if Dean wasn't responsible for the decision to take on the Times (I'm not familiar enough with the history to argue that point either way), doesn't he bear the blame for not recognizing that it was a bad move and leading the paper back to the valley?
MANAGEMENT is responsible for managing the business. If any part is unsuccessful, that's on them.
how is the consolidation working? is it saving money?
Saving money? The problem is that in a downward spiral, with revenues dropping, it is impossible to save enough money to make a difference.
They have got to find a way to at least halt the bleeding in the revenue side.
Otherwise, you can't save enough to make it work.
Cutting the papers down to nothing and expecting people to throw down money to buy them isn't the answer. Lean Dean may know how to screw over his minions, but the paying public isn't stupid. Nine papers that have almost the same content makes a lot of sense. Nine papers with differnt content might actually make people want to buy nine papers instead of passing on one.
Hanes, are you 4:44?
At what point will LANG decide to stop putting out nine papers that look the same and just print one? Before or after it goes out of business?
I say after. To do so before would be wise. We all know that is impossible.
It seems people are forgetting that there are several highly competent captains on this ship working their butts off to ensure the survival of the papers.
Everyone should be grateful for those who remain dedicated in these difficult times. If it weren't for them, many more would be out of work!
Instead of slamming the operation, why not get behind their efforts and aim to make a difference?!
Nothing can turn a bad situation around quite like gratitude and the desire to succeed.
It's clear that the only success that Lean Dean wants is to put the papers out of business. There are a lot of competent people who don't have jobs because of the operation.
Hey 4:08, what RX are you on unless your comment is tongue in cheek. I hope that was your intent. If not, seek therapy, fast.
To 5:12 a.m.
When people start believing that having a positive attitude is a sign of poor mental health, you know the world has gone completely mad! No wonder it's in the shape it's in!
You really need to be asking yourself why you are so bitter and can't move on from your disappointments.
Life stinks sometimes but if we have any strength of character at all, we won't let it stop us from being happy and successful.
I honestly wish good things for you and hope you find all that brings you peace and fulfillment.
thank you for your kind words. right back at you too. peace/love to all.
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