May 29, 2009

Bringing the watchdogs inside

As James Rainey of the LA Times pointed out a few months ago, there are fewer full-time reporters covering the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (4) than there are supervisors (5); and there are almost as many former journalists (2) working for a single supervisor, Zev Yaroslavsky.

Now LA Observed reports that Yaroslavsky's staff has looked out onto the new media landscape and decided to overhaul the supervisor's website to give it a more newsy feel. The office plans to hire a part-time writer "with sharp editorial skills" to produce stories on a variety of topics that will "connect and communicate with constituents on issues that impact their lives and intersect their interests."

The opening is listed on JournalismJobs and Joel Sappell, former reporter and editor at the LA Times, is heading up the project.

Combining political savvy with journalistic talent is certainly nothing new - David Axelrod might be the best and latest example of that. But as professional journalism and impartiality diminish, we're likely to see much more of this partisan-institutional journalism filling the void. After all, they're willing to pay for it.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I wonder how much it pays.

Anonymous said...

Gee Gary,
another slap at newspapers nice job. Perhaps you should disclose how much tax money goes into NPR programming and how it effects editorial decisions there. But then again you dont' practice journalism, you fail at it by continuing to show your true colors in your hatred for LANG, which you should also disclose provides more than half of your household's income...
Let's see how long before you take this post down like so many others.
Face it you and the bitter failures that support your pathetic attempts at brilliance are really nothing more than school yard bullies kicking hard working journalists for your own self-gratification. Why don't you set up a porn site so you guys can all masturbate together?

Anonymous said...

What a weird post.

Anonymous said...

Hey poster at 5:39...I hate LANG too. I don't have any income from them, they just suck as a company, they have ruined their newspapers, destroyed a number of good employees, and they are dishonest.

Anonymous said...

Totally weird. Psyho, even.

As a hardworking journalist, I can't say I feel "kicked" or bullied by this site. I enjoy it.

Now about that porn site ... Can you tell us all where to meet up, 5:39? Seems like we all need to blow off a little steam, don't we?

We love Lambert said...

Who doesn't hate LANG at this point?

Anonymous said...

5:39 p.m.: Frank, is that you?