Yes, George Sanchez, steward and bargaining team member, has been laid off from the Daily News. The cited reason was economic need, George was the least senior of two LAUSD reporters. Friday was George's last day of work.Daily News Editor Carolina Garcia hired Sanchez last fall to replace education reporter Naush Boghossian, who left the paper for a PR job last May.
Reporter Connie Llanos will continue to cover education for Daily News.
*Updated: I've heard from a couple people that management was looking to eliminate someone from the Metro desk and that Sanchez volunteered to take the bullet. With his departure, the desk is down to 9 reporters, plus columnist Dennis McCarthy.
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37 comments:
The "Flagship" continues to implode. What a sad, sad joke this paper has become.
WOOOOOW!!!!
oh how sad. George was a class act!!
Poor bastards. It's tough to be a world-class flagship without any reporters.
Guess advertising hasn't turned around yet. I am sure the little genius is working on that right now. We should all live that long.
His crap act will probably head south for the summer soon.
How sad that the company let George go so easily, without even trying to keep him (there are other reporters who are less talented that are being kept). It's sad he felt the burden to place himself in front of the bullet like that. No reporter with his level of talent and professionalism should have to feel that way. One of the good ones just got away.
There are more reporters at weeklies than at this sunken ship. Pathetic.
Hey 3:33,
Comments like that yours about "other reporters who are less talented" are completely destructive. This is a time when the staff should band together and support one another. It's not a time for manipulative put downs like yours.
From what I've heard, most Daily News reporters weren't even aware of the opportunity to take a buyout Friday. This was clearly insider baseball stuff that Sanchez knew about either through his connection to the union or Carolina and he chose to pursue it. He's not a martyr. He was unhappy at the paper and found a way out.
Over/Under on the Daily News' last publishing day is November 12th.
Anybody want some action?
What you all said: "Blah, blah, blah". SOS about LANG.
What I read: "Crap act."
That's comedy.
Hmmm. I don't see how that's possible without the sister papers folding as well.
The national advertisers come to the chain through the LA Daily News, because they want the Los Angeles presence.
The national advertisers are not singling out the smaller papers.
That's not a slap at the other papers by any means. Everyone works hard at them, and they are good. But the national advertisers want to be read in LA. So the chain risks losing the ads if the Daily News folds.
Hey 9:26. What national advertisers? They haven't made an in-person call in I don't know how long and national advertising is in the toilet. No one buys the sister papers unless they are close to a freebie. That mantra you are spouting died out a decade ago if not longer. And I guarantee you if national advertisers want to reach Los Angeles newspaper readers, the Daily News ain't reaching that many of them any longer. My oh my have you drunk the koolaid.
the san gabers and rest of the sisters rely on the DN for the name and noteriety. no one back east has heard of inland valley bulletin or san gabe tribune. heck, they prolly don't even know where it is.
you guys, LANG is LANG. you are all in this together. all for one, one for all. if medianews goes down, you ALL do. you need to band together and not all this hatred...my dad is stronger than your dad rhetoric.
no one held a gun to his head and made him take the buyout, right?
this band together crap people from time to time spout means s--t. no one does it, if they did , it wouldn't work. get a grip, it is a bad organization, run badly, makes piss poor decisions and is not going to survive the way it is today. and dont fool yourself, i doubt if many media buyers know where the daily news is, much less san gabriel or inland.
anyone who can take a buyout should, it is a crappy place to work as illustrated by people resigning by telephone.
9:00...do you have a crystal ball? don't be silly.
"this band together crap people from time to time spout means s--t. no one does it, if they did , it wouldn't work. get a grip, it is a bad organization, run badly, makes piss poor decisions and is not going to survive the way it is today. and dont fool yourself, i doubt if many media buyers know where the daily news is, much less san gabriel or inland.
anyone who can take a buyout should, it is a crappy place to work as illustrated by people resigning by telephone."
It is most definitely NOT crap. Aside from the fact that there simply aren't enough jobs to absorb everyone in the industry, there are plenty of us who don't want to get out, and shouldn't be forced out just because the executives are too stupid and venal to actually invest in a viable long term strategy.
If you want out and can get out, then by all means do so. But those of us that want to stay and try to make this work have to stick together. We may or may not succeed by working together, but we'll surely fail if we allow ourselves to be distracted into fighting with each other.
well said 9:02
I stopped reading 6:46 when they said no one knew where the DN was.
...it's in Woodland Hills, a district of the city called "Los Angeles." Maybe you've heard of it?
ok, for you overly sensitive ones.
no harm in banding together and if it works great. so far in hasn't.
this newspaper group is dead man walking and there may not be enough jobs to absorb everyone, but, by all accounts it is a very hostile and dysfunctional workplace. I fully agree with you that the management group is piss poor and to a great extent responsible for the mess.
and as far as the geography lesson, thanks. i know where the flagship is located, but, media buyers who do not reside in southern california do not. if you have ever talked with a sales person who has made national sales calls, that becomes very clear very quickly. media buyers do not now the geography of southern california.
Actually, it's in Van Nuys now. They needed to sell their Woodland Hills home for some quick cash and they moved into a rental. However, these will all fondly be remembered as the "good times." The next step involves running the whole operation out of a one-bed Motel 6 room along the interstate.
All ya'll editorial folks can talk about surviving the coming apocalypse, band together and sing Kumbayah.
The Daily News has no functioning circulation sales department, no functioning circulation home delivery department, no transportation department, only 4 contractors attempting to deliver all the subscribers, collapsed negotiations with the LA Times to deliver.
Customer cancellations are through the roof as a result of the abysmal service.
The editorial problems are the least of the Daily News' problems. Soon no one will be left to read what you write.
Say goodnight, Gracie.
10:34.... van nuys?? Last time i checked 21860 burbank blvd was in woodland hills. duh!
It's Woodland Hills, but that's really not the point. Van Nuys, just like Woodland Hills, is still part of Los Angeles. Media Buyers don't need to have a detailed familiarity with every district of the city, all they care about is that it's Los Angeles. And they most assuredly know where Los Angeles is.
If there are no more national ads, then the point about LA being irrelevant is valid. I don't believe that argument however. Delivering access to the Los Angeles market is clearly a draw for advertising. The one thing LANG (and the rest of the online market) has failed to do is establish the value of their online audience to advertisers. This would not be hard to do, and I can't understand why they simply rely on a basic hit tally. Making online valuable would do a LOT to restore some weight to the budget.
I'll take November and the points. It's sad to say, but management has sunk the ship with fewer life rafts in sight.
I'll say October 12, since they can't even go out of business on time or smoothly.
How about we all band together and get another job. There never was never a together since the beginning. Before and after Dean purchased the Daily News they thought their poop didn't stink and when ever cuts came down the pipe DN insisted it was made it lang wide. Now singleton is eating his young as they bleed-out.
Use the code of ethics and give help when needed but let's face it competition breeds great journalism, banning together in journalism doesn't.
Singleton is Un-American
"Use the code of ethics and give help when needed but let's face it competition breeds great journalism, banning together in journalism doesn't."
No one said not to compete. I don't know a journalist working today that isn't highly competitive.
Being competitive and trying to bring awards home to your paper isn't the same thing as wishing failure on sister papers - especially if your counterparts at those papers are victims of the same upper management jackoffs that ruined it for all of us.
I want my paper to be the best in LANG. But I want it to be the best because of the journalism, not because the rest of the chain has gone out of business.
We're all getting screwed, and the same people are responsible in every single instance.
if los angeles was that critical, why is national advertising in the toilet deeper that other competitors at lang? buyers want demos in a city and lang can't deliver those. make a sales call and then let's talk. They are dead and there is no comeback for national print advertising in lang. sorry, isn't going to be coming your way. shrinking circulation, difficult to buy, no sales force or talent, no strategy...future sounds bright doesn't it.
10:54
Are you saying other papers sell more national ads than the DN?
exactly what I am saying. Not lang sister papers, but papers in their same circulation size. The dn has been getting a few fewer percent of national ads than their peers. especially over the last 12 months or so. hard to get someone to buy if you aren't making a call.
...that's what I thought you meant.
And the counter argument to that is that those sales should count towards Woodland Hills anyways, because without them you wouldn't be selling national ads in the first place.
Whether you sell the ad from Torrance, or Redlands, or wherever, the fact the ad is going to run in LA is a big part of the deal. That doesn't mean the DN is a better paper, it means LA is a more important city.
no arguement that la is important for national clients. my point is that media buyers do not know newspaper markets...not all...but most have no clue in geography. and you are correct, of the lang papers, the dn is the bigger draw. the facts are that lang is down more in national advertising than their peers in part due to management of the category and the lack of sales ability. most clients would never buy redlands etc unless it is bundled, which it is.
If your point is that LANG itself is losing ads faster than the average, I have no argument whatsoever. Their lack of strategy is painfully obvious at this point.
My whole point is just that LANG can't afford to lose the DN, because that will sound the death knell on their national advertising in Southern California. They lose that, and it's game over for all of us.
you will find that national advrtising makes up a small percentage of ad revenus. granted, any additional loss is painful, especially today, but, the growth needs to come from majors, local, and yes, even classified. national at best is a hit or miss and you cant depend on it. what you can depend on is the rest of the ad business if you go about mining it correctly.
I won't pretend like I know anything about the specifics of LANG advertising. What percentage of the total ad revenues would you say come from the national ads? Do you really think they could lose them without completely imploding? That just seems counter to both their traditional business plan, and most industry standards.
I would love to see them focus on local advertising - done right, you would not only have ads that people might be interested in, but you could probably make enough money to cover expenses. But is MediaNews capable of restructuring themselves to do it? I have serious doubts.
i am not going to make a number up as fact, but, just a guess would be 10 percent or less.
i would say with some level of confidence that they aren't making many sales calls now and as you or another poster said earlier, they will get what they will get being in los angeles.
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