It's hip to quit

First, California gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom dropped out. Then Afghan presidential contender Abdullah Abdullah made it known he wasn't going to run in a runoff. Now, with fewer than three days to go before Election Day, Republican congressional candidate Dede Scozzafava has quit her campaign for office.

No charges in May Day rally

The Los Angeles District Attorney's Office today said no charges will be filed against the police officers who roughed up a crowd of protesters and journalists at a 2007 May Day rally. LAT

Four in the morning

1. Caught on tape: A spokesman for Attorney General Jerry Brown's office admits to surreptitiously taping conversation with reporters when questioned by the San Francisco Chronicle. Taping a phone conversation without informing the other party is illegal in California. Now the secret recordings the AG's office made could become evidence of a crime. Chronicle

2. Pep talk: After subjecting its papers to severe layoffs, Gannett company comes back with mission statement aimed at getting that old newsroom swagger back. The statement itself is pretty straightforward stuff for shrinking papers - emphasize local watchdog reporting, use online to break stories, try to get young people to read, be helpful to readers, etc. Editor and Publisher

3. Citizen shield law: The Senate version of the reporters' shield law would protect both professional and citizen journalists; the House version would cover only for the pros. AP

4. Layoff Time: Time Inc. plans to layoff or buyout about 540 employees and the news department - Time, Fortune, Money and Sports Ilustrated magazines - is expected to take the hardest hit. NY Post

Two California Congresswomen face ethics probe

A House committee has recommended an investigation of the alleged ethics violations of Reps. Maxine Waters and Laura Richardson, both Democrats from California.

From Politico:

Waters intervened with the Treasury Department last year on behalf of a minority owned bank, OneUnited, in which her husband owned stock. He also served on its board.

Richardson’s case revolves around her Sacramento home, which she purchased in 2006 but lost to foreclosure. The home was sold to a third party but later reacquired by Richardson. [The Office of Congressional Ethics] looked into the foreclosure issue and whether neighbors who cleaned up Richardson’s yard made an improper gift to the congresswoman by mowing the lawn and gardening.

(found via LA Observed)

Adversarial advertorial

The Torrance Daily Breeze ran an unusual advertisement on Sunday.

A local condo association bought five pages in the middle of the main news section to deliver a long screed about a bitter power struggle for control of its board.

But that's not what made this ad unusual. It's the fact that the ad singles out for criticism the Breeze reporter who covered the story. The ad's author, Cyd Balque, president of the Scottsdale Townhouses Association, makes repeated references to the reporter, Gene Maddaus. She characterizes his work as sensationalistic and biased.

It is not unusual for someone in the middle of a public controversy to be unhappy with the coverage. It is unusual for a publisher to sell that person an expensive platform ($10,000? $15,000?) to attack the reporter. After all, Balque could have written a letter to the editor. And if the stories were incorrect in some way the paper would have run a correction. On the contrary, the editors ran an editor's note in Sunday's paper saying they stood behind the coverage.

Should the other side in the condo dispute get five pages to vent their concerns? Should other reporters worry about retribution if they take on special interests with deep pockets? What about editorial independence?

Since Maddaus is a former colleague, I'll let others decide how crazy this is. I did not speak to him about the ad because A. this isn't about him and B. I don't want to cause him any more grief.

Quieting the chatterers of doom

A lot of social media advocates have already shown up for the newspaper industry's wake, and the latest circulation numbers gave them another reason to cheer/mourn. But the industry has yet to die. Except for a relatively few newspapers in troubled markets, papers continue to pull in revenues that dwarf those of even popular online news sites.

That's not to say newspapers aren't in trouble, or that revenues aren't shrinking, or that shrunken revenues haven't left newsrooms stretched too thin, crushing the morale of reporters still on the job. But, to paraphrase Dan Gross of Slate, the grave dancers need to chill the f#@k out:

So in the past six months, according to ABC, the New York Times' daily circulation fell 7.3 percent, while Sunday circulation was down 2.7 percent. Horreur! And yet, the New York Times Co. reported that in the third quarter, "circulation revenues rose 6.7 percent, mainly because of higher subscription and newsstand prices at The New York Times and The Boston Globe." In the quarter, circulation revenues were larger than advertising revenues for the first time—$175.25 million, compared with $164.5 million.

By the way, you can still make money publishing newspapers—even in a period when advertising has plummeted. Check out Gannett's third-quarter earnings report. Its newspapers pulled in more than $100 million of operating income on revenues of $1.04 billion. In the first three quarters of 2009, advertising revenues were off 31.6 percent, but circulation revenues were off less than 5 percent, even though many of Gannett's flagship papers lost subscribers.

In the last year, Gannet bled its newsrooms of journalists - not a healthy long term strategy. The New York Times announced another round of buyouts in hopes of trimming 100 newsroom jobs. Clearly this isn't a growth strategy. But the fact that an economic meltdown, a massive technology change and a multitude of self-inflicted wounds have yet to destroy newspapers is something to consider. Again from Gross:

This is the new emerging model—cutting costs, raising prices. It may still fail in the end. But we shouldn't act as if the online-only crowd has it all figured out. Every month, several million Americans pay to have newspapers and magazines delivered to their homes—a trick most online publications have yet to pull off. In fact, in some regards, print-online hybrids like newspapers and magazines have outperformed online-only publications. The Web operations of the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal aren't exactly slouches when it comes to selling online ads. And as poorly as the stock of the New York Times has performed over the past decade, most people would have preferred owning it to the stock of Salon.com, or TheStreet.com.

Crazy, mixed up world

The downturn in newspapers has been so prolonged and pervasive that Dean Singleton, once derided as "Lean Dean" for his gut-and-consolidate strategy, has become spirit raiser.

From a story that ran yesterday CJR:

And the mood of the writers rose—briefly, at least—when Dean Singleton, whose MediaNews Group owns both The Salt Lake Tribune and The Denver Post, recounted the conclusions that his top executives reached following a three-day planning session at his Colorado ranch: Instead of continuing to provide free of charge all the contents of its newspapers on their Web sites, the group’s papers would provide breaking news online for free, but reserve many of the newspapers’ in-depth and analytical stories for paid subscribers. In three to five years, he predicted, the newspaper business will be a combination of “print, online, wireless mobile and niche products.” The business “will be better than it is today, although not as good as it was yesterday.”

I think many reporters at Singleton papers would welcome such a plan, as long as it meant investing in newsrooms so that they could produce sufficient in-depth and analytical stories to justify the charge.

Local papers see circulations drop*

Newspapers across Southern California saw substantial drops in daily circulation over the last six months, according to the most recent Audit Bureau of Circulations report.

The region's largest paper, the Los Angeles Times, lost 11.1 percent of its weekday circulation between April and September. The paper now sells an average of 657,467 papers a day during the week.

Dean Singleton's LANG papers lost circulation as well, the Times reports. Circulation at the flagship Daily News in Woodland Hills plunged 26% to 95,938. The paper has had several rounds of buyouts and layoffs and, as a result, has shifted focus away from Los Angeles to concentrate on cities in the San Fernando Valley.

The Pasadena Star-News fell 5.3 percent to 24,362. The Long Beach Press-Telegram dropped 8.2% to 71,411 and the Daily Breeze in Torrance 2.7%, giving it a circulation of 61,925*.

Singleton's Inland Empire papers - also part of LANG - experienced similar drops, the Press-Enterprise reports. Weekday circulation at the San Bernardino Sun and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin dropped 9.4 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively. The Sun now sells an average of 47,015 papers a day during the week and the Bulletin averages 48,014. The Sun lost 6.4 percent of its Sunday circulation and the Bulletin lost 2.9 percent.

The Belo-owned Riverside Press-Enterprise experienced the biggest decline in the Inland Empire, with circulation falling 24.3 percent on weekdays for an average of 113,182 copies sold. Sunday circulation was down 23.3 percent. Contributing to the losses were several rounds of staff cuts in the last year and the paper's decision to end delivery services in parts of San Bernardino County.

Out east, weekday circulation at the Desert Sun in Palm Springs decreased 11.6 percent to 36,207 papers. The Gannett-owned paper cut staff last year and instituted furloughs this year.

The Orange County Register's weekday circulation slipped 10.1 percent to 212,293; the Register's parent company, Freedom Communications, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last month.

The San Diego Union-Tribune, which suffered major staff cuts shortly after it was bought by Beverly Hills-based Platinum Equity, dropped 10% to 242,705.

Nationally, newspapers lost an average of 10.6 percent of their circulation, according to ABC.

*I have yet to come across circulation numbers for the Whittier Daily News and San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

*Updated: Finally saw a list of all the papers. The San Gabriel Valley Tribune saw its weekday circulation fall to 33,387 papers a day from 37,594, an 11 percent drop. The Whittier Daily News fell 13,076 from 14,563, a decline of 10 percent.

A small sliver of silver lining: The Pasadena Star-News saw a 1 percent increase in Sunday circulation and the Whittier Daily News saw a 2 percent increase.

Falling, falling

If you pay attention to such things, no doubt you've seen the ugly numbers for national newspaper circulation. Editor and Publisher calculated an average drop of 10.6 percent for the six-month period ending in September.

From E&P:

The New York Times is down 7.2% to 927,851. Sunday fell 2.6% to 1,400,302.

The Los Angeles Times reported its daily circ is off 11% to 657,467 and 6.7% on Sunday to 983,702.

Daily circ at The Washington Post fell 6.4% to 582,844 while Sunday was down 5% to 822,208.

Daily circ at the Chicago Tribune decreased 9.7% to 465,892. Sunday was down 7.1% to 803,220.

The San Francisco Chronicle lost more than a quarter of its daily circ, down 25.8% to 251,782. Sunday was off more than 22% to 306,705.

Daily at The Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., dropped 22.2% to 246,006 and 18.5% on Sunday to 371,060.

The Boston Globe's daily circ decreased 18.4% to 264,105. Sunday lost 16.9% to 418,529.

American's newspaper, USA Today, fell 17 percent, putting it below the Wall Street Journal, which saw a light uptick of .6 percent.

Alan Mutter at Reflections of a Newsosaur provides some context:

Following an average drop of 10.6% in the last six months, daily newspaper circulation has fallen to a pre-World War II low of an estimated 39.1 million, according to an analysis of industry data released today.

The first double-digit circulation decline in history means only 12.9% of the U.S. population buys a daily newspaper.

Four in the evening

1. A familiar tune: Journalism students at the Medill Innocence Project raise serious doubts about a murder conviction and now the county's new prosecutor wants to raise doubts about the journalism students' methods. Meantime, the guy who was convicted remains in prison. NYT

2. Secret signings: The U.S. Supreme Court decides that, at least for now, signatures in favor of ballot measures should be kept private. LAT

3. The bully we've been waiting for: Ron Kaye applauds L.A. City Attorney Carmen Trutanich for his shaking his fist at City Hall. Ron Kaye L.A.

4. The membership model: Talking Points Memo is exploring the idea of creating a membership section. Nieman Lab

Pasadena Gold

According to Eating L.A., the November issue of Pasadena magazine - which I've heard of but never seen - will feature a piece by Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold. It's not clear if Gold, who still writes for the LA Weekly, will be a regular contributor.

Four in the evening

1. Inflating balloon boy: The Heene family in Colorado seem to be getting the attention they craved as the media continues to cover the boy who wasn't in the balloon. Denver Post

2. Around the bases: Michael Massing takes on Howard Kurtz for taking on the Obama administration for taking on Fox. CJR

3. Poor information diet: Howard Weaver warns us about the troubling trend of "infobesity". Etaoin Shrdlu

4. Words, words, words (dot com): A software engineer leaves the New York Times to build the "dictionary of the future." NYO

A new kind of deadline

The folks at the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group are serious about their time cards. Here's a memo sent yesterday to editorial employees:

Time cards are due tomorrow at 5:00 pm. If I do not receive your time cards, you will receive written warning in your files and disciplinary action up to and including termination will begin.

The 'loyal reader' metric

As news organizations discover better ways to measure online traffic, the focus of publishing could shift away from serving a mass audience to maintaining a loyal one. As a result, this could simultaneously liberate newsrooms from the pressure to generate hits at all costs and provide a more valuable metric with which to sell advertising.

Knight Digital Media talked with Slate editor David Plotz about what this could mean for content. Here's an excerpt (emphasis theirs):

“Until now we’ve been selling to the mass audience. Now once you have this ability to target you can really target your core audience… This creates strong incentive to create durable journalism,” Plotz said. “That one curious reader is worth 50 times the value of the drive-by reader. The person who makes a commitment to your brand, if you’re a quality brand….. if you can get those readers, a smaller set of readers, who come to you three or five or 10 times a week, you don’t have to go after that huge other set of readers.”

So forget celebrity and outrage stories. For Slate, this focus means a commitment to long form journalism such as a recent series on the American dental crisis, which Plotz estimates was read by 400,000 people. Slate has started a “Fresca Fellowship” that requires each reporter and editor to spend a month each year on a long form journalism project. Advertisers have begun to sponsor specific projects and they are paying for themselves, he said.

“Advertisers want to be around some ambitious project more than they want to be around some snarky political column,” Plotz said.

The approach won't work for every publication - and some publications won't want to do it since they equate influence with hits. But the "loyal readers" approach is familiar to journalism magazines and small- and medium-size newspapers, so it shouldn't require them to become niche publications to be successful.

New York Times taps discarded talent

The New York Times began publishing its California Bay Area pages last week and now the paper has announced it will partner with a few former Chicago Tribune alumni to produce a local Chicago edition starting next month.

From the Times:

James O’Shea, the former editor of The Los Angeles Times and managing editor of The Tribune, will serve as editor of the new Chicago News Cooperative, and James Warren, another former managing editor of The Tribune, will write a regular column for the service. Peter Osnos, another well-known journalist and founder of PublicAffairs books, is the chairman of its advisory board, and one of the board members is Ann Marie Lipinski, former editor of The Tribune.

As the Times rolls out these local editions (which are really pages of content devoted to regional coverage), one has to wonder if the paper has plans for Los Angeles? I suspect USC's journalism school and the founders of The Journalism Shop - a collaboration of former Los Angeles Times staffers - have perked up their ears.

A California pick me up

For the last year, California has been portrayed as a broken state. Fast-growing debt, high unemployment, irreconcilable demands for more services and lower taxes, an intractable budget, and an impotent state government. Waterless, traffic jammed and on fire. Time magazine's Michael Grunwald suggests that only those who have it so good could whine so loudly:

Ignore the California whinery. It's still a dream state. In fact, the pioneering megastate that gave us microchips, freeways, blue jeans, tax revolts, extreme sports, energy efficiency, health clubs, Google searches, Craigslist, iPhones and the Hollywood vision of success is still the cutting edge of the American future — economically, environmentally, demographically, culturally and maybe politically. It's the greenest and most diverse state, the most globalized in general and most Asia-oriented in particular at a time when the world is heading in all those directions. It's also an unparalleled engine of innovation, the mecca of high tech, biotech and now clean tech. In 2008, California's wipeout economy attracted more venture capital than the rest of the nation combined. Somehow its supposedly hostile business climate has nurtured Google, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Facebook, Twitter, Disney, Cisco, Intel, eBay, YouTube, MySpace, the Gap and countless other companies that drive the way we live. ...

"In the depths of the breakdown, you can see the next narrative," says Mark Muro of the Brookings Institution's metropolitan-policy program. "It's California. The next economy is already in place there, and it's amazing."

The complete article is here.

Access

A Texas school district recently changed its media policy to say that officials can turn down interview requests "if official press credentials are not presented or available." A local blogger said the policy was an attempt to marginalize social-media types, and district officials did acknowledge the change was made to deal with the rise of the Internet.

Setting aside whether this is wise policy, the new rule highlights a dilemma for hyperlocal and subjective reporters: The smaller you are, the less access you are given; the more opinionated you are, the fewer officials are likely to speak with you. In many cases, this won't be a problem. Most bloggers aren't interested in doing what the local paper does.

But a fragmented media does give officials more power to manipulate and obfuscate, whether through policy or through practice. That's something traditional media - however cash starved - has an obligation to push back against.

Buyouts, layoffs and departures at the L.A.Times

Peter Wallsten, who covered the White House and national politics for the Los Angeles Times and coauthored "One-Party Country: the Republican Plan for Dominance in the 21st Century," has decided to leave the paper for a national reporting position at the Wall Street Journal, Politico reports.

LA Observed and fishbowlLA have kept a sharp eye on who's leaving the paper, whether by choice or by pink slip. In addition to Tina Daunt, the paper has lost business writer Peter Hong, who's been covering the housing market; Calendar writer Diane Haithman; travel writer Susan Spano, and music writer Scott Sterling.

Dean still lean

Dean Singleton's MediaNews Group has ordered a 5-percent pay cut for all guild employees working in the company's Bay Area News Group, which includes the Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times.

As expected, guild reps protested the decision. From Editor & Publisher:

"It is a mistake to cut pay right now when glimpses of recovery are starting to appear," said Carl Hall, local representative for the California Media Workers Guild, which oversees the East Bay guild unit. "They should be rewarding and encouraging us to work harder than ever. People are feeling devalued."

But Jim Janiga, senior vice president/human resources for the Media News Group California division, said the cuts are needed. "The newspaper industry as a whole is still having to deal with this transition," he stated. "We've still got to be reasonable and prudent."

In June, employees at the Singleton-owned San Jose Mercury News saw their wages cut by 7 percent. Singleton used furloughs and vacation freezes to trim newsroom costs at his Southern California newspaper.

Four in the morning

1. Electric Times: Los Angeles Times editor Russ Stanton puts his faith in electronic readers as the the paper lays off another 10 people from the newsroom. LA Observed

2. Friendly chat: In a Q&A with the Pasadena Star-News, Former Pasadena Police Chief Bernard Melekian talks about his local legacy as he prepares to takeover as head of the Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Service. PSN

3. The new media's progressive ideals: Huffington Post's new book editor dismisses the idea that her job at Penguin's publishing house might be a conflict of interest, and thinks the thought of paying writers for their submissions is old-world thinking. LAT

4. Witness to the executions: Most regional newspapers in Texas don't find executions compelling enough to send their own reporters. Instead, they rely on the AP and reporter Michael Graczyk, who has watched over 300 people die. NYT

Layoffs at the LA Times*

I'd heard rumors of another round of layoffs at the Los Angeles Times and now comes word, via LA Observed, that the axe has begun to fall today. Tina Daunt, who wrote the paper's Cause Celebre column, acknowledged that she got fired today after 20 years on the job.

*Update: Tina Dupuy at fishbowlLA says between 30 and 40 people could be laid off by day's end.

The Denton rule*

Last week, Gawker's Nick Denton told his writers to post quickly and fix any falsehoods with updates. So I wonder what Denton would say about Reuters' decision to write a story based on a bogus memo that said the U.S. Chamber of Commerce had essentially reversed itself on a pending climate change bill?

*Update: Dana Milbank writes that the Yes Men perpetrated the memo hoax and even held a mock press conference yesterday that, to the surprise of the journalists sitting among the actors pretending to be journalists in the audience, was rudely interrupted by a member of the real U.S. Chamber of Commerce and then broke down into a bizarre argument about legitimacy.

So how can a reporter separate truth from fiction? From Milbank:

There were clues, of course, such as the name of the Chamber "spokeswoman" listed in the original news release: Erica Avidus. Reporters and bloggers later figured out that "avidus" comes from a Latin word meaning greedy.

But in an instant news culture, who has time to check out such things?

NYT trims newsroom

The New York Times today announced that it will cut 100 jobs from the newsroom, about 8 percent of the total, through buyouts if possible and layoffs if necessary. This is the second time in as many years that the Times has cut staff. In 2008, the paper eliminated roughly 100 positions, most of them outside of the newsroom.

Said Executive Editor Bill Keller, as quoted in the Times:

As before, if we do not reach 100 positions through buyouts, we will be forced to go to layoffs. I hope that won’t happen, but it might ... I won’t pretend that these staff cuts will not add to the burdens of journalists whose responsibilities have grown faster than their compensation. Like you, I yearn for the day when we can do our jobs without looking over our shoulders for economic thunderstorms.

Read Keller's complete memo here.

(via LA Observed)

Switching images

Los Angeles artist Shepard Fairey admits to making a false claim in his legal battle with the Associated Press. From the LA Times:

Fairey said in a statement issued late Friday that he knowingly submitted false images and deleted others in the legal proceedings, in an attempt to conceal the fact that the AP had correctly identified the photo that Fairey had used as a reference for his "Hope" poster of then-Sen. Barack Obama.

"Throughout the case, there has been a question as to which Mannie Garcia photo I used as a reference to design the HOPE image," Fairey said. "The AP claimed it was one photo, and I claimed it was another."

New filings to the court, he said, "state for the record that the AP is correct about which photo I used...and that I was mistaken. While I initially believed that the photo I referenced was a different one, I discovered early on in the case that I was wrong. In an attempt to conceal my mistake I submitted false images and deleted other images."

Four in the evening

1. Oberjuerge overseas: Former San Bernardino Sun sports reporter Paul Oberjuerge has finally found job in print - in Abu Dhabi. Oberjuerge will work on the Revise Desk for The National, a newspaper funded by the United Arab Emirates government. The paper certainly pays well and all earnings are tax free. Oberjuerge

2. Premature publication: Nick Denton of Gawker sent a memo encouraging his writers to publish first and to confirm later. The Awl

3. Transcontinental press: A look at what the New York Times' inaugural Bay Area edition looks like. Nieman Journalism Lab

4. The public option: NPR releases social media guidelines for its journalists. NPR

Brother, can you spare some sick time?

With flu season here and fears the H1N1 strain will make it worse than usual, the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group has asked employees to donate vacation time to anyone who has burned through his or her sick days. Here's part of the memo:

Employees may donate accrued vacation time for the benefit of a fellow employee who is not covered under the company's sick time benefit or for a fellow employee who had already exhausted all of his/her sick time. Please contact Human Resources for further details on this program.

The charitable urge might be dampened a bit by the fact that the parent company, LANG, has spent the last year cutting employee vacation benefits to save money. In April, management instituted a six-month vacation freeze, meaning no one could accrue additional time off. With the freeze still on, the company ordered employees to use a week's worth of vacation to further draw down accounts.

The national battle for local supremacy*

The Bay Area edition of the New York Times launches tomorrow. The edition consists of a few pages of content focused on San Francisco, Silicon Valley and the East Bay which will, initially, be written by the Times's 10-person Bay Area news bureau. In the long run, the paper will pick up stories from other news outlets.

From the press release:

A longer-term objective of this initiative is to work with local journalists and news organizations in a collaborative way, first in the Bay Area and then in other major markets around the country. The Times is in discussions with news organizations in the Bay Area about supplying journalism for these pages.

Zachary Seward at Nieman Journalism Lab says the Bay Area edition is the latest salvo in a quiet war between the Times and the Wall Street Journal to be the national newspaper of choice in affluent markets. Seward also points to a 2005 study shows local papers usually get more local and blue collar when the Times moves in:

It’s also worth considering how an insurgence of national newspapers affects their local counterparts. A fascinating study in 2005 found that when The New York Times increased its penetration in a market, college-educated readers abandoned their local newspapers. But at the same time, local newspapers upped their focus on local news and, at least back then, increased their circulation among readers without a college degree. That dynamic isn’t limited to print, but it’s certainly the battle being fought on my stoop.

I remember a readership study done in the city of Claremont when there were three papers covering the city that bears this out. It was 1998 or 1999 and I worked at the twice-weekly Claremont Courier, which the study showed had its highest penetration among college-educated readers - a good demographic to target in a town with five colleges. The Los Angeles Times was moving in aggressively with its own locally produced edition that wrapped around the main paper. The study showed it appealed to the same readers. I suspect many, if not most of the Courier readers subscribed to both. The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, owned by Dean Singleton's MediaNews, was bigger in the non-college educated, blue-collar areas of the city.

But, as Seward points out, local papers aren't investing and competing like they did only a few years ago. The Times closed its local bureaus. The Bulletin is a shell of its former self. The Courier continues to chug along, although it struggles to maintain its focus now that longtime publisher Martin Weinberger is out of the picture.

*Update: Sacramento Bee columnist Daniel Weintraub will write for Times' Bay Area edition, LA Observed reports. He's also starting a nonprofit website to cover health care news.

L.A. County traffic plan

Reporters used to be able to wander the back rooms and corridors at the County Board of Supervisors meeting room, but no more. The reporters - fewer than you can count on one hand - were creating a traffic jam, the supervisors said. Now only lobbyists and union bosses will be allowed to walk the hallowed hallways. Coincidentally, at least two of the supervisors have veteran reporters on staff to work up their own versions of the news. LAT

(via LA Observed)

No sale

The New York Times Co. has decided to keep the Boston Globe. (via Romenesko)

Layoffs at the Press-Enterprise, updated

At least nine newsroom employees were laid off today at the Press-Enterprise in Riverside, and I'm told the number could be higher. Here are the names I have so far:

David Keck, night city editor
Julia Glick, county reporter
Matt Schoenmann, web producer
Sonja Bjellend, cops reporter
Melissa Eiselein, city reporter
Erica Shen, news assistant/city reporter
Peter Erikson, copy desk
Sheryl Manalang, copy desk
Katie Jones, copy desk
Ed Crisostomo, photographer
Marlene Toscano, news assistant
Andre Vergara, sports copy desk
Brian Johnson, news designer

(Note: This list will be updated when I can confirm additional names. Four names added 10/15.)

Four in the afternoon

1. An affair to remember: Common Cause has filed a complaint with the state's ethics commission against the lobbyist who allegedly engaged in an extramarital affairs with former Republican Assemblyman Mike Duvall. SacBee

2. Bankrupt: The 5,000 carries who deliver the Orange County Register will not get the $22 million the paper set aside to settle a lawsuit. Instead, the paper has wrapped the money into its list of assets as part of its bankruptcy filing. OC Register

3. In the red zone: The California Senate could pass a bill as early as today that would exempt the proposed NFL stadium in the city of Industry from environmental regulations and thereby eliminate a citizen lawsuit to block the project. PSN

4. Skinny paper: The Los Angeles Times loses an inch. ChiTrib ... LA Times pressman and blogger Ed Padgett had this story last month.

Layoffs at the Press-Enterprise

I've heard from a couple sources that the Press-Enterprise in Riverside has undertaken another round of newsroom layoffs. I'll update when I get more information.

Guardian lets Twitter do the talking

A British law firm today agreed to drop a gag order that had prevented the Guardian newspaper from reporting that a member of the British Parliament had raised questions about a secret report on toxic dumping off the Ivory Coast. The law firm of Carter-Ruck, which represent oil-trading giant Trafigura, had earlier won a secret injunction to stop the paper from exposing a report - possibly this report - that some say addresses whether Trafigura knew about the dumping.

Time magazine and others cited the use of social media tools, most notably Twitter, to sidestep the gag order and make public that Trafigura was likely behind the injunction. But I don't understand why the Guardian agreed to abide by the gag order in the first place. As Stephen Shotnes, a media-law expert with the London firm Simons Muirhead & Burton, told Time magazine: "It's been enshrined in our law for 300 years that there's freedom of reporting of parliamentary proceedings." Shouldn't the paper have broken the gag itself?

Four today

1. The kids are fine, but how are the children?: Style tips for NYT's bloggers that we could all use. NYT

2. Facts for factions: Has the ratio of partisan opinion to impartial news on Fox News reached a point where the station should be treated as a partisan entity? The White House thinks so and Media Matters agrees, even arguing that other journalists should treat the station as an arm of the Republican Party. Media Matters

3. The great American lineup: The FBI is using facial-recognition software to compare pictures of known fugitives with driver's license photos. AP

4. Beat the press: The Daily Show's Jon Stewart clubs CNN over the head for failing to check the accuracy of claims made by guests. fishbowlLA

L.A. Times Magazine back on the news side

The sad and expensive experiment of letting the business-side of the Los Angeles Times run the Sunday magazine has come to an end. Nikki Finke first reported that the magazine's editor, Annie Gilbar, a former Home Shopping Network host, had been axed, along with her $300,000 salary. She will be replaced by deputy editor Nancie Clare.

Finke lamented the move, saying the magazine will become "crappy all over again" under the Times' editorial control. LA Observed's Kevin Roderick was less fond of Gilbar's vision for L.A. coverage: "I found the magazine's view of L.A. too narrow and its personality too gushing — remember when Gilbar pronounced pessimism a bummer?"

Totally.

Buyouts at the Star-Ledger

Yet another Newhouse newspaper has offered buyouts employees as a way to shrink the payroll. The Star-Ledger in New Jersey wants 50 people to "voluntarily" leave their jobs to avoid the possibility of layoffs, the New York Times reports.

Here's a portion of the memo from Publisher George Arwady:

Full-time, non-represented employees can apply to receive 2 weeks’ pay for every year of completed service, capped at 26 weeks’ pay, along with medical coverage for the severance period. The newspaper reserves the right to reject applications based upon business needs.

We sincerely hope that we meet our staffing goals through this voluntary buyout offer. If we do not, we will need to resort to other ways of reducing our employee costs, which could include involuntary layoffs.

The paper eliminated 150 positions through buyouts last year.

Elsewhere in the Newhouse chain (aka Advance Publications)...

The New Orleans Times-Picayune recently made all employees eligible for a buyout package equal to one year's salary.

The Oregonian's interim publisher released a buyout plan last month and hinted strongly that layoffs would follow if too few people took the offer. To wit: "If a significant number of you accept the offer it could minimize or eliminate the need for layoffs down the line." The interim publisher did not say how many jobs were on the line but set a deadline of November 9 for employees to accept a buyout.

Say anything

Consultants told the Columbus Dispatch that people would rather be in the know than to simply know what's what. Or, as editor Benjamin Marrison put it:

A month ago, Los Angeles consultants -- hired to help The Dispatch become more effective on our Web sites -- suggested that we should take readers behind the scenes more.

They said Internet readers want to be part of the reporting process. The consultants continued: Online news consumers don't mind if your initial report is inaccurate. They just want it first. Online readers know that, over time, the truth will come out.

Maybe that's why newspapers have struggled with the Internet.

The Dispatch plans to ignore the consultants and continue to try to be accurate.

(via Romenesko)

Hyperlocal in L.A.

The "hyperlocal" journalism movement is the topic on today's "Which Way, LA?" The guests are Frank Gruber, a columnist at the Santa Monica Lookout News and attorney; Judy Muller, associate professor of journalism at the University of Southern California; Leo Wolinsky, former Metro editor at the Los Angeles Times and co-founder of The Journalism Shop, and Julian Do, Southern California director of New America Media. The show, which starts at 7:30 p.m., was produced by Frances Anderton.

Gagging the Guardian

The British government has issued an unusual gag order to prevent the Guardian newspaper from reporting on unknown parliamentary proceedings. The order is so strict that the paper cannot reference the proceedings in any way or even say why the order was issued.

From the Guardian:

The Guardian is prevented from identifying the [member of Parliament] who has asked the question, what the question is, which minister might answer it, or where the question is to be found.

The Guardian is also forbidden from telling its readers why the paper is prevented – for the first time in memory – from reporting parliament. Legal obstacles, which cannot be identified, involve proceedings, which cannot be mentioned, on behalf of a client who must remain secret.

That sounds like a gag order well worth breaking.

Schwarzenegger vetoes Bar bill*

Calling the State Bar of California "overly political, unresponsive to its membership, and inefficient," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger refused to sign a bill that would have allowed the Bar to collect membership dues for next year.

In his veto of SB 641, Schwarzenegger cited a critical State Auditor's report that found some salary levels incommensurate with the workload and blamed a former employee's embezzlement of $676,000 on a lack of oversight. The governor wrote:

As the organization charged with regulating the professional conduct of its members, the conduct of the State Bar itself must be above reproach. Regrettably, it is not.

Schwarzenegger also referenced an embarrassing episode from summer when a columnist learned that the Bar's judicial review committee had rated former Republican state Sen. Charles Poochigian "not qualified" for an appointment to the Fifth District Court of Appeals. Schwarzenegger wrote:

Unfortunately, recent events have required the State Bar to launch an official inquiry into the confidentiality of such proceedings. Moreover, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has recently questioned the reliability of the Commission’s recommendations by noting its failure to follow statutory guidelines when considering judicial nominees. By failing to follow the law, the JNE Commission has damaged its reputation for impartiality and, in turn, the State Bar’s.

*Update: Perhaps it goes without saying given his actions today, but Schwarzenegger has decided enough progress was made on negotiations for a state water plan that he will forgo a mass veto of the Legislature's over 700 end-of-session bills and will instead "weigh all the bills on their merits."

Schwarzenegger vetoes 710 tunnel bill

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger today vetoed a bill that would have required any extension of the 710 Freeway to be built below ground.

The decades-long campaign to close the 4.5-mile gap between Alhambra and Pasadena has faced stiff opposition, none more resolute than the city of South Pasadena, through which the road would have to travel. Senate Bill 545 from Sen. Gil Cedillo was sold as a compromise that would let the freeway be built so long as it tunneled underneath the city's historic homes and tree-lined streets.

Some - including some of the bill's supporters - think the bill would have killed the project given the prohibitive price tag - $3.6 billion for a tunnel versus $850 million for a surface road.

In his veto message, Schwarzenegger called the bill "unnecessary":

There is absolutely no need to enact statutory restrictions that would mandate certain project design options or remove others from potential consideration. In addition, several properties belonging to the state would be subject to sale for less than fair market value as a result of this bill, resulting in the loss to the state of hundreds of millions of dollars.

The properties Schwarzenegger refers to are homes, many abandoned and in disrepair, that sit in the freeway's path. Had the bill become law, Caltrans could have sold many of these properties, something South Pasadena and Pasadena would like to see happen. Would the governor have signed the bill if the housing market was in better shape?

Four today

1. California's initiative process "has rendered our state government dysfunctional," Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald George said Saturday. NYT

2. The LA Weekly has dumped staff writer Steve Mikulan and local media watchers are wondering why. LAO, Marc Cooper

3. Food critics Jonathan Gold of the LA Weekly and Russ Parsons of the LA Times join KCRW's Evan Kleinman to discuss the legacy of the recently shuttered Gourmet magazine. KCRW

4. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists says it's $275,000 in debt and will shut down for the year unless donors come forward. Poynter

Experts: L.A. sheriff flouts state's shield law

Investigators with the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department appear to have overstepped their authority when they obtained phone records of TMZ founder Harvey Levin as part of a probe to figure out who leaked information about Mel Gibson's 2006 drunk driving arrest to the gossip site.

From the Los Angeles Times:

"That's illegal," said Lucy Dalglish, an attorney and executive director of the Virginia-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "Most law enforcement agencies know it's illegal . . . or have a hard time getting a judge signing off on it."

Sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore, himself a former journalist, said investigators went after the phone records only after a judge signed off on a search warrant. He told the Times:

"What we did we believe was legal."

But experts in media law questioned that assertion, saying that, in addition to First Amendment's free-press protections, California's constitution explicitly spells out rights for journalists. Again from the Times:

Legal experts said the California Constitution protects journalists from being forced to reveal their sources.

State law, they said, also bars judges from issuing search warrants for unpublished information that is gathered by reporters. ...

[District attorney's office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons] noted that Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley has a written policy on search warrants, which says they "cannot be used to obtain the source of any news information."

"He feels strongly about not infringing upon a reporter's rights," Gibbons said.

(Found via LA Observed)

Award season comes early*,**

The Nobel Committee's surprise award of the peace prize to President Barack Obama certainly tells us something about how they viewed his predecessor, but with only 9 months on the job and a war in Afghanistan to plan, it might be a little premature at best. So what's the best political response? Does he accept the award on behalf of the American people? Or does he respectfully decline it, saying he's got miles to go and should be judged on results? Whatever he does, I'm of the mind that this won't help him make headway with his enemies abroad and will only harden the contempt of his political enemies at home who'll ask what he's done (and probably work in a little anti-elite European criticism). Humility might be the best answer to both.

*Update: Obama accepted the prize. He said he was "humbled" and "surprised," and added: "To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who have been honored by this prize..." The video of his statement is here and the text here.

**Update II: On today's "To The Point," Time's White House correspondent Michael Scherer, Atlantic Media's, Peter Beinart of the Daily Beast, and Robin Wright of the US Institute of Peace, and formerly of the Washington Post, talk about the ramifications of the Nobel prize on Obama's foreign and domestic agenda.

Cuts, consolidation and reorganization at the Oregonian

With a buyout offer on the table and the specter of layoffs looming, the executive editor of the Oregonian newspaper yesterday released a memo - obtained by Oregon Media Central - that outlines a major restructuring of the paper's newsroom.

From the memo:

We are committed to the principles and values that have defined print journalism and will not shirk our responsibility to serve as a watchdog on government and the powerful. At the same time, we need to evolve our journalism, embrace the two-way nature of the Web world and be even more responsive to a public that expects more of a conversation with us.

-snip-

We will not abandon our foundation of beat reporting, but beats will be redefined along areas of expertise of most interest to our readers. Some beats will be eliminated because with fewer people we cannot cover everything that we have in the past.

The smaller newsroom will be split into two parts. The first, with between 60 and 70 staffers, will focus on "local expertise and enterprise reporting." The second, with about 40 reporters and editors, including interns, will focus on "community." There will also be an "editing and producing" hub that will endeavor to push stories out onto the web more quickly with fewer rigid deadlines. As with most newspaper cuts these days, the change also means fewer copy editors and designers to check quality. Again, from the memo:

We also need to streamline editing operations and simplify newspaper production since we will be losing many copy editors and designers. We must move toward “one-touch editing.”

In addition, all photographers and photo editors will need to be trained in both still and video.

The Oregonian is owned by the Newhouse family, which operates the paper through its Advance Publications company. Advance also runs Condé Nast Publications, which recently shuttered Gourmet and Portfolio magazines and which has made significant cuts to many of its other magazine operations. Advance newspapers include the New Orleans Times Picayune, Cleveland Plain Dealer and New Jersey Star-Ledger. The Times-Picayune recently offered buyouts to all employees.

Hasse returns to LANG

After four years as marketing director at the Los Angeles Times, Ron Hasse will return to the Los Angeles Newspaper Group to work on circulation and marketing for the Singleton-owned chain. Here's a portion of the memo from LA Daily News publisher Jack Klunder, who was also at the Times until recently:

I am pleased to announce that Ron Hasse will be returning to the Los Angeles Daily News as the Vice President of Consumer Marketing effective Monday, October 12, 2009.

As many of you know, Ron spent many years at the Daily News in a variety of capacities including Circulation Director as well as the Vice President of Sales & Marketing for LANG. For the past four years Ron served as the Director of Sales & Marketing for the Los Angeles Times where he was instrumental in developing many of the “go to market” strategies and programs currently in place at the Times.

Ron will have day to day responsibilities for all circulation activities at the Daily News, Long Beach Press Telegram and the Torrance Daily Breeze. He will report directly to Linda Lindus, Publisher of Long Beach and Torrance as well as yours truly.

Additionally, Ron will have LANG responsibilities developing sales strategies for the other LANG properties. In that capacity, Ron will be working directly with Dave Williams, Vice President Circulation for LANG.

Facts for factions, second take

The people most opposed to the idea of objective journalism often are people who believe in objective truths. They consider editorial efforts to moderate language and viewpoints on tough issues - illegal immigration, torture, war, abortion - a cop out.

Subjective journalism rose up to cater to this crowd and has at times focused laser light on controversies that got swept aside when presented in moderated tones. But there's a viral strain of subjective journalism that claims to be objective and it is has helped erode the belief that any journalists can their facts straight.

To be sure, not all journalists can, and there are some newsrooms that get so careful with words that they serve up water and pretend it's soup. For these reasons, public skepticism of the media is healthy. But the selling of subjectivity as objectivity has done far worse damage to the idea of impartial journalism and accelerated cultural factionalism as consumers are emboldened to regurgitate belief to friends and neighbors and to call it fact.

Ezra Klein noticed a Fox News executive inadvertently copping to this slippery game in an interview given to Time magazine. Here's what Fox VP Michael Clemente had to say:

The fact that our numbers are up 30 plus in the news arena on basic cable I'd like to think is a sign that we are just putting what we believe to be the facts out on the table.

Here's what Klein had to say about that:

Most news organizations, in my experience, do not have to qualify the word "facts" with the words "what we believe to be." On the other hand, as Fox says, that model is good for ratings.

Four in the evening

1. Fear the shield: An attorney and former judge says a federal shield law for reporters is more trouble than it's worth. Boston Globe

2. Legislation by ballot: Californians pass legislation and even amend the state Constitution through the ballot box. So why aren't more of the campaign documents related to those ballot measures made public? Joe Mathews says they should be. Fox & Hounds

3. Good for what Ailes you: Fox News CEO Roger Ailes met with White House political boss David Axelrod to look for common ground. Politico

4. Executive-suite privilege: Freedom Communications, owner of the Orange County Register, isn't interested in sharing its business records publicly. Ironic, no? Editor and Publisher

This blog brought to you by...

Bloggers who plug products on their blog or provide product reviews in exchange for free swag will have to report what they're up to under new rules laid down by the Federal Trade Commission.

From the New York Times:

The F.T.C. said that beginning on Dec. 1, bloggers who review products must disclose any connection with advertisers, including, in most cases, the receipt of free products and whether or not they were paid in any way by advertisers, as occurs frequently. The new rules also take aim at celebrities, who will now need to disclose any ties to companies, should they promote products on a talk show or on Twitter. A second major change, which was not aimed specifically at bloggers or social media, was to eliminate the ability of advertisers to gush about results that differ from what is typical — for instance, from a weight loss supplement.

For bloggers who review products, this means that the days of an unimpeded flow of giveaways may be over. More broadly, the move suggests that the government is intent on bringing to bear on the Internet the same sorts of regulations that have governed other forms of media, like television or print.

“It crushes the idea that the Internet is separate from the kinds of concerns that have been attached to previous media,” said Clay Shirky, a professor at New York University.

The story does not say what constitutes full disclosure. Time will tell if the tougher rules will send advertising dollars back to legitimate news sites.

Little news

Newsweek chronicles the "hyperlocal" movement's attempts to gain a foothold in three New Jersey suburbs. It appears that even though the business model has yet to pay off that the homegrown efforts started by local journalists already are being supplanted by sites owned by national media giants - the New York Times, AOL and MSNBC among them. Why would the majors want to play in the minor leagues? From Newsweek

[I]f an operation like AOL's Patch can link together a network of $200,000-a-year sites each run by a single reporter, and then amortize big expenses (like technology and ad sales) across multiple sites, you could start to see decent profits. The low overhead is crucial: not only are startups like Patch using less costly labor, but they also believe readership and revenue will grow as networks of hyperlocal blogs link to each other, and as they become adept at persuading small businesses that never advertised in newspapers to give online advertising a shot—a key to Patch's strategy.

This model would probably only work in heavily populated suburbs. But it does seem logical that the chain websites would end up chasing revenue from the other types of chains that grow up in suburban landscapes: Starbucks, Ruby Tuesdays, Barnes and Noble, and the like. That, in turn, is likely going to shape how these sites develop.

Let's party like it's 1999

This is National Newspaper Week (yes, that explains the giddy sense of elation you felt this morning) and the bloggers at Nieman Journalism Lab have linked to some of the newspaper editorials that were inspired by this celebration. You can find them here.

Also via Nieman, the New York Times has a cool ad for its new Turkish edition.

After the burn

Offices with the US Geological Survey plan to release a report that assesses the risks of erosion in areas affected by the Station and Sheep fires, reports Guy McCarthy at Watershed News:

The need for timely and accurate assessment of post-fire dangers was underscored on Christmas Day 2003, when torrential rains on burned watersheds unleashed flash floods and debris flows that killed 16 people -- including nine children -- in Waterman and Cable canyons just outside the city of San Bernardino.

"The urbanized areas below the Station Fire are of course a focus of the report," [USGS project manager Sue] Cannon said. "But as we learned in 2003, the interior canyons are especially vulnerable."

Two for the Times

Do the top executives at Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times, deserve $66 million in retention bonuses? New York Times media critic David Carr questions the rationale for paying millions to keep the people who made the deals that thrust the company into bankruptcy:

Under questioning, Chandler Bigelow III, the chief financial officer, said the bonuses would help “incentivize our key managers to battle all of the intense challenges that unfortunately our local media businesses are facing,” according to The Associated Press. ...

But regardless of whether the bonuses have been earned or not, James Warren, a former managing editor of The Chicago Tribune, wonders how necessary they are.

“Without denying that many of these folks are toiling hard and diligently, the basic arguments underlying this request are laughable and beg at least one simple question,” he said. “How many of those that are being enriched by the bonuses have been contacted by headhunting firms seeking their talents? After what has happened there and what is going on in the broader economy, where are they going to go?”

Back here on the West Coast, Los Angeles Times television critic Robert Lloyd reviewed the PBS documentary "Inventing LA: The Chandlers & Their Times," about the family that founded the Times and helped shape the city of L.A.:

If there's a hero in the film -- albeit a flawed and ultimately failed hero -- it's Otis Chandler. Surfer, bodybuilder, bushy-haired blond Adonis, Otis, who was made publisher in 1960 at age 32, took The Times from a provincial house organ to a nationally respected newspaper. But he alienated conservative family members (and Nixon, who put him on his enemies list) along the way. And when he stepped down as publisher, he went outside the family to hire Johnson. "Otis didn't feel his children were as outstanding as he was," observes his first wife, Marilyn Brant. "Otis didn't like competition from his children."

Lloyd calls the documentary overlong and says that the filmmakers lose interest in the newspaper side of things once the Chandler's sell the company to Tribune.

Reporting from China

China wants to create a news and entertainment industry able to compete on the world stage with the likes of News Corp. and Viacom, the New York Times reports. As communication becomes more global, how will news coverage that originates in the United States differ from coverage in other countries? As consumers are given more choices, how will the traditional form of coverage Americans have come to know fare?

Facts for factions

A Pew survey finds 62 percent of Americans want the media to exercise a watchdog role over politicians. Meantime, only 29 percent of Americans think the media gets the facts straight - the worst result in over two decades of polling.

Partisan leanings account for some of the disparity. People allied with the party in power are much less likely to support watchdogs than those allied with the party out of power.

The media's increasingly fragmented and opinionated approach to coverage only amplifies this, as readers expect watchdogs to chase away the opposition. In this worldview, "facts" are whatever helps the watchdog get the job done - and like with members of Congress, people tend to like their own facts and dislike everyone else's.

Remember the days

Since many new media gurus think "old school" journalism is "baggage" to be tossed overboard, and many shrinking newspapers shuffle business concerns with news decisions, it's refreshing to read Jim Barnett's anecdote about his old publisher, Frank Daniels:

Frank stayed away from his newsroom for one simple reason: He knew that meddling was a bad idea. No reporter or editor worth his or her salt would ever want to be associated with a newsroom where the publisher determined what beats got covered and what stories got written. If Frank’s paper appeared to harbor biases or pick on certain politicians, that was a matter to be settled between the journalists and their sources. With that philosophy, Frank ran what was widely regarded as one of the nation’s best regional newspapers.

Barnett wrote about Daniels in response to Jack Shafer's criticism of nonprofit newsrooms, which he says are spreading like algae. Barnett argues that nonprofit, not for profit or for profit, the key is having the right mission and mindset in the newsroom. Again, from Barnett:

The point here is that journalistic bias is a function of human intention, not the business model under which the story is produced. For-profit, nonprofit, it does not matter. If a reporter or editor has an axe to grind, he or she is going to find a venue to grind it. ...

I think back to the stories I used to write at the N&O. A lot of them were about marketing abuses by one of the major drug companies based in nearby Research Triangle Park. The CEO, a friend of Frank’s, once called asking him to pull me off the beat. Frank’s answer, relayed by my editor, was to tell the CEO to go to hell. The truth — that the marketing abuses hurt people — didn’t sell ads. But by telling it, the N&O did its community a service that never could translate into an ad rate.

How many people still work for for-profit papers in which publishers who know not to meddle? How many now work for publishers who happily recommend certain articles - and prohibit others? How many people now work for publisher/editor hybrids, people who spend time talking to the ad department before holding the editorial meeting?

WNYC gets back "To The Point

More details on the return of "To The Point" to WNYC in New York City. The show will broadcast Monday through Friday starting at 10 p.m. The show will make its debut on Friday, Oct. 9.

The Apple tablet

Apple is expected to jump into the market for e-readers as soon as January with the Tablet, which looks a little bit like a giant iPhone.

Texas governor slows execution investigation

Texas Gov. Rick Perry removed three people from a specially appointed forensic science commission just two days before it was set to hear expert testimony disputing much of the evidence used in the trial of a Texas man found guilty of murder and later executed.

From the Dallas Morning News:

The hearing of the Texas Forensic Science Commission, scheduled for Friday in Irving, was abruptly canceled by the new chairman the governor chose, Williamson County District Attorney John Bradley. He is considered one of the most conservative, hard-line prosecutors in Texas.

The commission was to hear from Baltimore-based Craig Beyler, a nationally recognized fire expert, who had been hired by the panel to review the Cameron Todd Willingham case. Beyler's long-anticipated report, released in August, called the Willingham fire investigation slipshod and based on wives' tales about how fire behaves and possible arson evidence.

A recent New Yorker story looked into the 1991 case and also found serious flaws in the evidence used to convict Willingham of murdering his three daughters by lighting their house on fire. Included was a report from another arson expert who said investigators relied shoddy technique and discredited methodology to conclude the fire was intentionally set. That report, done after the trial but before the execution, went to Texas authorities and was included in the clemency plea sent to Gov. Perry.

Traffic cops on the information superhighway*

James Rainey landed in the Googleplex (literally and figuratively) to hear talk about the future of journalism and came away educated and emboldened that journalism as he knows it will live on the new mediascape - he seems to embrace the curator model, whereby the experienced newsroom finds and fits together in a coherent package the most important pieces of information from the web:

But amid the celebration of the multiplicities, opportunities and creative chaos of the Web, one Google executive, Bradley Horowitz, also acknowledged that consumers might be drowning in media, e-mail and the "social stream."

"Tools are needed," he declared, "to preserve your most precious asset: your attention."

So maybe, even in the age of Google, consumers are looking for someone to help cut through all the clutter to get at the important facts.

Sounds to me like they're looking for a journalist.

To be sure, the need for web editors will increase, but it's not the kind of work that's going to automatically save many journalism jobs.

There's also an issue of shifting standards and ethics. As new models emerge for delivery and digestion of news, so do new concepts for what constitutes good journalism. Already we have newspaper reporters and editors who happily sell their opinions about issues they cover. Only a few years ago they'd be fired, now they're celebrated for building "brand" identity. Will they crowd out the seemingly boring, unbranded types who want to tell it straight? Because old-school journalism isn't always the thing that attracts the most attention - turn on any television news broadcast if you don't believe me.

Still, the fact that the Internet does not have a finite number of channels or territory that can be bought up and controlled by corporate suits means that readers and writers can experiment. Hopefully many of them will come to the conclusion that watchdog journalism*, done without fear or favor, deserves our attention.

*Updated 10/4: A Pew survey finds the majority of Americans (62 percent) still support the watchdog role of the media - even though only a minority of readers (29 percent) believe the media gets the facts straight. It's no surprise that a more fragmented and opinionated media would lead to low levels of trust - it's a bit like Congress, which is hated nationally even though most incumbents get returned to office. It's as if the media these days represent factions of fact.

TTP in NYC

"To The Point" will return to the New York City airwaves in the next week or so - details are still a bit sketchy. WNYC has opened up an evening slot on its AM 820 station for the show. The station dropped TTP last year to make room for a home-grown program.

(Full disclosure: I'm a producer for TTP and glad/relieved to be back on in New York.)

How's it going online?

It's no surprise that at a digital journalism conference in San Francisco this week the recruiters are mostly from companies like AOL and Yahoo, which are major players in online news. The question is whether these companies continue to ramp up because they've found a successful delivery model, or if they're still in the experimental phase and so we will see many of these jobs disappear in a year or two.

Four in the morning

1. After breaking up with Los Angeles Times, Washington Post rushes into the arms of Bloomberg. LAO

2. The people who want to recall Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R. Claremont, have gathered 54,000 signatures toward their effort. If successful, the recall election would take place just a few months before Adam's primary bid. Star-News

3. To get more local news reports on its website, NPR will spend $3 million in grant money to support local beat reporters at 12 affiliate stations. Poynter

4. Unequal access to information spurs calls for public service media. WaPo

Four in the evening

1. George Orwell vs. Aldous Huxley.

2. Would paid internships create more diverse newsrooms?

3. Michael Moore's link-based reality: newspapers supported presidents who undermined public education and so decimated their readership in the trade.

4. Blog for your college experience.

Data camp

California Watch has teamed with several other media outlets, including the Sunlight Foundation and Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, to host a one-day seminar on database journalism. From the press release:

The one day gathering is open to developers, journalists, community organizers, policy wonks, students and others interested in working with government data to provide insights and information into California and its communities. A variety of issues will be tackled including computer-assisted reporting, data visualization, data access, data transparency, and data management.

The data camp will be held November 7 in San Francisco.