1. Borzou Daragahi, who is leaving the Los Angeles Times for the Financial Times, had this to say about a proposed bonus package for Tribune Co. bosses: Tribune 2 give $42.5 million bonuses to 640 managers that could be used 2 hire 640 journos http://bit.ly/q2GLT4 #media
2. Speaking of the LA Times: No more vacation accrual for the rest of the year, LA Observed reports.
3. Steve Lambert, editor and publisher of the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, has stepped down, according to several sources. Lambert previously worked at the San Bernardino Sun, which is part of the same MediaNews Group chain of papers.
4. The LA Times laid off ten pressroom employees today. Pressmens blog
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56 comments:
Don't worry, LATers, your union will jump to the rescue. I'm sure Ronnie will organize a strike that will bring the evil empire to its knees. Right, Ronnie?
Lambert stepped down? Who is in charge of the pencils now?
How are they going to find a worse replacement...is this a joke or is the latest publisher from the ship of fools really gone?
Stevie was a classic example of the Napoleon Syndrome, a little man with a big temper.
let me list his accomplishments during his reign.
oh well.
Haha, It would seem some loser who couldn't cut it even on the ship of fools has an axe to grind anonymously. Steve was a strong publisher, especially from a reporter's perspective. You must be one of the too dumb and lazy to work advertising rejects. How's that job at McDonald's treating you these days? Are you marveled by the yellow arches embroidered on your shirt>
To 7:33:
Steve, you've been leaving comments here defending yourself for several years. Take a chance and post under your real name.
FYI I hear it's going to be a management slaughter in the next few weeks. Every manager has their sh*t in boxes.
Sure it looks rough now, but when the economy turns up, companies that are lean and ready will do well. Not this company, of course, but McDonalds and 99 cents stores have good management, variety and low prices.
7:33 Okay, give some good, hard examples of Mr. Lambert's strength from a reporter's viewpoint. "Mynesha"? Beating the corpse of community grief with slathers of sentimental slop just to (wait, I'm tearing up) vie for a Pulitzer Prize? (Choke, sneeze, sniffle). But seriously, Mr. Anonymous who derides others for making anonymous posts: Please list how Mr. Lambert was such a strong publisher, especially from a "reporter's perspective." We're waiting to be enlightened.
7:33, look, your opinion is just fine, but I would wager my minimal Mcdonalds pay that most, and I mean most would disagree about strong publisher. A strong publisher runs the newspaper, editorial, advertising, distribution etc. You think he did that well? You think he brought in talent, managed well, and built a team? You think his online strategy was spot on? He is one of many poor managers in that organization riddled with poor managers. To sing his praises sure rings hollow at least to me.
The justification for posting bold comments anonymously is that something needs to be said but posting openly could jeopardize your own job or that of someone else, or perhaps hurt someone in some unintended way. The justification presumes retaliation from a position of power.
If you no longer work there, and long gone, that no longer applies to you. And if your comments are just anonymous bile and name calling, there's no truth speaking to power. And, as lately the same one or two envious trolls have become hostile to those still working at LANG, the "I rant anonymously not myself but for those who cannot speak for themselves' pose falls.
Now, whats this about more layoffs or something?
10:41, it appears that you fancy yourself as some sort of a mind reader. How the hell do you know who posts here as anonymous? Maybe they are just comfortable statig their opinion in that way. That is what this site and others like it are for. As for myself, I no longer work there and have no fear of retaliation fowards me or others, I choose to remain anonymous. First hand experience at a high level in the organization gives me the right to comment on what I feel is accurate. Disagree all you want to, but I will let the facts speak on their merits. Do you really think Lambert and Hamilton and their team are bringing anything to the workplace? If you do, please enlighten me.
Seems to me that every time upper management jumps ship it means cuts are on the way. Why use 3 or 4 editors when you can have 1 or 2 handle several papers during the day and 1 on nights. Hummmmm, I wonder?
All Steve Lambert ever brought to his newsrooms was fear and loathing. If you were one of the folks who sucked up to him, you were fine.
But if you had a name of your own, like Paul Oberjuerge, you were pretty well screwed.
The only star in the sky was Little Stevie.
Sounds like someone has a man crush.
I wouldn't worry about Lambert. With his journalistic talent, people skills and overall managemen ability in all arenas it will be just a matter of time till he goes to a real newspaper. Forgive me, I was having a nightmare. I would be hard pressed to find another 3-4 years of worse times at those newspapers. To be fair, most newspapers are hurting, these clowns more so. It starts at the top people.
ditto 9:07. you can phrase it any way you like, but the point is Lambert was good to you and to your journalism if he liked you. he backed a few good projects at the Sun and IVDB that would not have otherwise been published. but aside from protecting those rare pet projects, he was just another stooge attempting to captain the LANG dinghy through a hurricane. I can't say how much credit or blame he deserves for the chain's numerous, ongoing, endemic, systemwide failures. but the fact that he managed to keep getting promoted based on virtually nothing accomplished should speak volumes.
also he liked to drop the f-bomb when he was mad. I can't remember if he called me a "fucker" or a "motherfucker" in that one meeting.
i don't think any of this matters. the lang ship is doomed regardless. there is NO future. you are just biding your time waiting for it to totally sink. wake up folks.
folks are awake however they let the madness continue for them. lang is doomed, circle the date. lambert at least for the pat three years was useless. still cannot think of one item that worked that i would credit him for. his boss is worse. captain of a doomed newspaper in a doomed industry and nobody likes you. gee, what a career.
The facts are that LANG makes it easy to dislike them, their style, operations, communication and most of all how they treat customers and employees. Lambert is just another stooge without much talent as a leader or a builder of business. It really won't matter who runs the place because even if they get lucky and put someone in, they won't let him/her run the organization. They might as well save the money. They can spend it on more brilliant investments.
I remember hearing Little Stevie screaming at someone -- I forget who -- inside his little office at the Sun:
"I'm your boss! I'm your boss! Shut up and listen to me, I'm your boss!"
Well 11:54, that seems to be an apt description of LANG management style overall, doesn't it.
Well, well. Ain't Karma a be-atch ol' Stevey. I mean, soon to be unemployed A-wipe. Now I can call you that because that's how I feel and you can't fire me any more. Lambert is and will always remain the poster child for failure. Failure to realize he was the cancer that kept the entire company sick. But unfortunately, this cancer has been removed too late because you are all circling the drain. All those upper management types better get ready because all of you are next. Remember how BANG went BOOM! Well, LANG is gonna go BANG which is equal to BOOM! Hope us trolls that have flown under the radar all these years stay so we can laugh it knowing we survived the apocalypse. Fortunately for me, I'm old and don't have much to do here anyways but it sure is funny having outlived Napoleon himself. Good bye and good riddens SL, biggest A-wipe in the history of newspapers. Amen.... Can I get an Amen?
its good to have fiends isnt it ol stevie? now, i have been gone for a few years and he was smarmy then and my guess is that it only got worse. there are a lot of lamberts and mng and in newspapers...wonder if that is part of their problem...me thinks so.
SHISH. Sounds like a bunch of advertising rejects on here crying because they couldn't direct news content. So how is that job at McDonalds treating you? Do you wish you thought of the golden arches?
Envy.
Direct news content at mng...what news content. and, what advertising person would want to waste their time trying to direct news content. those of us who worked in the ad space for years prior to the current state of affairs knew just as well as the journalism side that the two shouldn't mix. there is no upside in having your content credible. as far as content, lang hasnt had it for quite a few years. just ask the few readers you have left.
Yesterday, publisher of the San Gabriel Valley Newspapers.
Tomorrow, towel boy in a massage parlor.
you are giving a bad name to towel boys and massage parlors.
Lambert will carry the legacy of failure wherever he goes. Just the fact that he will never be able to say he accomplished anything, except destroy newspapers, is good enough for me. Can someone please tell me one good thing that Lambert accomplished while leading sgvn or the inland papers?
Yes I can...he left.
Digital First Media huh. That marriage will cause the loss of more jobs at MNG, especially Denver and what is left in SOCAL. MNG doesn't do anything first except lose money, hire and promote crappy people and communicate badly. This will be fun to watch as Lang has all the skills to do well on the internet as Howdy Doody. I guess they finally hired someone to cut the ranks even more. Now they can take all their great newspaper content, rich in local and regional coverage and monetize it online.
digital first. wow! not a good thing. eeek! this just keeps getter worse and worse.
we will see print papers shutting down under digital first. digital FIRST.
The good news here is that there isn't much to shut down anymore. If this doesn't light a fire under employees asses to get out, they are there for the big bang.
I still work at the paper and laugh at all you idiots, you act like Lang or Media news are the only struggling papers in the country. Get a life, move on, you venting and throwing stones is probably the reason you got fired, we don't need all your negativity, that negativity was a cancer in the newsroom, good riddance. And for the record, Lambert is a good dude who worked with the cards he was dealt. Most of you are just a bunch of sour old farts who could never do a better job anyway.
Seriously, listen to all of you, you call yourself journalists, yet all I hear is you rooting for failure. I'm glad we don't work with you anymore. And If I get laid off or the paper goes under, that's life, it was a great ride and I will move on. But I certainly won't be on here bad-mouthing all the great people that keep fighting the fight.
Hey, let's not have any of that positive thinking stuff.
Amen, commenters 2:35 and 2:41!
by "fighting the fight," I assume you mean you are trying to get promoted so you can work your way up and fix the company's problems. Great! that's really the only fight that matters. For instance, LANG papers have shitty websites because the local management did not fight to convince Denver to release their stranglehold on the web back-end. I hope your fight will fix this problem, which is just one of many, as we are all aware.
Sigh...seems like most of you are ready to throw dirt on us instead of suggesting ideas to help us climb out of the grave you keep digging. If Lambert wants to go...let him. Good luck to him. If you still work for this company then let's all figure out how to make it work. Ultimately, when you're sitting in that interview for your next job and the question "So, what have you done in your current job that you can be proud of?" comes along, is your answer going to direct the interviewer to your recent postings here?
2:41, a great ride? Where, straight into the landfill of bankruptcy and crappy products. Who are you kidding? A great ride of benefits cut, constant layoffs, salary cuts and freezes, vacation cuts, crappy leadership, etc. Sounds like a great ride to me, sorry I missed out on all the fun. Let's not forget all of the innovation on the print and online side, marvelous.
2:35, you must have a lot of room to move around in the old newsroom these days. What is there, 3 or 4 journalists left in the organization if that many. I am not talking about what you do, but real journalists. Yep, all that negativity is gone, none left from Hamilton and higher up on the old kiss ass train. My advice to you, invest wisely, you are gonna need it.
Steve Lambert made enormous mistakes and a lot of enemies.
Sometimes "doing my job" is not a good excuse because he really was not doing his job.
He was bowing to pressure, micromanaging, creating rifts, overreacting and then melting down. It kept him very busy, too busy to actually sit down and learn much about the technology that his paper was going to be forced to switch to one day.
Why should he? They had John Plessel to do that techno thingy-stuff.
And yes Denise, (aka September 3, 2011 7:33 PM) only advertising losers who couldn't cut it on the ship of fools post here.
Real-life Dwight Schrute pecking away at the keyboard at 2:03 am, dishing anonymous payback, slipping not one but three names into his latest sociopathic bitterness, worse, slipping in the name of decent and mature adult as someone he claims somehow to know did what he does: posted anonymously. You don't know that or anything else, self consumed hypocrite. Take a look in the mirror. Get a part time life and stumble on with it.
Answer to September 12, 2011 4:05 PM
I read and re-read your post, in part because it was choppy but also because it was incredible. How silly, how clumsy of me to call you Denise, who is indeed a fine individual but who has been clear about her loyalties. I should have called you Michael Scott, or if you prefer, David Brent.
Do you want me to throw names out? As if I knew what I was talking about - maybe you’re Eddie Barrera although Eddie has a personality strong enough that he doesn’t hide behind anonymous. Maybe your Fred Hamilton or Dan Hendricks or Frank Pine or Steve O’Sullivan, although I imagine Steve would know better. Maybe you’re Nicole White or Gina Dvorak or Kim Guimaran. Maybe your Ben Demers or Christina Brock or maybe you never worked at the Sun/Daily Bulletin or for LANG and therefore the view from your desk is still rather pretty.
It also means you don’t know what you’re talking about. Am I a self-consumed hypocrite, of course, sure. Why not. That’s a very Lambert thing to say. He taught his newsroom it was OK to say whatever you pleased about anyone publicly. For example he once publicly called Mark Muckenfuss a “sometime columnist who know one has heard of.” Mark’s offense? He was critical of Lambert during the Mynesha campaign.
You know what list I couldn’t give you on this forum Mr. Michael David Scott Brent? The number of people who have been laid off, cast off, written off, bullied, and pushed around by this exemplary man. It’s too long.
You. Don’t. Get. It.
But the best part of your post is the crass way you take aim at me and likely have taken aim at all of us. Sociopath huh? That’s rather extreme. So touchy. Which of your deities did I destroy? John? Denise? Or LAMBERT? If it’s the first two, then my deepest apologies.
If it’s the last, Go to Hell.
Nothing like a good feud to making reading here enjoyable. For those of you who might be tired of all this lang crap, it doesnt get better than this...an adult cartoon. When you have a lot of people in an organization you have disagreements, management screwups, bad hires, poor decisions etc. This company is in a class of one. Never have so many been screwed by so few. They deserve the fate hat awaits them.
LANG brings out the worst in people. That says a lot.
for those of you still left in the salt mine, BOHICA boys and girls.
From Paul Paul Oberjuerge. A good writer and a class act. He writes about Steve Lambert:
http://www.oberjuerge.com/http:/www.oberjuerge.com/the-day-they-came-for-him/#more-1742
I remember exactly two things about that "class act": that he wrote columns about things that had already been covered in the paper, then claimed he was breaking new, unreported information; and that his insensitive comments about another sports writer were cited in articles about that writer's suicide.
I'm not a huge fan of Paul's. He seemed to treat the Daily Bulletin as if it didn't exist, and his contract that was grandfathered in from Gannett left his salary completely out of whack with his contribution.
But if you were to compare his contribution to the Sun to Steve Lambert's, it would be like comparing Bill Gates to his manservant. (Stevie is the manservant)
The previous attack on Paul has got to be Stevie once again posting anonymously. He certainly doesn't have any friends.
Can't be Steve, he doesn't write that well.
So stevie is gone?
I communicated with him only once. That one time, he was an a$%
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