Press-Telegram journalist Larry Allison was 77

From the Press-Telegram obit:

LONG BEACH — A newsman to his core and to the end, Larry Allison spent 54 years in Long Beach journalism and worked in it until just days before he went into the hospital.
Allison died Sunday night from complications after a two-week battle with pneumonia. He was 77. 

Beginning as a reporter at the Independent, Press-Telegram in 1957 and working in virtually every department in the paper through editor. He was until his final days both a voice of the community and the official voice of the paper as Editorial Page Editor. 

Regardless of the positions he took for the newspaper, Allison was hailed by representatives from varied political and social viewpoints as invariably fair and accessible. His positions were seen by most as reasoned and journalistically sound. ...

Two more gone from Press-Telegram

Long Beach Press-Telegram city editor John Futch and sports writer Doug Krikorian received layoff notices last week as part of the consolidation efforts between that paper and the Daily Breeze/Daily News. Krikorian was offered a freelance slot but declined.

Digital First Media now a MediaNews and Journal Register mashup

Digital First Media's inhalation of the MediaNews Group and the Journal Register Company has resulted in a new management team, with executives from the two newspaper companies being reassigned as Digital First officers under CEO John Paton.

Journal Register CFO Jeff Bairstow was named president of Digital First Media; Jim Brady becomes editor in chief, having previously served as the Journal Register's editor-in-chief, and David Butler, who headed MediaNews Group's California papers, is now executive editor of Digital First.

The three members of the Journal Register's journalism advisory board also become the advisory board for Digital First. They are well known media critics Jay Rosen of New York University's journalism program, CUNY professor and BuzzMachine blogger Jeff Jarvis, and Emily Bell of Columbia University's Tow Center for Digital Journalism.

Here's the memo announcing the changes:

Digital First Media, which jointly manages MediaNews Group and Journal Register Company, announced today the appointments of key executives in sales, content and operational positions.

“With today’s announcement we are putting into place the very best team to lead both MediaNews Group and Journal Register Company in implementing our Digital First strategy,” said John Paton, CEO of Digital First Media. “I am excited about the depth and breadth of talent we have assembled from both companies as we continue to work to serve our communities and growing audience. Like all legacy media companies making this important transition to Digital, we have a long way to go to fulfill that promise. Today marks an important first step.”

Jeff Bairstow was named President of Digital First Media. Mr. Bairstow, joined Journal Register Company in 2010 and was, until recently, Journal Register Company’s Chief Financial Officer. In his new role, Mr. Bairstow – who was also named President of MediaNews Group – will oversee daily operations across Journal Register Company and MediaNews Group.

“We have a tremendous opportunity to leverage the knowledge of these two companies – both in traditional journalism and digital product development – into a unified leadership team that will drive the necessary digital transformation to power our growth,” said Mr. Bairstow.

Ron Mayo was named Chief Financial Officer of Digital First Media. Mr. Mayo will retain his duties as CFO of MediaNews Group in addition to his new role.
Named as Executive Vice Presidents of Digital First Media were:

-       Jerry Grilly, who will continue to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of The Denver Post; Steve Rossi, who is responsible for the company’s California operations; and Tom Wiley, who has served as a group publisher for Journal Register Company.

-       Arturo Duran, who joined Journal Register Company in 2010 as Executive Vice President for Digital, was named Chief Digital Officer.

-       Kirk MacDonald, who has served as The Denver Post’s Executive Vice President of Advertising, Marketing and Digital Sales since July 2009, was named Executive Vice President of Sales. Adam Burnham, who has served as Journal Register Company’s Vice President of Local Sales, was named Senior Vice President of Local Digital Sales.

-       William Higginson, who has worked for Journal Register Company since its founding and most recently served as President, was named Executive Vice President of Operations.

Jim Brady, who was named Journal Register Company’s Editor-in-Chief earlier this year, was named Editor-in-Chief of Digital First Media. David J. Butler, who has served as Vice President of News for MediaNews Group and Editor of the San Jose Mercury News, was named Executive Editor.

Named as Vice Presidents of Digital First Media were: Jonathan Cooper, who recently served as Vice President of Content for Journal Register Company; Sara Glines, who recently served as Vice President of Field Operations for MediaNews Group; and Joe Miller, who has served as Journal Register Company’s Vice President for Real Estate, was named Vice President for Real Estate.

Bob Mason, who has served as Journal Register Company’s Chief Technology Officer since 2010, has been named Chief Technology Officer for Digital First Media.
Robert Monteleone, who has served Chief Human Resources Officer for Journal Register Company, was named Chief Human Resources Officer for Digital First Media.

Along with the management appointments, Mr. Paton also announced appointments to the Digital First Media Advisory Board. Named to the Advisory Board were: 

-      Jeff Jarvis, Associate Professor and Director of the Interactive Journalism program and the new business models for news project at the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism.

-     Emily Bell, Director of the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University. 

-      Jay Rosen, Ph.D, professor and former chair of the journalism program at New York University. 

Mr. Jarvis, Ms. Bell and Mr. Rosen had previously served as members of Journal Register Company’s Advisory Board.

No food, no features at Daily News*

The Daily News of Los Angeles has cut features editor Sharyn Betz and food editor Natalie Haughton, according to LA Observed. A source inside the paper say they expect more cuts in the days ahead and possible further editorial consolidation between the Daily News, Daily Breeze and Press-Telegram.

*Updated, 10/21: LA Observed's headline says it all: "LANG papers begin the inevitable consolidation." The inevitable consolidation begins with the naming of Carolina Garcia as editor of the Daily News, Daily Breeze, and Press-Telegram, under three-paper publisher Jack Klunder. Toni Sciacqua will become managing editor - digital; a designation that says a lot about the future direction of the news cluster.

People who work at the three papers think this step will lead to more layoffs, as the papers eliminate redundancy. It's possible this is also a first step toward consolidation of all nine LANG papers, as happened with BANG in Northern California.

From BANG to LANG?

MediaNews Group's decision to merge its 12 Bay Area newspapers into three has led to speculation that the company could do something similar with its nine Southern California papers, collectively known as the Los Angeles Newspaper Group.

I can only speculate myself, but I see the potential for structural mimicry if MediaNews succeeds in its stalled bid to buy the Orange County Register.

With the Register, LANG would look more like the Bay Area News Group did before yesterday's merger, with the Register playing the role of the Mercury News: a large paper with a statewide brand in a relatively affluent county that could serve as an editorial center of gravity for a larger region. The LANG papers already exist as three clusters of three, a structure that could be collapsed into two or three newspapers.

However, MediaNews would have to have a reason to further consolidate LANG. One obvious reason would be a desire to cut staff to lower costs - the BANG merger led to 120 layoffs. I might be wrong, but I think LANG was already leaner than BANG in terms of staff and so might not be able to stand such a huge "streamlining." (Indeed, the Register itself might be more vulnerable if cuts are a priority.)

Another reason could be that MediaNews actually believes the BANG model is more efficient and effective: Fewer brand names, a more uniform editorial approach, better positioning to do mobile, etc.

One reason MediaNews might leave LANG alone, even after a Register deal, would be to give it time to evaluate the Bay Area merger to see what works and what doesn't. Undoubtedly, there will be backlash from readers and circulation will probably drop (though the consolidation will mask some of this). But this feels like a post-print production plan and so BANG might be the guinea pig that gets isolated and studied until it recovers - or doesn't.

MediaNews extends paywalls

MediaNews Group today announced that 23 of its paper will go behind digital paywalls - at least part way. The affected papers include two in Southern California, the Whittier Daily News and the Redlands Daily Facts. Print subscribers will be charged $1.99 a month or $19.99 a year for full access; digital-only subscriptions cost $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year.

Under the plan, online home pages, obits and classified ads will remain free. Business, feature, and sport stories go behind the walls. This is an extension of the experiment MediaNews started last year in Chico, California and York, Pennsylvania.

My sense is the papers will depend on prep sports to drive print subscribers to pay a little extra. The papers are also some of the smallest in the MediaNews universe.

Here's how MediaNews is selling the paywall:

Our new digital business model reflects the high value we place on professional journalism and helps us to fund our local reporting at a time of unprecedented change in the way people use and consume news and information.

Sun newsroom says 'no' to union

I'm told newsroom employees at the San Bernardino Sun have rejected an effort to form a union at the MediaNews Group-owned newspaper. The vote was 12 to 2 against.

When the union election was set, 17 people were eligible to cast ballots. I'm told two people have since left and one ballot was challenged - an action that won't change the outcome.

Layoffs and leavings at the Daily News

The Los Angeles Daily News newsroom got a little smaller this week. Online content producer Cliff Redding and web producer/designer Tom Gapen received layoff notices. A third person, from circulation, also got a pink slip. The latter layoff was mentioned last week.

Additionally, the city editor of the Los Angeles Daily News, John Miller, is leaving the paper to teach high school English in Kuwait, according to a memo obtained by LA Observed.

(Corrections: Original post had Mr. Redding's and Mr. Gapen's titles wrong.)

Long Beach Press-Telegram update

Three newsroom employees at the Long Beach Press-Telegram lost jobs this week as their departments were absorbed into the Daily Breeze. According to the Long Beach Post, sports columnist Frank Burlison and photographers Steven Georges and Diandra Jay received pink slips. (This post clarifies an earlier post.)

One big BANG

MediaNews Group owns two clusters of newspapers in California: the Los Angeles Newspaper Group (LANG) and the Bay Area News Group (BANG). In the past decade, mergers and consolidation have turned the individual papers into something of a news blob, with each newsroom producing its own pages in semi-autonomous fashion, but often sharing substantial resources, including inside news and business pages, copy editors, photo, and advertising.

The Bay Area News Group, which owns newspapers in the East Bay, Silicon Valley and San Jose, has finally shed the pretension of autonomy and has named itself a single editorial entity.

According to a memo obtained by blogger Richard Brenneman, the BANG papers, led by editor Dave Butler, will now share a single managing editor for print, Bert Robinson, and a single managing for online, breaking news and photography, Randall Keith. Robinson and Keith served in similar capacities at the BANG flagship, the San Jose Mercury News.

Sports, photo and business will similarly fall under a single BANG editor.

This will mean more sharing of content between papers, though it's not clear if further staff cuts will follow. The papers, which include the Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times, will retain their editorial boards to run opinion and commentary.

From the memo:

Beginning today, we are taking another significant step in streamlining our organization to maximize our operating efficiency. Continuing the process that began with the creation of the Bay Area News Group, the news divisions of all Bay Area News Group newspapers will now operate under a single, common management team under the direction of Dave Butler, editor of the Mercury News and vice president for news for MediaNews Group. This move follows similar consolidations in our other divisions. 

Dave’s appointment and the announcement of the first official BANG-wide news management team are logical next steps in our efforts to make full use of the breadth and depth of the entire group. While a less-formal arrangement has been in place for some time, our recently negotiated labor agreements recognize complete consolidation. 

This reorganization will have an immediate impact on top management, and it’s with regret that we also announce that [BANG Executive Editor] Kevin Keane and [BANG-Easy Bay Managing Editor] Pete Wevurski are leaving the company today. Please join with me in thanking them for their years of service and wishing them well in their new adventures.

The rest of the memo is here.

Other LANG layoffs

In addition to the seven people who lost jobs in LANG's San Gabriel Valley group, I'm told the Los Angeles Daily News cut a position in its circulation department, and three or more newsroom staffers at the Long Beach Press-Telegram were laid off. I believe the PT layoffs are part of a consolidation plan announced in April, but I'm still awaiting details.

Update on layoffs in the San Gabriel Valley

Here's an update on the layoffs at the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group: Seven people total lost their jobs: two of them were on the business side, five from the newsroom. The affected newsroom employees are Hector Gonzalez, Eric Reed, Karen Lee, Coye Sloan and Steve Wytucki.

Add: Gonzalez was the city editor at the Pasadena Star-News, one of the three papers in the SGVN chain. His position will not be filled. Metro Editor Frank Girardot will continue as the primary editor for the paper.

Date set for San Bernardino Sun union election

Newsroom employees at the San Bernardino Sun will decide on July 7 whether to establish a union. The National Labor Relations Board has identified 17 employees as eligible to vote in the election. Senior Editor Kim Guimarin sent two memos (here and here) outlining the process and making clear that management does not want the newsroom to unionize. From the memo:

As we have shared, during the next five weeks there will be a series of informational meetings during which you will learn more about the process, i.e., voting procedures, union representation, and the union itself, the collective bargaining process, and why it is in your best interest as well as the Sun's to cast a ballot on June 7 and vote NO.

The Sun is owned by the Los Angeles Newspaper Group, a division of Denver-based MediaNews Group.

Shop talk at the San Bernardino Sun

Reporters have begun organizing a union effort at the San Bernardino Sun, two sources tell me. This means contacting union representatives and circulating cards for an election. I don't know how far along they've gotten, but LANG, the paper's owner, has taken notice. At least two executives talked to management at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, the Sun's sister paper, about how a bad union would be. More when I hear it...

More furloughs for LANG

LANG employees will have to endure yet another round of furloughs. Fred Hamilton, CEO and publisher of the nine-newspaper chain, sent a memo today telling employees that they must take 5 unpaid furlough days between May 16 and July 2. LANGers will also stop accruing vacation between these dates.

For Hamilton to hastily order furloughs to be taken over such a short period of time indicates just how much pressure the company must be under to boost its bottom line before the end of the fiscal year (June 30). Indeed, Hamilton says in the same memo that LANG employees will be able to take an additional 5 paid holidays in the next fiscal year to make up for the short-term pain.

This leads me to wonder if this dramatic, last-minute action is related to a possible deal to buy the Orange County Register. LANG's parent company, MediaNews Group, is in a bidding war with the Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times, to buy the Register.

It's also likely the chain is simply trying avoid further layoffs, given the revenue demands of some of its investor owners, who agreed to swallow $765 million of debt as MediaNews emerged from bankruptcy last year. The furloughs and vacation freeze come a week after layoffs at the Long Beach Press-Telegram. Hamilton said the latest actions should keep future pink slips to a trickle:

...today's action does not preclude other cost reduction measures including and not limited to reductions-in-force. At this time such actions will likely be limited and will continue to be an expense reduction alternative until the economy and our performance measurably improves.

As expressed in the past, we regret any inconvenience this action may cause you but until our financial challenges are clearly behind us, such actions are necessary.

The full memo is here.

(This post was edited)

Dakota to the Daily News

Dakota Smith, the editor at Curbed LA, has taken a job as general assignment reporter at the Los Angeles Daily News. Here's the announcement (via LA Observed).

Press-Telegram losing sports, photo, features*, **

The Long Beach Press-Telegram is eliminating sports, photo and features departments from its already skeletal newsroom. The duties will be turned over to the P-T's sister paper, the Daily Breeze in Torrance, two sources tell me. At least two sports writers, a features writer and a photographer will lose their jobs. I'm told the staffers can reapply for their positions in Torrance.

*Updated: A little more detail about the change. I'm told photo is being moved from Long Beach to the Daily Breeze and there will be one fewer photographers, and sports will likewise be moved with two fewer staffers. The P-T's features department will be eliminated, which means Al Rudis is out of a job.

In their place, the Daily Breeze plans to hire a news editor and a presentation editor and to create two new city reporter positions.

**Updated 4/30: The fog is beginning to clear on the Long Beach Press-Telegram. A story in the Long Beach Post makes clear that two people were laid off yesterday: executive city editor John Futch and day city editor Rose Fitzpatrick.

Additionally, the paper has lost its photo, sports and features departments. This will affect more people than I originally reported. There are five photographers, six sports writers and columnists, and three features department employees who will be terminated and then asked to reapply for jobs at the Daily Breeze. As reported above, there will be one fewer photographers, two fewer sports slots and, apparently, no features openings at the Breeze.

Painter ties for first

The Associated Press Sports Editors awarded Daily News sports writer Jill Painter a first place prize for column writing.

Tired of bad press, city of Vernon buys the good kind*

To ensure a long and lucrative life in political office, city officials Vernon reportedly handpicked their constituents. So, it comes as no surprise that these same officials, faced with mounting scrutiny over alleged self-dealing and outrageous salaries, would feel justified in handpicking their news coverage.

Which is what happened when former state attorney general John Van de Kamp was asked by Vernon City Administrator Mark Whitworth to talk to a local newspaper about proposed city reforms. Van de Kamp, who was hired by the city to improve its image, later discovered the reporter wasn't a reporter and the story wasn't a story. It was an "advertorial," better known as a paid advertisement.

The ad, which can be seen here, is made-up to look like a news story, complete with photos, columns and a byline. The ad ran in several Los Angeles Newspaper Group (LANG) publications, including the Pasadena Star-News, Los Angeles Daily News, and Long Beach Press-Telegram.

From the LA Times:

Van de Kamp said the city arranged for him to be interviewed by a reporter. But officials did not tell him it was for a large, full-color advertisement touting the virtues of the embattled city. He said he didn't know about the ad until he saw it in Pasadena Star-News on Thursday morning. 

"I'm not here to…flak for the city," Van de Kamp said. "We're out here trying to do a straightforward, objective job. So that format is a problem for me."

This isn't a case where a government agency bought space from the paper and then created its own promotional ad. Instead, the newspaper's advertising department hired a writer to "report" on Vernon's supposed reform agenda and then ran the fake story in a way that misleads readers into thinking it went through the normal editorial process. Adding to the confusion, the byline belongs to Edward Barrera, a former editor and reporter in the LANG chain.

Asked about the confusion over the ad, Barrera told the Times that he never identified himself as a reporter to Van de Kamp. He elaborated in an email to me:

I get why the Times asked the question. Someone should have told Van de Kamp (including, probably, me). But it was a simple mistake. This was a generic and transparent promotional Q and A. It's why my name is on it.

Why would a newspaper even consider such an ethically fraught service? The money cannot be worth the negative publicity and newsroom hair pulling. And if Vernon is truly on the path of reform, a real reporter could do a real story about that. Thus far, LANG's newsrooms have done little reporting of any kind about Vernon, save an uncritical Star-News column about a state plan to disband the city.

(Full disclosure: I worked for the Star-News as a reporter and later served as an editor in the San Gabriel Valley alongside Edward Barrera.)

*I should note that this isn't my first experience with a LANG advertorial. In the early 2000s, while working at the Claremont Courier, I broke a story about mismanagement at the Three Valleys Municipal Water District. The Los Angeles Times followed up on the story and ended up funding a public records lawsuit. The LANG chain, represented by the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, largely ignored the story, even though a reporter there had the goods. However, Three Valleys did buy several promotional ads in LANG papers for tens of thousands of dollars.

Bill Bell, editor and soul of the Whittier Daily News, is dead

Bill Bell, former editor and columnist at the Whittier Daily News, has died of complications from a stroke. He was 77 years old.

Whittier Daily News editor Tim Traeger has the obituary:

Bell cut his journalistic teeth in hardscrabble and hard-drinking newsrooms like the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner and the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. 

He covered the Watts Riots in 1965, the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968 and the 1971 Sylmar Earthquake. One of his biggest stories was the 1987 Whittier Narrows Earthquake, which leveled buildings in Uptown and caused millions of dollars in damages.
-snip- 

After his stint at the Tribune, Bell was hired as editor of the Victor Valley Daily Press in 1975 and he moved his burgeoning family to Apple Valley. When that paper was sold in 1979, Bell worked for various weekly publications in Hesperia and Apple Valley before being hired as editor of the Whittier Daily News in 1982. 

For Bell, it was both a homecoming and a salvation. He battled alcoholism and often credited Whittier with saving his life. He gave up alcohol for good upon the birth of his first grandchild, Sarah, in 1984.

Employee remembrances here and here.