Four in the morning

1. A welcome respite from the Larry King love fest: "As refreshing as it has been that King generally checked his politics at the door, it also happens that he sometimes left his brain there too." LAT (via LA Observed)

2. The deal that gave the Tribune Co. to Sam Zell, and landed the company in bankruptcy, also made many executive rich(er). The Chicago Reader got a list - and points out that the bankruptcy court might claw back some or all of it. Chicago Reader

3. The whitewashed wall at MOCA that the LA Downtown News first reported on is finally starting to get the attention it deserves. fishbowlLA

4. The Rolling Stone website is no longer a complete mess. fishbowlLA

Four in the morning

1. The MOCA whitewash story is waiting to break nationally. fishbowlLA

2. The battle over the Hollywood farmer's market. Which Way, LA?

3. AOL's Patch opens another shop in Long Beach. LA Observed

4. Huffington Post says it will turn a profit. Bloomberg

Four in the morning

1. Former LA Times and Weekly reporter Daniel Hernandez and others offer some righteous criticism of the "immersion" journalism practiced by The Entryway. LAO

2. The Voice of San Diego has advertised an opening for "engagement editor." Nieman Journalism Lab explores what the job title means. Nieman Lab

3. "Can the iPad feed a Slow Journalism movement?" and eight other questions answered about how the iPad could change news. Ken Doctor

4. MOCA wants kids to break some rules. LA Downtown News

Comings and goings

*Downtown News reporter Anna Scott has taken a job with the Los Angeles Daily Journal. She's set to start there March 1.

*Frank Girardot, metro editor for the three-paper San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, will take over as editor of the Pasadena Star-News. Here's part of the memo:

This is a homecoming for Frank. He worked at the Star-News for many years in the 1990s, so he knows the community well. He's just the man we need in Pasadena to be the public face of the Star-News and ensure the community regards the Star-News as its indispensable source of local news. City Editor Hector Gonzalez and the entire editorial staff of the Star-News will report to Frank.

*San Gabriel Valley Tribune reporter Rebecca Kimitch was promoted to political editor for the paper.

*Pasadena Star-News reporter Alfred Lee has accepted a job with the Los Angeles Business Journal.

Downtown gets smaller

The L.A. Downtown News has eliminated free distribution of its paper in several communities. Here's the note to readers:

Over the holidays we at L.A. Downtown News made a permanent adjustment to our distribution. We are now concentrating our free distribution more narrowly on Downtown and its close-in environs. We have kept all our historic distribution throughout Downtown, Echo Park and Silverlake – nearly 1000 locations. But we stopped distribution to Pasadena, Glendale and Larchmont. Apologies to readers in those areas a little further from Downtown, but it just got too expensive to keep anything other than our primary distribution.

The right stuff

Sue Laris at LA Downtown News has begun a comment thread to ask readers what things they think the embattled Los Angeles Times does right.

Laris writes:

Put yourself in their shoes. Could you really continue to work at all if someone were trashing you every hour of the day? How would you stand up to that kind of pressure? Isn't it really rather amazing what they do right? I'll comment on some of the things I think they do right. What do YOU think?