Waiting for the bad

LA Observed's Kevin Roderick anticipates bad things in tomorrow's Los Angeles Times. LAO

Michaels to staff: We're cool

Last week, Tribune Co. CEO Randy Michaels admonished his radio staff not to use certain words and phrases on the air, and encouraged them to tattle on colleagues who broke the ban. When his memo outlining the new rules got leaked, he upbraided radio execs for running a sloppy ship.

To counter the bad publicity he sent out a second memo, obtained by Kevin Roderick at LA Observed, that says Tribune isn't really into "rules."

Here's a portion of the memo, in all its Baby Boomer guiltshame:

The point is...we don't have a lot of rules around here.

But, not everyone has gotten the message. We've heard from employees who say their business unit still has a strict dress code (we don't). Others have told us they can't hire someone because he or she might fail the new employee drug test (we don't drug test unless it's required by law or the person being hired is operating machinery, driving a truck, or handling a lot of cash). Some say they are afraid to speak up or present a wacky idea for fear of retaliation (nothing will squash creativity and innovation faster).

Roderick's post about the memo tells a slightly different story, at least when it comes to the Los Angeles Times, where top editors face retribution for exercising good judgment and standards continue to slip as the paper tries to cope with cutbacks.

Deadline, Los Angeles Times*

Today is the day for layoffs at the Los Angeles Times. Kevin Roderick at LA Observed reports that notifications started going out this morning - he spotted a Tweet from Calendar writer Elina Shatkin saying she was now a "former Los Angeles Times staff writer."

Roderick also says the Times is trying to woo back Richard Serrano to cover L.A. County for the paper. Serrano used to work in the paper's Washington bureau. He landed at the Las Vegas Sun in August, but was laid off as part of cost-cutting plan.

*Update: A few names are trickling out over at LA Observed. They include: science writer John Johnson, outdoors reporter Pete Thomas, and sports staffer Mark Medina. Roderick continues:

Three photographers and a photo editor got tapped, and at least one books staffer is leaving. I posted yesterday about Elina Shatkin, and earlier about the departures of arts writer Suzanne Muchnic and Jerusalem bureau correspondent Richard Boudreaux. I'm told that, in Orange County, columnist-turned-staff writer Dana Parsons has decided to leave at the end of the year.

**Update II, 12/18: Kevin Roderick at LA Observed adds a few more names to the list of laid off and bought out. LAO

WWLA? on Times cuts

LA Observed's Kevin Roderick joins Warren Olney on tonight's "Which Way, LA?" to talk about the latest newsroom cuts at the Los Angeles Times. Also on the show, the Sacramento Bee's Dan Walters to talk about the Legislature's lame-duck session and Matthew Garrahan's series on Los Angeles in the Financial Times. The show begins at 7 p.m. on 89.9 FM.

You get what you pay for

David Simon said yesterday at USC that the only way to save newspapers is to charge for online subscriptions. But he doesn't think it will happen. I'll have more on his talk later.

Meantime, the Los Angeles Times begins the next phase of its amputation therapy. As expected, a few Washington Bureau reporters are among those taking the buyout.

Also, Kevin Roderick of LA Observed will talk about the intersection of blogging, journalism, reporting and opinion today at 2:30 p.m. on KCRW. Details are here. Guests include a blogger reporter, a blogger professor and a blogger media critic. Can you tell me which discipline of reporting is missing from the lineup?

Sam Zell has ideas

LA Observed's Kevin Roderick listened to Sam Zell speak about newspapers and gives his thoughts here.

In short, the new owner of the LA Times seems disinterested both in words and journalists.

Here's a snippet from Roderick's report: Zell clearly is not the kind of publisher who aspires to greatness and invests in hard, expensive kinds of journalism — risky investigative digging, complex issues that may take weeks or months to research, perhaps even coverage of poor people or less popular sports. It sounds as if the main criteria will be what brings in the most readers. We know what gets high ratings on the Times website — basketball and celebrity photos, with a smattering of hot stories of the moment. "It seems like an awful lot of journalism that's being written is not being read," he said.

Zell got his "start" in business reselling a Playboy he bought for fifty cents for $3. Indeed, he knows what people want. I'm afraid he doesn't much care about what they need.

The Times is a changin'

Kevin Roderick gives a rundown of the comings, goings and roilings at the Los Angeles Times in 2007.