A new City Hall watchdog

The City Maven, run by former City News Service reporter Alice Walton, is up and running. The website promises to keep a watchful on Los Angeles City Hall.

Mysterious contrail has people looking for missile

A news helicopter got video of an unknown object rising over the Western horizon and leaving a long contrail behind. Some surmise this is a missile launch, either planned or accidental, while others think it's just an airplane seen from an odd angle. Military and aviation officials have yet to figure it out.

Via the LA Times:

"We are aware of the unexplained contrail reported off the coast of Southern California yesterday evening," according to a statement Tuesday from the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command, which operates the U.S. and Canadian missile warning system. "At this time, we are unable to provide specific details but we are working to determine the exact nature of this event.

"We can confirm that there is no indication of any threat to our nation and we will provide more information as it becomes available," the statement said.

Thomas Pynchon must be proud.

Rose Bowl renovation approved, stadium dominoes fall

It only took 10 years to get it done, but the Pasadena City Council on Monday approved a $152 million bond package to renovate the 88-year-old Rose Bowl stadium. From the LA Times:

The renovations include widened tunnels and added aisles for smoother entering and exiting. A modern version of a 1940s-style scoreboard will replace the existing one on the south end, and a video board will be installed on the north side. Premium seating will be bumped from 600 to 2,500 following the expansion of the press box building.

 The financing plan will have repercussions far beyond "smoother entering and exiting" through the vomitoria. For one, this all but locks out any future deal to bring the NFL to Pasadena, leaving Industry and the Coliseum as the two remaining bidders for a professional football team in L.A. Everyone knows the NFL does not like the Coliseum as its currently configured - too big, too old - and so the Rose Bowl renovations would seem to give the Industry bid a boost.

But the Rose Bowl deal also extends UCLA's lease there until 2043, robbing Industry of a potential tenant and much-needed source of revenue. This could make it harder for Industry's backers to finance a new stadium, unless they can convince the USC Trojans to break ties with the Coliseum. The Industry stadium's design has already been altered for soccer play as a way to attract off-season tenants, but here again they'll have to compete with the renovated Rose Bowl, which has a storied history of World Cup play.

All of which puts added pressure on the Coliseum to pay for upgrades and possible redesign. Public financing for such a project will be hard to come by in this economy and the NFL has no appetite to get behind an expensive deal when they dictate to Industry just what kind of comfy accommodations the league would prefer. Big downtown developers have shown no interest in a public-private partnership to improve the Coliseum, choosing instead to explore building a brand new stadium near Staples.

Four in the morning

1. The Los Angeles food truck economy is blowing up - these days, any outdoor event that doesn't include a food truck is probably lame. Atlantic

2. KQED in San Francisco is boosting its ranks to boost its newscasts. SF Chronicle (via LA Observed)

3. Playboy is now safe for work (i.e., boring; i.e., what more proof do we need that the Internet is an online distraction zone?). fishbowlLA

4. Politico needs a corrections policy. Regret the Error (via Romenesko)

Four today

1. The daily freakouts that constitute online breaking news coverage do, surprisingly, take a toll on reporters. NYT

2. A fractured media environment and a manufactured-populist backlash against the "lamestream" media give conservative political candidates a rationale for not talking to the media - knowing that they, like Sarah Palin, will get plenty of coverage anyway. Howard Kurtz

3. The acting intelligence chief pushes back against the Washington Post's series on America's bloated intelligence complex. Politico

4. Reality TV continues to shame us all - and with equal opportunity. fishbowlLA

Comings and goings

Gabriel Kahn, Los Angeles bureau chief for the Wall Street Journal, is leaving for a job at USC's Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, according to Gorkana. The paper has yet to name a replacement.

The actor as the artist at MOCA

The New Yorker writes about actor James Franco's recent trip to the Pacific Design Center on Melrose Avenue, where he played a deranged artist on "General Hospital" who used an installation at the MOCA facility to lure a fake hitman to Los Angeles.

5.4-magnitude earthquake hits So Cal

A magnitude 5.4 earthquake hit at 4:53 p.m. Pacific about 30 miles south of Palm Springs. The temblor shook Silver Lake pretty good.

Bakewell to buy the Watts Times

Real estate developer, activist and LA Sentinel publisher Danny Bakewell is in final negotiations to buy the LA Watts Times from publisher Melanie Polk. Here's Bakewell quoted in the Sentinel:

"I am proud and honored that Melanie chose me and my family to continue the great legacy of the Watts Times, its founders and her parents. We thank and applaud her for the great work she has done in making this newspaper one of Black L.A.'s finest."

The Sentinel bills itself as the largest and most influential African-American newspaper in the Western United States.The LA Watts Times calls itself the most widely distributed African-American newspaper in Los Angeles.

(via fishbowlLA)

The NFL just isn't that into L.A.

As Ed Roski and the city of Industry continue their courtship dance with the National Football League, Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times recounts the many, many broken hearts the league has left across Southern California:

The NFL's goal has been to extract the most favorable deal for itself, regardless of the public costs. It has been offered public land for free or at a cut rate, tax abatements, concessions — in the latest round, the Legislature even abrogated a major state law to facilitate a stadium that isn't built to host a team that we don't have and to meet a deadline that doesn't exist.

Can't anyone here learn a lesson? For all that the NFL says it really wants to be back in the Los Angeles market, it finds it quite advantageous to leave this market wide open. Why? Because it's a permanent threat to every other NFL community that dares to think about driving a hard bargain with its pro team.

The nine

The LA Weekly evaluated budget planning in the cities of Los Angeles, San Jose and Pasadena and came up with a list of nine mistakes L.A. made on its way to this year's budget crisis. LAW

Local television news is rarely local and hardly news

A USC journalism school study of local television news (which can be found here) finds little in the way of local news ever makes it to air. The average half-hour news broadcast spends more time on teasers than it does on business or the local economy. Less than 2 percent of total airtime (minus those teasers) pertains to local government.

Here's part of the summary:

An average half-hour of L.A. local news packed all its local government coverage – including budget, law enforcement, education, layoffs, new ordinances, voting procedures, personnel changes, city and county government actions on health care, transportation and immigration – into 22 seconds.

But crime stories filled 7 times more of the broadcast, averaging 2:50. Sports and weather took the most time: 3:36. Soft news – human interest, oddball stories and miscellaneous fluff – took up the next-largest chunk after crime, averaging 2:26.

Other highlights:

Coverage of business and the economy in Los Angeles averaged 29 seconds. Teasers (“coming up on the Southland’s best news…”) lasted more than four times that amount (2:10).

The time spent on ads (8:25), teasers, and sports and weather takes up nearly half of a typical half-hour of local news. Of the time left for everything else (15:44), almost half (8:17) was made up of stories taking place outside the L.A. media market.

If you add up all the time given to all stories focused on L.A. government, business and economy; all crime-related stories of civic importance (e.g., rewards offered, public corruption, police shootings); all stories about people dealing with local issues like traffic and the environment; all local public health news; and all coverage of the L.A. wildfires and water main breaks (which occurred during the study’s sample), all that news combined took up about 4 minutes of a composite half-hour.

The study, which was done by Martin Kaplan and Matthew Hale of USC's Norman Lear Center, confirms what most local TV news watchers already knew - there's not much there there. As a point of comparison, the study also looked at local news coverage in the Los Angeles Times:

The L.A. Times devoted 10% of its front page stories to local government, compared to 2.5% of TV news lead stories about it.

The paper allocated 7.8% of its news hole to L.A. business and economy, compared to TV’s 2.3%. Six percent of the Times’s front page stories focused on local business and economy, compared to 0.5% TV leads about L.A. business/economy.

TV spent 9 times more of its news hole on soft, odd, and miscellaneous stories, and almost three times more on crime, than the paper. Fourteen percent of the paper’s front page stories were about crime, compared to more than a third of TV’s lead stories.

Nagourney looks westward

Adam Nagourney, chief political correspondent for the New York Times, has indicated he's going to step out of the position and move to Los Angeles, possibly to become the Times' LA bureau chief. Jennifer Steinhauer, who currently holds that position, is expected to head back to Washington to cover Congress, Politico reports.

The Politico article mentions White House correspondent Jeff Zeleny and political correspondent Jim Rutenberg as possibly Nagourney replacements. I'd throw White House reporters Peter Baker into the mix as well. Of course, much depends on how the Times decides to structure the beat.

Another possibility is Matt Bai, who writes chiefly for the paper's Sunday magazine. Bai is one of the smartest political analysts out there.

One lingering question is whether this transfer means the New York Times plans to challenge the Los Angeles Times more directly on its turf?

Ruth Seymour to step down at KCRW*

A major shift is coming to KCRW. Ruth Seymour informed employees last night that she plans to step down as the station's general manager at the end of February. Seymour has headed the station since 1977. Under stewardship KCRW developed into a major public radio radio voice.

Here's her email to staff:

Dear Staff,

I want to give you a heads-up on some dramatic news.

I’ve made the decision to retire as General Manager at the end of February. I will be speaking personally to many of you in the coming weeks but I wanted to make sure that you heard this from me before it becomes more public.

For almost all of you, I am the only manager you’ve known. Some of you go back with me to John Adams Jr. High. We have a lot of history together.

We have created a family of sorts down in the basement. We have laughed and cried together, quarreled and made up. We’ve welcomed new wives and husbands and lots of babies, some of whom plan to run the station themselves someday.

The College is required to engage in certain procedures to choose a new manager and they have embarked on the process. I will be here to hand off the station to my successor.

Nothing is harder than to announce that you’re leaving and then try to manage for the next few months. So I hope you’ll make it easy for me.

I’m attaching a letter which will be sent to the membership. Please read it.

I’m sure I’ll get a chance to talk individually to everyone of you in the days to come.

With love and gratitude – Ruth

A copy of Seymour's letter to KCRW members is here.

Warren Olney discussed Seymour's announcement on tonight's "Which Way, LA?"

*UPDATE: The Los Angeles Times has a good story today about the timing of Seymour's resignation. Here's an excerpt:

Her departure comes at a time when the station is seen to be in transition. Despite its reputation for superlative programming -- including its signature music and public affairs shows, such as "Morning Becomes Eclectic," "Which Way, L.A.?" and "To the Point" -- KCRW lags behind other public radio stations in local-area ratings.

In October, the month in which the most recent ratings are available, KCRW placed 30th in the Los Angeles-Orange County market, with 1% of the total audience ages 6 and older. Classical station KUSC-FM (91.5) was 19th at 2.3%, while KPCC placed 24th at 1.8%.

But KCRW officials have challenged the ratings system, which they say undercounts the station's true audience.

KCRW is looking to broaden its appeal nationally through digital initiatives such as streaming and podcasting. Seymour felt that having someone else in the general manager role might help the station more quickly realize that goal.

"It's going to be a new era," she said. "Time to begin without me."

Also, I assumed it goes without saying that I work at KCRW as a producer for "Which Way, LA?" and "To The Point." However, assuming is never a good thing to do.

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

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.

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.

Four today

1. Journalism critics don't always know what they're talking about. Etaoin Shrdlu

2. Journalism critics don't always know what they're talking about. Dan Gilmor

3. More Congressional hearings on the state of the newspaper industry. Editor and Publisher

4. Cock block: To curb cockfighting and noise problems, the Los Angeles City Council limits residents to one rooster per property. LADN

Station Fire heads toward Acton

The Station Fire, which grew to about 35,000 acres overnight, continues to spread toward Acton where evacuations have been ordered. On its other end, the fire threatens the Mt. Wilson Observatory above Pasadena.

At left, a great photo from Wally Skalij of the LA Times. More photos here.