Los Angeles Times Pressmens 20 Year Club
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
  Tuesday Afternoon News

The canals at Venice Beach

IM000235

 

posted by Ed Padgett | 2:47 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Monday, May 12, 2008
  For Nubia & The Gals
 

posted by Kanani | 11:49 PM 3 Comments Links to this post

  Fashion: The Paper Catwalk, & A Visit From SweetP
"A visit from SweetP Vaughn of Project Runway closed the day. Petite and every bit as nice as her name, Sweet P is enjoying many opportunities made possible by appearing on the reality TV show."
Read the rest and watch the short remix on:
Get Lost With Easy-Writer
 

posted by Kanani | 6:04 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Sunday, May 11, 2008
  Special Occasions


I had to tell somebody, so I figured I'd share my week with whomever reads this blog.

I spent some time in Vegas this week to celebrate my Sister/Cousin's birthday. She and her daughter flew in from Birmingham and cousins flew in from New York. It all started Wednesday, May 7th, which was her 52nd birthday.

My niece hasn't seen my girls in 13 years and made it a glorious reunion among themselves. In the meantime, my grandkids had never met their 3rd cousin, and did their thing together as well. My mother joined us and all was good. At 82, she had the time of her life. Not being a gambler, she just enjoyed playing pennies to her hearts content.

There were buffets, dinners, breakfasts, etc. and all enjoyed. Took the grandkids to play in the arcade for an hour and they were in kid heaven! Something I'll not do again in the near future!!!!!!

My cousins and I took in a comedy show featuring George Wallace and I'll not soon forget how my back hurt after all the laughter. He was outstanding, and extremely gracious after the show.


Saturday morning, after some well-deserved adult fun (slots/tables), we departed to the airport to see the family off and return to SoCal. Upon arrival home, I was rushed to prepare to attend the Latin Jazz Festival, which proved to be a fabulous event! Great show!!! It was my first, but by no means will be my last. The artists were AB-FAB and I was thrilled that Andy Garcia made an appearance to play with the orchestra. Even more thrilling was that I got to actually meet him!

Afterwards, we stopped for Mexican food, came home and called it a day. Then today, it was a celebration of Mother's day. Brother-in-law Fred took us to brunch at Almansor Court. It was nice. Mom loves good food and truly enjoyed the variety.


It has truly been a busy week and well worth it!
 

posted by Nubia | 9:37 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Happy Mothers Day

The Mom Song Sung to William Tell Overture with Lyrics

"The Mom" song, sung to the William Tell Overture, by Anita Renfroe.What a mom says in 24 hours, condensed into 2 minutes and 55 seconds! Hilarious and talented!

 

posted by Ed Padgett | 11:40 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Saturday, May 10, 2008
  Blogosphere Meets Daisy Romwall


As a direct result of blogging I meet many interesting individuals from different walks of life, some famous in the Blogosphere and many like myself, not so famous or well known.

When I ran an image search for my daughter’s twenty first birthday in February of this year, I happened across the perfect picture by a young lady in northern California named Daisy Romwall.

Daisy granted permission to use her photo in my blog post to my daughter Janelle, and made no requests for anything in return, so it seems fitting to thank her with a link back to her Flickr collection.

According to Daisy “I’m just a photographer” which I will disagree with, after viewing her many sets of photographs. She is a film major at her local college, and would enjoy feedback from photojournalists, as she moves from amateur to professional photographer.

Thank you Daisy
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 3:30 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Murdoch Pulling His Bid For Newsday

Rupert Murdoch's $580 million bid for Tribune Co's Newsday newspaper has been withdrawn, which will leave cable television operator Cablevision as the most likely winner of the Long Island daily.

News Corp. Withdraws Its Bid for Newsday - New York Times
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 11:39 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Message from David Hiller - Publisher LA Times

Folks,

I want to share the exciting news that Scott Sullivan has been named Chief Technology Officer for Tribune Interactive, overseeing the TI engineering group across all of Tribune. Scott will be traveling back and forth between LA and Chicago, but will maintain his role here at The Times—and specifically latimes.com. Kamran Izadpanah, the head of engineering for our interactive group, will be filling in for Scott as needed, but Scott will continue to be an integral part of our team here. Scott’s knowledge has been crucial to the growth we’ve seen on our Web site over the last year and his new role is a testament to the fantastic team Scott has built and the great work they are doing.

Please join me in congratulating Scott.

David

------ Forwarded Message
From: Tribune Communications
Date: Wed, 7 May 2008 07:21:51 -0700
Subject: Message from Marc Chase/Scott Sullivan Named CTO for TI

Scott Sullivan has been named Chief Technology Officer of Tribune Interactive. Scott will head up the TI engineering group across all of Tribune, which develops and integrates software to power our sites and also helps us build new products.

For the past year, Scott has devoted significant effort towards transforming technology operations and has acted as a senior technology advocate for LATimes.com. In that time, Scott’s efforts helped LATimes.com re-launch on a new content management platform, the re-launch of Travel as well as the launches of The Guide and Topics A to Z.

Prior to joining LATimes.com, he acted as CIO for Edmunds.com and served in executive roles at Yahoo/Overture Services, and Homestore.com.
We are very excited to have Scott lead our joint technology efforts across all of Tribune Interactive.

Please congratulate Scott!

Marc
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 5:13 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Friday, May 09, 2008
  For The Weekend: We've All Had These Days...
 

posted by Kanani | 10:33 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  TRIBUNE COMPANY PRESS RELEASE

Mark Shapiro Elected to Tribune Board of Directors

CHICAGO, May 9, 2008 – Tribune Company today announced that Mark Shapiro, a native Chicagoan, has been elected to the company’s board of directors. Shapiro is president and chief executive officer of Six Flags, Inc., the world’s largest regional amusement park company, a position he has held since December 2005.

"Mark is a great addition to the board," said Sam Zell, Tribune’s chairman and chief executive officer. "This company’s been on a rollercoaster ride the last few years --
who better to help guide us into the future than a guy in charge of amusement parks? Mark has great experience in broadcasting and entertainment and knows how to reach
audiences -- he’s smart and innovative. Besides, we’re hoping he’ll cut us a break on season passes to Six Flags!"

Shapiro has helped Six Flags grow its entertainment portfolio, leading the company’s acquisition of 40% of Dick Clark productions in 2007. Prior to joining Six Flags,
Shapiro served as executive vice president/programming and production at ESPN, responsible for the development and scheduling of all programming on ESPN, ESPN2 and its affiliate networks. Shapiro was elected at Tribune’s regularly scheduled board meeting held May 7.

In other business, the board also elected Gary Weitman as senior vice president/corporate relations. Weitman joined Tribune in 2000 as vice president/corporate communications. He oversees internal and external communication, including media and investor relations, employee communications, and Tribune’s internal and external websites.

SOURCE: Tribune Company
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 2:53 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Friday Afternoon News

Formerly Los Angeles Times Federal Credit Union

 

posted by Ed Padgett | 11:45 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  San Francisco Peninsula Press Club: Examiner cuts back delivery to 2 days a week

The Examiner announced today that it will only deliver papers to homes and businesses two days a week — Thursdays and Sundays — starting July 13.

The free tabloid, owned by Denver billionaire oilman Phil Anschutz, says it is increasing the number of papers available at newspaper racks and vendors while ending six-day-a-week home delivery. It also is moving its weekend Saturday edition to Sunday.

The Examiner also says it will beef up its Web site and turn examiner.com into an aggregator of news.

The Examiner's sister papers in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., are making similiar cuts, the AP reports.

The move follows complaints by residents in all three markets that they have been unable to stop delivery of the Examiner despite repeated calls to the paper. That has prompted legislation in Maryland and San Francisco. The Maryland bill was withdrawn after the Examiner promised to do a better job responding to calls to stop the paper. In San Francisco, an ordinance to fine publishers who deliver after a stop request is being drafted by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi. Fines would range from $100 to $500 per violation.

According to AP, Examiner CEO Ryan McKibben said the moves are in response to advertiser and reader wishes while allowing the company to "protect the core of what we do and that is gathering news and information."

"It's no secret that this is a very difficult period for our industry. But it's actually an exciting time when one has the necessary talent and is sufficiently nimble and innovative to effectively meet the demands of rapidly changing markets," McKibben said in a statement.
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 5:31 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Thursday, May 08, 2008
  Opossum Attack in San Dimas

Before slipping into bed tonight I opened the morning Los Angeles Times, and ran across an article that caught my attention titled California urges caution around coyotes after Inland Empire attacks, by David Kelly. Our home is located approximately one mile south of the foothills in the northern portion of San Dimas, and we have many coyotes running the streets seeking food in the wee hours of the night.

We are not certain, but we highly suspect coyotes are responsible for all the missing cats and small dogs in the area, but this is not what the article brought to mind.

About five weeks ago tomorrow my daughter Joanna and her friend Nick Monges were walking to our community pool, and as they turned the corner a opossum was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, startling both of the teenagers. I suppose a natural defense overcame Nick as he kicked at the opossum, which caused the opossum to sink it’s teeth through the tongue of Nick’s tennis shoe, and into his flesh.

Not sure what to do, Nick called his sister for a ride back home to Baldwin Park, and after removing his tennis shoe discovered a massive swelling at the point of entry on the top of his foot. Upon hearing what had occurred, Nick’s grandmother rushed Nick to the emergency room of Kaiser Hospital, also located in Baldwin Park.

We all know emergency room visits can take three to five hours of waiting to see a doctor, in this case, Nick was rushed into an examining room. The attending nurse began cleaning his wound as soon as he was admitted, with the entire staff taking turns to gawk at this very unusual bite. One of the nurses exclaimed, “In twenty-two years in the nursing field, I have never heard of anyone being bitten by a opossum”.

Nick’s wait for the attending physician was short, and the doctor also said this was his first case of a opossum attack, and wondered if the opossum was protecting it’s babies or was rabid?

Not having any rabies serum on hand, the hospital sent out a call, which brought the serum to the hospital within ninety minutes. Nick was given one shot in his shoulder, one to the leg, and one at the wound. The series of shots consist of six visits to the hospital, and are not like years ago when the shots were injected into the stomach, a very painful experience.

Since the opossum attack, the Health Department has set out traps in and around the home where the attack happened, in an attempt to capture the opossum to test for rabies.

We must all remember that wild animals are wild, and will react to what they perceive as an invasion of their territory with force.
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 10:25 PM 2 Comments Links to this post

  Message From Sam Zell 05.07.08

Partners:

As the pace of change quickens and we work to integrate best practices and common themes, the board and I have decided to expand Randy’s role to Chief Operating Officer of the company. Consequently, all our lines of business--publishing, broadcasting and interactive--will report to him. Times are tough and we have a long way to go, and we will only get there with exciting, challenging, thoughtful and out-of-the-box leadership. I’m not sure I could come up with a better description of Randy.

Attached is the press release announcing Randy's appointment.

This in no way diminishes my involvement, nor will it impede my commitment to read your emails to me. I feel as though we are beginning to create a community with shared objectives and a desire to win. Let’s see it through.

Sam

SOURCE: TELL ZELL
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 5:55 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  New Sam Zell Blog


We need to thank our friend, Kevin Roderick, over at LAObserved for bringing a new blog to our attention this morning, which many Tribune Employees will enjoy.

The new blog is titled Tell Zell, and is written by a colleague from the Los Angeles Times, that uses the handle Ink Stained Retch. We do not know if the blogger is male or female, work location, or anything else regarding the anonymous blogger for that matter, which will make this a must see blog for myself and my colleagues.

The new blogger is not tongue-tied in their translations of what Sam Zell is quoted communicating to Tribunites, and what he actually really means. The same holds true with Lee Abrams statements, which are translated and quite humorous, yet possibly accurate.

And speaking of new blogs, the Los Angeles Times has launched five new blogs, which are all linked here, bringing the total blog count to forty-four, with many more to come this year.

The Zell money image comes from William Couch, and was created by Rich Pope.
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 4:14 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  TRIBUNE COMPANY PRESS RELEASE

Tribune Reports 2008 First Quarter Results

CHICAGO, May 8, 2008 -- Tribune Company today reported first quarter 2008 earnings from continuing operations of $1.82 billion compared with $11 million in the first quarter of 2007. The first quarter 2008 operating results included a favorable non-cash income tax adjustment of $1.86 billion related to the elimination of essentially all of the Company’s net deferred tax liabilities due to the Company’s change in tax status at the beginning of the year to a subchapter S corporation. The Company reported a loss from continuing operations before income taxes of $30 million in the first quarter of 2008 compared with income from continuing operations before income taxes of $31 million in the first quarter of 2007.

First quarter 2008 and 2007 results from continuing operations included the following:

A pretax charge of $63 million for severance and special termination benefits in the 2008 quarter, compared with a pretax charge of $1 million in the 2007 quarter.

A pretax charge of $8 million for stock-based compensation related to the Company’s new management equity incentive plan in the 2008 quarter, compared to $18 million of stock-based compensation expense in the 2007 quarter.

A pretax gain of $83 million in the 2008 quarter related to the sale of the real estate and related assets of the Company’s studio production lot located in Hollywood, California.

An after-tax non-operating gain of $1.93 billion in the 2008 quarter, which includes the income tax adjustment related to the Company’s change in tax status to a subchapter S corporation, compared with an after-tax non-operating loss of $57 million in the 2007 quarter.

“As we stated on our call in April, print ad revenues continue to be challenged by the weak economy’s impact on real estate and classified advertising,” commented Sam Zell, Tribune’s chairman and chief executive officer. “Broadcasting operating results are notably more stable. This business segment is tracking ahead of 2007 and it is outperforming the industry average. We continue to make significant progress on our strategy to transform operations, and to realize the full value of the Company’s unparalleled brands.”

The full report can be accessed here.

 

posted by Ed Padgett | 3:46 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Thursday Afternoon News

Olympic Pressman Yee-Leung Fu

 

posted by Ed Padgett | 1:31 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

Wednesday, May 07, 2008
  Los Angeles Times Employee Recognition Week Video

Mini documentary on The Times coverage of the October, 2007 wildfires. Great photos.

Editors Note: Los Angeles Times Employees eligible for last years cancelled employee recognition dinner, annually held at the Peterson Automotive Museum in November, were informed the dinner had been rescheduled to February 2008 in the memo below.

As one of a handful of individuals who were eligible for service awards in 2007,I would like to inform you that your years of commitment to the Los Angeles Times will now be incorporated into the departmental activities of Employee Recognition Week occurring in February 2008. A separate Service Recognition Dinner will not be held. More information regarding the schedule for Employee Recognition Week will be provided at a later date.

If you have any
questions or comments, feel free to contact me at (213) 237-3223.

Again,
thank you and congratulations.

Sincerely,

Marcello Sawyer
Employee Services Specialist
And according to David Hiller's memo, dated 04.08.08

And speaking of recognition, we are planning to go forward with employee
recognition events, and this year each department will be planning and hosting its own celebration (I hope to be invited to all of them J). You will be hearing from your department about these plans soon.
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 9:31 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  TRIBUNE COMPANY PRESS RELEASE

Tribune Names Randy Michaels Chief Operating Officer

CHICAGO, May 7, 2008 -- Tribune Company today announced that Randy Michaels has been named chief operating officer, responsible for all aspects of the company’s publishing,broadcasting and interactive divisions. The appointment is effective immediately.

“Randy is one of the most creative human beings I’ve ever known,” said Sam Zell, Tribune’s chairman and chief executive officer. “But he is exactly what Tribune needs to keep moving forward—smart, decisive, relentless, irreverent, fun and cutting edge.”

Michaels had been serving as executive vice president and chief executive officer of Tribune’s interactive and broadcast divisions, a post he assumed on Dec. 20, 2007, when the company completed its going-private transaction.

“The advertising environment is tough, the real estate crisis is affecting our classifieds something awful, and people are saying ‘newspapers are dead,’” said Michaels. “So, naturally, I want to take on even more responsibility for our print business.” He added, “Despite the problems, we have world-class brands with unlimited potential. We’re in the biggest markets and print still grabs a bigger share of advertising revenue than any other medium. On the broadcasting side, our TV
stations are leading the industry in growth. By using the resources and support of these amazing brands, we can also build tremendously strong interactive businesses. There is a lot of upside here.”
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 6:03 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Wednesday Afternoon Linkage

Los Angeles Times Globe Lobby

 

posted by Ed Padgett | 5:05 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Fashion: Sisterhood Of The Scary Underwear

"Ages ago, I'd watch my mother climb into a girdle. It was a feat that involved contortions --two steps in, then a wriggle, followed by a squat, all whilst pulling the mighty sheath on. Sadly, there was no Olympic competition for putting on girdles, had there been, she'd of gotten a gold medal."

Read the rest on:
Get Lost With Easy-Writer
 

posted by Kanani | 12:07 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Tuesday, May 06, 2008
  Tuesday Afternoon News

Venice Beach, California

 

posted by Ed Padgett | 1:18 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Inflammatory Comments

Over the past 12 hours, we've rejected no less than 8 comments.
They were repetitive and used profanity to attack one another.

As Ed Padgett said, "We thought they would've gotten tired of fighting by now."
So we're doing the little kid thing. For the next 24 hours, there will be no anonymous postings. Sorry to ruin it for the vast majority who were respectful.
 

posted by Kanani | 8:55 AM 10 Comments Links to this post

  Get Lost With Easy-Writer: Plain Talk

"One day, after a meeting, I was talking to them. Over the years they'd gotten hard of hearing and often I had to repeat myself.
"Last night I went and ate Chinese food," I said.
"What?" asked DeAnne."

Read the rest on:
Get Lost With Easy-Writer
 

posted by Kanani | 8:54 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  San Francisco Peninsula Press Club: Web site offers live feeds from 100 stations


Here's a link to a new Web site, LiveNewsCameras.com, that provides live feeds from 100 news stations across the country.

Susan Young of the Oakland Tribune says former KTVU news director Andrew Finlayson, who now works for the Fox station in Chicago, helped come up with the idea of sharing the feeds on a Web site.

"Some of us in our newsroom thought that we could open up the system. We thought it would be interesting to do an experiment in journalism where we let people see what we see — all the raw live feeds from around the world,"

Finlayson told Young. "We tried it out and decided to test it in a big way on Super Tuesday. We streamed all sorts of events with candidates and their supporters, and we had such a great reaction to it that we just kept it going."Finlayson convinced Chicago's ABC, CBS, NBC and independent stations to join his newsroom in putting their feeds on the site. "Stations from different networks agreed to be part of it, even our competitors, because if we don't, someone else will," Finlayson says. "And it will probably be Google."

Currently no Bay Area stations are providing feeds, but KRON 4 is expected to be the first, according to Young.

San Francisco Peninsula Press Club: Web site offers live feeds from 100 stations
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 8:27 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Monday, May 05, 2008
  Increasing Online Sales

Every month Meredith Artely, Executive Editor of LATimes.com, releases the number of unique visitors to the Los Angeles Times online edition. And every month the numbers grow to a new record, which prompts champagne toasts by the online group. This reminds me of the pressroom of old, where we would toast a beer or maybe more (usually the latter)at Anthony’s bar everyday for no particular reason, which was razed to make way for a new police headquarters at 1st and Spring.

The online advertising revenue has not kept pace with the crowd of online readers, which should prompt the Los Angeles Times, and other online newspaper editions, to educate their users on the safety of using the Internet for ordering products and services via their web sites.

Many online users have mentioned fear of using the Internet to order anything, with all the ado about identity theft. Which prompt’s my explanation of my online experiences over the last two decades, from purchasing my home, car, music, books, software, and anything else you can think of without a problem.

It’s rather easy to see the Internet surpassing the print edition of newspapers for advertising dollars down the road, which will certainly impact my colleagues and I in the pressroom.

If newspapers want to increase online sales, educate your audience that online sales are safe and secure.
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 3:45 PM 1 Comments Links to this post

  Motivational Word for Month of May





EXCELLENCE

The quality of being excellent; superiority.

Quality doesn't just happen. It requires intention, effort and skill.
 

posted by Nubia | 2:01 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  WHY ADVERTISE IN NEWSPAPERS VS TELEVISON RARE 1966

The largest collection of TV SHOWS,FILMS, CARTOONS, NEWSREELS,FILM SHORT SUBJECTS, SILENT & SOUND FILMS, HOME MOVIES, ,INDUSTRIALS & especially TV COMMERCIALS from the 1950's/60's can be found on DVD or on GOOGLE VIDEO DOWNLOADS at www.tvdays.com Aging Baby-Boomer Ira H. Gallen has spent over 30 years collecting and restoring this collection from 16mm & 35mm Celluloid Film, and Kinescopes to Video tape, with the help of Museum of Television and Radio in New York. Now he's trying to save his VIDEO ARCHIVES from decomposing by transferring to new digital formats by offering his life's work so far on DVD or GOOGLE VIDEO DOWNLOADS. www.mtr.org

 

posted by Ed Padgett | 1:07 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Monday Morning News

Bill Conover with Ron Doer

 

posted by Ed Padgett | 8:03 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

Sunday, May 04, 2008
  A bit of a tiff....
Sorry to have to bring this up.
There are many spirited comments, and for the most part, everyone has been within a reasonable margin of behavior. We thank you for this.
We've been fair in moderating the comments. With the exception of one or two, almost all of them have been posted. However, we've reconsidered the allowance of profanity, and ask that you find other words. One rather rambling comment, laced with profanity that just didn't make any sense has been removed.
Some people are not comfortable writing what they feel, so either they'll do it anonymously or with some sort of made-up I.D. This is fine, and we will continue to allow anonymous posters. However, like many, we have some disdain for those who use the anonymous shield to attack others, and ask that they refrain from doing so.
Carry on.
Have a nice day!
 

posted by Kanani | 7:00 AM 4 Comments Links to this post

Saturday, May 03, 2008
  David Hiller and the Town Hall Meeting

Folks,

Thanks for coming out to our Town Hall yesterday. It was great to spend time with everyone, and especially to honor our Publisher’s Award winners—Andrew Malcolm and Don Frederick of Top of the Ticket and the cars.com team led by Ken Nail.

For those of you who missed the meeting, we’ve put the video up on TimesLink (just click on the Video on Demand button on the left). It’s broken up into eight sections so you can navigate through it easily.

Also, I hope you’ll take the time to fill out a brief meeting survey. These Town Hall meetings are meant to keep you abreast of what’s happening with your company, so we value your input. Just click the link below:

Link removed

Thanks again for coming out and I look forward to seeing you at our next Town Hall on July 17.

David

(Editor Note) Timeslink can only be accessed from within Tribune properties, and the survey could be accessed by anyone not affiliated with the Tribune Company, hence the removal.
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 11:46 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Meredith Artley and Record Web Traffic at LATimes.com

Colleagues:

I told the latimes.com team that each time we break a record, we will have a Champagne toast. I can only logically deduce that drinking Champagne at work is a recipe for success. We hit an all-time record of 105.5 million page views in April, up 31% over last year.

We always talk about page views in this note, which is one of the best ways to measure how our journalism is resonating with readers, and how to tell if changes we are making to the site are effective. Here are some other figures that the latimes.com business intelligence team passed on:

Our time spent number is growing each month – the time readers spend on latimes.com is up 48% from this time last year.

We had more than 15 million unique users in April – that number has been growing each month this year and is up 58% from last year.

Our local reach is growing too – we have 37% more local visitors coming to the site than this time last year.

Our daily average page views are over 3.5 million – another all-time high. We are seeing strong and broad growth each day, in part because we are doing better than ever at optimizing our stories and other parts of our site to be more findable in search engines like Google, attracting more and more readers.


There are many accomplishments worth toasting over the past month. The Guide officially replaced CalendarLive and is already getting great traffic, and the print and online teams did an outstanding job of covering the Coachella festival. “Birds of Paradise” – the ultimate in user-generated content projects – received a quarter of a million page views, 500 comments, some great submissions and wonderful live reading at the Festival of Books. Light design changes were made to the article pages to better display related content and increase serendipity. Two new blogs were added to the roster – L.A. Unleashed, an animal and pet blog from the metro desk, and Booster Shots, a health blog from Tami Dennis and team. I’m not sure what else there is to say about the Publisher’s Award-winning dynamic duo of Andy Malcolm and Don Frederick – the Top of the Ticket blog broke another all-time traffic record for a blog, almost hitting 2 million page views for the month. Unstoppable.

We’re just getting warmed up – we have a very exciting May ahead of us.

Hollywood Backlot is the name of a photo project launching this month – readers will find a rich database of unique, behind-the-scenes photos from film and TV productions from photographer David Strick. There’s a deep archive of black and white photos, and we’ll be adding new images each week. The design is stunning. Keep an eye out for movie trailers in local theaters in June.

Also in entertainment, we will showcase some of our stars with the launch of weekly critics’ video with Kenneth Turan and Carina Chocano on film, Mary McNamara on television, and the launch of a “Big Picture” film blog from Patrick Goldstein. And there will be daily television chats with readers about popular shows.

A new video project called “I C U” launches in May, telling the stories of people who want to meet and reconnect. Great project from video journalist Katy Newton. There’s more action in the video arena weekly critics’ video – we have a new video studio on the 5th floor to ramp up our ability to do quick turnaround, in-house video. And we have nearly finished the first round of video training for selected reporters and editors.

We’re rolling out more A-Z pages in business, sports, health, and world. This is more glamorous than it sounds. Remember that each of these A-Z pages make it easy for us to provide the latest news from LAT and around the Web, to finally unleash our deep archives, to showcase photos and multimedia around a specific topic such as Kobe Bryant, the World Health Organization, Bill Gates, etc., … growing our A-Z collection creates authoritative pages that dive deep into any number of specific topics.

And some of our brightest data-minded journalists and tech folks are kicking off local database projects, starting with projects around real estate, education, crime, and local government.

If you think we have a lot more work to do in terms of making the site more of an incredibly reader-friendly, head-turning, must-use resource, you are not alone. We are kicking off a rethinking of the homepage, the site and its structure this month.

And now, the lists…


TOP ARTICLES FOR APRIL:

1. Protesters target CNN after Jack Cafferty’s remark (David Pierson)
2. Ominous signs for American Idol (Channel Island) (Scott Collins)
3. Miley Cyrus: Is the Disney starlet disappointing her fans? (Deborah Netburn)
4. Campaign trail gets bumpy for Chelsea Clinton (Robin Abcarian)
5. Why Gov. Bill Richardson didn’t endorse Clinton (Mark Z. Barabak)
6. John McCain gets tax-free disability pension (Ralph Vartabedian)
7. Hillary Clinton loses traction over Barack Obama in Pennsylvania, Indiana (Janet Hook)
8. Bed discovered in sect temple (Miguel Bustillo)
9. Ojai has a love-hate relationship with ‘Pastie Lady’ (Catherine Saillant)
10. Barack Obama may lose support in Philadelphia over ‘street money’ (Peter Nicholas)

TOP BLOGS:

1. Top of the Ticket - 1,922,846 page views
2. Show Tracker - 1,654,931
3. Lakers Blog - 725,720
4. L.A. Land - 601,826
5. La Plaza - 597,365
6. L.A. Now - 494,803
7. Envelope: Dish Rag - 444,578
8. Homicide Report - 426,270
9. Web Scout - 305,806
10. L.A. Unleashed - 215,556 (edging out Travel for the #10 spot in its very first month)

* Our blogs are booming – combined, they received 9.3 million page views in April.


TOP PHOTO GALLERIES:

1. Coachella Music Festival
2. Miley Cyrus: Life in pictures
3. Celebrity shots
4. Stars and plastic surgery
5. Annie Leibovitz's iconic magazine covers
6. Foreclosed listings from Hollywood to Glendale
7. 24 Years of Hot Property: The Ruth Ryon era
8. Miley Cyrus photo scandal
9. Solana Beach shark attack
10. Hollywood's nude photo scandals

TOP VIDEOS:

1. Raw video: Teens charged in brutal attack on cheerleader - 21,760 streams (KTLA)
2. 270 acres burn in Sierra Madre - 10,857 streams (AP)
3. GOP attack ads - 2416407 - 9,910 streams (CNN)
4. Phil Jackson discusses Tuesday's - 9,056 streams (The Kamenetzkys, Lakers Bloggers)
5. Gasol comments on Game 2 win - 8,698 streams (The Kamenetzkys)
6. Rev. Wright calls criticism - 7,963 streams (CNN)
7. Ducklings rescued from storm drain - 7,788 streams (KTLA)
8. Clinton speaks in Philadelphia - 7,635 streams (AP)
9. Bed found in polygamist temple - 7,502 streams (AP)
10. Girls arrested in brutal beating - 7,272 streams (KTLA)

Congratulations, everyone. We are breaking records through smart, creative thinking that is widespread throughout the LA Times.

Meredith Artley
Executive Editor, LATimes.com


Links for the Mac folks:

http://theguide.latimes.com/
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-novel,0,1741827.special
http://www.latimes.com/theguide/music/coachella/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/booster_shots/
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/

SOURCE: Los Angeles Times

 

posted by Ed Padgett | 11:10 AM 0 Comments Links to this post

  San Francisco Peninsula Press Club: Majority signs union cards at CC Times

A "strong majority" of newsroom workers at the Contra Costa Times and other papers that are part of Dean Singleton's Bay Area News Group-East Bay have signed cards indicating they want to be represented by the Guild, according to union organizers.

Organizers didn't give an exact number of those signing cards in the 250-person bargaining unit.

"We are well above the 50 percent plus one vote needed to win a secret-ballot election. We waited to file until our margin got big enough that we knew we would win," organizer Sara Steffens said in an e-mail to the Press Club.

"The former Contra Costa Newspapers have always been non-union, so this is a really big step for everyone here," said Steffens, a CC Times reporter.

Management has said that it will not recognize the union based on a counting of cards, so an election with secret ballots will take place this summer, the statement said. Here's the complete statement issued today by Steffens and fellow reporter Karl Fischer, who are leading the unionization effort:

OAKLAND -- Journalists leading a guild organizing effort at the Bay Area's largest newspaper chain petitioned the National Labor Relations Board for formal recognition as a union today.

A strong majority of newsroom workers employed by Bay Area News Group-East Bay (BANG-EB) signed guild authorization cards in recent weeks. The organizing campaign's leaders submitted those cards and other paperwork at the NLRB office in downtown Oakland.

"I'm incredibly proud to be part of our newsrooms today," said Steffens, an award-winning reporter at The Contra Costa Times and a co-chair of the campaign. "It's heartening to see so many of us come together, during these turbulent times in our industry, saying 'We deserve a seat at the table.' Tough decisions need to be made, but we want to be part of building our future."

About 250 guild-eligible employees work at the chain's publications, which are owned by Denver–based MediaNews Group and include nearly every daily newspaper that circulates in the Bay Area. Those signing guild cards seek representation by the Northern California Media Workers Guild, a local of The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America.

A separate Guild local already represents MediaNews employees at The San Jose Mercury-News.

Last August, MediaNews merged the former ANG Newspapers, which included the Oakland Tribune and four other dailies, with the non-union Contra Costa Newspapers. The shift allowed the company to dissolve a 20-year-old guild bargaining unit that represented ANG and end in-progress contract talks with workers.

In response, journalists from across the newly consolidated East Bay chain have formed a new union, dubbing their campaign "One Big BANG: One Guild Universe."

Because BANG-EB management has already stated that it would not recognize the union based on a simple counting of the cards, the NLRB will likely oversee a secret-ballot polling of workers this summer to ensure most support the guild.

"A strong majority has spoken. We must work together more actively to solve the problems facing our company and our industry," said Richmond police reporter Karl Fischer, a co-chair of the organizing committee. "We can help to make our papers both excellent and efficient. We know our managers share those goals."

More details of the organizing campaign can be found on the campaign's Web site: http://onebigbang.org.
 

posted by Ed Padgett | 6:50 AM 2 Comments Links to this post

Friday, May 02, 2008
  Friday Afternoon News

Amy Alkon the Advice Goddess meets Edward the Blogging Pressman

 

posted by Ed Padgett | 4:32 PM 0 Comments Links to this post

  Compensating For Inflation


Many colleagues felt betrayed when additional cuts were announced at the Tribune Company, under the helm of Sam Zell, after he told Tribune Employees downsizing the current staff across the country was not conducive with positive employee moral.

Faced with advertisers that are fleeing in droves from newspapers to alternative forms of advertising, circulation drops at almost every Tribune newspaper, and an economy that is falling like a rock before it reaches it destination, what options did Sam have?

Take a look at your household, have you made any changes in the past six months to reduce spending, or have you continued the spending spree like there’s no tomorrow? Most consumers I speak with have made minor changes to their lifestyles to compensate for job insecurity, higher gasoline prices and food costs.

One of the changes I hear often lately is carpooling, and as you kn