L.A. Times

Sam Zell and Randy Michaels are about to end the Sunday Book Review at the L.A. Times and book reviews editors past are not pleased about it. Four former editors of the section—Sonja Bolle, Digby Diehl, Jack Miles and Steve Wasserman—wrote in a joint-letter to L.A. Observed complaining about the decision.

To be sure, no section of any newspaper can remain hostage to past ways of covering the news of the day. We are convinced, however, that the way forward is to increase coverage of our literary culture—a culture that every day is more vibrant and diverse in the thriving megalopolis of Los Angeles.  read more »

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The new L.A. Times magazine--a name hasn't been settled yet--plans to go the way of the New York Times' T and WSJ Magazine: it'll be a glossy luxury magazine. Last month, the newspaper's then-publisher, David Hiller, forced the newsroom to surrender control of the magazine to the business side.

Even though Mr. Hiller has since been pushed out of the L.A. Times, the business side is staffing up for their new magazine. Annie Gilbar, who was once a host for a show on the Home Shopping Network and an editor of InStyle, will edit the magazine. WWD reports:

The editorial team so far includes familiar names in the glossy magazine world, among others: Celebrity stylist Lori Goldstein began as fashion director on July 1 (though she is not working in the office full-time), and several former House & Garden staffers are either on staff or contributing part-time, including former Testy Tastemaker columnist Mayer Rus, contributing food editor Lora Zarubin and contributing senior editor Paul Fortune, according to several sources.  read more »

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Newly named Washington Post executive editor Marcus Brauchli's wife, Maggie Farley, the United Nations reporter for the L.A. Times, says she quit right before the paper announced layoffs in order to "save a body." And, not surprisingly, she doesn't care much for what's happening to the paper. She tells L.A. Observed's Kevin Roderick:

"I resigned last week in the hopes that it would save a body, and with all the changes in our family and at the paper, it felt like a good time to leave and try something new. I am proud to have been part of one of the largest and strongest foreign staffs in the country, and am disheartened by what has been done to our great newspaper.  read more »

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150 reporters, editors and designers at The Los Angeles Times are packing their boxes and heading home for good this week, but out of the paper's press department that's not the big news at all!

Last night, John Conroy, one of their spokesmen, sent reporters an email about a new blog the newspaper's Web site, latimes.com, is launching.

"Thought you might want to know about 'Hero Complex,' a really cool blog we’re launching," he writes. "It’ll be chock full of insider scoop from the world of comic books, sci fi, genre film/TV and all other heroic pursuits.

Right. Forgive us for initially thinking that "Hero Complex" was referring to Sam Zell and interim-publisher Randy Michaels.  read more »

Internal emails are circulating in the Los Angeles Times with some of the 150 names who are getting laid off at the paper. One staffer showed us the names of one email that's going around in the features department. We've sent out emails to each of them requesting confirmation. Here's who has confirmed for us so far:

We'll keep updating as they come in:

Kevin Bronson: old weekend editor, club music writer

Corie Brown: wine reporter. Corie writes: "They’ve eliminated the job of wine writer. There won’t be anyone on the features staff who writes about wine or spirits. They will go all freelance."

Janet Cromley: health writer

Casey Dolan: music writer.  read more »

The L.A. Times' publisher David Hiller is out.

Here's the memo from Randy Michaels:

I want to let you know that David Hiller has decided to step down as publisher of The Los Angeles Times, effective immediately. David took over as publisher in October 2006, during a difficult period for the newspaper and has performed with distinction since that time. During the last six months, he has helped The Times begin making the transition to new ownership, facing new realities. Part of that transition must now include a new publisher.

We are already in the process of identifying the right person to lead The Times going forward.  read more »

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The writing has been all the wall for weeks and now the carnage has been unleashed: the L.A. Times is cutting loose 150 newsroom positions, and 250 overall. Pink slips come by Labor Day. This news comes only a few months after the paper let go 36 newsroom jobs through buyouts, and puts the total newsroom number at about 700, down from the 1,200 it had just seven years ago. 

Russ Stanton's sobering memo is here.  

Six days ago, L.A. Times editor Russ Stanton did a Q&A with Mediabistro and he was asked if things were finally getting back to normal at the embattled paper.

"I think they're starting to [quiet down] and I think our morale is beginning to come back to where people are focused solely on doing great work and good stories and terrific journalism."

Then this week happened.  read more »

That's what Richard Perez-Pena asks in this morning's Times, and he hears a mixed response.

A former executive at Gannett, Allen Neuharth, says that Zell is just doing what he has to do. In order to prevent newspapers to go the way of the steel industry in the 1980s, preemptive steps have to be made.  read more »

"What has become clear as we have gotten intimately familiar with the business is that the model for newspapers no longer works," said Sam Zell in a memo he just sent out to Tribune staffers.

So everything is getting trashed and reworked! There are going to be redesigned newspapers, redesigned Web sites, redesigned business structures.  read more »

Russ Stanton got his job as chief editor of the L.A. Times because he was the golden child of the internet, a guy who could bring the paper into the future. And with Mediabistro, he talks about that future and how no newspaper will be involved at all!  read more »

Sam Zell sent out a company-wide email last night, and reemphasized, in slightly different words, that there are people interested in Newsday. While speaking about the "disposition front," he says there have been "specific inquiries" about Newsday. Here's the entire memo:

Lender Call Recap  read more »

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Sam Zell was asked about the potential sale of Newsday in a conference call with investors, and said there's an interest among outsiders but no decision has been made yet.

"As we previously acknowledged, we have been approached by a number of parties that have a keen interest," he said, when in fact it's the first time he's acknowledged this publicly. "We have reached no conclusions with anybody at this juncture. And we’re discussing if that does or does not make sense for us and the Tribune Company going forward."  read more »

Is David Geffen going to buy the L.A. Times? The news comes from two blogs: Nikki Finke's and LA Observed.

LA Observed has it from a source who has it from three sources that Geffen is interested in buying it and was close to a deal last week. Nikki Finke has it from a source who says they are in "serious discussions."

The L.A. Times new editor, Russ Stanton, continues to clean house. MaryKaye Schilling, the print-online hybrid editor brought in to remake the paper's events tabloid, The Guide, is out. Ms. Schilling was a close ally to the paper's recently ousted features editor, John Montorio. Here's the memo:

MaryKaye Schilling, editor of The Guide for print and online, is leaving the paper.  read more »

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Michael Calderone at Politico reports that L.A. Times editor Russ Stanton is meeting with the paper's D.C. bureau tomorrow. On the agenda: Damage control from last week's bloody Sam Zell meeting where the paper's new owner said, in essence, that there were too many reporters working there.  read more »

Before Sam Zell gets down to the dirty business of letting go some Newsday employees, he went down to the Washington bureau of the Tribune Company. While there, he managed to upset just about everyone.  read more »

It’s been a jittery two weeks in Melville.

Over the next week, Newsday reporters and editors are expecting an announcement about job cuts. Even veterans of the Vlad the Impaler year of 1995, in which Times Mirror ordered the elimination of 800 jobs from a payroll of 3,200, contemplate the coming week with dread.

“To be honest with you, it’s really grim here,” said James Bernstein, a business reporter and 30-year-veteran.  read more »

The L.A. Times has put a brand new masthead on its Web site—and wow! What a masthead!

It's almost impossible to find mastheads online for most papers and magazines, and even then, it's generally reserved for top editors. But now the Russ Stanton era has begun in earnest at the L.A. Times, virtually everyone in the editorial department is now listed on the internet.  read more »

On Friday afternoon, in one of Russ Stanton's first acts as executive editor of The Los Angeles Times, he walked into the office of one of the paper's managing editors and fired him.

"I was shocked," said the editor, John Montorio, in an interview with The Observer. "It was really quite brief and to the point. There was no emotionalism, no hostility and bitterness. It was seriously better than that—no yelling, screaming, crying."

Mr. Montorio, managing editor for features, who heads up the Sunday Calendar, Daily Calendar, Weekend Calendar, Book Review, Home, Food, Travel, Real Estate, Health and "Highway 1" sections as well as the Sunday magazine, announced the news to the paper in a memo yesterday, saying he would be gone at the end of the month.  read more »

John Montorio, who has run the features department at the L.A. Times, is out. A managing editor on the masthead, Montorio just sent out a memo to his staff revealing the news, explaining that the paper's new editor Russ Stanton wanted to take features in a "different direction, with a new leader." Nikki Finke, having heard this was about to happen over the weekend, described it over the weekend as a firing; other editors told us the same. Here's Montorio's memo.  read more »

Rub the sleep out of those eyes: it's the morning-after in L.A.!  read more »

Some accounts are coming in from the new L.A. Times executive editor Russ Stanton's speech to the newsroom today.

One editor wrote to Media Mob: "It was subdued, receptive but kind of calm. which i think is reassuring. he is not an electric speaker, read from a prepared speech, but it was defeinitely well received, he hit all the right notes. I found it refreshingly ego-free, and his nervousness was kind of touching."

Another: "people at this place pretty much respond the same to everything ...show up and politely applaud..."  read more »

We just spoke to David Hiller, the publisher of the L.A. Times who chose Russ Stanton as the editor of the paper today.

"Even if there were divisions over who should be editor, Russ is well known and well liked and my view is that now that we have the candidtate that people will rally behind," he said.  read more »

We've started making our phone calls to the L.A. Times newsroom. We were instant messaging with one harried editor who couldn't talk because said editor had to "go down to newsroom for the installation in ten." That was at 2:20 p.m. (our time), so presumably Russ Stanton is being coronated right now (Nancy Sullivan, spokeswoman for the paper, just confirmed it is happening right now).  read more »

The Los Angeles Times has a new editor, according to a press release that just went out.

"The Los Angeles Times Media Group (LATMG) today unveiled significant changes to its organization and leadership team, including the announcement that Russ Stanton has been named Los Angeles Times Editor," the release reads in part. And this from publisher David Hiller: “Russ Stanton combines great personal leadership, communication skills, the highest journalistic standards and a commitment to excellence, and has been championing much of our work to become a truly multimedia news organization that’s a relevant and engaging part of the 24-hour-a-day world of news and information.”

As we reported yesterday, the choice of an editor to replace Jim O'Shea has divided the newsroom.  read more »

As we documented this morning, there's a big divide over who should run the L.A. Times, and before Sam Zell and publisher David Hiller announce their choice, they're getting some dirty work out of the way: Job cuts are on the way.

Mr. Hiller writes that the paper will elimiminate 100-150 positions at the Times, which includes ending open positions, and laying some off. Sam Zell writes in his own e-mail that he wants to add staff some day, but: "Unfortunately, I can't turn this ship from its course of the past 10 years within just a few months." Mr. Zell said there will be job cuts at all Tribune papers.

Click "read more" to see both memos.  read more »

Sam Zell, the Rabelaisian real estate billionaire who bought The Los Angeles Times’ parent company for $8.2 billion in December, went out to Los Angeles last week to shake things up at the left-coast newsroom notorious for its turmoil—overturns, layoffs, bad management.  read more »