Saturday, November 01, 2008

LAT no longer has a Washington bureau


This is a memo from a Los Angeles Times staffer to eight colleagues. At the source's request, I've deleted names

Sent: Fri 10/31/2008 2:29 PM
From: [Name removed]
To: [Names removed]
Subject: The worst yet: Tea with Doyle [McManus, LAT DC bureau chief]

Gang,
Well, let’s just say it's bad in every way it can be bad. Basically, the LAT no longer has a Washington bureau and we will be under the control of the Tribune Co., much like McClatchy is run. The much-touted 3-man committee was basically used to vote the LAT down 2-1 every time. The formal announcement will be made on Nov. 7, people will be informed they will be laid off on the 18th, and the new bureau begins on the 19th. Numbers are still fudgey, but 8 LAT layoffs seems to be the working number.

At the end of the session, Doyle basically put it simply: This was a well-orchestrated corporate campaign to sever the Washington bureau from the LAT. He appeared quite sheepish, since in hindsight this was all pretty clear...as he noted, Zell's rant in Feb. has pretty much come true.
"It's not the LAT that is running this process. That has become increasingly clear."

Doyle said Tom McCarthy will not be the bureau chief, and it's unclear if he's going to want to stay in the new organization, which is still being worked out. Tom was the only person who didn't join us in the conference room. Doyle doesn't know who the new bureau chief will be, though Cissy Baker's name keeps getting mentioned. Some guy (gal?) named Kerry something, the national editor of the ChiTrib, has been mentioned, but Kerry claims he's heard no such thing.

The structure is basically going to be the same as McClatchy:
19 reporters & 5 editors as a core "national staff"
10 reporters as "regional reporters", divided this way:
2 from LAT
2 from ChiTrib
2 from BaltSun
1 from other small papers

...Schmitt asked whether decisions on who is staying were really made on merit. Doyle acknowledged that they weren’t. Basically Russ/Gerry/Gremillon came up with a list of beats, then moved reporters into slots. "The names that were left over were left over." He said the people making the decision largely were making judgments about "people they don't know and who’s work they've never read." Doyle added that the decisions were "somewhat arbitrary."

Schmitt then asked why they couldn't say who was going to be laid off, and Doyle said he'd been forbidden from telling people. Asked why, Doyle said, "Basically, to be inhumane." He said corporate types don’t want to have to answer questions from people who are laid off, so announcing layoffs on the 18th was the most pain-free for them. Though he also noted that the LAT is telegraphing these, and if you want to talk in any more detail, Tom & Doyle will likely tell you what your future is.
If you're not on the list, and you want to volunteer to leave, it would be good to tell Doyle by Nov. 13, so he can fill your spot with another LAT body.

I asked some questions about how the LAT leadership feels about no longer having a DC bureau, and he said they were upset. I tried to press him on whether this means we no longer have any protection from L.A., and he basically said that's the case. We’re run by Chicago, though he said if Chicago really wanted to make the DC bureau any smaller, they could have done it this time (though he also noted that the only place the LAT won anything at all in this discussion was preventing Chicago from making the bureau even smaller).

So as I said: bad, bad, bad in every way. Everyone came out shell shocked.

Enjoy your weekend!

SOURCE: Jim Romenesko

7 comments:

grandspud said...

Had I not become totally disgusted and canceled my subscription three weeks ago, I may have cared.

Truth is, these editorial folks are helping put us out of business with their one-sided slant on the world.

I do miss the Fry's ads.

Kanani said...

This sucks.
I can't believe the one major newspaper in SoCal does not have a DC bureau! Unbelievable! Unthinkable!

Eddo said...

Way to go Grandspud.

Kanani, You know what is really unbelievable and unthinkable? I will tell you. People putting their immortal souls, the lives of untold innocent babies, and this country in jeoprody by voting for the ultra pro-abort oSHAMa. May God have mercy on them.

Question. Why would you want yellow journalists covering D.C.? Seek the truth woman. It will set you free.

inkstainedretch1 said...

Tthey almost have the editorial department down to a resonable size. They should have done this ten years ago. Some of those people only write one or two stories a year ( this was in the past ) I say one hundred fifty to go and they will be the right size. Maybe it will save some production jobs. Eddo good to see you are still alive and kicking

Unknown said...

The truth is that YOU are a prisoner of your own stupidity, Eddo. Just as "conservative" dingbat Danforth Quayle once said, "A mind is a terrible thing to lose." Hey, what's the difference between Eddo and Dan Quayle? Quayle has money, social status, and an education!

The subject is the LAT Washington bureau. Try to pay attention, boy.

Eddo said...

ho(moe), who appointed you to be captain of the world?

I stayed on topic with this numbskull - "Question. Why would you want yellow journalists covering D.C.? Seek the truth woman. It will set you free."

You too, need to seek the truth and it will set you free.

Practice what you preach you idiot, and go back to bed.

Eddo said...

Ho(moe)- Question: What relavence is Dan Quale? No wonder you are such a loser, you have been reading the wrong material. Here is some food for thought: Matthew 16:26 "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"

Now go back to bed and dream of all of those innocent creations of God that oSHAMa is for putting to the knife.