Newspaper News

Eli Broad, Who Wants Tribune Co., Calls Newspapers 'Civic Trust'
LOS ANGELES Billionaire Eli Broad, who is part of a bid to buy Tribune Co., owner of the Los Angeles Times, described newspapers Thursday as a "civic trust" and said a locally owned paper is vital to the health of the world-class city he considers Los Angeles to be.

Soft Writing and Hard Times at the LA Times
I’ve been struck by the odd notion - reportedly run up the flagpole by David Geffen, a possible Los Angeles Times buyer - that the way to improve my favorite paper is to lure Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich and Alex Witchel from the New York Times out to Spring Street. Now that’s just crazy, because why should they go, when everything about them is so essentially New York?

Merc union supporters to wear black
The Newspaper Guild has issued a press release urging a "Day of Action" on Dec. 11 to preserve quality journalism, but union supporters at the Mercury News are being asked to get started early by wearing black on Monday (Dec. 4), the day before 40 newsroom workers are to be told over the phone whether they have been laid off.

MediaNews might also outsource printing
The Chronicle might not be the only Bay Area daily to shut down its presses and outsource printing to an outside company. The trade publication Newspapers & Technology says it has been told by sources that MediaNews could be a likely customer of the plant Transcontinental Inc. will build to print the Chronicle

Ax to fall at Merc on Monday, Tuesday
Had the union been able to reach a contract deal with management, the company would have reduced the number of union workers laid off from 69 to 42. Of the total 101 to be laidoff, 40 jobs will come from the newsroom.