Message from Russ Stanton Editor LAT

The memo from Russ Stanton:

Colleagues:

As you saw from Eddy's note, the tough economy is causing the company to implement another round of job cuts, including in the newsroom. In the coming weeks, the number of jobs across Editorial will be reduced by 70 positions, or 11%. As part of this move, we will be putting into place the final pieces of the newsroom reorganization that we began last year. This includes reclassifying jobs, reconfiguring desks, revamping our workflow and exploring new topic teams. The goal remains to operate a 24/7 newsgathering operation that delivers information to Southern California residents in any medium they consume it.

Other departments at The Times will be undertaking similar cost-saving measures, some more painful than the ones we will experience. We are all too familiar with this process, but over the past year in particular, we have come through each of these downsizings and continued to produce some of the highest-quality journalism in our industry. We simply don't know how to do otherwise.

John, Davan, Meredith and I, as well as your section editors and department heads, are available to answer your questions. We remain commited to providing our readers with an excellent general-interest newspaper and website with top-notch local, national, foreign, business, sports, feature and entertainment reporting.

Doom and Gloom at the Los Angeles Times

• One Less Subscriber - William Campbell
• Reactions to 'Times' news - Kevin Roderick
• How to kill a newspaper - Veronique de Turenne
• Breaking Up With the LA Times - Celeste Fremon
• Los Angeles Times Cuts California Section - LAist
• LA Times Bringing Back "Company Town" - Nikki Finke
• LA Times Reportedly Lays Off 300 - Newspaper Death Watch
• Los Angeles Times to Cut 300 Jobs, 70 in Newsroom - Bloomberg
• L.A. Times to lay off 300, consolidate sections - Los Angeles Times
• Los Angeles Times Kills Local News Section - Writing for the Media

Los Angeles Times to Cut 300 Employees

From: Hartenstein, Eddy
Sent: Friday, January 30, 2009 12:02 PM
To: zzTrbAllHandsLAT; zzMediaGroups
Subject: Important Message

Colleagues:

As you know from reading our front page and our homepage, not a day goes by that we don't give our readers the latest news and analysis on the deepening troubles of the US economy. The same challenges that face the companies we report about also are affecting us. We need to implement changes to our flagship print product, and throughout our organization, that will ensure our future as the #1 source of news and information in Southern California.

In the coming weeks, we will introduce a number of changes to the way we do business, including a new sectional line-up for the paper. These are necessary to facilitate greater efficiencies in how we approach our operations, production and distribution and, as a result, we expect to eliminate approximately 300 positions.

Beginning March 2nd the paper will be presented in four main news sections:

A/Main News will be repositioned to present local, national and international coverage and opinion together - as each informs, impacts and shapes the others in our everyday lives. The California section report will lead A, followed by The Nation, The World and then Opinion. The result will combine the stories and reporting of our two most widely-read print sections into one cohesive section.

Business will be the second section in the paper, and the report will be enhanced by bringing back the "Company Town" feature, which will serve as the anchor for our "business of entertainment" coverage. The obituaries and weather pages will remain at the back of this new B section.

Sports will be the third section, and we'll be moving the classified advertising pages to the back of this new C section.

Calendar will be the fourth section, and this move allows its deadlines to be pushed deep into the evening (aka "second-daily"), allowing us to make our primary space for entertainment coverage more news-driven. This will enrich this current "must read" section even further, enabling us to add features such as overnight reviews.

The feature-section lineup will remain unchanged, with Health on Monday, Food on Wednesday, Home on Saturday and Image, Travel and Arts & Books on Sunday. The Sunday lineup also will be unchanged, except for the California report appearing in the A section.

These moves are designed to help us deal with the economic realities of the day, while continuing to allow us to deliver a high-quality product to our readers and advertisers. We remain unwavering in our commitment to serve our community and to our mission.

We'll be providing more details in the days ahead.

eddy

SOURCE: Kevin Roderick

Los Angeles Times to Drop the California Section

Have had very little to share this week as the news within the newspaper's grapevine is very depressing. The word we have all feared appears to be true according to Kevin Roderick:

"Publisher Eddy Hartenstein has ordered the California section killed, leaving the L.A. Times without a separate local news front for the first time since the paper's early decades. The publisher decided to fold local news inside the front section — which will be reconfigured to downplay national and foreign news — despite what an official of the paper confirmed for me was the unanimous and vocal objections of senior editors. Advertisers were informed on Wednesday, and word began to leak on Thursday. Hartenstein reportedly planned to delay an announcement until the close of business on Friday, fearing it will play as
another black eye for the Times. He's right about that. I'm told that in contentious discussions in recent weeks, the editors failed to persuade Hartenstein that if a section had to go, the more palatable cut would be to move the less-read Business pages".

The impact of dropping the California Section means an entire shift may be eliminated very soon as the sections of the newspapers currently produced on the second shift in the pressroom will be merged into the third shift. I will explain in detail later this afternoon as the news filters around both pressrooms at the Los Angeles Times this morning.

Thursday Night in the Blogosphere

Jeff Ellison checking the color and registration of the newspaper

• Nonprofit Newspapers - The New Yorker
• Reader's Digest To Lay Off 300 - Fishbowl NY
• 2009 total: 1,011+ newspaper jobs lost - Paper Cuts
• Not as lucky as Billy the Elephant - Joseph Mailander
• Building networks around news - Nieman Journalism Lab
• Still Pinched for Cash NYT to Pitch Red Sox - New York Post
• Examiner newspaper can't find buyer, will close - Baltimore Sun
• Fears of a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Filing at The Seattle Times - Slog
• Why We Need Stronger Unions, and How to Get Them - Robert Reich
• Early Internet: A 1981 TV Report on Telepapers - Writing for the Media

The Soloist: Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Anthony Ayers

Steve Lopez celebrates Beethoven's birthday with Nathanial Anthony Ayers and members of the LA Philharmonic at the Los Angeles Times.

Bay Area News Group memo regarding furloughs

From: Crooks, Alison
Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 12:06 PM
To: &EB All
Subject: Employee furlough

Importance: High

January 28, 2009

Dear BANG-EB Employee:

In a further effort to help offset the continuing decline in revenue and position the company for future financial success while mitigating further job losses, I am announcing the implementation of a mandatory one (1) week furlough for employees to be scheduled during the period beginning February 1, 2009 and running through the month of March. All executives and management of the Company will be included. Each employee’s department head will determine the actual week an employee is furloughed.

I realize that we are all working hard to overcome this difficult time. I know this action will create a strain on our personal budgets, and unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that a furlough will prevent any further layoffs. However, from what I am hearing across our company… “a brief period without pay is better than many more layoffs.”

This is not to trivialize the serious nature of furloughs. Implementing unpaid furloughs is indeed a very serious step. This furlough action is unprecedented for our company. But, I am hopeful that an unpaid furlough will go a long way toward keeping future layoffs, if any, to a minimum.

Over the next few days, your department heads will meet with you to further explain the furlough process and how people will be scheduled. A Q&A sheet is being prepared for distribution. Your human resources contact will be available to assist you and your supervisors. Personal situations will be considered based on seniority and the operational needs of the company. But, such considerations should only influence when a person’s furlough begins and ends, not if a person will or will not be excused from a furlough.

As always, our customers remain our highest priority. Through your dedicated efforts, we have continued to publish quality newspapers and to produce top-notch websites. Our challenge is to assure that we remain a strong company and continue to develop innovative new products which provide value-added for our customers.

Employees who work under a labor agreement will be advised by their union representatives as to the outcome of management’s discussions with their union. All current labor agreements provide for layoffs. I am confident that our unions will agree to unpaid furloughs as a means of avoiding layoffs, to the degree that can be accomplished.

At this time, it is important to understand that we, like many media and other companies, are facing significant financial challenges due to the deep recession. We are not the first and we certainly won’t be the last to implement furloughs or take similar steps in order to address these challenges and keep our financial houses in order. We take these actions on our own because we can and we should…for the long term good of our customers and ourselves.

Thank you for your understanding, your support and your dedication.

Sincerely,
David Rounds
President and Publisher
Bay Area News Group-East Bay

SOURCE: Jim Romenesko

Wednesday Night in the Blogosphere

Orange County LAT Pressman Joe Gordon

• Is There Life After Newspapers? - AJR
• Layoff toll keeps climbing - Erica Smith
• Let's Buy a Newspaper - Andrew Dunn
• Laid-Off Veterans Go Local - Paul Gillin
• Post-journalism blogging - Darleene Powells
• Forced furloughs for MediaNews - Gary Scott
• News You Can Endow - The New York Times
• NYT Results: Digital Down, and It's Getting Worse - Portfolio
• Sgt. Curt Massey, officer killed on freeway - Kevin Roderick
• KOCE peels back 'Real Orange' broadcasts - Orange County Register

Lee Abrams Think Piece

From: Abrams, Lee
To: Abrams, Lee
Sent: Mon Jan 26 09:00:57 2009
Subject: NEW THINK PIECE: CELEBRITY CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT

THINK PIECE: CELEBRITY CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY AND DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT

CELEBRITY CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY. What I mean here is that We can't underestimate our importance these days. We can change this cultural disease. Exciting and important time to be in the information business like the 80s was an exciting time to be in show biz....we can't blow it by offering dated TV that's over slick and cliche ridden or Print too sluggish and bland. Our position is too important.

Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?
Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever."
Miss America 1995 from Alabama
Heather Whitestone (and she won??!!)

"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."
Popular Pop Singer
Mariah Carey

Scary stuff...we can't feed this machine. we need to work hard at being Intelligent but unconvemntional. Inspirational. Agents of change.

I sent around that Honda video last week. Got about 200 emails about it, sort of like this one:

Fantastic. If some our TV products felt like this, toned themselves like this… well not necessarily this, but in this vein, I promise they’d see higher ratings. So many local TV new casts try waaaayyyy too hard to have the bull-shit-cliche “wacky news team” and it’s embarrassing.

The thing is, he’s right. Another thing is we have the talent to change it. So.....let’s go.

I think it all boils down to stepping out and taking it seriously. Its not optional arts and crafts...its part of surviving and remaining relevant in the emerging new era. We need the same courage to do it in TV

In Hartford, I saw a wonderful Sales video. My only thought was---Whoa! If they did this kind of thing in their day in/day out production, they’d instantly separate themselves from the pack. It was dramatic. It was visually arresting...they used a wonderful British Female voice...it bordered on magical. Then you watch the station, and it's fine...but would be infinitely fine-ER if they took the approach they took on the presentation video! Here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHm7wvegM94

We have the talent to do this everywhere. We have to liberate ourselves from old school creative thinking to execute. (not easy to do!) that includes:

*Talking to people instead of "announcing" to them.

*Using a world of voices to sell the message instead of the standard issue "TV announcer" that is hilariously tired. The Brit voice that Hartford used was cheap...easy...and SO effective, not to mention interesting and cool.

*Not being fearful that cerebral and ultra modern visuals are "too weird".*Deliver the message with an 'in your head' vs.. 'in your face' POV.*Subtle..but powerful vs.. sell sell sell!

*Forcing ourselves to be original and interesting. Maybe 15 years ago there was no need...but today, there IS!

*Admitting that most sales presentations and, quite honestly, local TV production, is so slick, plastic, hyped-out and predictable that it's more cheesy than compelling.

*Accepting that we have a responsibility to DO SOMETHING about the state of TV...and AFDI

*Patriotism. America is no longer the innovation center when it comes to local TV production. We can change that.

*Courage.

*Art. Art may not directly affect revenue, but if we behave like artists on the creative side, I can't think of a better tool for our revenue army to use as a weapon of differentiation.

*Pride. Not accepting average.

*Forget about "other stations". They're all living in 1988 creatively. WE need to create the new standard.

*Lexus and Apple. Two modern brands. Check their vibe. No pukey V/O's, goofy slogans or over-sell.

We have a massive opportunity that costs nothing. It's all about.....AFDI

Also in Hartford, saw Courant’s historical election pages. They DIDN'T 'save it for the web' or bury it...they put it front and center and man, you get chills.

The reinvention of WSFL in South Florida is coming along well. They're going to create a soundtrack for the station instead of standard issue and annoyingly dated "TV music"It'll add to them being "in your head" and not 'in your face'

Pondering: Why do news anchors, mostly Female ones seem to dress as if they're 20 years older than they are?? Seems to me that why it may be an attempt to appear more respectable, in reality it adds to a certain stiffness and 1988 playbook. If someone is 30, I think its ok to dress like you're 30 instead of trying to fake it. We have enough problems with fake.

Did you know that the Chicago Tribune has an amazing Listener Advantage site? I sure didn't.

I just spent some time with Kathleen O'Hara and her team going through the Subscriber Advantage program. HEY---THIS THING IS HOT ...BUT----As is an issue at most newspapers:

*Its a mystery. Seems to be a revenue/data collection opportunity that is a complete throwaway. I think we need to blow this thing out. It's our version of an airline rewards program, but you simply cant find it. Go to Southwest or any big airline and they are AGGRESSIVE about their program....we hide it.

A few thoughts:

*It needs visibility. It is "old school" newspaper to bury this like we do. If a program of this standard was on TV or radio (or airlines) they'd be all over it!

*The incentive opportunities are awesome. Play catch with Lou Pinella. BUT--Go to Trib Points to learn how. Front row seats to U2 show, etc....

*I think we need to make it an ALL PROPERTY program ala Breaking News Bureau.

*New name? I'd suggest something along the lines CHICAGOPOINTS and tie in WGN, Chicago Magazine, etc....Pulling our resources TOGETHER.

Bottom line: THIS THING IS HOT...extremely well done, but as is common in newspaper thinking (old wave) it's so underplayed that it's kinda sad. What an opportunity!! I strongly encourage us to blow this wide open!

The Chicago Tribune Breaking News site is playing with some ideas, including:

*minute and second timer that gives site immediacy. Its up...check it out
*use of a master map on top so you can quickly see "where" the stories are happenning.
*popular mug shot page . It's like watching "Cops" on steroids...
*color coding stories by type.

Speaking of Chicago, Shocking...a positive review of the tabloid Chicago Tribune from an industry trade paper. Not that they matter...they dont, but it's still shocking! Rumors had it that Chicago WOULD fall into the lake and cease to be if this newspaper made such a dramatic change (even though it's only in the newsstand/street copies). I guess the point is that Chicago did NOT fall into the lake, and the CT had the courage to AFDI something that had, from what I understand, been in the "discussion" stage since about 1950. Good, noticable change/evolution is a key component to our survival and GROWTH...in print or on a screen.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003931797

AND:

Heres a video plated around the Tower this week. the RIGHT attitude!!

-Lee

http://multimedia.tribune.com/ctc/new/full/FullTab1.html

...It's all up to us to noticably and aggressively meet the creative demands of 2009, or fade away....

SOURCE: Lee Abrams

Tuesday Night in the Blogosphere

LAT Press Operator Mike Carlson

• Shootings and recession - Mark Lacter
• Merciful End to a Pointless Lawsuit - Paul Gillin
• The Newseum's Wall of the Fallen - Fishbowl LA
• What Would Google Do? on sale today - Jeff Jarvis
• UPDIKE 1932 - 2009: Rabbit At Rest - Celeste Fremon
• Why Is Any Newspaper Paying A Dividend? - Meta Printer
• City Pages’ parent suspends comics - Minnesota Independent
• How the Chandlers were responsible for Inventing LA - LA Times
• Where Have All The Chicago Reporters Gone? - Huffington Post
• Will Sam Zell be increasing the cost of home delivery? - David Markland

Save Our Trade: Democracy In Action!

Our first General Meeting went well and I was very pleased to see the participation of all attending members. We conducted our meeting under Roberts Rule of Order and those in attendance caught on very quickly.

[CUT]

A motion to pay $70.00 per month was made, and a vote by majority was made against this amount also. A motion to pay $60.00 per month immediately followed, was voted on and approved by majority of the membership in attendance.

Click on link below for complete article

Save Our Trade: Democracy In Action!

Tribune Press Release

Tribune Appoints Don Meek President/National Media Sales for Interactive and Publishing

CHICAGO, January 26, 2009 -- Tribune Company today announced the appointment of Don Meek as president/national media sales for interactive and publishing. Effective immediately, Meek will be responsible for leading all national and cross-platform sales the company’s interactive and publishing divisions, as well as overseeing Tribune Media Net, Tribune 365, and sales development.

Meek has served as president of integrated media for The Los Angeles Times since mid-2008, responsible for developing integrated multimedia programs across all Tribune properties in southern California, including The Times, KTLA-TV, Hoy, Metromix, and Times Community News, and working with the various sales teams to get them sold.

"Not only is Don tremendously talented and experienced, he understands sales and marketing and is focused intently on meeting the needs of our advertisers," said Ed Wilson, Tribune’s chief revenue officer and president of Tribune Broadcasting. "He’s done a phenomenal job delivering results for advertisers across our southern California media group, including The Times and KTLA, and has figured out how capitalize on the broad reach of Tribune’s multimedia resources."

Meek has a wealth of experience in sales and marketing (VP at Sony Pictures Entertainment and SVP at iFilm Corp), digital media (most recently a principal at Engine where he worked with Jacked, Name Media, Passenger and Imperium), events (president of the Gravity Games and event group VP at Fox Sports Net where he developed and managed the US Open of Surfing, among many other properties), print publications (President of the Action Sports Group/Surfer, Surfing, Snowboarder, Skateboarder, Powder, Canoe & Kayak, Climbing, and Bike magazines), and broadcast sales (KCBS and KCAL). He has an understanding of it all -- and most importantly how it all fits together.

"My goal is to ensure that Tribune is the leader in providing true marketing solutions to our customers," Meek said. "We will offer clients programs that integrate print, targeted media, direct response, TV, digital, mobile, and event products so they can engage the largest number of consumers -- or selectively targeted audiences -- across multiple platforms as their marketing objectives demand."

Meek’s appointment has the strong support of Tribune’s publishers.

"Don’s leadership and customer focus will take us to the next level in delivering innovative solutions for clients," said Chicago Tribune publisher Tony Hunter. "We are thrilled to have him represent Chicago Tribune Media Group."

Bob Gremillion, executive vice president/Tribune Publishing said, "Ed and Don have crafted a long-overdue new vision and approach that will benefit our advertisers and our businesses."

Monday Morning in the Blogosphere

LAT Pressman John Cooper with his Obama Newspaper

• Why pro sports need newspapers - Mark Cuban
• 2009 total: 722+ newspaper jobs lost - Paper Cuts
• The Wrap launches, names its editors - Kevin Roderick
• What Does Carlos Slim Want With the NY Times? - Ad Age
• To Fleet Street by Way of the K.G.B. - Writing for the Media
• Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Sunday - Mayor Sam's Sister City
• Star Tribune may not pay workers full severance - Star Tribune
• Rethinking Micropayments For News - Newspaper Death Watch
• Proposed Paycuts For 2 Northern California Papers - Fishbowl LA
• Community Newspapers Announce 3rd Quarter Financial Results - SNA

Chicago Tribune's new goals for editorial staff

Topic: Memos Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 1/26/2009 7:32:58 AM
Title: Chicago Tribune's new goals for editorial staff
Posted By: Jim Romenesko

From: [associate editor] Winnecke, Joycelyn
Sent: Mon 1/19/2009 9:48 AM
Subject: New performance review standards

Jan. 19, 2009

Dear colleagues,

In this time of dramatic change, it is important that each of us understands fresh priorities, the increased expectations, and how we can best contribute to the Tribune Co. turnaround. New performance review standards are aimed at that.

We are implementing an online system that will make it easier to set forth specific goals, assess whether those goals have been achieved, and offer candid and constructive feedback. The new system will reflect goals and values on four levels: those that apply companywide, to all of us in Editorial, to departments within the newsroom, and specifically to you and your job function.

You know the Tribune Co. values already: Keep your word. Collaborate. No surprises. Compete. Play fair. Take intelligent risks. Reward successful performance. Question authority. Serve our local communities.

Here are the newly minted goals for all of Editorial. You will be rated based on specific actions you take to advance them.

1. Digital first. Think and act first as a member of a digital newsroom that also publishes newspapers. Create unique, relevant, trustworthy content for publication on digital platforms in concert with print.

2. Deliver on mission. Daily goals are local relevance, watchdog reporting, personal utility, consumer guidance, visual drama and compelling storytelling. Watchdog is standing up for the community, uncovering wrongs and holding the powerful accountable

3. Innovation and customer focus. Embrace change by seeking out new and innovative ideas that serve key audiences and move the Chicago Tribune forward. Demonstrate a customer-first mentality in content creation, delivery, reader contact and service.

4. Urgency. Work with a sense of urgency, managing time effectively to achieve highest-possible efficiency while maintaining quality.

Another new companywide assessment category is Attitude. Our attitudes influence our own behavior and performance, and also that of our colleagues'. We believe positive attitude is crucial to our changing culture and all that must be accomplished for our company to be successful.

The new system uses a four-point scale to measure employees against the established expectations and goals. We hope this moves us away from the letter-grade implication of our previous system-the incorrect impression that a "3'' equates to a "C,'' or average performance, which has contributed to a tendency toward grade inflation. The new scale is: 4-Exceeds expectations; 3-Achieves goals, on target; 2-Needs Improvement; 1-Unsatisfactory.

We are beginning the process now of establishing goals and standards for each department and for each job function. You will hear about those from your manager in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you should begin working toward our new Editorial goals.

Some managers will be reviewed in February. Most newsroom employees will be reviewed in July. Reviews will be conducted by employees' immediate supervisors, rather than by department heads. The process will include a self-assessment.

We view the new goals and process as necessary to help move us toward the consistently high-performance culture we need in this quickly changing environment. Please let me know if you have thoughts or questions.

Sincerely, Joyce

SOURCE: Jim Romenesko

Save Our Trade: Pressroom Survey

Survey 1 20

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Manuals Internet & Technolog marketing online

Save Our Trade: Pressroom Survey

Dave Maney Talks Failing Newspapers

Dave Maney, Chairman & Co-Founder of Headwaters MB,discusses the impending sale of The Rocky Mountain News with Fox 31's Steve Kelley.

Saturday Afternoon in the Blogosphere

Los Angeles Times Machinist Esam Rabie

• Is Print Finding Its Way Out Of Peril? - CNBC
• More tea-leaf reading at LAT - Kevin Roderick
• 'U.S. News' Launching Digital Newsweekly - Portfolio
• Tulsa World, Oklahoman to share content - Tulsa World
• Tribune Ramps Up Web Content Available to Users - TMC
• Thank God Its Friday - 1/23/09 - Newspaper Death Watch
• Times Co. Is in Talks to Sell Part of Building - New York Times
• Want to subsidize news, newspapers, and journalism? - Jeff Jarvis
• Former Daily Pilot publisher & editor trying to launch online paper - OJB
• Tribune Appoints Hank Hundemer SVP Engineering - Broadcast Union News

Major Changes at the Los Angeles Times

Seems I can’t stay away from the online community without missing breaking news regarding the Los Angeles Times. According to sources of Kevin Roderick’s the Calendar Section produced on the afternoon shift at the Los Angeles Times production Facilities, could be moved into the main section of the newspaper.

Here’s what Mr. Roderick said:

The Los Angeles Times staffers I've heard from seem pretty convinced there will be a new round of newsroom bloodletting next week, with many fearing the firing starts Monday. A hint of what may result came when editor Russ Stanton reportedly told some in Calendar on Thursday that the section, which is saddled with afternoon deadlines due to a limit on press capacity, would soon get late-night deadlines akin to the news sections Monday through Thursday. He framed it as good news, which it is for Calendar — but it raised alarms elsewhere.

This answers the question of why the cafeteria hours at the Los Angeles Times Olympic Facility are being reviewed for possible alterations.

Mr. Roderick's source needs to drop by the pressroom as things have changed twenty-five years ago, assuming this is a long term employee that has not visited the pressroom lately.

Not brought up by Stanton, though, is an underlying fact, which could be pretty huge: the Times' press capacity can only produce four sections in the live run. Currently it has the main news section, California, Business and Sports. Obviously, the main news section and Sports have to be there. But it means that one of the other two either has to move into the earlier pre-print -- where Calendar currently runs, and which would turn the section into frozen food, with pointlessly early deadlines -- or dies as a separate entity....

The Los Angeles Times Pressrooms can produce 96 pages in straight mode, with thirty-two pages of full color, and produce six sections on every press run. We have three sets of double form plates on each printing press, a conversion we adopted in 1984 while at Times Mirror Square. The printing presses can be run in three different modes, collect, straight, and double delivery.

Collect mode: One newspaper is produced for every revolution of the printing press, with the maximum capacity of 192 pages, 64 full color pages produced, and 12 sections produced simultaneously.

Straight mode: Two newspapers are produced with each revolution of the printing press with a maximum of 96 pages, 32 full color pages, and 6 sections which is the most common mode of operation at the Times.

Double delivery mode: Four newspapers are produced for every revolution of the printing press with a maximum of 48 pages, 16 full color pages, and 3 sections produced.

Appears many changes are coming to the Los Angeles Times next week, stay tuned for updates.

Cafeteria Changes at Olympic Facility

After Russ Newton’s message was released on Monday the 19th of January, fuel was added to the fire as the staff at Café Oly informed me of possible changes in operating hours of the cafeteria. According to the manager of the CulinArt managed cafeteria, Sylvia, the Los Angeles Times was considering closing the café on the morning and afternoon shifts, remaining open at night only.

As the week progressed it was determined that the cafeteria would be closed on Sunday and Monday’s only. But by yesterday this again was changed to closing the café on Sunday’s only.

Before departing for home I spoke with the pressroom manager, John Walker, regarding informing our workers to bring in their own lunches to work this Sunday, which Mr. Walker responded, “There will be no changes to the operating hours of the cafeteria at this time”.

Sounds like things today.

CHAPTER XV
PROPOSALS WHICH MUCH BE AVOIDED
There are certain damaging movements which could interrupt the psychopolitical conquest. These coming from some quarters of the country, might gain headway and should be spotted before they do, and stamped out.

Proposals may be made by large and powerful groups in the country to return the insane to the care of those who have handled mental healing for tribes and populace for centuries--the priest. Any movement to place clergymen in charge of institutions should be fought on the grounds of incompetence and the insanity brought about by religion. The most destructive thing which could happen to a psychopolitical program would be the investment of the ministry with the care of the nation's insane.

If mental hospitals operated by religious groups are in existence, they must be discredited and closed, no matter what the cost, for it might occur that the actual figures of recovery in such institutions would become known, and that the lack of recovery in general institutions might be compared to them, and this might lead to a movement to place the clergy in charge of the insane. Every argument must be advanced early, to overcome any possibility of this ever occurring.

A country's law must carefully be made to avoid any rights of person to the insane. Any suggested laws or Constitutional Amendments which make the harming of the insane unlawful, should be fought to the extreme, on the grounds that only violent measures can succeed. If the law were to protect the insane, as it normally does not, the entire psychopolitical program would very possibly collapse.

Any movements to increase or place under surveillance the orders required to hospitalize the mentally ill should be discouraged. This should be left entirely in the hands of persons well under the control of psychopolitical operatives. It should be done with minimum formality, and no recovery of the insane from an institution should be possible by any process of law. Thus, any movement to add to the legal steps of the processes of commitment and release should be discouraged on the grounds of emergency. To obviate this, the best action is to place a psychiatric and detention ward for the mentally ill in every hospital in a land.

Any writings of a psychopolitical nature, accidentally disclosing themselves, should be prevented. All actual literature on the subject of insanity and its treatment should be suppressed, first by actual security, and second by complex verbage which renders it incomprehensible. The actual figures of recovery or death should never be announced in any papers. Any investigation attempting to discover whether or not psychiatry or psychology has ever cured anyone should be immediately discouraged and laughed to scorn, and should mobilize at the point all psychopolitical operatives. At first, it should be ignored, but if this is not possible, the entire weight of all psychopoliticians in the nation should be pressed into service. Any tactic possible should be employed to prevent this from occurring. To rebut it, technical appearing papers should exist as to the tremendous number of cures effected by psychiatry and psychology, and whenever possible, percentages of cures, no matter how fictitious, should be worked into legislative papers, thus forming a background of "evidence" which would immediately rebut any effort to actually discover anyone who had ever been helped by psychiatry or psychology.

If the Communistic connections of an psychopolitician should become disclosed, it should be attributed to his own carelessness, and he should, himself, be immediately branded as eccentric within his own profession.

Authors of literature which seek to demonstrate the picture of a society under complete mental control and duress should be helped toward infamy or suicide to discredit their works.

Any legislation liberalizing any healing practice should be immediately fought and defeated. All healing practices should gravitate entirely to authoritative levels, and no other opinions should be admitted, as these might lead to exposure.

Movements to improve youth should be invaded and corrupted, as this might interrupt campaigns to produce in youth delinquency, addiction, drunkenness, and sexual promiscuity.

Communist workers in the field of newspapers and radio should be protected wherever possible by striking out of action, through Psychopolitics, any persons consistently attacking them. These, in their turn, should be persuaded to give every possible publicity to the benefits of psychopolitical activities under the heading of "science."

No healing group devoted to the mind must be allowed to exist within the borders of Russia or its satellites. Only well-vouched-for psychopolitical operatives can be continued in their practice, and this only for the benefit of the government or against enemy prisoners.

Any effort to exclude psychiatrists or psychologists from the armed services must be fought.

Any inquest into the "suicide" or sudden mental derangement of any political leader in a nation must be conducted only by psychopolitical operatives or their dupes, whether Psychopolitics is responsible or not.

Death and violence against persons attacking Communism in a nation should be eschewed as forbidden. Violent activity against such persons might bring about their martyrdom. Defamation, and the accusation of insanity, alone should be employed, and they should be brought at last under the ministrations of psychopolitical operatives, such as psychiatrists and controlled psychologists

Holy War!

AN ADDRESS BY LAVRENT PAVLOVICH BERIA
American students at the Lenin University, I welcome your attendance at these classes on Psychopolitics.

"Use the courts, use the judges, use the Constitution of the country, use its medical societies and its laws to further our ends. Do not stint in your labor in this direction. And when you have succeeded you will discover that you can now effect your own legislation at will and you can, by careful organization of healing societies, by constant campaign about the terrors of society, by pretense as to your effectiveness make you Capitalist himself, by his own appropriations, finance a large portion of the quiet Communist conquest of the nation.

The definition of Psychopolitics follows.

Psychopolitics is the art and science of asserting and maintaining dominion over the thoughts and loyalties of the individuals, officers, bureaus, and masses, and the effecting of the conquest of the enemy nations through "mental healing."


Insanity must be made to hound the footsteps of every priest and practitioner. His best results must be turned to jabbering insanities no matter what means we have to use.

You need not care what effect you have upon the public. The effect you care about is the one upon officials. You must recruit every agency of the nation marked for slaughter into a foaming hatred of religious healing. You must suborn district attorneys and judges into an intense belief as fervent as an ancient faith in God that Christian Science or any other religious practice which might devote itself to mental healing is vicious, bad, insanity-causing, publicly hated and intolerable.

We have battled in America since the century's turn to bring to nothing any and all Christian influences and we are succeeding. While we today seem to be kind to the Christian, remember, we have yet to influence the "Christian world" to our ends. When that is done we shall have an end of them everywhere. You may see them here in Russia as trained apes. They do not know their tether is long only until the apes in other lands have become unwary.

You must work until "religion" is synonymous with "insanity."" You must work until the officials of city, county and state governments will not think twice before they pounce upon religious groups as public enemies.

Remember, all lands are governed by the few and only pretend to consult with the many. It is no different in America. The petty official, the maker of laws alike can be made to believe the worst. It is not necessary to convince the masses. It is only necessary to work incessantly upon the official, using personal defamations, wild lies, false evidences and constant propaganda to make him fight for you against the church or against any practitioner.

We must be like the vine upon the tree. We use the tree to climb and then, strangling it, grow into power on the nourishment of its flesh."

Why are we so blind to this?

Company-Union Final Pressroom Seniority List

The seniority list circulating through the Olympic Facility is not the official document the Union or the Los Angeles Times is using for seniority within the two pressrooms. Copies of the official seniority list will be distributed to your union representatives over the next few days.

In addition, the dues check-off authorization forms and application for membership into the Graphic Communications Conference International Brotherhood of Teamsters forms will be supplied, if the forms mailed to your home have been misplaced.

Thursday Night in the Blogosphere

Pressman Randy Lynn Proudly Displaying His Obama Newspaper

• Cubs finally have deal - Mark Lacter
• Handouts For Newspapers? - Fishbowl LA
• Scenes from Times Mirror Square - Tony Pierce
• Nominees for the 81st Academy Awards - Nikki Finke
• Times will try to agree on neighborhoods - Kevin Roderick
• Times Free Press Has Wage, Hiring Freeze - Chattanoogan
• It’s Free and Printed and Has Blogs All Over - New York Times
• Tribune Co. Files With SEC So It Can Stop Filing With SEC - WFTM
• US Bank Tower challenges photographers on a public sidewalk - Metblogs
• Newspaper joint operating agreements are fading - Rocky Mountain News

Meeting Update

GCC/IBT Local 140-N Meetings
Monday, January 26th, 2009

Executive Board Meeting
11:00 a.m.

General Members Meeting
1:00 p.m.

Meetings will be held at the Crown Plaza Hotel/Commerce Casino in the city of Commerce.

All attendees must have their membership application and dues checkoff forms completed and submitted in order to attend, and vote on dues related issues that will be discussed at this meeting.

This is a very important meeting
Please try and make it

Wednesday Afternoon in the Blogosphere

Bill Conover with Electro-Tech Nghiep Dieu

• A New Russian Standard - Forbes
• 2009 total: 499+ newspaper jobs lost - Paper Cuts
• Newspapers In Demand Again! - Editor & Publisher
• P-I employees notified of possible layoffs - Seattle PI
• Google Bails Out of Print - Newspaper Death Watch
• Lee Enterprises Q1 Profit Plummets 69.3% - RTT News
• Star Tribune: some buyout checks will bounce - Minn Post
• Print CEO Blog revisits Digital Newspapers - Meta Printer
• Obama inauguration sparks run on newspapers - Los Angeles Times
• Inauguration Gives Newspapers Another Boost - Writing for the Media

GCC/IBT Local 140-N Meetings*

*MEETING RESCHEDULED TO MONDAY THE 26TH

GCC/IBT Local 140-N Meetings
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

Executive Board Meeting
11:00 a.m.

General Members Meeting
1:00 p.m.

Meetings will be held at the Crown Plaza Hotel/Commerce Casino in the city of Commerce.

All attendees must have their membership application and dues checkoff forms completed and submitted in order to attend, and vote on dues related issues that will be discussed at this meeting.

This is a very important meeting
Please try and make it

Tribune Press Release

Tribune Interactive Names Ellen Glassberg Vice President/Classified and Telesales Business Development

CHICAGO, January 19, 2009 -- Tribune Interactive today announced the appointment of Ellen Glassberg as vice president/classified and telesales business development, responsible for the sales and development of all classified advertising and for leading telesales efforts across the company. Glassberg was formerly director/recruitment and call center sales for the Chicago Tribune Media Group and has been with the Chicago Tribune since October 2000.

"Winning in classifieds is critical to Tribune’s success -- it is one of our largest advertising categories -- and Ellen is the right person to lead our efforts in this very competitive area," said Carolyn Gilbert, executive vice president/inside sales for Tribune Interactive. "Ellen’s combination of intelligence, expertise and experience are unsurpassed in the industry. We have every confidence in Ellen and we’ll throw every available resource behind her and her team."

Glassberg has more than ten years of experience working in classified advertising and telesales. During the course of her career at Chicago Tribune, she took the lead on reinventing the presentation of job listings and retooled Chicago Tribune’s recruitment advertising offerings to fully integrate the online and print job search experience. In July 2008, Glassberg and her team introduced a new SMS-based classifieds system called "QuickText," which allows job-seekers to receive detailed job listings instantly on their mobile phone.

"So-called ‘traditional’ classifieds don’t exist anymore and seekers of this information are turning to new media and new forms of interaction to get it," said Glassberg. "To grow and keep our shoppers, seekers, and users we need to continuously deliver results through our online, mobile, print and broadcast products. The growth potential for digital classifieds is huge."

Glassberg also announced the appointments of Kurt Mueller as TI’s senior director/classified advertising and business development, and Michael Liu as TI’s senior director/classified strategy and operations. Both appointments are effective immediately.

President Barack Obama's Inauguration Speech

Tuesday Afternoon in the Blogosphere

Los Angeles Times Pressmen, Chris Garcia, Marcus Lewis, and Edward

• None of our business - Gary Scott
• The crisis hits home - Between the Lines
• The day the newspaper died - The New Yorker
• More Cuts Coming At The LA Times - Fishbowl LA
• Google Eliminates Newspaper Print Ads - Meta Printer
• Tucson Citizen On the Block - Newspaper Death Watch
• Times are tough. Anybody heard that lately? - News Review
• The lie of print advertising (followed by good news) - Jeff Jarvis
• Newsday editor back on job after Cablevision dispute - Newsday
• L.A. Times' Comics Tryout Goes Into Overtime - Franklin Avenue

People Get Ready...

People get ready, there's a train coming. You don't need no ticket...you just get on board!

I am proud. I am excited. I love America and all it stands for. It is a pleasure to see a part of Dr. MLK's dream come to fruition. This is not only a proud moment for me, but for the better part of the world.

God bless Barack Obama! His charisma, his dedication is beyond compare. He is addressing the climate of this country. He is the Moses of our time and we should all embrace the promise that he gives us as a nation.

We cannot change our Nation's situation in one moment, but we can certainly change the way we view our lives and the way we look upon our DREAMS as something that's attainable.

I petition ALL of you. Black, white, asian, native american, hispanic, muslim, male, female, gay, straight, etc. Let us come together as a nation and re-establish our reputation as the most POWERFUL nation in the world. Let us ALL take advantage of our God-given right to the freedoms that we are so fortunate to have.

Today, let us welcome our 44th President of the United States and recognize the HOPE that springs eternal from his works.

God bless you and may God Bless America!

Los Angeles Times Downsizing Pressrooms

Huggins 1-19-09 Cost Reduction

Publish at Scribd or explore others: local 140n pressroom

Save Our Trade: What Are Dues Used For?

By Ronnie Pineda

Union dues

Dues pay for services. Members decide on the level of dues they will charge themselves to pay for their union services. After the employees in your company vote to be represented by the Graphic Communications Conference of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, you have a voice in what your dues will be.

These are but a few of the services that your union dues provide for you on the local and International and Conference levels:
1. Handling by the local union of all grievances, conducting collective bargaining with your company, and coordinating the work of the local stewards and local officers.
2. Training of stewards and local officers.
3. Training in safety and health.
4. Assistance in dealing with health and safety problems on the job.
5. Legal counsel to help win ironclad guarantees in your union contract and to represent you in back pay lawsuits and other legal actions.
6.The use of data developed by the GCC/IBT's Contracts and Research Department, including pay scales, contract language, and job descriptions from GCC/IBT contracts throughout the country.
7. Assistance with strategic campaigns for organizing and bargaining.
8. Publications to keep the members informed on union activities. All members receive the Graphic Communicator, the GCC/IBT's official publication.
9. Salaries of secretaries, officers, and staff.
10. Representation in Washington, D.C., Ottawa and in state and provincial legislatures on issues that affect your wages, job security, and working conditions.

(Source: GCC/IBT website)

For the record, During Organizing, it was stated that we would pay 2 hours wages per month in Union Dues. We will be scheduling meetings very, very soon to discuss our dues.

Save Our Trade: What Are Dues Used For?

Los Angeles Times on the Obama Inauguration

Jim Newton on the Obama Inauguration

Jim Newton, Editor and Opinion Pages Editor for the Los Angeles Times introduces the event, "Translating the Transition: An Inaugural Exchange," a panel discussion about the role of California and other issues surrounding the new Obama administration. January 13th, 2009 hosted by the Los Angeles Times.

Doyle McManus on the Obama Inauguration

Doyle McManus, Op-Ed Columnist for the Los Angeles Times speaks about the mood in Washington in the new Obama administration. Part of the event "Translating the Transition: An Inaugural Exchange" on January 13th, 2009 hosted by the Los Angeles Times.

Save Our Trade Newsletter

Graphic Communications Conference Local 140-N Newsletter

Dear Brothers and Sisters:

Since ratifying our new contract we have been victimized by management in ways that are only meant to divide our shops and punish us for exercising our right to be represented by the GCC/IBT. Management is trying to convince us that we would have been better off without a union. Albeit, management has had the right to do the things they are doing now prior to organizing, the fact is, they didn’t, and they don’t have to now, even with their mgt. rights. Management’s actions can only be viewed as hostile towards us, their valued employees.

They seem to forget that these types of abuses are the main reasons we organized to begin with. We know that some in our ranks did not support the organizing efforts, but we ask you now to support your union and its newly elected officials because they will be representing all of us.

Our contract is not the greatest of contracts, but it’s not the worst either. It is the foundation of future contracts that can continually get better by unity and solidarity. We all know the state of the newspaper industry, the economy and the dire condition of Tribune and its negative effect on the Los Angeles Times. Those factors made it very difficult to reject this contract understanding there was nothing to go back to the table for because conditions were worsening by the minute. The bankruptcy proved that. What do you think our situation would be like right now had we not ratified this contract, at this point in time? It would definitely be worse.

Pressroom employees across the country just like us are losing jobs, suffering wage cuts and benefit cost increases as well. We did suffer some bumps and bruises, but we didn’t get knocked out. We will continue to fight until we are treated with the respect we once knew and appreciated by management and supervision simply because we are not, nor should we be viewed as enemies of this company.

Not all, but certain members of management and supervision have taken it very personal that we have organized a union and it is their mission to make everyone’s life miserable, all the while blaming the union, the contract and ourselves. The union is here to stay and if they don’t like it they know where the door is. WE are the union, and why would we do this to ourselves? We all know who is to blame. It is the same person who can make things right should he decide to.
Until then:

1) Know the contract inside and out by reading it regularly to keep yourself familiar with it.
2) Do your job to the best of your ability and do it safely.
3) Avoid any confrontation, especially with certain supervisors.
4) Do as you’re instructed by your supervisor to the extent their instruction is not hazardous to any ones health and safety. We can file a grievance later if it’s a contract violation.

Perseverance has always been our greatest strength! We are some of the finest pressmen and presswomen in the country and deserve to be treated as such.

Save Our Trade

Save Our Trade: GCC/IBT Local 140-N Officers and Stewards

GCC/IBT Local 140-N

Executive Board Members

President

Ronnie Pineda

Executive Vice President

Keith Denson

Secretary Treasurer

Linard Williams

Recording Secretary

Edward Padgett

Vice Presidents
Los Angeles David Rascon Orange County Charles Reney

Executive Board Members
Mike Brierley
Charles Laird

Shop Stewards

1st Shift
An-tony Young
Doug Myers/Appointed
2nd Shift
Timothy Stock
Brian Fins
3rd Shift
Ponciano Eligino
To be appointed


Save Our Trade: GCC/IBT Local 140-N Officers and Stewards

Heroes of Hudson Honorary Party

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Heroes of Hudson Honorary Party

Celebration Fit for Heroes

Honorary VIP party to be given to heroes of Hudson River Landing……

New York City
Pilot Chesley B. Sullenberger is without a doubt a hero after advising air traffic control of a "double bird strike" that disabled the Airbus A320 and guided all 155 people on board US Airways Flight 1549 to safety in an emergency Hudson River landing this past Thursday January 15th.

Sullenbergers Key to the City will open nightlife entrepreneur JE Engleberts, Suzie Wong or Prime nightclubs in West Chelsea, for a special VIP celebration for all staff of flight 1549, NYC Firefighters, NYC police, NY Waterways ferries, several heroic civilians and everyone who took part in Thursdays rescue. Englebert also president of The Staten Island Good Neighborhood Association additionally praises firefighters from his hometown of Staten Island's Rescue Co. 5 and Marine 9 who were summoned to the Stapleton home port in Staten Island to join the rescue effort.

Sullenberger, a 29 year veteran of the US Airways team had been "incredibly skillful" said NYC Mayor Bloomberg. “The writer Ernest Hemingway has defined heroism as "grace under pressure" "I think it's fair to say that Captain Sullenberger displayed that “ Bloomberg said.

“Sullenberger made a split-second decision that saved the lives of everyone on board the plane and possible casualties on the ground. I would like have a drink with him and make a toast on his behalf at my clubs” Englebert says.

Contact: RJ ROMERO of Manhattan Media
Email: manhattanmedia212@gmail.com

Monday Morning in the Blogosphere

Here's Nubia, contributor to this Blog

• Talk is not cheap - Jeff Jarvis
• Media Businesses--No Need To Die? - Saxifrage
• Cubs sale could be imminent - Scott's Baseball Blog
• Editors and Publishers in a Revolving Door - Lux Libertas
• Tribune Co. building its case to stay intact - Chicago Tribune
• GCC/IBT Local 140-N Officers and Stewards - Save Our Trade
• Newsday, Cablevision execs mum on rumored firings - Newsday
• The New York Times hoping to enjoy Mexico Times - Meta Printer
• A vacant echo within L.A. County press corps - Los Angeles Times
• Boston Globe cutting nearly 20% of staff over 3 months - Now! Hampshire

Martin Luther King Day

The Manic Monday word for today is Date. Today's date is significant because it is Martin Luther King Day Bill. The official holiday, on the third Monday of January, began in 1986. It was the first new American holiday since 1948, when Memorial Day was created as a "prayer for peace" day. Also it was only the second national holiday in the twentieth century (the other was Veterans Day, created as Armistice Day in 1926 to honor those who died in World War I). King is the only American besides George Washington to have a national holiday designated for his birthday (those of Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee and others are celebrated in some states but not nationwide).

Internationally, King is one of the few social leaders of any country to be honored with a holiday (Mahatma Gandhi's birthday is observed in India).

In honor of this date ... Martin Luther King Day ... we have the text of his speech I have a Dream here.

KNBC Celebrates 60 Years of Television

NBC4 began broadcasting as KNBH on January 16, 1948. It was the last of five original stations built from the ground up by the National Broadcasting Company. The station debuted with three hours and forty minutes of programming, which followed a fifteen-minute test pattern-and-music session. Inauguration night launched with an eighteen-minute newsreel, “Review of 1948,” the market’s first variety program “On With the Show,” and station’s first live program “The Pickard Family,” featuring Dad and Mom Pickard and their four children singing familiar American songs. By October 1949, KNBH had extended its operating schedule from five to seven days a week, with approximately twenty-six hours of television programming each week. [[[continue reading]]]

H/T Writing for the Media

Friday Night in the Blogosphere

Los Angeles Times Mailer Arnold Williams

• Union Agreement in Long Beach - Gary Scott
• Outsourcing the News - Newspaper Death Watch
• AJC is losing $1 million a week - Creative Loafing
• If Sam Zell owned Lou Grant's paper - Kevin Roderick
• Avista can only blame itself for Strib bankruptcy - City Pages
• Time for Newspaper Folks to Fight Back! - Editor & Publisher
• Memo to San Diego Union-Tribune employees - Poynter Online
• When Newspapers Are Gone, What Will You Miss? - Seth Godin
• Gannett Will Shut Tucson Citizen If Assets Not Sold - Paid Content
• More Advertisers Who Have Filed for Bankruptcy - Writing for the Media