Thursday, January 07, 2010

Note from Publisher Eddy Hartenstein


Colleagues –

In an effort to further streamline our operations and reduce print production costs, we have embarked on an ambitious plan to print The Times in one main location. To do so, we are completing a significant investment in our Olympic production facility – making it state-of-the-art, increasing color capacity and allowing us to shut down the Orange County presses. This is being done in tandem with our shift to an emerging newspaper-standard 44” web width from the current 48”.

In other words, we’re creating substantial savings and presenting the printed version of The Times in a new, innovative manner. Those changes, beginning Tuesday, February 2, are as follows:

• We will debut a new late-breaking news section called LATExtra. Designed to address print capacity complexities, create later print deadlines and complement Main A’s analysis and examination of the issues confronting our readers on local, national and global fronts, LATExtra will focus largely on California stories and include end-of-day reporting from across the spectrum. LATExtra will run Monday through Saturday and also include Weather and Obituaries in order to allow later deadlines.

• With Sunday a traditionally slow day for breaking news from the business community, the Business pages will appear under their own chapter in Main A each Monday. We will, of course, continue to develop and report unique business-oriented stories and personal finance in the Monday paper, and Business will remain a stand-alone section the rest of the week.

• Food is moving to Thursdays to give our larger weekend subscriber audience access to our popular coverage and to tap potential revenue opportunities presented by a late-week section, such as restaurant advertising. In addition, the Homes classified listings section will now reside conveniently in the back of Home on Saturdays, and some consolidation of the classified sections and classified zones will complete the list of product changes to maximize reach and value.

• The 44” web width conversion is rippling across the newspaper industry and The Times will be a front-runner in adopting the slightly narrower page format. As we phase this in across our presses, the familiar 6-column broadsheet will remain intact with no meaningful loss in content or features.

As we announced yesterday (http://www.latimes.com/about/mediagroup/press/releases/la-mediagroup-2010-0104,0,87506.htmlstory), we also have increased our presence in and coverage of Orange County with the upcoming launches of the Orange County Local News Network (OCLNN) and the OC Now blog. And the OCLNN team has joined the LAT and TCN staffs in the OC facility, which is itself undergoing upgrades.

All of our efforts are being done with a keen eye toward limiting personnel loss throughout the company, while maintaining and growing other areas of the business. However, with the consolidation to one printing plant and the redesign of sections we will be reducing staff in Operations.

As always, our commitment to providing trusted journalism across mediums and remaining Southern California’s leading source for round-the-clock news and information is at the forefront of all we do. The Times remains poised to continuously innovate as the needs of our readers and advertisers evolve.

I want to thank all of you in advance for digging into 2010, working cross-departmentally and applying your expertise to implementing the intricacies of our new plan.

eddy

h/t LAObserved

6 comments:

Nubia said...

"...we are completing a significant investment in our Olympic production facility – making it state-of-the-art, increasing color capacity and allowing us to shut down the Orange County presses."

What a CROCK!, says NUBIA. Guess this is justification for closing OC! P-a-a-l-e-ease!

Unknown said...

DO NOT worry, the union will save you! How much are you paying for this "protection", and who is being protected? Does the union take a pay cut? I don't have a dog in this fight but I hate to see the press people screwed from both directions!

Ronnie Pineda said...

Hey Andy, if you don't have a dog in this fight, shut the hell up! The Union is not screwing the employees, the company is...again!

Why does everyone blame the Union when the members ARE the Union and it takes all the members to stand together in order to be effective.

This Local consists of L.A. Times presspersons only, so I'm positive the members aren't knowingly and willingly screwing themselves.

Tribunes controls its managers, supervisors and employees through fear, lies and intimidation in order fleece the L.A. Times.

The Union currently has 11 grievances on file with the company for contract violations and will persue resolution to the bitter end.

See what the Union is doing on
www.saveourtrade.blogspot.com

C Laird said...

Believe me Andy, 60 bucks a month is nothing compared to losing your job.
As the kid from Brooklyn would say," THINK ABOUT IT!"

Unknown said...

you're correct Charlie, $60 is nothing compared to losing your job. My whole point is there is no protection against losing your job in a dying industry. Looking at this from just a dollar figure the press people who have lost their jobs left a lot of severance money on the table because of their union. They would have lost these jobs with or without the union, but the money they walked away with would have been VERY different. Am I wrong? Ronnie is loud and full of rhetoric but the contract he negotiated shows he is way out of his league. What's the current body count, 102 people laid off during Ronnie's reign? I'm a Teamster and I'm given timely updates about negotiations and have never been forced to vote on an important issue like a contract with less than 5 days to review it. I'm NOT anti-union I'm just against wind bags who don't know what they are doing and hide that fact with a loud abusive foul mouth. Ronnie you are a disgrace!

Unknown said...

Ronnie,
Why are you still involved with the latimes pressroom union? You are no longer employed by the Los Angeles Times, you will never work for latimes again. Your needs are no longer the same as the needs of those you claim to represent. As for your vow to pursue these grievances to the bitter end, that's tough talk for a man who unilaterally decided to drop the last set of grievances during the previous lay off so you could get some buy out money for yourself. Which, by the way, was only half of what the non-union represented employees got.
You're an embarassment to this union, step down, let Keith Denson take over, he probably won't fare any better but at least he still works for the Los Angeles Times.

Charlie,
Just what exactly did we get for our 60 bucks a month?

Job security? No!
Higher pay? No!
Better buy-out packages than the non-union employess? No!
Better working conditions? No!
Protection from management? Hell no!

We lost shift differential pay, and new overtime rules took another big chunk of change out of our pockets. And to add insult to injury you're charging us 60 bucks a month for the dubious honor of being part of this crappy local.

So, Charlie, back at ya:
As the kid from Brooklyn would say," THINK ABOUT IT!"