Another Los Angeles Times Editorial Departure

Karlene Goller is leaving the Times:

Colleagues –

It is with great regret that we announce the departure of one of The Times’ most valued executives: Karlene Goller.

During her 23 years here, Karlene has served seven editors and nine publishers, but her heart has always been in the newsroom, where two principles have guided her: compassion for her colleagues and a fierce determination to help reporters access information and publish. She has consistently used her keen eye for legal nuance and potential hurdles to rescue stories with suggestions that allowed us to get crucial news and information to our readers while protecting the institution. Some lawyers obstruct. Karlene publishes. As John Carroll once noted, she really is an editor with a law degree.

Many are the threats to news gathering and publishing. Fortunately for The Times, Karlene has defended our line for nearly a quarter century. She has bailed Times journalists out of jail and protected reporters and editors from lawsuits and harassment. She has gone up against local and federal agencies, judges and unions. She is almost certainly the only lawyer ever to prevail over the Los Angeles Archdiocese, the Coliseum Commission and the legal department at Bagram Air Field.

Karlene has also guided the paper’s lobbying efforts in Sacramento and, because of her, journalists at The Times and throughout California have greater ability to protect the identities of sources and greater access to public meetings and trials.

Finally, two achievements bear special note: During her tenure, The Times has never lost a libel case and its journalists saw fit to honor Karlene with a Times Editorial Award for her unflagging support of the newsroom’s mission – a rare instance of reporters paying homage to a lawyer.

Now she’s prepared to try something new. All of us will miss her. Happily, she has helped us hire her replacement and will be staying on for a transition period, so she won’t be leaving the building just yet. We will be announcing her successor soon.

In the meantime, please join us in wishing Karlene well.
eddy

Another Los Angeles Times Editorial Departure

From: Hanrahan, Brian
Sent: Saturday, October 12, 2013 12:12 AM
To: yyeditall
Subject: Good night and good luck



Friday was my last day at the L.A. Times. Later this month I'll start my new job at CBSLA. It’s a move that wouldn’t have been possible without all that you and your predecessors have taught me over the past 23 years.

Whatever skills I have at this craft had to be learned: in school, at the other papers I’ve worked for, and, of course, from all the copy editors, reporters, News Service editors, line editors, photographers, videographers, page designers, Web producers, graphic artists, SEO specialists and social media experts here. (Extra credit to all the IT people who aided me tonight when my NewsGate crashed, idling me for more than two hours. Fixing NewsGate? Now there’s a thankless job.)

I also learned from the folks in the composing room (oh, just Google it, kids), which raises a question: As our industry keeps tossing job categories and people overboard, who's left to do the teaching? You can't learn much from an empty chair. Those empty chairs don't produce much of a product, either.

There’s much for me to learn at my next job. For one, I’ll have to get better at social media. I now have a Twitter account -- @BrianH3000 -- and you can find me on LinkedIn, too. It might be awhile before I can figure out FaceTwerk, Tumbo, FourSpeare, Pinter and all the others.

As for what’s next -- well, one of the cool things about CBSLA is that they’ve given me a ride and a uniform. You gotta like people who recognize your true potential.

Brian

-30-

Media News

Billionaires and Broadsheets
It was just a market anomaly—the kind which opportunity is made from—that newspapers were suddenly worth much less to mere mortal shareholders than they were to a new, assertive, patriarchal class of multi-billionaires.

More Layoffs -- This Time in Ad Department -- Hit Philly Papers
Less than a week after about 70 newsroom employees were laid off at the Philadelphia Inquirer, at least 34 advertising positions - including 16 part-timers - are being cut today at Philadelphia Newspapers, which handles business operations for the Inquirer and Daily News.

Tribune deal speculation pointing to management
As the auction for Tribune Co. winds down to its Jan. 17 bid deadline, a key question emerging from the situation is what role, if any, Tribune Co. management will play in a possible deal for the company.The question gained new currency on Thursday, when two foundations with close ties to the company announced they had hired New York's Blackstone Group to advise them as they consider alternatives for their combined 13.1 percent stake in Tribune stock.

Who will the journalistic competition poach while the Tribune Co. fiddles?
Journalists jump from paper to paper all the time, so who knows why they left. But it's undeniable that the Tribune Co.'s endless demands for staff cuts—which ultimately forced Editor John Carroll and his successor, Dean Baquet, to exit—have created a dangerous atmosphere of uncertainty in the newsroom.

Blogger-media distrust comes to a head in Iraq
A running six-week battle between bloggers and the Associated Press over the wire service's report of sectarian violence in Iraq has ended — for now. The feud, which got plenty of traffic on the Web but very little coverage in mainstream news outlets, came to an abrupt halt Thursday.

ABC Radio silences Web site of KSFO critic
The blogosphere is buzzing about the news that ABC Radio, owner of conservative KSFO-AM 560, has succeeded in shutting down the Web site of a liberal blogger who was critical of the station.

ABC/Disney unable to suppress bloggers
But, as MediaPost Online Media Daily observed, the blogosphere united over the weekend and made sure that Spocko's audio files were available on a number of other sites. "[L]ess than 48 hours after Spocko's case was brought to light on the progressive news blog The Daily Kos, several new Web hosts, including YouTube, Blogintegrity and Firedoglake, stepped up to provide access to audio files from KSFO.

Newspaper News

68 in Inquirer newsroom to lose their jobs
Ending months of speculation, Philadelphia Media Holdings L.L.C. said yesterday that it would lay off 68 newsroom employees, or 17 percent of the editorial staff, in another round of cost cutting at The Inquirer.PMH said the cutbacks would save about $6.8 million a year in salaries and benefits and would lead to more restructuring of beats and coverage areas as the slimmed-down news staff regroups to report the region's news.

Will Bill Keller End ‘Public Editor’ Slot at The Times?
The New York Times will soon decide whether it will do away with its public editor. The two-year term of the current public editor, Byron (Barney) Calame, will conclude in May. There may, or may not, be another.

Mecoy declines Sacto
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Los Angeles Times Top Stories for 2006
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World’s oldest newspaper goes out of print
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New Layoffs in Philly Prompt Guild Advisories

We all know layoffs are coming to the editorial department at the Los Angeles Times, not certain when this will occur or how many writers will be leaving the newspaper yet. Prior to the new year a handful of Times writers left for new positions across the country.

Here's what's happening at the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Two weeks after Newspaper Guild members at Philadelphia's two newspapers avoided a strike and signed onto a new agreement, many staffers are bracing for layoffs, with some reportedly arriving already today. Rumors of job cuts have been swirling at the newsrooms of the Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News since last week, according to some guild leaders.

The Associated Press reports this afternoon that the Inquirer began a round of layoffs today. Several reporters at the Inquirer said they were told Tuesday morning that their jobs were being eliminated, according to AP. The employees said that they were told to meet with personnel officials on Wednesday to discuss details of their severance pay and health benefits.

"The specific number of layoffs is still unclear because some Inquirer employees have already taken other jobs since word of the impending layoffs was announced in November," the AP reports.

Continue Reading Editor and Publisher

Baquet could be eyeing spot at New York Times

By James Rainey, Times Staff Writer
December 14, 2006

The former L.A. Times editor's prospects of returning to the paper are said to be fading.

Ousted Los Angeles Times Editor Dean Baquet is considering taking a top management position at the New York Times as prospects fade for his return to the Los Angeles paper, according to several of Baquet's confidantes.

The editor has not accepted a position and has been telling associates for weeks that his preference would be for a new owner of the Los Angeles Times to restore him to his old post.

But the auction of Times' parent, Tribune Co. of Chicago, will drag into the first quarter of next year. Baquet has told friends that for financial and other reasons he can't afford to wait too long and would soon make a decision about returning to the New York Times, where he previously served as national editor.

Continue reading the Los Angeles Times
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Newsday employees want to meet with Tribune execs

(Crain’s) — A group of Newsday editorial employees, expressing dismay at how Tribune Co. is managing the daily publication, are asking to meet with corporate executives to craft a future plan that doesn’t call for further cost cutting.

In a letter sent Monday to Tribune CEO Dennis FitzSimons and signed by more than 100 employees, the authors wrote that Tribune’s “attempts to increase its profits are dulling Newsday’s brand and giving readers and advertisers less incentive to turn to the paper.” They said that by slashing the newsroom by about a third over the years, Tribune Co. “has damaged Newsday as an instrument of public information and accountability.”

Continue Reading