Friday Night in the Blogosphere

Ron Young and Chuck Lee, hero's of the LAT Olympic Facility

• Anna, never Ann - Kevin Roderick
• Tom Wolfe on Jim Bellows - JOUR MO2
• Jarvis on Stanton on Twitter - Gary Scott
• The Word of the Day: 'Newspaper' - TJ Sullivan
• LA Times Mistake Of The Day - Pandora Young
• Sleeping Watchdogs - Newspaper Death Watch
• Thousands showed up for Tax Revolt 09! - John and Ken
• Star Tribune, press union agree on deal to cut costs - Star Tribune
• Before she wrote to the WSJ she wrote to the Tribune - Chicago Reader
• Spot Today's Downsized L.A. Times Mistake, #3 in a series - Franklin Ave.

Los Angeles Times Pressman An-Tony Young Interview

Soon to be a former Los Angeles Times pressman, An-Tony Young, was interviewed on Pacifica Radio KPFK, 90.7 FM earlier tonight in what proved to be a most interesting story regarding the labor conflict within the newspaper and the employees that are now represented by GCC/Teamsters.

If you missed the show it’s available for downloading or you can simply listen to the show from the archives of the station. The show is filed under Labor Review and dated Thursday March 12th, 2009 at 9:02 pm. An-Tony's interview begins at 17:25 of the one hour radio broadcast and ends at 29:12.

Great job An-Tony

Thursday Afternoon in the Blogosphere

Pressman Bill Conover with former LAT plate maker Gary Wong

• Going Digital: The Next Generation of News - Newseum
• How the LA Times Could Kill the Print Edition - Jour MO2
• America's Apathy Towards Newspapers - Pandora Young
• McClatchy Cuts Hit Big Papers - Newspaper Death Watch
• Zell interviewed by feds in Blagojevich case - Kevin Roderick
• Driving While Black ... Tenaha Texas style - Electronic Village
• Star Tribune execs make the case for cost-cutting - Star Tribune
• On Twitter, mindcasting is the new lifecasting - Los Angeles Times
• Don't count out the newspaper business just yet - Newspaper Project
• As Cities Go From Two Papers to One, Talk of Zero - New York Times

Correction of the Day

The following video was incorrectly dated as 1993, as pointed out by Kevin Roderick’s readers. Hopefully the correct date will be submitted as soon as available.

From Kevin Roderick:

"1993?: Several readers point out that the news meeting footage discusses the O.J. Simpson case, and the murders didn't occur until June 1994."

Los Angeles Times Online Only? - Maybe

A year ago when asked how long the paper newspaper would survive my answer was fifteen to twenty years, with the hard copy of a newspaper generating the largest profit for most major metropolitan newspapers. When my colleagues in operations ask this same question today my answer has changed dramatically, as it appears the paper newspaper will go the way of the milkman, non-existent.

As I watch circulation for the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday Los Angeles Times nearing the 600,000 threshold, it becomes obvious we are concentrating on becoming a four-day per week newspaper, with many subscribers switching to the Thursday through Sunday delivery option.

After letting sixty-three pressroom employees go seven days ago many in the pressroom are left idle as six of the eight press crews are producing the newspaper at night. Many in operations at the Times are praying the newspaper will begin producing other newspapers soon for fear of another round of layoffs by June. Rumor has it the Times will begin printing two additional newspapers, will the new work arrive this month or next year is the question?

According to former Business Editor at the Los Angeles Times, Rick Wartzman:

To stop the red ink, newspapers need to get rid of the ink altogether. It's high time for online-only operations.

Kevin Roderick has written an article titled Envisioning a post-print L.A. Times that may make believers out of the naysayers that feel the printed newspaper is not dead, and never will die.

In conclusion I feel the paper newspaper at the Los Angeles Times will be put to rest when the pressmen’s union contract expires in June of 2011, if not sooner.

The Zell Effect

Patrick Burke is finishing a news video about the Los Angeles Times and the suit against the Tribune Company/Sam Zell. An initial version is up on current.com right now at(http://current.com/items/89874587/the_zell_effect.htm), with the preliminary footage below. Interviews with Kevin Roderick, Mark Lacter, William Lobdell, Henry Weinstein, and Howard Blume discuss the dropping of the California Section, ESOP, and the mockery of employees as owners.

Wednesday Afternoon in the Blogosphere

Editor of The Hollywood Reporter Mike Barnes meets the Blogging Pressman

• 2009 total: 4,311+ newspaper jobs lost - Erica Smith
• Could the Kindle be the iPod of print? - Editors Weblog
• Is the LA Times Going to Be Bought Again Soon? - Tina Dupuy
• As Traffic Soars, Business Plummets - Newspaper Death Watch
• Newspapers: black and white and dead all over? - Sydney Herald
• Newspapers should focus on the needs of readers - Business Week
• 10 Major Newspapers That Will Either Fold or Go Digital Next - Jour MO2
• Executive base pay remains same, as ad revenue falls - Robert MacMillan
• Newspaper Web Site Audience Skyrockets in January - Newspaper Project
• LA Times editor chats about cuts in his newsroom - Nieman Journalism Lab

"An Inside Look" - The Los Angeles Times Valley Edition - 1993

A promotional documentary video about the now defunct Los Angeles Times Valley Edition produced in 1993 at the Times' Chatsworth California facility.

h/t Mike Klop

Tuesday Afternoon in the Blogosphere

Allen Cromer, Louie Aguilar, and Edward at a gathering of old friends

• Nuestros 15 Minutos - Newspaper Death Watch
• Seattle Post-Intelligencer Deathwatch - Mark Lacter
• John & Ken's latest ratings scheme - Kevin Roderick
• McClatchy Plans to Cut 15% of Staff - New York Times
• Foundations Should Buy L.A. Times - Philanthropy Today
• Spot Today's Downsized L.A. Times Mistake - Franklin Avenue
• Another Reason We Need To Keep Newspapers Alive - Pandora
• Bee erases 128 jobs, cuts pay for remaining staff - Sacramento Bee
• Stats from the Wall Street Journal this morning devastating - Jeff Jarvis
• Seattle P-I offered its employees a Last Visit to the Globe - The Stranger

A New Owner of the Los Angeles Times?

As circulation at the Los Angeles Times reaches new lows on a daily basis, appears Eli Broad is still interested in buying the struggling newspaper. Not certain this would be good or bad for the remaining employees or the newspaper, I suppose we will see how this plays out.

By Lilla Zuill

NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - Eli Broad, a wealthy philanthropist who once looked at buying the Los Angeles Times, is still interested in a foray into the newspaper business, he told a gathering in New York on Monday night.

"We can't afford to lose good newspaper journalism, investigative reporting," the 75-year old retired business maven said during a lecture on business in philanthropy at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan.

The Times, which is owned by the Tribune Co, has like most U.S. newspapers been struggling with a steep drop in advertising revenue brought on by U.S. economic woes and a migration of readers to the Internet.

Real estate magnate Sam Zell took Tribune private in an $8.2 billion deal in 2007 that loaded up the company with billions in debt. The company filed for bankruptcy protection last year.

The L.A. Times is expected to eventually be put up for sale again.

Full Story

Will the Newspaper Industry Survive?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

h/t: Pandora Young

Monday Morning in the Blogosphere

Ronnie Pineda 31 year employee and president of the pressmen's union - Let go last week

• Employee-owned papers? - Gary Scott
• Santa Anita owner blew it - Mark Lacter
• The Chicago Tribune - Crecon What's New
• Jim Bellows, editor was 86 - Kevin Roderick
• Death of Newspapers Rebuttal - A Column On Things
• Seven Steps to Salvation By William Powers - Sam's Game
• As Deadline Looms, Hearst Mulls Online-Only P-I - Paul Gillin
• Downsized L.A. Times More Mistake-Prone - Franklin Avenue
• Could Customized Newspapers Bring Readers Back? - NY Times
• Sacramento Bee Union Chooses Pay Cut To Save Jobs - Pandora

Friday Night in the Blogosphere

LAT Plate Makers Anna Zietal and Adam Lee

• All the news you find fit to print - Gary Scott
• The Death of Newspapers - Rancho Del Cielo
• SF Chronicle May Cut Half Their Staff - Tina Dupuy
• Black & White and ... No Freaks - Know Newspapers
• Underemployed Journalists Gather At A Bar - Pandora
• ‘Copy Editor’s Lament (The Layoff Song)’ - Erica Smith
• NY Times Chairman: Never Seen Things This Bad - CNBC
• Pioneer Press owner's goofy print-at-home plan - MinnPost
• Dean Singleton responds to this week's Message column - Westword
• Los Angeles Times saying it’s time to kill the Los Angeles Times - LAT
• Down and Out in Denver and San Francisco - Newspaper Death Watch

1953 Los Angeles Times Pressroom Training Films

Former Los Angeles Times Pressman Michael Klop has a collection of historic films on his YouTube page that he thought others would appreciate, and I agreed completely. Mike now works as a press operator at the Seattle Times. Thank you Mike for bringing these old classics to our attention.

A 1953 Los Angeles Times Pressroom Training film, complete with instructions on how to make paper pressmen hats and pasters...

Thursday Night in the Blogosphere

George LaReau has worked decades in the Plate Making Dept. at the LAT - Farewell George

• 5 things to do on your furlough - Erica Smith
• Layoffs at the Press-Enterprise - Gary Scott
• 2009 total: 3,301+ newspaper jobs lost - Paper Cuts
• The Bee holds meeting to discuss cost-cutting plan - SBJ
• Icebox Syndrome (a tale about newspapers) - Chris Gulker
• This was Newspapers in Education Week - Know Newspapers
• Google Takes Out Newspaper Ads to Find Authors - Meta Printer
• New Republic Tries, Fails to Enlighten - Newspaper Death Watch
• Los Angeles Times, Sans "California": Day One - Franklin Avenue

63 Pressroom Employees No Longer Needed

The pressroom employees that were notified last month of their departure in April were let go on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. Some were given the news while at work while others received the news via a telephone call, here’s a message from another former Los Angeles Times Pressroom Employee, Greg Artis:

"Here's one for the blog. Just got my phone call from Walker telling me my services are no longer needed. It was good working with you".

Rumors of further layoffs in Operations have already begun to grow, especially with the Orange County Register printing the LANG products instead of the Los Angeles Times. With no new newspapers to produce this rumor may become a reality this summer.

Dave Brown Hospitalized

Thirty year mailer Dave Brown suffered a massive heart attack a few minutes after beginning his shift this morning at the Los Angeles Times Olympic Facility. Thanks to his quick thinking colleagues Dave survived this life-threatening ordeal.

Fellow mailer Ron Young administered CPR to Dave as Mike Becerra called 911, while machinist Chuck Lee retrieved the heart defibrillator. When Chuck arrived in the mailroom Dave was in full cardiac arrest, but was revived after the third jolt from the defibrillator.

Linda Olmeda rode in the ambulance with Dave to the hospital and contacted his wife and daughters, whom are at his side at White Memorial Hospital at this time.

Special thanks to everyone invovled in saving a colleagues life this morning.

Union Rally at the Los Angeles Times

On Monday February 23rd, 2009 the men and women that print the Los Angeles Times gathered at Times Mirror Square to bring awareness to the anti-union practices the newspaper has been employing to punish the pressroom workers for voting the Teamsters into the workplace. In addition the California Labor Code had been completely disregarded once an employee set foot onto the Times property, a practice that has since been relaxed the past few weeks.

Videographer: Victor Banuelos

Forced Time Off

Seems I was forced to take some time away from the computer as I came down with a bug the past two days, I was down but never out. Working on the video from last weeks rally at the Los Angeles Times Times Mirror Square, and will be uploading the video ASAP.

Sunday Afternoon in the Blogosphere

Los Angeles Times Plate Maker Donna Hill to be Let go in April

• Daily News goes to Gardena - Gary Scott
• Re-post from TELLZELL.com - Save Our Trade
• Yes, They Do Write In Orange County CA - Kanani Fong
• Now it's Hearst Charging for Access - Know Newspapers
• The Times & CUNY (and others) go hyperlocal - Jeff Jarvis
• Antonio 'concerned' about weaker media - Kevin Roderick
• Yahoo Teams With Newspapers to Sell Ads - Newspaper Project
• A newspaper died this week. Will anyone notice? - Sentinel Watch
• Under Weight of Its Mistakes, Newspapers Stagger - Howard Kurtz
• Bloggers Can't Fill the Gap Left by Shrinking Press Corps - Marc Fisher
• iTunes proves newspapers should charge for online access - David Lazarus