The Presses at Eagle Tribune Publishing Co.

Friday Night in the Blogosphere

The Station Fire from the 210 Freeway at Mountain Ave., Monrovia at 3:15 pm today

• Battle for the Bay - Gary Scott
• Without a Clue - Newspaper Death Watch
• Newsprint prices continue to fall - Guardian UK
• Should We Be In Afghanistan? - Advice Goddess
• Firefighters hold moment of silence - Kevin Roderick
• No easy pun here about The Sun setting - You Don't Say
• Blackonomic$: Can't We All Get Along? - Electronic Village
• WLA’s Last-Gasp-of-Summer Reading List - Celeste Fremon
• Layoffs and buyouts at U.S. newspapers in 2009 - Erica Smith
• Bakersfield Paper May Shutter Community Sites - Fading to Black

Happy Birthday, to the Celebrity Blogging Pressman!

You are the BOMB! Best wishes from your friends...Nubia, Tina, & Kanani!

LeRoi Crandall Remembrance

Gail Crandall has created a beautiful web page in honor of her father LeRoi Crandall that I highly recommend you pay a visit to. If you have any photographs of LeRoi please send to Gail for inclusion to the tribute page.

In Ms. Crandall’s own words:

Dear Family, Masonic Family, Friends, and Neighbors,

On behalf of my Mom, Marceil, Claire, Marcia and myself, I would like to thank you all for your prayers and words of encouragement and support during this difficult time. We miss Dad very much!

We are having a (public) Masonic Memorial Service for Dad on Wednesday, September 30. It will be held at the Pasadena Scottish Rite Temple and will commence at 11 o'clock a.m. There will be a light repast served in the dining room following the service. The Pasadena Scottish Rite is located at 150 North Madison Avenue, Pasadena 91101, there is parking.

I would also like to invite you all to go to http://www.leroicrandall.com/ and check out the tribute site that we have built to celebrate Dad's life and all the things he loved and enjoyed. In Ruminations you will find stories about Dad's life in his own words, there are several photo galleries that are works in progress, and I encourage you to be sure and check out LeRoi's Favorites - it is alot of fun. Be sure to sign the Guest Book and feel free to share your memories of Dad, we'd love to hear them. We'd love to include more pics of Dad so if you have any that you would like us to add please email me. (I would like to say a big Thank You! to our cousin Michael for all his hard work on the site, it means alot!)

Thank you again for your kindness!

Blessings,
Gail

Meredith Artley's Farewell

From: Artley, Meredith
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 1:47 PM
To: yyeditall
Subject: To the talented newsroom of the LA Times....

This isn’t quite a -30- note since I’ll be around for a little while longer but in a lame duck kind of way.

I just have to say that it has been a joy to work with the talent in this organization, and in this vibrant city. Thank you all for the dedication and smart thinking that have pushed latimes.com forward in unmatched ways.

The growth here has been the product of a true newsroom-wide effort – that’s what makes it so impressive and unparalleled among the competition. There is such great digital leadership here -- Sean Gallagher, Dan Gaines, Tenny Tatusian are at the top of a long list of names that spring to mind. And there are so many people here who aren’t “web” or “print” but a hybrid. What a great thing that is.

I am certain you will all continue to impress and attract readers, and I look forward to being one of them for a very long time.

Congratulations on all the digital success so far and the many more to come.

- Meredith

SOURCE: LAObserved

Departure of Managing Editor for Online Meredith Artley

Meredith Artley and Edward (pictured)

From: Stanton, Russ
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 1:09 PM
To: zzTrbAllHandsLAT
Subject: Meredith Artley


Colleagues:

I regret to report that Meredith Artley, managing editor, online, will be leaving us this month to join one of our Internet news competitors, CNN.com.

For the past two years, Meredith has done a spectacular job leading our efforts to expand the audience for our world-class journalism via the Web, and the results -- both locally and globally -- speak for themselves:

-- Our site traffic, as measured both by page views and unique visitors, has more than doubled. And over the past year, latimes.com has been the fastest-growing website among the nation’s largest newspapers.

-- We expanded and upgraded our Web staff, retrained our print staff and then integrated the two into one newsgathering operation serving several media.

-- We have won a host of accolades for our Web work, including two Overseas Press Club Awards, a Scripps Howard Foundation National Journalism Award and several nominations from the Online News Assn.

And we just unveiled a redesign of the site that has won universal praise from our readers and our industry.

Meredith joined The Times in March 2007 from the International Herald Tribune, where she was digital development director, responsible for both the online editorial and business operations. Before that, she was at nytimes.com as associate editor.

Her last day will be Wednesday, Sept. 16.

We have begun the search for her successor and hope to name that person soon. We wish Meredith the very best as she takes on new challenges in her impressive career.

Russ Stanton
Editor

SOURCE: Kevin Roderick

Thursday Night in the Blogosphere

The Paper Gang at Times Mirror Square May, 1987

• Internet bigotry – again - Jeff Jarvis
• On the other foot - The Times News
• Market Forces - Newspaper Death Watch
• LANG to unfreeze vacation time - Gary Scott
• Exterminate the Parasites - Newspaper Project
• Beat Reporter's State Refund Check Bounces - Tina Dupuy
• Canada's La Presse paper threatens to close - Fading to Black
• Expressing Your Opinion Is Now Obstruction Of Justice - Amy Alkon
• Sun-Times Media Group to close Pioneer Press printing plant - Tribune
• Ledger-Enquirer to furlough nearly half of its employees - Ledger-Enquirer

Public Memorial for Fallen Firefighters

by Zach Behrens

For those wanting to honor the two men who lost their lives fighting the Station Fire, a large public memorial will be held a week from Saturday at 10 a.m. in Dodger Stadium, the L.A. County Fire Department announced today, saying more details will come soon.

Fire Captain Tedmund D. “Ted” Hall, 47 and Fire Fighter Specialist Arnaldo “Arnie” Quinones, 34, died Sunday afternoon when their vehicle went over the side of a road, plunging 800 feet into a canyon near Camp 16, a Department of Corrections facility, in Palmdale. Quinones was expecting his first child in the next several weeks.


Related: How to Help Families of the Late Firefighters Hall and Quinones

Tomorrow in The Vancouver Sun September 4, 2009

Deputy Managing Editor Harold Munro gives an update on the stories that the editors and reporters of The Vancouver Sun are working on for publication in tomorrow's newspaper and online.

This is an example of innovation by a newspaper to generate readership by giving a preview of tomorrow's newspaper today.

Bob Valenzuela has 'NOT' left the Los Angeles Times

I reported in error last Friday that Bob Valenzuela left the Los Angeles Times, it was someone that worked for Bob that actually departed. And I would like to thank the tipster for setting the record straight as Mr. Valenzuela remains listed in the Tribune Directory of employees.

Wednesday Night in the Blogosphere

Scott Bodily and Ron Williams preparing to mount a roll of newsprint in the reelarms

• Hey Tampa, She Wants Her 75 Bucks - Jour Mo2
• Bankruptcy behind the Orange Curtain - Gary Scott
• Tribune Co. Falls Prey to "Experiment" - New Times
• Death Of The Daily, A Long Time Coming? - Pandora
• What should newspapers have done? - Free Exchange
• 'Southeast Missourian' Drops a Day - Associated Press
• Catholic paper cuts print costs, boosts Web site - Paper Cuts
• Unemployment insurance has been a fiasco for many - Temple Talk
• Post-Gazette launching members-only web site - Newspaper Project
• Two 22-Year-Olds Take Over Newspaper Publication - Indiana Business

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to the Blogging Pressman! Best wishes for now and always!

Enjoy:-)

Battlestar Galactica Stars

Susan Carpenter, motorcycle columnist for the Los Angeles Times rides with Battlestar Galactica stars Tricia Helfer and Katee Sackhoff on Angeles Crest Highway.

Today...

Good take on Afghanistan, Obama, and McChrystal

First Impressions

First impressions of people we meet make for lasting impressions, even if the evaluator is completely off the mark with the new encounter. Everyone judges others they encounter within three seconds, even if it’s only a quick glance.

I had an experience I will never forget with one of our Los Angeles Times executives one afternoon, his assessment of me was completely in error, but I’m certain he still feels he was on the mark.

This un-named executive asked me if I smoked marijuana upon our first meeting, and I was taken back by such an odd question. Here at the Los Angeles Times the company policy on marijuana usage is zero tolerance, this means I would be fired if I answered his question in the affirmative. So before I proceeded to answer his question I asked him “What made you ask me this question?”

He stated that he observed my earring and assumed I was a marijuana user, so any male donning an earring at the newspaper is presumed to also be a pot smoker I asked?

I explained that I have tried marijuana in the past with the same reaction, paranoia, which is rather unpleasant, so I do not use the herb. I am envious of others that smoke marijuana and have a great time while under the influence, but I’m not one of those so fortunate.

Now take a look at the Pressman Blogger, do I look like a marijuana smoker to you? Please disregard the KUSH tank top.

Tuesday Night in the Blogosphere

LAT Pressmen Victor Flores, Paul Anders, and Cesar Calderon

• Jobs for journalists - Kevin Roderick
• Freedom goes Chapter 11 - Mark Lacter
• Membership has its meaning - Jeff Jarvis
• This News Doesn’t Want to Be Free - Newsweek
• Tribune: Decline of a Media Giant - Huffington Post
• LA Weekly Throws Party For Incoming Editor - Pandora
• Court Ruling Advances Tribune's Cubs Sale - Deal Book
• City of Memphis Says 'No' to Taser Guns - Electronic Village
• Mayor, please explain this school reform thing - Bill Boyarsky
• Courant hides most serious charge that Fox 61 traded news for ads - CW

LA Times columnist Steve Lopez on "Where will we get our news?"

"The Soloist" author and Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez talks about the state of journalism in 2009 and answers the question, "Where will we get our news?"

Metblogs Meetup: Westside Edition!

by Sean Bonner

In our many years of blogging about this city we’ve had plenty of public gatherings where we’ve forced writers and readers to occupy the same physical space and have very little blood loss to blame on it. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that actually some of these events have been “fun.” The one thing they have all had in common though, is they have been central or east side and definitely nothing further west than the 405. Well that all changes this weekend when we have the first ever westside LA metblogs get together, and we want to see you there!

The details are this: Sunday, September 6th – 4pm at Intelligentsia Venice (1331 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA). This is exciting for another reason because the folks at Intelligentsia have offered to fire up the legendary 1972 La Marzocco machine just for us. If that means nothing to you, don’t worry the rough translation is there will be especially awesome coffee available to those of us who want it. Depending on how many people show up we may just take over the entire place, or maybe just the the back seats. Guess we’ll see. If you think you can make it please say so in the comments so we can get a rough idea how many people to expect. Expect the event to be highly blogged, photo’d and tweeted of course. All readers, writers and other bloggers are invited so pass it on!

The Blogging Pressman will be there, will you?

Thought for Today 9-1-2009

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

- - - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Blogging Pressman Meets the new LA Weekly Editor

Saturday night I attended the LA Weekly party for the new executive editor Drex Heikes, everyone from the Los Angeles Times should recognize Drex as he spent eighteen years at our newspaper. Appears I will need to visit Drex again to grab a better photograph.

Ran into Mayor Sam (Michael Higby), Valley Doll (Debbie Lopez), and former LA Weekly staffer Susan Uhrlass.

Edward meets Jill Stewart. Ms.Stewart is the Deputy Editor of News at LA Weekly