Jump to content

Los Angeles Times

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is anold revisionof this page, as edited byCliff1911(talk|contribs)at13:02, 15 July 2008(→Under Sam Zell's ownership).The present address (URL) is apermanent linkto this revision, which may differ significantly from thecurrent revision.

For the song byXzibit,seeLos Angeles Times (song).
Los Angeles Times
File:LosAngelesTimes NewFrontPage.jpg
Front page fromOctober 23,2006
TypeDailynewspaper
FormatBroadsheet
Owner(s)Tribune Company
PublisherDavid Hiller
EditorRuss Stanton
FoundedDecember 4,1881
Headquarters202 West 1st Street
Los Angeles, California90012
United States
Circulation773,884 Daily
1,101,981 Sunday[1]
Websitelatimes

TheLos Angeles Times(also known as theLA Times) is a dailynewspaperpublished inLos Angeles, Californiaand distributed throughout theWestern United States.It is the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in theUnited Statesand the fourth-most widely distributed newspaper in theUnited States.[2]In addition to its print product, the Times also publishes a 24-hour news Web site at latimes.

Founded in 1881, theTimeshas won 37Pulitzer Prizesthrough 2004; this includes four in editorial cartooning, and one each in spot news reporting for the 1965Watts Riotsand the1992 Los Angeles riots.In2004,the paper won five prizes, which is the third-most by any paper in one year (behindThe New York Timesin2002(7) andThe Washington Postin2008(6)).

History

See also:List of Los Angeles Times publishers

The paper was first published every week and half, as an evening paper, bearing the name,Los Angeles Daily TimesonDecember 4,1881,but soon went bankrupt. The paper's printer, the Mirror Company, took over the newspaper and installed formerUnion Armylieutenant colonelHarrison Gray Otisas an editor. Otis made the paper a financial success. In 1884, he bought out the newspaper and printing company to form the Times-Mirror Company.

Rubble of theTimesbuilding after the 1910 bombing.

Historian Kevin Starr lists Otis (withHenry E. HuntingtonandMoses Sherman) as a businessman "capable of manipulating the entire apparatus of politics and public opinion for his own enrichment."[3]Otis's editorial policy was based on civicboosterism,extolling the virtues of Los Angeles and promoting its growth. Towards those ends, the paper supported efforts to expand the city's water supply by acquiring the watershed of theOwens Valley,an effort (highly) fictionalized in the Roman Polanski movieChinatownwhich is also covered inCalifornia Water Wars.

The efforts of theTimesto fight local unions led to theOctober 1,1910,bombing of its headquarters,killing 21 people. Two union leaders,James and Joseph McNamara,were charged. TheAmerican Federation of Laborhired noted trial attorneyClarence Darrowto represent the brothers, who eventually pleaded guilty, although supporters then (and since) believed the two men were framed.[citation needed]The paper soon relocated to theTimes Building,a Los Angeles landmark.

Chandler era

On Otis's death in 1917, his son-in-lawHarry Chandlertook over the reins as publisher of theTimes.Harry Chandler was succeeded in 1944 by his son,Norman Chandler,who ran the paper during the rapid growth ofpost-warLos Angeles. Norman's wife, heiress and fellowStanfordalumDorothy Buffum Chandler,became active in civic affairs and led the effort to build theLos Angeles Music Center,whose main concert hall was named theDorothy Chandler Pavilionin her honor. Family members are buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery near Paramount Studios. The site also includes a memorial to the Times building bombing victims.

The paper was a founding co-owner of then-CBSturned independent television stationKTTV;it became that station's sole owner in 1951 and remained so until it sold it toMetromediain 1963. Now that station is owned byFoxthroughNewscorp.

The fourth generation of family publishers,Otis Chandler,held that position from 1960 to 1980. Otis Chandler sought legitimacy and recognition for his family's paper, often forgotten in the power centers of theNortheastern United Statesdue to its geographic and cultural distance. He sought to remake the paper in the model of the nation's most respected newspapers, notablyThe New York TimesandWashington Post.Believing that the newsroom was "the heartbeat of the business"[4],Otis Chandler increased the size and pay of the reporting staff and expanded its national and international reporting. In 1962, the paper joined with theWashington Postto form the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service to syndicate articles from both papers for other news organizations.

During the 1960s, the paper won four Pulitzer Prizes, more than its previous nine decades combined.

A Pulitzer Prize in 1990 went to the Times' Jim Murray, considered by many to be one of the greatest sportswriters of the century.

The paper's early history and subsequent transformation was chronicled in an unauthorized historyThinking Big(1977, ISBN 0399117660), and was one of four organizations profiled byDavid HalberstaminThe Powers That Be(1979, ISBN 0394503813; 2000 reprint ISBN 0252069412). It has also been the whole or partial subject of nearly thirty dissertations in communications or social science in the past four decades.[5]

Modern era

LA Times building,May 2006, featuring green "125 Years" banners, at 1st and Spring, downtown Los Angeles
Los Angeles Times building, viewed from the corner of 1st and Spring streets

TheLos Angeles Timespaid circulation figures have decreased since the mid-1990s. It has recently been unable to pass the one million mark, a milestone easily surpassed in earlier decades. Some believe the circulation drop was a result of a liberal bias attributed to the paper, which alienated many readers; others attribute the drop to the increasing availability of alternate methods of obtaining news, such as the Internet, cable TV or radio. Others also believe that the drop was due to the circulation director (Bert Tiffany) retiring. Still others believe the circulation drop was a side effect of a succession of short-lived editors who were appointed by publisherMark Willesafter Otis Chandler relinquished day-to-day control in 1995.[4]Willes, the former president ofGeneral Mills,was criticized for his lack of understanding of the newspaper business, and was derisively referred to by reporters and editors asThe Cereal Killer.

Other possible reasons for the circulation drop include an increase in the single copy price from 25 cents to 50 cents[6]or the rise in readers preferring to read the online version instead of the hard copy.[7]EditorJim O'Shea,in an internal memo announcing a May 2007, mostly voluntaryreduction in force,characterized the decrease in circulation as an "industry-wide problem" which the paper must counter by "growing rapidly on-line," "break[ing] news on the web and explain[ing] and analyz[ing] it in our newspaper."[8]2004 Pulitzer Prize winnerNancy Cleeland[9],who took O'Shea's buyout offer, did so because of "frustration with the paper's coverage of working people and organized labor"[10](the beat that earned her her Pulitzer[9]). She speculated that the paper's revenue shortfall could be reversed by expanding coverage ofeconomic justicetopics which she believes are increasingly relevant toSouthern California;she cited the paper's attempted hiring of a "celebrity justice reporter" as an example of the wrong approach.[10]

In 2000, the Times-Mirror Company was purchased by theTribune CompanyofChicago, Illinois,ending one of the final examples of a family-controlled metropolitan daily newspaper in the U.S. (The New York Times,The Seattle Times,and others remain).John Carroll,former editor of theBaltimore Sun,was brought in to restore the luster of the newspaper. During his reign at the Los Angeles Times he eliminated more than 200 jobs, but it was not enough for parent company Tribune. Despite operating profits of 20 percent the Tribune executives were unsatisfied with returns and by 2005 John Carroll had left theLos Angeles Times.

Dean Baquetreplaced John Carroll, who refused to impose the additional cutbacks mandated by Tribune. Baquet was the first African American to hold this type of editorial position at a top-tier daily. During Baquet and Carroll's time at the paper it won 13 Pulitzers, more than any other paper but theNew York Times.[11]Subsequently, Baquet was himself ousted for not meeting the demands of the Tribune Group- as was publisher Jeffrey Johnson - and replaced by James O'Shea of the Chicago Tribune. O'Shea himself left in January, 2008 after a budget dispute with publisherDavid Hiller.

The paper's content and design style has been overhauled several times in recent years in attempts to help increase circulation. In 2000, a major change more closely organized the news sections (related news was put closer together) and changed the "Local" section to the "California" section with more extensive coverage. Another major change in 2005 saw the Sunday "Opinion" section retitled the Sunday "Current" section, with a radical change in its presentation and columnists featured. There are regular cross-promotions with co-owned KTLA to bring evening news viewers into theTimesfold.

In early 2006, The Times closed itsSan Fernando Valleyprinting plant, leaving press operations at theOlympic PlantandOrange County.Also in 2006, the Times announced its circulation at 851,532, down 5.4% from 2005. The Times's loss of circulation is the highest out of the top ten newspapers in the U.S.[12]Despite this recent circulation decline, many in the media industry have lauded the newspaper's effort to decrease its reliance on 'other-paid' circulation in favor of building its 'individually-paid' circulation base - which showed a marginal increase in the most recent circulation audit. This distinction reflects the difference between, for example, copies distributed to hotel guests free of charge (other-paid) versus subscriptions and single-copy sales (individually-paid).

In December 2006, a team of Times reporters delivered management with a critique of the paper's online news efforts known as theSpring Street Project.[13]The report, which condemned the Times as a "web-stupid" organization, "[13]was followed by a shakeup in management of the paper's Web site,[14]latimes, and a rebuke of print staff who have "treated change as a threat."[15]

Under Sam Zell's ownership

OnApril 2,2007,theTribune Companyannounced their acceptance ofSam Zell's offer to buy theChicago Tribune,theLos Angeles Times,and other media assets. Zell announced plans to take the company private and sell off theChicago Cubsbaseball club. He put up for sale the company's 25 percent interest inComcast SportsNetChicago. Up until the time of shareholder approval, Los Angeles billionairesRon BurkleandEli Broadhad the right to submit a higher bid in which case Zell would have received a $25 million buyout fee.[16]

According to the Jewish dailyThe Forward,the pending purchase of the Times had stirred debate as to what influence would Samuel Zell, who has a reputation for being a "committed Zionist", effect on the paper's coverage of Israel.[17]One former Los Angeles Times political reporter, Ken Reich, assumes the paper's policies will be shaped to "some degree." Reich elaborates:

"If he cares about the State of Israel, he won’t want his newspaper to be out there chipping away at Israeli interests. [...] It would not take very much tweaking by him to sharply alter the Times editorial policy on the Middle East. I tend to expect this to happen."[17]

The paper reported onJuly 32008that it plans to cut 250 jobs byLabor dayand reduce the number of published pages by 15%.[18][19]This would include about 17% of its news staff, as part of the newly private media company's mandate to slash costs. Since the real-estate mogul Sam Zell bought Tribute for $8.2 billion, there has been struggling to keep up with advertisements and deal with heavy load of debt. The times said they will employ only 3,000 people after the cut. With readers migrating to theinternetand weak economy, publishers have slashed jobs in order to survive. "We've tried to get ahead of all the change that's occurring in the business and get to an organization and size that will be sustainable," said Mr. Hiller.

Competition and rivalry

TheLos Angeles Timesbuildingas seen from Grand Ave.

By the mid-1940s, theLos Angeles Timeswas the leading newspaper in terms of sales in theLos Angeles metropolitan area.After World War II, it launchedThe Mirroran afternoon tabloid to compete with Hearst'sHerald-Express.The MirrorabsorbedThe Los Angeles Daily Newsin 1954 and ceased publication in 1962, when the Herald-Express was merged with the morningLos Angeles Examiner.

In 1989, its last rival for the Los Angeles daily newspaper market, TheLos Angeles Herald Examiner,went out of business, making Los Angeles nominally a one-newspaper city. However, in the suburban neighborhoods of theSan Fernando Valley,The Timesstill competed withThe Valley News and Greensheet,which later renamed itselfThe Daily News of Los Angelesto compete with theTimes.The L.A. Timeshas an Orange County edition (with its own printing presses and editorial staff) that competes with theSanta AnabasedThe Orange County Register.La Opinión,aSpanish languagedaily newspaper previously owned byThe Timesfor several years in the 1990s, also sells many papers.

Outside of the city of Los Angeles proper,The Timesalso competes against several smaller daily and weekly papers in nearby Southern California cities. Examples includeThe Long Beach Press-Telegram,TheDaily Breeze(South Bay),The Ventura County Star,The San Gabriel Valley Tribune,The Pasadena Star-Newsand theCanyon news.

In the 1990s, the Times attempted to publish various editions catering to far flung areas. Editions included aVentura Countyedition, anInland Empireedition, aSan Diego Countyedition, and a "National Edition" that was distributed toWashington, D.C.and theSan Francisco Bay Area.The National Edition was closed in December 2004. Of these, only the Inland Empire and Ventura County editions remains, although nearby cities such as Bakersfield, Las Vegas, Barstow and Needles still sell the Times in selected newsstands.

Some of these editions were folded in toOur Times,a group of community newspapers included in home delivery and newsstand editions of the regular Los Angeles Metro newspaper.Our Timeswas also founded inSanta Monica,due to the closure of the long timeOutlooknewspaper.

Today, remnants ofOur Timesare theTimes Community Newspapersthat are inserted on a regular basis in some areas of the Los Angeles Times.Times Community Newspapersare primarily independent local newspapers that were purchased by the Los Angeles Times during its expansion phase, but have a large enough readership and advertiser base to be continued. These include theNews-PressinGlendale,theLeaderinBurbank(and surrounding areas), theSuninLa Crescentaand surrounding regions, theDaily PilotinNewport Beachand surrounding cities, and theIndependentinHuntington Beach.

Features

Among its current staff are columnists Steve Lopez and Patt Morrison, popular music critics Robert Hillburn and Randy Lewis, film critic Kenneth Turan, entertainment industry columnist Patrick Goldstein and numerous award-winning reporters.

Sports columnists includeBill Plaschke,who is also a panelist onESPN'sAround the Horn,T.J. Simers, Kurt Streeter and [Helene Elliott]], the first female sportswriter to be inducted into theHockey Hall of Fame.Former sports editor Bill Dwyre is also now a columnist.

One of the Times' best-known news columns is "Column One," a feature that appears daily on the front page to the left-hand side. Established in September 1968, it is a place for the weird and the interesting; in theHow Far Can a Piano Fly?(a compilation of Column One stories) introduction,Patt Morrisonwrites that the column's purpose is to elicit a "Gee, that's interesting, I didn't know that" type of reaction.

The Times also embarks on a number of investigative journalism pieces, researching and dissecting a certain scandal or unfavored part of society. A series in December 2004 on theKing-Drew Medical Centerled to a Pulitzer Prize and a more thorough coverage of the hospital's troubled history. Most recently, Lopez wrote an acclaimed five-part series on the civic and humanitarian disgrace of Los Angeles'Skid Row..

Controversies

The credibility of theTimessuffered greatly when it was revealed in 1999 that a revenue-sharing arrangement was in place between theTimesandStaples Centerin the preparation of a 168-page magazine about the opening of the sports arena. The magazine's editors and writers were not informed of the agreement, which breached the "Chinese wall" that traditionally has separated advertising from journalistic functions at American newspapers. Publisher Mark Willes also had not prevented advertisers from pressuring reporters in other sections of the newspaper to write stories favorable to their point of view.[20]

Michael Kinsleywas hired as the Opinion and Editorial (Op-Ed) Editor in April 2004 to help improve the quality of the opinion pieces. His role was controversial, as he forced writers to take a more decisive stance on issues. In 2005, he created aWikitorial,the firstWikiby a major news organization. Although it failed, readers could combine forces to produce their own editorial pieces. He resigned later that year.

OnNovember 12,2005,new Op-Ed EditorAndrés Martinezshook things up by announcing the firing of leftist op-ed columnistRobert Scheerand conservative editorial cartoonistMichael Ramirez,replacing the two with a more diversified lineup of regular columnists. The change was not well-received by liberal readers, many of whom accused the newspaper of trying to silence liberal voices and remove controversial writers.

TheTimeshas also come under controversy for its decision to drop the weekday edition of theGarfieldcomic strip in 2005, in favor of a hipper comic stripBrevity,while retaining the Sunday edition.Garfieldwas dropped altogether shortly thereafter.[21]

Following the GOP's defeat in the 06 mid-term Elections, an Opinion piece published on November 19, 2006 byJoshua Muravchik,a leadingneoconservativeand a resident scholar at the conservative viewAmerican Enterprise Institute,titled BOMB IRAN shocked some readers, with its hawkish overtures in support of more unilateral action by the United States, this time against Iran.[22]

On March 22, 2007, editorial page editorAndrés Martinezresigned following an alleged scandal centering around his girlfriend's professional relationship with a Hollywood producer who had been tapped to guest edit a section in the newspaper.[23]In an open letter penned upon leaving the paper, Grazer blasted the publication for allowing theChinese Wallbetween the news and editorial departments to be weakened, accusing news staffers of lobbying the opinion desk.[24]

Also in March 2007 theTimesfaced rumors that publisherDavid Hillersuggested and approved former Secretary of Defense,Donald Rumsfeld,with whom Hiller has close personal and business contacts, for a guest editorial position at the newspaper.[25]Rumsfeld was an influential Iraq war hawk in theGeorge W. Bush administration.Rumsfeld also has strong ties to theTimes'parent company, theTribune Company,where he was a member of the board of directors.[25]

"Gropegate"

See also:Arnold Schwarzenegger § Allegations of sexual and personal misconduct

TheTimesdrew fire for a last-minute story before the2003 California recall electionalleging thatgubernatorialcandidateArnold Schwarzeneggergroped scores of women during his movie career. While the story itself was not discredited, the newspaper's motives and timing were brought into question. The newspaper ran the story days before the recall even though it had prepared the story weeks beforehand.

ColumnistJill Stewartpointed out that theTimesdid not do a story on allegations that former GovernorGray Davishad verbally and physically abused women in his office. The Schwarzenegger story was run with a number of anonymous sources (four of the six alleged victims were not named); however, in the case of the Davis allegations, theTimesdecided against running the Davis story because of its reliance on anonymous sources.[26][27][28]

Times editor John Carroll stated that theTimeslost over 10,000 subscribers due to the negative publicity surrounding this article.[29]

Book Prizes

Further information:List of Los Angeles Times Book Prize winners

Ever since 1980, theLos Angeles Timeshas awarded a set of annual book prizes. The Prizes "currently have nine single-title categories: biography, current interest, fiction, first fiction (the Art Seidenbaum Award added in 1991), history, mystery/thriller (category added in 2000), poetry, science and technology (category added in 1989), and young adult fiction (category added in 1998). In addition, the Robert Kirsch Award is presented annually to a living author with a substantial connection to the American West whose contribution to American letters deserves special recognition"[30].

The Book Prize program was founded by Art Seidenbaum, a Times book editor from 1978 to 1985; an award named after him was added a year after his death in 1990. Works are eligible during the year of their first U.S. publication in English, though English does not have to be the original language. The author of each winning book and the Kirsch Award recipient receives a citation and $1,000.

References

General references

  • Edward Maddin Ainsworth,History of Los Angeles Times,ca. 1940.
  • Robert Gottlieb,Thinking Big,New York: Putnam, 1977.
  • David Halberstam,The Powers That Be,New York: Knopf, 1979.
  • Jack R. Hart,The information empire: The rise of the Los Angeles Times and the Times Mirror Corporation,Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1981.

Specific references

  1. ^Saba, Jennifer (2008-04-28)."New FAS-FAX: Steep Decline at 'NYT' While 'WSJ' Gains".Editor & Publisher.Nielsen Business Media, Inc.
  2. ^http:// burrellesluce /top100/2008_Top_100List.pdf
  3. ^Inventing the Dream: California Through the Progressive Era(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985): 228.
  4. ^abDennis McDougal,Privileged son: Otis Chandler and the rise and fall of the L.A. Times dynasty,Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo, 2002
  5. ^ProQuest Dissertation Abstracts,accessed June 8, 2007.
  6. ^Shah, Diane, "The New Los Angeles Times"Columbia Journalism Review2002, 3.
  7. ^Rainey, James, "Newspaper Circulation Continues to Fall,"Los Angeles Times1 May 2007: D1.
  8. ^Editor & Publisher."California Split: 57 More Job Cuts atL.A. Times".Retrieved2007-05-28.{{cite news}}:|author=has generic name (help);Text "2007-05-25" ignored (help);Text "date" ignored (help)
  9. ^abEditor & Publisher."Pulitzer Winner Explains Why She TookL.A. TimesBuyout ".Retrieved2007-05-28.{{cite news}}:|author=has generic name (help);Text "2007-05-28" ignored (help);Text "date" ignored (help)
  10. ^abWhy I'm Leaving TheL.A. TimesfromThe Huffington Post
  11. ^Mother Jones."Breaking the News".
  12. ^Newspaper sales dip, but websites gain - USATODAY
  13. ^ab Mayrav (26 January2007)."LAT's Scathing Internal Memo. Read It Here".fishbowlLA.{{cite news}}:Check date values in:|date=(help)
  14. ^ Roderick, Kevin (24 January2007)."Times retools on web — again".LA Observed.{{cite news}}:Check date values in:|date=(help)
  15. ^ Welch, Matt (24 January2007)."Spring Street Project unveiled!".latimes.{{cite news}}:Check date values in:|date=(help)
  16. ^Tribune goes to Zell,from the April 3, 2007 edition of theChicago Sun-Times
  17. ^abNathaniel Popper,Billionaire Boychiks Battle for Media Empire: ‘Committed Zionist’ To Buy Papers With Troubled Ties to Community,The Forward,April 13 2007
  18. ^Hiltzik, Michael A. (2008-07-03)."Los Angeles Times to cut 250 jobs, including 150 from news staff: The newspaper cites falling ad revenue in economic slowdown".The LA Times.
  19. ^Politi, Daniel (2008-07-03)."Today's Papers:" You Have Been Liberated "".Slate.
  20. ^Salon (1999-11-05)."Meltdown at the L.A. Times".Retrieved2007-03-26.
  21. ^Editor & Publisher."Garfield no more?".Retrieved2007-03-26.{{cite news}}:|author=has generic name (help);Text "2005-01-07" ignored (help);Text "date" ignored (help)
  22. ^Los Angeles Times (2006-11-19)."Bomb Iran".Retrieved2007-03-26.
  23. ^Los Angeles Times (2007-03-22)."Editor Resigns over Killed Opinion Section".Retrieved2007-03-26.
  24. ^Los Angeles Times (2007-03-22)."Grazergate, an Epilogue".Retrieved2007-03-26.
  25. ^abDeadline Hollywood Daily (2007-03-25)."LA Times Publisher's Friend and Tribune Co Ex-Director Don Rumsfeld was asked to Guest-Edit after Grazer".Retrieved2007-03-26.
  26. ^ "Jill Stewart," LA Times Covers Up Davis Violence on Female Staff, "jillstewart.net".
  27. ^ ""How the Los Angeles Times Really Decided to Publish its Accounts of Women Who Said They Were Groped," jillstewart.net ".
  28. ^ "A copy of the Oct. 2, 2003 article," Women Say Schwarzenegger Groped, Humiliated Them "(Original article not found on theTimesWeb site) ".
  29. ^ "ASNE recognizes Los Angeles Times editor for leadership".
  30. ^http:// latimes /extras/bookprizes/index.htmlLos Angeles TimesBook Prizes home page
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Los_Angeles_Times&oldid=225795205"