Journos

Playoff time brings out the very worst in Kobe Bryant when it comes to dealing with the media.

He’s notoriously known for his smug and snarky answers during this time of the year and Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke called him out on it following Game 3 of the Los Angeles Lakers-Denver Nuggets Western Conference 1st round series.

Here’s J.A. Adande of ESPN.com explaining the incident:

Props to Plaschke for not backing down to Bryant. The 23-year-old Bryant probably wouldn’t have laughed it off but Kobe, now 33, has finally matured to the point where he can laugh at himself every now and then.

Following a sudden interruption in the publication of online newspaper WeHo News, editor Ryan Gierach (pictured) is back on the job. After posting the May 8 issue, he has further explained the reasons for his absence to LA Weekly’s Patrick Range McDonald:

“I went into a residential rehab to quit drinking and learn the skill set needed to remain sober… I not only feel better, but lost almost 10 pounds in two months — just by not drinking 16 beers a day…

West Hollywood mayor Jeff Prang, when I told him how much I’d been drinking, said, ‘Anything over 13 is a little excessive.’”

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The title of the book is Assassins… Serial Killers… Corrupt Cops… Chasing the News in a Skirt and High Heels. The recalled contents are to SoCal journalism what On the Waterfront was to Hollywood.

Author Mary Neiswender began her trailblazing, twice-Pulitzer Prize nominated reporting career at the Long Beach Press-Telegram just a few years before Brando’s Terry Malloy eviscerated the big screen. She quickly established herself as a journalistic contender, becoming later that decade the first female member of San Pedro’s Harbor Press Room. The booze-soaked, cigarette-stenched den was located above the Harbor Division police station and directly below court chambers and the local jail.

Here’s how Neiswender recalls her first day, alongside ten waterfront-beat reporters for all the major LA newspapers:

As I pushed open the door, the room quieted. There were a lot of throat-clearing noises. I saw my desk top was clean, except for a lone, plastic geranium in a broken pot. I smiled. I could handle that.

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Chicago-based 411mania.com contributor Tony Farinella has posted a solid interview with 710 ESPN radio host and Lakers play-by-play man John Ireland.

It’s always a compliment when the person being interviewed notes that no one has asked them a particular question before. This happens twice to Farinella. When asked to grade his first season as a Lakers radio announcer, Ireland gives himself a B minus. The veteran journalist also says his favorite “third chair” celebrity guests on the broadcast so far have been Jamal Wilkes, David Hasselhoff, Andy Garcia and Jeannie Buss.

Ireland also revisits an infamous incident from earlier this year during which he could be seen on TV in the background of a Lakers-Raptors broadcast, applying makeup to his face. He says this was a particularly lazy version of dealing with the juxtaposition of his radio duties and a live post-game TV interview show:

“It was the sixth game of a six-game round trip. What I had done was I had always gone back to the bathroom at halftime to put my makeup on, so when the game ends, I can run right to TV.”

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ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons isn’t shy when it comes to broadcasting his sports gambling picks.

Gambling is normally a topic of discussion on his The B.S. Report podcast, which if fine and dandy unless you end up having a direct impact on the final outcome.

Earlier this year, Simmons said on his podcast that he was betting on LeBron James to win the 2012 NBA MVP award.

Little did Simmons or ESPN know that the NBA would send him a voting ballot for the 2011-12 NBA season — which he filled out last week on The B.S. Report. On the podcast, he voted for James (duh) as MVP.

It appeared this blatant conflict of interest was going to fly under the radar until Business Insider grilled ESPN about their gambling policy:

“Bill had never received a ballot before and didn’t find out he had one until two-thirds of the season had passed. By that time he had made multiple MVP bets, two of which he had discussed on podcasts. He ended up withdrawing his MVP vote to avoid the perception of any conflict.”

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Despite all the recent reshuffling in its staff,  Maxim remains tethered to its initial man-minded mission, featuring pieces with the brashly irreverent yet surprisingly instructive tone of an enlightened frat brother.

“I’d say the level of humor and discourse has gotten a little sharper and smarter,” said editor-in-chief Dan Bova, “but the goal is still to be that plain-spoken, witty best friend guiding you through the guy universe.”

But don’t think you’re going to break in with a pitch about yet another celebrity. ”Somebody proposing we should interview Chris Rock is not being particularly helpful. We do most of the star-wrangling ourselves,” Bova explained.

So, what type of pitches are editors looking for? Get the details in How To Pitch: Maxim

This article is one of several mediabistro.com features exclusively available to AvantGuild subscribers. If you’re not a member yet, you can register for as little as $55 a year and get access to these articles, discounts on seminars and workshops, and more.

Two of the 20 finalists for the 2011 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists hail from local publications. Staff writer Molly Hennessy-Fiske of the Los Angeles Times is in the running, and Cindy Carcamo has been nominated for a piece that appeared in local literary journal Slake: Los Angeles. Carcamo is a reporter for the OC Register.

On the statewide front, Kelley Weiss and Ryan Gabrielson are both finalists for stories they did at nonprofit investigative reporting group California Watch.

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The recipients of the John S. Knight Journalism Fellowships have been announced, and of the 20 journalists who have been selected, one of them is a local. That would be David Sarno, technology reporter for the Los Angeles Times business section.

The John S. Knight allows recipients to pursue their ideas for innovative journalism at Stanford during the 2012-13 academic year. Sarno will work on creating “video tutorials showing journalists how to quickly build touchable, 3-D computer graphics for news.”

Other fellowship recipients from the golden state include Andrew Donohue, editor of the Voice of San Diego, Mary Aviles, editor of the EFE News Services in San Jose, and Kevin Weston, a new media entrepreneur from Oakland.

Alexia Tsotsis, full-time TechCruch editor and part-time fashionista, is parting with a chunk of her wardrobe to benefit the nonprofit Charity:Water. In partnership with online consignment shop Threadflip, Tsotsis is offering up fashionable finds ranging from a J. Crew sweater (pictured at right) to a studded pair of Miu Miu heels.

The clothing sale is part of a larger effort by Tsotsis to raise $10,000 for Charity:Water. Tsotsis dedicated her 30th birthday to the cause, encouraging donations in lieu of gifts.

Charity:Water is an organization dedicated to bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. Unsafe water kills approximately 30,000 people every week, mostly children, so it’s easy to see why Tsotsis was eager to get involved. 100% of donations to Charity:Water go directly to funding safe water projects, a refreshing alternative to the many charities who blow a significant portion of donations on “operating costs.”

And if Tsotsis looks familiar, it’s because she used to be a local. She served as LA Weekly’s Internet culture reporter in 2008 and 2009. She now resides in San Francisco.

Tributes are pouring in after it was announced this week that Lloyd LaCuesta, South Bay bureau chief for San Francisco’s KTVU Channel 2 (pictured), will be retiring after 36 years on the local beat. Peter Hartlaub, pop culture critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, marvels at the reporter’s stamina in the face of gruesome homicides and record-setting weather disturbances:

I’ve briefly worked one of those general assignment crime-mayhem-apocalyptic weather beats, and they’re like dog years. Really, the press releases should say Lloyd is retiring after 252 years on the job. So all hail Lloyd LaCuesta, breaking news juggernaut of the Bay Area.

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