Newspapers

Even for an article in the real estate section of the New York Times, the subject of Sam Zell‘s spectacular mismanagement of the Tribune Co is unavoidable. And the diminutive mogul is happy to flap his gums on the topic, denying any responsibility for the largest media bankruptcy in American history:

Zell does not blame the heavy debt burden for Tribune’s failure, but rather the precipitous dive in newspaper advertising that occurred just after he bought the media company and the staff’s intransigence. “I’m disappointed that I wasn’t able to convince the people that it was in their own interest to modify the way in which the business ran, so as to be profitable,” he said.

That’s the same decline in advertising that affected every single newspaper in this country, the vast majority of which didn’t go bankrupt. That was the problem? That and the uppity staff? Yeesh.

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Last week, while we were apparently busy doing our pre-Valentine’s Day stretching regimen, the LA Times announced a series of hires and staff moves. First, Chad Terhune joined the paper as its newest healthcare reporter. Terhune’s most recent gigs were at Businessweek and SmartMoney; he also spent nearly a decade at the Wall Street Journal covering healthcare, among other beats.

The Times announced some major internal moves as well. First, David Meeks has been named the new assistant political editor for online. Meeks has been with the Washington Bureau since 2010. His new job will bring him to LA in the spring.

Seoul bureau chief John Glionna is coming back to America to become the new Las Vegas Bureau chief. He takes over for Ashley Powers who will now be on the LA civil courts beat.

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The LA Weekly‘s office in Culver City just got a new paint job, courtesy of graffiti artists How & Nosm. The giant mural took a week to complete and short film about the project is in the works and will be finished in March. We’re hoping it includes footage of angry local residents chucking eggs at the mural. The Weekly‘s Shelley Leopold writes that residents of motel across the street were none-too-pleased about the sounds of boom lifts in the early morning hours.

In the meanwhile, trailer after the jump.

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Looks like TheWrap-Reuters is getting some additional competition.

Per a press release issued today by AP, the venerable wire service has pacted with Prometheus Global Media for a similar entertainment industry news feed, launching later this month. In this case, Associated Press will be parsing items from the Hollywood Reporter and Billboard. Per the release:

“Being part of AP’s massive distribution network will open THR to huge new audiences from around the world,” said The Hollywood Reporter editorial director Janice Min…

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Today, in 100 newspapers across the U.S., readers are catching sight of the Valentine’s Day wink pictured at-right.

Per a report on producenews.com, the advertisement was conceived by Idaho Potato Commission staffer Don Odiorne and showcases the personal potato recipe picks of five LA food bloggers: Nancy Buchanan (A Communal Table), Patti Londre (Worth the Whisk), Ericka Sanchez (Nibbles and Feasts), Erika Penzer Kerekes (In Erika’s Kitchem) and Valentina Kenney (Cooking on the Weekends). From the article:

Mr. Odiorne told The Produce News that the featured bloggers were among 45 Los Angeles-area food bloggers he met last year at an event the commission had been invited to participate in called Camp Blogaway, organized by Londre.

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This morning, employees at the Denver Post met their new incoming president and CEO. Per a dispatch on the 120-year-old daily’s website, former San Diego Union-Tribune publisher Ed Moss will assume those duties on February 20.

There’s some interesting background in the Post piece by Aldo Svaldi that involves the paper’s parent company, Digital First Media. Moss, who was also named executive vice-president of that parent, has been on Digital First chairman William Dean Singleton‘s radar since the mid-1990s:

Singleton said he first got to know Moss in 1996, and eventually hired him in 2007 to oversee the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. “I was distraught when he came to me and said he was going to San Diego,” Singleton said. As a potential bidder for that newspaper, Singleton watched its performance closely.

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It sure didn’t take long for Phil Bronstein to make some major additional impact on California Watch. Just weeks after leaving the San Francisco media world for the vanguard non-profit’s Berkeley boardroom, the Bay Citizen is reporting that its own two-year-old operations may soon be folded into CW.

It makes sense, mainly because the founder and benefactor of the Citizen, San Francisco investor and philanthropist Warren Hellman, passed away in December at age 77. Per the report:

In the weeks before Hellman’s death, sources say, he began discussions with Bronstein, then a vice president at Hearst Corporation, to take over as chief executive of The Bay Citizen when Liz Frazier stepped down. Her last day on the job is Monday. She declined to comment for this article…

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The Sacramento Bee has apologized to readers for running a photograph in their Sunday newspaper that had been digitally altered. The photo was a composite of two pictures of birds taken at the Galt Winter Bird Festival. The photographer, staffer Bryan Patrick, has been suspended pending an investigation.

From the newspaper’s apology:

The Bee’s ethics policy strictly forbids such manipulation of documentary photographs. It is considered a violation of our core values, as it misrepresents the accuracy of the event. When we alter a photograph for illustrative purposes, we disclose that at the time of publication.

The altered image was caught after a reader called the paper to complain that it looked suspicious. Click on the photos at right to enlarge, and check out the plants. You’ll see what that reader was talking about.

Via Poynter.

Frying Pan News’ Steven Mikulan just posted quite the exit interview with recently fired LA Times blogging pressman Ed Padgett. The Times cited Padgett for “suspicion of sabotage” among other reasons for letting him go. Which sounds absolutely insane. Mikulan delves a little deeper.

Shortly after Padgett’s firing there was a “Christmas purge” of workers, followed by a “New Years Purge.”

“Those folks each got $20,000 in severance,” Padgett claims. “Two of the fellows were let go two weeks early because they were worried about sabotage. They’re so paranoid, because it’s not just my department — it includes editorial.”

Padgett believes it’s possible there’s some reality behind the company’s fears. A Teamster email he posted on his blog in December warned members against engaging in sabotage — while denying such behavior. But what does that ultimately say about a company that its employees would harm the source of their livelihoods?

Padgett also says that two recently fired Times employees have committed suicide in the past few months–an operations plant worker and a company truck driver. Terrible, terrible news. Especially in the context of Tribune Company’s plans to give management big, fat, out-of-the-blue bonuses.

The LA Times published an internal memo by managing editor/online Jimmy Orr over the weekend, showing the full extent of the paper’s online success in 2011. Overall page views were up by 28% in 2011–reaching more than 2.1 billion. Monthly unique visitors also grew by 34.2% by year’s end.

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