Newspapers

The Los Angles Times received a $1 million grant from the Ford Foundation that will allow the newspaper to hire five new reporters to “focus on the Vietnamese, Korean and other immigrant communities, the California prison system, the border region and Brazil.”

The two-year grant comes with no strings attached, giving the Los Angeles Times complete control over their editorial hires and coverage.

After the jump is the memo from editor Davan Maharaj, from LA Observed:  Read more

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Nearly three years after the LA Times Magazine was removed from advertorial status control of the business end of the paper and put back under the LA Times‘ editorial umbrella, the monthly pub is being shut down. FishbowlLA spoke with the mag’s editor, Nancie Clare, who told us that the upcoming June issue will be the magazine’s last.

“I think it’s fair to say there were revenue issues,” she tells us. “It’s still a tough economic climate, especially for print. I don’t think they got rid of us because they don’t like us.”

The mag’s staff of seven will be let go. There’s no indication if positions will be available for them in other sections of the paper.

“I think the jury is still out. Part of what’s going on is a contraction. They’re contracting in the newsroom too. There’s nowhere to absorb us.”

Clare says the staff is handling the news stoically.

“There was no animosity or screaming. We’re professionals in a very small media market. Print is in a tough place right now. [The Times] is doing what they think is best. I obviously disagree. But I really appreciate that Russ Stanton gave us the opportunity to do this. When the previous editor was let go, he went out on a limb for us. And I think we’ve done some great stuff.”

The mag’s staff was only recently made aware of the imminent closure. Future plans are still up in the air. But Clare is confident everyone will land on their feet.

“I’m going to be working. And so will all of my people. I can’t sing the praises of my staff enough. Helene Goldsen is the best managing editor on Earth. [Design and Culture Editor] Mayer Rus is amazing. Rip Georges is a multi-award-winning designer. The young ones too…Raha Lewis with music…There’s only seven of us. We’ve been on a shoestring and the product we’ve produced is excellent.”

After a successful debut at the Los Angeles Angels season opener last month, The Orange County Register “News Mob” will tackle the relaunch of Disney’s California Adventure the week of June 15.

LA Observed has the memo:

The Register will have photographers, videographers and reporters from sports, real estate, pop culture, theater, food, OC Moms, retail, cities, crime, features, travel, social issues – and virtually every department in our news organization — covering the event. Dozens of Disney fans will also participate in the coverage by contributing photos, memories and reviews of new Disney experiences….

Read more

It’s been mentioned in recent months as a logical possibility. Now, according to a dispatch in the San Diego Reader (and several other reports), the notion of UT San Diego taking over the Orange County Register has moved to the reality stage.

Per Don Bauder’s blog post:

John Lynch, chief executive of the UT, told the Downtown Lions in a Power Point presentation May 8 that the UT is in final talks to purchase the Orange County Register, Coast Magazine, and 24 local newspapers in Orange County.

Read more

KCRW paid a visit to L.A. Youth, the local teen newspaper that needs to raise $500,000 by next Monday in order to remain open.

According to Lisa Napoli’s report, the 24-year-old paper has received $13,000 in donations since the news broke.

If L.A. Youth is unable to raise enough money, the nation’s second-largest independent newspaper written by and about teens will close on June 30.

Following the success of December 2010 pilot project the Newsroom Cafe at the Register Citizen in Torrington, Connecticut, Digital First Media has announced plans to expand community outreach at a dozen papers across the country. Two of which are in California.

The San Jose Mercury News is going to hit the streets of Silicon Valley with a special van featuring an awning and portable furniture, so that it can create a “pop-up living room” with staff members leading classes and meetings. The Pasadena Star-News meanwhile will be opening up its newsroom on East Colorado Blvd. in August. Per a note to readers from editor Frank Girardot:

We want to show you that we practice what we preach. But, there’s another reason too – the Star-News is a part of your community – just like your neighborhood grocery store, your favorite coffee shop, or the place where you and your family worship.

Read more

The latest article is up at reallatimes.com, a modest parody website launched April 1, 2012. With a headline that makes the destination’s Onion-esque intent perfectly clear: “Local Resident Contemplating Adding Avocado To Sandwich For $1.”

The wishes-to-remain-anonymous (for now) owner tells FishbowlLA via email that all it cost to start the online joke sheet was a $7.99 payment to godaddy.com. “For the most part, it’s a one-person operation,” Mr. X says. “Though on some days, it’s a zero-person operation.”

Along with the fact that an Internet publication can be launched today for the same price as a real-world avocado enhanced sandwich, there’s also this dagger. “I have absolutely no prior professional experience as a journalist,” our mystery man reveals. “But that’s what makes this country great… Look at Arianna Huffington.”

Read more

The Los Angeles Times saw a 1.9 percent increase in circulation from last year, according to Tuesday’s report by the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

The total average circulation for the LAT is 616,575 as of March 31, compared to 605,244 last March. It also passed the New York Daily News in circulation and is now the fourth-largest newspaper in the country.

Below are the Top 10 newspapers by circulation:

1)WALL STREET JOURNAL 2,118,315 +0.02%
2)USA TODAY 1,817,446 -0.64%
3)NEW YORK TIMES 1,586,757 +73.05%
4)LOS ANGELES TIMES 616,575 +1.87%
5)NEW YORK DAILY NEWS 579,636 +9.17%
6)SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS 575,786 -0.32%
7)NEW YORK POST 555,327 +6.21%
8)WASHINGTON POST 507,615 -7.84%
9)CHICAGO SUN-TIMES 422,335 +0.70%
10)CHICAGO TRIBUNE 414,590 -5.17%

[H/T LA Observed]

But it can’t be found on the LA Weekly website. The issue is available for download through Los Angeles magazine, thanks to editor Mary Melton, who scanned the May 8, 1992 issue after the LA Weekly claimed the paper hadn’t covered the riots 20 years ago.

   

To date, the aforementioned LA Weekly blog post remains fiercely critical of the paper’s coverage in ’92, despite the revelation that they missed an entire issue dedicated to the riots, one they confess to not having read. Why a newspaper would choose trashing its own legacy over re-writing a blog post is beyond us.

Read more

Long before my days as co-editor of FishbowlLA, I spent my Saturday afternoons at L.A. Youth, a newspaper for teens, by teens. It was during these weekly meetings with my peers from schools all across Los Angeles that I realized I wanted to pursue journalism as a profession.

So, it broke my heart to read in Monday’s Los Angeles Times that the non-profit needs to raise $500,000 in funding by mid-May or it will run out of cash:

But as the newspaper approaches a quarter-century, it is struggling to hang on. The foundations whose grants have long been the primary source of funding have pulled out, and board members who once brought in corporate donations have been laid off, said Donna Myrow, L.A. Youth’s executive director.

Read more