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"Each newspaper will continue to publish separate editions, although the District Weekly, a local alternative paper, stated the changes to the Press-Telegram "leaves it as little more than a bureau for the…Daily Breeze."
The Weekly also stated that "Long Beach lost its daily newspaper today" in a story about the changes, which noted that MediaNews Group fired Press-Telegram publisher Dave Kuta, managing editor John Futch and nine newsroom employees, then placed both papers' operations under the control of Daily Breeze publisher Mark Ficarra."
For the full story, go to:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/ar...
Regarding the recent layoffs and restructuring at the Press-Telegram I find it very hard to believe and highly unlikely that the Press-Telegram's editorial board has not received any feedback, positive or negative, from it's readers.
Since last Friday, five days ago, not one Letter to the Editor or a Speakout comment in response to this restructuring has appeared on these pages.
Has a deliberate decision been made by the gatekeepers of the Press-Telegram's editorial pages to not publish any of its reader's feedback on this now controversial issue?
It seemed to be a gang-bang on a well-known crappy paper (generally it takes me about 3-5 minutes to reat it at the library), but that's not the point.
Long Beach gets what it blindly allows to happen. We now have a congresswoman who represents Watts representing the bulk of the city in congress and a paper that reports on Torrance and the Valley that pretends to be Long Beach based, but is in reality to $$$ pipeline to Denver.
BTW, Bonnie Lowenthal, she of the divorced branch of the Lowenthal juggernaut, asked what happened to the archives. How come Archbold was not summoned up to answer those queries? I went by the building on the last few days, and the stuff being left behind was stunning.
Pay the Press-Telegram employees a" LIVING WAGE " comperable to living in Southern California, like 2008 not 1988. Invest in the Press-Telegram and how about standard provisons in contracts with the Press-Telegram. The one thing that is clear is that MediaNews understands $$$ MONEY $$$$ and you now have their attention because your speaking thier language.
That's been their method of choice for years. Offically, they rarely if ever lay off reporters. Instead they just wait for them to quit or retire, then freeze the position and refuse to hire a replacement. That's how the reporting staff has shrunk over the years. They can tell you reporters aren't getting laid off, but ask them how they've managed to see their numbers shrink by over 50% in the last seven years?
As for Archbold's statements regarding the web...I wish someone would have pointed out that they DID lay off web staff, and not only that, but the remaining web department is now handling web operations for both the PT and the Breeze. They barely managed to keep the web staff in LB as it is, and the head of web operations (who works out of Torrance, and outranks the PT web boss) has already made plans to poach video production away from LB for more Breeze content.
http://longbeach.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?v...
Is it because the LA Times unlike the PT would insist on independent objective reporting on local issues? The PT had become a propaganda machine for the LB Chamber of Commerce, developers, and special interest groups. The City managers have kept LB in a state of financial ruin so that any sort of development or land usage can be justified to benefit the power elite in LB.
Residents stopped reading the PT because it did not accurately report on their local quality of life issues and the editorials reflected current anti-resident sentiment environment LB.
First to understand what I look for in a paper: I’m a businessman and investor, and I want a real Business section, not 1 page! Also, my wife and I read the paper together every day, and we share stories that we read with our 3 kids, as we think getting and reading the local paper is a basic part of citizenship. However, due to your vastly decreased amount of news and new format, there is really only 1 section of the newspaper anymore, and we now have to take turns reading it, ruining our morning routine. (I used to give her the front page, while I read what used to be a Business and World News section). The tiny “Life” section, is not interesting to us, and we toss the Sports section in the recycle bin straightaway, along with the copious amounts of advertising. So we have to fight over the meager 12 pages of what’s left, in the front section of the paper.
The last straw for us was your removal of the weekly Wall Street Journal supplement on weekends. At first I thought I just couldn’t find it in all your advertising, but it’s gone.
I’m upset enough, that I bought the LA Times today, prior to canceling my subscription with you, and made some comparisons.
Long Beach Press-Telegram (PT) vs. LA Times (Times):
PROS:
PT has done great articles in the past on port pollution, which is the biggest issue this city faces (I have an asthmatic child, and one with chronic bronchitis, both of which are aggravated by the diesel exhaust and other airborne pollution from the port, and may actually have been caused by it)
PT has local editorial coverage, and should have good local coverage of other news, but this has declined drastically.
PT has political cartoons by Oliphant, commentary by George Will, and local humor by Grobaty, all three of which we enjoy.
CONS:
Times has 700% more business news than the PT: 7 pages vs. 1 page.
Times has an 8-page “California” section, that combined with the Business section, gives me something to read while my wife reads the 15-page front page section. (then we trade) We won’t pay much attention to the Times Food, Calendar, Sports and Highway 1 sections.
SUMMARY:
Times has 30 pages of what we want vs. 12 pages in the PT. Cost of the Times is $145.60 per year vs. $120 for PT, meaning the Times would charge us 4.8 cents per page of news vs. PT charging us 10-cents per page of news.
CONCLUSION:
We will be dropping our subscription, and moving to the Times. Even though we get the Grunion Gazette for free, it’s nothing near the neighborhood paper it used to be, and we toss it straight into the recycling bin when it comes on Thursdays. (Circulation is irrelevant if no one reads it.)
Ron Schweitzer
261 Roycroft Ave.
Long Beach, CA 90803
562-433-5225
RonRecycle@mac.com
Then out of the blue the publisher, who hadn't even been there a year, quit. I, along with others, saw the writing on the wall long before then and jumped ship. I wish I could have taken everyone with me.
The print media has been deathly ill for some time and they are mostly to blame. Dinosaurs who have not been able to adapt to new media, make a place for younger commentary and perspective from folks like those who produce The District, poor reporting that often is editorializing, and failure to admit their biases in an age when alternative opinions and reporting are available with a click. I like reading the P-T with my coffee in the morning, I like getting some ink on my fingers, I like being able to shove a section to my wife or the comics to my kids. I do not want to have to do this with the LATimes but alas once the P-T gets buried I will not have much choice. Yuck.
Someone please make Singleton an offer he can't refuse! As an avid media consumer I appreciate everyone's comments on this, many very enlightening for me.
The District, LBReport, LBPost, LBTalkback (which I think needs more input from community) are all great additions to the community of ideas, varying viewpoints and discussions that are only avaible through the internet. Keep up the great work and once again thanks for making this site available to everyone.
Huh? I'm confused. I thought these were right-wing rags. Sure they're not the Washington Times, but Times/Tribune is right-wing printing with a respectable name, right? right?
theres a vast left wing conspiracy to force lbrez to become a gay communist vegan atheist, he may be on to us thought with comments like that;)
Then again, this is a time when there are a lot of people in office who can publically threaten New Deal programs and somehow remain in office. So I can understand why you wouldn't agree with me on this one.
Hey, it's you! I've responded to you before! Why do I keep falling for this? Maybe you're the equivalent of a "secret shopper" but from the IWW, checking in with me to see if I give the right answers! Do I pass? Do I pass? Do I get an A?
im intolerant of the views that have ruined this country for the last 8 years. no apology forthcoming.
BTW howie how exactly has your life been ruined these past 8 years? Please present us with how you individually have been ruined, suffered, over the past 8 years because of "views" in this country. And I would not expect an apology because from our current and previous exchanges it is seems you may be a lip-service liberal, espousing ideas of equality and openess only when suited to your own ideals. As I said before, label those you don't like or with whom you disagree so you can easily dismiss them--how convenient for you!
Can't wait to read your list that has led to your ruination...
The fact remains that liberal papers would be covering issues such as the toll of poverty, as it relates to the rigid framework of corporate subsidies provided by the government. Or how federal policies serve to reduce social mobility in this country. Or how large portions of the government remain outside of the system of accountibility that the Consitution affords, in terms of congressional oversight.
Or how countries, such as our own United States, have been making our own laws subservient to the rules of international trade, such that states and municipalities (and their constituent citizens) no longer control their own natural resources.
It could be because many people in this country equate the Decomractic party with liberalism that you have assumed the NY Times has a liberal bias. Too bad, because these papers simply ignore all progressive issues altogether, except when they can do some feature human interes story about a poor person somewhere who gets a free motor to pump a well. Even in those cases, the global contexts are simply ignored.
Just because the Democratic party platform includes improving and leveling access to education and health care doesn't make it "liberal" per se (though that helps maintain that the party is, indeed, to the left of the GOP). In terms of the spectrum of parties in western countries, the Democrats are pretty much center and even center-right. In this country, there simply is no party that represents the left (though I admit that no such party would likely last very long in this country given that the news media are too biased to the right when it comes to progressive issues). As an example: back when Clinton was president, he gave a speech at some point about how the economy was thriving and becoming more productive "due to worker insecurity." This was roundly reported without any hints of humor or irony, let alone shock. Welcome to the present-day Democratic party, I guess. Those of us who are really on the left just have to swallow it and vote for them again the next time.
By defining progressive views as "outside" out political spectrum you do a a disservice to all those who are fighting to protect *your* drinking water, *your* working conditions, and the safety of *your* food supply.