Archive for the &;Los-Angeles-Times&; Category
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Joan Rivers isnot 77
June 14, 2010
Last week, according to the local &;paper of record&;, the LA Times, on June 8, &;Joan Rivers turned 77, an age that makes her shudder. After all, for years, the comedian has put a lot of money and effort into trying to look younger.&;
Certainly the latter half of this statement is all too demonstrably true, as Rivers has in her campaign to not become Phyllis Diller became the poster child for repeated plastic surgery. But along with erasing lines, Rivers has erased her birthdate&;and the Times is complicit with this.
For Joan Rivers to be 77, she would have been born in 1933. This would mean she wasn&;t quite 21 when she graduated from Barnard College in NY in May of 1954. This is barely possible, but unlikely, especially as she was a transfer student.
More than 15 years ago, when I was employed by the National Enquirer, I did a &;clip job&; on Rivers, going through printed clips on her at AMPAS, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences library in Beverly Hills.
According to these aged clips, Joan was actually born in 1931, meaning she is now in her 8oth year, a prospect she no doubt finds far more insufferable than &;turning&; 77 (again).
I have to hand it to her; she&;s worked really hard to get the later date out for years, and short of pulling her birth certificate a la &;Kenyan alien&; Barack Obama, it&;s hard to prove.
Does it matter if a woman shaves a couple of years off her age? Probably not; I know someone who&;s half-seriously attempting to shave 9 years off hers. What&;s not OK is for the Times to just print it. What ever happens to &;If your mother says she loves you, check it out?&;
Tags:Hollywood, Joan-Rivers, LA-Times, National-Enquirer, uncritical-press Posted in Hollywood, Hollywood Follies, Los-Angeles-Times, tabloid-journalism | 3 Comments &;
EnquirerEligible!
February 23, 2010
A great injustice has been addressed! The National Enquirer is now eligible for a Pulitzer for its John Edwards coverage!
I highly doubt they&;ll win. Old battleships like the Pulitzer Committee (itself named after one of the greatest &;yellow journalists&; of all time) don&;t turn around so fast. But hey, even the LA Times links to the Enquirer now.
Quite a change from when I was ostracized at dinner parties for writing for &;that rag.&;
Tags:John-Edwards, National-Enquirer, Pulitzer-Prize, The-National-Enquirer Posted in Journalism, Los-Angeles-Times, National-Enquirer, tabloid-journalism | Leave a Comment &;
LA Times Links to Enquirer for John EdwardsCoverage
February 11, 2010
If you can&;t beat them, link to them.
The LA Times actually printed a story today not only &;crediting&; the National Enquirer with the scoop that John Edwards has supposedly proposed to main squeeze/girlfriend/homewrecker/babymama Rielle Hunter, but actually put a link in the Times story taking you directly to the Enquirer piece!
Perhaps the Times also has a dented Pulitzer or two lying around it can mail to the Enquirer to acknowledge its Edwards coverage, since the Pulitzer committee won&;t do it.
UPDATE: Here&;s the Times linking sentence: &;For the Enquirer&;s full article on the Edwards&; engagement, click HERE&;
Tags:John-Edwards, John-Edwards-lovechild, Los-Angeles-Times, National-Enquirer, Pulitzer, Rielle-Hunter Posted in Los-Angeles-Times, National-Enquirer, Politics, tabloid-journalism | 3 Comments &;
Me, Medical Marijuana and the LATimes
December 8, 2009
Another media blog recently took the LA Times to task for having &;at least three&; of its columnists write expose columns about how easy it is to get medical marijuana. Make that four LA Times writers.
I wrote this piece for the LA Times Magazine in 2007, before any of the other three. And unlike Sandy Banks or Steve Lopez, I actually smoked the stuff and commented on its power. Perhaps in these days of layoffs they&;re afraid of peeing in a cup?
More likely, they (and their editors) suffer a paucity of imagination. The tone of each article was the same; &;Wow, it&;s too easy to get a recommendation for medical marijuana. Now almost anyone can buy some.&;
Yes, like it&;s difficult for anyone to buy marijuana from a dealer. As I wrote in the story,
&;I forked over $50 for an eighth of an ounce. Later, when I told a friend about my purchase, he laughed and delivered the ultimate insult: &;You paid more than street value.&;&;
Tags:LA-Times, Marijuana, medical-marijuana, Sandi-Banks, Steve-Lopez Posted in Los-Angeles-Times, medical-marijuana, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment &;
LA Times Kills Las VegasBlog
November 5, 2009
Another day, another bad decision at the Los Angeles Times, this time killing their Las Vegas entertainment blog, A Movable Buffet, the only LA Times blog I read every day.
Las Vegas entertainment journalist Richard Abowitz had contributed his informed, well-written observations on the likes of Perez Hilton, Paris Hilton, (who he wrote was popular among Las Vegas club workers because she brought the crowds), Playmate Holly Madison (below), and his bete noire, magician Criss Angel of Believe.
Las Vegas was built on millions of people from Los Angeles coming to the casinos to gamble in the desert, and more recently to sample the fine dining and the many entertainment options there. Historically this has been a huge source of advertising to the Times as well, with many pages in the Travel and Entertainment sections. There&;s also a major crossover with the Hollywood lamp the Times is trying to steer its sinking ship by.
Obviously, the paper couldn&;t find a way to monetize The Buffet, so the handful of dollars the Times paid Abowitz and his photographer, Sarah Gerke, were seen as a cuttable expense item. Especially on the Internet, a newspaper won&;t grow by cutting off its fingers and toes.
Tags:A-Movable-Buffet, Criss-Angel, death-of-newspapers, Holly-Madison, Las Vegas, Los-Angeles-Times, Paris-Hilton, Perez-Hilton Posted in death-of-newspapers, Los-Angeles-Times | 2 Comments &;
Newspapers Cut Off Fingers andToes
April 8, 2008
Newspapers are now cutting off their proverbial noses to spite what remains of their face. Although every day brings more cuts, perhaps the most egregious in recent weeks was that of Village Voice dance critic Deborah Jowitt, who was fired but asked to continue to contribute as a freelancer&;after 41 years as the Voice dance critic.
A paper like the Voice was built on its criticism (and support for) the arts, like dance, film, music, and theatre (the Voice will host its 53rd annual Obie awards for the best of off-Broadway this May.) To cut back on arts coverage can only damage their reputation and hurt the arts community as well.
Certainly, in this bleak environment some cuts are necessary. But others are foolish. Last year, for example, the LA Times dropped its Sunday television section. While one can get listings for the next few hours on TV or on line, its much harder to plan one&;s viewing for the week, especially for those like my mother who don&;t go online at all.
I&;m feeling it personally as well. Right after I won an LA Press Club Award for this story, last June, the LA Times Magazine was cut back from a weekly to a monthly. It&;s rare now to see a freelancer&;s byline, as the Magazine has become a haven for LA Times staffers (also a fast-diminishing breed).
To add insult to injury, the Times magazine is now primarily about fashion and skin, two topics I know nothing about.
Tags:dance-criticism Posted in death-of-magazines, death-of-newspapers, Journalism, Los-Angeles-Times | 3 Comments &;
Target Sunday Ad Goes Online, Newspapers Die a LittleMore
March 24, 2008
Yes, it was Easter Sunday, but this week my wife wondered where the Target Sunday ads were. In another body blow to newspapers like the LA Times, the ad insert was only online. Yes, a few trees were saved, but at what cost to readers?
Newspapers have been dying a death of a thousand cuts, from Craigslist grabbing all the classified ads (it&;s hard to compete with free) and shrinking circulations and of course, vastly reduced real estate advertising. If Target and the other big retailers go away, that&;s a mighty big nail in the coffin.
Newspapers are also losing some of their best writers, whether they&;re pushed or jump out of the burning building. At the Mercury News in San Jose before the last round of cuts, reporters were told to wait at home by their phones. If they didn&;t get a call by 10AM, they could go to work.
Dean Takahashi, a well-respected technology journalist (who I know a little bit), put it this way:
&;I guess the worst thing that could happen is the business could fall off a cliff the way the music business did,&; said Dean Takahashi, a former technology reporter for the Mercury News, who left last month to become a blogger just before a round of layoffs. &;I worry that is possible.&;
As for the content, formerly known as the news, it&;s too simple to say &;it will all go online.&; Most people I know don&;t like to read longer pieces on line, certainly not on a Blackberry-sized screen.
If newspapers and the way they surprise you with local, international news, sports, fashion and more disappear, we&;ll be not a little, but a lot, poorer.
Posted in death-of-magazines, death-of-newspapers, Los-Angeles-Times, Target | 2 Comments &;
LA Times Finally Catches Up toMMQB
July 8, 2007
On June 15, we published an item on the Motion Picture Academy of America (MPAA) leaving its long-time digs in Encino and moving to the Sherman Oaks Galleria. On Saturday July 7, the LA Times finally caught up, &;reporting&; the move in a page two business section story.
I developed the MPAA story myself the old-fashioned journalistic way, moving around the city with my eyes open. Seeing “For Rent” signs in the courtyard of the MPAA offices, I contacted a spokesperson (who told me I was the first reporter to call), confirmed the move and published the item.
The Times taking 22 days to run big news on one of Hollywood&;s most important organizations is inexcusable.
I don&;t hate the mainstream media, or the Times. In fact, I recently won another award writing for the LA Times&; now-slashed magazine, West. But it&;s frustrated to see&;and try to work in&;what the Times&; own Tim Rutten calls &;the generalized collapse of confidence by newspapers engendered by print journalism&;s passage through an economically wrenching transformation.&;
Posted in 60-minutes, business-journalism, Journalism, Los-Angeles-Times, MPAA | Leave a Comment &;
Quote Whores and TrainedSeals
June 14, 2007
Every journalist needs sources for his stories. The three-source story is the model, although abandoned in this LA Times piece on Tom Cruise.
Let&;s say you were doing a business story on the new Apple iPhone. (A flood of these are coming.) You&;d interview someone from Apple (&;the vendor&;), an industry analyst for third-party commentary, and an end user, a partner like AT&T or a competitor. Story&;s done, on to the next.
Because reporters can&;t interview themselves, they cultivate sources they can get to say the stuff they want, or at least interesting stuff. They usually have to have some standing as an &;expert&;, such as a professorship or authorship of a book. Some of these &;quote whores&; are quite promiscuous in who they talk to, and often they&;re promoting a book, their brokerage if they&;re a stock analyst, etc.
Prof. Robert Thompson of Syracuse University is considered the king of media quotes: from 2000-2002, he was quoted 972 times in articles about popular culture. One poster calls it &;&;dropping the Thompson bomb&;- something you did when you needed someone else to say the things you were thinking. &;
At the Enquirer, we had a group we&;d call &;trained seals.&; Any kind of quote you wanted, they would give you; the standard &;honorarium&; was $250 per story. The best were psychologists, usually a clinical assistant professor or higher or a book author. They&;d earn their fee spending an hour with you on the phone, as you pushed them to explain &;how your favorite color reveals your personality.&;
Posted in Apple-Computer, Journalism, Los-Angeles-Times, National-Enquirer, Robert-Thompson, tom-cruise | Leave a Comment &;
Lou Dobbs Rips PresidentBush
June 13, 2007
CNN &;journalist&; Lou Dobbs attacked President Bush today on CNN.com for the immigration bill the President supports. Money quote:
President Bush is building his legacy, adding another unfortunate line of hollow bravado to his rhetorical repertoire. To &;Mission accomplished,&; &;Bring it on,&; &;Wanted: Dead or alive,&; and of course, &;I earned &; political capital, and now I intend to spend it,&; he has added &;I&;ll see you at the bill signing,&; referring to his own ill-considered push for so-called comprehensive immigration reform legislation.
I&;m no Bush fan, but I&;m troubled when a network&;s leading anchor foregoes journalistic objectivity to blast a President, particularly when that President is trying to address the immigration issue with a bipartisan solution. A current poll reveals that &;a strong majroity of Americans-including two-thirds of Republicans- favor allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens to become citizens if they pay fines, learn English and meet other requirements.&;
That doesn&;t stop Dobbs from dancing on the edge of paranoia, xenophobia, and yes, racism, once again.
In what other country would citizens be treated to the spectacle of the president and the Senate focusing on the desires of 12 million to 20 million people who had crossed the nation&;s borders illegally, committed document fraud, and in many cases identity theft, overstayed their visas and demanded, not asked, full forgiveness for their trespasses?
Illegal aliens and their advocates, both liberal and conservative, possess such an overwhelming sense of entitlement that they demand not only legal status, but also that the government leave the borders wide open so that other illegals could follow as well&;
Does this help CNN maintain its hard-won reputation for integrity and credibility? And is a ranting Lou Dobbs the face of TimeWarner that CEO Richard Parsons want to show?
Posted in Los-Angeles-Times, Lou-dobbs, President-Bush, public-relations-disaster, Richard-Parsons, Time-Warner, Time-Warner-CEO-Richard-Parsons, Uncategorized | 1 Comment &;
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