Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.bonus From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: bonus Fri, Mar 13 1992 Date: Fri, 13 Mar 92 05:47:47 EST Message-ID: 03-13 0000 BONUS: Emotions fly at L.A. Times USA TODAY Update March 13-15, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network In a sense, the Persian Gulf war did for the Los Angeles Times what it did for the nation: The Times showed the world its best, found a diversion from looming economic problems and put off a painful self-appraisal. Now, amid southern California's deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression, the Times has found that its boundless growth isn't guaranteed and its reputation as journalism's "velvet coffin" is too expensive. WHAT HAS HAPPENED AT THE TIMES? Efforts by the Times (circulation: 1.2 million daily, 1.6 million Sundays) to slash costs have helped spark a drive to unionize newsroom employees, some of whom say morale has never been worse. At one low point in December, Publisher David Laventhol had to squelch rumors that angry employees had splattered his office with ink and rioted in the mailroom. He pleaded with employees to call him if they heard new rumors. "It takes only a minute and may calm the waters," he wrote in a bulletin. WHAT IS LAVENTHOL UP AGAINST? Laventhol, named Times publisher in 1989 after arriving from Newsday, has found it increasingly difficult to improve profitability. Key regional industries such as aerospace, construction and finance have taken huge hits - and so has the Times, the USA's largest metropolitan daily and traditionally Times Mirror's cash cow. The newspaper, which has led the nation's dailies in total ad volume since 1955, watched Carter Hawley Hale Stores, one of its largest advertisers, slide into Chapter 11 bankruptcy-court protection in February 1991. Help-wanted ads fell 50% from October 1989 to October 1990. HOW MUCH WILL LAVENTHOL'S COSTS CUTS SAVE THE PAPER? Laventhol estimates that his attempts to cut costs will save the Times $75 million annually, $30 million in newsprint alone. He has trimmed 1,000 full-time jobs, partly through an early-retirement offer accepted by 317 people. The Times now has 7,600 full-time employees, 1,100 in editorial. HOW DID EMPLOYEES FEEL ABOUT THE CUTS? With the savings has come discord. Employees were outraged by changes in health-care benefits, and the uproar persuaded Laventhol to create a committee to study alternatives. Amid more rumors, Laventhol had to assure the staff that no layoffs of full-timers were in the works and annual raises were secure. But in the newsroom, concern was heightened by the surprise transfers last fall of seven veteran reporters from the downtown newsroom to the Times' suburban newsrooms. HAS MANAGEMENT ASSUAGED FEARS? An emotional, confrontational staff meeting with Senior Editor Noel Greenwood failed to calm matters. Reporter Kenneth Reich, in a letter to other reporters, noted an "increasing lack of respect for the feelings and career needs of the reporters" and the "ever more prosecutorial evaluation reports." The transfers were "like going from the penthouse to the basement," says Tom Paegel, 44, who went from night city editor downtown to assistant editor of the twice-weekly San Gabriel Valley edition. HAS THE PAPER CHANGED AT ALL? Despite the internal wrangling, even Times critics admit the newspaper is better than ever. Most credit Coffey, who took over three years ago and has steadily changed the way the newspaper looks and reads. Coffey's Times is sharper and less apt to run the rambling, self-indulgent articles that were once the newspaper's signature. WHAT CHANGES WERE MADE? In 1989, the still-dense Times adopted a sleeker, easier-to-read look that steers readers through its pages with graphics, news summaries and subheads. New equipment will enable the newspaper to run up to 48 pages of color a day later this year. The Sunday magazine, a classy, meaty read since its retooling a year ago, still loses money but now competes for the same upscale national advertisers as The New York Times Sunday Magazine. WHAT IS THE TIMES' STRONG POINT? Everette Dennis of the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center at Columbia University and others say the Times' rich prose -what Times Editor Shelby Coffey III calls literary journalism - and its coverage of national and foreign news are the best in the business. At home, the Times provides local coverage for an almost unmanageble 45,000 square miles - an area larger than Ohio and twice as populous. Its 300 suburban editors and reporters churn out five daily suburban editions, two twice-weekly sections and one weekly section. WHAT'S UNIQUE ABOUT THE TIMES? The 111-year-old Times gives its readers gems that few other dailies provide - a column on innovation, regular beat coverage of smog and detailed stories on Pacific Rim business to name a few. Even the Times' coverage of itself is exceptional: Reporter David Shaw won a Pulitzer last year for his sharply critical look at the Times' handling of the McMartin Pre-School child-molesting case. The Times is quick to surround big local stories, such as the videotaped Rodney King beating, but critics say it still sometimes shows too little heart for gritty, local news. WHAT'S WRONG WITH LOCAL COVERAGE? "If they can do a good job in Washington and Sacramento, why the hell can't they do a good job across the street at City Hall? They're being outhustled by the Daily News," says Edwin Guthman, Times national editor from 1965 to 1977, now a journalism professor at the University of Southern California. The Times is loaded with columnists, but none captures the city's soul like Chicago's Mike Royko or New York's Jimmy Breslin. And notably absent is a distinctive female voice, like that of The New York Times' Anna Quindlen. WHAT ELSE IS WRONG WITH THE TIMES? The Times' entertainment coverage is a particularly sore subject. Coffey has been accused of going soft on Hollywood power brokers. Reporters had access to Oliver Stone's "JFK" script before filming began but were unable to convince editors to approve a story on Stone's historical revisionism until after other publications had hammered the film. IS THE TIMES PROGRESSIVE IN PROMOTING WOMEN? Coffey has tried to move women into newsroom management roles. But the newspaper's 2:30 p.m. news meeting, where stories are picked for the front page, remains a male preserve. Associate Editor Narda Zacchino is invited, but not required, to attend. Carol Stogsdill, Orange County editor, listens in by telephone. ARE THE TIMES' PROBLEMS ANY DIFFERENT FROM OTHER PAPERS? Tight newsholes and travel restrictions have been facts of life at most newspapers for years - as has the declining role of family owners. The Times appears no worse for the cuts. "Maybe we were spoiled, but we felt we were a cut above other newspapers," says reporter Ron Soble, an 18-year Times veteran who was moved to the Ventura County office. "The paper's as good as it's been since I've been there. Maybe that's their argument for all this." Bonus Editor: Michele Coleman. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 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