Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
The latest installment of "News Wars: What's Happening to the News" airs tonight on PBS — and Times publisher David Hiller sounds concerned about how his paper will be treated. He sent a memo around to the staff this afternoon suggesting they overlook whatever is said and look for a true read on the struggling paper at, yes, the LAT's new online travel page and The Envelope. I think I'll check out PBS, thanks. The memo:
Tonight PBS's Frontline will air Part III of their series "News Wars: What's Happening to the News" (KCET at 9:00 p.m.). The program focuses on challenges and developments in the news business, and gives a lot of attention to The Times. Jim O'Shea and I were both interviewed for the program, as were Dean Baquet, John Carroll and a bunch of other people. I'm told they chose, for whatever reason, not to include any of their interview footage with Jim and I'm not sure how many minutes of the hour and half I spent with them they will use. You may want to check it out.If you want a real look at the future of The Times - and have only a limited amount of time - I would spend it with our new Travel section and website which debuted wonderfully on Sunday. I would also check out The Envelope's glorious Oscars coverage, again integrated print and online; and utilize the new MYLatimes feature on our site to get a true gauge of what we are doing to be relevant to our region.
These things, these new things, are the way forward.David
By the way: Sunday's Cory Kennedy story from West magazine, rich with photos of the teenaged girl, has passed 900,000 page views at the Times website. "I will send a full report after it breaks a million," a web minion has advised editors.
Also: Ron Brownstein's move to op-ed announced today isn't the only upcoming shift in Times columnists. Rumors are swirling about Erin Aubry Kaplan's future, but Opinion Editor Andrés Martinez would say only "more news to follow soon." Plus there is now a deputy innovation editor at the Times; memo on that after the jump.
To: The Staff
From: Russ Stanton, Innovation Editor
Tracy Boucher, copy desk chief in Features, has been named deputy innovation editor. In her new post, Tracy joins Aaron Curtiss as one of two senior-level editors helping all of us figure out how to best combine our print and online newsrooms into one larger journalistic operation.
Tracy is uniquely suited to this challenge, bringing an intimate knowledge of the Features operation - literally from 1st Street to 2nd Street - as well as a different perspective from the production end. She wins high marks from both colleagues and supervisors for her outstanding news judgment, frightening organizational skills (she's making a list about something right now) and great way with people.
Tracy joined The Times as a copy-editing intern in Calendar in 1992. She became a full-time copy editor in 1993, in the Orange County edition, where she rose to assistant copy desk chief. She moved downtown in 2002, where she has split her time between Features (specifically, Food, Home, Health, TV Times) and the Metro desk.
Before The Times, Tracy was a copy editor at The Orange County Register and an intern and part-time copy editor at the St. Petersburg Times and Orlando Sentinel. She is a 1992 graduate of the University of Florida.
Tracy is a Florida native and by way of association a football fan, which explains her fascination with the powerhouse that is her alma mater (we'll be wearing lots of blue and orange, I fear) and which this year could beat the other object of her desire, the Miami Dolphins.