Morning Buzz

Morning Buzz: Monday media notes

Richard Rushfield has left BuzzFeed less than six months after opening the site's Los Angeles bureau and writing, "I am beyond thrilled about this opportunity." This weekend he tells Fishbowl LA: "Wasn’t the right fit in the end."

oc-register.jpgRaised eyebrows over the OC Register's partnership with three Orange County colleges and what the schools get for their $275,000. LAT

Meanwhile, the Register's new web paywall will also be selective about reader comments. Register, OC Weekly

Columnist Shawn Hubler cheers the latest media developments on her home turf of Orange County. Orange Coast

The Hollywood Reporter admitted to stealing code from Penske Media Corporation, parent company of rival publications Deadline Hollywood and Variety, as part of a recent settlement the two companies reached to end their year-and-a-half-old legal dispute. The Wrap

Sandi Gibbons talks about her years as the spokeswoman for LA's district attorneys. DN

The Pasadena City College administration has placed the faculty advisor for the student newspaper The Courier on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into an undisclosed misconduct allegation — "increasing anxieties on the already sharply divided campus." Pasadena Sun

Writer Anne Lamott on her year on Match.com. Salon

Former LA Times photographers Joel Lugavere and Ken Lubas received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Press Photographers Assn. of Greater Los Angeles. More winners

Carina Chocano writes a modest proposal for more back-stabbing in preschool. NYT Magazine


Catching up on obits

Phil Ramone, a prolific record producer and engineer who worked with some of the biggest music stars of the last 50 years, including Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon, Billy Joel and Barbra Streisand, died on Saturday in Manhattan. He was 79. NYT

Fay Kanin, the former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and vice president of the Writers Guild, died March 27 at her home in Santa Monica. She was 95.

Paul Williams, who began the influential Crawdaddy! music magazine while a student at Swarthmore College, died of complications from a 1995 brain injury. He was 64. Williams wrote more than 25 books and was the literary executor of the Philip K. Dick estate. Rolling Stone, LAT

Don Payne, a scriptwriter who worked on 12 episodes of “The Simpsons” and movie blockbusters including “Thor,” died of sarcoma on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 48. NYT

Christa Speck, a model and actress who was Playboy Magazine's Playmate of the Month in September 1961 and Playmate of the Year in 1962, died March 22 at age 70. She was married to television producer Marty Krofft.


More by Kevin Roderick:
'In on merit' at USC
Read the memo: LA Times hires again
Read the memo: LA Times losing big on search traffic
Google taking over LA's deadest shopping mall
Gustavo Arellano, many others join LA Times staff
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Let's talk about anything but the weather
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Morning Buzz: Wednesday 4.16.14