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Our occasional roundup of media notes from various sources. Follow us on Twitter between postings.
At the top
Revolving door: Alice Walton, who left the Los Angeles Times City Hall and newsletter beat late last year without saying where she was headed, has landed. It's outside journalism. She is joining the public affairs and lobbying firm of Ek, Sunkin, Klink & Bai. Title and role not specified, but founder John Ek says, "Ek, Sunkin, Klink & Bai’s clients will benefit tremendously from Alice’s journalism background and her knowledge of California’s media and political landscape. She will help the firm expand its public affairs and strategic communications practice, and provide valuable insight for clients with issues at Los Angeles City Hall.” Walton, you may remember, came back from grad school and started reporting at City Hall as the independent City Maven in 2010, joined KPCC in 2012 and moved to the LA Times in 2015. At the Times she mostly guided the Essential California newsletter and also helped out on City Hall coverage.
Local hire: The new managing editor of Zocalo Public Square is Reed Johnson, the former LA Times culture writer and foreign correspondent who most recently was a Wall Street Journal correspondent in Brazil. In 2007 he did the LAT's first takeout on Zocalo. "We're excited about his powerful understanding of culture in all its manifestations, both in Los Angeles and around the world," says managing director Dulce Vasquez.
Other moves: Former LA Times Washington reporter Jim Tankersley is leaving the Washington Post for Vox.... Jim VandeHei and Mikle Allen are hiring for their Axios venture... Jason Leopold of Vice is taking his FOIA forms to BuzzFeed... I goofed and left this out in December: Jen Yamato of the Daily Beast was hired as a film reporter for the LA Times Calendar section. The paper flacked this one.
Intriguing job: California Sunday Magazine is looking to hire its first national politics staff writer. The job can be based in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento, or Washington. "You might have a widely recognized byline or you might be a talented reporter and writer somewhat earlier in your career. Either way, your clips should show sophisticated, original reporting, a deep understanding of national politics and policy, and a knack for narrative feature writing. Your work should appear in national outlets known for high-quality reported features. You should be full of ideas and believe that this is an exciting time to be making media." Also this: "In everything we do, diversity is really important to us." More information
Remember the Menendez boys?: A two-hour documentary airs Thursday on ABC about the Menendez brothers, who gunned down their parents in Beverly Hills in 1989. "I am the kid that did kill his parents, and no river of tears has changed that and no amount of regret has changed it," Lyle Menendez told ABC News from Mule Creek State Prison. "I accept that." "Truth and Lies: The Menendez Brothers – American Sons, American Murderers” airs at 9 p.m.
Ratings swoon: Haim Saban's Univision has lost more than 45% of its prime-time audience since 2013 and "ended 2016 in unfamiliar territory, clawing to retain its audience and blunt the gains made by archrival Telemundo." One of the issues: U.S.-born Latinos typically watch TV in English — if they watch at all. LAT
A visitor from the East: The New York Times' Pete Wells reviews another West Coast restaurant — Locol, but not the original in Watts, the newer one up in Oakland. "What I didn’t expect before I ate at the branch here was that the big problem would turn out to be the food." NYT
Final end-of-year item: In his annual desk cleaning items that never got written, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin columnist David Allen came across an old article about LA Times machinations to block the Orange County Register.
Copycat crime: The Hollywood sign being transformed to say Hollyweed this week was covered all over the world. The copycat prank is harder to do now than when Danny Feingood did it in 1976 — there's a big fence and cameras protecting the sign. Feingood died in 2007 with Hollyweed still on his media epitaph, not happily.
WashPost oops: In the past month or so, "there have been three embarrassing and major corrections on three separate pieces from The Washington Post, all of which were critical of president-elect Donald Trump and his flirtation with the Russians." Mediaite opinion piece
Changing DTLA: Is a Futuristic New Development the End of the Arts District as We Know It? LA Weekly
First person: LA Times reporter Hector Becerra on his late dad, who came to Los Angeles from Mexico illegally and stayed to become a "red-blooded American."
Old and sick: Charles Manson, 82, is in Mercy hospital in Bakersfield where he was taken this week from Corcoran State Prison seriously ill with gastrointestinal bleeding. He's been in prison since about 1971 for the Manson family murders in Los Angeles in the summer of 1969. A fresh rehash. Noted: San Joaquin Community Hospital issued a news release Wednesday titled "Charles Manson Not at Our Hospital." Bakersfield Californian
News and politics
Democrats in the California Legislature will pay the firm of former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder $25,000 a month to assist with legal challenges posed by policy conflicts with the Trump Administration... UC President Janet Napolitano is asking for the first tuition increase in six years... Antonio Villaraigosa raised $2.7 million in the first two months of his race for governor. Donors include television host Ryan Seacrest, philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad and former Speaker Fabian Núñez... VP Joe Biden will do an event for Mayor Garcetti's reelection campaign here this weekend.
LA Observed on KCRW
This week's Monday segment discussed the upcoming reelection campaign of Mayor Eric Garcetti and some city issues for 2017.
Unrandom Notes
Medium is hurting and laid off a third of its staff... Busy freelancer: Mike Tierney wrote the NYT Rose Bowl story and the LAT's new year's horse racing story. His Twitter quip: "Writer of sports for...outlets that offer compensation and a light editing touch." ... The San Pedro Fish Market and Restaurant somehow became the 7th-most Instagrammed restaurant in the country... The coffee shop at the LAPD academy has reopened after renovation... Americans Eat 554 Million Jack in the Box Tacos a Year, and No One Knows Why, behind the WSJ pay wall... The Covina Bowl has been added to the National Register of Historic Places. But why does anyone care about the Triforium? It was a lame idea that the people voted off the island a long time ago... Center Theatre Group will hold a celebration in honor of founding artistic director Gordon Davidson on Monday starting at 7:30 p.m. in the Ahmanson Theatre... The Junot Diaz reading at REDCAT scheduled for January 13th has been postponed until Friday February 17: "Mr. Diaz received an unexpected invitation from the White House to attend a private event during the last week of the current administration."... Olympic track star Allyson Felix was named Sportswoman of the Year by the Los Angeles Sports Council.... Yosemite National Park is making emergency plans to possibly close this weekend due to flooding from expected rains.
