More from Lean Dean

[SoCalDude]

Heard through the Birdscribe Pipeline (a Class A Lancaster JetHawks version of the vaunted Boston Red Sox Moddy Pipeline) that the Long Beach Press-Telegram is whacking eight people from its sports department.

That would be eight people out of a staff of 20. For those of you mathematically inclined, that's 40% of an already short-staffed department disappearing.

Hard to fit that into my mental Samsonite. Then again, we know about Singleton's reverse Midas touch.

 
   I heard 21 people from the PT will be interviewing for 12 spots at the Breeze. That's pretty close to what you wrote.

[Mr. X]

I thought there would be interest here in this story on the Daily News, http://www.sfvbj.com/article.asp?aID=18625455.46493202.1594281.531685.2180365.974&aID2=122628, including news of its move to 53,000-square feet of commercial office space on Burbank Boulevard in Woodland Hills, that is expected to occur in September.

[MileHigh]

Heard through the Birdscribe Pipeline (a Class A Lancaster JetHawks version of the vaunted Boston Red Sox Moddy Pipeline) that the Long Beach Press-Telegram is whacking eight people from its sports department.

That would be eight people out of a staff of 20. For those of you mathematically inclined, that's 40% of an already short-staffed department disappearing.

Hard to fit that into my mental Samsonite. Then again, we know about Singleton's reverse Midas touch.

 
   I heard 21 people from the PT will be interviewing for 12 spots at the Breeze. That's pretty close to what you wrote.

No hearing about it; that's true. For the news and sports copy desks.

[Joe Williams]

Heard through the Birdscribe Pipeline (a Class A Lancaster JetHawks version of the vaunted Boston Red Sox Moddy Pipeline) that the Long Beach Press-Telegram is whacking eight people from its sports department.

That would be eight people out of a staff of 20. For those of you mathematically inclined, that's 40% of an already short-staffed department disappearing.

Bright side: Just think if they were whacking 40% of a properly staffed sports department, that would really pile up bodies.

[Joe Williams]

The bottom line is our idealistic way of thinking doesn't matter in the business world. The truth doesn't matter. Objectivity doesn't matter. The First Amendment doesn't matter. Money is what matters.

I don't like it, never have, but I learned that pretty quick. Bang your head against the system as hard as you want, in the end, what we do from our heart and as our passion is merely a way for the higher-ups to profit. Clearly, they aren't profiting from us like they were so we're the ones being sent packing.

When the profit margins were 20 percent and more, the suits put up with us. We didn't get between them and the country club memberships or the Bentleys. Now that those margins are down, down, down, they're going after the people who -- in their eyes, anyway -- simply spend the company's money and don't really bring in any revenues, as the bean counters measure those things.

It always has been their sand box, and they just let us play in it. Now, not so much.

[Sam Mills 51]

I thought there would be interest here in this story on the Daily News, http://www.sfvbj.com/article.asp?aID=18625455.46493202.1594281.531685.2180365.974&aID2=122628, including news of its move to 53,000-square feet of commercial office space on Burbank Boulevard in Woodland Hills, that is expected to occur in September.

That stupid point about Dean Singleton supposedly saving 10 positions originally slated to be eliminated is getting entirely too much mileage. Trying to paint him as any sort of savior is beyond laughable.

[Frank_Ridgeway]

No knock on Torrance, but how did it pass Long Beach in the pecking order?

[dragonfly]

I'm not sure Frank. But it's kind of been a slow bleed over there for a while. At this point, for the most part, the Breeze has stronger writers: Teaford, Collin, etc. But that's mainly because so many people have left the PT and those that are left are working so many desk shifts, they hardly get out in the field.

[SoCalDude]

RE: the previous 3 posts -- Singleton didn't need to lay off anybody, but floats the rumor 32 are going to be cut, then only cuts 22 and says he saved 10 jobs. How stupid does he think we are.
   Long Beach was a union shop, that's why Singleton torched it.
   Long Beach's Bob Keisser is a better columnist than anybody at the Breeze. Long Beach Frank Burlison is a better college basketball writer than anybody in the country.

[Left_Coast]

It's absolutely because Long Beach is a union. Lean has been trying to torch that thing since he got his hands on it 10-12 years ago. Now he's done it.

[Mateo]

Heard through the Birdscribe Pipeline (a Class A Lancaster JetHawks version of the vaunted Boston Red Sox Moddy Pipeline) that the Long Beach Press-Telegram is whacking eight people from its sports department.

The number you heard was close, but that's between both the sports copy desk AND the news desk. The staff is waiting to find out tomorrow who has jobs.

No knock on Torrance, but how did it pass Long Beach in the pecking order?

The Breeze probably saw what the P-T has gone through since 1998 and decided to get pro-active. The editors at the PT have been beaten down by years of having the screws put to them by Singleton. This will stem the tide, but I'm afraid Deano's not done yet.

[Piotr Rasputin]

If the Torrance paper is calling the shots, I would guess that all the Long Beach guys who they hire are really getting is a reprieve from cuts. When cuts come along again - and they will, knowing Singleton - those people will need to have really impressed to keep their new gigs over longtime Torrance/South Bay people.

[MileHigh]

My understanding is there are 21 people going for 12 spots on the news/sports desks for the Torrance and Long Beach papers.

[Piotr Rasputin]

Cuts came down today in Long Beach.

Some good people, and good journalists, are now looking for jobs. Some with a decade or more with the paper, who gave everything they had to it.

Hopefully there's a good reprieve period before Singleton's next large payment to the Church of Satan comes due.

[Claws for Concern]

I'm not at either paper now, and haven't in a few years now, but knowing those who are out of a job today, guys I worked with and had a great time working alongside, I hope they're able to find something better very quickly.

[Angola!]

Is there a list?

[forever_town]

If there's a list of people who have a special place carved for them in Hell, Lean Dean would likely be on it.

[Piotr Rasputin]

And once again, the little boy in Champaign can't leave well enough alone:

http://www.topix.net/forum/source/long-beach-press-telegram/TAREDQ26NMN8LIDJK/p2

[Mateo]

The staff from the Press-Telegram was able to address City Council Tuesday, to announce all the cutbacks and how it is bad for the paper. JUmp down to new Buisness No. 20 at about 49 minutes. Great stuff.

http://longbeach.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=12&clip_id=1937

The P-T lost our two prep writers and two copy editors. Our only pro beat writer lost his beat and is shifting to the city desk. That leaves a prep editor, two writers and three columnists.

[MileHigh]

L.A. Observed says there are rumors of a new round of cuts in LANG today and that someone in Pasadena already has been laid off.

[JJackson]

Heard that there will be layoffs today at the LANG Daily Bulletin in Ontario.

[MMatt60]

What I can't figure out is this: Why don't LANG and BANG give up the pretense and simply have one newspaper in the north and one in the south? (Well, maybe they ARE giving up that pretense, day by day.) What a mess.

[MileHigh]

Bill Dwyre in today's Times:

Finally, a sad goodbye and fervent wish: L.A. Daily News sportswriters Matt McHale, Billy Witz, Heather Gripp and Matt Kredell all were asked to depart their jobs Friday, as the newspaper business continues to scrape flesh off its bones. They were competitors, some friends, all respected.

May they all land well, feed their families and harbor lifelong bad thoughts about the people who did this to them and their business.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dwyre6mar06,1,7924069.column

[MileHigh]

Heard that there will be layoffs today at the LANG Daily Bulletin in Ontario.

Used to work there, so hopefully it's not going to be too bad. And hopefully it stops here and doesn't continue the eastward migration to San Bernardino.

[joe]

Used to work in San Berdoo. Hope the sports department fares well, and there are (were?) a lot of good folks on the news desk, too. I think I got out just in time.