J.A. Adande seeks LAT buyout

i'd be surprised if the los angeles times allows j.a. adande to go. he's the section's first african-american sports columnist and he does an excellect job. i hope this doesn't mean more bill dwyre in the paper. as for steve henson, former long-time preps writer, he's solid. but the section can find someone who can do a better job covering the dodgers.

 

I just hope this doesn't endanger Adande's role on Around the Horn!

 

I wonder if legally you can offer one age group buyouts and not another.

 

I'm pretty sure you cannot. So what tends to happen in these things is that only the young, employable types offer themselves up for buyouts. The deadwood and the deeply entrenched mediocrities cling to their jobs for dear life, knowing they're unlikely to find another at the same pay rate. They may or may not be fired once the buyouts have come and gone. But by leaving many of the weakest employees in place, buyouts generally tend to have a further degrading effect on a struggling organization.

 

That's an amazing list of talent jumping ship.

Moehringer is one of the best writers at that paper, an incredible wordsmith and former Pulitzer winner, as are Iritani and Cleeland in business (noted). Frammolino and Jenifer Warren are really solid reporters.

If all those people leave -- and I can't fathom how all would be allowed to -- the further deterioration of what used to be the best paper west of Washington D.C. will not only continue, but accelerate. Already, the Times' circulation is below 900,000, shocking for a paper that less than a decade ago was north of 1.1 million. :'(

 

I am suddenly inspired to start either a "What are the best graduate schools?" or "How does one break onto PR?" thread.

The Times was such a wonderful paper when I was growing up. And its sports section was so full of information, with no stone unturned on local teams, or on national events and issues. Now it's being killed, not just by the changes in the business, but by out of town ownership who could give two shits about the great city of Los Angeles.

Is the Chicago Tribune going through something similar?

 

Besides the buyout, word is that many Times staffers are considering an offer to shift to 4/5ths hours and pay.

 

That's better than a lot of us, who do 5/4ths hours for 4/5ths pay.

 

Rumor has it Adande may be heading to the Worldwide Leader. Not sure of all the details, but heard its mostly NBA. It may be similar to what they just did with Jeffri Chadiha, part TV, some writing on ESPN.com and just be all over the place.