LA Daily News closing bureaus

The downsizing at the Los Angeles Daily News continues. The bureaus, if you can call them that, are closing in some of the suburban areas the paper covers. Once the newsroom is consolidated, layoffs are expected. Lean Dean working his magic again.

 

Gotta love old Lean Dean. They way he keeps cutting, he's more like Microscopic Dean.

 

Is this on their Web site? I don't doubt that it's happening, but would like to see some kind of proof just to be sure.

 

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2007/07/dark_day_at_daily_news.php

 

It was announced during the afternoon editorial meeting Tuesday that two bureaus would be closing and the paper would try to absorb the positions and offer buyouts. If not enough people take the buyouts, layoffs would be next. It's mostly newsside positions and photo. But it sounds like the cuts might trickle down to other areas of the paper, namely copy editors and photo desk positions. Less work leads to fewer positions. Not that we aren't stretched as it is.

 

Any more word outside of L.A. Observed that the LADN building has been sold to Hearst?

 

The building has been up for sale for a few months. I heard that it has been sold, but not to whom. We have been told that we will be moving elsewhere within the year. Van Nuys, North Hollywood, San Gabriel, Santa Clarita have all been floated as possibilities, but there have been no concrete details given to us.

 

Well, that'd be one way to reopen the soon-to-be-shuttered Santa Clarita bureau: Move the whole operation there!
My money will be on San Gabriel. Consolidate into one building with the SGV Tribune, then in time, put all of LANG's properties into one building. At this point, they're all being passed off as basically the same thing.

 

Great, run the Long Beach and Torrance papers from San Gabriel. That always works.
At least at San Gabriel, there's an In 'N' Out across the street, Artie's Pizza a few blocks down the way and King Taco (which has an armed guard) a short distance the other ways.

 

An honest question...
What could Hearst's interest be in the building? It's in a commericial area and would be far more valuable to a retailer. If I'm thinking of the same property.

 

Forgive me if I'm D_Bing here, but I've talked to two members of the Singleton Gulag in the last five days and they've both said the sports desk work is now going through San Gabriel. Agate, copy, slot, they're putting out the IV Daily Bulletin and San Bernardino Sun sports sections in West Covina.

One said it's the first step toward a universal desk and relegating those papers to bureau/vassal status.