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Riverside?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Moderator1, Mar 5, 2009.

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  1. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Anybody know anything? Post or PM me if you do. I'm hearing shit I don't like.
     
    Moderator1, Mar 5, 2009
    #1
  2. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Damn. That's quite a list.
     
    Moderator1, Mar 5, 2009
    #2
  3. 2muchcoffeeman

    2muchcoffeeman Well-Known Member

    All right ... fuck all, I'm tired of this shit.

    Everybody call in sick tomorrow. Everybody. Reporters. Copy editors. Graphics people. Rim people. Slot people. Photo techs. Press room people.

    Everybody.

    See how the suits can cope with nobody to put out the part of the paper people actually read.
     
    2muchcoffeeman, Mar 5, 2009
    #3
  4. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Cripes. I've been hoping I'd been hearing wrong. Unfortunately, it wasn't. This is a staff that once numbered above 40 and is now near 20. They did some great things. Not great things for their size. Great things.

    Anyway, a brief detail of the carnage:

    Six more in sports out in this one. No more UCLA or USC beats there, both writers gone. Dodgers writer, too. Preps editor also gone along with a couple on the desk.
     
    Moderator1, Mar 5, 2009
    #4
  5. Angola!

    Angola! Guest

    40 in sports or the newsroom?
     
    Angola!, Mar 5, 2009
    #5
  6. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Sports.
    Paper's about the size of Richmond (or was). We had 29 at the highest when I was SE (and used to be bigger).
    Newsroom in Richmond had 178 slots when I left, though it wasn't full. WAY below that now.
     
    Moderator1, Mar 5, 2009
    #6
  7. Fran Curci

    Fran Curci Well-Known Member

    They probably plan to get their USC and Ucla coverage free in some kind of sharing arrangement, true?
     
    Fran Curci, Mar 5, 2009
    #7
  8. Riddick

    Riddick Active Member

    How do papers say they're aiming for more local coverage, but keep getting rid of their preps staff? I'm not saying the preps editor is the most important position at any shop, but preps is about as local as it gets.
     
    Riddick, Mar 6, 2009
    #8
  9. MileHigh

    MileHigh Moderator Staff Member

    This is just sick. SICK.

    I grew up in this area. Lived there for 30 years. Read that paper a lot. Battled with them during my many years to the north in San Bernardino. And after MediaNews came into the I.E., there was a mass exodus to the P-E. During one month after MediaNews took over The Sun, there were 30 departures in the newsroom. Most to Riverside, which had just started its push across the county line.

    I know lots of people in Riverside, and this is amazing. With the way LANG has handled the papers in the I.E., the P-E could have owned the entire market, from La Verne to Banning to Temecula.

    As for content sharing, yeah, don't know who would do that. MediaNews already is sharing beat coverage with Orange County. The Times, as noted, probably won't be helping.

    Nearly a year ago, PaulO wrote about the Sun-P-E newspaper war, and declared Riverside the winner.

    http://www.oberjuerge.com/?p=136

    This is a HUGE market. There are more than 3 million people east of Kellogg Hill. And seeing major cutbacks like this is sad and sickening.
     
    MileHigh, Mar 6, 2009
    #9
  10. steveu

    steveu Well-Known Member

    I agree. Riverside was a pretty good kick-ass paper for people in the Inland Valley area. I thought it held its own with Los Angeles when I was out there a couple years ago. Now? I'd have to reserve judgment until I saw the paper, but I gotta believe the product's gonna look much worse.
     
    steveu, Mar 6, 2009
    #10
  11. MTM

    MTM Well-Known Member

    I wonder if they will go to a fulltime stringer for USC, UCLA and Dodgers, like they do for hockey.
    LA Times recently added a fulltime hockey stringer, as well.
    Perhaps their Angels reporter will pick up Dodger home games, too.
    They recently watered down the local news coverage, spreading out their zones to give local readers a lot of news from nearby communities they don't care about.
    There's not going to be much reason to buy that paper pretty soon.
     
    MTM, Mar 6, 2009
    #11
  12. Birdscribe

    Birdscribe Active Member

    As Moddy pointed out, this used to be one of the best papers for its size in the country. They covered the crap out of Riverside County, zoning seven editions from the desert to the city proper.

    I know this, because I worked there as a glorified part-timer (36 hours a week) for nearly 5 years, covering everything under the sun there. It's the first paper I worked at and one of the two best papers I worked at.

    Their staff was one of the best, most versatile and dynamic staffs you'll ever find. Their news side covered one of the largest counties in the country like you'd cover a small city. They did the profession proud across the board.

    Like MileHigh, I grew up out there. And like Mile, I am sickened and appalled at the way the suits are writing off one of the major growth areas in the country.

    To quote the Prophet Lewis Black... "Is anyone FUCKING home?"
     
    Birdscribe, Mar 6, 2009
    #12
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