1. Welcome to SportsJournalists.com, a friendly forum for discussing all things sports and journalism.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register for a free account to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Access to private conversations with other members.
    • Fewer ads.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

WTH is happening in LA?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Moderator1, Jan 19, 2018.

  1. Tweener

    Tweener Well-Known Member

    Absolutely. I don't live anywhere close to our newsroom, and it doesn't matter because I'm rarely there. Some people need to be in the office for meetings, etc., but this move shouldn't affect most. People are just reluctant to give up the benefits of being downtown.
     
  2. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    It’s L.A. Reporters are always going to reside far from the newsroom, wherever the newsroom is.
     
  3. lcjjdnh

    lcjjdnh Well-Known Member

  4. Fredrick

    Fredrick Well-Known Member

    Hilarious response from the editor. Translation: We don't give a shit about reporters' concerns. My gawd. They are lucky they have jobs. We will make the decisions and let you know where we're moving. If the reporters don't want to commute to Santa Monica, tell them to resign. We'd like to get rid of some more people anyway."

    I especially loved this part:
    First, it seemed to devote a lopsided amount of space and expense to lavish, penthouse accommodations for executives – including a game room and tricked-out helipad.

    Second, the proposal placed the journalists who produce The Times in cramped quarters poorly designed for the work we do. We appeared to have been sardined at communal work tables, rather than given individual spaces. Temporary work tables do not lend themselves to the craft and art of conducting interviews (often on sensitive topics), poring over stacks of documents, writing stories and jamming on deadline.
     
  5. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

  6. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    This was hilarious to see again this weekend because CalMatters (one of those news collectives did a big story on that exact concept.

    California freeways: How roads have affected state's growth

    Los Angeles native Michael Alexander remembers the days when the old saying about getting anywhere in Los Angeles in 20 minutes actually held true.

    . . .

    Today, that 20-minute rule is absurd. His wife, Vicki Kirsch, budgets five to six times that long to drive from their home northeast of downtown to her job teaching music at UCLA about 15 miles away.
     
  7. HanSenSE

    HanSenSE Well-Known Member

    When the business-types take over, all of these become real estate transactions. And most of these properties are on prime real estate. But how many reporters are rushing back to the office to file after city council (if they still cover city council on deadline) or the Dodgers game?
     
  8. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    Maybe it's because I have memories of it, including wandering around it, and, on two separate occasions, getting lost in it -- while looking for and getting back to the newsroom from the building's nether-regions gym for the first time, and while trying to make my way to the designated location of a severance-package discussion meeting once scheduled for those who might have been considering making the jump in the latest layoffs -- I can see and understand why this would be.

    What jr/shotglass said about the loss of identity is pertinent. This is the LAT. I could never in a million years have imagined it leaving that building. Even with remote-access work, and with it not necessarily making any difference where people are, or are going, that place is and was a base, a veritable beacon, for those headed there, or wanting or needing to be there.

    And, El Segundo? I almost can't think of a less imaginative- or inspiring-looking or -feeling place. Also, as I mentioned above, the current building already had a gym, and a basketball court (albeit an outdoor one, on the top deck of the parking structure), as well as a full touring process for schools and others who wanted to see how the newspaper was put together.
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2018
    Tweener likes this.
  9. WriteThinking

    WriteThinking Well-Known Member

    That said, I wish Soon-Shiong and the LAT nothing but success in this venture.

    I must say, the new owner sounds like someone my nephew, a techie with a biomedical degree who works for a Santa Monica-area pharmaceutical research company, would be interested in, and would even like, very much:

    "While he has amassed a fortune from a successful cancer drug, Abraxane, and built an array of health care companies that deal with artificial intelligence high-speed computer networks, he has been dogged by detractors. Scientists have met with skepticism his stated ambition to cure cancer by stimulating a patient’s immune system. And he has been accused of steering philanthropic donations to entities that do business with his companies.

    “I’m ambitious,” he said. “I want to cure cancer; I want to find a universal flu vaccine; I want to find the cause of Alzheimer’s; I want to figure out how to regenerate your tissue. That is an ambitious program.”

    My dad, and so, of course, my nephew's grandfather, died of cancer the day after my nephew's 19th birthday. We as a family always remember my nephew saying, back in high school, that his hope and his career goal, like Soon-Shiong's, was to discover a cure for cancer. We're all very proud of him, almost 10 years later, as he now works in a job that challenges him to develop the very reality he always wanted to establish.
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2018
  10. ChrisLong

    ChrisLong Well-Known Member

    There are only two things wrong with El Segundo -- 1: the name; and, 2: the reason it has that name. 1: It was The Second oil refinery for Chevron in L.A. so they called it The Second. Nobody wants to be second. 2: That refinery is still there and catches on fire occasionally.
    The rest of the city is pretty cool, on the beach, lots of big industry, thus tax income (DirecTV, Raytheon, etc.), close to LAX, I mean, really close to LAX. George and Ken Brett and Scotty McGregor are from there. Quality school system.
    The Lakers and Kings writers probably won't like it because they will be so close to the office that their bosses might suggest they stop in for a chat after practice. A world-class sandwich shop, Big Mike's on Main Street.
     
    Tweener and MileHigh like this.
  11. Screwball

    Screwball Active Member

    The Times does not own the property. When Tribune came out of bankruptcy and split into TV and newspaper companies, the TV company got the newspaper real estate. So the newspapers were saddled with debt in the deal, then charged rent to work out of their own offices.
     
  12. Tweener

    Tweener Well-Known Member

    I've worked in the building, so I understand. The move is unfortunate, as changes within this industry often are.
     
Draft saved Draft deleted

Share This Page