Singleton at the plate at LADN ...

[SoCalDude]

Linked from LAObserved to an LADN blog post from Gary Scott:


Friday, December 05, 2008
Cuts at Daily News (Updated from earlier today)
Ambiguous assurances aside, the Daily News is making more newsroom cuts. I'm told a sportswriter was let go yesterday and that one or two more staffers could get pink slipped today. There are also rumors of reassignments and further shrinking of the print product.

In a related vein, I've also heard rumblings that LANG is in discussions to have some of its papers printed at the Los Angeles Times' printing plant.

*UPDATED: Three Daily News reporters lost their jobs: prep sportswriter Gerry Gittelson, 11-year film critic Glenn Whipp and reporter Justino Aguila. That's comes in addition to the departure of Antelope Valley reporter Karen Maeshiro, who quit after the AV section closed. She was told she could stay on at the paper, but only if she commuted in to Woodland Hills.

I'm also told the DN Travel section will fold and that travel writer Eric Noland will be reassigned to the metro desk. Also, LANG sports editor Kevin Modesti has been reassigned as a metro reporter.



Noland used to be in sports at a couple of other papers and covered the Raiders before shifting to the travel beat. Modesti is a Grade-A newsman and person who had been running the sports dept. for most of the LANG chain. Wonder who is at the wheel now.

EDIT -- added to the header for less confusion ...

 

[DanOregon]

Re: Singleton at the plate ...

Anyone else think newspapers are now nothing more than the covering to keep the flyers and other advertising inserts together?

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Re: Singleton at the plate ...

I've said this before, Dan. The ultimate ambition of the industry is to print advertising only and still sell it for 75 cents a copy.

 

[hockeybeat]

Re: Singleton at the plate ...

Linked from LAObserved to an LADN blog post from Gary Scott:


Friday, December 05, 2008
Cuts at Daily News (Updated from earlier today)
Ambiguous assurances aside, the Daily News is making more newsroom cuts. I'm told a sportswriter was let go yesterday and that one or two more staffers could get pink slipped today. There are also rumors of reassignments and further shrinking of the print product.

In a related vein, I've also heard rumblings that LANG is in discussions to have some of its papers printed at the Los Angeles Times' printing plant.

*UPDATED: Three Daily News reporters lost their jobs: prep sportswriter Gerry Gittelson, 11-year film critic Glenn Whipp and reporter Justino Aguila. That's comes in addition to the departure of Antelope Valley reporter Karen Maeshiro, who quit after the AV section closed. She was told she could stay on at the paper, but only if she commuted in to Woodland Hills.

I'm also told the DN Travel section will fold and that travel writer Eric Noland will be reassigned to the metro desk. Also, LANG sports editor Kevin Modesti has been reassigned as a metro reporter.



Noland used to be in sports at a couple of other papers and covered the Raiders before shifting to the travel beat. Modesti is a Grade-A newsman and person who had been running the sports dept. for most of the LANG chain. Wonder who is at the wheel now.

Awful news. I've done some work for Kevin and he's always been a great editor and even better person. And while he will do a great job as a news side reporter, I sincerely hope that better things are in his future.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Re: Singleton at the plate ...

Wait until Singleton gets ahold of the Rocky, which he might because who's buying newspapers these days?

If RMN folds, that will give Singleton license to slash and burn in Denver. Knowing him, he's counting that down to the second.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Re: Singleton at the plate ...

So . . .you take a solid sports columnist (and damn nice guy) and give him the keys to the section. And less thn two years later, you make him a frackin' METRO reporter?

If there ever is a "Dean Singleton passes away" thread, I will likely post something that gets me an SportsJournalists.com vacation.

There is no curse in the tongues of men, elves or Entish to describe his treachery. He has ruined the industry out west, and ruined lives.

 

[DanOregon]

Re: Singleton at the plate ...

When I started in the biz, the goal was always to be "better than the competition." It may not have happened every day, every week or even often, but that was the goal and it kept you motivated. Now it seems the goal is to be just a little less crappy than the competition. Kind of like the AFC or NFC West.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Re: Singleton at the plate ...

Linked from LAObserved to an LADN blog post from Gary Scott:

Also, LANG sports editor Kevin Modesti has been reassigned as a metro reporter.

Noland used to be in sports at a couple of other papers and covered the Raiders before shifting to the travel beat. Modesti is a Grade-A newsman and person who had been running the sports dept. for most of the LANG chain. Wonder who is at the wheel now.

That's my thought as well. This sounds like a demotion. What'd he do to deserve it? (The possible answer "He didn't do anything to deserve it" would be a huge statement in and of itself.)

 

[Joe Williams]

Re: Singleton at the plate ...

I've said this before, Dan. The ultimate ambition of the industry is to print advertising only and still sell it for 75 cents a copy.

Careful. Sam Zell might sue you for copyright infringement.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Re: Singleton at the plate ...

So who's calling the shots in sports, then?

 

[SoCalDude]

Re: Singleton at the plate ...

So . . .you take a solid sports columnist (and damn nice guy) and give him the keys to the section. And less thn two years later, you make him a frackin' METRO reporter?

If there ever is a "Dean Singleton passes away" thread, I will likely post something that gets me an SportsJournalists.com vacation.

There is no curse in the tongues of men, elves or Entish to describe his treachery. He has ruined the industry out west, and ruined lives.

Linked from LAObserved to an LADN blog post from Gary Scott:

Also, LANG sports editor Kevin Modesti has been reassigned as a metro reporter.

Noland used to be in sports at a couple of other papers and covered the Raiders before shifting to the travel beat. Modesti is a Grade-A newsman and person who had been running the sports dept. for most of the LANG chain. Wonder who is at the wheel now.

That's my thought as well. This sounds like a demotion. What'd he do to deserve it? (The possible answer "He didn't do anything to deserve it" would be a huge statement in and of itself.)

You both are probably right, but maybe we oughta wait until someone in the know checks in. Maybe Modesti got fed up with it all and asked out of the SE/coordinator chair. Likely not, but maybe.

 

[MileHigh]

This is just a freakin' joke, but this consolidation thing has been that way for years now out there. The first consolidation worked so well, too, in the I.E. And now they demote Modesti. Mind-boggling.

And, yes, if Singleton matches any offer to buy the Rocky (which is his right under the JOA, though where he gets the money, no one knows), he's shutting the doors so he can get all of the JOA profits. Of course, there will be a lot less money coming in because there won't be any cash flow from the Rocky's advertising and circulation (there's surprisingly little overlap with people taking both papers, it's actually taking one or the other), but, hey, good luck with that 100 percent.

And Dean signaled yesterday on the radio out here the Post is losing similar amounts of money that Scripps claims the Rocky is losing, as in, $10 million to $15 million a year.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

This is just a freakin' joke, but this consolidation thing has been that way for years now out there. The first consolidation worked so well, too, in the I.E. And now they demote Modesti. Mind-boggling.

And, yes, if Singleton matches any offer to buy the Rocky (which is his right under the JOA, though where he gets the money, no one knows), he's shutting the doors so he can get all of the JOA profits. Of course, there will be a lot less money coming in because there won't be any cash flow from the Rocky's advertising and circulation (there's surprisingly little overlap with people taking both papers, it's actually taking one or the other), but, hey, good luck with that 100 percent.

And Dean signaled yesterday on the radio out here the Post is losing similar amounts of money that Scripps claims the Rocky is losing, as in, $10 million to $15 million a year.

The way I hear it, the papers in the region have deals with the carriers that offer enough flexibility to offer readers numerous options.

For example, one couple I know takes RMN Monday-Saturday and the Post on Sunday.

 

[MileHigh]

Well, since there's no RMN on Sundays, yes, you get the Post on Sundays. And if you take the Post during the week, you get the Rocky on Saturdays because there's no Post that day.

 

[playthrough]

Here's a take from one person who knows what they're talking about, sent to me via PM:

Basically, Modesti was reassigned because there hasn't really been a LANG for him to manage in the last 6 months. They hired him to manage the chain, then changed their mind about running it like a chain a few months later. Basically, it's 3 clusters now. The DN, Long Beach and Torrance, and the Inland papers. The DN supplies about 90 percent of the shared coverage. The other papers pretty much do local sports and use copy produced by the DN writers.

The higher ups still like Modesti, so they wanted to find a way to keep him around so they moved him to Metro. He's a really smart guy and seems to be looking forward to this challenge. My understanding is he will be a very high profile voice in the Metro coverage.

Gene Warnick and ASE Rich Hammond will take over Kevin's responsibilities. It should be a fairly smooth transition, since that's what he did for like a year before Kevin was brought in.

Losing Gerry Gittelson is a big loss too. The last staffer who was covering preps. The rest of the prep coverage is done by freelancers. Though perhaps the local sports editor will be writing more now.

 

[Tarheel316]

Dean Singleton seems like a real life Gordon Gekko.

 

[MileHigh]

This line pretty much sums up LANG the past 10 years.

They hired him to manage the chain, then changed their mind about running it like a chain a few months later.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

Dean Singleton seems like a real life Damien Thorn.

 

[SoCalDude]

I think "hiring him to manage the chain" is a little bit confusing. He has worked at LADN forever and was one of their main columnists. I believe they "shifted him to manage the chain." Regardless, still sucks.

 

[MileHigh]

It was a new position, is my recollection.