Takedown of OC Register owner Aaron Kushner

[SnarkShark]

Sad, but I'm sure there are plenty of people ready and willing to say "I told you so."

http://www.ocweekly.com/2014-06-26/news/aaron-kushner-orange-county-register-financial-crisis/

 

[Riptide]

Wicked art, too ...

 

[MisterCreosote]

What's with the "Nice Shirt; Smug Mug" cutline on the first photo?

 

[LongTimeListener]

First they came for the massage ads, and I said nothing.

This story shows as much as anything what suckers journalists can be. Nobody should have believed his **** from Day 1 and yet everyone is shocked that it didn't work out.

 

[steveu]

I still think this could have worked out had he not extended himself too thin. It was one thing to do this with a single paper. To try and expand the empire across Southern California?

I'm not 100 percent cynical about this. Hey, at least someone tried something different. It ended up with the same result (Layoffs! Space cuts! Off with the heads!) but it was an experiment.

EDIT: Oh, and the hard paywall was a joke, as was charging readers the same amount of money to read the e-replica as if you lived in the area. Most companies offer the e-edition at a reduced price (even Gannett, which charges $10 a month at a lot of its properties as opposed to $20-25 a month for the print product and full digital).

 

[SEC Guy]

So, when does the Simers to the LA Daily News or ESPN LA rumor start?

 

[MileHigh]

First they came for the massage ads, and I said nothing.

This story shows as much as anything what suckers journalists can be. Nobody should have believed his **** from Day 1 and yet everyone is shocked that it didn't work out.

*Raises hand*

 

[WriteThinking]

First they came for the massage ads, and I said nothing.

This story shows as much as anything what suckers journalists can be. Nobody should have believed his **** from Day 1 and yet everyone is shocked that it didn't work out.

I don't think anybody was a sucker. I don't think anyone totally believed. I don't think everyone (or anyone, for that matter) is shocked that it didn't work out.

I think people were wishful, and genuinely hopeful. And now they're saddened.

 

[Songbird]

So should anyone believe anything after the failed JRC/DFM/Thunderdome and OCR debacles?

Whole lot of hot air and promises and neither lasted a year.

 

[BTExpress]

So should anyone believe anything after the failed JRC/DFM/Thunderdome and OCR debacles?

Sure. If you want money and job security, go into medicine. Don't even have to become an MD. Nursing, medical coding, pharmacy, MRI technician, physical therapy, dentistry, dental hygiene. . . .

Anything else, all bets are off.

 

[britwrit]

Just curious. How did it read at the height of staffing? Like the second coming of the Chandler LA Times?

 

[Baron Scicluna]

So should anyone believe anything after the failed JRC/DFM/Thunderdome and OCR debacles?

Sure. If you want money and job security, go into medicine. Don't even have to become an MD. Nursing, medical coding, pharmacy, MRI technician, physical therapy, dentistry, dental hygiene. . . .

Anything else, all bets are off.

Medical coding seems to be one of those fields in which a lot of people have been going to school for, only to find that there aren't jobs.

The others, though, you are right.

 

[steveu]

Bumped back to top rather than a new thread started...

Longtime OCR writer Mark Whicker has caught on with LANG. His first column appears Sunday on the Dodgers' TV situation in Southern California.

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20140704/mark-whicker-dodgers-tv-deal-has-turned-into-a-disappearing-act

 

[LongTimeListener]

Bumped back to top rather than a new thread started...

Longtime OCR writer Mark Whicker has caught on with LANG. His first column appears Sunday on the Dodgers' TV situation in Southern California.

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20140704/mark-whicker-dodgers-tv-deal-has-turned-into-a-disappearing-act

Just think, those kids in San Diego whose family got slaughtered in the desert will never know the joy of a full cable TV schedule.

 

[MileHigh]

Bumped back to top rather than a new thread started...

Longtime OCR writer Mark Whicker has caught on with LANG. His first column appears Sunday on the Dodgers' TV situation in Southern California.

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20140704/mark-whicker-dodgers-tv-deal-has-turned-into-a-disappearing-act

Should be noted: It's a weekly column, not three times a week.

 

[steveu]

Thanks for the clarification. I did see that when I originally posted this, but I'm happy someone landed on their own two feet out of OCR.

 

[Walter Lippmann]

Just what L.A. readers need -- another tired column concerning SportsNet LA. Maybe columnists should tell readers how to avoid MLB.tv blackouts.

If you read satellite TV message boards, dozens of customers are canceling DirecTV and Dish. Dish has already abandoned the New York City market for local sports. DirecTV also is working on a new deal with ESPN that expires this year. It still hasn't picked up the PAC-12 Network.

 

[ChrisLong]

Bumped back to top rather than a new thread started...

Longtime OCR writer Mark Whicker has caught on with LANG. His first column appears Sunday on the Dodgers' TV situation in Southern California.

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20140704/mark-whicker-dodgers-tv-deal-has-turned-into-a-disappearing-act

Just think, those kids in San Diego whose family got slaughtered in the desert will never know the joy of a full cable TV schedule.

This refers to a horrible column Whicker wrote nearly 5 years ago. Unfortunately for Whicker and the OCR, I wasn't working that night or this wouldn't have happened.
That said, having Whicker leave is the biggest loss to the OCR of about 100 staffers who have departed this year. Whicker could always be counted on to produce a centerpiece-worthy column on a slow day. He would write a column on the most important events and not duplicate the game story. He filled in on coverage that fell through the beat structure. He could cover a golf tournament and produce a gamer, notes and column every day of the tournament and have it all done within an hour or two of the final shot.
The OCR should not have let Whicker walk away.

 

[I Should Coco]

Having finally read the link in the OP leaves me with this question ...

What if people no longer WANT a heavy dose of local, community news? Maybe the reason newspaper ad revenue is spiraling toward nothingness is advertisers know people ages 50 and younger don't care about city council news, local sports, even local crime.

I saw a few issues of the OCR this spring and they absolutely bulged with Orange County news ... and looked great doing it. Apparently two years of that wasn't enough to move the numbers out of the red.

Maybe hyperlocal coverage is not what the average U.S. citizen of 2014 wants anymore. If so, newspapers really are doomed.

 

[SnarkShark]

Bumped back to top rather than a new thread started...

Longtime OCR writer Mark Whicker has caught on with LANG. His first column appears Sunday on the Dodgers' TV situation in Southern California.

http://www.dailynews.com/sports/20140704/mark-whicker-dodgers-tv-deal-has-turned-into-a-disappearing-act

Just think, those kids in San Diego whose family got slaughtered in the desert will never know the joy of a full cable TV schedule.

This refers to a horrible column Whicker wrote nearly 5 years ago. Unfortunately for Whicker and the OCR, I wasn't working that night or this wouldn't have happened.
That said, having Whicker leave is the biggest loss to the OCR of about 100 staffers who have departed this year. Whicker could always be counted on to produce a centerpiece-worthy column on a slow day. He would write a column on the most important events and not duplicate the game story. He filled in on coverage that fell through the beat structure. He could cover a golf tournament and produce a gamer, notes and column every day of the tournament and have it all done within an hour or two of the final shot.
The OCR should not have let Whicker walk away.

You are correct. Whicker had a really, really bad column with the "left the yard" piece, but there is no question to his value. He was a machine at the OCR. Pumped out more columns a week than anyone else there.