Why did I become a reporter again?

Oh right, to encourage the public's right to know, expose corrupt public officials and, essentially, save the world ---- or at least my local community.

But I gotta make a living too, right? Not gonna happen in the newspaper industry, it seems.

After an already difficult past few weeks for employees at MediaNews Group -- which included a freeze on our annual pay raises, lay offs and cuts to our 401K matching benefits --- us employees were dealt another blow today.

I was not so pleasantly surprised to receive a text message during my lunch break from one of my colleagues telling me to, "Check your e-mail ..... mandatory furloughs!!!!" It seems upper, upper management sent a memo to all employees during our lunch hour informing us that between Feb. 1 and March 31, we must take a mandatory one-week furlough to save the company money, and help prevent further layoffs.

First thought: "What the @%$^&!*?"
Second thought: "Nice of you to tell us AT lunch."
Third thought: "I don't feel so good..."
Fourth thought: "What, only three days notice?"

They say it's just another sign of the tough financial times. I mean, we're not the only ones, Gannett newspapers announced earlier this month they would be implementing the same measure for its employees, for the same reason.

Although, I have to say, sometimes I wonder if newspaper moguls are being opportunists at the same time? Taking advantage of cost-cutting efforts, and piggybacking on a faltering economy? Last time I checked with the Securities Exchange Commission, MNG's Dean Singleton was still raking in over a million bucks a year.

I'm not denying the rutt newspapers are in, but the question still lingers in my mind. Along with that other question about why I decided to slave away in an industry that forces me to take on a second job in order to may my bills.

Clearly, I'm no Mother Theresa.

Big changes at the newspaper I work for were in the works Monday. 

The copy desks for all of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group (which includes, among other papers, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the San Bernardino Sun and the Los Angeles Daily News) are merging and moving to the Tribune's West Covina office. 

Actually, they've already done it.

Bosses say the merge won't result in any layoffs, though to tell you the truth, no one seems to believe that line. 

Several of the copy editors I've talked to are just waiting for the guillotine to come down at some point. Their take: Once everyone gets comfortable in their positions, and the bosses figure out this universal copydesk can accomplish more with less, they'll take advantage of the situation. 

Typical industry speculation, and can you blame them?

Seriously though, despite what you believe, the merge WILL mean earlier deadlines for all of the LANG newsrooms to help ease the transition. It's interesting, because this notion of deadlines for the print product always brings a question to my mind: Why don't we ever focus on deadlines for our online edition? If we're moving in that direction, why don't we have an online organizational budget and then just worry about the print product after all is said and done? Do we really have to wait until all the stories are read and on the page to put their complete versions online?

Just one more frustration to add my to my list, titled: "Grievances from Employee #4323"

Coming home

Dean Singleton, CEO of Media News Group ---- the company I happen to work for ---- is in town today, though I doubt he'll pay a visit to some of his smaller publications.

We never know what visits from the head honcho will mean for our struggling company, which like so many other newspaper groups is laying off employees and cutting benefits to make ends meet.

Word is Singleton will be in Woodland Hills, at the office of the Los Angeles Daily News. Apparently, he pays L.A. a visit at least a few times a year, though I've never met him.

Since questions about impending employee layoffs are always answered by our more immediate bosses almost as politically as some of the state legislators I talk to everyday for stories, I wonder what Singleton would say if I asked him directly whether or not I should be worried about my job?

I should probably stop talking now.

Impending doom at LAT

Via L.A. Observed, (one of my personal favorites by the way) it looks like more cuts could be coming to the Los Angeles Times pressroom. 

Just another day in the newspaper business, I guess. 

Words to the wise

As news agencies - particularly newspapers - continue hacking away at their staff, reporters are increasingly turning to blogging to supplement their incomes, or at least feed their creative beasts. 

But blogging 'aint easy, and neither is gathering enough of a following to make a buck out of the hobby. 

So Scott Joseph, a restaurant critic who recently took a buyout from the Orlando Sentinel, offers some tips....

Tomorrow's news is old news

Its days like this that really make me stop and ponder the future of journalism as we know it. By noon today, if you hadn’t watched President Barack Obama’s inauguration live on television, you probably read about it on the Internet, saw photographs of the estimated 1.4 million people in the crowd via Yahoo! or watched Obama’s entire inaugural address on YouTube.

That’s the business of news today - today being a keyword here. The immediacy of the World Wide Web has and continues to change the way we get our news. It isn’t a day old anymore by the time we get the full story --- it’s up to date and late breaking.

Yet I guarantee come tomorrow, the majority of front page headlines will read something like this: “The dream realized,” or “Change has come” or something to that affect. The story will more than likely focus on the happenings of yesterday - the inauguration - instead of focusing on tomorrow - in-depth analysis of what lies ahead.

Now I’m not saying all news outlets are going to fall into this routine. But truth be told, some mediums just can’t let go of yesterday’s news and how we report it. Let’s face it, by the time we open up those newspapers tomorrow (if we even read the newspaper at all) it’ll be filled with the things we already know rather than the things we should be thinking about.

Let’s hope, for industry’s sake, that changes.

An NYT bailout?

Well, sort of.

Carlos Slim, the world's second richest man, is apparently mulling a $250 million investment in the New York Times Co.

Bloomberg reports the telemarketing billionaire from Mexico "may buy 10-year notes that are convertible into common stock and receive a special annual dividend as high as 10 percent on the investment."

Talk about a leap of faith. Slim already has holdings in the company, but if approved, this new deal would really bank on a turnaround in revenues at the company's flagship paper. Like so many of its counterparts, ad sales at the New York Times have been drying up despite the fact that the NYT is the nation's third-largest newspaper publisher and has one of the most trafficked news Web sites. 

An announcement on the deal is expected to be made today.

Welcome

Just a friendly hello from your blog host........

Welcome to The Pica Report, where hope and cynicism about the future of the news industry collide. 

I hope to feverishly keep this blog updated with the latest trends, announcements and forecasts in the media business. As an inside surveyor of the newspaper industry, a lot of my posts will likely focus on that side of the coin - but I'm not pigeon-holing myself just yet. 

The nature of news is changing, and I'm here to offer some insight - or at the very least, a few chuckles.