You are viewing the archive: “Los Angeles Times”

Conservative Koch Brothers Circling Tribune Newspapers Including LA Times: NYT

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday April 20, 2013 @ 6:23pm PDTTags: Koch Brothers, Los Angeles Times, Tribune Co

NewsCorp.’s Rupert Murdoch and a coalition of buyers led by Ron Burkle and Eli Broad have been eyeing the Tribune Co. sale. But sources tell the NYT that Koch Industries, led by conservative billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, could have a leg up on other bidders if they make an offer for all eight of Tribune’s regional papers including the LA Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun, The Orlando Sentinel and The Hartford Courant. Apparently the Koch Bros are only interested in newspapers – not the TV stations – for now.

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UPDATE: Tribune Confirms Plan To Explore Sale Of Its Newspapers

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Tuesday February 26, 2013 @ 10:43am PSTTags: Los Angeles Times, Tribune

UPDATE, 2:30 PM: Tribune says that it has hired JP Morgan Chase and Evercore to investigate the market. “There is a lot of interest in our newspapers, which we haven’t solicited,” SVP Gary Weitman says. “Hiring outside financial advisers will … Read More »

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Tribune Prepares To Sell Its Newspapers: Bloomberg

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Tuesday December 11, 2012 @ 12:48pm PSTTags: Los Angeles Times, News Corp, Tribune Co

This process should tell us whether the money people believe metropolitan dailies have much life left. Tribune, which is expected to emerge from bankruptcy protection at year end, is looking for a banker to help sell its eight newspapers … Read More »

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Confirmed: ‘Hero Complex’ Blogger Geoff Boucher Leaving LA Times: “No Maybe About It”

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday September 10, 2012 @ 5:38pm PDTTags: Geoff Boucher, Hero Complex, Los Angeles Times

2ND UPDATE: ‘Hero Complex’ blogger Geoff Boucher tonight finally acknowledged he is leaving the Los Angeles Times. He said on Twitter: ‏

@geoffboucher: Interviewed Clint Eastwood over on the Warner Bros lot today…great way to go out.

‏@MYGEEKTIME: ”going out”? are u leaving LA TIMES?

‏@geoffboucher: Yes after 21 years.

… Read More »

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Source: ‘Hero Complex’ Blogger Geoff Boucher Exiting LA Times

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday August 23, 2012 @ 7:41pm PDTTags: Geoff Boucher, Hero Complex, Los Angeles Times, Patrick Goldstein

UPDATE: About 10 minutes after I posted this, Geoff Boucher tweeted about hanging up on me. He still hasn’t confirmed his departure:

@geoffboucher - Shortest phone call ever: “Hi. It’s Nikki Finke, I heard you’re leaving The Times.” “I’m not a fan.” Click.

… Read More »

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SHOCKER! LA Times’ Patrick Goldstein Writes Last Column: Takes Buyout

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday August 21, 2012 @ 9:03pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Los Angeles Times, Patrick Goldstein

Patrick GoldsteinMy sources say longtime Los Angeles Times movie columnist Patrick Goldstein decided to take a buyout rather than work for the new leadership at the newspaper announced earlier this year. “He felt there was no more future for him there. It was obvious since all the new people think about is driving web traffic. They’re trying to put everyone to work doing that,” my source says. Wednesday’s edition of the LAT is Goldstein’s last column for that media outlet. No public announcement was made, and my source says about the lack of any explanation, “part of his going away deal is that he can’t disparage the new leadership”.

Goldstein’s thoughtful and knowledgeable and deeply sourced column appeared in the newspaper regularly and was one of the few remaining reasons left to read Calendar these days. But over the years he resisted many attempts to turn him into a daily Internet reporter. His resignation follows Editor Davan Maharaj’s arrival and then a new entertainment editorial team announced June 20th. That was like moving deck chairs on the Titanic given that the newspaper has become lazy and irrelevant and its showbiz ads have fallen 25% every year as studio and theater chains abandon the publication.

Related: LA Times Business Editor Becoming Entertainment Czar
Related: LA Times Exits Longtime Showbiz Editor

Goldstein began writing “The Big Picture” back in 2000 but started on the newspaper first as a music freelancer and then Calendar staffer and eventually prestigious movie columnist. In 2007 he was the subject of an editorial flap when the paper’s then Calendar top dog killed one of his columns. In what now seems prescient, Goldstein told me at the time, “I love working at a newspaper, especially this one, but if we don’t start embracing change in a big way, there won’t be great jobs like the one I have much longer.” Read More »

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New LA Times Calendar Team: Business Editor Becoming Entertainment News Czar

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Wednesday June 20, 2012 @ 4:57pm PDTTags: Big Deals Film, Big Deals TV, Hollywood media coverage, Los Angeles Times

UPDATE: Los Angeles Times Editor Davan Maharaj today announced ”a new leadership team for one of the most important journalistic franchises at The Times”. Granted, this is like moving deck chairs on the Titanic given that the newspaper has become lazy and irrelevant … Read More »

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LA Times Exits Longtime Showbiz Editor

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday June 15, 2012 @ 3:46pm PDTTags: Hollywood media coverage, Los Angeles Times, Sallie Hofmeister

Assistant Managing Editor for Arts & Entertainment Sallie Hofmeister has been the person most responsible for the Los Angeles Times‘ lazy and irrelevant coverage of Hollywood. The good news for the newspaper is that she’s now been forced out by the recently … Read More »

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LA Times & Oscars = Irrelevant & Wrong

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday February 27, 2012 @ 1:49am PSTTags: Los Angeles Times

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Another Reason Not To Read LA Times Showbiz Coverage: Paywall Start March 5

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Friday February 24, 2012 @ 12:13pm PSTTags: Los Angeles Times, newspaper paywalls

Thanks to FishbowlLA for alerting me to this: LATimes.com will no longer be free. Today, the newsosaur Los Angeles Times announced plans for an online subscription service. It will cost $3.99 a week for non-subscribers. For this you get lazy and irrelevant coverage of Hollywood.

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LA Times Gets New Editor Without Warning: Showbiz Coverage Still Lazy And Irrelevant

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Tuesday December 13, 2011 @ 12:09pm PSTTags: Los Angeles Times

If it’s Tuesday there must be a new Los Angeles Times top editor. Not that it’ll matter to Hollywood since the newspaper’s entertainment business coverage remains smug, lazy, and uninformed. Editor Russ Stanton will step down as the Editor/EVP on December 23 … Read More »

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Casting Directors Under Scrutiny After Investigation Finds Convicted Molestor Hired Child Actors

By THE DEADLINE TEAM | Saturday November 19, 2011 @ 4:23pm PSTTags: Casting, J.J. Abrams, J.J. Abrams Super 8, Los Angeles Times, Movie Casting, Super 8, The Three Stooges

Jason James Murphy served a five-year prison term for kidnapping and abusing an 8-year-old boy near Seattle, but has been working for a decade as Jason James hiring kids as a casting assistant for productions including Super 8, Bad … Read More »

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Tribune Tells Bankruptcy Court That It Has A Plan To Finally Stand On Its Own

By DAVID LIEBERMAN, Executive Editor | Saturday November 19, 2011 @ 8:08am PSTTags: Los Angeles Times, Sam Zell, Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Co, Tribune Co Bankruptcy, Tribune Co Chapetr 11

It’s been nearly three years since real estate magnate Sam Zell drove Tribune to seek bankruptcy protection — the result of his disastrous $8.2B leveraged buyout transactions in 2007. But the broadcasting, publishing and Internet power says its days in the penalty … Read More »

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LA Times Layoffs Due To Movie Ad Falloffs

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Thursday July 28, 2011 @ 8:47am PDTTags: Los Angeles Times

UPDATE: The Los Angeles Times began another round of buyouts and layoffs extending into August. And all because of what internal sources say is a dramatic shortfall in movie advertising revenue. “Film advertising is down -25% under the projections for this time … Read More »

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Thank You, Los Angeles Times

By NIKKI FINKE, Editor in Chief | Monday May 16, 2011 @ 7:41pm PDTTags: Los Angeles Times

Thank you, Los Angeles Times… Now those are 5 words I never thought my fingers would type. And yet the paper’s Patrick Goldstein just wrote some very nice praise for Deadline in — of all places — Sunday Calendar.

“Finke has been joined by a group of talented reporters from old-line

… Read More »

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Tribune Co Makes Eddy Hartenstein CEO

By PATRICK HIPES, Managing Editor | Friday May 6, 2011 @ 12:41pm PDTTags: Los Angeles Times

Tribune Co today announced that it has tapped Los Angeles Times publisher and CEO Eddy Hartenstein as its president and CEO. The former DirecTV chief is an interesting guy, but it’s hard not to think of rearranged deck chairs, etc., since he is keeping his LA Times responsibilities and … Read More »

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