Sorry

I left you without my snarky comments. But the newspapers seem to be getting a little boring aren't they?
Here is a little recap about power boxing, graffitis and gun shipping.

And The Pe Shrinks

Three more reporters are leaving the paper.
LA Lakers reporter Broderick Turner, who scooped the world on the whole Shaq-Kobe feud and trade, is going to the LA Times to cover the Lakers.
Prep sports reporter Gerald Tang is also taking off.
Finally, features reporter turned news reporter Amanda Strindberg is going, going, gone.

Who Will buy the UT?

The UT had this story about who will buy newspapers?
That's a great question. Maybe I should step up and take over. In all reality, it's amazing that no one would pick up the UT because it really has not competition and recently scored a Pulitzer.
A friend of a friend of a friend (good sourcing right?) said the UT has had some visits from your typical groups -- Singleton and NY Times. Would the paper change if either of these people bought the paper?
The next question is whether the PE is cleaning house to help bring in a buyer? That's the rumor and concern from PE employees.
(originally posted Sept. 21, I moved it back up at request of people who missed it)

Ants in the IE's pants

Ants, Fisher, and more southwest oh my.

SHAME ON YOU PE

The CAL completely destroyed the Press-Enterprise in today's paper and this reader is disgusted by the lack of journalism going on at the PE. Want to learn about my anger then read my review. Apparently the PE wants people to believe that if a murder happens in Temecula and they cover it with a paltry nine paragraphs quoting a PIO who isn't at the scene that's great journalism.
IT IS NOT.

Sunday writing football

Some highlights from the papers across the Inland area as a I sip my coffee. For the Riverside edition. For the southwest Edition.

Saturday quick hit

The man with one of the coolest names, Fielding Buck, did some hard hitting journalism. Yep, it’s a movie about a Chihuahua. And the little scamp is from Moreno Valley. I bet Rosco is really from Rancho Belago. No one that cool comes from true MoVal.

Good story Julia Glick on this tower of power. It’s Saturday, I had my pirate ale, I won’t go into details.

Did the PE really have to take the trend story here. A story about stay at home dads. This was over killed by all other trendy papers a year ago but the PE quoted an expert so that makes up for it.

Aaron Burgin you finally got one. All your relentless commission meetings and you came up with a nice story about Dr. Amy Bhutta. I am a bit ashamed to say I got my doctorate from the same diploma mill. You ask what my doctorate is in…Chihuahuas. I’m sure Burgin’s opponents tipped him off about this stuff but it still is funny stuff. Good job Burgin. Take a bow. A much better story than the hodgepodge thrown together by Aaron Claverie.

The NC Times Mark Walker has this story about a new review on the Marine who threw himself on a grenade to save someone. He was given the second highest medal and many believe he deserves the Medal of Honor.

In Honor

of Talk Like a Pirate Day I am not going to post since I plan to get some ale.

Thursdays

Do you care about marines, the metrolink, and budgets? Well the papers do so read up on the Southwest Riverside County mischief here.

The Times, The Sun oh my

Care to find out what I thought about the past two days?

The beginning of the week

The PE has lost staff and it's immediately showing. The Cal has started the week off hot and is devastating the PE in the Southwest Riverside County bureau. Come and see the review.

A quick take

I finally had time to read over Sunday and Monday's papers. I came across a few interesting reads spanning the PE, the LA Times and the Sun. Click here for the Riverside edition or here for the southwest.

Sunday Edition

Claudia Bustamante leaves us with her last story and some Jurupa woman is trying to censor the world. Read the reviews.

Saturday of Fun

Southwest Riverside County saw education turn to water, suicide memorials and a stolen Olympian shotgun. If you dare to care read more.

It's Final

A city official told me that Murrieta has a new reporter. Perris reporter Julissa McKinnon is moving to fill Rocky Salmon's shoes and Michelle Klampe is going to cover education. McKinnon is a bright, up-and-comer who should do fine. I have not seen enough of Klampe's work to make a guess on how she will do.

Business Press Editor fires off with Letter

Read this story on Gawker about Bob Dixon getting his buy-out a little early.
http://gawker.com/5048909/newsman-whining-about-editorial-integrity-promptly-fired

Mistake on Memorial page

I forgot to set the settings to allow anonymous comments on the Memorial Page. That has been lifted so everyone can post anonymously to their hearts content.

The Compare Game

Today the Cal and PE had some matching stories. Let me compare them and let’s see which ones we enjoyed most.
First off, Lake Elsinore is going to lay off employees.

The Cal’s Aaron Claverie ledes off with this:
A dearth of new home construction starts, falling home values and slumping sales tax revenue have forced the city to take the rare step of adjusting its $32 million budget for the year less than three months after it was adopted.
The adjustment, which could include laying off 10 or 11 city employees, is being proposed to help the city patch a $1.9 million revenue shortfall, city officials said Wednesday.
City Financial Director Matt Pressey said the shortfall is directly tied to the subprime mortgage collapse, which has dotted Lake Elsinore with foreclosed homes and saturated the housing market to the point where new home construction doesn't pencil out for many developers.
This lede makes the city look really dumb for failing to see this shaping up. But did Claverie miss the boat? see the rest of the story here

Mr. Aaron Burgin talked about the economy but then had a stunning revelation that Claverie totally avoided or missed.
The stormy economy and a "serious" $759,000 budget error may cost some Lake Elsinore city employees their jobs.
Lake Elsinore officials announced Wednesday they may lay off workers but initially said it was solely because of the sharp economic downturn.
City officials later revealed that on top of the economic woes, the city mistakenly underbudgeted its police services by $1.15 million, which was partially offset by $395,000 in grant funding.
Yep it appears the city made a nearly $1 million budget error. That my friends is horrendous and thanks to Mr. Burgin for throwing that up high. Good job Mr. Burgin. Take in his whole story here


In Showdown two we pit John Hunneman with John Asbury in the battle over the Hemet Ryan Airport expansion story.
Let’s start with Mr. Asbury.
Southern California firefighters will be able to use military air attackers for the first time once $19 million in improvements are completed to the Hemet-Ryan Air-Attack Base.
Plans were announced Wednesday to add 1,300 feet to the runaway at the Hemet-Ryan Airport and sink millions of state dollars into new barracks, aircraft and other firefighting airport improvements.
The lede is succinct and tells me why I am reading the story. Firefighters can use military air support because of this expansion. For the whole story click here

Let’s look at Hunneman.
For several days in October while fires scorched the Southern California landscape, tiny Hemet-Ryan Airport had the second busiest runway of any airport in America, fire officials say.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's air attack base for the region was overwhelmed, Calfire Director Ruben Grijalva said.
"We didn't have the ability to house all the firefighters, feed them and take care of the crews," he said.
With that experience in mind, state and county leaders met Wednesday at the airport on the southwest side of tow to announce a major upgrade to the facility.

I still lack that defining sentence. It’s long winded and still doesn’t explain to me why I should care. That’s too many paragraphs to get to the point. Hunneman you have been burned…by Asbury.

A new Page

I have set up a semi memorial site for those who are leaving the paper.
You can list their favorite stories, what you liked about them or what you hated.
Click to get there

Riverside Direct

LBJ ghosts, puppy love and skateboarding fools. Get the reviews here.

Tuesday and Wednesday

Southwest Riverside was busy. A new hospital was approved in Murrieta, Mr. Pennypickle came out of his elusive hiding in Temecula and skaters are taking over Perris. We also got closure on the terrible tragedy of two dogs locked in an animal shelter...without further ado.

The LIST

I have a list of rumored persons to be taking the buy outs.
Out of the main office -- Environmental reporter Jennifer Bowles, Higher Education Elaine Regus, Crime Reporter Jose Arballo, GA Gregor McGavin, military reporter Joe Vargo, and Arts department head Marilynn Odello.
Corona Office -- Jerry Soifer, reporter Paige Austin.
Temecula Office -- Murrieta reporter Rocky Salmon, Schools reporter Claudia Bustamante and editor Linda Woodbury.
Fast Food Dude Jeff Girod, Angels reporter Matt Hurst, Arts reporter Pat O'Brien, and business reporter Joe Ascenzi.
San Bernardino reporter Mary Bender, Desert reporter Steve Moore, photographers Amanda Lucidon, Ramon Owens, and Steve Medd.
These will all be confirmed tomorrow.

Weekend Wrap Up

Cargo trucks, tubers, and electronic gizmos Oh my. The PE had a lot on it's plate and most of it was a tad stale. The Cal was a Rani Gupta show. Time for my view.

Memo to PE Staff

My former colleague shipped this off to me over the weekend. The first part was omitted because it's typical corporate speak and the rest is excerpts.

...the VSO did not fully achieve the workforce reduction goal that was set to meet our business objectives at any of the operating companies. In order to reduce our workforce to the necessary levels we will implement an involuntary reduction in force in specific departments or work groups to be completed in mid-to-late October.

The reduction in force will be limited to the following departments or work groups:
· News, Production, the Customer Retention Cal Center and Al Dia at The Dallas Morning News (approximately 50 positions)
· News, Consumer Sales, Packaging and Production (excluding Pressroom) at The Press-Enterprise (approximately 30 positions)

These are challenging times that call for difficult decisions. Over the coming months we will work together to address the challenges ahead and focus on making a smooth transition to our newly-aligned organization. As we move forward, it is important that we all continue to focus on the areas that we each can control – our role in supporting the production of outstanding news and information publications and websites and serving our customers.

Thank you for your commitment and contributions to our organization.

Jim

Update on Breaking News

The Temecula Bureau will lose three people, two of which are reporters, according to a source. The names of which I will reveal after Tuesday when the names become public. Reporters are still bracing for a round of lay-offs. Thirty people from the Press Enterprise need to be pared down to get within the company guidelines. Good luck reporters.

Riverside and San Bernardino Saturday

Sean Nealon gets to the heart of the decrease in love for the sweet keys, Alicia Robinson writes about an unforgettable love between two dogs and Dug Begley writes about telecommuters. At the Sun it was all about cursing at a school board meeting and the writer even got to put "prick" in the paper. If the smog isn't smashing your soul then come read the observations.

September 6

The Southwest Riverside County papers unwind with a soft local section after dealing with school test scores a day before. Burgin wrote about an Elsinore Council man who was renting a car with campaign funds, Gupta updates readers about good news in the school district world, and the UT tells me where to go buy a home.
If you haven't been eaten by those bobcats in Canyon Lake then you can read more about my observations.

BREAKING NEWS

A former colleague called me about a memo sent out. So I went to the corporate Web site and lo and behold this is here.
From my understanding this isn't enough and the news section of some of these papers are going to get hit with lay-offs. That's the rumor I hear.

Voluntary Severance Program Is Completed
DALLAS, Sept. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- A. H. Belo Corporation (NYSE: AHC) said today that the voluntary severance offer (VSO) extended to the Company's newspaper employees in July has been completed. Overall, 413 employees will leave the company under the VSO -- 270 at The Dallas Morning News, 23 at The Providence Journal, and 120 at The Press-Enterprise. The total cost of the VSO is approximately $11.2 million, the majority of which will be expensed in the third quarter.
In addition, an involuntary reduction in force will be completed by mid-to-late October to achieve the necessary remaining workforce reductions. The expense related to the reduction in force is estimated at $2.4 million and will be recorded in the fourth quarter. The reduction in force is limited to the news, production, customer retention call center, and Al Dia departments at The Dallas Morning News; the news, consumer sales, packaging and production departments (excluding pressroom) at The Press-Enterprise; and, the news, editorial, advertising and promotion departments, subject to contractual obligations, at The Providence Journal.
The combined workforce reductions are expected to result in a savings of more than $29 million on an annualized basis.
Robert W. Decherd, chairman, president and Chief Executive Officer, said, "These job actions are part of a restructuring of our newspaper operations that accelerates the allocation of resources to promising new print and online products while focusing our workforce on A. H. Belo's local content creation and sales capabilities. We greatly appreciate the dedication and service of all A. H. Belo employees who are leaving the Company under the voluntary severance program. I'm confident that we're taking the right steps to realign our resources to meet consumer and advertiser needs while maintaining the exceptional quality of A. H. Belo's journalistic products."
A copy of the letter sent to operating company employees today by Jim Moroney, executive vice president of A. H. Belo and Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of The Dallas Morning News is available at http://www.ahbelo.com/invest.

Look for a new lay out soon.

I am currently negotiating to bring on someone to also critique Riverside proper and the San Bernardino papers. These will link to another blog. I also will link the southwest riverside county and san diego blogs to another section to make reading a little easier.

Bloodletting

As someone who was once in the business I still maintain my contacts. Per conversations with one of them over some beers this reporter let it slip that the Press Enterprise should be paring its staffing back by next week.
I have some of the names of people who streamed into the office to meet with the el jefes. I will hold onto those a few days although some of them will be shocking and some will make us newspaper readers sad.
In other news, don't go drinking with someone if you start telling secrets while drunk.

Sept. 3

The CAL
A pretty bland section today.
Nelsy Rodriguez had the vote on the initiatives in Murrieta. The PE didn’t even staff it. The PE forgot to do a few things, including the Temecula bicyclist killed.
The Cal had it. While it’s not shaking news both stories needed to run.
Okay I ran across the PE’s story on the bicyclist but its on the Web site not in the paper. Big Snafu there. Doesn’t that seem to happen more and more these days? As a writer who uses the Internet a lot I think most papers are using Web sites the wrong way but I’m not here to pontificate – nope, my job is to be a journalism teacher.

The sole story I found interesting was Rani Gupta’s on how much Temecula school district pays for sports.
It’s ridiculous how much parents are required to pay. After all, these teams usually do bring in a profit. The entire school funding system is broken. I say blow it up and let monkeys redo it. They can’t do any worse than our politicians.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/09/02/news/californian/temecula/zca512e6d366fd0f2882574b90013bc18.txt

Oh yeah. How many times is the Cal going to write about Tap Dancing Dads? Over and under at 10. Place your bets.

On a better note, I forgot to give Aaron Claverie much kudos for his panhandle story. Here Mr. Aaron Burgin here is your butt. Claverie just handed it to you.
I griped about how Burgin’s story lacked any actual person who would be affected. I think Mr. Claverie reads my site because he went out and did actual journalism. You are to be commended sir.
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/29/news/californian/lake_elsinore/z1836853c4bc25dc8882574ac006bc1e2.txt

The PE

Not much difference from the PE. The local section has a nice picture from a non-staff photographer. The story is short and funny – bobcats are in town. And who else wrote this little brite that put a smile on my face: Sarah Burge.
People reading this must think I favor Burge. You can’t favor brilliance.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_sbobcat03.3df7b63.html

Sonja Bjelland and Gene Ghiotto continued on with a story about Nazario asking for his job back with the Riverside Police Department. The lede should be way better than it is. It reads like a copy editor got his/her hands on it.
A former Riverside police officer acquitted of war crimes can apply to be an officer again, officials say.
But the city is in a hiring freeze, so it is unclear when he could actually start, said Chris Lanzillo, president of the Riverside Police Officers Association.
Why not lede with this guy’s walk to the police department? Isn’t that more exciting? More thrilling? Instead we get the words “Officials say” in the lede.
Newspapers are losing readers because good writing is disappearing. Reporters need to fight for better ledes and editors need to let them run.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_N_nazario03.49fcf85.html

The rest of the PE is relatively boring on the Local section. Jeff Horseman wrote about an upcoming fundraiser and a Pechanga Council guy dying in Denver. John Asbury continues his good work covering the Chris Kanton case.

The UT
The UT wrote a story where a state investigator slammed SDG&E for failing to take care of their powerlines leading to the Fallbrook Fire. Will the PUC act on this? Beats me but don’t the utility companies look slimy.
Intably recommended the utilities commission make special note of SDG&E's lack of cooperation and issue a separate order clarifying that utilities must “provide immediate access to witnesses, sites or any other evidence requested” by regulators.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080903-9999-1n3puc.html

Might Be Moving

The site might be shifting to another page for technical reasons. I will provide information and the link on here if it happens.

Weekend Wrap Up

Nice weekend to pick up your local newspaper
Let’s start with the PE, which does better regional news than local news on the weekends.
First off – Kudos to Leslie Berkman who writes the most important article of the region and one that other papers have been too ditzy to do. It’s about house cheaters. These are the people who buy homes although they own a home, so they can get a newer home at a cheaper price. Then they let that first home go into foreclosure. There is also another scam using relatives to buy a short sale home then handing over the deed to the original owner. Amazing stuff. She has people and realtors saying they understand and that they are just taking advantage of the market. This cop who is doing this should be fired. It’s illegal and it’s cheaters like this who got us into the foreclosure crisis in the first place because it seems the motto continues to be: everyone else is doing it why can’t I.
http://www.pe.com/business/local/stories/PE_News_Local_S_cheaters31.45b183a.html

Tammy McCoy sifted through some court documents to come up with another nugget of information on this alleged Murrieta murderer.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_E_jarka02.49205d9.html
Do these murderers not watch Law & Order? I don’t see how people can still back this guy. As the French would say “He is as guilty as sin.” Wait. He is allegedly as guilty as sin.

Gail Wesson covers an issue I find interesting – those animal hoarders. I can never get enough stories of reporters trying to describe what the reasoning is behind hoarding. I still would have like Ms. Wesson to interview that cat throwing lady from The Simpsons. That would also make great video.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_W_hoarding02.4920b45.html

Aaron Burgin redeemed himself a bit. Anytime you can get dwarves in the lede you got yourself a reader. Nice to see what out of the box ideas candidates are doing for publicity.
http://www.pe.com/localnews/lakeelsinore/stories/PE_News_Local_S_playdate30.476a1f2.html

There were some other good stories but alas there are too many to jot down.
Saturday was a great day for the PE in beating the CAL. Julissa McKinnon had a great centerpiece of dogs in Menifee. Jeff Horseman broke news that a power plant is being proposed near French Valley.

The CAL
John Hall wrote an interesting story about Murrieta residents helping out with foreclosed lawns. The real question I have is why is John Hall doing this? http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/08/30/news/californian/murrieta/z64ef6febb449abf8882574b4000727e7.txt

The Cal also did a story about summer season. It made for a nice photo even though a story wasn’t needed with it.

Please don’t get me started on the Cal’s Cyberbullying press release. First off, this issue is as old as camera phones so why continue to harp on it. Second off, this little package makes for a nice spread advertisement for the cyberalert software. I wonder how much cut the paper gets for subscriptions to this software? What went through the minds of the editors to think that this really was a good idea. Because it’s not. It makes newspapers seem biased and unprofessional.
Thanks for the black eye on the industry. I won’t even link the stories because the Web Site doesn’t deserve the hits.

Let us now play a game called compare two simple stories from Cal Reporter Nelsy Rodriguez to one from PE reporter Rocky Salmon.
This is a story basically on a report to City Council about three initiatives to limit spending and term limits. It’s amazing how these two come up with differing points on what’s the most important issue.
The Cal’s Lede (rest of the story is here)
A city-commissioned report on the possible effects of three initiatives that have qualified to go before the public for a vote indicated that one ordinance would put the city at a great disadvantage to employ qualified staff members and another could prevent lower-income residents from running for office.
The report, produced by Management Partners Inc., a San Jose consulting firm, will be the focus of a discussion at Tuesday's City Council meeting. After the three initiatives qualified for a public vote by receiving more than 3,700 signatures of Murrieta registered voters, the council voted to spend nearly $22,000 on the report before deciding how to proceed with the initiatives.

I am not a fan of big words. And Nelsy’s story is littered with words and phrases that she should have been changed to her own voice: “market share”, “it would not be a financially sound practice to base a salary or compensation package on an arbitrary income that fluctuates with the market,” Electorate, “Cap”…it goes on and on. Tip to reporters. Use your own words please because we are simple-minded readers who didn’t become lawyers for a reason.

The PE’s story is here
The lede is: Two initiatives aimed at limiting pay for Murrieta City Council members and higher-ranking city officials are littered with enough legal problems that, if they passed, could end up in court, the city attorney said.
On Tuesday night, the City Council will decide whether to adopt three initiatives without an election or send all three to a November 2010 general election. Council members had voted for further studies by city staff and a legal consultant after questions were raised about the legality of two of the initiatives.
The legal concerns were raised in a city attorney's letter and a consultant's study of the three initiatives.

Which story do you like better? While Mr. Salmon’s story was much more terrible than Ms. Rodriguez’s last week I’m giving the leg up to Mr. Salmon. The story is way shorter, complex words and legalese have been taken out and paraphrased and the first graf actually tells me why I care. Because those initiatives if passed would cost us taxpayers more money in more court fees.
That’s not saying Mr. Salmon’s story was the cream of the crop or Pulitzer material. But it’s definitely the lesser of two evils.

The UT
Why run this story about cities cutting services? Isn’t Tanya Mannes a little behind the 8-ball here? This information came out months ago and to run it now is silly. Way to be about 10 months behind your news Mannes.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080902-9999-1m2sales.html

Good take on the lights that appear during concerts. And by lights I mean Pineapple Express.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080901-9999-1m1weed.html?imw=Y&lid=mostpopular