The billionaire who bought the Los Angeles Times wants a government bailout. He says this will support local journalism.
A look at the front page of his Sunday newspaper undercuts his argument. His newspaper covers LA with all the gusto of a kid eating spinach.The front page has 5 stories on it. One is about ICM, which represents Hollywood actors and actresses. One is sympathetic to illegal aliens. One is about the "shecession." One is about the economic boom in Nepal. One is about students going back to campus.
All are staff-written. None are about city hall because the LA Times cares little about city hall.
Only 6 reporters cover city and county government for the LA Times.
It has 8 reporters in Sacramento, and another 8 covering state politics.
It has 24 people in its DC bureau.
It has bureaus in Beijing, Beirut, Mexico City, Seoul, and Singapore, as well as bureaus in Atlanta, Houston, and Seattle.
City hall?
Where's that?
Bloomberg reported, "The owner of the Los Angeles Times is calling on the government to throw its support behind newspapers, saying the loss of advertising to tech companies and declining readership threaten local journalism.
" 'The government needs to step in a little bit,' Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire biotech entrepreneur who bought the Times in 2018, said in an interview.
"While a few newspapers -- like the New York Times and Wall Street Journal -- are thriving thanks to growing online audiences, many are shrinking due to the loss of ad sales and readers. The Los Angeles Times has about 240,000 digital subscribers. That’s far behind the New York Times, where the digital subscriber base has grown to 6.9 million."
His request for government aid fails on two counts.
The first is how can you be independent and still on the teat of the very government you cover?
The second is the LA Times just does not give a fig about local journalism.
If it did, it would not have most of its news staff covering stories outside LA.
Here's a thought, maybe if it covered city hall with the same energy it covers Nepal, people in LA would buy the newspaper and it would not need the benevolence of government to survive.
Next they will be asking the government to mandate the public purchase their rag.
ReplyDeleteGovernment propaganda is infrastructure, of course.
DeleteDon’t give them any ideas please.
Delete"...mandate the public purchase their rag." Like the British government and the BBC...
DeleteThat's how we got wind farms.
DeleteOur local rag-3 days a week.
ReplyDeleteFar left in Trump country propped up by OT Owner.
Slowly croaking.
“His request for government aid fails on two counts.
ReplyDeleteThe first is how can you be independent and still [be] on the teat of the very government you cover?”
Answer: As “independent” as NPR and CPB are from the Democrats on which they rely on to keep their taxpayer funding flowing.
For dumbazzes like “anonymous” who are unable to read and comprehend English - this means - NOT INDEPENDENT…AT ALL.
This rule of government support has applied for centuries. "he who takes the king's shilling becomes the king's man."
ReplyDeleteThe local freebie countywide newspaper that's thrown on my lawn every week used to be center-right, which is what my county is. A few years ago, the Democrats who run my state proposed funding local newspapers. I don't know if the law passed, but I do know my local freebie is now as blue as the NY Times.
ReplyDeleteIn LA and other lefty cities, it is too dangerous to cover the local scene.
ReplyDeleteI hope the government gives the LA Times a big fat subsidy. Then they can be fair and balanced like PBS and hire some straight-down-the-middle crack journalists like Yamiche Alcindor.
ReplyDeleteOur local paper moved 100 miles away.
ReplyDeleteThree dollars, are you kidding?! For a stinky, inky day old newspaper when you have a smartphone in your pocket?
ReplyDeleteI quit subscribing to newspapers because I got tired of paying for democrat propaganda. I don't want my tax money to do that either.
ReplyDelete"The billionaire who bought the Los Angeles Times wants a government bailout. He says this will support local journalism." He bought it with his eyes (and bank account) open WIDE, so he's just gonna have to "suck it up[".
ReplyDeleteLaser liposuction Discovering nightlife in Seoul is anything but a troublesome assignment. Wherever you go, you will see Koreans, expats, companions, couples, understudies and financial specialists celebrating it up.
ReplyDeleteAny day that another Democrat-media cesspool publication goes out and/or so-called "journalists" wind up on the street is a good day.
ReplyDeleteWhen you become predictable, you're doomed. They're going publish nothing but democrat party propaganda. Lie and die.
ReplyDeleteThe LA Times was a fine paper when the Chandlers owned them. That was a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteThe L.A. Times is controlled opposition against what the citizens of Los Angeles really want to read. For that, honesty is required. They're not making money because they don't serve the news needs of their city. The government should NOT step in.
ReplyDeleteThe L.A. Times is controlled opposition against what the citizens of Los Angeles really want to read. For that, honesty is required. They're not making money because they don't serve the news needs of their city. The government should NOT step in.
ReplyDelete