September 28, 2007 News

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE WORST KIND WITH TV REPORTERS

I had an annoying experience with a KABC TV News reporter recently when she came to interview a celeb for Eyewitness News at one of my client's events. Among her, uh, questionable and certainly unprofessional actions were bringing her mother along ("she's my producer"), asking for tickets to the performance on the spot for both of them, demanding to be allowed into the venue because they were both hungry and needed to eat, behaving inappropriately aggressively toward another artist's representative to try to get him to grant a filming request, and on and on. (The cameraman, on the other hand, was highly professionally).

Anyway, I thought that was bad, but here's another story from photographer Daniel Evans' blog about a clueless KCBS/KCAL reporter that pretty much tops mine in terms of things that count in the long run.

Thanks to LA Observed for pointing out this story.

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Ginny Chien departed Angeleno earlier this month, and an auto-reply email says to contact Editor Degen Pener for celeb pitches (dpener@modernluxury.com) and Gary Baum ("he'll point you in the right direction" for everything else) (gbaum@modernluxury.com)

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PR Media Moves is going on semi-vacation for a few weeks, although I'll post if there's urgent news. Remember to send any tips my way: laura.stegman@hotmail.com

Variety.com's Laura Repstad moves to Premiere.com on Monday, continuing "to cover film and celebrity," she says, "so let me know what you and your clients are up to." Reach her at 5670 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 500, Los Angeles, CA 90036. lrepstad@premiere.com

Her email directs Variety pitches for the following to the following:

Stylephile: Mia McNiece: mia.mcniece@variety.com

Calendar: Elsa Bertet: elsa.bertet@variety.com

Pushy Questions: Erin Maxwell: erin.maxwell@variety.com or Byron Perry: Byron.Perry@variety.com

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HOW TO PITCH CIUDAD MAGAZINE

Editor-in-Chief Oscar Garza (ogarza@ciudadmag.com) oversees magazine development and handles cultural arts, entertainment, politics and current affairs, with about three months lead time.

Deputy Editor/Style Editor is Anna Lisa Raya (araya@ciudadmag.com) gets anything fashion related. She also manages the dining upfront sections (the later titled El Centro, which covers local tidbits, personalities and new products).

Music is handled by Staff Writer Dennis Romero (dromero@ciudadmag.com) and Garza.

Calendar listings and online features should be submitted to edit@ciudadmag.com. Submit 12 weeks out for the magazine and 3 weeks ahead for the online calendar.

Thanks to Director of Marketing and Promotions Michael Montanez for the info, which also included this from him: "Our publication is the second largest magazine in town with a readership of 345,000, and THE largest Latino consumer lifestyle glossy in L.A. The publication is written completely in English, but features personalities and stories that remain relevant to the Latino community. I share this because not too many publicists will understand the magnitude of the magazine and will often start cold calling without researching the publication. I hope this helps."

Indeed!

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DailyCandy introduces DailyCandyKids in New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

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Next September, the Wall Street Journal debuts "Pursuits," a monthly lifestyle magazine. Read all about it here.

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The fabled New York Times web site opens to all readers, not just subscribers, and its archives from 1987 to the present are now available without charge, as are those from 1851 to 1922, which are in the public domain. According to this story, there will be charges for some material from the period 1923 to 1986, but some will be free. No explanation as to why THAT period of time remains cone-of-silenced.

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KBIG FM becomes "104.3 MY fm," and according to this story is playing a mix of contemporary adult hits by artists such as Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Kelly Clarkson, John Mayer, Shakira, Bon Jovi and Christina Aguilera. Charlie Tuna is no longer hosting the morning show.

September 13, 2007 News

LA Observed gets it… more plain vanilla from the LA Newspaper Group as the Daily News, Daily Breeze and Long Beach Press Telegram are planning to share NEWS content pages now (not just in their features sections). Read between the lines in this announcement naming Judi Erickson as city editor. The memo reads, "She succeeds Barbara Jones who is coordinating content with our sister MediaNews papers and will play a key content role in the efforts to develop and put together the common pages we'll soon be producing with the Breeze and Long Beach."

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As I speculated a few weeks ago, Enid Portuquez has left LA.com, but instead of joining Image, as I'd heard, she's an online producer for the calendarlive site focusing on shopping and possibly contributing to the newpaper as well.

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Am I the only one who's wondering why the LA Times gave Sandy Banks another opportunity to be a columnist? She's in the California section this time, rather than in what was called View where she was the last time around. Check this out – in the newspaper edition and on the website "Discussion" section for her Tuesday column about life span, it says, "Sandy wants readers to share their stories about what you are doing to buck the law of average and extend your life. Power walking? Praying? Eating broccoli? Share your thoughts."

Are they kidding??? Why is this in the California section, among other problems? Hope no one can hear me rolling my eyes.

Maybe David Lauter will have an answer in October when he becomes California editor, responsible for news coverage of the state, according to LA Observed.

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Carly Mayberry is now the Hollywood Reporter's film reporter covering Paramount and DreamWorks. (See my earlier report below about Leslie Simmons, who's covering Fox and Sony.)

September 7, 2007 News

In the "every publicist's nightmare" department, I thought this blog piece titled "Eight Warning Signs That a Reporter Plans to Flip the Script" was interesting, so I'm passing the link along.

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Lea Lion, who recently left the Los Angeles Downtown News, is now covering performing arts for what she says is "the Los Angeles Times' forthcoming arts website, The Guide." She adds, "Please add my name to your press list and keep me updated on upcoming concerts/shows/events/etc." lea.lion@latimes.com. (Thanks to the ever-prolific Libby Huebner for this info, and the THR and yourLA stuff below.)

No replacement for Lea yet at the Downtown News, so pitch editor Jon Regardie, who I'm told passes along calendar and entertainment stuff to freelancers for that kind of coverage.

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Media Bistro has this story (with LA Times memo) about writers/reporters filling the LA Times' new "web deputy" positions. The memo describes "key people [who] will serve as the glue between the [newspaper and the web site], helping reporters and editors at the paper develop more and better content for latimes.com." Names are named, so click on the link to read all about it.

Janet Clayton, veteran LA Times staffer most recently Asst. ME for local and state news, turned in her resignation yesterday.

I can't even think of a comment about this that would be any more [fill in your own word here] than the actual story, so I'll just pass along LA Biz Observed's story headlined "The LA Times Smells."

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The ever-delightful Kenny Werther alerted us to The Advocate's new-ish address: 6380 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 1400, Los Angeles, CA 90048; phone is (323) 852-7200, fax is (323) 852-7264.

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THR ESQ writer Leslie Simmons thought she was out of a job when the online legal arm of The Hollywood Reporter folded recently, but she has now announced that she's staying on at the Reporter as a film/legal reporter. According to an email, "My duties as a legal reporter will remain somewhat the same, but scaled back I believe. As a film reporter, I am covering Sony Pictures and Fox Studios. It’s a new beat for me so I’m looking for sources from EVERYWHERE. So, if you have any connections or advice with either studio, producers, agents, then 'Let’s do lunch,' as they say!" You can reach her at 323 525-2278.

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Patt Morrison's KPCC 89.3 FM show expands to two hours starting Monday.

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New contact KNBC TV's yourLA is:
Ruthie Wyatt
Ruthie.Wyatt@nbcuni.com
818-840-6620
818-840-2608 - fax
3000 West Alameda Avenue
Suite 2351
Burbank, CA 91523

An email with this update says, "PLEASE SEND HER ALL PITCHES...SEGMENT IDEAS...HOSTS...EVERYTHING!!" and notes that the show is going on hiatus until October 1.