Monday, June 30, 2008

June 30, 2008 News



NEW APPOINTMENT AT LA TIMES

From the LA Times Readers Representative blog:

Amanda Covarrubias will be moving to a newly created morning-news post on the city desk. This job will be a hybrid of reporting and editing…

Read the whole memo here.


FROM CISION'S THE NAVIGATOR:

Stephen Galloway has been appointed executive editor of features and events at the The Hollywood Reporter. He oversees the features department. He was most recently a contributing editor, although he has previously held the title of executive editor and served as a columnist for the publication.

And

Laura Bird, weekend news editor at The Wall Street Journal, is now overseeing travel coverage for the The Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition and editing the weekly Chefs at Home column. Bird replaces Janelle Carrigan, who, as The Navigator previously reported, has been appointed features editor for WSJ.


FROM MUSICAL AMERICA

Miami Herald Drops Its Classical Critic

On Tuesday, Miami Herald Classical Music Critic Lawrence Johnson received an “involuntary buyout” from his newspaper. Just to be clear, the word “buyout” when preceded by “involuntary” means laid off, in this case with eight weeks severance pay. Such is Johnson’s paper parachute.

The Miami Herald is located literally across the street from the two-year-old Adrienne Arsht (formerly “Carnival”) Center for the Performing Arts, which was built at a cost to Miamians of just under $600 million and houses the Florida Grand Opera, the New World Symphony, the Concert Association of Florida and the Miami Ballet, among others. Apparently, the Herald isn’t very interested in covering the neighborhood.


FROM WALEK & ASSOCIATES

Dow Jones & Company today announced that Al Lewis, the award-winning editor/columnist, blogger and television commentator for The Denver Post, has joined the Dow Jones Newswires editorial team. Mr. Lewis will begin his duties on June 30 and will write a wide-ranging new business column that offers an unconventional perspective on business, companies and the people who run them.


AP ENTERTAINMENT COVERAGE UPDATE

Check out this blog post about a recent event at which Associated Press entertainment editors and reporters gathered "to introduce the wire service's ambitious new approach to entertainment news coverage."


YES INDEED, MORE IN-DEPTH COVERAGE OF RASCAL FLATTS… REALLY GOOD AND INNOVATIVE IDEAS FROM TRIBUNE "INNOVATION" CHIEF LEE ABRAMS

This guy, as T.J. Simers might say, lives (unfortunately) among us. Directly quoted from a memo by Tribune "innovation chief" Lee Abrams:

BUFFETT AND BARTOK MUST UNITE: : It seems like music coverage is not complete. There seems to be outstanding coverage of High end music, but with mass appeal artists, I notice that there's cursory pre event coverage and often a review AFTER the show. All good, but I wish we'd treat Jimmy Buffett, or Toby Keith, or any of the mega artists with the same informational tactics. The Morning Call in Allentown recently adapted such an approach. In their GO section they went deep into what to expect. Tools for a decision. Predicted set list, tips on what to expect, etc...My point here is that I noticed a paper doing a massive story on a local Opera. That's fine. Then there's a long story about an emerging alternative band. That's fine. But then when Pop music superstars are coming to town, that reaches a far larger audience, you don't see the same coverage. As if we're "too cool" to go big with Rascal Flatts or Genesis.

Thanks to L.A. Observed for Abrams' pearls of Wisdom, more of which you can read, if you dare, here.


PATT DIROLL'S PASADENA STAR NEWS COLUMN RUNS EVERY WEDNESDAY

Thank goodness for Patt – dare I call her a fabulous doyenne? -- who has long provided a terrific outlet for coverage of charities and fund-raisers. Her Pasadena Star News "On the Town" column and its "Social Calendar" sidebar now run every Wednesday on the Celebrations section front page.


ALFRED LEE GOES TO PASADENA STAR NEWS

The Reporter-G blog reveals this good news about Alfred Lee::

The Pasadena Star-News has a new reporter. Alfred Lee, formerly of L.A. CityBeat, will cover the foothill cities of Arcadia, Sierra Madre and Temple City for the Singleton paper.


FROM NIKKI FINKE ABOUT NEW YORK TIMES FILM WRITER DAVID HALBFINGER

Nikki Finke has the news about New York Times/LA Bureau film beat writer David Halbfinger taking a hike back to the East Coast.