Los Angeles Times Going out of Business (Section)
Much has been written about the woes at the Los Angeles Times leading to speculation that Tribune will just throw up its hands and (in terms David Geffen would understand) put the paper into “turnaround.”
Notwithstanding a purchase by Geffen or Google (our rumor but why not), Tribune needs to fix the paper before it withers any further. Some of the fixes being discussed include the addition of a gossip column and a special subscription plan for people who can only stomach the paper 3 days a week. Unfortunately, no one has brought up the woeful Business Section for fixing. If you take out the day-old stock quotes (does anyone still rely on the newspaper for stocks prices?) the section is down to a few pages–about the same size as the Times’ Health and Outdoors sections.
Besides being penurious with its size, the quality of writing in the Business Section has dropped as well. Articles inside the paper are far too often not much more than rewritten company press releases. Michael Hiltzik’s columns often have nothing to do with business and he should be moved into the editorial pages where he belongs and replaced with a columnist who writes insightful columns about business. To be fair, the paper does a very good job on covering the entertainment industry as a industry but its coverage of technology is abysmal.
I would hope that the largest paper in a very large state could have a first-rate business section. I’d love to wake up and read in LA Observed one morning that the Times had hired away writers from the Wall Street Journal and Economist and was serious about rebuilding the section.
Click here for everything we’ve written about our local rag.
Even LosAnjealous pipes in with a suggestion for the section: Instead of Finance section stock quotes, list quotes from Family Guy. (h/t: 8763 Wonderland)
technorati: los angeles times
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