UPDATE: More Press-Telegram Employees Laid Off; Sports, Photo Departments Moved to Torrance
- Details
- By Allison Jean Eaton
- | Friday, 01 July 2011 05:40
UPDATE Friday, July 1, 10:45am | Steven Georges, one of the two former Press-Telegram photojournalists who was laid off on Monday, contacted us on Thursday to provide more specific information as to the number of years he and his former colleague, Diandra Jay, had worked for the Long-Beach-based daily newspaper.
Georges said he had been with the PT for more than 18 years, and Jay had been with the paper for more than 11.
UPDATE Tuesday, June 28, 7:01pm | The photography and sports departments at the Press-Telegram have ceased to exist, with most of those formerly employed in those departments now reporting for work at the Daily Breeze as employees of the Torrance daily newspaper.
Their first day at the Breeze was Tuesday.
The employees of those departments three weeks ago were forced to reapply for their jobs at the PT's sister paper, and not all of them made the cut, according to information provided by the PT's Kristopher Hanson.
Former PT staff photographers Steven Georges and Diandra Jay on Monday were handed pink slips and told to clear out their desks. The same was the case for sports columnist Frank Burlison, who was also laid off Monday.
Georges had been with the PT for more than 15 years, Hanson said, and Jay, for more than 10. Burlison, however, had both of them beat, having worked for the PT for more than 20 years.
Just the night before, on Sunday, Jay walked away with an award from the Los Angeles Press Club during its 53rd annual awards gala. She took first place in sports photo for a shot entitled "Celebration."
"The Press-Telegram has lost some of its longtime names," Hanson said. "It's all very confusing at this point."
A steward for the union representing all PT employees, Hanson described this latest downsizing at the hands of the PT's parent company, Media NewsGroup, as "the breaking up of a family."
Day City Editor Rose Fitzpatrick has also been laid off, her last day having been Friday.
The PT's one-man features department is being shuttered, too, with Thursday expected to be Al Rudis' last day, Hanson said.
Last week, Los Angeles Newspaper Group, the branch of MediaNews Group that oversees the PT, laid off 70 employees from its other nine member papers.
UPDATE Friday, April 29, 3:25pm | The Long Beach Press-Telegram's Kristopher Hanson has clarified that only two editors at the local daily newspaper received actual pink slips Friday, while the remaining employees whose departments are being shuttered and outsourced to the Daily Breeze were told they can apply for a limited number of available positions at the Torrance daily.
"Essentially, these people are being let go," Hanson said in reference to the dozen or so staffers who work in the photo, sports and features departments.
It is not known exactly how many positions will be made available at the Breeze.
Hanson is a steward for the union representing PT staffers, Southern California Media Guild Local 9400. He said that as far as the union is concerned, PT parent company MediaNews Group Inc.'s announcement Friday is nothing more than a union-busting attempt.
MediaNews Group also owns the Breeze, but that paper is not unionized, meaning any currently unionized PT employees who successfully apply for and obtain jobs at the Breeze would no longer be represented by the guild.
Hanson noted, however, that PT staffers' contracts feature language guaranteeing them continued union representation so long as they continue to contribute content and work to the PT regardless of where they are located.
"Our (the union's) position is that these are jobs being transferred to another location," meaning the employees would retain their union representation.
The affected employees and the union are scheduled to meet with the company next Wednesday, May 3, Hanson said.
"It's outrageous to do this," Hanson said. "You're going to have photographers and sports writers covering Long Beach from Torrance."
He said that this is the third time such a situation has cropped up in the last three years.
First it was the copy desk and design and production department, which were outsourced in 2008. That was followed by the outsourcing of the circulation department in 2009, he said. The functions of these departments and the copy desk were all outsourced to non-unionized locations, he added.
Asked to describe the mood at PT headquarters Friday, Hanson said "people are upset."
Friday, April 29, 12:01pm | The Long Beach Post has learned that a number of Long Beach Press-Telegram employees are being laid off in what appears to be the next phase of its bankrupt parent company's efforts to reorganize.
The PT's executive city editor, John Futch, and day city editor, Rose Fitzpatrick, have both received pink slips. Their positions will no longer exist effective June 30, though sources said a new news editor-type position will be created to fill their shoes.
Additionally, the sports, photography and features departments are all being outsourced to the Daily Breeze, meaning all five of the paper's staff photographer, six sports staff writers and three features department employees stand to lose their jobs.
The photographers are Stephen Carr, Steven Georges, Jeff Gritchen, Diandra Jay and Brittany Murray.
The sports writers are Frank Burlison, David Felton, Bob Keisser, Doug Krikorian, Robert Morales and Dave Werstine. The sports department lost its editor, Joe Haakenson, almost one year ago, when he was laid off.
The features editor is Leo Smith. The features writer is Al Rudis, and the entertainment calendar compiler in the features department is Robin Deemer.
Sources at the paper said that PT employees from the three departments to be outsourced are being invited to apply for a select number of positions with the Daily Breeze.
In recent months PT staffers, along with staffers at all of the newspapers owned by the PT's parent company, have been faced with mandatory furloughs.
The PT has been reduced to a skeletal staff over the last few years thanks to previous rounds of layoffs and the wide-sweeping voluntary departure of a host of some of the paper's best and most seasoned staff writers and editors in response to the downsizing measures of its parent company, MediaNews Group Inc.
The company in February 2008 axed all of the PT's copy desk positions and did away with the design department. The functions of both have since been handled at the non-unionized Daily Breeze, also owned by Singleton, according to the So Cal Media Guild, the union representing many of the remaining PT employees.
MediaNews Group, owned by William Dean Singleton, purchased the PT in late 1997. In recent years, the company's financial troubles, including filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization last year, have taken a harsh toll on the local publication.
PT staff writer Kristopher Hanson, who serves as a union steward at the PT, confirmed the layoffs moments ago. Additional information is forthcoming, so stay tuned for updates later today.
If you hope to be the voice of Long Beach then you should try to be accurate.
ADVERTISERS GETTING A RETURN ON DOLLARS SPENT.GO SEE CAL. AND THE REST OF OUR AD BASE IN CERRITOS. COULD IT BE THE CITY COUNCIL AND
MANAGEMENT THAT FOCUS ON DOWNTOWN ?
And, completely agree that the focus on downtown is stupid at this point. Its glory years are long gone.
Also agree Los Altos needs protection, it's still lovely but who knows how long that will last. The only enclaves of civil life will be Naples and Belmont Shore - unless those property values diminish as all the gang-banging cholos find a way to infiltrate and do to those areas what they've done to their own 'hoods. And we can be sure the Daily Breeze staff won't give a darn about reporting on any of that - too far away.
Second, people have lost faith the Press Telegram can provide unbiased reporting. As the PT becomes smaller, reporting has become more biased towards advertisers they are forced to rely upon, especially the City of Long Beach. The PT and Grunion Gazette have both become PR magazines for the City of Long Beach and their advertizers. Both publish news about their advertizers which is slanted in the most favorable light. People observe this noticeable change and rely less upon the PT and Gazette for their news.
Third, the recent decision to switch on-line article commenting from topix to facebook lost the Media News Group significant readership. The reason is because most commenting is done by people from their work computer and most company firewalls block the use of facebook on its company computers. This change in commenting, while cheaper, lost many, many PT on-line viewers who now go elsewhere to comment on the news.
Fourth, the News Media Group papers have switched their product from community news to the highly competitive regional news market, further driving avid community readership away. The News Media Group forced its readership to the [a local news outlet], LBPost, GreaterLongBeach and Patch in search of community news. Once there, these same readers discovered they could get most of their information from these smaller medias and no longer need the PT.
Fifth, the News Media Groups decision to censor people like myself from commenting on-line to their articles lost them further readership and credibility as a representative of fair and impartial news. While their editors may not like my comments because it embarasses their major advertizers, those same comments attracted other commentors to the PT, either as supporters or opponents. By censoring community activism, the PT and Grunion Gazette have become very dull products.
Recently, the PT has covered the minor division (DIII, DIV) schools (in Downey, Cerritos, etc.) and compared them to the POWER HOUSE MOORE LEAGUE! The Daily Breeze sends sports writers to its area high school games, even the minot ones like water polo, badminton,cheer competitions, etc. . . . and Dan Albanio (OC Register) is at more high school events that the LBPT.
This past week PT Sports has been publishing Dream Team Selections . . . obviously WITHOUT ANY UNDERSTANDING or FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE of the talent of the minor school athletes it published! I think its great to put kids names in the newspaper . . . but even they no the Dream Team is a FARCE and and that they couldn't compete with most athletes in Long Beach!
(I recently called the PT sports department and asked for circulation numbers in those areas AND they HAD NO CLUE!!! In other words, the PT sports department spends time, money and ink writing about areas where they have very little or NO COVERAGE! P.S. I also had a media kit sent to me, after asking VERY SPECIFIC QUESTIONS about coverage in different communities . . . yep, you guessed it, they don't have the numbers in the media kit either . . . I called back for the circulation numbers and I was told, "I can't believe you serious about wanting the numbers!" ???????? . . . but they are willing to take my advertising check.)
It is for reasons like the above that many have been calling the PT a RAG! The PT had Long Beach, one of the 5 largest cities in California, in the palm or their hand . . . but its inability to understand consumer wants and needs (called marketing for anyone with a college degree) has caused its demise!
Many years ago, I subscribed to both the Independent -the morning addition - a the afternoon Press-Telegram. I understood why they combined the papers as TV news and as subscriptions declined . . . but there was still local coverage for Long Beach (community events, politics, etc., etc.)
It's too bad to see them go out of business . . . AND they will be GONE . . . it's only a matter of time!
We work very hard at the Signal Tribune to give our readers the best we can in a weekly format.
Covering Bixby Knolls, California Heights, Wrigley Heights and all of Signal Hill is NOT an easy job -nevertheless we LOVE what we do and appreciate our readers and advertisers. Hello to Allison at the Post xo - Neena
And, just so you know, I am a freelance reporter that started my career as a PT reporter (and have written at one time or another for nearly all the other news outlets in LB).
First, journalists are not magical creatures that can create silk out of sack cloth. It takes time to write an article with depth and perspective. It takes time to get people to call you back with details or to root out documents, analyze and then put this together into an article. When management slashes staffing and yet continues to demand more articles per day from the diminishing number of reporters, what do you think happens? Reporters are forced to turn in stories that they themselves will readily admit are not Pulitzer quality, not from a lack of professionalism or desire to do so, but from a simple matter of being forced into a production schedule by management that is unrealistic.
Think about this, after 13 years of cuts by MediaNews the PT has ten reporters, five photographers and six sports writers to cover a major metropolitan area of more than 500,000 people. And now they will lose the sports writers and photogs.
Second, your claim of biased reporting is hogwash. Reporters at the PT are not told how to write or what to write, and certainly not regarding advertisers. The PT management, for all its flaws, has always maintained a very stringent and impermeable wall between advertising and the news room. Let's not generalize about the motives of the PT reporters. If you want to talk specific examples, let's do that. But keep in mind that just because an article doesn't support a certain viewpoint, doesn't mean it's biased.
Third, while I agree to some degree with your point about commenting, this was again a management decision. However, there was something of a valid point behind their logic. Anonymous commenting allowed a lot of disturbed people to very often post hateful, unconstructive and at times downright racist commentary. This isn't directed at community voices, like yourself, that just want to dialogue on their various opinions. I am referring to some really vile stuff, most of which almost always originated from outside the community. While a lot of this bile was taken down, with staff time being so limited, it became unfeasible in many cases to manually remove all of this crap (to the point where a lot of articles simply had the comments turned off.) I believe the thinking was that shifting to facebook was a way to tie one person to a comment, in an effort to discourage these disturbed people from posting their bile anonymously. Also, this is not unusual in the industry. Many papers have moved away from anonymous posting of comments for similar reasons.
Fourth, MediaNews has not, as a policy, shifted to a regional news market focus. I can understand someone perceiving this, but again, it goes to management/owner decisions. Because the PT staff has been slashed so severely, the management has had to rely more and more on material produced by AP, City News Service and sister papers such as the Daily Breeze and the LA Daily News to fill pages. These outlets do not focus on Long Beach, per se, so this material in the paper gives the impression that the paper is focusing on outside-of-the-community issues (BTW:bylines from reporters are all listed as 'staff writers' by management fiat, so you can't tell if it is a PT writer or a writer from a sister paper). Internally, PT reporters have been encouraged for years to focus more and more on the local community. But the number of articles from outside sources appearing in the paper has grown simply because there is not enough PT staff to adequately fill the paper with just community articles.
Fifth, I'm not sure of what you are talking about as far as the PT censoring you, as you gave no examples. However, though your comments are often long and voluminous, Mike, I have never read anything you have written in a comment that would rise to the PT's threshold for removal. As I pointed out, there are time when the PT shuts off commenting on articles--when these outside-the-community comments turn hateful and ugly. In addition, due to a lack of any kind of investment by the company in up-to-date technology, the PT computer systems are deplorable, both behind the scenes and on the viewer end. I have heard many stories of people posting comments that disappear, never appear, or appear hours and hours later. Hell, it has happened to me on numerous occasions. These are technology issues that have nothing to do with any perceived effort to silence community voices.
And again, the advertising side has zero input at the PT into what happens on the news room side. I would bet that nine out of ten PT reporters could not name a single advertiser in the paper. Advertising simply does not play into the reporters' work in any way. That is company policy and it is enforced quite stringently. In my time at the PT, I can think of one time when an advertiser had any input on something I wrote, and in that one case, it was because the headline on the article was really, really wrong. The advertiser complained and the paper apologized and corrected. But this would have happened (and did several times) even if the company in question was not an advertiser.
I would only say this regarding your accusation of censorship: the PT lists the phone number for the general manager of the paper right on its website. If you think you are being censored, pick up the phone and call the GM, Sue Schmitt. You will be surprised to find that she does not condone what you are alleging (nor does anyone at the PT) and I am sure she will go out of her way to correct any perceived problem.
The bottom line, Mike, is rage rage against the machine, but remember that the rank and file workers at the paper are doing their 110 percent best under the extremely stressful circumstances to provide the information you and others want. The problem remains, as it has since 1997 when the paper was sold: poor business decisions by MediaNews.
Real news? How about the blight of once nice neighborhoods turning into Tijuana ghettos. Real news? The rape and destruction of a once bountiful and thriving downtown, which the city allowed to be raised for bourgeois dining, overpriced housing that remains empty and a troublemakers' haven.
And those little vanity rags like the Bunion Gazette do no better. One great civic debacle of late? The 2nd Street repaving that tore a community and it's businesses into shreds for a month or more. How the PT let such a ridiculous mismanagement and misdirection of badly needed road improvement funds go unheeded is still beyond me.
I, too, grew up with the IPT and PT - as a child, reading pages about energy issues, middle east uprisings and starvation in Africa. For some time now, issues like these are likely to get a 4 paragraph column, while social pages and articles about PT advertisers get half-pages.
We need to bring back Long Beach. I think, as in history, a community is built upon it's citizens overall awareness of what is actually happening in the neighborhoods and downtown. Two paragraph gloss-overs has not been the way to do it. We shouldn't have to subscribe to LA Times or NY Times for regional and international news. It should all be right there in our own paper.
Don't give me that hogcrap about the PT being unbiased. I've had reporters tell me three times that Foster or DeLong called their editor and killed their story. Furthermore, if they are so unbiased, why did the PT editors publish my picture on the front page of a Sunday edition with a news story about me getting a DUI 2-years prior to the article. How was my 2-year old DUI Sunday front page news, yet a drunken Fire Department Captain who mows down a bicyclist isn't even reported until after the LA Times publishes the story a week later? Take a look at who wrote the story about my DUI and the close relationship he has with Belmont Shore bar owners I was publicly critisizing for not controlling their patrons. Not biased. Hogwash.
I am personally censored from the PT and GG. I can show you multiple emails I've sent to the reporters who forwarded me to the IT people who refused to respond to me. In each case, I copied the editor. It wasn't because I was an anonymous commentor. I commented using Mike Ruehle. It was because I was questioning the conduct of certain influential people. That's no different than this comment board which also censored me for several weeks not long before Allison came aboard as editor. Furthermore, the LBPost allowed someone else to post hateful comments using my name which facilitated their attempts to discredit me. Ryan knows about it. If not, I can forward you the emails.
When was the last time you were a staff member at the PT?
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/keith-higginbotham/12/230/53b
KeithH is a Union man with a clear agenda who hasn't worked at the Long Beach paper in more than a decade.
You deserted the PT a decade ago. A wise decision, in hindsight. Now here you are yelling about its virtues, making sure everyone knows how wonderful you think it is.
You say your wife still works there. You love your wife, right?
Stop pumping up her newspaper, and tell her to get another job.
KeithH, you love your wife? Stop using her to get inside information so you can dominate the lbpost chats on the PT. Urge her to seek new employment.
Every single person who remained at the Long Beach paper after the layoffs three years ago knew they were playing Russian Roulette with their careers.
This week's news shocked no one.
Thank you for your continued readership and for participating in the public discussions by commenting. We appreciate your patience relative to comments being approved on the weekends.
Every heard of the internet Hanson? Digital photography that can email pictures from one place to the next? Email that can send a story? Per Hanson's logic the Los Angeles Times, in Los Angeles, shouldn't be able to cover the Angels or Ducks in Anaheim or take pictures of the Rose Parade in Pasadena.
The P-T is not much different than every other daily across the country that has been cutting staff and losing subscribers and advertisers for well over a decade. Unions will blame ownership and ownership will blame unions but ultimately both failed to adapt throughout the print media to the on-line access to news, stories and yes sports.
Unfortunately most of the quality reporters and editors spent too much time in journalism classes and not enough in business classes in college and as a group lack entrepreneurial instincts that could have served them well to establish quality competition for their former employers.
Take the group of sportswriters listed in this article, if they were to create their own local on-line sports page they could own the market. But then according to Hanson they would only be able to cover sports in Long Beach if that is were they locate.
Your response was spot on. Thanks.
the City or its people.
FYI:Check out Calendat section of
LA Times--front page-either
Tuesday-or Monday--excellent
article/review about O-Shea-
former publisher LA Times-sent
in my Chicago Tribune to down
size the Los Angeles Times--
deals with the run up to and
post sale to the Windy City
folks/including Sam Zell--and
subsequent saga....
This isn't a Press Telegram or Media News Group problem - its a publishing problem. Prior to the internet, newspapers didn't get much of their revenue from the quarters we dropped in their machines (those covered, or partly offset, distribution costs). Most of their revenue came from selling ads to retailers and individuals.
In 1985, if you wanted to move an antique stove, a car, a house, or an apartment in Long Beach, you'd buy a classified ad from the PT or the Grunion.
Today, you go to Craigslist or some other site that specializes in antique stoves. Craigslist is free. Hard to compete with free. Same for retailers (this is the reason they want your e-mail address).
In the last couple of years, the Denver Post and Seattle Post Intelligencer have quit, and dozens of major papers have gone BK (OC Register, LA Times and Chicago Trib, Chicago Sun Times). Same goes for magazines.
The old publishing model was write interesting news (at a cost) to get subscribers so you could sell ads at higher prices (revenues).
Revenues continue to shrink, so news coverage is worse and worse. These are dying businesses, and they were already dying before the recession.
Too bad because I still like the feeling of paper and ink in my hands. I expect most paper newspapers will be gone within the next decade or so.
You have so many facts wrong.
1. Steven Georges has worked for the PT for almost 25 years,
2. Rose Fitzpatrick was the night city editor
3. The 70 people laid off include the PT and vacant positions that are not going to be filled
4. The employees did not reapply for their jobs three weeks ago, it was 6 weeks ago
Inside, the PT features many less than interesting "local" articles . . . and the interns (notice I didn't wirte "movie critics?") review films with limited distribution (and even smaller audiences) outside Long Bach because someone in the editors office must think it's "cool" to use 'ink on newsprint' describing stuff no one really cares about. But, as anyone can see, local theaters have stipped advertising because they are aware the PT is losing subscribership and distribution!
I just renewed my PT subscription for another 52 weeks but sent a note saying this is the last time I will subscribe . . . my kids will finish high school next June and the only reason I take the PT is hoping to see one of the names of their friends on the sports page!
RIP Press Telegram!
P.S. Those who respond by implying they are 'PTer's' would do better by sevicing the "wants and needs" of the Long Beach readership rather than being 'butt-hurt' for an incorrect statement on the net!