Matt Drudge: World's Most Powerful Journalist

Ten years ago, he was a reclusive, pasty-faced 31-year-old who, bashing away on his laptop in his grungy Hollywood apartment, shot to prominence when he threatened to bring down Bill Clinton's presidency by breaking news of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Now, Matt Drudge owns a luxurious Mediterranean-style stucco house on Rivo Alto Island in Florida's Biscayne Bay, a condominium at the Four Seasons in Miami and is said to drive a black Mustang. He remains an elusive, mysterious figure but the internet pioneer is arguably the single most powerful journalist – though his detractors even deny that is his occupation - in the world. [Click for MORE] Sphere: Related Content

Press-Telegram Essentially Merged

Outgoing P-T Publisher Dave Kuta, LANG VP Labor Relations' Jim Janiga, outgoing Managing Editor John Futch, P-T Executive Editor Rich Archbold, a P-T staffer and Daily Breeze Editor Phillip Sanfield. [Stress-Telegram]

From LA Observed:

I'm told by a staffer that the positions of publisher and managing editor were eliminated today at the Long Beach Press-Telegram, along with the copy desk and most of the production jobs. Those functions will now be handled at the Daily Breeze, located in Torrance. Laid-off P-T production staffers were told they could apply for a fewer number jobs at the Breeze. Two reporters and a photographer had already resigned this week. Online reports in the District Weekly and LB Report, which together pretty much make a skeletal Singleton newspaper in Long Beach unnecessary.

* Noted: Email from Singleton's outposts in the San Gabriel Valley: "No layoffs here at San Gabe, but nobody's getting any work done because we're all just heartbroken over what's happening to our colleagues."

* In sum: Long Beach publisher Dave Kuta and managing editor John Futch out. Long Beach and the Breeze will share news and sports desks, which I thought was tried and abandoned at the other Singleton papers in the L.A. area. They're keeping count of the day's LANG toll at SportsJournalists.com:

22 out at the L.A. Daily News (buyouts and layoffs)
Nine at the Daily Breeze (layoffs)
8-9 at Long Beach (layoffs/attrition/consolidation/bulls**t) [Net after re-hiring]

* SoCal Media Guild recap: "The company will eliminate the design department and all copy desk positions, moving the work to the non-union Torrance Daily Breeze, effective next week. Twenty-one designers and copy editors were 'invited' to apply today for twelve available positions at The Breeze. Interviews will be conducted over the weekend," says Vicki Di Paolo at the Stress-Telegram blog.

But when the ax stops swinging, those of us still here are committed to moving forward and doing what we do best — good journalism. We hope to work with — not just for — our employer, to preserve the Press-Telegram as a valued source of information for our city and the surrounding communities.

But tonight, we mourn for ourselves and our colleagues here and at the Daily News. This is a sad time for all of us.

Sphere: Related Content

Which Candidate Are Your Biased Against?

Sphere: Related Content

Small-Market Papers Are Thriving

While Wall Street analysts predict a future for newspapers in ever more apocalyptic terms, the fact is: Many small-market papers are not just surviving, but thriving. E&P's "Small Towns, Big Profits: How Many Papers Survive Slump" uncovers reasons real local, local, local is working. "So how do small-market newspapers do it, and are there things metros could learn from them?" A sampling:

1. While the Internet has turned most news into a commodity, local news remains a unique newspaper asset that's a reliable moneymaker .... "We make significant emphasis on quality local journalism, and we definitely believe that investing in local journalism is absolutely imperative to our success."

2. Getting editors and publishers who truly know their audiences -- personally, even -- pays off journalistically and financially.

3. "...as a general rule, the most effective papers in terms of business success are the ones who are best in community service." [Stress-Telegram]

Sphere: Related Content

Waiting by the Phone for Careers to End

At the San Jose Mercury News, reporters have been instructed to wait at home on the morning of March 7. If they don't get a phone call by 10 a.m. telling them that they've lost their jobs, they should head to work.

What's happening in San Jose is being repeated to a greater or lesser degree across California. Buyouts and layoffs are being imposed at newspapers all over the country, of course, but California is especially vulnerable because of the severity of its real estate downturn. Along with real estate, advertising in related categories such as home furnishings, hardware and even big-box electronics retailing has been slowing, newspaper executives say.

Today, the Los Angeles Daily News will say goodbye to 22 more editors and reporters, paring its newsroom to 100 people from nearly twice that many a few years ago. Editor Ron Kaye gave the news in a tearful address to his staff Wednesday.

Employees at The Times have until 3 p.m. Monday to respond to a voluntary buyout offer aimed at eliminating 100 to 150 jobs, 40 to 50 of them in the newsroom. If not enough people volunteer, layoffs will make up the balance. [Click for MORE]

> THE PRESS-TELEGRAM took an especially hard hit today, losing more than 20 people from a staff that is considerably smaller than the DN's. ... The axe fell hardest on copy editors and designers. [LAO] Sphere: Related Content

Newsday Eliminates About 120 Jobs

Newsday employees are told in a memo: "Today we initiated job reduction actions across the company. These actions included notifying employees that we are eliminating their positions and posting notices in the editorial, transportation and pressroom bargaining units to eliminate positions in accordance with the labor contracts. About 120 employees are affected." [Romenesko]

> Newsday's "getting rid of more Indians, keeping the chiefs"
> For whom Zell tolls
> Newsday settles with car dealers who sued over circ fraud Sphere: Related Content

Assignment for March 3

1) Continue to check this blog for media news and assignment updates.

2) Re-read your AP Stylebook and apply style to everything you write for this class.

3) Read Chapter 9 in the text.

4) Do exercise 1 on page 206. Remember that deadlines will now be strictly enforced. All work should be typed and double-spaced. Work submitted via email should be formatted as a Word.doc attachment.

5) Prepare for an open-book quiz/test covering the text, AP Stylebook, class lectures and perhaps some current events and media news from the class blog.

6) Start gathering all of your classwork for a portfolio. Nothing fancy required. A three-ring binder will suffice. We'll have some one-on-one sessions before the Spring Break. More details to come. Sphere: Related Content