National Desk's new night editor

Here's a memo from National Editor Scott Kraft announcing Connie Stewart's appointment as night editor of that desk:

I'm delighted to announce that Connie Stewart, who has skillfully guided the early Sunday Bulldog edition of the paper for much of the past two decades, has joined the National Desk as night editor.

Connie has a wealth of editing experience, and much of it with national news. She was assistant political editor during the 1992 presidential campaign and, earlier, a national copy editor, news editor and wire editor.

Top of the Ticket wins Publisher's Prize

A note to staff from Editor Russ Stanton congratulates the Times' national-politics bloggers on winning an award from Publisher David Hiller:

Mapping flames

As those who live in highly flammable areas know, fires change with the wind -- and trying to map them is almost as hard as predicting where a fire might spread next. Graphics over the past few days of the fire near Sierra Madre have tried to show the burn areas and the areas of evacuation, even as those situations change by the minute.

The blaze began Saturday afternoon; because initial reports had it burning out before it would threaten homes, no map was put together for Sunday's newspaper. By Sunday morning, however, the fire had grown more dangerous; evacuations had started late Saturday night, so editors at The Times' website quickly put together an interactive Google map showing the evacuation area, based on information from the city of Sierra Madre. That map was posted by midday Sunday, and continues to be updated as the story is updated. (It's a part of the current story, linked above.)

In this case, a reporter with a cellphone was the first step in the process of showing readers exactly what was going on: Steve Hymon, at a news conference in Sierra Madre's rec center Sunday afternoon, snapped a photo of the huge map that city and county authorities were using to plan their firefighting strategies. He sent it by e-mail to artist Matt Moody in The Times' graphics department, who quickly updated the online map. Moody then turned his attention back to re-creating the map for the print edition, a task that ended up taking several hours.

Two reporters return to California desk

Here is a memo to the staff from California editor David Lauter announcing new assignments for reporters Jessica Garrison and Bill Lobdell.

Ombudsmen columns

Here are links to some of the past week's columns by ombudsmen, readers' representatives and editors around the nation. More columns and information about ombudsmen in the U.S. and around the world can be found at the Organization of News Ombudsmen website (which has a permanent link on the right side of this page).

PBS, "About those 'retired' military officer/analysts"

The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Front page story provokes readers"

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "How AJC editors decide to put which stories where"
Chicago Tribune, "Measuring life and death"
Florida Times-Union, "Was FCAT headline a joke?"
Hartford Courant, "How green is the Courant?"
The Washington Post, "Red card for a sports blogger"
The Courier Journal (Louisville, KY), "Derbymania: in print and on the Web"
The News&Observer (Raleigh, NC), "College Inn story riles Wolfpack fans"
The Plain Dealer, "Most of the news on the Web originates with newspapers"
San Antonio Express-News, "An inconsistent truth"

Sacramento Bee - editor, "A tradition of providing the space to disagree"; public editor, "Cartoonist Rex Babin: An animated line of work"

The Salt Lake Tribune, "The plain facts aren't always pleasant"

Changes at the top

Editor Russ Stanton's memo to staff below names John Arthur to the new position of executive editor and Davan Maharaj to replace Arthur as managing editor:

"Museum of crazy stuff"

On the Wilshire offramp of the Harbor Freeway, David Chan of L.A. saw a panhandler holding up a poster that said: "Having visions of an IHOP pancake."

Only in L.A., right?

Which is why a recent announcement in The Times worried some readers who feared they'd see less of Steve Harvey and his Only in L.A. column, which chronicles the weirder and wackier parts of the region through observations and photos, many provided by locals.

The column has long appeared in the California section on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. The note, published April 10 in the California section, advised readers that the popular feature will now run Saturdays and Sundays, but that more of Only in L.A. items will also be posted periodically on L.A. Now, The Times' local news blog.

Harvey has been writing the column for some 20 years and has been at The Times almost twice as long. He sees his role "as a sort of curator of the Museum of Crazy Stuff in L.A." (He notes, "boundaries are flexible -- remember, L.A. is a state of mind.")

While he sometimes finds items for that museum himself -- for example, a doughnut shop in Long Beach that shares a sign with a dentist's office -- his real role is in channeling readers: "I'd guess that three-quarters of the art items in the museum are from readers whose minds are as twisted as mine."

Life in the shadows

The Life in the Shadow series has since mid-March been examining the impact of illegal immigration on the region and its residents, and the stories have tried to capture the day-to-day realities of life for those here illegally. The series complements the paper's continuing coverage of the debate over legislative reforms, and the effect of illegal immigration in the state and nation. The effort to reach and reflect the region has extended to having the articles published online in both English and Spanish.

Both the series and translations have brought, predictably, strong reaction.

Four articles have been part of the series: The Column One on March 12 about a woman, in the U.S. illegally, who makes a living by collecting cans and bottles (it's in Spanish here, and there was an earlier posting on this journal). The front-page piece on March 23 about how those who wash cars are often here illegally and get paid under the table -- many times being shortchanged in the process (the translation). The April 2 story, also a Column One, on how families can be divided after someone here illegally dies (the Spanish version).

And the most recent, on April 13, which focused on two young illegal immigrants whose liver transplants were paid for by the state, but whose treatment costs when they turned 21 went to L.A. County -- which doesn't have the resources to cover additional transplants.

Passionate responses include thank yous, such as this from Frank Galvan of Los Angeles in reaction to the April 2 piece: "I appreciated your article on the traumas many undocumented workers face when dealing with a death of a loved one.  Your article helped put a human face on a population which is too often only considered by many to be just a 'problem' for the United States."

And there are objections, such as this from David Duron of Yucaipa, who wrote, "Your penchant for writing sympathetic stories about the 'plight' of illegal aliens has driven me over the brink. I tolerated the reports until I read the article about liver transplants. That was the last straw." And half of the 400 comments offered by readers as online postings were too filled with profanity to be used.

Terry McDermott wins science journalism award

A memo from Editor Russ Stanton: Congratulations to Terry McDermott, winner of the Wistar Institute Science Journalism Award for “Chasing Memory,” a four-part series on the quest to understand how memory works and why it breaks down.

Washington and his presidenc(ies)

Dozens of readers have taken issue with this line in a review of HBO's "John Adams" that appeared Saturday in Calendar:

George Washington ... so quickly tired of the infighting among his Cabinet and vagaries of public opinion that he stepped down from the presidency after a single term.

He served two terms, readers pointed out.

A correction is due to be published in the print edition tomorrow (one should be appearing on the online story today). The writer, Mary McNamara, responds to readers on Show Tracker. (Her mea culpa is also pasted in below.)

Ombudsmen columns

Here are links to some of the past week's columns by ombudsmen, readers' representatives and editors around the nation. More columns and information about ombudsmen in the U.S. and around the world can be found at the Organization of News Ombudsmen website (which has a permanent link on the right side of this page).

The New York Times, "Squeezed by the courts"

NPR, "Hating the media when you shouldn't"

The Sacramento Bee -- public editor, "The Bee is focusing resources on the mayoral race"; editor, "A Bee photographer's work garners more honors" PBS, "Ombudsman's mailbag"

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Roommate story resonates strongly across racial lines"

The Washington Post, "Was 'excluded' the wrong word?"

ESPN, "ESPN is right to engage, not avoid, racial matters in sports"

Kansas City Star, "Multiple churches use the Mormon name"

The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Diminished space for free obituaries"

San Antonio Express-News, "Immigrants an Express-News strength"

The Virginian-Pilot (Hampton Roads, Va.), "Our mantra: no more than one error a day"

Chicago Tribune, "How cougar prowled Web, newspaper"

Hartford Courant, "Letters to the reader representative"

The Salt Lake Tribune, "Rude Web site bullies are breaking rules"

The News&Observer (Raleigh, NC), "Tawdry tales about e-mails"

The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), "Readers benefit from story-sharing pact"

The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), " 'Ritas and gators on spring break"

Plastic surgery, and other reasons for plaudits

An appraisal of the plastic surgery-stretched faces of notable stars; a man-made black hole that some fear could swallow Earth; the bond between Mormons and Muslims; and the death of a photographer who was, in his words, "a Cambodian holocaust survivor" were among the recent topics that have brought notable reaction.

How much botox is too much? Features writer Mary McNamara got more than 100 e-mails, all but two saying thanks to The Times for addressing the issue of, as Shannon Buonsanti in Azusa called it, "strangely morphed faces." (Two readers told Mary that they thought the April 13 article was too mean to Priscilla Presley, whose face, she wrote, "often takes on the dimensions of a Picasso painting.") [Shannon Buonsanti’s last name was misspelled earlier as “Buon.”]

Caroline Simpson Timmerberg in Düsseldorf, Germany -- who said that plastic surgery was "sort of like selling your face to the devil" -- said thanks "for being the one to at long last say something about the entertainment biz and the people in it who have gone off of the facial-alteration deep end. Not only was your article very well written, it was also very fair and not at all mean-spirited.  Plus, it is bound to raise extreme awareness now." Laurel Britton called the piece "wickedly well written," adding, "That Picasso remark was too good, it stated exactly what I've been thinking." And Shatto Light of Los Angeles suggested, "Your article can be a beginning of a crusade.  People should start looking at wrinkles and sagging skin as part of the process of being alive. If you are going to start a crusade on 'Stop Face Abuse,' please, count me in."

More reader reaction is after the jump....

Hot off the presses

What's in The Times gets its fair number of comments and criticisms, but so does the paper itself. The physical thing that readers (of the print version) hold, that is. And readers ask the darnedest questions. The question from Tom Tetzlaff of Lake Forest ended up being sent on behalf of his rabbit: "I'd heard that The Times was printed using soy ink ... even the color photos? Obviously the inserts you don't have complete control over. Need to know."

The short answer: Yes. The longer answer is found on a link off latimes.com:

http://www.latimes.com/services/newspaper/mediacenter/la-mediacenter-environment,0,3740699.story

Tetzlaff's note of thanks for the link included a postscript. "Not to give you the impression that we don't READ The Times (we do),  we just wanted to know if our rabbit could make bedding out of it after we're done with a copy. Another way of recycling."

Husbandry aside, there are other questions from readers who prefer to get their news on paper. Some complain when they end up with dirty hands. Lay off the hand lotion till you're done reading, advises Greg Malcolm, director of operations. Even the water-soluble soy-based ink, which is highly resistant to rub-off, does sometimes leave avid readers with gray hands.

Perspectives on Heston and heaven

Bob Smith of Glendale calls him Chuck Heston -- he knew the man for 20 years and spent time with him at the L.A. Tennis Club -- and was horrified to see the Matt Wuerker cartoon in The Times' opinion pages on April 8.

The drawing, which ran in black and white in The Times, showed Heston at the Pearly Gates hoisting a rifle and wearing an NRA shirt while St. Peter says, "I don't care if the guy says he's Moses! Pry the gun from his cold, dead hands, or he isn't going nowhere..."

In a phone message, Smith called the cartoon "unbelievably tasteless." In a conversation later, he added, "I was horrified to see that caricature in The Times. He was one of the fairest-minded people you'll ever see on this planet. And it's cheap to go after his image after he's passed away."

Many other readers who didn't know Heston personally also raised concerns.  Eric Cooper of Santa Monica also thought the cartoon was in "extremely bad taste": "No matter what his or your views ... the week he passes away is not the time to make him the butt of a joke. Why ridicule someone who can now no longer respond? He lived over 80 years. Ya had plenty of time." Cooper added he doesn't happen to share Heston's perspective on guns.

The Guide takes over as entertainment source

Below is a memo from Associate Editor Leo C. Wolinsky and LATimes.com Executive Editor Meredith Artley about The Guide becoming the website's main resource on things to do in and around Los Angeles:

Ombudsmen columns

Here are links to some of the past week's columns by ombudsmen, readers' representatives and editors around the nation. More columns and information about ombudsmen in the U.S. and around the world can be found at the Organization of News Ombudsmen website (which has a permanent link on the right side of this page).

The Washington Post, "The service behind the prizes"

Sacramento Bee -- public editor, "News of Iraq is back - as readers say it should be"; editor, "Honest effort in changing times for newspapers"

NPR, "Should NPR link to violent, anti-Muslim video?"

The New York Times, "The blur between analysis and opinion"

PBS, " 'Let's blame the readers' "

The Salt Lake Tribune, "FLDS coverage important to this state"

The San Diego Union-Tribune, "Words and their pesky definitions"

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "The Wright stuff, or, more about bias or lack thereof"

Hartford Courant, "Recognizing in-house excellence"

Chicago Tribune, "Relishing tales of doing good"

Florida Times-Union (Jacksonville), "Cleaning up cyber comments"

The News&Observer (Raleigh), "Online study brings more questions than answers"

The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), "Answers to some nagging questions"

 

Vision 2010

Below is a memo from Editor Russ Stanton about plans that came out of a meeting of editors this week.

Colleagues: I wanted to give you an update on the editorial planning retreat that 26 of our editors participated in this week. Our goal was to develop a three-year plan for the direction of our newsgathering operation between now and 2010. I am very pleased to report that we made significant progress, laying the foundation for the process that will guide us toward this goal. Our work this week involved determining the values we want to guide us, what we want the newsroom to look like, and developing a plan to get us there.

How many fans were there?

Kyle Schlueter of Goyang City, South Korea, asks, "When the L.A. Times reports attendance for a baseball game, does it report the actual attendance, or simply the number of tickets the team sold?"

Schlueter cited the story on the Dodgers first game of the season, which said the team's win was "in front of 56,000 fans at Dodger Stadium." The report on the Angels' opener referred to "a crowd of 49,596." (That same story reported the Twins' home opener in 1993 "drew 51,617.")

It makes sense that a season opener is sold out or close to it, but what of a soccer story on Guatemala's defeating Mexico that referred to the "crowd of 19,368"? Or the soccer story that referred to 78,500 in attendance? As Schlueter concludes in his e-mail, "If The Times is reporting the number of tickets the team sold, it seems a little deceiving to use phrases such as 'in front of' and 'the crowd of.'"

Business Section honored

Below is a memo from Editor Russ Stanton and Managing Editor John Arthur announcing the General Excellence award from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers to the L.A. Times Business Section.

Ombudsmen columns

Here are links to some of the past week's columns by ombudsmen, readers' representatives and editors around the nation. More columns and information about ombudsmen in the U.S. and around the world can be found at the Organization of News Ombudsmen website (which has a permanent link on the right side of this page).

NPR, "Is Obama's pastor anti-gay?"
PBS, "The ombudsman's mailbag" (mostly reaction to last week's column on "Bush's War")
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland), "Nothing wrong with noting the source of a story idea"
The News&Observer (Raleigh, NC), "Bad economic news depresses readers"
The New York Times, "Change can be painful, but this one shouldn't hurt"
Washington Post, "Print and online: like ham and eggs"

Sacramento Bee -- public editor, "Lots of little things add up to big changes at Bee"; editor, "Changing publishers is important, so it's news"
The San Diego Union-Tribune, "A careful look at the news business"
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "A matter of trust: Keeping bias out of the paper"
Florida Union-Times, "How to avoid subtle bias when reporting on political stories"
Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, TX), "Boiling down all that information"
Salt Lake Tribune, "Proofreaders go way of green eyeshades"
Kansas City Star, "Scoreboard photo drew eyes -- and a question"
Courier-Journal (Lexington, KY), "Smaller pages mean changes for C-J"
San Antonio Express-News, "Last 'Retro Geek' comic is Sunday"

AP names Plaschke the best of big newspapers' sports columnists

Managing Editor John Arthur's memo announces honors to Bill Plaschke, T.J. Simers  and Kevin Baxter from the Associated Press Sports Editors: 

Real Estate's new Hot Property writer

In this note to staff, Associate Editor Leo Wolinsky and Real Estate Editor Lauren Beale announce that Ann Brenoff will take over the Hot Property column:

Reporter Jia-Rui Chong moves to California desk

Here is a memo to staff from California editor David Lauter announcing reporter Jia-Rui Chong's return to the California desk.

Maintaining dance coverage

A number of readers and others who are involved in the arts have sent notes asking what The Times' plans are for dance coverage. Questions have come in since readers learned that longtime dance writer Lewis Segal was among those who took the buyout (his last day was Friday).

Cyrus Parker-Jeannette, the chairwoman of the Department of Dance at CSU Long Beach, put it this way in an e-mail: "I am delighted to see the vast coverage of the arts, and write to implore you to maintain this coverage so that the Southern California communities will remain aware and informed of the trends and events in our area.  Though the reality of online access to news may be accelerating beyond the subscriptions to the printed page, there are masses in our society who still do not have computers at home and who rely on the newspaper as a source of information. Please do not diminish the coverage of the arts and dance in the Los Angeles Times."