Obama, the videotape and informing the public

Earlier this month, six months after the original story was published about Barack Obama's ties with Palestinians and Jews, people started calling and sending e-mails to the L.A. Times urging the paper to "release the video." A few notes became a flood of more than 15,000 e-mails by Wednesday morning calling the paper un-American, partisan and worse after Sen. John McCain's campaign accused The Times of "suppressing" a videotape.

The e-mails to The Times included links to an Oct. 25 blog post that said The Times was "hiding incriminating" information. 

Most who called and e-mailed seemed not to have even read The Times' April news article that had brought the event in question to light, headlined "Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Barack Obama: They consider him receptive despite his clear support of Israel." The front-page piece when it was published drew some criticism from the left. But that reaction has been dwarfed by the number of page views and responses the story has drawn over the past five days. The article examined presidential candidate Obama's view of Middle East politics. It included a description of a gathering held in Chicago by local Arab Americans for Rashid Khalidi, described in the story as "an internationally known scholar, critic of Israel and advocate for Palestinian rights." The story also said, "The event was videotaped, and a copy of the tape was obtained by The Times."

The Times itself addressed the criticisms in a news story published Wednesday. In it, Editor Russ Stanton said, "The Los Angeles Times did not publish the videotape because it was provided to us by a confidential source who did so on the condition that we not release it. The Times keeps its promises to sources."

Many responses were similar to that of Erich R. Bleiweiss, from Burlington, N.J.,  who said in an e-mail: "Please do not insult me by stating that the L.A. Times is protecting a source. This would only be a matter of convenience on the part of the L.A. Times and nothing more."

Those bombarding the paper saw it as if the issues were diametrically opposed -- "informing the public" vs. "protecting a source." The nuances of the issue were highlighted even more in Thursday's news story in The Times, when various journalists added to the conversation about the principle of how journalists work with sources.

The editor of the April story, Aaron Zitner, who works in The Times' Washington, D.C., bureau, noted that the paper would have preferred to be able to post the video but could not get the source to agree. Zitner said, "If we had not reached this agreement, we would not have had access to this tape at all. Then no one would ever have known Obama attended this event and spoke at it. We were pushing to say the most we could and to present the most we could to readers about what happened."

Thursday's article also quotes Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism. "The calculus a reporter is making is: 'What is the public good of getting the information, and does it outweigh the limitations that the source wants me to put on the information?' In this case, knowing about this event and being able to describe it to readers seems like a pretty good trade-off for not being able to release the video."

Support for The Times' sticking to its journalistic priniciples came in a post from Bill Sammon, the deputy managing editor of Fox News Channel's Washington bureau. Saying that the choice was "pretty simple," Sammon wrote of The Times and the reporter on the April story, "Indeed, [Peter] Wallsten has little choice in the matter. If he were to cave in to mounting public demands for the tape, no self-respecting source would ever give him another shred of information. Nor should they."

Others had started weighing in earlier in the week.

Harvard University law professor Alan Dershowitz clarified the issue in a blog entry Wednesday on the Huffington Post: "A simplistic view of freedom of speech would favor full and timely disclosure of all relevant information regardless of any promises made to a source. The more complex view of freedom of speech holds that unless newspapers keep their promises (and unless the law allows them to keep their promises) there will be less not more information available to the public."

Marjorie Miller named editorial writer and special Op-Ed correspondent

The announcement to staff from Jim Newton, editor of the Editorial Pages:

Colleagues,

I’m pleased to announce that Marjorie Miller, one of this newspaper’s great reporters and editors, has agreed to join the Opinion staff as an editorial writer and special Op-Ed correspondent.

Marjorie’s resume is too heavy to lift, but you all know her best as the foreign editor whose tenure included some of the most important and honored work by The Times in recent years. To cite just a few stories she directed: the Iraq war, the Palestinian Intifada, the Lebanon War, the South Asian tsunami and the death of Pope John Paul II. Under her leadership, The Times won numerous awards for its foreign coverage, including the Pulitzer Prize won by Kim Murphy in 2005. Before taking on the job of foreign editor in 2002, Marjorie worked as a bureau chief in London, Jerusalem, Bonn, Mexico City and San Salvador.

Editor announces staff reduction

The memo from Editor Russ Stanton:

Colleagues,

     The growing economic downturn is forcing us to undergo another round of job reductions and cost cuts. I deeply regret to report that today, 75 of our friends, colleagues and capable staff members in Editorial will be told that they are losing their jobs. This is about 10% of our total staff and these cuts are comparable in scale to those made on the business side of The Times last week.

   The severance terms being offered to our colleagues are similar to those offered in the other reductions we've faced this year.
    I appreciate your patience, understanding and cooperation during this difficult period. Your department heads and the senior editing team, including John, Davan, Meredith and I, are available to hear your concerns and answer any questions.

Notes on the redesign

More than 300 readers have commented on the design changes introduced Tuesday in the print version of The Times. A note from Editor Russ Stanton in that day's paper invited readers to call or write.

As editors in the Letters to the Editor department can attest, and as anecdotal evidence from this office shows, people are more likely to take to the phones or computer when they're peeved. So it's notable that some 20% of those who commented praised the moves overseen by Michael Whitley, assistant managing  editor for design (with notes like this from reader Ron Ching in Manhattan Beach: "We love the L.A. Times' new format! Very formal in a cool way.")

As for the other 80%, here are the top complaints. The editors' responses are below.

Readers...

• asked for the return of the Page A2 index
• want the weather returned to the front page
• asked about the change in datelines and bylines
• wanted Morning Briefing back in Sports

Two overall themes also came up repeatedly: readers fretting that the focus was on design more than the content, and saying that The Times has shrunk too much of late.

Honors to Food, Travel and Features sections and writer Russ Parsons

A memo to the staff from Assistant Managing Editor for Features Alice Short announces four recent awards. Recognition to the Travel section comes from the Society of American Travel Writers; to the Food section and to Food writer Russ Parsons, from the Assn. of Food Journalists; and to the Features sections as a whole, from the American Assn. of Sunday and Feature editors.

Times endorsements: When, where, why?*

The Times' editorial board started publishing its endorsements in early August, but not all readers have seen them. Subscriber John Nisley of El Segundo wrote to say he was voting by mail and wanted to get the L.A. Times recommendations for state propositions now. Allan Mason of Hermosa Beach sounded the same theme: "Every year I find your election endorsements very helpful. BUT they would be even better if they came a little earlier than the weekend before the election. So many of us are absentee voters now, and we want to mail out ballots well before the deadline -- often before you publish your recommendations. So please consider pushing them up a little."

Pamela Lang of Burbank is one reader who had no problem finding The Times' endorsements. However, as she suggested in an e-mail, she didn't want them: "I noticed you published your latest list of political 'endorsements' and I'm not happy about it. Isn't the job of the Los Angeles Times to report the news and leave the political decision-making to a well-informed public? Is The Times attempting to influence the outcome of an incredibly important election? How can the voters trust that your political endorsements aren't swayed by the owner of your paper, or their corporate needs? Please, don't presume to know what's best for me. Leave that decision to me. I trust your readers will make the decisions that are in their best interests, as well."

The Times provides both: The editorial board produces endorsements, and the newsroom reports the information on which readers can base their decisions. The California section has been running stories on initiatives and ballot measures all fall and plans to publish its Voter Guide this Sunday (as a post on this journal in January explained, these guides are intended be a thorough summary of the news reports).

The questions on endorsements, then: When, where and why? (And oh yes: Who?)

Reporter David Pierson to Business Desk from California

Here's the memo to staff from Sallie Hofmeister, Business Editor:

David Pierson has joined Business as regional economics reporter after seven years in the California section, mostly covering the Chinese community in the San Gabriel Valley.

A prolific and graceful writer, David has landed in Column One 16 times over the last three years. He pulled back the curtain on the decadent Xenii, an underground "mobile" nightclub in Hollywood for young, rich movers and shakers.  He brought readers to Wo Hing, a tiny hamlet in Southern China known as Los Angeles village because of the generations who migrated across the Pacific and sent money back home. In March, he painted a vivid portrait of Zhao Yan Feng, a Chinese teacher who struggled with a clash of cultures and ran up against teenage angst after coming to a high school in South Los Angeles.

Born in Hong Kong, David moved to New Jersey at the age of 16 when his father returned home to the U.S. to become a professor at St. John's University in Queens. After graduating from the same college in 2000 with a degree in journalism, David covered prep and college sports for Newsday for a couple of years before joining The Times in 2001 as a Metpro.

A recreational softball player who roots for the Mets, David is learning Chinese and can suggest the best places to dine in the San Gabriel Valley. He was married in March to Tessa Niega, a therapist who works with autistic children.

Editorial Pages' Jim Newton announces changes

In the memo below, Editorial Pages Editor Jim Newton announces that Nick Goldberg will become the new deputy editor of the Editorial Pages, and Sue Horton will take his place as Op Ed and Sunday Opinion editor:

Playing the stock market story

Reader Ken Reza of Burbank thought that the news of the Dow Jones industrial average scoring its biggest one-day point gain ever should have been on the front page Tuesday.

"I just wanted to offer some advice on how your paper could help build investor confidence that we so desperately need and would hence help rebuild our economy," wrote Reza in an e-mail sent Tuesday. "Yesterday we just saw a record 900+ point surge in the market that had never been seen before on Wall Street. This should have been on the front page of today's paper and here is why: It would ... help ordinary Americans feel more confident that [our] system is not broken, it would allow foreign investors to regain confidence that America is still the number one country to do business in and last of all it would help to just see a positive reflection of our economy. I would like to see more positive spins from L.A. Times when they appear so that way it can help restore the confidence in Americans in not pulling all of [their] money out of the stock market."

Assistant Managing Editor for Features - Alice Short

Here is the memo to the staff from Editor Russ Stanton:

Alice Short, features editor in the California section since March 2006, will become Assistant Managing Editor for Features, effective immediately. In this masthead-level job, Alice will report to me and bring her vast features experience to overseeing the Health, Food, Home, Travel and Image sections, producing stories from those areas for A1 and latimes.com.

As features editor in California, Alice has guided the work of some of our best writers. She also served on the second incarnation of the Spring Street Committee and on last year's Reinvent Committee, whose recommendations laid the groundwork for the ongoing improvements to our paper and website.

Alice has worked at The Times for 21 years, starting in the Valley Edition, where she served as deputy editor and editor of the former View section, shepherding "go-up pages" devoted to Valley-specific features. In 1990, she moved downtown to work as an assistant View editor.

She was promoted to View editor in 1993 and helped oversee the transition of View to Life & Style, a feature section whose mandate included coverage of health, fashion, home design and relationships. Life & Style received several Penny-Missouri awards in categories that included feature writing and best section.

In 1997, Alice became editor of the Los Angeles Times Magazine, which also won a Penny-Missouri award for best weekly section. She ran the general-interest publication, which included a regular calendar of themed issues covering fashion, food, travel and home design, for 5 1/2 years. She was daily Calendar editor for three years before moving to the California section.

Before joining The Times, Alice worked as a reporter at the Burbank Daily Review, as an editor at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and, for a year, as editor of a business management journal attached to the graduate school of management at USC. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UCLA with a degree in history and lives in Mar Vista with her husband, Steve Vielhaber, and two children, Greg and Maddy, and her dog, Biscuit.

Russ Stanton

Editor