Editor announces weekly tabloid aimed at social-networking readers*

Here's the memo sent to staff by Editor Russ Stanton:

Colleagues:

As the media landscape continues to shift, we are seizing the opportunity to expand The Times to a different audience with a new multimedia editorial product called Brand X (thisisbrandx.com).  [*Update: That website will be open for business in the next few weeks, when publication of the tabloid begins.]

In a few weeks, the street boxes currently occupied by Metromix will offer a new weekly tabloid created by the combined efforts of the former Metromix staff, latimes.com and our newsroom.  Online, BrandX will take blog form and will evolve and exist apart from latimes.com with its own identity and voice.

Brand X is designed to be a community, aimed at younger, social-networking readers who are interested in culture, technology, entertainment, food, events, volunteering, style and the outdoors. Reader input and participation will be part of the mix, as will features, quick-hit items, reviews and listings.

Brand X will include Times coverage of must-see concerts, exhibitions and events in Southern California.  We'll reverse-publish many of our latimes.com blog posts, use Times-generated articles and photos, and create original content that can go back into the main paper. It's content sharing on an extremely local level and will bring our great work to an audience that does not currently see it.

Metromix editor Deborah Vankin, formerly of L.A. Weekly and Variety, will be the editor of Brand X, and report to Dean Kuipers, who counts the launch of The Guide in his 19-plus years in journalism. Their combined staffs -- which soon will be together on the second floor -- will continue to maintain the LA Metromix website, as well as fuel latimes.com’s listings, daily print contributions and numerous blogs. The photo, design and copy desks will assume production duties for the tab.

Brand X's success relies on the talents of our newsroom, and I’m looking forward to seeing where we can take this, with your continued supply of smart ideas and execution.

Russ Stanton
Editor

L.A. Times, Chicago Tribune to combine foreign operations

Below is the memo from Editor Russ Stanton and Foreign Editor Bruce Wallace on the change.

Colleagues:

The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune are unifying their foreign reporting operations to provide Tribune papers and websites with the enterprising overseas coverage that has brought such distinction to both news organizations.

Both have great traditions of reporting from abroad. The Chicago Tribune began sending correspondents into the field at the turn of the 20th century and has been home to such fabled correspondents as Wilfred Barber and William Shirer. Under publisher Otis Chandler, the Los Angeles Times built a network of foreign correspondents that was at the forefront of the paper’s commitment to excellence, producing talented reporters such as David Lamb and Michael Parks.

The new Tribune foreign operation will uphold that great legacy.

The joint operation will be run from Los Angeles, where the bulk of the editing staff is currently based, in consultation with editors in Chicago and across the Tribune family. The staff will consist of L.A. Times and Chicago Tribune correspondents, strategically based around the world, who will emphasize original reporting delivered in a unique voice for print and online audiences. Their mix of daily news and features will meet our readers’ expectations for sophisticated reporting and writing from outside the United States.

The foreign report will continue to be distributed on the L.A. Times-Washington Post News Service and to the Tribune family of papers and websites in a daily, ready-to-publish World and Nation report produced in Chicago. Our stories and reports will reach millions more digitally, be it online, via mobile devices or eEdition delivery.

We are proud of the many brave and talented correspondents upon whose shoulders we stand. Several generations of foreign correspondents from The Times and Tribune have covered wars and upheaval, including Africa in the 1930s, Vietnam and the horrors of 21st century Baghdad. They have reported through global economic depressions and have chronicled political and social changes from the capitals of Europe to villages in Asia. The current global turmoil demands that we continue to provide lively journalism that enlightens and entertains existing readers and new audiences alike. The new Tribune foreign operation will meet that challenge.

Russ Stanton
Editor

Bruce Wallace
Foreign Editor

Hugo Martin to cover tourism for Business

Here's the memo to the staff from Business editor John Corrigan:

Colleagues,

I'm thrilled to announce that veteran Times reporter Hugo  Martín  will be joining our team to cover a key industry: tourism.

In his nearly 22 years at The Times, Hugo has seen action throughout the Southland, including stints in Metro and the Valley, Orange County, Ventura County and Inland Empire editions. His assignments have included local politics, Los Angeles City Hall and transportation.

Hugo was also part of the Metro staff that won Pulitzer Prizes for covering the '92 Los Angeles riots, the 1994 Northridge earthquake and the North Hollywood bank shootout.

In 2005, Hugo joined the staff of the Outdoor section. After it closed, Hugo transferred to Travel, where he distinguished himself on the outdoor recreation beat.

A graduate of Pomona College, Hugo started with The Times as a member of the Minority Editorial Training Program. He authored a children's book, "Pablo's Christmas," which was recently published as a stage play. He is married to Times "Cause Celeb" columnist Tina Daunt. They live in Pasadena with their daughter Isabella, two cats and a very old dog.

Hugo will work with Pat McMahon. Please join me in welcoming him to our team.

In tough times, praise for writing and investigations

Recent tales of death and (use of our) taxes hit readers hard: Thomas Curwen's profile of one 90-year-old man contemplating his fate evoked responses from more than 350 readers. And Michael Rothfeld's report on how state officials "have made free use of government expense accounts with little oversight" brought plaudits from readers -- and change from state leaders.

In the midst of widely publicized cuts in the newspaper industry, it's not surprising that many of the readers who took time to praise graceful writing and investigations into uses and misuses of power also talked of the fate of news organizations and The Times.

"Remarkable article on Edwin Shneidman," wrote Telle Riikonen of Santa Barbara of the Feb. 28 Column One. "I read it twice. The second time was just to enjoy the language and the feeling of the man and his long life as conveyed by your eye for detail in his house. I take serious journalism very seriously and lament the disappearance of long, well-written features and profiles in newspapers."

For Rothfeld's March 1 piece came this e-mail from Fernanda Benevides of Laguna Niguel: "I love the Los Angeles Times and your exposés.... Thank you for your article and the courage to inform the public of what really these questionable characters are doing."

David Lauter promoted to assistant managing editor

Here's the memo from Editor Russ Stanton announcing the California editor's move to the masthead.

Colleagues:

David Lauter, California editor for the last year and a half, will join our masthead as an assistant managing editor, effective today.

This appointment reflects David's skilled leadership of our largest and most important news-gathering operation, the local and California report. He has strengthened key beats and encouraged reporters and editors to pursue an ambitious agenda. And he has worked to maintain the high quality of our print report while reorganizing the department to maximize our reach on the Web, becoming a strong advocate for the importance of innovative online journalism. During his tenure, the Metro staff has become a leader in moving us into 24-hour online coverage and has shown that we can pursue excellence in our coverage while greatly expanding our Web traffic. 

David is well known to most of you: In his almost 22 years at The Times, he has worked with the National, Foreign and Metro desks. He started in our Washington bureau in 1987 and covered the White House under George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. He covered two presidential campaigns and directed the reporting of a third. In eight years as a reporter, David had more than 700 A1 bylines, a total that's hard to beat.

As an editor, David oversaw our coverage of the California gubernatorial recall election in 2003 and played a central role in guiding our work on the devastating wildfires that year, for which The Times won a Pulitzer Prize. As deputy foreign editor in 2006 and 2007, he helped guide our coverage of Iraq during some of the most difficult days for our Baghdad bureau.

Please join me in congratulating David on this well-deserved promotion.

Russ Stanton
Editor

Henry Fuhrmann appointed AME to oversee copy desks, standards

Below is the note from Editor Russ Stanton announcing the appointment.

Colleagues:

Henry Fuhrmann is being promoted to assistant managing editor in charge of copy desks, standards and the library, effective immediately.

Henry, The Times' first senior copy chief for the Web, is an extraordinarily versatile editor with first-rate management skills and the highest editing standards. He has earned well-deserved praise for helping shape our strategy for posting stories and photos to the Web quickly and efficiently while maintaining the accuracy and fairness that are the hallmarks of The Times' report. He worked quickly to help improve headline writing on the Web, thereby significantly improving search for users; our increasing web traffic is in part due to what he and the entire copy editing team have accomplished.

Scripps winners: Mexico Under Siege, Michael Robinson Chavez, David Willman*

Here's the memo from Editor Russ Stanton about honors from Scripps Howard:

   Colleagues:

   It’s a pleasure to announce that we have been honored with three first-place awards in the annual Scripps Howard National Journalism contest.

   The Times staff took the Web reporting prize for “Mexico Under Siege.” This multimedia project, which features photo galleries, videos, a searchable archive of stories, an interactive map and a Q&A blog, is a great example of what we can achieve when we collaborate across departments and put our finest work out there in all platforms. If you haven’t seen the presentation, go to latimes.com/siege.

   The Scripps Howard judges awarded Michael Robinson Chavez the photojournalism prize for a portfolio of images from around the world. The judges cited Michael’s “ability to work intimately and analytically in unfamiliar cultures and situations” in Mumbai, Nepal, Mexico, the rural U.S. and the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Don Bartletti was a finalist in the same category for pictures chronicling the ordeal of Mexican immigrants who braved wildfires to cross the border.

   Our third winner was David Willman, in the Washington reporting category, for his articles on the flawed federal investigation into the 2001 anthrax attacks.* [Updated: This post earlier said incorrectly that the anthrax attacks for which Willman's reporting was honored were in 2002.]

     A complete list of winners and finalists is here.

     Congratulations to everyone.

Russ Stanton
Editor

Covering taxes, covering rallies

Carl E. Ossipoff of Newport Beach wrote, "8,000 people show up to a 'Tax Revolt' rally in Fullerton and the L.A. Times fails to cover it because it's not newsworthy? Maybe if you covered the things important to the folks in the Southland, you'd sell more papers."

So said a number of others who wrote over the weekend asking why there was no story on a rally promoted by KFI-AM talk-show hosts to protest recent proposed tax increases. The rally drew (depending on who's counting) 3,000 to 15,000 people.

The Times noted the event with a short post on the L.A. Now blog on March 8. The rally was covered by the Orange County Register and San Gabriel Valley Tribune (which noted: "The radio station reported as many as 15,000 people attended, but a Fullerton police sergeant estimated 3,000 to 8,000 people were there").

Other events with similar numbers don't always get stories; an earlier post on this journal gave the thinking on that last year.

California Editor David Lauter wrote back to scores who asked about the event. The gist of his response: No, The Times didn't cover the rally. But yes, The Times has covered the issues that led to anger behind the rally.

Monthly web report: Oscars coverage a highlight

Here are notes on February numbers at latimes.com from Interactive Executive Editor Meredith Artley:

Colleagues:

February was a good month. Our Oscars coverage was a major highlight, with live blogging and fast filings, a stream of outstanding staff photography, and an Oscars quiz for Facebook users. The day after, more great photo galleries, video and analysis clearly resonated with readers when we set a daily traffic record for the year so far of 8.7 million page views. 

It was also a strong month for local coverage, with the relaunch of L.A. Now (which broke a new readership record) and the well-received Mapping L.A. project where users continue to discuss the boundaries and characteristics of their neighborhoods.

We had 128 million page views in February, up 25% from this time last year. About 23 million unique users visited us last month, an increase of 54% over last year. And our local audience has grown nearly 30% in the past year.

Work on the homicide and crime databases continues. Improvements to Mexico Under Siege are coming. We kicked off a neighborhoods project to bring together geographic information (think schools, real estate, crime, upcoming events, recent articles/photos/videos from us and elsewhere on the Web) and provide a place for discussion and debate within communities tbd. The idea is to package all the great stuff we have through a very local lens, and to create places on the site for readers to talk about the places they care about. And work continues on the Big Site Redesign.

Most-viewed articles, most-viewed photo galleries, top RSS feeds and more are in the jump.

Repackaging The Times

As a full-page ad in today's main section tells readers, The Times on Tuesday will move its California section, long the B section of the newspaper, into an expanded A section that also will continue to include national and international news reports. The opinion and editorial pages, too, will stay in the main section.

The changes are to save money, as a January Business story explained, by requiring fewer press runs.

The streamlining means that on most weekdays, Los Angeles Times readers will receive four main sections, as well as Health on Mondays, Food on Wednesdays and Home on Saturdays. Sunday's sections will be unaffected.

More answers and explanations are below.