Harold Meyerson at the Washington Post:
A recent informal poll that one L.A. Times writer conducted of his colleagues showed that almost all planned to exit if the Kochs took control (and that included sportswriters and arts writers).
The writer appears confused about the difference between a bug and a feature.
Go, Kochs! Throw in the editors and you have yourselves a deal.
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funemployment!
happyfeet (8ce051) — 4/24/2013 @ 6:33 pmIf anyone can get Jim Murray writing for the sports page of The Times, it would be the Kochs 🙂
Chuck Bartowski (ad7249) — 4/24/2013 @ 6:40 pm“The Tribune board members whom the creditors selected want to unload the papers in favor of more money-making ventures.” Mr. Meyerson and his soon-to-be-unemployed colleagues prefer to be paid in thank you notes, attaboys and recognition of their fellow travelers instead of US currency. Profit is EVIL.If only mortgage banks understood the great work they are doing.
Demographics of California; if only these Mexican folks knew these ink-stained wretches were fighting their fight, perhaps they could buy it. Where is Carlos Slim when you need him? Or something.
Bugg (b32862) — 4/24/2013 @ 6:44 pmYeah, the UNBIASED would leave if Conservatives owned the paper.
Gus (694db4) — 4/24/2013 @ 6:48 pmThat is so curious!
Can someone explain the downside to these reporters leaving? I mean how much did they actually get right with the Boston bombing? Maybe the Koch brothers can hire replacements that actually know the job of a journalist. For instance, report facts instead of supposition as fact.
Tanny O'Haley (09cf80) — 4/24/2013 @ 6:53 pmI wonder if they’d burn the Rashid Khalidi tapes on the way out??
Gus (694db4) — 4/24/2013 @ 6:57 pmOh noes! All those fabulous, uniquely talented journalists that have made those papers what they are today! What ever will we do without them?
Craig Mc (1ae315) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:00 pmIt is almost as if the “unbiased” writers operate under the premise that they expect that ownership dictates the point of view of the “journalists.”
Wait.
Did I just say, point of view ?
…and the sportswriters would leave, too ?
Elephant Stone (a59d01) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:01 pmSo, in other words, the left wing nuts who write about sports would discriminate against ownership, simply based on their political persuasion ?
Was unaware lef wing, left tackle,southpaws, left field and going to your left had any political implications such that you’d rather be unemployed than cover life’s toy department.
Bugg (b32862) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:05 pmMethinks the staff at the LAT don’t realize that would make the transition easier for the new management. The Koch Bros as Dirty Harry, “You want to quit? Go ahead and make my day.”
But yes, the Khalidi tapes need to be explicitly made part of the deal. no tape, no deal, they can stop the presses or get bought by Soros, their choice.
Bro. bradley is highly recommended to be part of the new team.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:07 pmWhere do I send my resume’?
Speaking of new management, I heard that twinkies may again be available soon as ~1,500 new non-union employees are being hired.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:09 pmInteresting.
In 2000, News World Communications — the media corporation that published the Washington Times and was founded by the Unification Church (aka “The Moonies”) — bought United Press International, the former major news service that was at that point struggling. Anyone remember what happened immediately afterward? Helen Thomas resigned. She had no problem with working for UPI for over half a century, the final years being when it was controlled by the Saudi royal family. But she wouldn’t even consider working for an organization connected to the controversial conservative quasi-Christian leader.
Similarly, when the word got out that Al Gore and Joel Hyatt were looking to dump their money pit named Current TV, they received serious overtures from investors connected to Glenn Beck, who was looking for a way to expand the eyeballs looking at his internet/satellite channel, Blaze TV. Rather than sell out to a conservative, Gore, the guru of green and enemy of all things fossil fuel (to the point that petroleum companies were banned from ad buys on Current) cashed in what was left of his own mythic integrity and chose to accept the offer of Qatar-controlled, terrorist-sympathizing Al-Jazeera. If there was any doubt that every man has his price, we found out that Gore’s was $100,000,000.00.
Keeping those things in mind, make your case of how there is no leftist media bias. Hit me with your best shot, fire away.
L.N. Smithee (836432) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:11 pmYou know, a true, professional, non agenda driven news reporter who was timely reporting just the facts of a story–(who, what, when, and where) would not care a whit who owned the paper so long as the paycheck cleared and the bathrooms were clean. The fact that they’d threaten to hold their breath, join hands and go off the cliff like lemmings to “prove” something is just more reinforcement of how arrogant and out of touch with reality they are. And there’re sooo many jobs out there right now for journalists.
elissa (c4f7a3) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:11 pmHeck, if I didn’t have to live in California, I would work for them. Florida, though, hmmm.
Ag80 (19f299) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:17 pmSaves on the rat traps…
Colonel Haiku (72a645) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:20 pmHave a Koch and a smile !
Elephant Stone (a59d01) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:24 pmFunny thing about the Koch Bros. They made their fortunes HONESTLY and employ THOUSANDS. Unlike your typical MARXIST rich dude.
Gus (694db4) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:26 pmGood. Don’t need to pay them unemployment then when they’d be fired.
NJRob (fe68e7) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:38 pmSo help me think this through… the writers at a failing liberal paper are going to leave if the paper is purchased by highly successful conservatives…exactly who do they [the writers] actually think is getting the short end of the stick on that deal?
Pamela (443d0f) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:42 pmIt would be quite a change for the LA Times. Of course, journalist jobs are so easy to find now that I can certainly see them leaving en masse.
Mike K (dc6ffe) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:42 pmDon’t worry about them being unemployed guys…they can work the ‘poles’ for Weiner’s mayoral campaign. He’d gain half his campaign ‘staff’ if this deal went through.
Pamela (443d0f) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:48 pmI haven’t been a newspaper reporter since high school, but I would be happy to offer my services as a reporter, writer, or editor to the Los Angeles Times.
aunursa (7014a8) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:49 pmPeople so biased they can’t keep their paying job if their boss changes to a dreaded conservative are surely totally objective reporters today.
X (c68862) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:51 pmIn my youth I wrote a couple of dissenting editorials in my liberal college newspaper. I’d be happy to move and write some more.
NJRob (fe68e7) — 4/24/2013 @ 7:56 pmThey’re all afraid that they’ll be asked to report stories accurately — something for which they’ve had no training.
Icy (1d544c) — 4/24/2013 @ 8:19 pmI doubt all or even many of them would quit, other than people ready to retire anyway, so I consider this false bravado and/or trash talk. If the sale goes through, we’ll see how many of them actually follow through.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 4/24/2013 @ 8:36 pmI will restart my subscription and I know a hell of a good sportswriter who can fill at least one vacant spot if the Kochs buy the company.
Kyle (403b41) — 4/24/2013 @ 8:39 pmSometimes you wish these libs would actually follow through on their empty threats. If all those who threatened to move to Canada if Bush was reelected actually did, Obama wouldn’t have had a chance in 2008.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/24/2013 @ 8:47 pmI look forward to stories like thissin in the Chicago Trib:
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/54684
Or, who is Hasan Chandio?
http://hillbuzz.org/is-barack-obama-gay
The point is we need a Prez for the three dollar bill.
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 4/24/2013 @ 8:47 pmHere’s another story I’d like to see a newspaper cover:
http://www.sondrakistan.com/2013/04/24/science/
gary gulrud (dd7d4e) — 4/24/2013 @ 8:56 pmIf they left en masse revealing such stupidity, they confirm that they really they have no business dealing with news In any form whatsoever.
Dana (292dcf) — 4/24/2013 @ 8:57 pm“they confirm that they really they have no business dealing with news In any form whatsoever.”
Dana – What is printed in papers such as the LA Times and NY Times is not news. The content has already been filtered, scrubbed and washed to avoid disturbing the bubble in which the readership lives.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/24/2013 @ 9:01 pmOne lefty LA Times editor, but I repeat myself, won’t have to worry about working for the evil Koch Bros. : http://jimromenesko.com/2013/04/24/noel-greenwood-he-despised-republicans-and-loved-newspapers/
Who not coincidentally was regarded as insufferable by the late Cathy Seipp.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes C.O.R. (96a7a4) — 4/24/2013 @ 9:26 pmBrother Bradley–it is just stunning that a broad and casual statement like “he despised republicans” feels OK to be written in a public man’s obit.
elissa (c4f7a3) — 4/24/2013 @ 9:34 pmA lot cheaper for them to quit than to have to fire them and they can be replaced a lot faster and easier
Dan Kauffman (623f5c) — 4/24/2013 @ 9:44 pm}}} Go, Kochs! Throw in the editors and you have yourselves a deal.
I’m in favor of it, but…
I’ll go a step further, and bet you that this is in the same “If (Republican) ‘x’ gets elected, I’ll move to France” claim that’s been a popular comment from the libtard elite of late, yet, somehow, no one ever leaves the US of A.
My bet is, less than 25% of the reporters will be self-unemployed or working for a different paper within 3 months… this excludes any reporter fired for being a blithering idiot by the Koch’s, of course.
Smock Puppet, 10th Dan Snark Master and Gender Bïgǒt (98ae1f) — 4/24/2013 @ 10:01 pmelissa,
Brother Bradley J. Fikes C.O.R. (96a7a4) — 4/24/2013 @ 10:01 pmI’m sure that at the LAT, Greenwood exhibited the highest in ethical standards in dealing with Republicans, just like Michael Hiltzik and Robert “Romeo” Scheer.
Well, I will grant some integrity possible if the owners were strongly dictating story coverage etc., for example, making sure that The Foibles of someone living in the WH was not being touched under any circumstances.
Oh, wait…
“Never mind…”
Smock Puppet, 10th Dan Snark Master and Gender Bïgǒt (98ae1f) — 4/24/2013 @ 10:07 pm…showed that almost all planned to exit if the Kochs took control (and that included sportswriters and arts writers).
I seem to recall that if a person quits outright, they can’t collect unemployment. If that’s true, then the Kochs should go for it. Shut down the liberal propaganda mill, get rid of the journolists and return the LAT to the business of reporting news.
Blacque Jacques Shellacque (2e6a55) — 4/24/2013 @ 10:18 pmOh for Pete’s sake, none of these dicks would leave. They’d take one look at their mortgage and realize the job market for print reporters is crap and would then pray to a god they suddenly believed in that if the Koch brothers bought the joint that they would be kept on. The threat is as empty as Alec Baldwin’s “I’ll move to Canada if Bush wins” mental jerkoff.
scr_north (85eb96) — 4/24/2013 @ 10:36 pm“A recent informal poll that one L.A. Times writer conducted of his colleagues showed that almost all planned to exit if the Kochs took control”
It’s a good thing the results of the informal poll do not represent any kind of admission that the writers or their writing are liberal in any way shape or form, nor should readers draw any such inferences from the results of the informal poll, it merely represents normal overwrought liberal emoting over conservative stereotypes. Bring in the fainting couches.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/24/2013 @ 11:33 pmi wonder how many current subscribers will quit if the sale goes through?
without the Slimes, the only appropriately rabid leftard daily they could get would be the NYT…
i know it’s distributed here because the illegal who delivers papers to our house occasionally leaves us one of those instead of the WSJ.
redc1c4 (403dff) — 4/25/2013 @ 12:12 amIf they buy it, 10-1 they make it successful.
mg (31009b) — 4/25/2013 @ 1:04 amIf we’re talking about dumping the syphillitic RUBEN NAVARRETTE, I’m a STOCKHOLDER!!!
Ed Wallis (3cc16b) — 4/25/2013 @ 1:17 amGet these statements on the record and signed affidavits. We don’t want them to change their minds like liberals do all the time. They make these threats but never follow through.
I’m still waiting for Streisand and Michael Moore to move out of the country.
And didn’t Piers Morgan say he’d self deport if the gun bill didn’t pass?
They can’t even keep themselves from lying about the easy stuff.
Jcw46 (0af03c) — 4/25/2013 @ 2:47 amIt is an idle threat. It is just like Baldwin threatening to move to France if Bush was elected.
Hey, if the Kochs do buy the Tribune Co., can I be on the escort the fired people out crew???? I promise not to kick Jean O. Pasco too hard in the rear.
I would love to have the Koch brothers buy out Woodward Communications here in Iowa. They would be doing a great service by instituting honest journalism policies.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 4/25/2013 @ 7:20 am2 words:
Lou Grant
Back in the 70’s, there was the Lou Grant show which took place at a large LA Newspaper. In one episode the family was selling out and all the staff agreed that they would not work for the buyer, Russell Granger.
Why, they would stick together and all quit en masse, that would show them!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxGpuJqpYfM
Start about 26 minutes in.
Best lines:
Board member: If you buy this paper everyone will leave and all you will have is a building, presses and a lot of empty desks.
Granger: That’s all I need to run a paper. I’d like you all to stay but I can fill those desks.
(At about 34 minutes)
It’s like deja vu all over again.
John Henry
john henry (8858eb) — 4/25/2013 @ 7:27 amAnd if all the crummy writers leave, that is a problem why?
Bill Cook (8ae564) — 4/25/2013 @ 7:44 amSo, they would have us believe that they are totally unbiased today, but it would be intolerable to the point of walking away from their job in Obama’s horrific economy rather than work for a paper owned by a libertarian?
JD (b63a52) — 4/25/2013 @ 7:55 amUnderpants gnome strategy, quit,. . .success, some like Robert Scheer go on to TruthDig, what would happen to Hilzik, smallest violin.
narciso (3fec35) — 4/25/2013 @ 8:06 amThere wasn’t a voluntary mass exodus for the streets when Sam Zell bought the company, so I’m thinking once again we are seeing a bunch of feel good false bravado.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 4/25/2013 @ 8:21 amOh, Please…please…please…please!
askeptic (b8ab92) — 4/25/2013 @ 8:36 amI clipped out the relevant 20 or so seconds of the Lou Grant episode:
http://youtu.be/JRaNEocYmaQ
john henry (8858eb) — 4/25/2013 @ 9:29 amMy reaction to the majority of the LA Times staff leaving. Sing it!!
MikeHs (1a2353) — 4/25/2013 @ 9:38 amNo threat quite like an empty threat! 🙂 “Hey, honey, the mean ol’ Kock brothers bought the Times, so I’m gonna show ’em just how I feel and quit!”
“What, so you can lie¹ around the house all day while I work to try to support us? You’ve got another think coming!”
________________________
The very realistic Dana (3e4784) — 4/25/2013 @ 9:51 am¹ – Yes, I know that the proper word would be “lay,” not lie, but with the Times’ writers, I thought that “lie” would be more appropriate.
Can we get an over/under on the percentage of voluntary turnover? 🙂
The gambling Dana (3e4784) — 4/25/2013 @ 9:54 amAt what percentage of turnover — regardless of whether voluntary or otherwise — would our esteemed host start running a subscribe to the Times advertisement?
The businessman Dana (3e4784) — 4/25/2013 @ 9:55 ammg wrote:
Put me down for $100, accepting your 10-1 odds that the Kocks would make the Times successful. They may be great businessmen, but the newspaper model itself is dying: it is 18th century technology.
The wagering Dana (3e4784) — 4/25/2013 @ 10:02 amI live in Chicago, and if the Kochs bought the Chicago Tribune, I’d probably subscribe to the newspaper.
Joshua (9ede0e) — 4/25/2013 @ 10:42 amIf they buy the Times, I will subscribe.
Patricia (be0117) — 4/25/2013 @ 11:43 amNo, the proper word is “lie”. “Lie, lay, lain” is an intransitive verb meaning “to lie down”. “Lay, laid, laid” is a transitive verb meaning “to set something down”.
Chuck Bartowski (11fb31) — 4/25/2013 @ 11:47 amJust think: the people who would quit the LA Times work for a newspaper, an information-centric business, but these people are so ill informed as to believe all the silly propaganda against the Koch brothers. Their quitting would be self-firing – and they would deserve to be fired for being so naive and biased.
mbabbitt (d2d105) — 4/25/2013 @ 12:06 pmWhat mbabbitt said. The Kochs are libertarians, not conservatives. They oppose prohibition of abortion and drugs.
But the “information workers” at these newspapers know only that the Kochs are Evil Conservatives who created the raaacist Tea Party.
I wish they’d all follow through and actually quit. But no, they’ll stick around, and quietly continue to filter the news to the left agenda.
The Kochs are too devoted to intellectual freedom to conduct the explicit ideological review and purgel purge that would be required to re-establish any sort of balance. They would have to fire a lot of people for their politics, and recruit non-leftists to replace them. And there aren’t many non-leftists in that field anymore.
Rich Rostrom (47c4e2) — 4/25/2013 @ 12:57 pmThis LA Times’ article on the complexity of the Tsarnaev’s bombs doesn’t sound like the Times’ typical left-wing coverage. Is it a coincidence or are they already anticipating their (possible) new overlords, the Kochs?
DRJ (a83b8b) — 4/25/2013 @ 1:23 pmOops. Wrong link. Here’s the right link.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 4/25/2013 @ 1:24 pmHopefully the third time is a charm: Link.
DRJ (a83b8b) — 4/25/2013 @ 1:26 pmWell, at least I got the headline:
Wait, the whole thing is further down.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 4/25/2013 @ 2:19 pmwhen the story is big enough, and will likely be printed by someone else, people like that get less biased.
Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 4/25/2013 @ 2:20 pmHahahaha! Don’t let the door hit ‘ya on the way out.
Funeral Guy (51a2fe) — 4/25/2013 @ 9:15 pmWhat Rich Rostrom said. How wonderful it would be to have a major newspaper owned by Libertarians again.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes C.O.R. (56c755) — 4/25/2013 @ 9:26 pmMr Fikes wrote:
Actually, I’d say how wonderful it would be to have a major newspaper owned by journalists — as opposed to JournoLists — again.
The journalist Dana (3e4784) — 4/26/2013 @ 5:01 amDana, The Orange County Register used to be Libertarian until the Libs forced Ken Grubbs out replacing him with the liberal twit from the financial section after the OC Bankruptcy.
PCD (1d8b6d) — 4/26/2013 @ 6:41 amJournoDana,
I don’t think any journalists have a shot at owning a major newspaper. The best we can hope for is good management that requires truly impartial reporting.
As an aside, the LA Times/Tribune employees actually *were* majority owners, under the ESOP. We saw how well that worked!
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (dc1255) — 4/26/2013 @ 7:25 am