Patterico's Pontifications

10/12/2005

L.A. Times Editor Reads Patterico

Filed under: Dog Trainer — Patterico @ 10:58 pm



Sometimes folks ask me whether I think the people at the L.A. Times read my blog. I always tell them that I know people do, on occasion — but I don’t really know the extent of it. My SiteMeter sometimes shows hits coming from the L.A. Times, but I have no way of knowing who is visiting, or if they are regular readers.

Today I learned that Dean Baquet, the new editor of the L.A. Times, reads the blog. In a Kevin Roderick profile of Baquet in L.A. Magazine, we see this passage:

Baquet reads criticism of the Times on blogs, citing Hewitt, Patterico’s Pontifications, Slate’s Kausfiles, my own L.A. Observed, and the Elegant Variation, which critiques (and usually pans) each Sunday’s Book Review. Blogger obsession with liberal bias in the news pages is mostly ideological gamesmanship, Baquet contends, but he agrees that the paper needs to get better on its home turf.

Ideological gamesmanship, eh? He must be talking about Kaus . . .

So, readers . . . now that you know Mr. Baquet is reading the blog, why not tell him something in the comments?

And remember: be polite. Rudeness is for those other guys — you know, the ones who engage in ideological gamesmanship.

18 Responses to “L.A. Times Editor Reads Patterico”

  1. Journalists are the kids who drank lots of beer in college and were too stupid for calculus class. And dailies other then the WSJ just “grab a quote and write”. so much fluff. So little content or thinking. So much repitition.

    The WSJ rawks though. It’s like reading a newspaper full of magazine articles.

    Granted LAT has comics and sports and horoscope and such…

    TCO (5e2e67)

  2. It’s really not that great a paper, though. For sure a notch below the WP or NYT also…

    maybe you can give the Union-Trib some competition…

    (Is this being nice and non-ideological, Patrick?)

    TCO (5e2e67)

  3. So, readers . . . now that you know Mr. Baquet is reading the blog, why not tell him something in the comments?

    1. You assume that reading translates into understanding. You should know better!

    2. You further assume that understanding translates into agreement. But for the LAT? Huh?

    3. You further assume that agreement translates into action. Hmmm…

    4. That’s a lot of assumptions to overcome, even if you are a socialist/leftist/elitist at the LAT.

    David (6a1491)

  4. The reason I stopped buying the Times years ago is that you don’t learn anything worthwhile from it. The baby-boomers who are there have long ago become part of the establishment (who they used to complan about). They are now who they disdained. Over the years two major examples of their cluelessness were the “shocking” stories about how bad LAUSD and King Hospital were. Great! Pat yourselves on the back, self-congradulate! The only problem is that both stories were about fifteen years too late. Even the dimwitted knew these institutions were a mess. But hey why rile up your downtown pals? Hey, break out of your ossified (60’s) mindset and hire some people that don’t agree with you however uncomfortable that may be. If the paper becomes informative people would buy it and not scorn its pretentiousness.

    Milan (9f1df7)

  5. I actually read the blogs and NOT the Times. That way I get the news and the corrections at the same time.

    Ed (dfd255)

  6. Ideological gamesmanship? This from the organ that is to the Democratic party what Pravda was to the Communist Party of the former USSR.

    Stu707 (7c4f65)

  7. Mr Baquet,

    You can improve the LAT’s opinion pages rather quickly if you ban the tiresome Socialist harangues. An excellent first step would be to rid yourself of Robert Scheer. That would a send a positive signal you actually intend to improve the paper. Best of luck, LA needs a good newspaper and has been without one for much too long.

    Black Jack (ee9fe2)

  8. To: Mr. Baquet, Editor LA Times
    From: An ex-subscriber

    Why don’t I read the LA Times anymore?

    Gee, it’s real simple, your unabashed Democratic Party leanings. You are not neutral. I am not stupid and I can read between the lines of your articles.

    I don’t mind seeing your leanings in the editorial pages, but I DO mind the slant in articles. Therefore, I see no reason to buy a paper that has no compunctions about slanting the news.

    I hope this is a simple enough explanation for you.

    signed
    An ex-subscriber

    B Bolton (70d226)

  9. Mr. Baquet should not need to agree that there is bias to correct the issue. It doesn’t matter if he agrees, he is a businessman running a business for profit.

    The customer is always right. Well, if you want him to be a customer. Its a universal dictum of business in America.

    If you want the business, you must take action to meet the customer’s desires. Whether anyone on the staff LIKES THIS is irrelevant, it is a business is it not? They are there to do a job. As are you Mr. Baquet.

    DeepKeel (3ff91d)

  10. I know how this goes. I’ve lived in conservative cites and liberal cities and read their newspapers. Of course, the liberal cities have liberal newspapers and the conservative cities have conservative newspapers. You guys just know “which side of the bread the butter’s on,” don’t you?

    Tillman (1cf529)

  11. 1) If you must use an unnamed source, make up a codename, and stick to it.

    Articles that are cleverly worded to make one or two unnamed sources appear to be 5 or 6 are still a deliberate attempt at deception.

    2) After the headline is made, read the last two paragraphs. If the headline is doesn’t appear to mesh with the last two paragraphs, then the author has buried the freaking lede. And then been assisted by the independent headline writer.

    Al (00c56b)

  12. I think it is the total denial that bias could exist. Not just the Democratic cheerleading, but social issues. I love it when I read about declining readership, declining revenues, and layoffs.

    Is there one regular LAT columnist that has given Bush or Schwarzenegger credit for anything?

    ‘Attempts’ to be even-handed are disturbing. A recent example was yesterday’s (10/12) Column One article about a young Asian man who wrote in his school paper about the gap in Asian/Hispanic school achievement. He contended that ‘parental involvement’ was a key difference. The LAT writer stated that it was not ‘parental involvement,’ but ‘parental expectations.’ wtf? Please, that is a difference without a distinction, a semantic game played by the writer, in order to make it seem that this boy was wrong. This kind of writing is silly, and clearly serves the writer’s social agenda.

    Please, Dean, make it stop. Thanks for reading. Good luck.

    Times Hater (d1aabc)

  13. On the L.A. Times and Bias

    How the Editor of the L.A. Times could gain customers by addressing the perception of bias.

    Deep Keel (174b43)

  14. Mr. Baquet —

    The Times has been woefully late or simply non-existent on local terrorism stories, such as the planned rampage by the gas station robbers, the Lodi Cell, and the level of response by local authorities (likely, very poor). I see BETTER reporting on these issues by KTLA and better commentary by Hal Fishman. When a fellow Trib organization can do better I know it can be done.

    LAT is just not doing it (reporting on local terror issues). Obviously the news filter is on, which is a disservice to your readers. It would be nice to know what emergency plans local authorities have in case of earthquake or mass casualty terror attacks, unfortunately I know I won’t read about it ever in the LA Times.

    In addition, the LAT with a few exceptions (the Sunday Times story on the homicide of the Pep Boys sales clerk) has simply ignored the out of control crime wave in South Central. That’s the same mistake the Times made prior to Karen Toshima’s death in the mid-80’s. Readers need to know about each and every murder and the progress (or likely, lack of it). Page 2 could have a small chart with the closed, open cases; and Page 4 could carry the follow up for notable murders. Mostly, the Times to it’s great discredit has ignored the murder epidemic in South Central. I know the LAT has a policy of supporting Mayor Villaraigosa in the News Pages and suppressing crime stories that make him look bad, but KTLA and KNBC are eating your lunch in the in-depth reporting on this issue and the LAT just looks like Mayor Tony’s publicist. Since when does Calendar look like a Villaraigosa campaign mailer? The spread on “glamorous” Mayor Tony doesn’t inspire trust in any reporting touching him.

    Your reporting on the dumping of Homeless on Downtown was excellent. It’s too bad that sort of reporting doesn’t usually grace the LAT. You should have more of that local reporting on local issues in great depth.

    Business Section is great; don’t change a thing. It’s the best reporting in the Paper and stands with the WSJ. The series on the Ports was outstanding, so was the economics of DVDs.

    You should run “Jack Dunphy” every month in the LAT Editorial pages. Ditto for Merrick Bobb, and other locals commenting on local issues. Robert Scheer is boring and irrelevant.

    Thanks.

    Jim Rockford (e09923)

  15. For people who think the LAT is not useful, I disagree. THE LAT editorial page is the best guide for voting.

    For example, if I have not spend time analyzing the issues in the upcoming elections, especially re a ballot or a referendum, I simply vote the opposite of what the editorial page of the LAT suggests. Haha.

    Irony has its joy.

    David (6a1491)

  16. David, tempting though it may be, automatically voting against the Times will result in a bad choice more often than you think. For example, I’d hate to see anyone to vote against Prop 74 simply because the L.A. Times supports it.

    Xrlq (e2795d)

  17. Mr. Baquet –

    I wish to resume purchasing your product. I will however need the following specification changes:

    1. Move the “News Analysis” from page A1 to the op-ed pages where it belongs.

    2. Strait reporting of the facts without the color commentary added by the reporters (or editors).

    3. Reporters should ask the obvious follow-up questions. I can’t tell you how annoying it is to read a story that leaves major questions unasked (let alone unanswered). of course I realize this may lead to some uncomfortable truths being revealed that would take story away from the preset course.

    4. Never again run paid editorals from the Teachers or other unions on your op-ed pages.

    5. Fire Robert Sheer. I will not have one nickle of my money used to support him. Anyway his column is unreadable and always the same (bash Bush).

    That’s enough for today.

    Lawrence (2bf7bd)

  18. I wouldn’t mind it so much if the LAT simply had a Democratic bias. However, when I see the paper lying about ANSWER (an “antiwar and anti-racism group”) at a protest where a 68-year-old woman got hit in the forehead by a full water bottle, I get a little concerned. Am I at latimes.com or pww.org?

    And, I note that the LAT never covered LA’s current mayor’s involvement in MEChA, the racial separatist group that wants to “liberate” the U.S. southwest and turn it in to a Chicano homeland. In fact, it took one guy with a sign to finally get AV to renounce that group that the LAT since called a “Chicano rights organization”.

    And, when I see that paper continually supporting what could best be described as the Mexican position time and time and time again, I wonder: is the LAT a Mexican newspaper?

    It’s not just a slight liberal bias I’m concerned with. I’m wondering if the Los Angeles Times is just on the other side.

    TLB (ebb032)


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