Patterico's Pontifications

12/14/2008

What Happened to “Tell Zell”?

Filed under: Dog Trainer — Patterico @ 9:09 pm



On October 8, 2008, Kevin Roderick of L.A. Observed wrote:

Tell Zell, the blog that claims it is written anonymously by a Times staffer, has only updated twice in the past month and has yet to mention this week’s new wave of buyouts and threatened layoffs that socked the battered LAT newsroom in the gut. Sources tell me Times bosses have been mightily interested in discovering who writes Tell Zell and have a watch list of suspects — but really, does the most troubled newspaper in the U.S. over the past couple of years have time to worry about stuff like that?

I don’t know the answer, but I do notice that Tell Zell has not updated since Kevin wrote that, nor does Kevin appear to have mentioned the site since.

I wonder what happened . . .

9 Responses to “What Happened to “Tell Zell”?”

  1. How does Congress avoid bailing out the newspaper industry? They need someone to support their socialist agenda and glorify Obamafuehrer’s reign. I’m reading about all these small local papers drowning in red ink and failing.

    In his latest Elvis Cole novel, Robert Crais states that the LAT employs 850 writers. If the paper folds where might they go? Seriously, who will employ them?

    madmax333 (0c6cfc)

  2. I don’t know why Tell Zell has gone dormant, but I do think it’s worth pointing out that it went dormant at almost exactly the same time that a group of current and past LAT employees filed suit against Zell and the Tribune Companies.
    – JT

    Jon Thompson (e36079)

  3. Maybe Pellicano sent him some early New Year fireworks.

    Juan (4cdfb7)

  4. Or, the author was identified by the Tribune and allowed to remain employed on condition the blog no longer be updated.

    Bradley J. Fikes (0d7901)

  5. Perhaps, in what must be the supreme plot twist of the Narrative, the newsies have already dug themselves so deep into their customer-alienation hole that they can’t even afford to lobby for their own bailout…

    PCachu (e072b7)

  6. Or, the author was identified by the Tribune and allowed to remain employed on condition the blog no longer be updated.

    If that is the case, then they should feel free to e-mail me information/stories he/she wishes posted from a generic e-mail account, with files sent from a library at the public library.

    I will happily put them up.

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  7. 6, Scott, those files would make good fodder for a segment of our Internet show.

    PCD (7fe637)

  8. God wouldn’t they…

    Scott Jacobs (a1c284)

  9. I’m reading about all these small local papers drowning in red ink and failing.

    In his latest Elvis Cole novel, Robert Crais states that the LAT employs 850 writers. If the paper folds where might they go? Seriously, who will employ them?

    Where are you reading that small papers are drowning in red ink and failing? Small papers without larger competitors in their markets are still viable because they A) focus on local coverage not found on countless blogs and, B) haven’t grown big on numerous advertisers that no longer exist, ie, grocery and department store chains lost to 20 years of retail consolidation.

    Small to medium papers that are up against a larger competitor aren’t doing as well. Witness the East Valley papers in suburban Phoenix, which will cease daily printing next month. They’re up against the Gannett-owned Arizona Republic.

    The 850 writers at the LAT figure is probably 15 years out of date at least. Editorial STAFF–that’s reporters, editors, columnists, photographers, graphic artists, news and copy editors, researchers and archivists, secretaries, clerks, and dedicated IT staff–was about 1,250 in 1994.

    It’s half of that now. Where have all those people gone? Lots of places outside the newspaper business. If they’re lucky, they got out of the media business entirely because the whole lot is in a slump–newspapers, magazines, radio, TV and online have all shed jobs.

    Cato (96b5ea)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.1181 secs.