Introduction to Mass Media



Danielle ChristianNovember 13th, 2014MC 2001 ProjectLos Angeles Times History and AnalysisHistoryThe Otis Era43434002070735Harrison Grey Otis00Harrison Grey Otis42291001333500The Los Angeles Times, the fourth most universally distributed newspaper in the United States, printed its first edition on December 4th, 1881. The newspapers two editors at the time, Nathan Cole Jr. and Thomas Gardiner, had no idea that one-day their newspaper would have over 650,000 copies circulated daily.Even in its early days, The Lost Angeles Times struggled to get a solid start. After contracting the Mirror Printing Plant to print the first edition, the two young editors failed to pay the bill. The paper was then given to the Mirror Company. A man named S.J Mathes ran the paper alone for about a year until The Times first official editor, Harrison Gray Otis, took the reigns. Otis was previously a government official, editor, and correspondent stationed in Washington D.C. He then moved to Santa Barbra and bought the Santa Barbara Press, which Otis wrote for until he relocated to Los Angeles. After agreeing with Mathes and his partners at the Mirror Company, Otis took over the editorial responsibilities at The Times and began turning the newspaper into a financial success. During the early years of The Times, political parties separated newspapers. Otis had been a Kentucky delegate to the Republican National Convention that nominated President Abraham Lincoln for president in 1860. This meant that the Los Angeles Times was directed towards a conservative audience (which is the opposite of their audience today).0711200002585720Owens Valley, where the California Water Wars took place00Owens Valley, where the California Water Wars took placeOtis’ editorial style was knows a ‘civic boosterism’, which focused on promoting the city of Los Angeles. And because the Times was becoming a recognized newspaper, it had an impact in civic decisions. One major stance the paper took was supporting the city as they tried to claim the water of Owens Valley. The California Water Wars had been stirring up trouble for the residents of Los Angeles, and it was a big deal that a prominent newspaper chose a side. The Los Angeles Times BombingAlong with being a staunch conservative, Harrison Gray Otis was also anti-union. The Iron Workers, a large union that was one of the stronger ones in the city of Los Angeles, had been key for the unions of San Francisco because of its size. But unlike San Francisco, Los Angles was not unionized. Otis had been fighting unions in his city since 1896, when he acquired the Merchants and Manufacturers’ Association (M&M). Using his newspaper and the M&M, he fought the few unions left in Los Angeles. Without unions to set wage standards for the city, the unionized San Francisco’s wage standards were undermined. Unions in San Francisco feared that employers would start pressing for wage cuts, so they decided the only solution was to re-unionize Los Angeles. 2057400362902500Things got drastic though when a bomb was set off in the alley outside the Los Angeles Times building on October 1st, 1910 at 1:07am. Because of poor planning, the perpetrators did not take into account the natural gas main lines under the building. The bomb was also supposed to go off at 4:00 am when the building would be empty, but the 16 sticks of dynamite had a clock timer that was faulty. Regardless of the time, the bombers also forgot the employees would be working overnight to produce an extra edition reporting the results of the Vanderbilt Cup auto race. The bomb killed 21 people and injured 100 more. The criminals had also placed bombs at the homes of Otis himself, F.J. Seehandelaar (secretary of the M&M), the Hotel Alexandria, and the Los Angeles County Hall of Records. All of these locations remained safe since the bombs never went off. 24003003012440Rubble of the Los Angeles Times building after the bombing0Rubble of the Los Angeles Times building after the bombingThe Times and law enforcement stressed the importance of capturing the perpetrators, but no arrests were made. There was even a $75,000 reward (which would be about 1.8 million dollars today) for the capture of the bombers. After extensive detective work, J.B. and J.J. McNamara were arrested and tried for the murder and bombing of the Los Angeles Times building a year later.01714500The bombers, J.J. and J.B. McNamara00The bombers, J.J. and J.B. McNamara0-22860000Otis used this tragedy to his advantage, and slammed unions in the newspaper. He called them things like, “anarchic scum,” “cowardly murderers,” “leeches upon honest labor,” and “midnight assassins.” Historian Kevin Starr commented on Otis’ scheming nature, saying he was “a businessman capable of manipulating the entire apparatus of politics and public opinion for his own enrichment.” Because of the way he publicized the bombing in the Los Angeles Times, the re-unionization movement was brought to a quick halt. After the new building was created, he constructed a bronze eagle to stand on top of the new headquarters, with a creed saying “Stand Fast, Stand Firm, Stand Sure, Stand True.”The Chandler EraAfter Otis passed away 1917, Harry Chandler took over as publisher. For three straight years under his leadership in the 1920’s the Times was the leading newspaper in advertising space and amount of classified ads. Harry Chandler had a sun, Norman, who dropped out of Stanford and worked under his father as a secretary. He was then general manager in 1936, president in 1941, and after his father’s death in 1944 he became editor. Under his leadership, the newspaper not only got even more regional prominence, but also was becoming a national presence. In 1961, the Sunday paper reached a circulation of over one million. Norman Chandler retired and passed the newspaper down to Otis Chandler, who became the fourth and final publisher from the Chandler family. Otis held his position from 1960 to 1980, and made improving the newspaper his top priority. Because Los Angeles was so far west, other geographically centered papers 262890022860000like the Washington Post and The New York Times were outshining The Los Angeles Times. His first steps to improve the paper was increasing the budget and expanding the staff. With more staff, the newspaper could branch out to national news and not just news in California. He also shifted the Times to more non-partisan reporting.2743200-115570Norman Chandler (left) and Otis Chandler (right)0Norman Chandler (left) and Otis Chandler (right)Before Otis, the newspaper had a total of two outside offices. He quickly expanded that to 34 offices around the country. Otis also joined the Times with the Washington post to form the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service, which would use both papers article for other news organizations. During the 1960’s, the Times won four Pulitzer prizes for their reporting. 358076530543500The Modern EraAfter the Chandler Era, the newspaper struggled with many staff and leadership changes. The death of Otis Chandler left a man named Tom Johnson in charge. Johnson was publisher for about 9 years, keeping the newspaper afloat. He then moved onto TV broadcasting, and the newspaper had about five publishers in a ten-year window. 3543300518160The Tribune Tower in Chicago, Illinois0The Tribune Tower in Chicago, IllinoisIt wasn’t until 2000 that the Times-Mirror Company was merged with Tribune Company of Chicago, which ended one of the last family-controlled newspapers in the United States. This merger created the potential for a major-market multimedia leader with outlets now in broadcasting, publishing, and interactive. The media company can now reach 80 percent of U.S. households. 01656715John Carroll (left) and Dean Banqet (right)John Carroll (left) and Dean Banqet (right)05651500The former editor of the Baltimore Sun, John Carroll, was brought in to bring the newspaper back to its former glory. During Carroll’s term as publisher, the newspaper earned 13 Pulitzer Prizes. But Carroll clashed with Tribune executives, and 200 newsroom jobs were eliminated along with the stock price of the Tribune Company declining from $50 to $36. After leaving the newspaper in 2005, Carroll left Dean Banqet in charge. Banqet was the first African American to serve as executive editor in the papers newsroom. But he was soon removed for not meeting the demands of the Tribune Group, along with the editors to follow (Jeffery Johnson, James O’Shea and David Hiller).32004001117600032004001940560Sam Zell, “LA Times Human Wrecking Ball”, according to an op-ed piece written by The Washington Post0Sam Zell, “LA Times Human Wrecking Ball”, according to an op-ed piece written by The Washington PostIn 2007, Sam Zell, a real estate entrepreneur, announced he wanted to buy the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times. The sale backfired, and the Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy in 2008. Much of the blame is to go to Zell, but it also had to do with lack of advertisers and a debt loan of $12.9 billion. The current publisher of the Times is Eddy Hartenstein, who was appointed in 2008 after the resignation of David Hiller. Along with being the publisher, Hartenstein is also the Chairman of Tribune Publishing. In both roles, he oversees all aspects of the print and digital operations of one of the largest daily newspaper in the US. Coping with ChallengesCirculation and Cost Reduction-114300174244000In 2000, the newspaper tried to re-organize the newspaper to increase circulation. The executives at the Tribune Company wanted to change the papers content and design style. The “Local” section was changed to the “California” section with more in depth coverage. In 2005, the newspaper also changed its Sunday “Opinion” column to the Sunday “Current” section and the featured columnists and presentation was drastically changed. -39751001884045Abandoned Los Angeles Times Vending Machines in Covina, CA0Abandoned Los Angeles Times Vending Machines in Covina, CAIn July 2008, the Times announced they were planning on cutting 250 newsroom jobs and reducing the number of published pages by 15 percent to save money. The cuts did not stop there. In January 2009, the newspaper announced even more changes, with eliminating the “California” section all together, cutting seventy more jobs, 10 percent payroll cut, and increasing the newspaper cost 25 cents. This negatively affected the paper, and the Times reported daily circulation in October 2010 to be 600,449 (which was down from it’s peak of 1.1 million a couple of years ago). 274320022860000022860000Internet Presence-114300-36830Los Angeles Times Website before and after0Los Angeles Times Website before and afterOne of the major digital outlets the Times utilizes is its website. In 2006, Times editor Jim O’Shea promised to revamp the site and gathered together a group of writers to study the site for three months. He called this the “Spring Street Project”. The study included data that showed sites like , Yahoo News and AOL News’ traffic were all up more than 10%, while was down nearly 9%. The committee researching the website deemed “practically invisible in Southern California”. The report also included suggestions on how to remake the website into something successful. After the severe criticism of the website, the Times launched a whole new digital campaign and redesigned . The sites traffic increased 15% from 2006 to 2007. 27432002700655Metromix tabloid with an article featuring AdeleMetromix tabloid with an article featuring Adele274320064325500Unfortunately, the website revamping was the Times only recent digital success. In 2007 the Times launched a site called “Metromix”, which targeted live entertainment for young adults. They also created the Times first stand alone print-weekly which was a free tabloid print edition of Metromix. The site and tabloid never really took off, and the only good press it got was the articles written about it in the Times. In 2009, the Times ended Metromix and replaced it was a blog site and tabloid called Brand X. Brand X targeted young adults who were social network readers. Similar to Metromix, the site was shut down two short years later due to lack of interest. Los Angeles Times Now2628900219964000Out of the top 10 national newspapers, the Times is one that is struggling most. Because of its strong early years and name recognition, it will be very hard to completely destroy this newspaper. The Los Angeles Times still remains the largest newspaper in Los Angeles (with the Los Angeles Daily News in the number two spot). Today, the newspapers main focus is the individual subscriber versus other paid circulation. The differences are the free copies given out in hotels versus the ones paid for at the airport. 26289001297940Tribune Publishing Company Stock 20140Tribune Publishing Company Stock 2014The Tribune Company as a whole have not been doing well themselves. Since July 2014, their stock has been plummeting. Their other major newspapers are not as well known as the struggling Los Angeles Times, and include The Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun, Sun-Sentinel, and the Daily Press. It is hard to predict where the Times will be in 10 years. Maybe under new management it could be brought back up to its original success, but that seems unlikely since there are so many other successful newspapers with loyal readers. For the Los Angeles Times to be back on top, they need to put their name back with the big media sources like the New York Times and Washington Post. The Times also needs to expand their digital footprint and focus on the web as a platform for news. Sources: ................
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