Today’s installment of “Observations on the News” looks at two unrelated articles that are actually related.
The Daily News is reporting that San Fernando Valley business leaders pounded the halls of Capitol Hill on Tuesday for any good news they could find about the fate of Los Angeles Air Force Base in the pending round of military base closures. The article indicates they have some in the House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands, who said protecting the base near Los Angeles International Airport is one of his top priorities. However, there is still a large fear that the BRAC process will attempt to close LAAFB (which is of personal interest to me, as the company I work for supports LAAFB). The fear is the commission will close LAAFB and move its functions to either Colorado Springs CO or Albuequerque NM. Such a move would threaten 50,000 jobs in Los Angeles County, end several national security programs and spark a massive military brain drain.
The other article of interest relates to the Daily News itself; in particular, the continuing battle for readers between the Daily News and the Los Angeles Times. According to the Daily News, the Los Angeles Times suffered its steepest circulation declines in at least 34 years during the last 12 months as daily sales fell 6.5% and Sunday’s paid readership plunged 7.9%, according to a report released Monday. The Times’ losses were far larger than those at newspapers across the country. Meanwhile, the Daily News bucked the national trend and reported a small increase in daily circulation of .09% to 178,207 and a slight decline on Sunday of .5% to 200,065.
How are these connected. Simple. The Los Angeles Times, since its purchase by the Chicago Tribute, has stylized itself as a national paper, competing with the Wall St. Journal and the New York Times, copying these publications even down to layout and typefont. By doing so, it has reduced its emphasis on local news—which is what people read a paper for. On the other hand, the Daily News has emphasized local news. The article I cited above about the LAAFB: it showed up in the Daily News, not in the Los Angeles Times (or the Orange County Register, for that matter).
To the folks at the LA Times: Get a Clue! If you want readers in Los Angeles, then you must work for Los Angeles.
