LA Times layoffs

The LAT prep coverage, which once was detailed beat work from the San Diego section border to the Santa Barbara line is a fraction of that now.

I know players, parents, coaches, administrators and fans have to wonder what the hell happened to have their coverage go from full bore to virtually nothing in less than a decade.

Preps guru Eric Sondheimer is tireless, but pretty soon he's going to be the only one there working that beat.

 

Of course, the odd part was it was much bigger in the bureaus than downtown.

Now, of course, they think they might want to be more local again ... what a concept.

 

Eric Stephens was nicknamed "Ice" even before he knew what a hockey puck was ... because he is a cool guy. He did a great job on the Ducks. So, how do they explain that: "We've eliminated your position." Ok, they're not covering the Ducks anymore???
Cuomo has been there probably 30+ years. Yoon, unfortunately, was like everybody's backup, on golf, on Morning Briefing, and he did the local colleges. That spot probably was doomed.
Stewart and Mieszerski were horse guys. Both landed at LAT when the Herald Examiner folded. Most people in town were surprised LAT picked up Stewart when other, better newsmen were available. Mieszerski had his niche. But in the overall scope of things, horse racing coverage is going to take a hit. Dwyre probably can do what Stewart/Mieszerski did from a story perspective. Springer, too, is a veteran guy who did boxing and was in a backup role.
Still, this is a huge hit for LAT and newspapers, period. Another truly sad day.

 

Very true. Some of the country's best prep athletes could have seen the LAT building from the roof of their schools if there hadn't been smog. And despite that proximity, they barely got any coverage at all.

Meanwhile, Fillmore High's strong safety is being written up for his skill at canning strawberries with his grandmother on Sunday mornings.

It was a weird time. But a good one.

 

Larry Stewart's arrival at the Los Angeles Times far predates the 1989 folding of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. I think he joined The Times in 1978. He had worked for the Herald Examiner.

 

here's a recently updated list ... not just of sports, but the whole staff

http://www.tellzell.com/2008/07/list_15.html

 

Wow. Wow. There's so much institutional knowledge leaving the LAT. Steve Springer is one of the most knowledgeable basketball and boxing guys in the country. He's got a great career as an author --just wrote De La Hoya's new autobiography -- so I can understand how he'd be in a position to raise his hand to save someone else, if that is indeed the case. But still, there's just so much institutional knowledge, walking out the door.

This makes me very sad.

 

A lot of OC and even SD alums on there, and a lot of great people.

 

No doubt.

Steve Harvey? The guy who wrote "Only in LA" for years and also did the "Bottom 10." Chuck Phillips won a Pulitzer, I believe.

Joel Huerto was a hell of a designer. And Peter Yoon, a friend of mine, was a very underrated writer. The guy covered everything: golf, preps, volleyball, colleges, you name it.

Unreal. Absolutely unreal.

 

You know who a lot of those people are, Birdscribe? Absolutely pros who wrote headlines, didn't make them, who put out a quality paper for a long time, who were the guts of the paper but people you didn't hear much about and who, best I can tell, are gone because they did their jobs too well for too long and became expensive and expendable.

I hope there's at least one age-discrimination suit that comes out of this, or more.