Still more evidence that the L.A. Times-Staples Center scandal isn’t going away: embattled Times editor Michael Parks has announced that he will not resign, but he will yield up some of his authority to two newly-promoted senior editors. Managing editor Leo Wolinsky will become the executive editor, taking over responsibility for day-to-day newsroom operations. Parks himself will step back a bit and concentrate on longer-term and more general projects such as the paper’s redesign. In addition, Ardith Hilliard has been appointed associate editor and charged with the duty of overseeing compliance with the Times’ editorial principles, articulated last month as an open letter to the paper’s readers. These measures should take some of the heat off Parks, who was widely criticized when his version of the events surrounding the ill-conceived Staples Center deal failed to track with other accounts. The Times devoted an Oct. 10 Sunday magazine issue to the new arena, and subsequently split the profits of the issue with the Staples Center. When details of the deal came to light, the Times drew charges of corrupt journalism from all quarters, most recently in a scathing New York Times Magazine article by Max Frankel, that paper's retired top editor. Frankel lambastes Times Mirror chairman Mark Willes, who came to Times Mirror in 1995 with no background in newspapers, for foolishly disintegrating the wall between editorial and advertising at the paper.
S.F. Examiner: Paper a
city won't let die
There was a time when Willie Brown had little nice to
say about the San Francisco Examiner but of late he has been on a campaign to save it from
extinction at the hands of Hearst, its longtime owners, who have announced plans to fold
it following their acquisition last year of the larger Chronicle. Now Brown, who was sworn
in this weekend to another term as the city’s mayor, says he's out to find investors
for the Examiner. And the city’s reelected district attorney says he will fight a
merger of the two papers, while the city’s Board of Supervisors is to consider a
measure today that would urge the city attorney to bring suit to stop a merger. Brown has
been protesting the close of the Examiner ever since it was announced, appealing even to
Attorney General Janet Reno, who has final say on the deal, since the two papers have
operated under a joint operating agreement that is overseen by the Justice Department. But
finding buyers will be tough. Technically, all that is really for sale is the name and
subscription list of the Examiner, along with some office equipment. The facilities it
shares with the Chronicle, including printing presses, don’t come with the deal as
crafted by Hearst.
Judge: Teen magazine hurt by porn web
site
Girls who click onto www.teenmagazine.com hoping to
read about hairstyles or heartthrobs are in for a nasty surprise. That address is not the
companion site for EMAP Peterson’s Teen magazine, but rather a portal to a family of
pornographic websites owned by Blue Gravity Communications. Or so things stood until last
Friday, when a federal judge in Camden, N.J., issued a temporary order restraining the
site’s owner, Thomas Krwawecz, from using the magazine’s name in its address,
saying the hardcore content would cause irreparable damage to the magazine. A hearing was
scheduled for next week to determine if Blue Gravity’s actions comprise illegal
"cybersquatting." EMAP Peterson will be seeking compensation for damages, as
well as well as ownership of the URL address. Incidentally, for anyone looking to avoid an
unwanted trip to Boobtropolis.com, Teen magazine’s official website is
www.teenmag.com.