Russ Stanton
With Help of Monster, Denton's Gawker Thumps Stanton's LATimes.com
Since The Los Angeles Times decided to lay off 135 people—100+ people for the second time this year—its PR brass has been trying to distract the media with other, happier news. Yesterday, with a nice link from Romenesko, the Times announced that it had its biggest Web-traffic month ever with 127 million page views in July.
Every piece of publicity that comes out of the paper is issued from Russ Stanton, the paper's editor of six months, who had previously been in charge of latimes.com. Naturally, a lot of it will be latimes.com-related (if it's not about traffic, the news is always about new blogs). read more »
Black Monday at the Los Angeles Times: Publisher David Hiller is Out, Mass Layoffs Begin
The L.A. Times' publisher David Hiller is out.
Here's the memo from Randy Michaels:
I want to let you know that David Hiller has decided to step down as publisher of The Los Angeles Times, effective immediately. David took over as publisher in October 2006, during a difficult period for the newspaper and has performed with distinction since that time. During the last six months, he has helped The Times begin making the transition to new ownership, facing new realities. Part of that transition must now include a new publisher.
We are already in the process of identifying the right person to lead The Times going forward. read more »
Doomsday in L.A.: The L.A. Times Cuts 150 Newsroom Jobs
The writing has been all the wall for weeks and now the carnage has been unleashed: the L.A. Times is cutting loose 150 newsroom positions, and 250 overall. Pink slips come by Labor Day. This news comes only a few months after the paper let go 36 newsroom jobs through buyouts, and puts the total newsroom number at about 700, down from the 1,200 it had just seven years ago.
Russ Stanton's sobering memo is here.
Russ Stanton's Week From Hell
Six days ago, L.A. Times editor Russ Stanton did a Q&A with Mediabistro and he was asked if things were finally getting back to normal at the embattled paper.
"I think they're starting to [quiet down] and I think our morale is beginning to come back to where people are focused solely on doing great work and good stories and terrific journalism."
Then this week happened. read more »
L.A. Times' Russ Stanton on How to 'Pull the Plug' on Paper, Ink
Russ Stanton got his job as chief editor of the L.A. Times because he was the golden child of the internet, a guy who could bring the paper into the future. And with Mediabistro, he talks about that future and how no newspaper will be involved at all! read more »
L.A. Times' 'The Guide' Editor, a Montorio Ally, is Out
The L.A. Times new editor, Russ Stanton, continues to clean house. MaryKaye Schilling, the print-online hybrid editor brought in to remake the paper's events tabloid, The Guide, is out. Ms. Schilling was a close ally to the paper's recently ousted features editor, John Montorio. Here's the memo:
MaryKaye Schilling, editor of The Guide for print and online, is leaving the paper. read more »
Don't Let the Door Hit You on the Way Back In! L.A. Times Buyout List 'Oversubscribed'
Michael Calderone at Politico reports that L.A. Times editor Russ Stanton is meeting with the paper's D.C. bureau tomorrow. On the agenda: Damage control from last week's bloody Sam Zell meeting where the paper's new owner said, in essence, that there were too many reporters working there. read more »
Too Much Information? The New L.A. Times Masthead
The L.A. Times has put a brand new masthead on its Web site—and wow! What a masthead!
It's almost impossible to find mastheads online for most papers and magazines, and even then, it's generally reserved for top editors. But now the Russ Stanton era has begun in earnest at the L.A. Times, virtually everyone in the editorial department is now listed on the internet. read more »
John Montorio, Print Apologist, 'Shocked' at L.A. Times Firing
On Friday afternoon, in one of Russ Stanton's first acts as executive editor of The Los Angeles Times, he walked into the office of one of the paper's managing editors and fired him.
"I was shocked," said the editor, John Montorio, in an interview with The Observer. "It was really quite brief and to the point. There was no emotionalism, no hostility and bitterness. It was seriously better than that—no yelling, screaming, crying."
Mr. Montorio, managing editor for features, who heads up the Sunday Calendar, Daily Calendar, Weekend Calendar, Book Review, Home, Food, Travel, Real Estate, Health and "Highway 1" sections as well as the Sunday magazine, announced the news to the paper in a memo yesterday, saying he would be gone at the end of the month. read more »
L.A. Times Editor John Montorio Is Out
John Montorio, who has run the features department at the L.A. Times, is out. A managing editor on the masthead, Montorio just sent out a memo to his staff revealing the news, explaining that the paper's new editor Russ Stanton wanted to take features in a "different direction, with a new leader." Nikki Finke, having heard this was about to happen over the weekend, described it over the weekend as a firing; other editors told us the same. Here's Montorio's memo. read more »
L.A. Times 'Morning' Round-Up
Rub the sleep out of those eyes: it's the morning-after in L.A.! read more »
L.A. Times: Stanton Speaks to the Newsroom
Some accounts are coming in from the new L.A. Times executive editor Russ Stanton's speech to the newsroom today.
One editor wrote to Media Mob: "It was subdued, receptive but kind of calm. which i think is reassuring. he is not an electric speaker, read from a prepared speech, but it was defeinitely well received, he hit all the right notes. I found it refreshingly ego-free, and his nervousness was kind of touching."
Another: "people at this place pretty much respond the same to everything ...show up and politely applaud..." read more »
At L.A. Times, A Stanton Critic Reacts
We've started making our phone calls to the L.A. Times newsroom. We were instant messaging with one harried editor who couldn't talk because said editor had to "go down to newsroom for the installation in ten." That was at 2:20 p.m. (our time), so presumably Russ Stanton is being coronated right now (Nancy Sullivan, spokeswoman for the paper, just confirmed it is happening right now). read more »
Russ Stanton Named Editor of L.A. Times
The Los Angeles Times has a new editor, according to a press release that just went out.
"The Los Angeles Times Media Group (LATMG) today unveiled significant changes to its organization and leadership team, including the announcement that Russ Stanton has been named Los Angeles Times Editor," the release reads in part. And this from publisher David Hiller: “Russ Stanton combines great personal leadership, communication skills, the highest journalistic standards and a commitment to excellence, and has been championing much of our work to become a truly multimedia news organization that’s a relevant and engaging part of the 24-hour-a-day world of news and information.”
As we reported yesterday, the choice of an editor to replace Jim O'Shea has divided the newsroom. read more »
