| L.A. Times fires editor in dispute over budget cuts, month after ...
The Los Angeles Times fired its top editor after he rejected a management order to cut $4 million from the newsroom budget, 14 months after his predecessor was also ousted in a budget dispute, the newspaper said Sunday. James O'Shea was fired following a confrontation with Publisher David D. Hiller, the Times reported on its Web site. The story didn't say when the confrontation took place. "The Los Angeles Times, like all newspaper companies, is facing major challenges in charting a course that will be successful for the future. The path ahead is going to be difficult and requires that our people and our organization be aligned behind what we need to do," Hiller said in a statement. "As a result of these changes, Jim O'Shea will be leaving the Times." In a story posted on the Times' Web site late Monday, Hiller said he agreed with O'Shea and other critics that newspapers should address declining advertising sales and circulation with creative thinking rather than across-the-board cuts.
January 2008
Heartbroken or not, paid time off is good time off. It's the BPP's Ramble. Getting paid for a broken heart/ Black Death was picky/ NYC: Automotive Bermuda Triangle/ Worst thing to say at work Will Hoffman 8:14 AM ET | 01-29-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post | trackbacks (0) .
Goliaths have edge in fight for recruits
Seattle tech recruiter Jeff Hibbert isn't seeing a shift toward bigger companies, especially with capital still flowing to startups. "But if you see a continued shake-up in the financial market, by the end of this year you will see that migration," he said. Meanwhile, Shahani is already figuring out how to position Appature to recruits with these concerns: "I don't think of the term 'startup' as negative ... but one of the things we do tell candidates is we offer candidates that security — you're not going to come here and get a pink slip in six months. "I would argue that you're not that much less stable at a company like ours than you would be at a large company," he explained. "Really, it comes down to revenue and need — if you're doing good work and you're adding value to the company and there's revenue to support your role, your role will never be eliminated." There's still a leap of faith involved, but Shahani may reel them in with his optimism.
Paula Vogel hopes to learn a lot teaching at Yale
She is now looking forward to "getting in the sand box" with her colleagues at Yale. "Anyone in the American theater today is working alongside the Yale School of Drama," she said. "It's a fact of our field." Vogel, 56, said she is also looking forward to working with the Yale Repertory Theatre and New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre. Plans are underfoot to stage her new play about Christmastime during the Civil War at the Long Wharf. And there is talk of making her the theater's playwright-in-residence or artistic associate. The chance to work with both those theaters makes her feel as though she has "fallen into the honey pot as a writer," she said. "To be able to immerse myself in my teaching and literally get to the Long Wharf rehearsal stage in a five-minute drive, I find very appealing." Yale has one of the most prestigious drama schools in the country.
Commerzbank removes three top credit bankers
Commerzbank has removed three senior executives believed to be connected to the group's sub-prime losses. Hans Joachim Doepp, head of New York operations, and Juergen Boysen, responsible for Commerzbank’s credit business in New York, are departing. Michael Schmid, head of the bank's global credit business at its Frankfurt headquarters, has been given another position within the bank. The bank spokesman declined to comment on the reasons for the departures. However it is thought that they are connected to the bank's sub-prime problems. In the third quarter Commerzbank had to write off €291 million on its US sub-prime portfolio. .
Local online advertising to grow in next five years: JupiterResearch
Local display and search advertising are among the leading online advertising categories marked for significant growth within the next five years, according to JupiterResearch's US Online Local Advertising Forecast. According to the report, display and search advertising are expected to grow by 18% and 16%, respectively, from 2007 to 2012. Local advertising, overall, is expected to increase by 13% in this time period, while online advertising as a whole is expected to grow by 12%. Internet users are getting savvier when it comes to searching for local businesses online, the forecast stated. In addition, search engines are working to increase the quality of their local and zip-code-specific results. This growth should not discount traditional media, JupiterResearch warned.
People, not guns, are the problem
Body counts garner attention from the media like a flashy neon sign. They create buzz, such as Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels' gun control stance that quotes the figure of 550 violent firearms crimes in 2005 ("Seattle weighs in on handgun ban," Wednesday). Most people will be horrified and will fail to ask the crucial, underlying question: How many of those guns were purchased legally? After all, laws will affect guns legally acquired, not those from secondary sources. The answer: 15 percent of guns used in crimes are legally obtained. That leaves 85 percent unaffected by changes to gun control laws. Consider how many violent crimes are thwarted around the country by guns. That's a statistic one rarely hears. The number officially reported to the police is roughly 64,615 yearly; the estimate can jump as high as 2.45 million if one factors in unreported cases.
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