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Keno Brothers (Photo credit: jwerry)

First of all, the L.A. Times has provided enough information of what this story is about with the text. And the content of the project is well-produced documentary with intimate stories of each victim and their families. The photographs and the video interviews are incredibly powerful and effective. Audiences can see the subjects’ honest emotions and feelings. By using black and white photographs and videos, Davidson has successfully created the serious tone of the story. From the combined body of works, audiences can also get the photographer’s message across. Davidson has included variety of stories in this project—this is what adds to the power of photography and videography to raise public awareness.

Besides the content of the project, it is highly interactive as well. The layout is simple and easy to follow. The web designer put the multimedia container at the very top, so audiences would know this is a multimedia project immediately. The L.A. Times also provides a text story to give the audiences some information about the multimedia. The shell separates the main video from the individual stories. The main video tells the central idea of the project, and each individual stories has a main page that contains its main photo and a short description of the story. The audiences can decide when they want to play the video or photo slideshow, and they can also choose to watch the video version or the photo essay version of the story. Moreover, not only the L.A. Times has provided a comment section for the audiences to give their feedbacks, the newspaper also has provided a wide selection of social media sites for the audiences to share this project. However, it would be even better if the L.A. Times can provide an embeded link. This multimedia project has provided a well-performed fusion of text, photographs, and videos.

by Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pullman-porter-ss,0,1087938.htmlstory

The audio slideshow of Lee Wesley Gibson made by Los Angeles Times is a well-structured multimedia story. The three-minute-long story focuses on the life of the 100-year-old Gibson, who is the oldest former Pullman porter alive. The story creator used three subtopics under the main topic of “the life at 100,” which are: early life as a porter; his family; his loneliness and his new company. The author used Gibson’s sound bites to connect one subtopic to the next, so the story moved smoothly and naturally.

One of the strengths of this story is the photograph. From beginning to the end, the audio and photographs match each other. Even, when Gibson talks about his wife who passed away in 2004, the photographer used photographs of Gibson holding a portrait of his wife, and their family portrait to cover the lack her present in the story. And the combination of portraits and documentary photographs, and varieties of tight or wide photographs make the story more interesting.

I think this story has a clean audio. And his daughter’s sound bites as a secondary source not only tied the story together, but also enhance Gibson’s importance to their family. The story doesn’t have too much natural sound, only at one point we hear the singing at the funeral. But I don’t think that is a problem because it stays true to the profile story.  

Although I think this is a good audio sound slide, but I find the story being too long. I’ve started to lose my interest and my attention during the singing in church, which is two-thirds through the entire story. Maybe the author could cut something out of the context.

Just a follow up on The Muslim Student Union, some of whose members protested out of order when the Israeli ambassador visited UC Irvine:

“The Orange County district attorney’s office on Friday charged 11 defendants with conspiring to disrupt a meeting and a speech by the Israeli ambassador to the United States at UC Irvine last year….”

Also On This Site:  Free speech (used both well and unwell) meets offended  and violent Muslims: ‘Mohammad Cartoonist Lars Vilks Headbutted‘During Lecture’……From The OC Jewish Experience: ‘UC Irvine Muslim Student Union Suspended’…From Volokh: ‘”South Park” Creators Warned (Threatened) Over Mohammed’

A British Muslim tells his story, suggesting that classical liberalism wouldn’t be a bad idea: From Kenanmalik.com: ‘Introduction: How Salman Rushdie Changed My Life’ From Foreign Policy: ‘Germany’s Age Of Anxiety’

Why hobble our economy, if it’s so important to integrating new arrivals?: Via The A & L Daily-Interview With Christopher Caldwell At Spiegel Online…Theodore Dalrymple Still Attacking Multi-Culturalism In Britain

The L.A. Times’ ‘Ministry of Gossip’ Blog says several News Agencies are reporting that the former star of Diff’rent Strokes, Gary Coleman, has been hospitalized in Utah, had emergency surgery and is currently in critical condition.

The L.A. Times contended, “Details are sketchy. Coleman, 42, was reportedly transported to the hospital after, family members say, the actor suffered a head injury during a fall.”

This adds to a string of hospitalizations the Actor has incurred this year as a result of seizures he suffered in January and February. Coleman also “suffers from a congenital kidney disease and requires frequent dialysis.”

As reports continue to emerge, we’ve put together a photo gallery of the Diff’rent Strokes Star over the last decade, including images from his entry into the California Gubernatorial Race for Governor in 2003.

Senator Obama has also secured the endorsements of 65 Nobel Laureates! It is awesome that so many see the virtues of Senator Obama’s Message of Change! Senator Obama is starting to pick up even more momentum!

One thing we noticed (and sort of like): The L.A. Times "staff writer" tagline below a reporter’s byline is done; it’ll be replaced by something that says, BY NED PARKER / REPORTING FROM BAGHDAD.

It definitely steals something from a TV reporter’s handbook, but it still works.

Anyway, the proposed Times’ redesign looks a lot more tolerable than the Chicago Tribune‘s.

In a year when the paper has cut far more editorial staffers than any paper in the country, it appears the’re not quite done yet.

Keven Roderick at LA Observed is reporting that more job cuts are on the way, and the number could be as high as 75 editorial positions.

Among those expected to lose their job is Leo Wolinsky, the assocate editor of the paper, according to two souces who spoke to Media Mob.

Sources also told us the job cut rumors have been flying for a few weeks now. One source tells us that the number will be about 50 people let go.

Either way, it’s the third round of cuts this year for the paper. In February the paper cut over 100 jobs company wide; in July, the paper cut 135 newsroom jobs. This move would also put the newsroom total close to 650, down from 1,200 just seven years ago.

This would be the first round of cuts under new publisher Eddy Hartenstein. Back in August, at his first meeting with Times staffers, he didn’t make any promises, but suggested that he might be able to stop the bleeding.

"But you know, no one believed him!" said one source at the paper.

We’ll keep updating as they come in:

Kevin Bronson: old weekend editor, club music writer

Corie Brown: wine reporter. Corie writes: "They’ve eliminated the job of wine writer. There won’t be anyone on the features staff who writes about wine or spirits. They will go all freelance."

Janet Cromley: health writer

Casey Dolan: music writer. Casey writes: "Wow, where to begin? Yes, I’m gone as are MANY fine writers, editors, page designers and copy editors. It is a bad day in Black Rock, indeed. I’m spending the day scouting opportunities. I’ll be in the office until Friday."

Chris Pasles: classical music/opera writer

Mark Masek: copy editor

Lynne Heffley: veteran arts reporter

Richard Cromelin: veteran rock writer

Pauline O’Connor: entertainment reporter. Pauline writes: "Oui, c’est vrai!"

Jennifer James: features. Jennifer writes: "Yes, I am one of the people who has been laid off — I have had a wonderful 21 years here and have been honored to work with some of the greatest people in the business."

Donna Deane: food writer

Scott Nordhues: design editor

Karin Esterhammer: copy editor

Perry Crowe: associate editor, The Guide

Paul Zieke: designs features. Paul writes, "i heard you were putting together a layoff list. i’m a features designer canned after 20 years."

There is now a list of 78 names on TellZell.com, a blog written by an anonymous L.A. Times staffer. The author says that the names aren’t confirmed, but it’s what is being circulated internally right now.

Russ Stanton’s sobering memo is here.  

"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.

First was the news from Sam Zell late last week that he would be cutting the staffs of all Tribune papers. Tribune’s C.E.O., Randy Michaels, specifically pointed to the L.A. Times and said that staffers at the paper seemed to have the most inefficient output of all Tribune papers.

Then the rumor mill started milling internally. One editor at the L.A. Times told Media Mob that there are a lot of "scare numbers" circulationg; one rumor is that as many as 120 newsroom staffers could be laid off. And this is only three months after at least three dozen reporters and editors took buyouts.

Mr. Stanton also lost two powerful editors this week when editorial page editor Jim Newton and foreign editor Marjorie Miller quit the paper.

And then today! Richard Perez-Pena reports that the newsroom will surrender control of the Los Angeles Times Magazine to the business side of the paper.

The way the story portrays it–Perez-Pena says that Stanton declined to comment for the story–Stanton was completely unaware that this was going down. He didn’t know he was losing his entire staff.

Back in February, L.A. Times staffers openly complained that they thought Stanton was too close to the paper’s publisher David Hiller.

“Russ is at a real disadvantage because in the newsroom he’s perceived as being a lackey to Hiller, a guy who is held in widespread contempt,” said one editor. “We’re going to have to ask: Is Russ one of us? Or one of them?”

Of course he could be neither, and still not go the way of John Carroll, or Dean Baquet or Jim O’Shea. Each editor stormed out of his job complaining that the Tribune Company had taken too much control.

"As we previously acknowledged, we have been approached by a number of parties that have a keen interest," he said, when in fact it’s the first time he’s acknowledged this publicly. "We have reached no conclusions with anybody at this juncture. And we’re discussing if that does or does not make sense for us and the Tribune Company going forward."

Reuters reported last week that Mort Zuckerman had formally bid on the paper, but we haven’t heard much on that front since. The Dolans reportedly has no interest in Newsday, which leaves known suitors as Rupert Murdoch and Jared Kushner, the owner and publisher of the Observer.

Mr. Zell said that over the next two weeks, he’ll get the ball rolling on a sale of the Chicago Cubs and he expects that that sale will be wrapped up before the end of the year.

Earlier in the call, Randy Michaels, Tribune’s C.E.O., revisited a Zell-theory on newspapers: people want local coverage. "People want more local news, but we put Zimbabwe on the front page instead." Mr. Michaels said that in one of the company’s smaller papers, The Newport News, they created a separate news section for world and business news. "We did have six cancellations but not enough to change it back," he said. Could this be a future fate awaiting the L.A. Times?

Well, speaking of the L.A. Times, no one spoke about it in this conference call. So whether those rumors about David Geffen are true, we’re still in the dark. (But David Hiller, the L.A. Times publisher, told Forbes today that Sam Zell has told him he wanted to keep the paper and that foreign coverage will still appear on the front page. "I think what we’ll do over time is gauge what size should it be, where those correspondents are allocated, and also look at how we do collaborate with, for example, our sister paper the Chicago Tribune, which has foreign correspondents, and make sure we get the maximum reach in terms of coordinating where we are," he said. (A mini Knight Ridder, then?)

"Quite simply, we have a revenue problem," said Mr. Michaels. One of the ways to fix that is to sell assets. Earlier in the call, Mr. Zell said that business was looking so bad that "we’re forced to consider the divestiture of some of our assets."

Much of the conference call was focused on how to reinvigorate the sales side. "We need to motivate our sales staff and one of the ways we can do that is with rewards," said Mr. Michaels. So base salaries are going to move lower, and incentives for a sale will get higher.

But both Mr. Zell and Mr. Michaels said they are ready to experiment. Mr. Michaels said the company is going to start tinkering with its six smallest newspapers. They’ll be used as a sort of laboratory as they try to foresee what newspapers will look like in 2010. He didn’t tell us what they’re doing, but whatever works, don’t be surprised if it’s applied to their bigger papers.

Quarterly numbers weren’t released today by Tribune, but expect them in late May, Mr. Zell said. He said the point of this call was to remind everyone–in case they don’t have Youtube–that they’re "alive and well" despite whatever credit problems they have.

The Chicago Tribune reports that Mr. Zell said the bureau there–which houses the L.A. Times, the Baltimore Sun and Chicago Tribune–became a "single, overstaffed Tribune Co. cost center that doesn’t produce any revenue. According to several in attendance, Zell said the competing ‘fiefdoms’ are an embarrassment."

He singled out the L.A. Times specifically. LA Observed reports:

Mr. Zell also explained there are stories that he prefers from the Tribune. Politico reports:

Round-up and clip of some of the exchanges are available here.

Over the next week, Newsday reporters and editors are expecting an announcement about job cuts. Even veterans of the Vlad the Impaler year of 1995, in which Times Mirror ordered the elimination of 800 jobs from a payroll of 3,200, contemplate the coming week with dread.

“To be honest with you, it’s really grim here,” said James Bernstein, a business reporter and 30-year-veteran.

“It’s very bleak, and everyone is totally absorbed in it,” said another reporter.

“It really wears you down,” said William Murphy, a reporter on the Long Island desk.

On Feb. 13 Sam Zell—who bought Newsday’s parent company for $8.2 billion in December—wrote in an e-mail that there would be job cuts at every Tribune paper. The L.A. Times made its announcement the next day—100 to 150 jobs would be lost—and the Baltimore Sun and Hartford Courant put their estimates at about 45 jobs. Newsday has yet to make its decisions on job cuts.

“First you’ll hear the rumor that it’s seven positions, then 40, then 10, then you hear the newsroom will be spared, then it won’t, and there’s just all these e-mails back and forth and no one knows what’s happening,” said Mr. Murphy.

“It’s difficult to work ’cause one second you’re on the phone and then somebody comes in and screams, ‘I heard the latest!’ And then you tell the guy on the phone, ‘Wait, I’ll be right back with you,’” said Mr. Bernstein.

And the latest is still little more than: The decision is coming.

“We’ve gotten the sense that it will be this week,” said Zachary Dowdy, a reporter and editorial vice president of the Local 406 that represents Newsday employees.

It’s an exacting time at papers nationally—The New York Times announced earlier this month that it was cutting about 100 newsroom jobs this year.

But at Newsday, there is no jobectomy left that won’t take out some bone.

Since the 1995 purge that eliminated the paper’s New York edition, the paper has steadily cut positions, generally in increments of 50.

Thirteen positions in the newsroom have been vacated in the last year, and have not been refilled; it’s not clear whether those will even count toward whatever cuts Newsday will have to make. (L.A. Times publisher David Hiller announced in his job-cuts e-mail that all open positions would be eliminated.)

In one demoralizing memo back in December, editor John Mancini announced that four star reporters were leaving: Matthew McAllester to Details; Katie Thomas to The Times; Tom McGinty to The Wall Street Journal; and James Rupert to Bloomberg News.

Mr. Murphy, the Long Island reporter, felt that Newsday got beat badly on a story in its own backyard—the story of the three children found dead in their Garden City apartment on Feb. 24—because the paper hasn’t replaced its social services reporter after Lauren Terrazzano died last year.

But what gets really depressing are the small-ticket items that are being slashed: Can the scale of Newsday’s current expenses really make the cancellation of staff subscriptions to the New York Post, the Daily News and USA Today seem worth the candle? Who’s going to bust ass on a story after they’ve initialed the pass-around chit on the single copy of The Times and two copies of The Wall Street Journal that wend their way among the desks of 26 reporters and editors?

“You get accustomed to opening newspapers at Newsday, it’s been like that for 30 years,” said Mr. Bernstein. “Now it’s like working blind!”

The environment like this one leads to all sorts of speculation: One reporter grumbled about the cafeteria shortening its hours after the paper replaced contractors late last year; another said that reporters are being discouraged to taking sources out to lunch.

The paper’s summer internship program, one of the most popular nationally with college seniors and J-school grad students since it offered up to 25 internships, a cushy $523 weekly salary and a job offer for two interns, will be cut this year. Two reporters said that word around the newsroom is that it will save the paper a little more than $100,000.

The paper’s spokeswoman, Deidra Parrish Williams, described the cut this way: “What I can tell you is that the summer internship is on a hiatus, but we will still have academic interns. With regards to your question about whether those interns will be offered jobs, that is still taking shape.”

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…"

UPDATE: The L.A. Times has put up the transcript of Russ Stanton’s speech to the newsroom. He spoke about turnover in the industry, which has resulted in the loss of three editors at the paper in less than three years–all in response to layoffs and a shriking budget. "I have grown tired and am now hopping mad over this seemingly endless ‘Groundhog Day’ nightmare. And that is why I decided to take this job. We in the newsroom need to figure out how to break this self-defeating cycle before it does indeed result in our defeat. Our strategy of fight-lose-shrink is not working."

He mentioned that the newsroom and the web-team at the paper needed to work together. "Our two newsrooms need to – and will — become one. And the people in them need to better understand and work with each other. We must be smart about how we carry out this merger of operations, recognizing the unique traits of each medium. We also must expand and improve the education and training of both staffs, and plans are in the works to do just that."

"Even if there were divisions over who should be editor, Russ is well known and well liked and my view is that now that we have the candidtate that people will rally behind," he said.

"Well, there were a lot of views and different feelings about different candidates. In fact, you had one of the metaphors, or an analogy in your piece on this and I’m not saying this exactly—but this is experience versus the future. You made the reference of Obama versus Clinton. There were people who were more fully credentialed in a classic journalistic sense–yes, for sure, clearly. The question was what do you really need now from an editor to make the paper successful?

"What was exciting about Russ is he’s a good journalist, understands journalism and also understands how we can change, and he can show he can make it happen. And let’s pick the guy who can make change happen."

Stanton has been the paper’s innovation editor since January 2007 and overseen the paper’s Web site, latimes.com. In that time, the paper’s traffic has increased 26 percent, and this February page views are up 133 percent versus last February.

"I think most clearly he’s been doing it—he’s been doing it for more than a year as our innovation editor and that has brought the significance we’ve had on the web. Russ in a year has really brought us forward fast. It wasn’t about guessing if he could do it—he’s shown that he can do it."

“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:

Here’s the full announcement:

Los Angeles Times Media Group Announces Leadership Changes

Flagship Los Angeles Times Announces Russ Stanton Editor

LATMG Realigns Newspaper and Interactive Ops

Unveils ‘Targeted Media’ Division

LOS ANGELES, February 14, 2008 — 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 (www.latimes.com.)

“This is a critical period for The Times – in fact for all news media – as we change and grow, and show we can sustain the future of one of the truly great news franchises in America. Now we have completed our ownership transition with Sam Zell, we have a new leadership lineup to take The Times forward, and it’s time to make things happen,” said, Los Angeles Times Publisher David D. 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.”

Named The Times Innovation Editor in February 2007, Stanton previously served as Business Editor and joined the paper in 1997 as a reporter in the Orange County edition. He has also been Orange County Business Editor, Technology Editor and Deputy Business Editor. Named a Fellow of the Herbert J. Davenport Economics Program at the University of Missouri, he also earned his B.A. at California State University.

”I am very honored and very humbled to be named editor of this terrific newsroom, and I am looking forward to working with my dedicated colleagues to continue producing a first-rate newspaper and website,” said Stanton.

Jack Klunder has been named to the newly created position of President, Los Angeles Times Newspaper and will be responsible for leading The Times core print business. Klunder’s oversight will include circulation and operations and he will be responsible for working across company departments, including editorial, advertising and marketing.

Bob Bellack becomes President, Development and Digital Media and, Rob Barrett, becomes Senior Vice President, Interactive, to lead all initiatives to ensure aggressive growth of LATMG’s multimedia and online operations. Bellack is charged with overseeing development efforts, including acquisitions, partnerships and new mobile and digital growth arenas. In addition, Bellack will head up Classified advertising, with a focus on Web-based recruitment, real estate, and automotive categories. Barrett will also continue in his role as General Manager, latimes.com, reporting to Bellack.

John O’Loughlin becomes President, Targeted Media, responsible for leading the growing family of products and services targeted at specific audience segments, including Hoy, Times Community Newspapers, Tribune Direct Marketing (Los Angeles) and Metromix ( href=”http://losangeles.metromix.com/” title=”http://losangeles.metromix.com/”>http://losangeles.metromix.com/). O’Loughlin will also continue to head LATMG’s overall marketing, strategy, planning and research.

In addition, Chris Avetisian, currently Director, Financial Planning and Analysis, succeeds Bob Bellack as Chief Financial Officer and will work closely with O’Loughlin to closely align budgetary and planning development. Gwen Murakami assumes the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Administration with oversight of HR, employee communications, public affairs and legal. Russ Newton, Kim McCleary La France, Julie Xanders, Bob Palermini and Javier Aldape will continue in their current leadership roles.

Dave Murphy will be transitioning out of his role as General Manager and Executive Vice President and advertising sales will report to Jack Klunder until a new head of sales is named.

# # #

About the Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times (www.latimes.com) is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a daily readership of 2.2 million and 3.2 million on Sunday, and a combined print and interactive monthly audience of 4.9 million. The Los Angeles Times and its media businesses and affiliates – including latimes.com, The Envelope (www.theenvelope.com), Metromix (www.metromix.com), Times Community Newspapers, Hoy, and California Community News – reach approximately 8.1 million or 62% of all adults in the Southern California marketplace.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times, has been covering Southern California for over 126 years and is part of Tribune Company, one of the country’s leading media companies with businesses in publishing, the Internet and broadcasting. Additional information about the Los Angeles Times is available at www.latimes.com/mediacenter.