The Plagiarism and Fraudulent Journalism Scandal At The New York Times" Became Profitable For Recruiting At Los Angeles Times Reveals LA Times Editor John Caroll At PRSA-LA Workshop Keeping Up With The Times"

Los Angeles Times Holds Have Day Media Workshop For Public Relations Society of America Members To Outline Changes At The LA TImes.

(PRWEB) May 25, 2004 -- I have been cited lately as something of an expert in ethics and I dont quite understand," said LA Times Editor John Caroll at a PRSA-LA sponsored half day media session called Keeping Up With The Times" at the Times Square auditorium May 13, 2004.

The event was free for PRSA members, who only had to bring in a reading book. More than 1,500 books were collected for the LA Times Ready by 9 program. Ive been in quite a few scrapes and maybe its just the fact that Ive been through any number of crises at a newspaper, plus the fact that my hair has gone gray. Your ethics improve when your hair changes."

A lot has happened since the paper changed hands and was taken over by the Tribune Company in 2000," says Caroll.

Caroll also noted that the LA Times has made some internal changes and tried to do it as humanly as possible." If you look at our masthead, which is the list of the highest ranking people responsible for putting out the paper that appears every day on the editorial page, my last count showed 11 of the 14 people were not on the masthead in 2000. Prior to 2000 we went through a rough period in the '90s and we underwent brain drain. We lost a lot of very fine people. The New York Times hired some of our people and we lost a lot of people to the dot coms and other places."

New York Times ethical problems helped make for successful recruiting at LA Times says Caroll.
The LA Times then turns the tide. One of our first goals was to reverse that. We had very good success. Part of it was the New York Times had its problems and we were getting a lot of refugees from there, including the same people who left here (LA Times) earlier. So that was an opportunity for us."

Caroll admitted that the scandal at the New York Times was a terrible thing for that paper and really our whole profession. Thats what the good John was saying. The bad John was saying couldnt it just go on for another year or two," said Caroll.

LA Times beefs up staff, doubling investigative writers team in Washington DC
In Washington DC we have been working on improving the quality of our beat coverage for the people who know a specific subject and cover it well. We recruited a very kind investigative reporter from the Washington Post named Deborah Nelson and she has had wonderful success," said Carroll. Nelson was hired from the Washington Post in 2001 and asked to double the staff of investigative reporters in the DC bureau from four to eight. Shes added Kevin Sack from the New York Times, Chuck Neubauer from the Chicago Sun-Times, and former freelancer Ken Silverstein.

The LA Times overhauls the newspaper for the first time in decades.
Here in LA we introduced the California section, which replaced the different sections of the paper, depending upon where you lived. In the features area, we decided to invest heavily in Calendar, which is a very successful section already and we dropped the section Southern California Living, which never quite found its legs. One of our goals in Calendar and also business coverage is to have the very best coverage of the entertainment industry than any newspaper. Thats an obvious goal for a paper situated where we are," said Caroll.

In Business news the LA Times brought in Rick Whartzman as the Editor from the Wall Street Journal. We have to take note of the fact that California is a nation unto itself as an economy, and we want to be the best covering that and in covering the companies in California. Although we can not ignore the rest of the country and the rest of the world, which is a tall order."

Caroll also noted that the LA Times has been working on each of the crafts that go into the paper every day. Im speaking of the photography, the page design, which is essential to having good photography. If we do not use the pictures well, theres not much point in having them. The copyediting, the headline writing and all the many crafts that go into the paper every day, if it all comes together youll have a finer paper. Those are some of the things weve been doing over the last four years."

Other panelists included an all-star lineup of seven Pulitzer Prize winners. Among the writers, editors and columnists were: Sam Enriquez, Ann Reifnberg, Craig Matsuda, Michelle Busco and Sherry Stern. They collectively offered these PR tips for getting media placement in the LA Times for budding and seasoned PR pros attending:

•Faxes are antiquated. Email is the best and only way to pitch
•Avoid multiple pitches to writers, unless everyone knows who youve pitched
•Send personal email pitches-generic news desk" or Editor," pitches get deleted
•Know who you are pitching to and dont pitch the website editors
•Build a relationship with reporters, who often sell your story to the editor
•RTF paper"- read each section of the paper closely before you pitch
•Dont bother to send story corrections to Letters to the Editor"-editors make corrections
•Dont over pitch a story or leave long voice mail pitches-writers will call you if interested
•Check in advance of sending any client or company samples or items for stories
•We cant accept food or items of value such as an expensive DVD machine
•We dont accept unsolicited video games or items - we have very strict rules
•If you tip me off on a story, I will remember your name or PR firm
•Dont send form letters to the LA Times Op-Ed section

It is best to contact the Los Angeles Times by email firstname.lastname@latimes.com.

To contact the LA Times newsroom send email to: metrodesk@latimes.com or call 1-800-LATIMES. The local direct number to the newsroom is 213.237.7847.

Vice President George McQuade of MAYO Communications is the West Coast Bureau Chief for O'Dwyer Publications and O'Dwyer PR Daily, the only national daily on behind the scenes stories of the PR and media industry at:www.Odywerpr.com.