Could the LA Times Be Sold?
In your Murdoch-free Tuesday media roundup: speculation on the LAT's future, Time magazine gets more paywall-y, everyone wants to work for CJR, Jay Rosen pontificates, and a labor journalism spat.
Here is some completely circumstantial yet still interesting speculation about the possibility of Tribune Co. selling off the LA Times, based on the company's new reorganization. Who's buying, though? There are assorted LA billionaires who wouldn't mind owning the paper, but the Sidney Harman- Newsweek experience might have made some rich old dudes think twice about how fun the media business really is. I wouldn't put anything past the Tribune Co, considering their overall level of desperation. And I wouldn't put anything past the LA Times, except a price tag exceeding a thin dime.
- Time magazine is laboring under the delusion that it can get people to pay more to read its magazine content online, which strike me as far-fetched. But hey, you never know what old people will do. They're very unpredictable.
- Forty dang people applied to be editor of the Columbia Journalism Review. And at least 39 of them will be disappointed! Consolation prize, you can start your own blog. The world will thank you later.
- Haven't heard professional journalism pontificator Jay Rosen pontificate on journalism in a while? Here, knock yourself out.
- Labor journalist Mike Elk takes fervent exception to the list of speakers at The Atlantic's "New Work Era Summit." Fervent! Who does he call "scabs?" Read to find out!