The Times, it is a-changin’

How many times have you unsuccessfully tried to interest the Los Angeles Times in an important organizational event or, harder yet, tried to get the paper to devote
some space to articles reflecting your views on an issue?

Suppose for example, your synagogue is hosting a discussion on mixed marriage, and you think it should be covered or even just publicized with a small notice.

You phone the paper or send in a press release, but it never makes it through the layers of editors and gatekeepers. Or, suppose you are mad at a Times editorial. You write a letter to the editor, and your letter is either savagely edited or not published at all.

Times are changing, and the Times, with circulation and advertising dropping, can no longer afford to be so high and mighty. At long last, the paper is going to juice up its Web site, and community input like your synagogue discussion meeting and your opinions and activities may be a big part of it.

The paper’s Web site, ‘ TARGET=’_blank’>L.A. Observed Web site. This gives me a voice. I don’t need the traditional press or, as it is called in the blogging world, the MSM (mainstream media).

I hope the Times follows through on improving its Web site. I had lunch with the Times’ new editor, Jim O’Shea, and he’s got some good ideas. I hope he sticks around long enough to put them to use.