By T.J. Simers
On Sunday you will receive a letter on page one of sports from sports editor Iliana Limon Romero explaining how the LA Times is going to kill off the printed newspaper in the hopes of pushing you online.
The sports staff was informed of all the upcoming changes Monday, Romero telling them, “We are not trying to kill print subscriptions.”
She will tell you this is all being done in your best interests and to showcase the Times’ sports staff’s talents. How do you showcase Angels’ reporter Sarah Valenzuela’s talents?
Keep in mind someone on Romero’s staff says they have never worked for anyone who lies more than the present sports editor of the Times.
This ultra dramatic change in the printed sports section will officially start next Monday, although it need not start until February when the Times will have to use presses in Riverside because they sold their own.
What newspaper sells their printing presses?
Romero explained to her staff she’s not waiting until February, but prefers to ruin the reader’s experience now to make it “clear to the readers we are not offering what we did in the past.”
You get that, readers.
Romero told her staff the Times will no longer write about Lakers’ or Dodgers’ games because the newspaper recently laid off something like 70 copy editors. The newspaper cuts its own throat and you, the reader, pay for it.
“We are committing to a daily sports magazine format … so we should not be pushing to get game results in print,” Romero wrote her staff. “We’re shifting to a single story daily sports cover, paired with either photography or illustrations.”
I guess this means Plaschke and Hernandez become Page 2 at best.
Gone are the days of opening the morning newspaper, reading about the games the night before, checking out the box scores and being told what else is new in sports. What happens Monday night in Dodger Stadium will not be told in the newspaper until Wednesday, if at all.
There is so much more involved here with the once great LA Times being put down, and I am going to write about it every day this week. It would be helpful if you could get the message out to Times’ readers on Facebook by asking them to retweet or reFacebook or whatever needs to be done.
I might even start a Facebook account.
Tomorrow I’ll write about the online tips Romero gave to her staff Monday to help them understand what readers really want.
I’m sure it was news to a number of reporters.
You.
You are the same old TJ. You haven’t changed. Thank God!!!
Thank you
Just emailed Romero about her Epic Fail on the sports page. What a waste of time.