The LAT used to have provocative and funny sportswriters, now they are merely obnoxious and syncophantic. TJ Simers specializes in insults and cheerleading.

Argh…TJ Simers! I’d burned that jerk’s name from my brain, but you had to remind me of him! Now I need another brain-scrubbing.

Seriously, Simers is one of the reasons I stopped subscribing to the Times. Compared to real sports columnists, like the Bay Area’s Glenn Dickey, Simers is an embarrassment.

You want engaging, tight, crackling prose? Surf the blogs. Even if such writers are only one in a thousand, you can find dozens of them easily because as soon as you find one, you get links to several others, who link to others etc.

You want local classified ads? Go to craigslist.org.

International news? Go to the wire services for headlines and then drill deeper by going directly to onsite bloggers and/or local media on the web.

Seriously, compare Tom Friedman at his best with any of a dozen more insightful, more honest, above all more fluent and graceful writers. Myself, I’ll take Tom Wretchard any day over ham-handed that other Tom Who Screams For an Editor.

Mo Dowd? Get real. If I want cattiness I’ll go straight to Wonkette, who’s no less annoying but who offers something closer to real style and wit.

David Brooks? I don’t drink lite beer. When I’m in the mood for single malt, I drink single malt. Give me Mark Steyn anyday.

I have a sneaking feeling that, like the Soviet Union under Gorbachev, the most dangerous moment for this ossified, unreformable media empire known as the MSM is the moment at which it tries to “reform” itself. And that, like the USSR and its external empire, this media empire may collapse a lot faster than anyone expects.

the implementation of tighter controls on field sales

This is to say that field salespersons were signing up bogus subscribers, or subscribers whose allegiance was so weak that the purchased revenues wouldn’t pass an internal quality review or audit. Given all the circulation scandals recently, and the generally shoddy nature of so much corporate accounting these days, I wonder whether the real revenues– ie, high-quality, sustainable revenues– for the LAT are significantly lower than reported.

Which would mean their cash flow position is steadily degrading, in which case it’s not impossible that the major newspapers may start to run out of cash and implode, Enron-style, in the near future.

Not only is the Editorial page biased and wrong half the time (Scheer’s column on Bill Bennett’s non-existant trip to the Pope to lobby for the Iraq War was simply embarrassing), the other parts of the paper are if anything, worse.

The LAT used to have provocative and funny sportswriters, now they are merely obnoxious and syncophantic. TJ Simers specializes in insults and cheerleading. The coverage of the Lakers dynasty meltdown has been non-existant.

On the local issues, the LAT has been simply ignoring the massive crime wave, often targeting innocent, non-gang members, sweeping through South Central Los Angeles. Outrages like a fourteen year old boy executed for not belonging to a gang are not reported, it’s left to local TV and Radio news.

On cultural issues, the LAT devotes a column every Monday on NEW YORK CITY. Why I wonder does the Times feel that it’s readers are fascinated with the goings on in NYC instead of oh say … Los Angeles?

In short, this isn’t just ideology. The paper just isn’t run very well.

As for the local grocery ads, there is a weekly mailer which includes all of them, including the small black-owned chain which didn’t even advertise in the big newspaper. Even if I didn’t dislike the newspaper, this would reduce the need to buy it.

It may actually be that newspapers need to be left-wing in order to survive. If they weren’t, the tree-huggers would call for their elimination because of the resources they consume.

If you could get the top twenty blogs to agree to go to an aggregate subscription service with the first year free to those who subscribe within 90 days, I’d be happy to peddle ads for a nominal percentage. Put a $20 dollar annual rate on after the first year with a revenue split based on click through and all twenty would be driving new cars. I’d bet on a minimum 200K subscriber base within the first ninety days. If the subscriber Zips broke the way I think they would, that list would be very valuable.

I would imagine that the most difficult part of setting it up would be trying to fit the egos of the top twenty into one agreement.

$5/gal gasoline (a few years down the road?) is going to change some habits…but, what new small biz ops will it open? …besides cardiac paddles for rent at service stations.

The idea that Rick and Buddy are discussing is the future, I think. And the first place they will come to is blogs like Roger’s with an established readership of, apparently, relatively affluent people (I’m sure they’d want to do marketing surveys and we can all say that we earn at least high six figures). Isn’t there anybody around here who’s in this field?

Well, I’ve been procrastinating quite enough. Now I really do have to get to the store for some of that half price tri-tip.