donkeyhotey

David Koch finds L.A. protesters ill-informed.

Yesterday, a Wall Street Journal piece touched on whether the Koch Brothers might buy the Los Angeles Times. Today the brothers released a statement -- OK, a lecture -- straight from the pages of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. They want you to know that they don't give a rip about protests against them. They care only about whether the L.A. Times is a solid investment.

L.A. Weekly freelance writer Hillel Aron created this at-a-glance flow chart explaining the story so far in the Koch Bros./L.A. Times drama: Rumor -> Blog post -> New York Times story -> mass protest -> Ry Cooder song. Now add this: -> Koch Brothers lecture.

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COURTESY CBS EVENING NEWS

Scott Pelley just celebrated two years as anchor of CBS Evening News.

By Kate Stephanus

Today marks the second anniversary of Scott Pelley's tenure as anchor and managing editor of CBS Evening News. Since he's taken over, CBS Evening News ratings have improved significantly -- viewership is up 6 percent in Los Angeles alone. It's the only network news program to add viewers ages 25-54, with a 7 percent increase since Pelley arrived. Long stuck in third place, CBS is now only a tenth of a point away from taking second place away from ABC.

In an exclusive interview with L.A. Weekly, Pelley explains what it's like to be an anchor today, the importance of the young adult audience, and why every journalist needs a backbone.

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LA Weekly and its journalists comprise 21 finalists in the Los Angeles Press Club's 55th Southern California Journalism Awards.

The finalists were announced today and include Gene Maddaus for Journalist of the Year and Hard News story and Simone Wilson, Hillel Aron, and this writer for Hard News as well. Other nominations include:

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other98

Some folks are really scared that billionaire conservatives are going to run the "free press."

News flash: Billionaire conservatives already run the free press. Anyway, there's a crowdfunding campaign afoot to buy the Los Angeles Times so that the ultra-right Koch brothers don't get their Mr. Burns-like hands on it:

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PHOTO BY NANETTE GONZALEZ

By Nanette Gonzalez and Sarah Fenske

In just two short months, Charles and David Koch's dreams of purchasing the L.A. Times have gone from a well-sourced rumor, first reported on this blog, to the catalyst for outraged essays in newspapers across the country to a protest song by none less than Ry Cooder. Even in this warp-speed age, that's an impressively speedy arc.

Yesterday a labor-organized rally drew a large group of protestors, including Cooder, to the downtown L.A. offices of Oaktree Capital Management. That investment firm owns the largest share of the Tribune Co., which includes the Times and is now for sale. The protestors hope to pressure Oaktree not to sell the paper to the billionaire Kochs -- part of a multi-prong effort by progressives that also includes petitions and threats from local politicians both in Sacramento and L.A..

See more photos from the protest by Nanette Gonzalez

Protestors wore paper Koch face masks and signs that read, "No Koch Hate In L.A." and "Koch + LA Times = Cancelled Subscription" while music blasted loud enough to be heard blocks away, including such standards of the rally genre as "Respect" by Aretha Franklin and "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

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debaird / Flickr

People are starving on Skid Row, children go without parents in South L.A., and immigrants will work for practically nothing in this town.

But a couple of rich conservatives threaten to buy the Los Angeles Times and -- whoa! -- opponents will hit the streets like anarchists in Seattle:

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Jeremiah Tran / Flickr

The Los Angeles Times today followed Associated Press and nixed use of the term "illegal immigrant" in its stories.

This followed a long campaign by some immigrants rights activists, including the L.A.-based National Hispanic Media Coalition, which said that a person shouldn't be forever described by one illicit action:

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Nanette Gonzalez for LA Weekly

Illegal immigrant. The New York Times, the grand, gray lady of journalism, is sticking with it, the paper announced today.

That despite Associated Press' decision to nix the term in favor of describing people as being here illegally (as opposed to being an inherently "illegal" person because of one illicit action). At least one L.A.-based Latino group isn't happy with the Times' decision:

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Philip Nelson

We're looking for a smart college student who loves hard news to join us as our summer intern for 2013.

The ideal candidate will be a good digger and writer with a passion for breaking news and hot subjects such as environment/land-use; crime/cops/gangs; development wars/density/transit; education reform/public school scandals; and high-tech/Silicon Beach.

Our summer news intern doesn't focus on busy work. He or she works alongside full-time real reporters. The news intern produces daily bylined news shorts for our news blog as well as reporting and writing longer articles for the print edition of L.A. Weekly.

We'll want you to ferret out, report and write stories. You don't have to be a journalism major but you do need online clips showing you know the basics.

Since these are unpaid internships, you need to be enrolled at a college or university that's willing to confirm in writing that you will receive course credit for your time here. You will work about 20 hours per week through the summer, with some flexibility on your working hours and days.

You must be living in the L.A. area beginning in late May or early June, through the summer. It's a plus if you have a car.

If you're interested, please promptly send links to three recent news articles, as well as your resume and a cover letter explaining your areas of news interest, to our Editorial Manager, Jennifer Swann (jswann [at] laweekly.com). No phone calls, please.

KCRW

KCRW's version of events has been added to the bottom.

Harry Shearer's weekend, one hour Le Show on KCRW has been canceled, the comedian and actor announced on Twitter today.

He told fans on Twitter that the station would be making an announcement shortly. We reached out to the Santa Monica public radio station but ...

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Danielle Lo by Mike Ho for Roll Models / Facebook

So, you've enjoyed the so-called Asian American Jersey Shore, K-Town, but say to yourself, Too much beef, not enough cheek?

Well, the producers of K-Town have just what you ordered: Roll Models, a show about so-called import models. What are import models, you ask?

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Irvine PD

The manhunt for Christopher Dorner was arguably the most expansive in Southern California history, involving thousands of law enforcers and even hundreds of journalists and citizen bloggers who documented the search.

The media coverage was so intense that Dorner's last shootout was captured on video:

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Jeremiah Tran / Flickr

This week the Associated Press declared it would no longer use the term "illegal immigrant."

It was big news in journalism, because the AP Stylebook's usage guidelines are the ones followed by most of us in the news media. A few publications, including the Los Angeles Times, have their own stylebooks and have yet to weigh in:

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jeremiah tran / Flickr

We told you recently how the conservative, billionaire Koch brothers might be interested in buying the Los Angeles Times.

Well, they might have company.

The Hollywood Reporter says that perennial would-be Times bidder Eli Broad, perhaps best known as a billionaire philanthropist and art collector in L.A., is teaming up with ...

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DonkeyHotey

David Koch

Update: The Koch Brothers respond, sort of. See next page. See also: Who Will Buy the Los Angeles Times?

The latest rumor about the next owner of the L.A. Times, which is for sale, is a doozy. A bombshell. It's a doozy wrapped in a bombshell exploding inside a Drudge siren.

Multiple sources tell L.A. Weekly that Charles and David Koch -- the infamous right-wing billionaire brothers -- are considering an offer on either the Tribune Co. newspaper group, which includes the L.A. Times, the Chicago Tribune and the Baltimore Sun or the entire Tribune Co., which includes more than 20 stations like WGN and KTLA Channel 5.

Now, these are unverified rumors that should be taken with a grain of salt if not a whole dollop. The Tribune Co. won't comment on any specific offers they've received, although a source there says, "We've gotten a ton of interest. That was one of the reasons for hiring the outside financial advisors, to sift through the unsolicited interest."

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courtesy of KELSEY WHIPPLE

Michael Moore, rallying the troops in Denver

First Michael Moore came out swinging on Twitter. Clueless customs officials at LAX had detained an Academy Award-nominated Palestinian filmmaker, he claimed. They "couldn't understand how a Palestinian could be an Oscar nominee." Even producing an "Oscar invite" wasn't good enough. The filmmaker, Emad Burnat, had to call Moore. And Moore had to call lawyers.

Finally, Moore tweeted, "After 1.5 hrs, they decided to release him & his family & told him he could stay in L.A. for the week & go to the Oscars. Welcome to America." Such drama!

But now we know the truth: Burnat was detained for all of 23 minutes. As anyone who's ever traveled internationally can tell you, that's hardly cause for concern.

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Updated below with Tribune clarifying it's not really an auction, reactions from top Los Angeles Times journalists and potential buyer Austin Beutner. Additional reporting by Hillel Aron. Headline has changed.

jmw

Will it bring $400 million?

CNBC is reporting that Tribune Co. has hired investment bankers to sell off its newspaper unit, which includes The Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. The rumor has been that handsome jet-setter Bruce Karsh, the new chairman of the Tribune board of directors (by dint of the fact that Karsh's Oaktree Capital was owed a huge chunk by Tribune), would be a leading voice in selling off the newspapers, while keeping 23 lucrative TV stations and a big chunk of The Food Network.

In a situation similar to the sale of The Dodgers, Evercore and J.P. Morgan will auction the newspapers, according to CNBC. Tribune brass declined to comment -- but there can be no doubt that the 500 Los Angeles Times newsroom and editorial employees will watch this drama closer than the season closer of NCIS:

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Los Angeles Times

There was a time, it seems, when there was a wall between pajama-bottom bloggers and real journalists.

Real journalists didn't bait Google. Real journalists focused on facts and not on fancy photos. Real journalists trumpeted reporting awards over readership.

Now? Not so much. The Los Angeles Times has joined the pageview party and today boasts of all-time record traffic for its largely fashion-photos-based Oscars coverage:

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B. Norton

Pranked again, but was Howard Stern involved?

Who is Ronnie the Limo Driver?

The part of the country that doesn't listen to Howard Stern and his pranksters learned the answer to that question when an unidentified Stern fan tricked CBS2/KCAL 9 Los Angeles into putting him live on the air as a "spokesman" for California Department of Fish and Game.

Breaking into a report from KCAL 9 reporter Carter Evans, who was within earshot of the firefight between sheriff's deputies and Dorner but was not hit, a KCAL 9 news anchor asks "Mr. Taugher" of "Fish and Game" a series of questions about the first person to spot Dorner.

The "spokesman" then claims that Ronnie the Limo Driver shot Dorner after getting caught in a "fightout" between game wardens and Dorner on his way to a "block party," then tells the anchor, "You know, you're a real dumbass! ..."

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@HuellHowser

Updated at the bottom with confirmation from the Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner. KCET will honor him on-air tonight. First posted around 12:17 p.m.

See also:
Huell Howser Videos: A Top 5.

See also:
*Top 5 Huell Howser Food Episodes: In Memoriam.

Huell Howser, longtime host of the public television show California's Gold, has died, our sister publication OC Weekly reports.

Howser retired from broadcasting unexpectedly last year. He produced the show at facilities at L.A. station KCET.

According to OC Weekly ...

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