Fishbowl test posts

Daily News Relaunches LA.com… Again

Bringing you all the Bootie LA coverage you can ask for, (and without even a hint of MediaNews Group branding), the Daily News invites us to “a whole new concept in journalism,” otherwise known as the gossip and go-to guide, LA.com.

Perhaps the DN is playing along with Tribune’s distinctively-branded Metromix Los Angeles, which is now in Beta in LA after years of delay. Put in your ZIP code and find dinner.

“LA.COM isn’t just a Web site, it’s an experience,” promises DN editor Ron Kaye, of the re-titled “U” section in print and the revamped online city guide that was actually LA’s first local events blog when it launched in 1998.

This is MediaNews Group’s second effort at relaunching LA.com in five years.

The Journal Acknowledges Blogging, Ten Years Later

The Wall Street Journal has more paying online subscribers (over 900,000) than the LA Times has in print. But who would have thought the esteemed Journal would be the first rag to celebrate the 10th anniversary of blogging. The Happy Blogiversary special section came complete with video and top billing in the editor’s picks sidebar. And somewhere, Rupert Murdoch is smiling, or perhaps this is just a sign that Dow Jones truly is in his back pocket. Not only did the Journal fail to mention their small stable of blogs (which date back to…. May 2006), they overlooked bloggers ( entirely by printing the opinions of people like Tom Wolfe “I’m weary of narcissistic shrieks and baseless ‘information.'” Nice of them to acknowledge blog, of course — even if it’s just the Saturday paper.

Flying Away From LATimes.com

Sure it takes flashy ads to generate revenue on any Web site. But a real eyesore — and a true sign of desperation — are the identical ads, complete with animation of a 787 Dreamliner flying off the page and “Apply” in large text, on the LATimes.com homepage. LAT publisher David Hiller announced last week that the paper had just experienced one of its worst quarters ever and now it appears its taking its losses out on latimes.com visitors.

Times readers not interested in working for Boeing can still get the news at my.latimes.com or via rss.