LA Times to Fold Standalone Book Review
By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly,07/21/2008
According to a former staffer, the Los Angeles Times is folding its standalone Sunday book review section, laying off two dedicated book editors. The last standalone section will be the July 27 one. Steve Wasserman, a former editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review, sent out an e-mail Monday morning, protesting the changes at the embattled Tribune-owned daily.
Nancy Sullivan, executive director of corporate communications at the paper, would not comment on staff cuts at the paper or that the book review coverage will be placed in the Calendar section of the paper where it will share space with features. She did say that more definitive news would be issued next week and added that the paper "remains committed to book review coverage. What form that takes is what’s under evaluation."
In his e-mail, co-signed by three other former Review editors, Wasserman said the elimination of the book review section will have an adverse effect on the paper, calling it a "philistine blunder that...will further wound the long-term fiscal health of the newspaper."
Despite the folding of the section, the longrunning Los Angeles Times Festival of Books is expected to continue, but Wasserman observed that without the Book Review itself, "the book festival will be a hollow joke." He urged readers and writers "to join with us as we protest this sad and backward step."
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| Submitted by: | carole merritt (carole.merritt@gmail.com) 7/26/2008 2:56:39 PM PT |
| Location: | los angeles |
| Occupation: | writer |
The problem with the LA Times is that the current owner has an Illinois mentality and sensitivity, and doesn't care about culture in California.
I had cut my subscription from daily to Thurs-Sunday, and am now down to Sunday only. Looks like that's going too.
| Submitted by: | Tricia van Dockum 7/22/2008 11:14:10 AM PT |
| Location: | San Diego, CA |
| Occupation: | Literary Publicist |
David Ulin has done an amazing job with the many changes that have occurred in the book section over the last few years. It's very sad that this is the outcome of he and his staff's wondrous efforts to preserve a read-worthy book section.
| Submitted by: | Louise Steinman (lstein@lapl.org) 7/22/2008 9:41:55 AM PT |
| Location: | Los Angeles www.aloudla.org |
| Occupation: | writer, literary curator |
LA is definitely a city of readers! The Times' move to fold the stand-alone LATBR is wrongheaded and damaging to the cultural life of our community and beyond. It''s worth protesting, though so far the Times has been deaf to these complaints.
Louise Steinman
Curator, ALOUD at Central Library
www.aloudla.org
| Submitted by: | Susan Krasner 7/22/2008 9:29:01 AM PT |
| Location: | Pasadena, California |
| Occupation: | Engineer |
That's it! I've had it! As a Times subscriber for 27 years, I have watched the Tribune ownership of the last several years strip the paper of content. Countless columnists have been terminated, the stand-alone magazine no longer exists and now the book review. The Calendar section contains, at most, one short book review per issue. At this rate, the Los Angeles Times will be a freebie handed-out on the beach in Santa Monica!
| Submitted by: | Julie 7/22/2008 7:25:17 AM PT |
Sad news. I know LA has a reputation for not being a reader's town, but I read an article not too long ago--I believe it was linked from PW--disproving that notion. It's a shame a city so large will no longer have a book review.
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