The Future Of The Daily Pilot

THE FUTURE OF LOCAL PRINT MEDIA
Among the many issues Tom Johnson - former publisher of the Daily Pilot and host of the "Sunday Brunch with Tom Johnson and Lynn Selich" program on radio station KOCI FM - discussed with me on Sunday was the future of the print media and, specifically, the future of the Daily Pilot in light of the turmoil swirling around the attempt by the Daily Pilot's parent, Tribune Publishing, to acquire Freedom Communications - parent of the Orange County Register and the Riverside Press Enterprise - out of bankruptcy.

WE NEED THE DAILY PILOT
During our conversation I told Johnson that I felt the Daily Pilot - our newspaper of record for more than a century - needs to find a way to survive.  Although no longer "daily", it provides an irreplaceable unbiased small-town feel in the delivery of local news - the stuff we really care about.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
Then, very late Sunday night, Kevin Roderick - who publishes the LA Observed blog - published an outstanding summary of the events of last week regarding the Tribune/Freedom Communications debacle, HERE.  His piece provides several views of the issue and is a must-read for those interested in this situation.

A PAY WALL?
Also, Johnson mentioned the rumor that the Daily Pilot will soon have a pay wall.  I've heard that rumor and had it verified by those who should know and it appears to be true.  In my opinion, that would be catastrophic for that newspaper!  The Register tried it and failed miserably.  I fear a pay wall for non-subscribers - we subscribers would be exempt from it from what I hear - would do significant damage to the Pilot page views, those magic numbers that attract advertisers.

NOBODY DOES IT BETTER - YET
I, personally, WANT the Daily Pilot to survive and thrive.  Although others have tried, so far nobody has found a way to provide local coverage better.

A "COMPETING BLOG"?
In a segue, Johnson asked about the impact of what he called a "competing blog" in town - which he described as having been generated to offset this blog.  It turns out he was really talking about the Costa Mesa Public Square Facebook page - not a blog, and far from it.  We briefly discussed that page - how it evolved from Bruce Krochman's original idea nearly two years ago for an open, carefully moderated site for the discussion of important issues - into a closed society where only those blessed may even view the content being discussed.  We discussed the fact that the operators of the blog not only toss folks who offer opposing viewpoints, but seek them out on other sites and expel them from the CMPS for comments made elsewhere.

HYPED BY OFFICIALS
We also discussed how elected and appointed city officials use the site as their own little venue for spreading their philosophy among the true believers who inhabit the site, and how they openly tout it from the dais of their respective meeting venues as "the place" to discuss issues - even though it's NOT an open site.  The hypocrisy is palpable!

NOT COMPETITION, JUST PROPAGANDA
The CMPS is not "competition" for this blog and can't even be considered as such until it's open to EVERYONE, just as we are here.  Yes, to post a comment here you must register, but nobody is banned or blocked.  And, in fact, since I cross-post every blog entry on my Facebook page, anybody can post comments there, too.  When those officials tell the populace that the CMPS is The Place To Go, they forget to mention that it's only open for true believers, or those willing to sit quietly in the corner and not make waves.

THANKS FOR THE OPPORTUNITY
Anyhow, thanks again to Tom Johnson for the opportunity to chat with him on these and other issues.  If I can figure a way to embed the recording of the program I'll do so.  Unfortunately, it appears that no podcast link is available.  I'll try to figure it out...

The Threshold Of Hell

(Photo courtesy of Dave Banks via the Los Angeles Times)

ALL THIS AND NO WIND... YET
As I type this local television is reporting that the Station fire is now over 121,000 acres and containment isn't expected until September 15th! Yikes! And, we've been "lucky" so far because the winds have been calm. I shudder to think what this might have been like with Santa Ana winds! In addition, there are five other identified fires burning in Southern California and another half dozen burning throughout the state.

LA TIMES PHOTOS
The Los Angeles Times has a collection of breath-taking photographs from the fires. Click HERE to view them, plus excellent reader photos, too.

LAOBSERVED STANDS TALL
A big tip of the hat to Kevin Roderick over at the LAObserved blog for providing outstanding coverage of the southern California fires over the weekend. While the local television outlets virtually ignored the explosion of fires on Saturday and Sunday Kevin stayed at the helm of his blog and provided excellent coverage and links. Go to his link and scroll down through the first three pages for excellent coverage and links.

TWO GREAT TIME LAPSE VIDEOS
Two of those he provided are shown below. The first, by video producer Eric Spiegleman, gets your attention. The second, by Dan Finnerty, shows more flame.

Time Lapse Test: Station Fire from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.

Station File Time Lapse #4 from Dan Finnerty on Vimeo.

COSTA MESA COUNCIL MEETING A YAWNER?
Tonight's Costa Mesa City Council meeting could be a real yawner. The decision of how to proceed with the replacement for Jim Fisler on the Planning Commission may be continued until Eric Bever, who is expected to be absent tonight, is able to participate. We'll report on the proceedings tomorrow.

RED LIGHT CAMERA PROGRAM
There is one item on the agenda that might make for some interesting discussion. The council will hear from staff about the Red Light Camera program. Reading the staff report, it sure does sound like the program should be abolished and more police officers assigned to snag violators. The staff report indicates that you get more bang for your buck that way. Besides, the vendor is in receivership and doesn't appear able to complete it's contractual obligations with the city.