Fight Over the Fight in Newport Beach Breaks Rolls On

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¡Ask a Mexican! Blamed for Hate Charges Against Alleged Haters

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Costa Mesa Cutter Promises Fastest Boob Job in the West

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A New Newspaper for Newport-Mesa? Really?

By Rich Kane in OC Media, The Media-O-Meter
Wednesday, Dec. 10 2008 @ 1:02PM
MPj04054360000[1].jpgNewport Beach/Costa Mesa-centric blog A Bubbling Cauldron breaks news this morning that ex-Daily Pilot publisher Tom Johnson and ex-Pilot editor/LA Times journo/current Orange Coast columnist/impending book whore Bill Lobdell are teaming up to start a new community pub that will cover the two burgs, one that, the report says, will be distributed online and, on some days, in print.

Good luck with that. In this gawdawful economy, the pair are currently seeking investors for their project, sez the Cauldron, which means that it could be awhile before NB-CM citizens see anything, if at all. Unless Johnson and Lobdell go after some deep-pocketed plastic surgery docs to help out with startup cash. And lordy knows how many of those there are in Newport.

Their model appears to be the Voice of San Diego, a web-only nonprofit that relies on reader donations for its survival. But that's San Diego, not OC, where the same old problems regarding new media ventures have always persisted: too much competition from other outlets like the Register, the Times (bankruptcy or not, it's still gonna be around for awhile), the Weekly, and a slug of great local websites that blog about everything from food to politics.

Also, J&L will have to eventually realize that they're going to have to pay any fresh-out-of-college reporters they hire a living wage, enough so they can afford to actually live in Newport-Mesa, which eternally has some of the highest rents in all of OC. Oh, and they'll need to give them health insurance, too, if they want to be proper employers.

Yeah. Again, good luck with that.
13 comment(s) / Post a Comment
Stanley Fiala says:

There are two major publications in Russia. One is called PRAVDA (truth) and the other IZVESTIA (news).

Under the old communist system the cliché was: "There is no NEWS in the TRUTH and no TRUTH in the NEWS."

Now the cliché is expendable to all USA publications as well, and the replacing bloggers are ran by Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels a.k.a. Pedroza, Chmielewski and Gordon.

The spirit of the first amendment going to hell in a handbasket fast.

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 10 2008 @ 2:38PM
biff says:

jeez, instead of the snarky "yeah, good luck with that" how about giving it a chance to get off the ground before you trash it. Good for Bill and Tom for at least TRYING to keep print alive in some form or another. Its always easy to stand on the sidelines and throw barbs.

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 10 2008 @ 4:49PM
Rich Kane says:

Biff: Sorry, but it's already doomed to failure. It will fail bigger than Squeeze OC, bigger than the OC Post, bigger than the Orange County Newschannel, bigger than the Times Orange County Edition, bigger than DayBreak OC . . . and the long, sad funeral procession marches on. Trying a completely new media venture in this economy is a waste -- hell, even if the economy were great, they'd still have problems; finding a staff willing to work for the beer nuts J&L will surely be paying them will be the least of them.

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 10 2008 @ 5:43PM
Jonathan Volzke says:

Geez, Rich, I have to agree a bit about the doom and gloom. I started The Capistrano Dispatch six years ago, we're still plugging away.

We've got the San Clemente Times and Dana Point Times now, too. All weeklies.

You have to remember two key points:

Smaller papers with limited circulation have a much lower bar on profitability. You can print 10,000 copies of a 20-page paper for just over $2,000. And you can get it delivered to doorsteps for about $70 per thousand.

Also, folks in cities like Newport and Costa Mesa have a great sense of community, and they're hungry for a good local paper to call their own. Lobdell and Johnson have good names in the community, so getting the dollars to start shouldn't be impossible.

And there are journalists out there willing to work for beer nuts, too: They believe in the craft and are hungry to start somewhere and move up the ladder.

Newspapers aren't dead. Bad newspapers are dead, just like bad businesses. The best of both can still live on and play important roles in the community.

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 10 2008 @ 6:08PM
Jonathan Volzke says:

It should be mentioned that OC is home to about a dozen independent papers, too.

Everything from political hardnosed publications like the OC Voice in Huntington Beach to the non-profit Fullerton Observer. The Garden Grove Journal is great ... heck, they're all great just for being out there and slugging it out.

I have a list if anyone is interested.

jvolzke@thecapistranodispatch.com

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 10 2008 @ 6:36PM
Rich Kane says:

Jonathan: I admit it. I'm a negative creep. Sometimes.

Thing is, Lobdell and Johnson's paper is being planned as a daily, not a weekly, according to the Cauldron. That's their first problem, one I hope they seriously think about. Weekly community papers like yours are definitely the better way to go about it for us ink junkies who don't want to see print die. (Up here in Seal Beach, I need my weekly dose of both the Grunion Gazette and the SB Sun, as cheesy and poorly-written as they can be.) And you're certainly to be praised for your success in those South County burgs.

I hope their new venture works, but I'm not entirely sure about how community-oriented Costa Mesa and Newport really are. I see it working more in pedestrian-friendly 'hoods like Balboa and Balboa Island, as opposed to the whole of Newport Beach. Both towns sure have advertisers, too -- but the trick will be in getting them to part with their cash.

We'll see what happens...

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 10 2008 @ 8:28PM
The Pot Stirrer says:

Rich, as I understand the plan, Lobdell and Johnson plan a daily presentation on the internet, with a weekly print edition to supplement their online presence. It's similar to Jonathan Volzke's efforts in South County, or so it seems. My personal preference - probably too expensive - would for them to find a way to acquire the Daily Pilot for it's name and archives and morph it into the online model. Both have excellent reputations in the Newport-Mesa area and lots of contacts with big bucks folks... How the launch of Lobdell's book early next year will affect this plan is an open question...

Posted On: Wednesday, Dec. 10 2008 @ 11:31PM
Rich Kane says:

Meh. Despite its long history, I think the Pilot is a dead brand. If they were to buy the beast, they should change the name.

Posted On: Thursday, Dec. 11 2008 @ 9:51AM
Bob Villa says:

I'm with ya' Rich. You're not negative, you're realistic. It's DOOMED to failure. Too small a coverage area, too much competition, and HELLO! The economy! Good luck getting ANY new biz off the ground right now.

Posted On: Thursday, Dec. 11 2008 @ 12:24PM
Bob Villa says:

The funny thing is, if you wrote a POSITIVE article about what a great idea it was, everyone would be commenting on how it will never work. People just like to argue on the internet....

Posted On: Thursday, Dec. 11 2008 @ 12:26PM
John Earl says:

I have to agree with Jonathan 100 percent. My paper, the "hardnosed" OC Voice, has been kept alive by reporters and columnists working for beer nutz (actually, our freelance wages are probably usually a lot higher than any other community paper in Orange County, but still not enough to pay the rent, I admit). It's a hard road to travel at times; some good writers have been swept up by the Register or other papers--even the Nation, but the Voice also provides an opportunity for good journalists to improve and prove themselves while working hard and doing something they can actually believe in. We've had some of the best coverage of local issues there is, if I do say so myself, thanks to those writers and columnists. We've been at it 2 1/2 years now-- it's been a learning experience, for sure, but we're planning and expecting to grow and be around until the last drop of sweat is squeezed from my body. So, if there are any interested journalists out there with that kind of dedication, please give me a call: 714 656-3607 and let's talk.

Posted On: Thursday, Dec. 11 2008 @ 12:42PM
Rob Dickson says:

Rich, how much do you actually know about The Daily Pilot? It is hardly a dead brand. It still has a core group of advertisers, and the classifieds still serve a purpose. It has good, relevant reporting and coverage of local sports.

The Pilot has been around for 100 years - hardly a dead brand. Newport-Mesa is full of viable businesses that can and will advertise in their local paper. If Tribune nurtured the business, it would remain strong and viable. I doubt that will happen, but the name and brand will lend success to whoever has the stones to keep it going. I'm afraid that a new, internet only presence will get lost in the mix. Drawing a distracted and fragmented readership to a new brand will be extremely difficult - why abandon a well-respected name with a long history in the community? Sorry, Rich, but that sounds pretty stupid.

Posted On: Thursday, Dec. 11 2008 @ 12:58PM
Rich Kane says:

Rob: I've been reading the Pilot off and on since the mid-1970s, when my dad used to bring it home after finishing his late shifts at the LA Times' Costa Mesa plant. It was old, stale and tired then, and much more so now. Sure, a long history in the community. But well-respected? Ummm...

Any new reporting venture in Newport-Mesa has got to be just that: NEW. And part of that would be to ditch the name. Sorry, but I can't see anyone under 35 (who, let's be real, is the market anyone will need to go after to make a new pub a success; nobody seriously wants to placate the get-off-my-lawn crowd that frequents the Balboa Bay Club, do they?) anxiously popping up their laptops to see what the "Daily Pilot" is writing about.

Posted On: Thursday, Dec. 11 2008 @ 2:25PM


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