Fiktiv USA - Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times (sometimes abbreviated as LA Times or L.A. Times) is a daily newspaper based in El Segundo, California, which has been published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It has the fifth-largest circulation in the U.S., and is the largest American newspaper not headquartered on the East Coast. The paper focuses its coverage of issues particularly salient to the West Coast, such as immigration trends and natural disasters. It has won more than 40 Pulitzer Prizes for its coverage of these and other issues. Since 2000 the Times is owned by Tribune Publishing.

In the 19th century, the paper developed a reputation for civic boosterism and opposition to labor unions, the latter of which led to the bombing of its headquarters in 1910. The paper's profile grew substantially in the 1960s under publisher Otis Chandler, who adopted a more national focus. In recent decades the paper's readership has declined, and it has been beset by a series of ownership changes, staff reductions, and other controversies. In January 2018, the paper's staff voted to unionize and finalized their first union contract on October 16, 2019. The paper moved out of its historic downtown headquarters to a facility near Los Angeles International Airport in July 2018.

The Times was first published on December 4, 1881, as the Los Angeles Daily Times under the direction of Nathan Cole Jr. and Thomas Gardiner. It was first printed at the Mirror printing plant, owned by Jesse Yarnell and T.J. Caystile. Unable to pay the printing bill, Cole and Gardiner turned the paper over to the Mirror Company. In the meantime, S. J. Mathes had joined the firm, and it was at his insistence that the Times continued publication. In July 1882, Harrison Gray Otis moved from Santa Barbara to become the paper's editor. Otis made the Times a financial success.

Historian Kevin Starr wrote that Otis was a businessman "capable of manipulating the entire apparatus of politics and public opinion for his own enrichment". Otis's editorial policy was based on civic boosterism, extolling the virtues of Los Angeles and promoting its growth. Toward those ends, the paper supported efforts to expand the city's water supply by acquiring the rights to the water supply of the distant Owens Valley.

The efforts of the Times to fight local unions led to the bombing of its headquarters on October 1, 1910, killing twenty-one people. Two union leaders, James and Joseph McNamara, were charged. The American Federation of Labor hired noted trial attorney Clarence Darrow to represent the brothers, who eventually pleaded guilty.

Otis fastened a bronze eagle on top of a high frieze of the new Times headquarters building designed by Gordon Kaufmann, proclaiming anew the credo written by his wife, Eliza: "Stand Fast, Stand Firm, Stand Sure, Stand True".

Upon Otis's death in 1917, his son-in-law, Harry Chandler, took control as publisher of the Times. Harry Chandler was succeeded in 1944 by his son, Norman Chandler, who ran the paper during the rapid growth of post-war Los Angeles. Norman's wife, Dorothy Buffum Chandler, became active in civic affairs and led the effort to build the Los Angeles Music Center, whose main concert hall was named the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in her honor. Family members are buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery near Paramount Studios. The site also includes a memorial to the Times Building bombing victims.

The fourth generation of family publishers, Otis Chandler, held that position from 1960 to 1980. Otis Chandler sought legitimacy and recognition for his family's paper, often forgotten in the power centers of the Northeastern United States due to its geographic and cultural distance. He sought to remake the paper in the model of the nation's most respected newspapers, notably The New York Times and The Washington Post. Believing that the newsroom was "the heartbeat of the business", Otis Chandler increased the size and pay of the reporting staff and expanded its national and international reporting. In 1962, the paper joined with The Washington Post to form the Los Angeles Times–Washington Post News Service to syndicate articles from both papers for other news organizations. He also toned down the unyielding conservatism that had characterized the paper over the years, adopting a much more centrist editorial stance.

In 1935, the newspaper moved to a new, landmark Art Deco building, the Los Angeles Times Building, to which the newspaper would add other facilities until taking up the entire city block between Spring, Broadway, First and Second streets, which came to be known as Times Mirror Square and would house the paper until 2018. Harry Chandler, then the president and general manager of Times-Mirror Co., declared the Los Angeles Times Building a "monument to the progress of our city and Southern California".

During the 1960s the paper won four Pulitzer Prizes, more than its previous nine decades combined.

Writing in 2013 about the pattern of newspaper ownership by founding families, Times reporter Michael Hiltzik said that:

The first generations bought or founded their local paper for profits and also social and political influence (which often brought more profits). Their children enjoyed both profits and influence, but as the families grew larger, the later generations found that only one or two branches got the power, and everyone else got a share of the money. Eventually the coupon-clipping branches realized that they could make more money investing in something other than newspapers. Under their pressure the companies went public, or split apart, or disappeared. That's the pattern followed over more than a century by the Los Angeles Times under the Chandler family.

The paper's early history and subsequent transformation was chronicled in an unauthorized history, Thinking Big, and was one of four organizations profiled by David Halberstam in The Powers That Be. It has also been the whole or partial subject of nearly thirty dissertations in communications or social science in the past four decades.

In 2000, the Times-Mirror Company, publisher of the Times, was purchased by the Tribune Company of Chicago, Illinois, placing the paper in co-ownership with the then WB-affiliated (now CW-affiliated) KTLA, which Tribune acquired in 1985.

On April 2, 2007, the Tribune Company announced its acceptance of real estate entrepreneur Sam Zell's offer to buy the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, and all other company assets. Zell announced that he would sell the Chicago Cubs baseball club. He put up for sale the company's 25 percent interest in Comcast SportsNet Chicago. Until shareholder approval was received, Los Angeles billionaires Ron Burkle and Eli Broad had the right to submit a higher bid, in which case Zell would have received a $25 million buyout fee.

In December 2008, the Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection. The bankruptcy was a result of declining advertising revenue and a debt load of $12.9 billion, much of it incurred when the paper was taken private by Zell.

On January 19, 2018, employees of the news department voted 248–44 in a National Labor Relations Board election to be represented by the NewsGuild-CWA. The vote came despite aggressive opposition from the paper's management team, reversing more than a century of anti-union sentiment at one of the biggest newspapers in the country.

Los Angeles Times is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country with a daily circulation of about 1.1 million and a Sunday circulation of more than 1.3 million. With 25 foreign bureaus, 13 domestic bureaus (8 national and 5 California) and the largest editorial staff of any U.S. newspaper, The Times is one of the most formidable news-gathering operations in the country. The paper has won many prestigious journalism awards, including 24 Pulitzer Prizes, journalism's highest honor.

The Times serves its diverse and expansive market by publishing seven sections daily and four daily regional editions covering the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the San Fernando Valley, and Orange and Ventura counties. Daily sections include Main News, Metro (local news), Sports, Business, Southern California Living, Calendar and Classified. Weekly sections include Health, Food, the Los Angeles Times Magazine, Travel, Book Review, Real Estate, Opinion, Home Design, TV Times, Parade Magazine and the Comics. The paper is printed at three printing plants, in Downtown L.A., Orange County and the San Fernando Valley.

The Times also produces a National Edition, printed on the East Coast and in Northern and Southern California, and distributed everyday in markets outside of Southern California.

In addition, The Times maintains latimes.com, the internet's primary source of news and information for and about Southern California.

An editorial staff roster is available for each section and for The Times' foreign, national and state news bureaus.

Daily sections:
Weekday editions of The Times are divided into seven basic sections:

Main News (A Section)
Exclusive international, national, state, regional and local news compiled through The Times' worldwide network of 22 foreign bureaus and 14 state and local bureaus.

Metro (B Section)
Local community news and features, editorials, letters to the editor, opinion and weather page. Also called Valley, Ventura County, Orange County Metro or Metro, depending on the regional edition.

Business (C Section)
Local, national and international business and financial news. Complete closing stock, bond, mutual fund and commodity prices. Special weekly sections include:
The Cutting Edge (Monday and Thursday) - Focuses on the impact of computers, high technology and telecommunications on business and people.
Wall Street, California (Tuesday) - Features personal and investment advice with a California perspective.
Small Business (Wednesday) - Covers the region's entrepreneurs and growing small businesses.

Sports (D Section)
Award-winning sports news coverage including in-depth features, comprehensive statistics and exclusive Times commentary.

Southern California Living (E Section)
Coverage of community, social and cultural events, lifestyles, trends, fashion, and consumer and family issues. Other features include the Kids' Reading Room, Dear Abby and more than 40 daily comics.

Calendar (F Section)
Reviews and listings of and commentary and inside information on movies, radio, television, theater, art, music and dance.

Classifieds (G Section)
Comprehensive listing of employment opportunities and advertisements offering new and used vehicles for sale, homes for sale or rent, and business opportunities.

National Edition:
Distributed in Northern California, Nevada, New York, Washington, D.C. and on the East Coast, this daily edition features The Times four main sections - News, Business, Sports and Features - and adds a special focus on technology, entertainment and the Asian business community. On Sunday, these sections are expanded with Calendar, Book Review, Opinion, Travel and Southern California Living sections as well as Los Angeles Times Magazine.

Weekly sections:
Health (Monday)
Offers practical advice on nutrition, fitness, medicine and general well-being.

Food (Wednesday)
Great recipes and menus tested in The Times' kitchen along with cooking and entertainment tips and advice on wine.

Calendar Weekend (Thursday)
A tabloid guide to weekend events, movies, concerts, plays, nightclubs, art galleries, museums and family fun.

Highway One (Wednesday)
Vehicle road tests, car care, automotive events, road trip ideas and car advertisements.

Sunday sections:
Sunday Calendar
A comprehensive guide to arts and entertainment, with features and profiles of the industry's up-and-coming and most popular personalities.

Real Estate
A trustworthy source for help in buying, selling, financing, renting and improving your home. Columns on mortgages, gardening and energy conservation.

Travel
Great vacation planning and advice on tours, cruises, hotels, airlines and more.

Opinion
A forum for ideas, opinions and analyses about current political, social and economic issues.

Book Review
Features reviews of the latest fiction and non-fiction releases by leading writers as well as The Times' best-seller lists.

Comics
This full-color section features some of the nation's favorite comic strips, including "Doonesbury," "Peanuts," Cathy" and "Dilbert."

Los Angeles Times Magazine
A unique look at what's best in Southern California, featuring profiles of local influential personalities.

TV Times
At-a-glance schedules include customized listings for most local cable systems.

Parade Magazine
Columns and celebrity profiles from this popular national magazine complement Los Angeles Times Magazine's local focus.

Our Times
These special sections are devoted exclusively to serving local communities in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Ventura counties. Neighborhood news coverage includes local government, businesses, school issues, youth sports, personality profiles, charity events and community groups.