Heads up: The revamped version of Matt Welch and Ken Layne's L.A. Examiner is online. Welch and Layne first launched the site in May 2001 as a place to muse on L.A. stuff-- in particular, the sorry state of local media affairs. But now they're moving the focus to be more broad and less about how the L.A. Timez sucks this week. (The duo are also busy putting together the new Dick Riordan paper, which is supposed to launch in September--unless Dick gets bored.)
Part of the reason they're switching gears is the arrival of Kevin Roderick's excellent new site L.A. Observed, which takes an extensive look at the world of local media, particularly the print world.
The new L.A. Examiner looks spiffy, but eliminates the ability to leave comments. Welch and Layne say that's because the comments on the site had been lively, but had also gotten tired. Indeed, too many items were met with the usual sniping over who's more whiny, liberals or conservatives. But they also got rid of the "Sports by Brooks" ad. That'll cut their readership down by at least half. It was something to look forward to, especially when the site wasn't updated for days at a time.
Meanwhile, we here at Franklin Avenue love comments. That's why you see that "shout out" line at the end of each item. That's our oh-so-1997 way of asking you to leave behind some rantings or ravings. Please. Yes, we're needy.
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