San Bernardino Aftermath: Thursday's Newspaper Front Pages

Per the Los Angeles Times' Henry Fuhrmann, who posted this on his Twitter feed: "Here's today's almost-final front page. (The edition just now sent to press has a few changes.)"

Below, the San Bernardino Sun's Thursday front. (The Sun's sister paper, the L.A. Daily News, sports an identical cover.)

After Paris: A Look at Saturday's Newspaper Covers

Following Friday's awful Paris terrorist attacks, here are Saturday's Los Angeles Times (above) and New York Times (below) covers. Our hearts go out to the city of Paris and anyone affected.

PIC: Scene of the Recent Los Angeles River Rescue

All calm now (just caution tape) at the site of the #LARiver rescue a few days ago:

A photo posted by Michael Schneider (@franklinavenue) on Dec 12, 2014 at 4:31pm PST

How I Almost Missed Sunday's Big Eclipse

(Pic taken in Reno by my old Hawaii high school friend Eugene Hopkins.)

This Saturday I flew back to L.A. after a whirlwind of an upfronts week in New York. What was the first thing I did before even heading home? A kids' birthday party for one of Blogger Kid's classmates.

Then, what did I do Sunday? That's right, another kids' birthday party for one of Blogger Kid's classmates.

So you'll have to excuse my idiocy on Sunday at 6:30 when, walking out of Home Depot with more construction supplies for a little home project we're doing, I was taken aback by the strangely dark skies. "Weird sky at the moment. Strangely dark yet light, with no clouds in the sky," I Tweeted.

To which I was immediately reminded: The eclipse. Yep, I had been so out of the loop on everything but TV (I can give you plenty of details on Dan Harmon being fired from "Community") that I hadn't even been paying attention to the eclipse news.

So there you go. We witnessed the big eclipse from the parking lot of the Glendale Home Depot. Could have been worse; I was beginning to suspect an alien invasion. Whew.

Wow: Video of Today's Hollywood Shootout

Via the Twitvid account of Rich Kingston, who took video today of a gunman shooting randomly at people and cars at the Sunset and Vine intersection. (LAPD rushed to the scene and shot the gunman, who died. At least one person was struck by the gunman, according to the L.A. Times, but it looks like he will survive.) Kingston appears to have taken the video from the Los Angeles Film School building; watch as cars speed out of the way once they realize they're in danger.

Quite a video, but the L.A. Times has an scarier, close-up one here. And a third video has apparently been sold to news outlets. That's what happens when you shoot up a major intersection in Los Angeles -- there's video coverage from every angle.

Local TV Covers the Occupy LA Eviction

Most of the local TV stations -- with the notable exception of KABC/Channel 7 -- went with live coverage late into the evening Tuesday (and into Wednesday) as the LAPD began removing the Occupy LA protesters from the lawn outside City Hall.

The operation itself appeared to go smoothly, as protesters stuck to civil disobedience and the LAPD, under chief Charlie Beck, went about their business slowly and methodically. It could have gone much differently, but clearly Beck wanted to avoid past LAPD missteps -- of which there have been plenty over the years. (As a result, your average post-Lakers victory riot was more eventful and dangerous than what happened at City Hall on Tuesday night.)

Sadly, the local TV coverage was more predictable. L.A. TV media is notorious for parachuting into situations with general assignment reporters lacking much depth or background on a complicated subject, and that was painfully apparent on Tuesday night, as most of the local TV coverage didn't have much to offer beyond eyewitness accounts of what was going on at the moment (coupled with the occasional inane interview with an Occupy LA protester -- many of whom, granted, were hostile to the media anyway).

"Fox 11" and "KTLA" were trending nationwide by the middle of the night, although many (most?) of the Tweets weren't exactly favorable. Nonetheless, it was still notable that both of those stations went with wall-to-wall coverage, not even breaking for commercials, until 2 a.m. Those stations' competitors closed up shop earlier; and again, it was strange to see market leader KABC relegate its coverage to its website, even as things heated up a bit after midnight.

Some criticized the news media for agreeing to a news coverage pool; Fox 11's Gigi Graciette tweeted that the three pool reporters agreed not to Tweet "as to not have advantage over other stations."

Meanwhile, according to the GM of LA's recreation and parks department, the City Hall park will now be closed indefinitely for "repairs." He's no "Parks and Recreation" Ron Swanson, but is at least sporting a Swanson-style 'stache:

The Death of Bin Laden, As Seen on SoCal's Newspaper Front Pages

Daily News: "Bin Laden Killed"

We posted the front page of the L.A. Times yesterday; now here's a collection of more front pages from Monday, reporting the death of terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden.


Daily Breeze: "BIN LADEN DEAD"


Santa Clarita Daily Signal: "Bin Laden dead"


Orange County Register: "BIN LADEN DEAD"


San Bernardino Sun: "BIN LADEN DEAD"


Riverside Press-Enterprise: "BIN LADEN KILLED; 'JUSTICE DONE'"


Pasadena Star-News: "Bin Laden Dead"


Inland Valley Daily Bulletin: "BIN LADEN DEAD"


La Opinion: "Bin Laden esta muerto"


Press-Telegram: "Bin Laden dead"

And elsewhere in California:


San Francisco Chronicle: "U.S. kills Bin Laden"


San Diego Union-Tribune: "KILLED"


Palm Springs Desert Sun: "BIN LADEN DEAD"


Ventura County Star: "BIN LADEN IS DEAD"


Bakersfield Californian: "JUSTICE SERVED"

Osama Bin Laden's Death Dominates Front Pages

What a fascinating evening to watch unfold via TV and the Internet (particularly Twitter). The announcement of the death of Osama Bin Laden came early enough on the West Coast to impact primetime out here -- yet, surprisingly, not for long. ABC continued with live coverage until 10 p.m. PT, but NBC and CBS returned to their reality series at 9.

I'm wondering whether the L.A. Times, which generally puts late-breaking news on its LATEXTRA section, had to completely toss out its earlier A1 run in order to have an updated front page out there (above).

A few more thoughts I had, via Twitter:

That's what you get for renting your mansion out to "The Bachelorette," Osama!

Crossing Bin Laden off the list of contenders to replace Charlie Sheen on "Two and a Half Men."

Loving the shots on ABC News of the crowd outside the White House.

Folks who refuse to give Obama any credit are the same ones who would be first to trash the President had this mission failed.

Amazing Race pre-empted. But CBS News will go live to Phil Keoghan telling a pic of Bin Laden that "you've been eliminated from the race."

Above, the cover of this morning's New York Times.

Los Angeles Fire and Rescue Team Flies to Japan (VIDEO)

Via the website Airboyd comes this video below of relief aid and Los Angeles Fire and Rescue Team members shipping off for Japan.

According to Airboyd, the video (shot by 4th Combat Camera Squadron/SMSgt. David Smith) shows a C-17A arriving at March Air Reserve Base (formerly Air Force Base) near Riverside to upload 11 pallets of equipment and 3 personnel from Los Angeles Fire and Rescue Team. Aircraft departs and flies direct to Misawa Air Base in Japan to support the relief efforts:



And here's the other end. Video from the American Forces Network (AFN) at Misawa Air Base (200 miles north of Sendai) of the Los Angeles Fire and Rescue (as well as a fire/rescue team from Fairfax, Va.) landing.

What's interesting here is how quickly all of this went down: One of the L.A. fire/rescue members asks where they are.. while the military personnel seen on camera tells the volunteers that they may know more than he does, as the electricity at Misawa had just been restored:



Speaking of Misawa, here's video from the base's AFN bureau immediately after the quake. I love the beginning shot with the kids, describing the quake, when the giant voice of the base command starts talking:

Los Angeles TV and Print Reporters Head to Japan

The Japan disaster story has also become a local one here in Southern California, given the number of Japanese expats and persons of Japanese ancestry in the region. What's more, the slight possibility of a tsunami -- and now, radiation -- coming to our shores (again, highly unlikely) has forced us all to pay attention. (As if the stunning images coming out of the country weren't reason enough.)

That's probably why several local TV stations have sent crews to the country in recent days. It hasn't been an easy trip -- KTLA's Frank Buckley wrote that it took 27 hours to get into the country from Los Angeles.

Here's a partial list (likely to be updated) of local TV and L.A. Times staffers now reporting within Japan:

KNBC 4: Reporter Conan Nolan, photographer Bobbie Eng, photojournalist Jorge Diaz

KTLA 5: Reporter Frank Buckley, producer Toni Molle, photographer Michael McGregor (UPDATE: They've returned. See below)

KABC 7: Reporter David Ono

(KTTV 11 currently doesn't have a crew in Japan. We're still waiting to hear back from the KCBS 2/KCAL 9 duopoly.)

And here are the Los Angeles Times staffers currently in Japan:

Barbara Demick – Beijing Bureau Chief
Mark Magnier – New Delhi Bureau Chief
Laura King – Baghdad Bureau Chief
Carolyn Cole – Photographer, based in NYC
Brian Vander Brug – Photographer, based in LA

There’s also a stringer, Kenji Hall, covering the situation in Japan.

The newspaper's Japan coverage is being aggregated here.

Here's what Buckley wrote on his blog on Sunday:

As some of you know, my mother is Japanese and I lived here for a number of years as a boy. I speak Japanese well enough to get us from here to there. I feel close to Japan and the Japanese people so this story has meaning to me. In fact, I have family here and friends. Fortunately, they're all OK. That's obviously not the case for thousands of others and we'll do our best to tell their stories.

UPDATE: With the radiation scare on the rise in Japan, Buckley has returned home. LA Observed pointed to Buckley's tweet:

Reluctantly leaving Japan after Morning News Wed.Too many questions about radiation. Don't think there's a huge risk but I'm not an expert.

Local L.A. Thursday Night News Ratings (Japan Coverage)

Looks like KTTV also won the local news ratings last night (helped, to be sure, by "American Idol" earlier that evening)

Total Viewers

KTTV/Fox 11 (10 p.m.) 370,000
KCBS/2 (11 p.m.) 342,000
KABC/7 (11 p.m.) 319,000
KCAL/9 (10 p.m.) 198,000
KTLA/5 (10 p.m.) 196,000
KNBC/4 (11 p.m.) 142,000

KTTV from 11:30 p.m. to 2:08 a.m.: 243,000


Adults 25-54

KTTV/Fox 11 (10 p.m.) 182,000
KCBS/2 (11 p.m.) 130,000
KABC/7 (11 p.m.) 110,000
KCAL/9 (10 p.m.) 90,000
KTLA/5 (10 p.m.) 83,000
KNBC/4 (11 p.m.) 42,000

KTTV from 11:30 p.m. to 2:08 a.m.: 128,000

KTTV News Director on His Tsunami Coverage, and How Others Underplayed It

(Photo: Kyodo News)

Local Los Angeles stations hit the airwaves earlier than usual this morning, as more news emerged about the impact of a massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan (and tsunami waves threatened both Hawai'i and the west U.S. coast).

At Fox-owned KTTV, the station returned to wall-to-wall coverage at 4 a.m., just two hours after signing off from a marathon four-hour broadcast (10 p.m. to 2 a.m., led by anchors Christine Devine and Carlos Amezcua) the night before.

KTTV's decision to stick with earthquake/tsunami coverage long after L.A.'s other local stations returned to normal programming impressed several pundits out there, including me (see below) and The Hollywood Reporter's Matt Belloni.

"Tsunami coverage on LA's Fox 11 is far better than on CNN right now," Belloni wrote on Twitter last night.

KTTV news director Jose Rios (right) told Franklin Avenue that he was a bit surprised that L.A.'s other stations didn't stick with coverage.

"I thought it got underplayed last night," Rios said. "To me it was just a huge story."

KCBS, KABC and KNBC went back to regular programming at 11:35, after their local news, while KCAL stuck with coverage until 12:30. (KCET ran Al Jazeera English coverage until midnight, while KSCI's digital 18.2 ran a feed of NHK World.)

"It was a big quake for one, and for us in earthquake country, that resonates broadly for us," Rios said. "And while people think that the cable channels will be covering, the fact is, not everyone has cable. We thought it was a public service that everybody would be interested in."

Rios said KTTV attracted a much larger than usual late night audience right up until 2 a.m.

By going wall-to-wall last night and again this morning, KTTV blew out commercials . Rios expected to be back to normal programming by 1 p.m., as the threat of a tsunami in Southern California subsided. But he has no regrets.

The coverage kudos is likely a big morale booster for KTTV's news team, which has been hit hard by huge layoffs in recent years. Given the station's limited resources, Rios said he was "proud of the news team. Everybody worked hard."

Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Coverage: KTTV Leads All L.A. Outlets

I was quite impressed with KTTV/Fox 11 tonight; as of 1 a.m., the station is still carrying live coverage -- anchored by Carlos Amezcua and Christine Devine. The station has been wall-to-wall for hours, not even breaking for commercial.

Compare that to KABC, KCBS and KNBC -- none of which went with full coverage, and all of which went to regular network programming (Leno, Letterman and "Nightline") at 11:35. (At least KCBS' independent sister KCAL continued with coverage until 12:30 a.m.)

Insult to injury: The pre-taped "Nightline" was filled with fluff, and obviously no mention of what was going on in Japan.

Back to KTTV: Amezcua and Devine did a great job of juggling callers, describing the utter devastation and adding context without being too sensational. The station utilized NHK video but also ran clips from YouTube, answered (and read) tweets and spoke to a wide range of folks, such as eyewitnesses in Tokyo, tsunami and earthquake experts and even an emergency staffer in Honolulu.

As many have mentioned, CNN (using its CNN International feed) was an embarrassment. BBC America completely dropped the ball, airing a "Star Trek: The Next Generation" repeat instead of a BBC World News feed (epic fail, BBC America). And here in L.A., KCET ran the Al Jazeera feed until around midnight.

Beyond KTTV, KSCI Channel 18's digital subchannel 18.2 continued to carry live coverage of NHK World.

UPDATE: KTTV finally signed off at 2 a.m. But both KTTV and KTLA were both on live at 4, earlier than normal. (Not sure about KABC, KNBC and KCBS.) Over at B&C, Ben Grossman has the ABC News explanation on why they didn't go with a live edition of "Nightline" for the west coast. Simple answer: They made a communication error.

Friday morning, and it looks like both Hawai'i and the west coast have been spared from any major damage. I've been watching a bit more of the KGMB/KHNL coverage from Honolulu, but at this point they don't have much more to say.

Meanwhile, the Atlantic has the most stunning collection of photos from the disaster and its impact in Japan. Jaw-dropping images.

KCET Airs Live Al Jazeera English Coverage of Egypt

Al Jazeera English, not widely distributed in the U.S., is nonetheless gaining fans here thanks to its online streaming coverage of the unrest in Egypt.

Los Angeles TV viewers can catch Al Jazeera coverage live on TV via one of KCET's digital channels, MHz Worldview. Here are the details from KCET:

MHz Worldview, one of KCET's outstanding digital channels, is airing an expanded schedule of Al Jazeera English newscasts several times daily. (Time Warner subscribers see MHz Worldview on Channel 239.)

MHz Worldview's expanded reports on the crisis in the Middle East can be seen at these times (Updated: KCET is now airing these newscasts live):

5:00-5:30 AM PT Al Jazeera English News

5:30-6 AM PT coverage from Egypt

7:00-8:00 AM PT coverage from Egypt

11:00-11:30 AM PT coverage from Egypt

4:00-4:30 PM PT Al Jazeera English News

Press Release of the Day: Tackiest Release Ever?

Wow, this may very well win the prize for most tasteless press release -- and I get a lot of questionable press releases.

While Egypt citizens take to the streets to protest and even die in the name of their country, a company called Bookmaker.com has turned this real-life drama into sport. Read on:

With the media and political analysts in mind, CEO Mickey Richardson and his team at Bookmaker.com, one of the leading sportsbooks, have calculated the odds on what’s to come for the political turmoil in Egypt. Full odds below:

NEXT COUNTRY TO HAVE CIVIL UNREST IN 2011

YEMEN +180 35%

JORDAN +200 33%

TURKEY +300 25%

ALGERIA +300 25%

IRAN +300 25%

LIBYA +500 16%

ERITREA +700 12.5%

DJIBOUTI +700 12.5%

MOROCCO +600 14.3%

PAKISTAN +1000 9.1%

OMAN +1200 7.7%

QATAR +1200 7.7%

BAHARAIN +1200 7.7%

KUWAIT +2000 4.8%

UAE +3000 3%

SYRIA +4000 2%

TAJIKISTAN +4000 2%

TURKMENISTAN +4000 2%

UZBEKISTAN +4000 2%

IRAQ +7000 1.3%

AFGHANISTAN +5000 2%

SAUDI ARABIA +6000 1.5%

ISRAEL +350 22%

PALESTINE +180 35%

WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT TO HOSNI MUBARAK ?

HE WILL RESING AS EGYPT ’S PRESIDENT +100 50%

HE WILL RESING AS PRESIDENT AND LEAVE THE COUNTRY -195 66%

HE WILL STAY AS PRESIDENT +130 43%

Bonus tacky points for misspelling "resign." Sheesh. Tacky.

We Can Laugh Now Because Everyone Made It Out: Tweeting the Chilean Mine Rescue

In case you haven't been following Franklin Avenue's Twitter feed, here's a rundown of our take on the Chilean mine rescue story:

BP spokesman: "C'mon, everyone, instead of 33 Chilean miners, we just rescued 185 million gallons of oil from another well. You're welcome."

"Im'ma let ya finish rescuing those Chilean miners BUT BABY JESSICA WAS THE BEST WELL RESCUE OF ALL TIMES!" - Kanye

Scene from next week's "LOST CHILEAN MINERS": "The mine shaft wasn't done with us yet, Mario. We have to go back. WE HAVE TO GO BACK!"

So THAT'S what the Chilean miners found 2,000 feet underground: CNN's ratings!

Intrigued by the lack of strong female characters, Fincher and Sorkin announce plans to adapt "The Chilean Mine Network."

Sad news: Chilean miners confirm that the crops in their unharvested Farmville plots have died.

OK, I think I know the answer, but I gotta ask: After the Chilean Miners are all rescued, can we send the cast of "Jersey Shore" down there?

Strange: First question the Chilean miners keep asking: "Is Lindsay Lohan still alive?"
23 hours ago Favorite Reply Delete

Chilean miners: "We kept up spirits over the past week by finding inspiration in America's valiant efforts to stop the Gap's logo change."

Someone take Larry's keys. RT @wittz_end Larry King notes rescued miner Sepulveda is also a street in LA. Why is he retiring? Top of his game!

Overheard among the Chilean miners: "Wait, J-Lo *and* Steven Tyler? That's REAL?!"

Chilean miner: "I'm excited to sit down and enjoy some new American fall TV. We heard great things about 'Lone Star,' when's it on? What?"

CicLAvia This Sunday: Will You Be Biking Or Walking L.A.'s Empty Streets?

How will you CicLAvia this Sunday?

The event (see map above), a first of its kind in L.A., will shut down a dozen streets from Hollywood, through downtown and over to Boyle Heights from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 10.

More details from the L.A. Times:

In this car-centric metropolis, where drivers spend an average of 72 hours stuck in traffic annually and jaywalkers are heavily fined, CicLAvia, as the event is known, is something of a marvel.

It is designed to challenge the idea — so ingrained in the city's psyche — that automobiles rule the road.

Jimmy Lizama, a Koreatown bike messenger, plans to march the route with a group practicing capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian mix of martial arts and dance. His 9-year-old stepson, meanwhile, will join in a children's bike ride. Lizama said CicLAvia will transform the road into "a re-imagined, reinvented public space."

It's a free-form event. There's no official schedule to tell you what's happening where. But organizers say they have heard of people planning to use that space for soccer matches, yoga classes, dance routines and political protests. And because many of CicLAvia's planners are active in L.A.'s growing bicycle scene, there are sure to be cyclists galore.

A diverse group of bike activists, transportation experts, academics, artists and event planners has been working for a couple of years to make CicLAvia, pronounced seek-la-VEE-uh, a reality.

Meanwhile, over at Eating LA, Pat has a list of food trucks and eateries on the route.

Get out there -- it'll be good practice for our Nov. 20 Great Los Angeles Walk!

Some Good News For a Change: Billboard Ban Upheld; and the Angeles Forest Will Rise Again

(Photo collage via Public Ad Campaign.com.)

With so many outdoor advertising companies slapping billboards all over town -- and in many cases, ignoring city ordinances (not to mention spitting in the face of a billboard ban), it seemed like a losing battle for Los Angeles. Not so: According to the L.A. Times, a federal judge declined to halt enforcement of the city's ban against the installation of supergraphics and new digital billboards:

In a tentative ruling, U.S. District Judge Audrey B. Collins said Liberty Media had failed to show a likelihood that it would prevail with its procedural arguments against the month-old ordinance.

Liberty had asked Collins to issue an injunction and force the city’s Building and Safety Department to allow 16 new signs to go up. One billboard foe had feared that a ruling against Los Angeles would have had greater ramifications, opening the door to scores of new signs by other advertising businesses.

“My feeling was that if she ruled in favor of Liberty Media, the sign companies would be lining up outside the Building and Safety Department to get permits,” said Dennis Hathway, president of the Coalition to Ban Billboard Blight.

City officials said all 16 signs sought by Liberty Media were supergraphics, which can cover the entire side of a building.

Los Angeles is fighting more than 20 legal challenges from the billboard companies opposed to its efforts to regulate outdoor advertising. The council approved a temporary sign ban in December, hoping to buy itself time to craft a new ordinance that would withstand a court challenge.

(Pic by the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.)

MEANWHILE, with most of the news coming out of the Angeles National Forest pretty depressing (the Station fire isn't even 100% contained), people are angry over L.A. Times reports that the fire could have been contained within a day or two of ignition, with little damage -- but that authorities didn't call out the big guns, figuring the fire wouldn't expand. Boy, were they wrong.

It's pretty depressing to realize that the once-vibrant forest to the north of Los Angeles is now nothing more than an ashy pit. But scientists hold out hope that the forest can eventually restore itself (as long as heavy rains, which could further the ersion, don't happen). The L.A. Times writes that we'll once again enjoy the forest... one day:

Where some see withered plants and scoured hillsides, (Forest Service plant ecologist Jan Beyers) sees decades of patient aspiration come to fruition -- the "shooters and seeders."

Trees that have lost limbs to fire will grow new, sturdier arms. Plants that have been annually depositing seeds in subterranean "seed banks" will be rewarded with young growth rising out of soil rejuvenated with nitrogen-bearing nutrients.

"There are seeds in the soil here that have been waiting decades for this chance," she said wistfully.

Indeed, for some growing things, fire is a bonanza. Certain species of conifers require heat to release seeds from their tightly closed cones. Some plants need the fire's heat to crack hard seed coatings in order to sprout. Some plants thrive on the chemicals produced from ash leaching into soil. Smaller bushes, crowded out by larger neighbors before the fire, flourish afterward in their newfound elbow room.

The seed caches of ground-dwelling rodents will be disinterred, and the still-viable seeds dispersed by ants and birds, everyone pitching in to repair their habitat...

Then there is the profusion of wildflowers that will debut in the spring. The fire followers: purple lupines, morning glories, California poppies, larkspurs, wild sweet peas and snapdragons.

"Ten years from now," Beyers said, taking in the charred hillside and smiling, "you can come back here and never know there was a fire at all."

I guess we'll check back in 2019. But more immediately, I wonder when the Angeles Crest Highway will re-open -- and whether we'll be able to make our annual drive into the Angeles forest this winter to play with the snow.

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You: "WATER MAIN"

Another City of Los Angeles water main broke on Thursday afternoon, this time on Topanga Canyon.

Wait a sec... have we Angelenos become extras in a cheesy, "Volcano"-style disaster movie? Coming soon to a theater near you: "WATER MAIN."

The plot: DWP officials stress that these breaks are unrelated. But a tenacious Caltech scientist says no. NOPE -- it's the first sign that what we've feared for years is coming true: Los Angeles is falling into the ocean. It'll take the genius mind of our Caltech scientist (young, blonde, female) and our at first skeptical DWP official to spread the word. But eventually, all of L.A. will get together and send that water to the Owens Valley. LA is saved, and the water is back where it belongs!

WATER MAIN... The Coast isn't Toast. It's All Wet.

(As first Tweeted yesterday on @franklinavenue.)

You Say "Octumom," I Say "Octomom," Let's Call the Whole Thing Off

CNN's Headline News (HLN) network decides to swim against the tide and refer to Nadya Suleman as the "Octumom" -- with a "u." But HLN appears to be in the minority: A quick check with Google shows just 34,900 mentions on the web for "octumom," compared to 1.5 million for the term "octomom."