RACING WRITERS AXED BY LA TIMES
The two full-time horse racing writers at the Los Angeles Times, Larry Stewart and Bob Mieszerski, were among the 150 editorial employees of the struggling paper to be terminated on Monday.
Times publisher David Hiller also was axed, the paper reported on Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Times has the fourth-largest circulation among daily papers in the United States, with circulation of over one million. Like many mainstream media print publications, however, the Times has fallen on hard times and has gone through several rounds of staff and budget cuts. The Times is owned by the Tribune Co. of Chicago, which also owns the Chicago Tribune, Baltimore Sun and eight other newspapers. The editor of the Chicago Tribune also resigned Monday, suggesting turmoil at that paper, too.
News of the terminations of Stewart and Mieszerski was first reported at www.sportsjournalists.com and picked up on a fan’s forum on the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s Web site. The Paulick Report confirmed the terminations through sources.
The loss of the two full-time racing writers came just before the opening of the Del Mar meeting on Wednesday and three months before the Breeders’ Cup comes to Santa Anita Park in the Los Angeles area. It remains to be seen whether anyone will replace Stewart and Mieszerski, who both were longtime employees of the paper. Stewart was a media critic before moving to the horse racing beat about a year ago (following the retirement of full-time racing writer Bill Christine, who took an early buyout). Mieszerski reported on racing and was a handicapper for the paper, making selections and a graded morning line for the Southern California tracks.
There are no longer any writers working full-time on horse racing at California daily newspapers, with the exception of those employed by Daily Racing Form. There are only a handful of full-time racing writers working at papers in the U.S.
UPDATE: In Wednesday’s San Diego County edition of the LA Times, there was no reference to opening day at Del Mar, and no listing of entries or handicapping selections. The LA Times apparently has completely dropped its horse racing coverage. This doesn’t bode well for the Breeders’ Cup later this year.
By Ray Paulick
Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report
Tags: bill christine, bob mieszerski, chicago tribune, larry stewart, los angeles times, Paulick Report, Racing Media, Ray Paulick, tribune company, www.dmtc.com/forum, www.sportsjournalists.com
July 16th, 2008 at 12:31 am
Let’s see. Bill Christine has a blog, on HorseRaceInsider, Paul Moran, late of Newsday, has his own blog, and there are probably others I can’t think of at this hour. The information, and the great opinions, are still available, but how does anyone make a living doing that good work?
July 16th, 2008 at 8:03 am
OK, racing writers, time to consider those PR jobs at your local racetrack — if those slots haven’t already been trimmed as well. The perception among sports editors is that racing is a dying sport — stagnant at best — and when your own industry is going down the tubes there’s not much room for spending money covering those on the margins.
Unless newspapers can convince racetracks, ADWs, selection services, etc. to advertise more papers will cut these positions.
It’s the papers’ fault: They have little to build online collaborations with potential racing advertisers by working with tracks et all to improve coverage on their Websites.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
This isn’t a racing problem as much as a newspaper problem. Newspapers make racing look healthy by comparison.
No whining.
BTW, Los Angeles Newspaper Group (LANG) still has graded entries and plenty of coverage and the LA Times will still cover all big event, including the Breeders’ Cup.
July 19th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
With BC coming to LA, it’s perfecd time to can racing writers - I get it.