Editor, Reporter, Writer
I dread reading LA Observed in the morning. Not because it’s not a great blog. It is. So great that every morning I fear reading another blow to the LA Times. Sure enough, now the TImes is losing it’s regional/California section, and 70 more jobs are going out the window.
It feels like it’s a never-ending stream of doom and disaster for that paper. I’m a naturally optimistic person, but even I know that this is a devastating strike to the paper.
It’s day three now, and the line outside the LA Times won’t let up.
As much as I’d like to believe these people are buying dozens of papers and plaques for their own pride in this monumental moment, EBAY tells me differently.
And while I get that America was built on entrepreneurs and go-getters, there’s something kind of horrifying about this get-rich-quick scheme going on under my nose. I can’t quite explain it, and I admit that it doesn’t make sense that this annoys me, but all I know is that it does.
When the sales ladies across the hall are yelling about how one plaque went for $500 (I think they cost $10 downstairs), I get annoyed. I think it’s because–while this moments is HUGE–those papers won’t be worth anything in a decade.
I like to think that people are buying up the paper in bulk because they want a historical record of this moment, but I have a feeling most just want some extra cash in their pockets.
Because of yesterday’s historic results, print newspapers are having a SOLD-OUT day. Literally.
When I was walking down the street in downtown LA on my way to the Times building, I saw people walking with stacks of newspapers. That’s something you don’t see everyday around here. Or anywhere.
A friend of mine said he’s having trouble finding a San Francisco Chronicle, and in LA there are signs on every empty box saying where you can find a paper. Luckily, being in the LA Times building, I was able to grab one or two.
Everyone wants to remember this day. And they don’t want to just print out the article from their computer. They want to hold that newspaper in their hands. They want to hold history in their hands.
I guess that’s how you know this is really a moment that will last forever.
Rebecca M Ford 