2 New Times Publications to Increase Local Coverage

Starting next month, The Times will launch two new Our Times publications in Ventura County to provide increased coverage of local community news for readers of the Ventura County Edition.

One of the new Our Times papers will focus on local news in Simi Valley and Moorpark. The other will cover community events in the west county cities of Camarillo, Fillmore, Ojai, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Paula and Ventura.

The two new publications, which will be published Monday through Friday beginning Sept. 14, follow the launch earlier this year of an Our Times edition providing Times readers in Thousand Oaks, Oak Park, Newbury Park, Westlake Village, Agoura and Agoura Hills with greater local coverage of news in the Conejo Valley.

Like the Conejo Valley Our Times, the new publications will be distributed in copies of The Times. Each will focus exclusively on local news, supplementing the award-winning coverage of local and county news that already appears in the Ventura County Edition.

Our Times publications will be written and produced by Times Community News, a Times Mirror subsidiary that also publishes community newspapers in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Like the editors, reporters and photographers of the Ventura County Edition, most Our Times staffers will live and work in the communities they cover. Editorial and advertising offices are being established in each area.

Julia C. Wilson, president of the Valley and Ventura County editions of The Times, said the decision to expand Our Times coverage in Ventura County comes at a time of growing Times readership. She said it will benefit both Times readers and advertisers.

“Every survey we conduct tells us our readers want more local news, and this is a way to provide that for every city in the county,” she said. “It gives local advertisers a new and affordable way to reach readers in targeted communities.”

At the same time that Our Times is being expanded, The Times’ Ventura County Edition will be strengthening its news coverage of important countywide issues ranging from the environment and education to military affairs and public safety, said edition Editor Bill Overend.

“Our partnership with Our Times essentially means we have a lot more resources to throw into covering what counts the most to our readers in this county,” Overend said. “And that can include everything from the hottest issues of the day to who won the Little League game the day before.”

William Lobdell, editor of Times Community News, said the countywide expansion of Our Times follows a highly favorable community response to the debut of Our Times in the Conejo Valley.

“Reader reaction to Our Times in Conejo has been overwhelmingly positive,” he said. “It’s exciting to be able to build on that with this current expansion over the entire county.”

The city editor of the new Simi Valley and Moorpark Our Times will be Michael Hart, Lobdell said. Scott Steepleton, who has been city editor of the Conejo publication, will become city editor of the West County Our Times. Jeff Burbank will take Steepleton’s place on the Conejo Valley Our Times.

In addition to the Conejo Valley paper, The Times also launched an Our Times earlier this year in Santa Monica. The newspaper will be adding an Our Times section in the Crenshaw area of Los Angeles on Friday, an Our Times for Montebello on Sept. 17 and an Our Times Inland Empire publication on Oct. 1. Those new publications will appear once a week.

The Santa Monica Our Times, which also appears now on Thursday, will soon be adding a Sunday edition.

“People throughout Southern California have told us that they want high-quality coverage of local news, and we believe that we can exceed their expectations with Our Times,” said Times Editor Michael Parks. “Our Times adds a rich layer of local reporting to The Times’ unmatched coverage of regional, state, national and international news.”

Robert G. Magnuson, senior vice president of regional editions for The Times, agreed that the addition of Our Times sections will give readers an entirely new level of local coverage.

“The Times Community News team excels in community reporting and places an emphasis on hiring people who understand the area they are reporting on,” Magnuson said. “Providing superior local news coverage is something we can do better than anyone else, and it’s a great way to bring more readers to the paper.”

Times Community News publishes the Glendale News-Press, the Foothill Leader and the Burbank Leader in Los Angeles County and the Daily Pilot and Huntington Beach Independent in Orange County. TCN also publishes four community news sections distributed by The Times in addition to its Our Times papers. Those four are the Westside Weekly, South Bay Weekly, San Gabriel Valley Weekly and a Glendale/Foothills section.

Judith “Judee” Kendall, Times Community News vice president and general manager, said advertisers in all areas benefit from having an extra option in their approach to reaching readers.

“Our Times allows advertisers in each area to reach local readers of The Times while keeping their advertising costs down,” she said. “This is a cost-effective way to connect with the people who use the local businesses and services of these communities.”