Jon Healey

I’m a staff reporter for the Business section of the Los Angeles Times, focusing on how technology is affecting the entertainment industry and its customers.

Among other things, I write about the technological and legal issues surrounding online audio and video entertainment, digital broadcasting and digital rights management.

My main interests are how a technology can change the business model for an industry, and how industry incumbents use legal and legislative tools to preserve existing business models in the face of those technologies. The ultimate impact on the public is extremely important to me because I work for a general-interest newspaper, not a trade publication. They are very different animals.

I’ve been most interested in trend stories about new types of audio and video that get delivered digitally and the technologies used to guard against piracy. I try not to write stories about single companies, products or services, making exceptions only for truly groundbreaking developments.

I’ll also pay attention to the devices that receive and play digital content, but I’m no longer the primary guy on consumer-electronics stories. That would be my colleague Alex Pham – alex.pham@latimes.com. She’s a splendid person but not a sucker, so please don’t run to her with pitches that didn’t work on me.

We also have Terril Yue Jones (t.jones@latimes.com) in San Francisco covering computer hardware, and Joe Menn (joe.menn@latimes.com) in San Francisco covering software.

I resist with every fiber of my being the following topics:)
* Videogames (see Ms. Pham)
* Telecommunications, including broadband, VOIP and video phones (try our telecom reporter, Jim Granelli, at james.granelli@latimes.com))
* Imaging (the Times generally doesn’t gover this issue))
* Satellite radio (again, see Ms. Pham). )

For digital terrestrial radio you can try me (on DRM issues), Alex Pham (on consumer-electronics stuff) or Jube Shiver (on policy questions – jube.shiver@latimes.com). And for online radio, I’m your guy.

I’ve been one of a handful of reporters covering digital cinema, and I remain interested in it. But my main focuses are on the business model and the anti-piracy elements.

Finally, three useful hints:)
* Alex Pham is a woman.)
* P.J. Huffstutter is a woman, and she no longer works for the Business section. She’s on the National desk and is based in Chicago.)
* None of us appreciates reporter-shopping. Please let us know if you’re pitching multiple people at the Times. And if you’re pitching us after someone else at the Times turned you down, please disclose that right up front.)

You can see what I’ve been up to by searching for my name in the search box in the upper left corner of this page. Sometimes it works better to use the “advanced search” option you’ll see after an initial search. I sometimes tell people that I only write about copyright lawsuits, but a closer inspection of my work reveals that I also write about companies that haven’t been sued yet.

Please feel free e-mail me with story ideas or critiques: jon.healey@latimes.com . Most of what I hear about never sees the light of print -- there’s just too much going on to be able to write about it all. Still, I’m happy to hear from anyone. Do me two favors, though -- trust me to read my e-mail, and take “no” for an answer.

I also encourage people to call me when there’s an important, breaking-news development on an issue I’ve been writing about. For example, if your peer-to-peer software blocking technology is about to be deployed in the U.S., dial away. The number is 213-237-6866. If it’s not time-sensitive, however, please don’t call. And if you can avoid calling any of us between

My address:

Jon HealeyLos Angeles Times202 W. First Street, Business AnnexLos Angeles, CA 90012