Los Angeles Times Advances Comprehensive Entertainment Coverage

Los Angeles, CA, February 25, 2009 – The Los Angeles Times (latimes.com) today announced the formation of a new Arts & Entertainment department to strengthen its coverage of the media business, culture and celebrity across multiple platforms.

Unifying more than 50 reporters, editors and producers from Calendar (latimes.com/entertainment), Business (latimes.com/business) and latimes.com to more adeptly cover all aspects of entertainment will be Sallie Hofmeister, who leaves her post as Business Editor to head the operation as Assistant Managing Editor/Arts & Entertainment. Craig Turner joins Hofmeister as Arts & Entertainment Editor from his current role as The Times Weekend Editor.

“Taking this comprehensive approach allows us to broaden the reach, breadth and depth of our entertainment coverage,” said Russ Stanton, Editor, Los Angeles Times. “The goal is to produce high-quality and unique news, data and information that can be distributed to different audiences through different mediums. We will continue to write authoritatively about industry trends while looking for smart and fun ways to cover the celebrities who make Southern California their home and whose exploits are followed by a global online audience.”

Beginning March 3rd, The Times will also bring the popular “Company Town™” feature back to Business Monday through Friday and online at latimes.com/companytown. Focusing on the business of entertainment, “Company Town” will highlight Hollywood’s inner workings: the music, movie, TV and cable industries and the digital technologies shaping the future of entertainment with signature Calendar and Business by-lines, including Claudia Eller, John Horn, Scott Collins, Meg James, Geoff Boucher, Dawn Chmielewski, Matea Gold, Richard Verrier, David Sarno and Alex Pham. TV ratings, box office and download sales will be tracked every week, as well as the stocks of media companies that will comprise “Company Town’s” index. A breaking-news blog will be rolled-out later in the month.

“We want to make it easier for readers who are interested in Southern California’s signature industry by giving them a destination in the paper and online,” said Hofmeister. “Just as Calendar showcases popular culture and the people who shape it, Company Town will provide a picture of the media industry and its power brokers.”

Sallie Hofmeister was named Business Editor in May 2008 and has led The Times coverage of the global financial meltdown. She previously headed the section’s entertainment and technology group and coordinated coverage of the 2007 Hollywood writers’ strike that crippled the television industry. That body of work became a finalist in the breaking-news category of the Gerald Loeb Awards. Hofmeister brings a deep knowledge of deal-making and a Rolodex of industry leaders to her new assignment from her decade-long tenure as a media reporter for The Times, during which she chronicled the rapid consolidation of the entertainment and media businesses.

Craig Turner joined The Times as an intern while attending San Jose State and was part of the Orange County and San Diego editions before becoming Metro desk state editor and later Metro Editor. In 1994 he moved to the Foreign staff covering the United Nations and Canada and his role included writing stories on film, theater and television for the Calendar and Business. As Weekend Editor, Turner was responsible for front-page story decisions for The Times Saturday and Sunday editions, the paper’s largest circulation days. Since 2001, he has also chaired the company’s Pulitzer Prize nomination committee.

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About the Los Angeles Times:

The Los Angeles Times (latimes.com) is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a daily readership of 2 million and 3 million on Sunday, and a combined print and interactive local weekly audience of 5.5 million. The fast-growing latimes.com draws over 10 million unique visitors monthly.

The Los Angeles Times and its media businesses and affiliates – including The Envelope, Metromix, Times Community Newspapers, Hoy, and Community News – reach approximately 5.3 million or 40% of all adults in the Southern California marketplace. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times has been covering Southern California for more than 127 years and is part of Tribune Company, one of the country’s leading media companies with businesses in publishing, the Internet and broadcasting. Additional information is available at latimes.com/mediacenter.

Contact:
Nancy Sullivan (213) 237-6160 nancy.sullivan@latimes.com