The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles– Pulitzer prize winning journalism may give credibility, but it doesn’t pay the bills. In a startling move designed to bring revenue and life back to the ailing Los Angeles Times, publisher Eddy Hartline announced today that the longtime guardian of news in southern California will lay off all its paid staff and rely on, “People to just upload a lot of stuff.”
Citing the importance of rapid updates, engagement, and constantly changing content in order to survive in Web 2.0, Hartline said the Times will completely “Wiki” its Web site and allow anyone to post any news anytime without any editorial oversight. “We figure folks will constantly update and correct what is there and it will be right most of the time. Heck, we are only right most of the time now,” he said.
Pulitzer prize winning journalist Bettina Boxcars, a longtime writer for the Times, said she was saddened by the development, but she understood that the Times are changing. “Let’s face it, news happens by itself, why not let it be reported by itself?” she said. Boxcars said her career will continue with her own Web site, “What You Read is Wrong,” where subscribers will pay for verified information. “I figure at least 500 people are looking for that,” she said. “I can eat pretty good on 500 heads.”
The Times also announced that it would discontinue its print version in 2012, when the world is expected to end anyway. “We are pretty sure that’s correct,” Hartline said. “We saw that in a movie.” By the way, April Fools.
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