Fire coverage pushes other L.A. stories to background.

As local news organizations cover the wildfire story with manpower and resources beyond anything seen since the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, other major news stories affecting the region have been obscured by the smoky haze.

In particular, the mechanics strike against the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the work stoppage at the big supermarket chains have generally slid from the front pages of L.A.'s daily newspapers, as well as from local television and radio newscasts.

Last Thursday, for example, the Daily News ran an MTA strike story on page four, while the Times ran a photo of a picketer inside its California section without an accompanying story.

Scaling back coverage of the labor disputes was undoubtedly due in part to the lack of significant new developments in those stories. But the intense focus on the fires is likely to have played a role, as well.

It's been much the same in the broadcast arena.

"One week ago, we had one reporter focusing on the negotiations and another reporter on the picket lines," said David Hall, vice president of AM programming for Infinity Broadcasting Corp., which owns both of the primary news radio stations in Los Angeles, KNX-AM (1070) and KFWB-AM (980). "Now we still report that story, but it's more of an update. We don't give it the depth we normally would because of the fires."

That has created problems for people like Barbara Maynard, an outside spokeswoman for the United Food and Commercial Workers locals 770 and 1442, whose members are either striking or locked out of the three major supermarket chains.

Until the fires started, Maynard's phone was ringing off the hook. Last week, she said, one broadcast reporter told her that unless a settlement was at hand he wouldn't have time for that story until the fires were under control.

"We understand that this is an important story, a lot of people are losing their homes and even their lives," Maynard said. "But for 70,000 families that are on strike or locked out, it's everyday news to them ... We wish (local news organizations) would put some of their resources back on the supermarket, story."

The coverage of other ongoing news, such as Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger's preparations for taking office and the occupation of Iraq, has also been affected.

Robert Long, news director for KNBC (Channel 4), which has aired extensive fire coverage, said it was a matter of resources and of focusing the station's energies on what it does best.

"We are not a medium of record and we don't have to cover every story," he said. "We do the best we can to help people understand these disasters."

Sam Enriquez, city editor of the Los Angeles Times, said the paper has assigned two dozen reporters to cover the fires in the field, while another dozen or so editors and reporters work on the story from Times' offices.

"The difficulty is the fast-changing nature of the fire and its geographic spread. And for the reporters, there is the danger of covering the story," Enriquez said.

Enriquez acknowledged that the fires represented a huge commitment of resources, but said it was not having a big impact on other stories. "There are 1,100 reporters and editors working for the Los Angeles Times, so we have enough staff to cover the supermarkets," he said.

But the huge reach of the Times is the exception.

For the broadcast media, where news staffs are generally smaller than a decade ago, the balancing act has been tougher.

"It's stressful, to say the least, when something like this happens," said Jeff Wald, news director for KTLA (Channel 5). "When you have a disaster of this enormity, people are coming in on the weekends and reporters are working double shifts."

The costs are also high, both in terms of extra manpower and lost advertising revenue caused by hours of uninterrupted coverage.

Though KTLA extended its morning newscasts and broke into programming with updates, it has mostly stuck to fire coverage during its regular morning and evening newscasts. Other stations, like KNBC (Channel 4) and KTLA (Channel 9), have gone to straight fire coverage at various times since the crisis started.

"Not to say that we enjoy this kind of stuff, but this is what we do," said Long. "Our people have been working as hard as the firefighters, and we'll sustain it as long as it's a story."

But inevitably things shift back. Just as with the labor disputes, viewers and readers can get over-saturated by news coverage of the fires and begin to tune it out.

"You have to be careful when too much is too much," said Wald, adding that the station would stay with the story as long as lives are threatened. "People are expecting us to be there when the news breaks."

In the meantime, Maynard will keep hitting the phones and laying to pitch fresh angles to editors in an effort to keep spreading the union's message.

"Reporters are tired right now and it doesn't seem to matter how many times I call them," she said. "But we believe we have real news to share."