Singleton Papers React to Closure of Times Local Sections.

Fast on the heels of the Los Angeles Times' closing of 14 community-based outlets two weeks ago, Publisher Dean Singleton's Denver-based MediaNews Group has begun shutting down sections and shuffling personnel in an apparent adjustment to the new ground rules of local coverage in Los Angeles.

For starters, Singleton's Woodland Hills-based Daily News announced last week that it is closing down its Simi and Conejo Valley special sections in order to double editorial and advertising staff at its Santa Clarita Valley "wrap." That area has experienced something of a vacuum in news coverage following cessation of the Times' special section, Our Times, there.

"It's just another step in the direction of decreasing amounts of local news for people to understand their own very local and individual communities," said Cynthia Rawich, head of the journalism department at Cal State Northridge.

Bob Gray, vice president and general manager at the Daily News, emphasized that "no reporter or editor is losing their job" and that the Simi and Conejo valleys remain important parts of the paper's territory; the move simply folds that coverage into the general editorial content.

He admitted, however, that four non-editorial employees would lose their jobs as part of the operational shuffling. Editorial expansion of the Santa Clarita wrap will be achieved through transfers rather than new hires, Gray said.

"My understanding is that the Daily News felt, if the Times didn't have to cover those areas, neither did they," Rawich said. "Of course, had those sections been moneymakers, they wouldn't have done it."

Another interesting aspect of the decision, she notes, is that it reveals where the Daily News perceives the advertising dollars to be.

Gray corroborated as much, saying the demographics in Santa Clarita Valley have grown in importance to the paper, "with more people living up there and driving to work in the San Fernando Valley."

Meanwhile, the Newspaper Guild Local 39069 -- representing editorial and circulation workers at Singleton's Long Beach Press-Telegram -- also got some news last week.

Unit Chairman Joe Segura says he was informed that six editorial positions were being eliminated, including two reporters, three photographers and a clerk librarian. It is the union's belief that there are a number of vacancies that need filling and the cuts will aggravate working conditions at the Press-Telegram.

Jim Janiga, vice president of human resources and labor relations for Singleton's L.A. news group, disputed the account, saying the layoffs were four in number, including three full-timers and one part-time worker. He denied they had any link to the Daily News changes. "We're just realigning and trying to tighten our fiscal belt in anticipation of increased costs in newspaper publishing."

The union said savings from the cuts would amount to $185,000 annually.

"Our suspicion is that the cuts were made so that Singleton can continue to expand (by acquiring or launching additional papers). It had come up in recent newspaper reports that his next move was to come into Southern California," said a source inside the Press-Telegram newsroom.

Also announced was a revamping of Singleton's San Bernardino County Sun -- which will be re-dubbed simply, The Sun -- as was Singleton's launching this week of a new paper, the High Desert Sun. The new publication will be housed in a 9,000-square-foot office in Victorville. The Sun's publisher, Joe Pepe, said the new paper is a separate and distinct entity under the MediaNews umbrella.