Too Much Information? The New L.A. Times Masthead
The L.A. Times has put a brand new masthead on its Web site—and wow! What a masthead!
It's almost impossible to find mastheads online for most papers and magazines, and even then, it's generally reserved for top editors. But now the Russ Stanton era has begun in earnest at the L.A. Times, virtually everyone in the editorial department is now listed on the internet.
You can see exactly how many foreign bureaus are left, how many people are in Orange County, and who reports to who in the Calendar section. It's a welcome bit of transparency as newspapers—including the L.A. Times—hemorrhage staff and are increasingly reluctant to advertise their shrinking newsrooms.
And interestingly, as LA Observed points out, the online editorial unit is placed above the print newsroom.
How ... Stantonesque!
I hope more papers follow their lead as far as simply putting a big masthead online. It's classy, and in the era of being googled by your peers, it would be nice to have your name be associated with a good editorial department.
Just for the record -- the L.A. Times masthead has been a feature of its website for many years. Though buried, it's been a great place to keep on top of the changes at the paper. The new twist may indeed be the placement of the interactive folks, though.