The L.A. Times has implemented some big changes in their Food section, including bundling it up with a bunch of other lifestyle-y sections and pushing it to Saturday, and hiring (Pulitzer Prize-winning) writer Jonathan Gold to spill some ink on the subject of eating in L.A. Now they've announced they're doing away with star ratings in their restaurant reviews. more ›

The left coast premier of the biopic work Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins is currently playing at the Geffen Playhouse. The ever-smoky Kathleen Turner resurrects the saucy journalist through this staged adaptation by twin-sister playwrights Margaret and Allison Engel. more ›

Gothamist is interested in adding more long-form non-fiction features to our websites. Last month, we premiered the results of our first call for features, "Confessions of a 'Rape Cop' Juror", on our New York site. We are happy with the results: Sales have been good, the feature and writer were covered on numerous blogs and newspapers (even on TV), and we learned a lot about how to publish e-books. more ›

There are so many good events happening tonight, we’re bummed that we can’t make it to all of these. For some reason, it’s a good night for film in LA, with a newly restored Ernst Lubitsch classic at the Egyptian, Modern Times at LACMA and NewFilmmakers LA’s monthly program at Sunset Gower. We’ve also found a great discussion on the state of journalism and a one-night only concert by Allee Willis. Read on for all the details. more ›

Gothamist is interested in adding more long-form non-fiction features to our websites. Last month, we premiered the results of our first call for features, "Confessions of a 'Rape Cop' Juror", on our New York site. We are happy with the results: Sales have been good, the feature and writer were covered on numerous blogs and newspapers (even on TV), and we learned a lot about how to publish e-books. more ›

A Los Angeles-based startup with a mission to enable multimedia storytelling in communities worldwide that otherwise lack the resources was awarded a $200,000 grant by the Knight Foundation on Wednesday. The Tiziano Project's Tiziano 360 project was one of 16 ideas to win a prestigious Knight News Challenge grant awarded to fund internationally relevant innovative media and digital news concepts. more ›

After a solid year of programming hosted by and featuring potential 2012 GOP presidential candidates including Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, Fox News is starting to realize there may be a conflict in interest. Both Gingrich and Santorum will be suspended -- or at least their contracts will be for 60 days -- pending expected official announcements of their intentions to run for president in 2012, said Fox News. more ›

Hustler founder and infamous freedom of the press advocate Larry Flynt has donated $50,000 to the WikiLeaks defense fund, and explains why he thinks we "should have a ticker-tape parade" for Julian Assange in a piece published today by the Huffington Post. more ›

Comedy legends Carol Burnett and Tim Conway appear on stage tonight at the Saban Theater as part of the Writer’s Bloc series. The duo will talk about Burnett’s new book, This Time Together - Laughter and Reflection and take questions from the audience. Carol will sign copies of the book following the program. Tickets: $22 for this program and includes a historical preservation fee for the theater. 7:30 pm. more ›

There are a number events to celebrate the 40th Earth Day anniversary, so if we could attend just one, it would be Sustainable Silver Lake's celebration at Spaceland today until 5 pm. Eco-experts will be there to share tips on how to green our lives, and local vendors will provide green snacks. They're asking people to come down and make a pledge to do one simple thing to help make your world a greener place. Pledges will be broadcast live on the web by DUBLAB, and KCRW’s Anthea Raymond, KPCC’s Alex Cohen and actor Ross Marquand will play MCs more ›

As part of the Ring Festival LA, Maestro James Conlon, Music Director of LA Opera, stops by ALOUD at the Central Library to discuss Wagner's monumental work, The Ring of the Nibelung, which will receive its first-ever presentation in Los Angeles this Summer.  7 pm. Afterwards, he’ll join the Young Literati for cocktails at Café Pinot, in the Central Library's Courtyard. While the ALOUD discussion is free to everyone, the cocktail party is reserved for members of Young Literati.  To RSVP, email youngliterati@lfla.org. Non-members interested in attending may do so with a $20 pre-payment. Please call 213.228.7542. Parking is available for $8.
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Los Angeles is a city of hundreds of neighborhoods and hundreds of languages, and the cultures that go along with them. From Venice to Garvanza to Shadow Hills to San Pedro (and everything between), we live within a plethora of diversity. But one thing that is missing from this polyglot metropolis are the stories coming out of all these places. more ›

In the era of social media, even the media itself needs to be given guidelines. Los Angeles Times staffers who make use of Twitter have been given updated directions on their use of social media tools in conjunction with their jobs, according to the Huffington Post. This most recent update to guidelines includes reminders to focus on the significance of integrity, professionalism, lack of privacy, and the expression of partisan views. more ›

As highlighted in today's TV Junkie column, KCET's SoCal Connected premieres for its second season tonight. And in our humble opinion, it is the best TV investigative journalism you can find in Southern California. We watched a little sneak peak of tonight's episode about texting while driving and found it fascinating. more ›

If you follow any "foodies" on Twitter you may have woken up to a stream of 140 character obit-like wails echoing the death rattle that's just been shook at print publication mega-player Conde Nast. They've just announced that they're going to close up shop at Gourmet magazine, a 68-year-old monthly whose colorful photos and thoughtful words have inspired cooks and eaters here in Los Angeles and around the world for decades. more ›

At a ceremony held last night at the Sheraton Universal hotel in Universal City, media luminaries gathered to fete local reporters, photographers, broadcasters, and even bloggers at the LA Press Club's 51st Annual Southern California Journalism Awards. Presenters included on screen personnel from NBC4 and ABC7, as well as WSJ and KCRW film critic Joe Morgenstern and columnist Gustavo Arellano, who handed honors to journos including David Evans of Bloomberg, Brad Greenberg of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, Frank Stoltze of KPCC, Warren Olney of KCRW, Alex Pham of the Los Angeles Times, and more. Blogging nods went to Ted Johnson of Variety/Wilshire & Washington, with 2nd Place going to Pat Saperstein of Eating L.A. A full list of awardees and honorable mentions is available here. Congrats to all! more ›

A USC Annenberg School reporting project was one of eight community journalism initiatives to be awarded $25,000 in grant money from the Knight Foundation's New Voices program, the Institute for Interactive Journalism announced today. more ›

The 2009 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced today, and LA Times Metro staff writers Bettina Boxall and Julie Cart were named as awardees in the category of Explanatory Reporting. The duo were behind the series "Big Burn," which examined the "growth and cost of wildfires." The category seeks material that "illuminates a significant and complex subject, demonstrating mastery of the subject, lucid writing and clear presentation, in print or online or both," and the committee hailed Boxall and Cart's work as "fresh and painstaking." more ›

Newspapers are dying. And the LA Press Club knows it: Tonight’s panel discussion is bluntly titled, "What to Do After You Leave Your Job in Journalism." Moderated by LA Weekly’s News Editor Jill Stewart, former LA reporters (Brent Hopkins, Gayle Pollard-Terry) will offer their personal stories on pursuing a life after journalism. Other panelists will offer career advice and talk about the opportunities out there right now. The program begins at 7 pm and will be held at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood. The event is free to press club members (R.S.V.P. here). All others: $10 prepaid, $20 at the door and students $5. The fee includes all drinks and appetizers. more ›

LA Observed broke the news late last night that the LA Times will be cutting the state and local news section of the paper, the California section. "The publisher decided to fold local news inside the front section," Kevin Roderick wrote. more ›

"There's a lot of wailing in journalism right now. I want to show people that there is a future, even if it's not working at a newspaper," explained Chrys Wu (via IM), a journoblogger at Ricochet, about the recent spate of layoffs, especially the LA Times. She's started a list of what Los Angeles area journalists are doing after the print life. "The core skills of journalism are the same, but the job is evolving. I want to show the people working in the business are too." For example, assistant sports editor Alex Kimball becomes senior editor covering the NFL at ESPN.com. more ›

The corner of Sunset and Cahuenga in Hollywood was officially renamed Larry King Square by the City of Los Angeles yesterday. City Council President Eric Garcetti introduced the 74 year old broadcast journalist and talk show host after honoring him with accolades of his accomplishments in his field. This year marks the 50th anniversary of his professional journalism career. more ›

Tim Russert, NBC News' Washington bureau chief and moderator of "Meet the Press" died after collapsing at NBC Studios in New York this afternoon. He was 58 years old. more ›

piece titled, "Oh, the Places You'll Go!" the subhead reads: more ›

"Somebody forgot to tell Hillary Clinton the Democratic presidential race is over and Barack Obama won." more ›

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Read our exclusive LAist interview with G4TV's Olivia Munn to find out how she feels about playing Gay Chicken with Kevin Pereira, living in Los Angeles, and making out with her spray-tan lady more ›

Ever since I started writing food reviews, I have been haunted by Jonathan Gold. I would be researching pho for a post, and come across one of his articles, "Cinnamon, anise and the funk of simmering beef, the soup's unmistakable signature, perfumed the air." Sometimes Jonathan Gold just makes me want to stick a fork in my head. I used to play "Restaurant Roulette" on Ventura Boulevard, where I would just stop at random eateries.... more ›

Following a flap from an LA Times article that found 60,000 LAUSD students attend school within 500 feet of a freeway, the school district is looking into ways it can reduce the health hazards for kids close to pollution-filled freeways. Maybe the school district can use the $53 million in funds they're trying to recoup to build domes over playgrounds. Thousands of birds and an immeasurable amount of fish have died as a result... more ›

Earlier today TMZ had a live camera spying on people trying to eat at the Urth Cafe on Melrose. They almost seemed giddy about the fact that they were going to hopefully deliver the world video images of the likes of Us Weekly celebs buying, uh, coffee. When the cameras weren't being shut down by Johnny Law, all they really documented were the sweaty backs of hard-working busboys. But still, wtf, TMZ? You're in... more ›