pithypeach asked: You should really post the front page article from your paper today (May 25, 2012), it's a really powerful story that could spark interesting debate in this forum.
Absolutely. That’s coming up next.
[Updated May 25, 2012 at 11:40 a.m.: And here it is on Tumblr.]
insaniyat asked: I'm visiting LA for the holidays (dec 24-27) but I don't celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah. Tips for how I can get the full LA experience during the seasonal times? What are somethings that I can not leave LA without seeing/doing? (unique adventures like a graffiti point are not off limits!) Thanks!
Excellent question. Personally, I’m more of a food person than a sightseeing person, so I’m going to put that question up for grabs to our Angeleno followers. (But since the weather’s been so nice, I definitely suggest a hike up in Runyon Canyon or Griffith Park.)
Not sure where you’re staying, but we have this entire series on what to do in Southern California. Downtown is Part 1, but you can find other areas with the menu bar at the top.
dancing-nancies88 asked: I just re-blogged your story about the suicide bombing photo controversy and added my opinion - but to share it more directly with the LA Times: Bravo for including that photo. I appreciate and respect journalists and news venues that know accurate news sometimes requires including all the gruesome details, no matter how disturbing. Pictures often times communicate far better the horrors of tragic situations than words can do justice to.
Thanks. We really appreciate that. We’re checking the notes on Newsweek’s initial post — the responses have been really incredible.
Here’s an interview the photographer did with the NYT.
Mr. Hossaini was focused on what he was seeing and hearing: shouting voices, sounds of confusion. A few other people began to approach the circle. Some tried to pick up bodies. “I was taking pictures and I did want to help,” he said. “But I just saw that the bodies were completely destroyed and I said, ‘O.K. I can’t do anything for them, so I have to wait for whoever comes.’”
… As Mr. Hossaini photographed, he realized he was weeping. When he looked down, he realized how badly his own hand was bleeding. He wrapped it with the cleanest piece of material he could find.
letusflyawayandtraveltheworld asked: i think it was a good decision for the LA Times to run the Afghanistan photo. People here need to see what is truly going on in other countries. Being sheltered from knowing about these things isn't going to help anyone. Thank you for showing us what is really going on in the world.
Thanks. And FYI, even for non-front-page stories, we talk about the news value of disturbing images.
An incident in September prompted some newsroom discussion: As a result of poor shipping conditions, 15 monkeys that were being shipped from South America to Asia via LAX died. The L.A. City Attorney’s Office emailed us images of the shipping crates that we put up online to illustrate the reported conditions. The office also sent us photos of the dead monkeys. Dead monkeys laid out on tables. A closeup of a couple monkeys. A wide shot of a bunch of dead monkeys on various tables.
It was a final NAY from our standards and practices team to post those. Not like animal cruelty isn’t a horrible thing that people need to understand. But you can probably envision dead monkeys on tables. The reader wouldn’t have necessarily gotten much more information from those pictures.
clockwork-toi asked: Please. Cover OCCUPY WALL STREET L.A's UPDATES PLEASE.
Hi! We’re hoping you’re not a spammer because we’ve been covering Occupy protests for a while now on Tumblr. But here are some more links for you:
- 24-hour webcam of the Occupy L.A. encampment
- Full coverage of Occupy protests in L.A., California, the nation and the world
chooseyourownadventure asked: Could you help us with a social media shoutout? We are the famous Choose Your Own Adventure books series & we're donating one new CYOA to a child in need for every Facebook Like we receive in November.
(1) You go to the CYOA’s Facebook page and immediately “like” them, knowing your actions will directly result in a child receiving a book. Feel good about it. Treat yourself.
(2) You hate reading! You hate books! One day, you sense that there is no magic or beauty in your life and you wish you could go back to the time when you could have given a child a book with the click of a mouse. Lo and behold, a time portal opens up in front of you that could take you back to that turning point in November! You decide to enter. (Turn to option 1.)
charlieguese asked: I don't understand your last post. It talks about a Boeing aircraft that has just been released, but the picture is a concept aircraft from it's rival Airbus. The picture has nothing to do with the caption.
The idea is that the just-released Boeing 787 Dreamliner represents a shift in the way planes are made and operated — all commercial planes, not just those made by Boeing. So a really crazy Airbus concept for 2050 (the future!) is appropriate.
yomamallama asked: I love your blog and your newspaper :) and i really think it'd be a good idea to post something about troy davis and his case in georgia, which is set to occur in about 30 minutes. it's a big, controversial topic that needs to be publicized. thank you.
Thank you! And you’re right. It’s been a busy day for local news over here, but we’ll post something on Troy Davis shortly.
wbee asked: Do you honestly feel good about this (re: horse fighting post)? Does seeing animals made to fight each other give you a thrill? I It's in the same realm as dog fighting, cock fighting, etc.I'm very disgusted that you would post something of this nature in an accepting way.
How do you know we posted this photo in an accepting way? Is the mere act of presenting it an endorsement? What if we had put up a dog-fighting picture? Perhaps then you’d assume that we had posted the photo as an indictment.
Photography has the power to thrill people, as you say, and to disturb. This photo can do both. Same with this one. They’re both striking, emotional images. What’s exploitative? What’s informative? How many of our followers knew horse-fighting existed? Now all of them do.
We typically don’t respond to questions about our “agendas” because there’s no way to combat them. People will imprint their own viewpoints to what they read, no matter how you respond. Too liberal. Too conservative. The truth is that we try to present stories as neutrally as possible. Sometimes we take a lighter or more casual tone, but in general? Not here to preach or soapbox.
brandyzzyzx replied to your photo:
Why is living the correct way “news” or something to give someone praise for. This is NOT a story. This is not news, and kind of disgusting in her self righteousness. Living this way my entire adult life, and noone is patting me on the back. LAME
This is an op-ed piece. It’s part of ”Postcards from the recession,” a series of on-the-ground reports from throughout Southern California on how the economic downturn has hit individual neighborhoods.
If you don’t like the op-ed pieces, why not submit one of your own? (And here’s an explainer on the op-ed section.)
I like the posts with pull quotes. Also, a question: Will any of the Tumblr memories appear on latimes.com and vice versa?
Thanks — the pull quotes seem to be the best compromise. We’re trying to pull out the quote that would most make a reader click through and continue reading.
Some of the Tumblr memories might appear on the 9/11 memorial page on the main site, but probably not vice versa.
mypantsareonfire asked: obviously, with the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaching it's fitting to ask for peoples memories of the event. but do we need to be inundated with them? surely a daily link pointing to your newspaper saying 'read these wonderful memories'. some people have awful memories of the time and don't need a reminder every 5 minutes on their dashboard. the tv is doing a good enough job of doing that.
That’s a really valid point. We’re going to start using a pull quote with all of the text hidden behind a jump so the length of the submissions don’t take up so much Dashboard real estate. People who are interested can continue reading, and everyone else can skim past.
The stories we’ve gotten so far have been really interesting, and we know that others feel the same way, too. We hope this is a good compromise.
Anonymous asked: Are you one person or many?
Mostly one person. I work on nearly all of the posts, respond to questions and trawl the Dashboard and tags. Armand works on the template but has been known to put up awesome entries. And we’ve got Jessica for the summer.
— Soo
