Frank talk (or pining for Pine)
Some of you might have noticed an earlier but now missing picture of Frank Pine as one of this blog's authors. Where'd he go? West, young man, west.
Frank is now senior editor of our San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, which includes the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Pasadena Star-News, and the Whittier Daily News. It's complicated, but I'll try to explain, since it speaks to one of the big trends in our industry -- clustering.
The three San Gabriel papers, along with The Sun, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin and the Redlands Daily Facts, make up the new Inland Division of the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. The other LANG papers are the (Los Angeles) Daily News, the Long Beach Press-Telegram and the Daily Breeze in Torrance.
The Inland Division was formed to bring together best practices of our six newspapers in all departments (including news), create operating efficiencies and provide a bigger combined audience for advertisers who are looking for that kind of reach.
Within our organization, I wear three or four hats - as vice president of news for LANG and for the Inland Division, and as editor of The Sun and Daily Bulletin.
As senior editor for the San Gabe group, Frank manages day-to-day operations from its West Covina headquarters. Mike Brossart holds a similar position at the Daily Bulletin, while Jennifer Dobbs does likewise at the Daily Facts.
As we've flattened our management structure, gone are the days when we've had editors and managing editors in each of our newsrooms. But with the kind of local leadership that Frank, Mike and Jennifer are providing, our aim is to make our papers more local, more in tune with our readers and more relevant to the communities we serve.