Because: even though LA TIMES has a superb staff for FOOD section, the weenies who OWN the paper are elsewhere –Chicago. They “manage” the paper, IMO, WITH the stereotypes of: California. THEY are clueless. LOS ANGELES newspaper doing article on Food Blogs: should be about food IN Los Angeles, sheesh. If Russ Parsons, et al, had done the article: it WOULD have been about Los Angeles blogs on LA food only. Believe it.

The comments about main-stream media not getting
it right: IS why blogs –niche blogs, are popular. If blogs mimiced major media: who’d read the blogs? Right now mainstream media doesn’t seem to get their own mission: they need to tack to their core –watching government, protecting democracy, exposing bums –for us, so we CAN blog. They’re scared, but they shouldn’t be: every generation turns to them, eventually. We need to support them –buy a national & a local –Every day, and subscribe, to at least one and/or: click on relevant ads when you read on-line, so they CAN survive to protect us.

To the one who wants to pitch idea to the TIMES: write out entire idea.
-Leave it awhile
-Go back and edit it, till it’s polished; above it: summarize the idea/piece in one -two sentences (–as though you were explaining to someone you wanted to impress –who is in a hurry)
-In a few days: re-read.
-If it turns you on: call the TIMES main # (–not before a holiday or deadline), ask for
‘Food’: whoever answers will tell you how/if you can submit. If they don’t want it: pitch another.

Anyone who remarks on this article is dealing with their own tiny, flapping inadequacies.

Pop a chuck of wackballs, strap on a bucket of real, and get in the here.

Here’s why that story is a disservice to any locals who read the Food section:

Los Angeles is a huge city.

You don’t just stumble onto new places walking from the subway to your house. You have to research new places, map the locations and get into your car and go find them.

Los Angeles also happens to be brimming over with little tiny restaurants offering cuisine from all over the world.

Helping Angelenos find these places and providing invaluable contextual information about the cuisine types is, sadly for all of us, not something the LA Times has a knack for doing.

Maybe they don’t have the resources. Maybe they’d rather cater to their 50-something home subscriber demographic by writing up all the five-star joints. Whatever.

Fortunately, there are hundreds of food bloggers in LA who offer their knowledge, time, interest, prose, photos, tips and passion without any strings attached (no subscription fees, no login requirements).

Bloggers offer this information for free, not because we lack something better to do (as the Times arrogantly suggests), but because we love the topics, we love the city, and we want to share it and exchange insights with other people who do too.

So, if you’re the Food section and you’re going to publish a story about niche food blogs, why not recommend local sites that will actually help Angelenos get to know their city and its wealth of food offerings a little bit better?

Also, without any disclaimer, the sites mentioned in the article are all worth reading in their own right.