With a nod to Daniel Gross’s occasional Slate pieces on unusual economic indicators, let’s do a quick drive-by of the Los Angeles Times’s parking garage. What we’d have seen a few weeks ago, according to one of the LA-based journalists I met today (and who’d no-doubt prefer to remain anonymous), was a big sign advertising parking spaces available for long-term rental. Ouch! So many people have left the paper lately that the company had a plethora of leftover parking spaces…not exactly the sign of a healthy and vibrant newsroom. Sure, a little bit of fat-cutting can help most organizations, but this time I think they managed to nick an artery. Next up: renting out all those empty desks….
– cpd