T.J. Simers to the Register?

[Bill Melton]

I am hearing that the Orange County Register is hiring T.J. Simers, the sports columnist at the LA Times who is on double secret probation.

  I am hearing that all that is left to do is the usual pre-hire paperwork and drug test that is done for every new employee.

  TJ ought to get a lot of people to sign up for the paid online subscription.

 

We all know how much T.J. hates to cover what he calls the "boring" Angels. This ought to be good. What does everyone else think?

Edited September 7, 2013 by Bill Melton

[gotbeer]

The LA Times has been boring since they put TJ on  double secret probation.  Nothing but bandwagon journalism, with little substance.  It's no wonder that, as a whole, East Coast has more passionate fans.  West Coast just gets vanilla reporting.  

[Scott34]

I don't pay for it now, and this makes me happy that I don't.

[tdawg87]

He's just lucky Lee isn't around anymore to write him letter.

[red321]

I used to enjoy reading the OC Register Angels blog...haven't even thought twice about it since they instituted that ridiculous pay wall. For $10 a quarter I get the Times delivered to my house on Sundays and full access to their website. What would that get me on the Register website, a week? And even better now...don't have to run in to Simers too boot! Sweet.

Edited September 7, 2013 by red321

[nate]

OCR has already fallen far because of the pay wall.  Hiring TJ further discredits them.

[The Ghost of Bob Starr]

The register actually has a very good business model in place that's allowing them to hire more talented journalists on all beats. People are paying for the service and there will be more benefits over time besides angels tickets.

Good move for OCR.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

I used to enjoy reading the OC Register Angels blog...haven't even thought twice about it since they instituted that ridiculous pay wall.

 

I used to read it, too. I don't care enough to pay them to read just that. I just dropped them altogether.

[DowningRules]

Paywalls for news agencies are sort of ridiculous.  I understand the need, and I don't begrudge the newspapers or whatever for instituting them, but really...I can typically find a story somewhere for free.  I'm not about to start paying so I can read a columnist.  There's just way too much other free stuff on the internets to distract me.  I can get way more mileage out of a free deadspin session than a Simers column, for example.

[Jay]

yawn

[YouthofToday]

The OC Register is now a fantastic newspaper. Very high quality content. The rehiring of Bernard Wolfson and others has really improved the quality.

Ignore Simers...

[Bill Melton]

As a journalist myself (crime reporter at The Press-Enterprise), I feel like my work is worth paying for, so I have no problem with the paywalls. How long would McDonald's be in business if it gave away its hamburgers?

    Sure, you can read national news many places for free, but newspapers that cover local news have a product that is unique and therefore worth paying for.

[Jimmag]

I will have to just push the ignore button when reading the OC Register If see TJ.

[yk9001]

How dare these newspapers make me pay for their product??!1

[red321]

As a journalist myself (crime reporter at The Press-Enterprise), I feel like my work is worth paying for, so I have no problem with the paywalls. How long would McDonald's be in business if it gave away its hamburgers?

    Sure, you can read national news many places for free, but newspapers that cover local news have a product that is unique and therefore worth paying for.

 

I don't have an issue with a paywall per se. I have an issue with the OC Register pay wall which is ridiculously priced in my view. I don't want the paper delivered for $20 a month, I won't read it and it ends up going straight to the recycle bin, much like my subscription to the Times did. But the only alternative is $2/day (which comes out to almost $700/year). If they had a reasonable monthly option, or an option like the Times (again, $10 per quarter for the Sunday paper and unlimited online access), I'd consider it. 

[AngelsAndRamsFan]

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2013/09/simers_explains_why_hes_g.php

 

 

http://blogs.ocweekly.com/navelgazing/2013/09/tj_simers_oc_register.php

[Jay]

I didn't know that red321 writes for OC Weekly...

[Ithaca]

There is no content on either the LAT or OCR that I cannot find anywhere else. Certainly none I would pay for. As a reporter I would expect you think your services are worth the price of admission, which of us would not like to get paid for our work. Here the print media model is no longer feasible as a primary business model. To then ask for what is, comparatively, an absurd amount of money for the pay site is going to do nothing but make interested parties, dis-interested in the delivery method and seek our news elsewhere.

As for TJ, I always kind of thought of him as the Steve Hartman of newspapers, trying to create news and conflict where none need exist to justify ones own existence by the number of people calling and writing to complain about you.

Edited September 13, 2013 by Ithaca