This is the front page of today's El Nuevo Día - the final edition of Orlando's only Spanish-language daily. (I cropped the bottom fourth which had an ad.)
She has been at KOLD-13 for 23 years, almost exclusively as an anchor, but now management has pulled Barbara Grijalva off the 5 pm desk to send her out on the street.Jim Arnold, the general manager at the CBS affiliate, told the Tucson Weekly that adding reporting duties to Barbara's work schedule was part of a cost-cutting effort. With a reporter position open and no means to expand staff he "came to the conclusion that Barbara would be the one who could get it done. She's a great resource for our station."
Barbara will continue her anchor role a during the station's noon news.
Germán González-Flores has been named news director of El Comercio de 
Sports reporter Jaime Cárdenas, recently laid off from the L.A. Times, has landed a job at the L.A. Galaxy as communications coordinator.
Reporter Selena Hernández, who earlier this month was laid off from KENS, landed a freelance reporting gig at KTVT, the CBS O&O in Dallas. Jeanne Jakle, from mysantantonio.com spoke to Selena, who confirmed she got work just days after she was dismissed from the San Antonio station. Selena says KENS management told her she was being let go as part of “a business decision.”
Ray Chavez, an Oakland Tribune photographer and this year's recipient of the NAHJ's Photographer of the Year award, filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Oakland on Friday.Back in June, the paper eliminated 86 jobs as part of a massive company layoff ordered by its parent, The McClatchy Co. Bee executives said more cuts are needed because the economic downturn has gotten worse. In a Bee story today, its publisher Cheryl Dell said the bankruptcies of several advertisers such as Linens N Things and Mervyns, has contributed to the uncertainty.
If there aren't enough voluntary buyouts, management will resort to layoffs.
David Sedeño, publisher of Spanish-language La Estrella until the Fort Worth Star-Telegram folded the publication back in April, moves on to become the new editor of the semi-monthly Texas Catholic and the monthly El Católico de Texas. Both papers are published by the Diocese of Dallas.
Armando Acuña, public editor of the Sacramento Bee since 2005, becomes associate features editor, after the paper's management eliminates the position. His last column will be August 31 and he steps into the new role effective September 1.
Andrés Martinez, who became L. A. Times editorial page editor in 2004 and resigned in 2007, is now suing his ex-girlfriend alleging she cost him his job at the newspaper and tarnished his professional reputation.
Rossana Rosado, publisher of El Diario La Prensa will take on the additional duties of publisher of Hoy Nueva York.
Spanish Broadcasting System, Inc. today announced that Mega TV will launch in Puerto Rico on Monday, August 25th. The Miami-based network will air on its newest full-power affiliate on WSJU-TV Channel 30.
Michelle Valles, KXAN news anchor for the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. broadcasts, pleaded guilty yesterday to a misdemeanor reckless driving charge and was sentenced to two years probation. She was pulled over by police back in November for driving erratically and over the speed limit.
For those of you wondering what former Telemundo president Jim McNamara is up to, I got tipped off by Laura Martinez of Multichannel News, that InterMedia Advisors will soon announce his appointment as non-executive Chairman of Cine Latino. That's a Spanish-language movie channel IMA owns in a 50-50 venture with Mexico City’s Grupo MVS. Interesting to note, Alan Sokol, former COO of Telemundo is senior investment partner of InterMedia. McNamara left Telemundo's top job in 2005 to start his own movie production venture, Panamax, with the goal of producing and distributing films for the U.S. Latino market. He will continue to run Panamax from its headquarters in Miami.
InterMedia is trying to revamp Cine Latino, a commercial-free movie channel it acquired in 2007, which is currently available in 3.5 million homes in the U.S. and in 2.5 million homes throughout Latin America.
"Levántate," Telemundo's new morning show, which replaces the cancelled "Cada Día," premieres Monday, August 25 at 7 am (ET\PT). The hosts of the show are Erika Garza, Alan Tacher and Rashel Díaz.
Dionicio "Don" Flores, executive vice president and editor of the El Paso Times has resigned.KVPA is owned by Latin American Broadcasting, a Spanish-language network which folded back in May after barely two years of operation.
Liberman Broadcasting is headed by Lenard Liberman, which also owns KRCA-62 in L.A., as well as stations in San Diego, Dallas and Houston.
Eddy Hartenstein, formerly the CEO of DirecTV, is the new publisher of the Los Angeles Times starting today.
Mark Hinojosa, the Associate Managing Editor for Multimedia for the Chicago Tribune was one of more than 40 employees to get pink-slipped today. Mark, the first editor to be named AME for Multimedia at the Tribune, was in charge of development and distribution of stories across different media and helped guide the integration of print and web newsrooms.Ray Quintanilla, a staff reporter for the past 14 years at the paper, was also let go. He told Richard Prince: "It's sad because if you look at the list, it's heavily minority. It looks bad." Could there be something to his departure? He apparently had an argument with another columnist the day before, addressing diversity in hiring practices.
Last week, more than 30 journalists left voluntarily. According to the Tribune, that brings the editorial cuts up to 80 after today's layoffs. This is the fourth round of cutbacks since late 2005. At the time, the newsroom reportedly had 670 positions. As of today, that number stands at 480.
In early March, Helena Moreno quit her job as anchor at WDSU-6 New Orleans, where she worked for 7 years. Her colleagues said she had mentioned an interest in running for Congress. Then, there was word she hired a political consultant.
El Nuevo Día, Orlando's only Spanish-language daily, will cease operations Aug. 29, just 5 years after its launch. 50 employees will lose their jobs.
Diana Washington Valdez, of the El Paso Times, was selected as this year's Frank del Olmo Print Journalist of the Year - an award handed out by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Ray Chavez, of the Oakland Tribune, picked up the Photographer of the Year award for his series "The Mayan Way," that documented the lives of Guatemalans and immigrants, in addition to the mentoring work he does outside of the newsroom.Cox Enterprises Inc., based in Atlanta, has put the Austin American-Statesman, which it owns since 1976, for sale. It also plans to sell all of its stand-alone newspapers in North Carolina, Colorado and Texas and Valpak, a direct-mail advertising operation.
Cox will keep the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dayton Daily News and Palm Beach Post.
Cox executives said in the Statesman, that the sales would allow the privately-owned company to attain strategic goals, by helping pay down debt.
Telemundo has named Anjelica Cohn Sr VP of Business Affairs, based out of Miami. She will oversee all business affairs for Telemundo's Network, Studios, Stations Group, Cable channels and International Distribution Operations. She will also lead Music Affairs and Standards & Practices/Ad Compliance.
Chris Peña is leaving Miami to become assistant news director at WMAQ, NBC's O&O in Chicago.
Starting tonight, Alejandro Mendoza will co-anchor the 6 and 11 pm newscasts at KDTV-14, the Univision station in San Francisco. María Leticia Gómez has been anchoring both shows solo, since legendary Luis Echegoyen retired, after almost 40 years as the station's main anchor.
For the past six years, Alejandro has been a Mexico City-based reporter for Univisión Network, whose work has been featured in “Primer Impacto” and “Noticiero Univision.”
“Noticias Univisión 14” is the Bay Area’s only local daily Spanish-language newscast, since Telemundo axed its local newscasts at the end of 2006.
In July's NSI, “Noticias Univisión 14” was the highest rated 6:00 pm newscast among all Bay Area Adults 18-49, regardless of language.
Univisión anchor Jorge Ramos is adding another award to his collection. This time, Broadcasting & Cable and Multichannel News will present him with the Award for Lifetime of Achievement in Hispanic Television. The ceremony will take place during the 6th annual Hispanic Television Summit in NYC, Oct. 22-23.
María Celeste Arrarás, host of Telemundo's news magazine "Al Rojo Vivo" will preside over the opening and closing ceremonies at this year’s Border Governors Conference, to be held at California's Universal Studios August 13-15.Tribune will announce its second-quarter earnings this week.
WCBS/Ch. 2 correspondent Pablo Guzmán returned to work this week. He had been off the air since he had a heart attack July 22. The Daily News reports he had an angioplasty and is due back at the hospital for another on Monday, to clear a 70% blockage in an artery.This was definitely not a good year for Pablo, who was also in a car crash back in May.
If you look at WFLA's Website today, it still lists Katie Coronado as co-anchor of “News Channel 8 at 10pm on My TV 38” with Peter Bernard Monday through Friday from 10-10:30pm. But in his blog, media critic Eric Deggans says the anchor team has been taken off the set and sent out on the street, to reporting jobs.“We are definitely interested in making sure the U-T stays locally owned,” McKinnon told the Union-Tribune.
On July 24, La Jolla-based Copley Press announced it hired an investment banking firm to explore the possible sale of the paper.
McKinnon, who's talking to potential partners, was publisher of the former La Jolla Journal in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He took over KUSI in 1990 and also owns two stations in Texas.
He recognizes that newspapers face challenges, but sees advantages in bringing a newspaper andTV station under one owner. “It's going to take a lot of energy,” he says. “Newspapers are having a tough time, but they're not dead.”
With the FCC's recent merger approval of satellite radio companies Sirius and XM, is it possible they may be more receptive to another one... in sat TV?
''We are in a much more difficult economic environment,'' CEO Rupert Murdoch told analysts and reporters on a conference call.
News Corp. expects operating income to grow between 4 to 6 % from a base of $5.13 billion in fiscal 2008.
Reporter Selena Hernández was among several KENS-5 employees laid-off today.
Gregory Molina III is the new Regional Manager/Affiliate Sales & Marketing for ESPN Deportes Radio, ESPN Radio, and ESPN HD. In his new job, he'll be focusing on growing the ESPN Deportes brand and increase distribution of ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio HD. He'll be based in Bristol and will oversee the northeast region. Frank Vega, the paper's publisher, president and CEO said the company is "hopeful that by opting for our employees to voluntarily sign up for buyouts we can avoid any type of layoffs going forward."
The company expressed its willingness to consider more than 125 buyout applications, but they will determine which applicants will be accepted and rejected. If not enough people apply, layoffs will be likely.
The “Fox 5 Morning News” debuts today in San Diego, a result of the affiliation switch at KSWB. The new show will air weekdays from 5 to 9 a.m., a time slot previously occupied by syndicated programming and the “KTLA Morning News,” out of L.A.
Well known sportscasters Andrés Cantor and Jessi Losada, along with Mónica Noguera, who until recently was one of the now-defunct "Cada Día" morning show co-hosts, will be the Spanish network's anchor team covering the Beijing Olympics.
