The buzz is that by the end of September, the Modesto Bee will begin printing out of sister McClatchy paper Sacramento Bee's printing facilities. That's a lot of bees to kick out of the hive, but Modesto's queen Margaret Randazzo says the move will result in "significant cost savings and the avoidance of future capital expenses."

--Via Romenesko

We're going to step away from the newspaper biz for the rest of the day (barring something crazy going down) and focus on next week. FBLA is going to Comic Con! We will be there on the ground to give you all the important scoops about what nerds are into.

The buzz so far this year? Watchman. Watch...man.

So awesome. Snort.

Eric Alterman writes:

I don't have a better idea, except to repeat, again, the following: the loss of daily newspapers is a significant threat to the future of our democracy. It is far too important to be left in the hands of a bunch of clueless media moguls and their "chief innovation officers."

Yeah, that's about all we got too.

The story is breaking. Deadline Hollywood Daily promises they'll have it here.

Last night, Russ Stanton told the Orange County Press Club that if any city were to pull off having a major metro newspaper completely online - it would be San Francisco.

LAT editor Russ Stanton, who kind of resembles John Cleese (serious, click here) was asked by the OC Press Club in March to be the keynote speaker at this year's gala. "It feels like 4 years ago since then." Said Stanton to the sold out crowd of 80 or so industry professionals. Indeed, in the wake of letting go of 150 staffers he showed up to a press club event. You'd think it'd be awkward. You'd think he'd grovel just a bit. We'd hoped he denounce Sam Zell and shake his fists. Yeah, we were really hoping for some type of fist shaking ("Damn you dessert spoon!").

Anyway, Stanton was very matter-of-fact about the state of newspapers and the shrinking of his staff. "We have more readers today than in any other time in history." He stated. "We aren't sure how to get people to pay for it but there's clearly a demand for it."

He said that in spite of all that has happened he is optimistic about working with a new publisher. He didn't grumble about Zell as we had hoped. "New people who try and fix it all the time are all insiders. Sam can help us see things about our business that we haven't been able to before."

Stanton mentioned that one of the top 100 blogs in the world is a latimes.com blog. Top of the Ticket he said, is written by two of the oldest staffers at the Times, Don Frederick and Andrew Malcolm. And that the Times has had 3 different batches of blogs. Some of them worked and others didn't and they are open to change them up again. He also mentioned that he admired some of the 'under 30 staffers' they have because they are media savvy. "You guys use media all the time. We didn't have that kind of exposure growing up."

continued...

As the American Idol production team winds through the country for audition season, the Writers Guild of America is in hot pursuit. Having chartered a "Truth Tour" bus to shadow AI auditions, the WGA hopes go get attention for its long-running battle against the hit TV show over the right to represent reality show workers.

Has it worked? Not so far. A quick scan at coverage of the WGA's first stop yields a whole lotta nothing.

Why? Well, let's see, the media could write stories about sticky labor disputes starring sickly-looking writer types, or they could focus their attention on the 8,000 lithe and lovely 20-somethings sleeping in piles on the ground outside this country's biggest auditoriums. Hmm. Good luck, WGA.

Mad Men, Getting Madder: Scott Collins adds to the uproar by TV critics and boob tube junkies who continuously berate us for not watching Mad Men. They all say we're missing something... but riddle us this, Collins: If the show is so great, why isn't it on HBO?

Britney Gives It Up: The 1 1/2-year court battle is over and Kevin Federline gets sole custody of the kids, with Britney Spears allowed visitation rights and one sleepover a week. The decision puts an end to the nasty court case ... but not to our profound feelings of pity for the woman.

America's Next Top Video Blogger? We've stated it here before: We don't watch American Idol, but we religiously read Rabbi Richard Rushfield's sermons about AI, so we're happy to report that the good rabbi has added some video to his blogs. The clips are short (and some feature a little too much footage of feet), but if you're into AI, this will enhance the experience. If you're not into AI, just read the text. It's as riveting as ever.

During the second course of the evening - the pasta one - at the annual Orange County Press Club Gala, journalist Jean Pasco presented the Sky Dunlap award to a former OC Register, current North County Times staffer Jeff Rowe. If any are unfamiliar with Sky Dunlap, you're not alone. He has no wikipedia page and as near as we can remember, Pasco said he was a journalist in Orange County in the first half of the last century.

Anyway, Rowe accepted his award. Then he relayed a story about interviewing a Hiroshima survivor on the 60th anniversary of the bombing. The survivor was 14 at the time of the blast. He said to the man that Japan had lost Iwo Jima and other fronts. They were nearly defeated and yet there was no urging on the part of the citizens to surrender or change course. The man, according to Rowe, offered,"Because our newspapers told us we were winning."

There was a barely audible gasp in the otherwise dead silent room.

We went to the Island Hotel in Newport Beach last night. The problem with Orange County is that as soon as we hit the border and start seeing the tract homes and the vaguely familiar strip malls and the also vaguely familiar regular malls - we have that stupid theme song "California" stuck in our head.

So humming a song so cheesy that the first time we heard it thought was a parody, we found the Press Club members having cocktails before dinner.

We noted how good looking and toothy some of the 'journalists' in the OC were. Unnamed reporter was heard to remark, "They let PR people into the press club now. PR people?! What do I have to say to them?" Mystery solved.

Now we would have been able to name that reporter and everyone else but as it turned out everyone's co-favorite fishy, Mayrav - couldn't make it last night. Yeah, no pitching in for gas. No knowing who everyone was. So if our coverage of the event seems spotty - it's Mayrav's fault for having a life outside of FBLA.

Erica Smith, the journalist whom we've dubbed the Newsroom Angel of Death has struck again. This time it's a informative interview with laid off Times staffer Amy Martin and her goal of helping other newly unemployeds redo their resumes and bone up on their tech skills.

Have you found others (co-workers or otherwise) who are reaching out to try to help their peers? Have you come across any helpful advice or Web sites?

Unfortunately, I haven't been at the Times long enough to really get to know many people outside of the Features department. I think that journalism attracts people who are community-driven by nature, so I certainly wouldn't be surprised if there are similar efforts happening on other floors. I am trying to set up a software training - probably at my house on the East Side - with some of the other designers down here - and anyone is welcome. I'm going to show some people how to use Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign; another designer is really good with Dreamweaver and has a great handle on the CS3 features that I'm not as familiar with. So we're trying to put that together.

The whole interview is here.

We saw Russ Stanton speak last night so check back later for those posts.

While LAT Editor Russ Stanton prepares to deliver what must be a pretty awkward keynote speech at the OC Press Club Awards tonight (check back with us for more on that later), former Times staffers Marla Cone, William Lobdell, Larry Stewart and Henry Weinstein were on KPCC's "Airtalk" with Larry Mantle to discuss the disembowelment of the newspaper industry. Fun stuff. Hear it here.

-- Via LA Observed.

Subliminal Messages? We know it's not like a naked chick in an ice cube or anything, but we can't help it: Every time we click on the LAT elections editorial page, we can't help but think that whoever named the page was a (not very subtle) Barack Obama supporter.

Making Mountains Out of Moles? Elizabeth Snead pays loving homage to a bit of Sarah Jessica Parker's former facial flesh.

Cat's Meow: Claudia Eller has the goods about Michael Vollman leaving Paramount Pictures to become executive vice president of worldwide marketing at MGM.

The list of veteran reporters who are leaving the L.A. Times in the latest round of buyouts and cuts has local music and industry professionals wondering who, exactly, will be reporting on them?

A few music folks have told FBLA that the personnel changes, simple, "suck." But others have been more philosophical about it, including a publicist with deep roots in the newspaper industry.

Elizabeth Lang, whose family the Fremont News Messenger and the Port Clinton News Herald in Ohio, laments what is to become of entertainment coverage without some of the key veteran reporters this town has come to trust.

More:

continued...

It's no "This Land Is Your Land". But Barack Obama is no John Kerry. Ahem.