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At the top
The LA Times hasn't exactly been competitive in breaking news out of the Trump White House or the Russian meddling investigation, but the paper does blow out the Thursday morning front page for a dramatic display on the Comey statement and set-up for the morning's hearings. "Tomorrow's @latimes front page is a keeper," editor-publisher Davan Maharaj said in an 8:52 p.m. tweet. "H/t to @michaelwhitley and crew." Whitley is the assistant managing editor in charge of designing the day's printed paper. View the full page
• Trump demanded 'loyalty' and asked for an end to the Flynn investigation, Comey will testify LA Times
• Trump Pressed Comey to ‘Lift Cloud’ of Russia Inquiry New York Times
• Comey could turn lawmakers’ Russia probes to questions of obstruction Wash Post
Hearing coverage: Comey is scheduled to begin his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee at 7 a.m. Pacific time. Coverage will be live on all major TV and cable networks, some of them commercial free. TV Newser has a rundown.
Full walkback
Greg Gianforte, the yahoo elected to Congress from Montana after assaulting reporter Ben Jacobs, sent Jacobs a full (possibly lawyer-assisted) mea culpa and retraction of the b.s. version originally put out by the Republican and his staff. He's also pledging $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists. "I acknowledge that the media have an obligation to seek information," the letter says. "I had no right to respond the way I did to your legitimate question about healthcare policy. You were doing your job." Click on the letter to enlarge.
LA Times vs Trump (and LA vs NY)
Nick Goldberg, the editor of the LA Times editorial pages, sat down with Donna Bojarsky, founder of Future of Cities: Leading in LA, to discuss the Times' Our Dishonest President opinion series that (I reported on Sunday night) is being published as a book next month. "We wanted to...sort of explain to ourselves and to our readers, what it was we were seeing in Trump, and why it was that we were so upset and disturbed and frightened by this guy," Goldberg said.
"It went completely viral. I think it is fair to say that we were surprised by how far it went. I mean it went all across the country, it went all across the world. We usually consider it very good if an editorial gets 50,000 or 100,000 clicks. But the first piece in this six-part piece got 4.5 million page views. So that was enormous. And that means it went to all sorts of places geographically, it went to red states, it went to blue states, it was read by people who agreed with us, and by people who didn’t agree with us, and it started a big national conversation."
Goldberg added that "it certainly whetted our appetite to do more big projects. This series got far more attention than anything we’ve ever done." And this:
I don’t think it is our job to reflect public opinion in the city – I don’t think we see ourselves as the voice of Los Angeles speaking out to the rest of the world. And often we take positions that are unpopular with our readers and with people in Los Angeles. That said, this is a blue city in a blue state, and we are a liberal editorial page. I think it would be odd to have a very conservative newspaper editorial page in a city that was very liberal.
Dig in to the whole thing, which includes an exchange on civic leadership, Los Angeles versus New York, and the LA River.
Hello Kitty
Yes, that was former KPCC reporter and host Kitty Felde in front of Kevin Spacey in a recent episode of "House of Cards." Felde was a working actor (and improv comedian) before going into public radio. Since leaving KPCC, she has acted on stage in Washington and written plays that have been produced. Details at her website. Felde also produces the long-running Book Club for Kids and recently snagged Dave Bryan, the politics reporter for CBS LA, to read from The Tiger Rising by Kate DeCamillo.
Media people
Somebody counted and Maggie Haberman tweets more than you, and a lot more than any of her colleagues on the NYT politics beat.A mashup of things Sean Spicer says he hasn't talked to the president about - CNN
Carol J. Williams, the former LA Times foreign correspondent, is posting her One-Click World Briefing on Twitter daily.
In every one of her interviews for the editor in chief gig at The San Francisco Chronicle, Audrey Cooper was clear about the thing that needed changing first – the newsroom culture. Poynter
Dana Goodyear: "I learned about this astonishing artist at the Hammer's 'Made in LA' show last year, and finally got to meet her."
Another hit for The Players Tribune: Former NHL Player Mike Bossy, who refused to fight, on what he would tell his younger self about going into pro hockey.
Bureau cats of the New York Times - NYT
The new US Weekly devotes the cover to Ivanka Trump explaining why she sometimes disagrees with her father.
LA Times Calendar writer Meredith Woerner (and others) cried through the fight scenes in 'Wonder Woman'
See photos of this summer's KPCC interns... And the LA Times interns.
Books and authors
Angel City Press in Santa Monica will publish a new book by Lynell George, "After/Image: Los Angeles Outside the Frame."
Stanford Libraries posted a digital archive of drafts of Ginsberg's 'HOWL' - Boing Boing
Food writer Bill Esparza talks about his new book, "L.A. Mexicano: Recipes, People & Places," at New Worlder.
Candidate for governor John Chiang dropped in on David Kipen's Libros Schmibros in Boyle Heights.
Hardcover fiction bestsellers in SoCal:
"Into the Water" Paula Hawkins..."The Underground Railroad" Colson Whitehead... "Dragon Teeth" Michael Crichton... Hardcover nonfiction: "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry" Neil deGrasse Tyson... "Al Franken, Giant of the Senate" Al Franken... "Theft by Finding: Diaries (1977-2002)" David Sedaris...More bestsellers.In the news
Rep. Brad Sherman, Democrat in the Valley, has joined the impeach Trump effort in the House - CBS LARussian malware communicates by leaving comments in Britney Spears's Instagram account - Boing Boing
Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins has not yet signed for a sequel - THR
Why Is It So Hard for Angelenos to Love the Valley? - LA Weekly
Drivers aren’t happy about pedestrian-friendly changes in Playa del Rey - Curbed LA
Militant Angeleno's guide to this weekend's CicLAvia route in Glendale and Atwater Village.
Snow plows have reached Tioga Pass but the eastern entry into Yosemite National Park is nowhere close to opening - NPS
Architect William Krisel, who influenced the look of midcentury Palm Springs and the San Fernando Valley, dies at 92 - LAT
Selected tweets
Most interesting part of Comey memo: How damn good the reporting has been. On. The. Nose.
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) June 8, 2017
"he wanted loyalty but all I could promise was honesty" -james comey pic.twitter.com/dHW6rsuESQ
— Ziwe (@ziwe) June 7, 2017
My rule for gracious living: do not bring up hookers in a conversation with the FBI director unless he asks first.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) June 7, 2017
So Comey told Jeff Sessions he didn't want to be alone with Trump. Women across the country can relate.
— Maxine Waters (@MaxineWaters) June 7, 2017
ELVIS PRESLEY FANS: this set sounds terrific. All of Elvis' 1953-1955 recordings including outtakes... coming soon https://t.co/EVJW5ybkwa
— Robert Hilburn (@roberthilburn) June 7, 2017
I want to send out the deepest and sincere THANK YOU to all of you who made this so. YOU have helped us make change. Amazing!! #wonderwoman pic.twitter.com/vQQQfOzPyM
— Patty Jenkins (@PattyJenks) June 5, 2017
Dorothy Parker didn't like LA or its palm trees: "the ugliest vegetable God created." https://t.co/QZKqMbp5nz pic.twitter.com/aEnu2XFTj1
— Kevin Roderick (@LAObserved) June 7, 2017
