MediaNews Group
Los Angeles Daily News
Los Angeles , California, United States • Founded in 1911
The Los Angeles Daily News is a daily newspaper owned by the Southern California News Group. It covers local news in Los Angeles with a focus on San Fernando Valley.
The newspaper has chronicled the San Fernando Valley since its infancy, just months after Isaac Van Nuys founded the town. It was first published on Nov. 3, 1911, as The Van Nuys Call by E.R. Elkins, just months after the town of Van Nuys was founded. Roughly 21 days after its founding, the publication was renamed The Van Nuys News under the ownership of Frank Keffer, a newspaper man from Pennsylvania. In 1940, the Van Nuys News began printing the front page in green to differentiate itself from competitors. In 1953, the paper again changed its name to The Valley News and Green Sheet, a move meant to reflect its Valley focus. The 1970s saw the paper become a property of the Chicago-based Tribune Co. By 1981, the green pages were gone and the front page masthead read “Daily News.”
- Ron Hasse – President and Publisher
- Frank Pine – Executive editor
- Tom Bray – Local News
- Kim Guimarin – Public Safety
Best Practices Policies
Los Angeles Daily News inherits best practices policies from its parent news organization Southern California News Group.
Mission
The Southern California News Group's mission is to connect communities by providing users with local news coverage while providing advertisers with what it says is unprecedented access to audiences.
Ethics
Fairness and accuracy are among the core values of the Southern California News Group’s ethics policy. The policy is an evolving document meant to guide staffers on ethical questions that arise during their jobs. The policy emphasizes the need for Southern California News Group journalists to maintain and preserve the integrity of their newspapers. Since journalists cannot anticipate every situation, the Southern California News Group says it is prudent for journalists to keep two particular guidelines in mind: 1) They should not act in ways that could damage their newspaper’s credibility; 2) Any situation that raises questions of credibility should be discussed with a ranking editor. Journalists should not decide on any issues alone.
Ownership & Funding
The Southern California News Group publications are owned by MediaNews Group. MediaNews Group is based in Denver, Colorado, and is a privately owned company that is controlled by their majority shareholder Alden Global Capital, a privately held investment firm in New York City. MediaNews Group says it keeps shareholders in mind when making business decisions, but editorial decisions are independent. Publications under the Southern California News Group are funded by advertising and subscriptions.
Diverse Voices
The Southern California News Group respects differences in race, class, generation, gender and geography in the reporting of its journalists. It believes diverse viewpoints lead to nuanced stories and a better-informed community.
Corrections
The Southern California News Group's corrections policy establishes how and when the editors and reporters at its 11 daily newspapers correct inaccurate information. Under that policy, all significant factual errors brought to the attention of editors should be corrected. Errors should be corrected and noted in the online article as well as in the newspaper, if applicable. The Southern California News Group generally does not “unpublish” content or remove details such as names from its websites and archives. On a case-by-case basis, a committee of editors will review individual requests to remove, redact or de-index published content.
Unnamed Sources
The Southern California News Group permits reporters to attribute information to unnamed sources only when news value warrants and journalists cannot obtain that information in any other way. SCNG stipulates that reporters avoid letting anonymous sources be the sole basis of any story. Journalists should not allow unnamed sources to make personal attacks, and they must describe the anonymous source in as much detail as possible to indicate the source's credibility. Additionally, whenever possible, journalists should tell readers why the source requested or was granted anonymity.
Footer
The Trust Project
The Trust Project is an international consortium of news organizations building standards of transparency and working with technology platforms to affirm and amplify journalism’s commitment to transparency, accuracy, inclusion and fairness so that the public can make informed news choices. It was founded and is led by award-winning journalist Sally Lehrman.
Our Funders
Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist, was our original funder, through the Trustworthy Journalism Initiative of Craig Newmark Philanthropies. Google followed with their financial support. Our funders also have included Democracy Fund, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Facebook. Funders. Trust Project policies and the Trust Indicators are shaped and enforced independently from our funding sources.
Awards & Recognitions
The Trust Project® and Trust Indicators® are exclusive trademarks of The Trust Project.