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Former L.A. Times TV Critic Howard Rosenberg Enjoying the Life of Academia

Howard Rosenberg, [See Biography ] retired media columnist of the L.A. Times, fortunately, doesn’t have the time to while away the days on his front porch, reflecting on his 25 years as television critic at one of the largest metropolitan dailies in the United States.

The reason? Since leaving the Times in 2003, one of newspaper’s most outspoken critics has been much too busy writing ``Not So Prime Time: Chasing the Trivial on American Television’’ , an anthology of his columns, along with `` No Time To Think: The Menace of Media Speed and the 24-hour News Cycle’’ ,  a  book published in 2008, which he co-wrote with former CNN reporter Charles S. Feldman. The book chronicles the frenzied nature of presenting television and cable news at break-neck speed, which, in reality, often isn’t all that newsworthy and isn’t always accurate. Just consider CNN and Fox News inaccurately reporting President Obama’s health care law was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court and you pretty much get the gist of the book and why it’s considered by many to be so prophetic.

Rosenberg has also entered the halls of academia at the University of Southern California, where he teaches three courses--news ethics in the Annenberg School for Communication, along with critical writing and a TV symposium in the School of Cinematic Arts.

He’s actually been teaching at USC as an adjunct since 1991, but since leaving the Times, he’s taken on more of load.  ``Although there are frustrations’’, Rosenberg tells me, ``I like teaching nearly all of the time and have a deep affection for students. The money is adequate, the fringes great and having summers off is to die for.’’

During his flourishing journalism career at the Times, Rosenberg was a recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for television criticism in 1985; he was also named the nation's best television critic in a 1996 survey of his colleagues conducted by Electronic Media; and in 1995 was named one of the nine national media critics "with clout" by the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center at Columbia University.

Prior to landing in Southern California to work for the Times, Rosenberg reported for the Moline (Ill.) Dispatch, later as a reporter and television critic for the Louisville Times.  His journalism career was launched soon after he earned his master’s degree, and secured a position as editor of The White Bear Press, a weekly on the outskirts of St. Paul, Minnesota.

Though he left the newspaper business on his own volition, (he wasn’t pushed out, laid-off, or forced to take a buyout) while fortunate enough to take an attractive pension and considers himself financially secure, Rosenberg knows a number of excellent top rate journalists not so fortunate who have been thrown overboard by their newspapers, for the usual crummy reasons, and remain adrift with no good prospects. ``It saddens and sickens me’’ Rosenberg says.

Rosenberg attributes most of his good fortunate since leaving the Times to pure luck. ``I had a high-profile job for a high-profile paper in an urban setting that offered probably more media-related opportunities that are available in most other places.''

Happy to be living a second life away from the stress of looming deadlines and beating competitors to the punch, Rosenberg admits he misses, at times, not being able to vent his pent-up frustrations through the medium of a newspaper column. ``If I ranted to my students’’, Rosenberg deadpanned, ``they'd rebel and throw their iPhones at me. Instead, my wife takes the full brunt--day and night--and it's not pleasant seeing her head explode.’’

The former Times’ critic did try to get back into the swing of writing a monthly column for Broadcasting Magazine and a monthly commentary on media for the L.A. Times in 2008, but gave them both up because he no longer wished to face deadlines, even monthly ones.

Rosenberg’s passion is now writing mystery fiction and is on this third novel, but says ``no one yet is swooning over my genius.’’ His sharp wit remains intact.

A native of Kansas City, Rosenberg earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Oklahoma and a Master’s degree in political science from the University of Minnesota.

He and his wife, Carol, live in a suburb of Los Angeles with a cockatiel, and two cats.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
July 18, 2012

Former N.Y. Daily News Reporter Paul LaRosa Found His Medium in Television Drama

Paul LaRosa        Photo Credit: Susan Watts, N.Y. Daily News

Soon after New York Daily News reporter Paul LaRosa [See Bio  ] took a buyout from the tabloid in March, 1991 after suffering through what he described as ``a violent and contentious five-month strike,’’ he like so many others, took the reporting tools they learned as print journalists and transferred them to another medium.

LaRosa actually had started working for CBS in their entertainment division during the newspaper strike as a writer for ``Top Cops.’’ His job involved finding some of the most dramatic blood curdling police stories he could find, write up a snappy description, and then turn it over to the screen writers and a production team in Toronto, who would then work their magic and whip up a dramatic production for television.

Encouraged by his new television experience and hoping to take advantage of the sudden rise in television news magazine productions, LaRosa sent his Daily News bylined clips to CBS, hoping to get hired for the new show, “Street Stories with Ed Bradley.”  Though CBS did call him in for an interview, he didn’t get the job, but was so encouraged by the rejection letter (which indicated they might hire him in the future) that LaRosa never became too discouraged. 

When LaRosa learned the show was renewed, he immediately sent them another batch of clips. They brought him in for another interview, only this time they hired him on six-month contract basis. Similar to his other television assignment with ``Top Cops’’, LaRosa was responsible for finding dramatic police stories, put into writing a compelling narrative and then pass it on to the producers.

After being hired a second time by CBS, LaRosa knew if he was going to have a future in this business, it would be incumbent upon him to learn exactly how television shows are produced from the ground up. So, armed with a notebook, he approached the producers and editors and asked them to teach him all he needs to know about dramatic television production. They were all too willing to oblige this enthusiastic greenhorn, bringing him on television shoots and showing him precisely what makes gripping television drama.

A year later, LaRosa’s boss was reassigned to take over ``48 Hours’’ and decided to bring this former Daily News reporter along with her.  That was 20 years ago this month. After 18 years producing for ``48 Hours,’’ LaRosa has been on the receiving end of two Emmys. He’s also co-produced the highly-acclaimed documentary “9/11” which also won an Edward R. Murrow and Peabody Awards.

``I did learn television’’ LaRosa tells me ``and was humbled by it; I consider it much harder than print journalism.’’

His success in the television industry has led to him to some lucrative book deals, something that wasn’t possible working for a daily newspaper. The reason is simple. When you produce for television, there is usually loads of material left on the cutting room floor. One story in particular – the murder/suicide of the Tacoma Police Chief and his wife in front of their two young children in 2003, prompted LaRosa to approach his bosses about writing a book about this chilling episode, which took place at Gig Harbor, Washington, a quiet Tacoma suburb.

CBS agreed; and soon LaRosa was off writing about it, which led to the publication of ``Tacoma Confidential.''

LaRosa wrote three more books since ``Tacoma Confidential ‘’ and just this spring he published his memoirs, ``Leaving Story Avenue - My journey from the projects to the front page,’’ a book which chronicles his humble origins, growing up in the Soundview, Bronx housing projects, landing a job as copy boy at The Daily News fresh out of college, later being promoted to reporter, all during a bygone era before computers and by extension the Internet, has, for the most part, wiped out a once thriving industry.

Among the many stories LaRosa pounded out at the Daily News, the one that will  live in infamy is his front-page splash about John Lennon’s fatal shooting at the Dakota, while working the late shift (midnight-8 a.m.), a shift known to news types as the ``lobster shift.’’

Despite his success in the television industry, LaRosa tells me that he feels very lucky to have worked at two great jobs at such great places. ``Although I’ve worked longer at CBS than The Daily News, I consider myself a newspaperman and writer at heart.’’

LaRosa graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School and Fordham University and attended Columbia University, where he did graduate work as a Revson Fellow.  He lives in Park Slope.

-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
July 3, 2012