Crescenta Valley Sun

Mondo Times editors    Boulder, CO

Posted at 2:55pm on Thursday, January 21st, 2010

The Crescenta Valley Sun ceased publication on July 3, 2009.

In an article dated June 11, 2009, the Glendale News Press reported the closure of the Crescenta Valley Sun, and that the newspaper is becoming part of the News-Press:

"GLENDALE — The Crescenta Valley Sun, after seven years of publication, will be folded into its larger sister paper, the Glendale News-Press, in a move Times Community News executives said would make operations more efficient while providing foothill readers with more timely daily news coverage.

As of July 4, the News-Press will assume daily coverage of developments in La Crescenta, Montrose, Verdugo City and north Glendale, after Crescenta Valley Sun staffers transfer to the Glendale office.

The final issue of the Valley Sun is scheduled for July 3.

Both newspapers are part of the Los Angeles Times Community News Division, which also includes the Burbank Leader and La Cañada Valley Sun.

The shift will streamline operations and cut down on overlap between the News-Press and Crescenta Valley Sun, whose reporters had often covered the same events for the different publications, Director of Editorial Dan Evans said.

“The Glendale News-Press and the Crescenta Valley Sun were often competing on the same story, and that just couldn’t stand any longer,” Evans said. “We need to be smart in how we use our reporters, photographers and editors.”

Evans acknowledged that some readers had been hesitant about the closure of the Crescenta Valley Sun, but argued that the expanded News-Press would better serve the community.

“By expanding the News-Press into Crescenta Valley, we’re going to be able to provide Crescenta Valley news six days a week instead of just once. And, with an increased online news presence, people are going to have daily updates on the news they care about,” he said.

The News-Press and the Crescenta Valley Sun not only have overlapping coverage, Evans said, but 2,843 households receive both the News-Press and the Sun. The practice began when the newspapers were separately owned competitors before the Los Angeles Times bought the Sun in 2005.

“We literally had racks next to each other,” TCN Times Community News General Manager Scott Pompe said.

From duplicative reporting to overlapping distribution — a portion of the 13,000 homes that receive the Crescenta Valley Sun also get the News-Press — the newspapers have for too long continued operating in a way that did not make business sense, Pompe said.

“Frankly, we never addressed it, and we needed to,” he said."