Comparing Jazzy Covers

A quick comparison of the May 28 Calendar front page with that of the New York Times’ Living Arts reveals some instructive differences. The New York Times apparently feels that the day’s major arts story is based in Los Angeles, but the Los Angeles Times does not. The New York Times headline “Los Angeles Begins Plan to Nourish Its Jazz Roots” is followed by substantial coverage of the incipient partnership between the Music Center and the Thelonius Monk Institute of Jazz.

The Los Angeles Times also covers the story (“Music Center Gives Jazz a Major Gig”), but relegated its front-page presence to three paragraphs below the fold, followed by more on Page 4.

Apparently the Los Angeles Times feels that the money earned by “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” is more important. In fact, more space is given to a graphic rendering of money bags marked with a dinosaur logo than to the jazz-Music Center partnership.

No doubt Steven Spielberg’s gross is important news. But The Times has already devoted substantial space to this phenomenon within the last couple of days. I find it embarrassing that the paper continues to cover the arts from a mainly financial point of view, as if it sees itself as a trade paper.

I, for one, expect more.

MITCHELL GREENHILL

Los Angeles