Over THE past few weeks, whenever I've told someone that I'm starting a new Big Picture blog here at The Times, they invariably have the same reaction: That's nice, but are you going to keep the column? I know it's meant as a compliment, but it's also a bracing reminder that people prefer familiarity to, well, unfamiliarity.
It's why Hollywood keeps churning out sequels. It's why "Law & Order" has been on TV forever. It's why, back when I was a kid, whenever I'd go see the Allman Brothers, before they'd even had a chance to play some of their new material, some scruffy dude up in the rafters would invariably bellow out, "Whipping Post!"
But in journalism it's time for a change -- big change. As you might have heard, this newspaper, along with every other paper in the country, is under siege. Our whole business model is in free fall -- circulation is dropping, profits are down and lots of talented people are losing their jobs. We can moan and groan about it or we can try something new.
That's the idea behind launching the Big Picture blog. As much as I've loved writing a once-a-week column, the world of entertainment and pop culture is moving so fast that it's become impossible to keep up with all the action without weighing in more often than once a week. Over the last few years, I've found myself addicted to reading blogs. The best ones offer a wonderfully brainy, personal and irreverent way of seeing the world. If you go to our website, you'll see the paper now has 40-plus blogs, with more being launched all the time. (To read mine, go to latimes.com/thebigpicture.)
My guess is that someday soon our blogs will be the backbone of the paper. Journalists have discovered, to our chagrin, that information is everywhere these days. But readers still crave informed analysis and lively writing, which is something we can focus on as newspapers make the transition from mass circulation entities to niche-oriented publications. So while I've got lots to learn about the blogging life -- and will surely stumble many times along the way -- I'm eager to be a part of that new conversation.
But how will the new Big Picture blog be different from the old Big Picture column?
The honest answer is that it will be a work in progress. I'll be writing with much the same style and sensibility that you've grown accustomed to in the column. But it will be broader in scope. As our logo reads, the blog is "where the worlds of entertainment, media and pop culture collide."
