BUSINESS
April 7, 2014 | By Hugo Martín
California-based Virgin America ranked highest among the nation's top 15 carriers in a study that looked at on-time performance, customer complaints and lost bag rates, among other factors. The study, known as the Airline Quality Rating report, also found that airline performance improved in 2013 over the previous year. The ratings report was produced by researchers at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Wichita State University and was based on data collected by the U.S.
ENTERTAINMENT
April 3, 2014 | By Saba Hamedy
Prime-time television dramas are less smoke friendly than they were in the 1950s. According to a study published online in the journal Tobacco Control on Thursday, there has been a dramatic decline in visibility of tobacco products on prime-time U.S. broadcast television. Researchers at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania determined this drop in portrayals of smoking and tobacco use in prime-time dramas mirrored the national decline in consumption.
WORLD
February 27, 2014 | By Julie Makinen
BEIJING -- As the United States' first Chinese American ambassador to China, Gary Locke made an impression on many ordinary people here with his down-to-earth ways - carrying his own backpack, paying for his Starbucks with a coupon and flying economy class. His man-of-the-people demeanor, honed as two-term governor of Washington state, provided a sharp contrast to the often-remote and sometimes corrupt ways of the Chinese ruling class. Many netizens approved of his style, but a number of media organs affiliated with the Communist Party were discomfited by the unassuming envoy.
ENTERTAINMENT
February 15, 2014 | By Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times Film Critic
The first months of the year are, by consensus, the bleakest of cinematic times. But not so much if, like me, you are a lover of documentaries, someone who revels in the pleasures of the nonfiction film. Proofs of the remarkable strength of documentaries in this day and age are manifold right around now. If you were fortunate enough to go to last month's Sundance, for instance, a prime nonfiction showcase that this year screened some 40 documentaries from around the world, you got a peek at the best of what 2014 will offer.
SPORTS
January 29, 2014 | By Ben Bolch
Magic Johnson apparently isn't the only one who thinks the Lakers are unwatchable. The Lakers' ratings on Time Warner Cable SportsNet declined 37.5% over the team's first 40 games versus the same period last season, according to Nielsen ratings in the Los Angeles market. Lakers games averaged a 2.72 rating over those games, down from a 4.35 last season, TWC's first as the team's broadcast partner. "I wouldn't be overly concerned about it, but I certainly would keep an eye on it," said David Carter, executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute.
BUSINESS
December 29, 2013 | By Hugo Martín
Airline delays and cancellations have dropped significantly in the last few years. At least that's what federal statistics show. But the numbers may not be telling us the whole story. That is one of the conclusions in a new report by the office of inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation, which recommends new ways of calculating airline delays. The Department of Transportation's data show that airline delays fell 33% from 2000 to 2012, while flight cancellations dropped 56% at the nation's largest airports.