Why RedEye West won't work *

Freebie tabloids target the 20-minute public transportation commuters who may be looking for a distraction and a quick read on yesterday's news. Los Angeles commuters are different. Michael Miner at Chicago Reader asked someone who knows LA and Chicago:

"It's absurd. . . . The reason it wouldn't work in LA is the same reason a Red Eye wouldn't work in Milwaukee: with rare exceptions, 95 percent of people here commute in cars and not to fixed destinations. They'd have to give the rag away at gas stations or Starbucks. A Spanish-language edition would be necessary for these downtown office and maintenance workers who make full use of the buses in the wee hours . . ."

Also, Miner has heard the same thing we have: "... a lot of hands at the LA Times are hoping that if and when [the Zell Deal is completed,] Zell will sell their paper to somebody local, somebody who knows how LA goes to work."

* "C'mon. Get real." Native Intelligence at LAObserved.
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