Peltz was joined by Evan Pondel, a business reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News, and Seth Lubove, manager of Forbes' West Coast bureau.
 

Peltz referred to follow-up calls or e-mails "a waste of a time," adding that PR pros would better service their clients by letting the Times know when a CEO is in town and his or her availability.
 

"If you have an expert, or an executive to offer in a big story like an airline filing for bankruptcy or a connection to Enron, then I'm interested," he explained. "It's a fatal mistake to leave a message that you have a real expert. If you want to recommend someone to me, give me their number and if I want to talk to them I will."
 

Peltz said the best pitch time is in the morning, and his e-mail is james.peltz@latimes.com.
 

‘Desperate' for pitches
 

"Your job as far as I'm concerned is to make people available to me that maybe I didn't know were available," Peltz said. " I'm not saying I wouldn't entertain [a pitch]." The L.A. Times vet said he prefers e-mail pitches, adding that there is "no point" to making phone calls. "If we think it's a good idea we'll call you and tell you it's a good idea," he explained.
 

Pondel said his paper looks for a San Fernando Valley focus on stories. He added that the "Valley angle" can be used to turn national stories into local stories for items such as a major health issue.
 

Pondel covers healthcare, biotech, high-tech, and finance. He works closely with health companies like Wellpoint, Blue Cross of California, and several biotech companies like Amgen and Baxter. "My position is somewhat nebulous, because I sometimes cover a broad range of business news. I enjoy that, but it becomes frustrating, because I get to know everyone whom I would like to know in that specific industry as well as I should," he said.
 

Pondel said reporters at the paper are often under the gun and welcome working with PR people. "I'm more desperate for the story than the PR pro pitching," he said.
 

Pondel has been at the Daily News for two years. He previously worked for the Wall Street Journal in New York for two years.
 

He said the Daily News has five reporters on the business desk who cover retail, real estate, entertainment, personal finance, and general assignments. The paper just hired Barbara Carreras to write weekenders and personal finance stories for Sunday's edition. Pondel said she takes quirky stories and writes the longer piece and is a good person to talk to about "long-winded tales."
 

The best time to reach Pondel by phone and fax is in the morning and he prefers pitches no later than 11:00 a.m. But, he says, don't send him an e-mail: "I don't want sit in front of my computer and read a bunch of e-mails unless they're from my mother," he joked. Pondel can be reached at
818/713-3662, fax: 818/713-0058.
 

Reporters write for editors, not readers
 

Forbes' Lubove said the current ad slump has seen the magazine's West Coast bureau go from a staff of six to three, including himself. Forbes ASAP, he reminded PR pros, has been shut down.
 

Lubove said exclusive stories have always been a "priority and survival" at the bi-weekly magazine.
He said there is also a greater emphasis for magazine writers to contribute to Forbes.com, which has reporters looking for things that can be "cranked out in less than a day."
 

Lubove said stories he has done from pitches are "few and far between, and when I do them they might be dragged out over a long period."
 

He said there is "a big difference" in what PR pros think is a story, and what he thinks is a story. "Ultimately what I think is a story is based on what my editor thinks is a story, and he's twice removed from the whole process," he noted. "I know in journalism school we're taught to write for the reader, and that's fine in journalism schools, but in the real world we're writing for our editor, who in theory is paid to think like a reader."
 

Lubove said the magazine is designed for top management and for those aspiring to positions of corporate leadership.
 

He noted the magazine features "Entrepreneurs," a section on small companies; "Money and Investing," which profiles money managers and investment strategies; "Tech," a section on technology and "another great repository for positive stories usually," and "Outfront," which tends to be "dishier, gossipy, mogul, Hollywood and whatever stories."