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The Los Angeles Newspaper Group is gearing up for its battle against the dominant Los Angeles Times, hiring a veteran newsman to help develop shared editorial content for the five-paper chain.

The group assembled by Denver-based media giant Dean Singleton and consisting of the Daily News, Long Beach Press-Telegram, San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Pasadena Star News and the Whittier Daily News announced last week that it had hired James G. Bellows as an editorial consultant. Bellows has an extensive background in both the newspaper and television industries, having been editor of the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, editor of the New York Herald Tribune, associate editor of the Los Angeles Times, and managing editor of the television show “Entertainment Tonight.”

Bellows also worked briefly at Singleton’s Denver-based MediaNews Group as vice president for news in 1989-1990.

Bellows said his plans include new columns and new approaches to coverage.

“I’m going to see if we can create a good editorial chain, set off a few good firecrackers here and there, and make people understand that there are two (newspaper) entities in Los Angeles now,” Bellows said.

“We had some fun at the Herald Examiner breaking some stories that the L.A. Times didn’t cover. I hope to see the same here,” he added.

Industry sources say Bellows’ first order of business is to develop a new lifestyle and entertainment section that would be carried by all the newspapers in the group, including the possible addition of a local gossip column something the L.A. Times doesn’t have.

Neither Bellows nor David Butler, vice president of news for the L.A. newspaper group, would comment on any of the possible changes.

Butler, who also has been the editor of the Daily News since January 1997 and assumed his vice president position at the end of March, is overseeing group-wide initiatives involving the news departments of the five daily newspapers.

A consolidated lifestyle section among the group’s papers would be consistent with Singleton’s economizing “cluster” technique. By owning several papers in a single geographical area, production facilities and some news coverage can be consolidated.

The papers in the group have already begun sharing news, sports and feature stories, and further consolidation is expected to shave expenses and avoid duplicative efforts.

Officials with the Los Angeles Times declined to respond specifically to questions about changes at the Singleton group.

“The Los Angeles Times looks forward to continuing to compete aggressively with the many newspapers throughout our market,” said Don Wright, the paper’s president and chief executive, in a statement.

The Times has been working to shore up Times Community News, which competes in several markets with Singleton papers.

The Times began publishing Our Times Santa Monica in the wake of the closure of the Santa Monica Outlook, and announced last week that it had signed a letter of intent to buy the Pasadena Weekly. TCN also owns the Glendale News-Press.

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