WELL, WHAT DO YOU KNOW? OC MAY BE TURNING INTO A HIGH-TECH center after all.
You may recall that nearly everyone who knows what is going on in Orange County, including this paper, assumed that was already the case. But then the Los Angeles Times ran a front-page story in its Sunday, July 9 edition, “Dreams of High-Tech Glory Passing O.C. By.”
The Times based its claim on some pretty odd reading of employment and other data. We shot back with our own analysis that showed where the Times went wrong.
The Times has not only stood by its story, it has paraded it as a standing feature on the OC business page of its Web site.
Which brings me to this hopeful update. The front page of last Wednesday’s Times’ business section carried a story on the decision by ATL Products, a maker of data storage systems, to more than double its presence at UCI’s University Research Park. This is big news, to be sure. So big that our Peter Brennan reported it almost two months ago.
It’s a story in line with numerous other stories reported by the Business Journal in recent months. But the Times found special significance in this one. ATL’s decision “may help boost OC’s high-tech economy, which has been losing ground to its neighbors,” the paper said. The research park, it observed, “may be Orange County’s best hope for jump-starting its high-tech economy ”
At first blush, this looks like the Times still doesn’t get it. But take it from this experienced reader of newspaper tea leaves, the paper is changing its tone. A few more announcements like ATL’s,they are sure to come,and the Times will conclude that Orange County is on the high-tech track. The Web site will be refreshed. The Times may even take credit for getting everyone off their duffs.
But don’t expect to read about “OC high-tech glory” on the Times’ front page.
