Los Angeles: A Los Angeles Times editor, hoping to give his journalists a break from reporting the often grim news in America's second-largest city, offered an unusual morale booster on Monday: pony rides.
Managing editor Doug Frantz said the rides, which he paid for out of his own pocket for $350, were "all in fun" and in response to tongue-in-cheek suggestions from his journalists to lift spirits at the city's leading newspaper.
"I hope it boosted morale but it was just fun," Frantz said. "This is a very serious place. We all take our jobs very seriously and this was just an opportunity to have fun over lunch. It was a light-hearted attempt to show that even in tough times this can be a fun place to work," he added.
Like many major US newspapers the Times, forced to compete with news websites on the Internet, has seen circulation decline.
Frantz conceded that, with temperatures soaring to near-record levels, Monday may not have been the best day to offer pony rides in the sun.
He and about 30 others rode three ponies and a horse during the lunch hour before the animals were put away to protect them from the heat.
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