There was a time, it seems, when there was a wall between pajama-bottom bloggers and real journalists.

Real journalists didn't bait Google. Real journalists focused on facts and not on fancy photos. Real journalists trumpeted reporting awards over readership.

Now? Not so much. The Los Angeles Times has joined the pageview party and today boasts of all-time record traffic for its largely fashion-photos-based Oscars coverage:

Yeah, in a statement today the paper admits that its future hinges on shots of celebrities in dresses and tuxes:

54% of traffic on Oscar Sunday was driven by photo galleries, with our “Oscars 2013: Red Carpet Arrivals” the highest trafficked …

Don't fret, hardcore, real journos. Think of it this way. This kind of stuff now subsidizes your work as much as advertising does.

The paper had 26 reporters — 26! — tweeting its awards coverage, leading to a 38 percent increase in Oscars traffic from Facebook and Twitter. On Oscar Sunday, the paper states, 43 percent of its traffic came from mobile devices.

The Times says its Sunday-Monday tally of 34.6 million page views for Academy Awards coverage beat its former Oscars record of 21.4 million.

In fact, the paper states, Academy Awards readers online represented the Times' “highest trafficked two-day stretch in latimes.com history, topping our March 11-12, 2011 coverage of the Japan earthquake & tsunami.”

[@dennisjromero / djromero@laweekly.com / @LAWeeklyNews]

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