L.A. Times: Monumental Crackup in Progress

I met a senior feature writer for the L.A. Times at a conference once -- for privacy reasons I won't name names -- who told me the atmosphere at the paper was not good. The Chicago Tribune was finalizing its takeover, people were unsure about the editorial policies and morale was low. Well, that was nothing compared to this. Robert Scheer, their eminent lefty columnist, has been sacked, and he's talking about it:

"These bean counters from Chicago are so cowardly that the day after the paper won five Pulitzers they flew into LA and met with chief editors at Burbank airport hotel to let them know of cuts. This corporation doesn't understand that the paper belongs to readers and they forget that it's not just shareholders and wider profit margins that count."

Bob then broke some news: "And this week, they're going to lay off over 70 editorial people."