USA: two visions of the newsroom and of the newspaper industry

Posted by Bertrand Pecquerie on September 17, 2006 at 12:54 AM

From the Los Angeles Times and Tim Rutten: "ANYONE who cares about newspapers and who believes they have a constructive role to play in the lives of their communities and in the service of our American democracy cannot help but be struck by the contrasting events that unfolded 3,000 miles apart late this week.

In Manhattan, the chairman and vice chairman of the New York Times Co. told the Securities and Exchange Commission that they plan to cut their own pay over the next two years and will use the savings to "reward exceptional performance" by employees not usually eligible for bonuses. New York Times Publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. and International Herald Tribune Publisher Michael Golden — both members of the family that controls the company — said they will forgo a combined $4 million of their own money over the next 24 months to create the incentive pool.

In Los Angeles, Jeffrey M. Johnson, this newspaper's publisher, and Dean Baquet, its editor, told one of their own reporters that they have rejected demands by the Tribune Co. to further cut The LA Times' staff. Since taking control of the paper six years ago, the Chicago-based Tribune has laid off or bought out about 20% of the paper's then-1,200 person staff."

Another quote: "Make no mistake, the Los Angeles Times — like most other American newspapers — is more than profitable. The newspaper you're currently holding generates a 20% profit margin, a figure that would give most Fortune 500 chief financial officers a spontaneous orgasm."

And the last one: "There's a simple truth at work here: A newspaper that is indifferent to its bottom line goes out of business; a newspaper that thinks only of its bottom line has a business that isn't worth saving."

Source: Los Angeles Times