The departure of Los Angeles Times editor James O’Shea, resulting from a dispute with publisher David Hiller over cost cuts, throws light on increasing concerns for editors: how can they maintain editorial quality while the budget shrinks?
James O’Shea is the second top editor of the Los Angeles Times to leave within 15 months over cost-cutting disputes.
In the past week three big name editors have been fired. Dean Baquet, Los Angeles Times, Amanda Bennett, Philadelphia Inquirer, and Debra Adams, Akron Beacon Journal were each separately forced out of their editor positions by newspaper owners because of their unwillingness to cut more staffers.
The
Philadelphia Inquirer, the metropolis’ largest newspaper, may have to layoff up to 150 of its 425 staffers.
Philadelphia Media Holdings’, the Inquirer’s new owner, CEO
Brian Tierney wrote a memo a few weeks ago commenting on revenue losses of the paper, which were even greater than expected, especially in national advertising.
Posted by John Burke on November 8, 2006 at 11:12 AM
Little more than a month after
losing its publisher, the
Los Angeles Times is saying goodbye to its editor-in-chief,
Dan Baquet. Former publisher
Jeffrey M. Johnson and Baquet
publicly denounced the idea of cutting more newsroom staff at the
Tribune Co. owned paper. After Johnson's firing, Baquet was pinned to stay for the long haul, but apparently differences with new publisher
David Hiller could not be resolved.
Posted by John Burke on October 6, 2006 at 12:38 PM
Because he announced publicly his refusal to cut more jobs at his paper, Jefferey M. Johnson, publisher of the Los Angeles Times, was asked to resign. The paper's parent company, Tribune, is under considerable pressure from shareholders to cut costs and improve its stock market value. With Johnson out, Tribune will take control of the paper it purchased in 2002 and which makes up 25% of its overall revenue.
