A crazy owner and inept management are destroying a critically important Southern California institution. And I’m not talking about the Dodgers.
Recent layoffs of veteran writers at the L.A. Times are not just symptoms of a declining newspaper business. The once-powerful daily has been run into the ground by Tribune Company’s Sam Zell, who acquired the property from the Chandlers.
The below-standard L.A. Times online version lets civic-minded residents keep track of regional affairs, while showcasing a few top-notch local journalists. But with the firing of 39-year reporter / editor / columnist Tim Rutten and other seasoned writers, the Times has plunged deeper into the abyss.
When I got to town 30 years ago, the L.A. Times influence was extraordinary. As a PR guy, I learned that getting coverage in that paper set up the whole news cycle. I watched as the Times singlehandedly tore down powerful local figures (remember former L.A. Coroner Thomas Noguchi)?
Now L.A. Times investigations barely matter (did anyone read the recent five-part “expose´” on the Community College District construction program)?
There’s talk about Tribune trying to unload the Times-Mirror Square building and of operational mergers with the Orange County Register.
But it looks as if this century-old powerhouse – which began as a virulent anti-union, jingoistic rag and was transformed into a nationally-recognized metropolitan daily – is now suffering its worst indignity:
Irrelevance.
This piece first appeared at LaborLou.com.
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