Patterico's Pontifications

10/5/2006

L.A. Times Publisher Fired

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 8:59 pm



Jeff Johnson, the publisher of the L.A. Times, has been fired. As usual, Kevin Roderick has the best coverage. He quotes from a subscription-only Wall Street Journal article detailing how the departure came about. He notes that staffers are upset because the announcement came at a personally difficult time for Johnson, and was not delayed. Apparently Dean Baquet is staying, at least for the time being.

12 Responses to “L.A. Times Publisher Fired”

  1. As someone who lives two time zones east of Los Angeles and only buys the LAT at airports for its crossword puzzle, I am much more pleased that the Tribune Company also fired Dusty Baker.

    nk (50d578)

  2. Well, I’m no fan of the paper, but I wish Mr. Johnson the best of luck in his future endeavors. Sometimes, success is the art of managing failures with enthusiasm.

    I hope the LA Times takes this opportunity to do what every successful traditional media organization of late has done: embrace at least some conservative views.

    Keep some libs, add some cons. It’s a lot more fun (and it makes more people mad, leading to more interest). Plus it’s just a good thing to do. Read JS Mill if you don’t know why that is.

    Dustin (f4dd15)

  3. That is so sad. šŸ™ They fired him? They took away his livelihood? But he was entitled to that job.

    Oops, I forgot this isn’t France. His job was based on performance, not socialism nor communism.

    Christoph (9824e6)

  4. Changes are already promised at the (lesser) Times:

    1. Hats, hats, hats! Every day, PattMorrisson will appear on the front page in a new millinery style. Subscribers will get to see an even “better” view, with quite a bit “more” of Pat, nod nod wink wink.

    2. Their current lineup of friendly, establishment conservative columnists will remain.

    3. A new soup-can-literacy-level edition will capture the eyeballs of the LAUSD’s recent graduates.

    4. Over the next year, the LAT makes this pledge to its remaining readers: there will be 10% fewer lies, 10% less propaganda, and 10% more previously-undisclosed facts and previously-undisclosed affiliations will be disclosed.

    ImmigrationMarchOrganizersHaveForeignLinks (05c6a0)

  5. Does it matter, really? The LA Times is an intellectually dishonest, shamelessly partisan, leftist rag. I doubt that Mr. Johnson’s mission was to fix that.

    As for the Times’ faltering economics, on with the Internet Revolution! I look forward to the day when newsprint and the ink-stained wretches of the MSM are as quaint and economically viable as buggy whips.

    Redhand (a55231)

  6. So like you gonna start covering school board meetings?
    Staff cuts at LAT: Be careful what you wish for bloggers

    [Where did I say I wish for this, Surber? Most of your comments and posts about me are unnecessarily hostile and make unwarranted assumptions. This one is no exception. — P]

    Don Surber (1e4911)

  7. Surber, most of us want the LA Times to start covering the news rather than incessantly print the Left’s disingenuous propaganda. LA could really use a good newspaper, and it’s a crying shame LAT’s Lefty ideologues have put their interests above those of their profession.

    But, so far, the paper has continued with personalities and policies which lead only to disrepute and financial ruin. But, you already know that, I read your blog.

    If it takes staff cuts and changes at the senior levels before someone on Spring Street gets the news, then so be it. They have only themselves to blame.

    Black Jack (740da8)

  8. If you read LAObserved’s very thorough coverage of the shakeup, you may notice a certain shock–how could this type of thing happen to people like us. Already Hiller is being outed as a, gasp, conservative, and op-ed editor Martinez repeats the incorrect and snarkily scare quoted “quaint” attributed to AG Gonzalez but actually concocted by Newsweek’s missing ellipsis re the Geneva conventions.

    I feel sorry for them. How will Karen Stabiner, for instance, manage to earn a living among people who do not realize the important foreign policy implications of not watching West Wing?

    Change is good, if painful. New forms will emerge to replace the old. And once the ogre dies, we villagers will be free to report our own local news.

    Patricia (2cc180)

  9. It will still be the usial lying liberal leftists rag ite always has been nothing will change with the SMELL A TIMES

    krazy kagu (484aa9)

  10. The schadenfruede (sp?) is so intense I’m about to burst. ‘Brave’ publisher fired for refusing to cut a bloated staff. I hope Mr Tim Rutten also does the honorable step and co-resigns out of principle.

    Jack (a83d6d)

  11. Perhaps our esteemed host should have entitled this, “Don Quixote fired.”

    Dana (1d5902)

  12. […] L.A. Times op-ed editor AndrĆ©s Martinez recently circulated an internal memo with the following passage (via L.A. Observed; h/t Patricia): Michael McGough will join the Times as senior editorial writer on Nov. 1. Michael has been a visiting fellow on the editorial board since the spring, and has made himself indispensable by writing the most thoughtful editorials in the country on the wrestling between Congress and the administration over NSA wiretaps and such “quaint” matters as the Geneva Convention. […]

    Patterico’s Pontifications » L.A. Times Op-Ed Editor Circulates Internal Memo Repeating the Canard that the Bush Administration Called the Geneva Convention “Quaint” (421107)


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