L.A. Civic Leaders Send Protest Letter to Tribune About 'LA Times' Cuts

By: Joe Strupp A group of prominent Los Angeles residents are protesting the continued cutbacks at the Los Angeles Times through a letter sent to The Tribune Company, which owns the paper, the Times reported today.

The Times stated that 20 "civic leaders" sent the protest letter to the Chicago-based company, "saying that continued staff reductions threatened to seriously erode the quality of journalism at The Times." The letter also hinted that Tribune should consider selling the paper if it is not willing to provide the necessary resources.

"If on the other hand, the Tribune Company believes this is not economically feasible given its own financial goals, perhaps a different mode of ownership would better serve Los Angeles," the letter states, according to the paper.

The paper revealed that the letter had been signed by, among others, former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher. It reportedly urged Tribune Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Dennis J. FitzSimons and the company's board "to resist economic pressures to make additional cuts which could remove it from the top ranks of American journalism."

"All newspapers serve an important civic role," the letter continued, "but as a community voice in the metropolitan region, the Los Angeles Times is irreplaceable."

Others who signed the letter were Los Angeles County Federation of Labor chief Maria Elena Durazo, developer Steve Soboroff, Los Angeles Police Commission Chairman John Mack and Geoffrey Cowan, dean of USC's Annenberg School for Communication.

The Times reported that the letter described the newspaper as having a "special public trust, a responsibility to serve the community while making a reasonable profit."

After reading the letter, which was first sent by e-mail late Tuesday, Tribune executives said they welcomed the perspective of local leaders, the paper reported. Tribune Publishing President Scott C. Smith said the letter affirmed the stature of The Times, which he said had only improved since the paper's acquisition by Tribune six years ago.

But staffing levels, Smith told the paper, are only one sign of a newspaper's importance. "There is a misperception that counting numbers of people is the right way to measure the quality of a great newspaper," he said. "You are mixing quality and quantity."

Tribune executives received the letter about two weeks after a budget meeting at the Times' offices, the paper said. In that meeting, Editor Dean Baquet told Smith "that the paper had cut enough jobs in recent years." If anything, he said, The Times needed to add positions to thoroughly cover local, national and international news, sources told the paper.

Smith told the editor that reductions would be necessary but did not mention an exact number, the paper said. Baquet and other Times executives believe that a substantial loss of editors, reporters or photographers would be harmful because the paper has already eliminated more than 200 positions over the last five years from an editorial staff that numbered nearly 1,200, the Times reported.