'L.A. Times' Asks Reporter Not to Comment on His Role in GM Ad Pullout

By: E&P Staff While a business crisis at his newspaper swirls around him, Dan Neil, writer of a 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning car column, has been asked by his paper, the Los Angeles Times, to refrain from commenting, he said when reached by E&P this afternoon.

A General Motors official quoted anonymously in a Times article today said Neil's April 6 column criticizing the automaker was one reason why GM pulled its advertising (estimated at $10 million or more a year) from the paper. Neil had written that GM was in "a morass" and called for the ouster of its chairman, at least partly for not acting faster to develop fuel-efficient cars.

Sources inside the Times told E&P they don't think Neil has been pressured to pull his punches since GM decided to stop advertising.