By: E&P Staff The recently appointed publisher of the Los Angeles Times -- who just replaced the paper's top editor -- made what he admitted was an "odd request" of its staff this morning: Read a critical piece in today's paper and then spend "an equal amount of time today thinking about the future of the newspaper."
The lengthy piece in question was written by the paper's James Rainey, and it covers the rocky six years of the paper's ownership by the Tribune Co. Editor Dean Baquet was eased out earlier this week. It is headlined, "A media match plagued by a clash of cultures."
The Wall Street Journal, meanwhile, is out with a story on the "bad marriage between the LAT and Tribune. The money graf: "Some Tribune executives think the Times is arrogant, spoiled and overstaffed, a paper with global ambitions that has ignored local readers. Some Times people consider the Chicago Tribune an inferior, provincial product. Times denizens, proud of their city's position as the nation's second largest, see the paper's owners as bean counters in business suits. Tribune thinks its Californian charges are too slick and prefer to take pride in the company's Chicago roots."
Here is Hiller's memo -- which was titled "Play It Forward" -- and then a link to the Rainey article.
***
"I'm sure you will all see Jim Rainey's excellent retrospective piece in
today's paper on the six years of The Times and Tribune living together.
And I'm sure there are lessons in there.
"But I'm going to make what I hope you won't think an odd request. If
you read the piece, time yourself, and promise me you will spend an
equal amount of time today thinking about the future of this newspaper.
"Play the story forward, and imagine the news stories we would like to
see over the next year about how we are looking and moving ahead. [Only one story allowed on new local ownership.:-)] Let's think about the
story of how we grew our local audience by re-connecting with Southern
California; the story about how the Spring Street Project changed
forever how we worked across print and online; how we reached out to our Latino community and audience like never before (including through
wonderful programs like last night's on the Siqueiros mural that Patt
Morrison and Suzanne Muchnic helped lead); and many others we will
invent and write.
"And if you come up with some, send them to me. I love reading about the future."
***
Click here to read the Rainey article.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here