In the end, no amount of staff devotion nor heartfelt writing on his behalf nor even t-shirts bearing his face could protect L.A. Times editor Dean Baquet from the fundamental difference he shared with parent company Tribune:
He believed they should spend money on the paper. Tribune - and its short-sighted shareholders - did not.
LAObserved points to a subscription only story at the Wall Street Journal saying that Baquet is "stepping down under pressure from Tribune Company."
Then the Times runs one of its patented un-bylined pieces of the sort reserved for such grim changings of the guard, adding relatively little beyond a bit of color from Baquet's newsroom announcement that followed the Journal story:
Los Angeles Times Editor Dean Baquet today said he will leave the newspaper following a struggle over cost-cutting with the paper's owner, Tribune Co.
Baquet's departure comes about a month after Chicago-based Tribune Co. forced Times Publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson to step down after he publicly defied a demand for staff cuts in his newsroom. Johnson was replaced immediately by David Hiller, the publisher of the company's hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune.
Baquet confirmed his departure in an e-mail to the Times editorial staff after the Wall Street Journal reported the management shake-up.
"Believe me, I didn't want it to come out this way," Baquet said in his e-mail. "Give me some time, and I'll talk to the entire newsroom later this afternoon."
He added: "Let's do a hell of a job on the election tonight."
A write-thru by Jim Rainey added this info about Baquet's replacement - and the bleak fiscal landscape that awaits the survivors of his ouster:
Baquet will be replaced by James O'Shea, who is currently managing editor of the Chicago Tribune and a long-time employee of the Tribune company, which owns The Times and 10 other daily newspapers.
O'Shea is expected to assume the job on Monday.
Baquet's fight with Tribune became public in late September when he and then Publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson defied calls for reductions in the Times newsroom staff of about 940.
Baquet told reporters and editors gathered in his office that he did not know whether staff cuts would now go ahead, but it's widely believed among newsroom executives that substantial reductions will be ordered, probably by next year.
I won't attempt to keep up with this one - just watch LAObserved for further newsroom-insider info on Baquet's remarks.
One nagging question remains for me: would they have let him go if they really intended to sell the paper?
UPDATE
A further writethru to the LATimes story has this mystifyingly brief, if inspirational excerpt from Baquet's desktop speech to the newsroom staff:
Baquet, standing on a desk before a large group of editorial employees, urged the staff to work with his replacement and remaining executives to improve the newspaper.
"I don't want to dwell on the last month," Baquet said in the paper's third floor newsroom. "I want to think broader. I want to think about the last six years. I want people to think about the Pulitzers. You've got to keep making the paper better."
Posted by: Mack_Reed on Tuesday, November 07, 2006 - 02:06 PM
