The top editor of The Los Angeles Times has been forced out for resisting newsroom budget cuts, executives at the paper say, marking the fourth time in less than three years that the highest-ranking editor or the publisher has left for that reason.
The removal of the editor, James O’Shea, by the publisher, David Hiller, mirrors the odd spectacle of a little more than a year ago, when Mr. Hiller’s predecessor, Jeffrey M. Johnson, was fired for refusing to make layoffs. Both of the dismissed men were longtime employees of the Times’ owner, The Tribune Company, which was taken over last month by Samuel Zell, the Chicago-based real estate magnate. Both were expected to rein in the fractious Los Angeles paper but instead sided with the newsroom and lost their jobs for it.
The departure of Mr. O’Shea appears to contradict statements by Mr. Zell, who is now chairman and chief executive of the financially troubled Tribune Company. He has repeatedly criticized the previous regime of the financially troubled company for trying to improve the bottom line by cutting, and has said that he believes the path to profit lies in finding new revenues, not paring back existing revenue sources.
John S. Carroll left in 2005, citing budget issues.
Dean Baquet replaced him in 2006, and was fired over pushing back against proposed cuts. His publisher, Jeffrey M. Johnson, also got whacked for refusing to impose cuts.