Election Night Massacre: ‘LA Times’ Editor Ousted

Dean Baquet, the Los Angeles Times editor who publicly defied his corporate bosses in their demands to cut newsroom jobs while managing to retain his own, was forced out yesterday, shocking the newsroom.

His departure follows that of publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson, who also objected to the cuts and who was fired last month. Baquet will be leaving on Friday, to be succeeded on Monday by James O’Shea, managing editor of The Chicago Tribune, reports The New York Times.

One editor of the paper described employees as being “stricken,” while another said they were “crushed.” Some are describing the event as the “election day massacre.”

According to a statement by new publisher David Hiller, he and Baquet continued to disagree about the need for job cuts. “Dean and I concluded that we have significant differences on the future direction of The Times,” he is quoted as saying.
Some in the newsroom are saying that Baquet’s departure has less to do with the fact that the two could not come to an agreement on cuts than with the fact that Baquet has continued to be vocal about avoiding them. In a speech last month to newspaper managing editors, he encouraged them to be “feistier” when it came to newsroom layoffs.

Hiller said in an interview that Baquet’s public resistance to cuts was not a fatal problem, but that his speech in New Orleans “was not helpful to Dean and me in working through things.”

On addressing the newsroom yesterday, Hiller said that no cuts were expected at least through the rest of the year, and that it was possible that further cuts could be reached through attrition.

The battle at the Los Angeles Times has been a stark example of the conflict many newspapers are facing between the desires of newsrooms to bring quality news to readers, and boardrooms’ need to improve financial results in the face of an economic slump and continued Wall Street demands.

Parent Tribune Company is looking into options to increase value for shareholders, which many believe might include the sale of some or all of its assets.

Hiller sent a memo to staff members last week in which he pinpointed six ways the paper can increase circulation and ad revenue.

David Geffen and two other Los Angeles billionaires have expressed interest in acquiring the paper, and some in the newsroom hope that that will happen, and that Baquet will be rehired as editor.

Baquet confirmed his departure in a staff email, just a few minutes after the news broke on the Wall Street Journal website, writes AP. Stating that, “I didn’t want it to come out this way,” he added, “Do me a bigger favor. Let’s do a hell of a job on the election tonight.”