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LOS ANGELES (AFX) - A day after Tribune Co. ousted the publisher of the Los Angeles Times, the paper's editorial employees circulated a petition expressing "firm support" for editor Dean Baquet, who has decided to stay and fight further budget cuts.
Chicago-based Tribune forced the resignation of Times publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson Thursday. The much anticipated move came after a highly publicized show of defiance last month by Johnson and Baquet against the latest proposed Tribune cuts.
David D. Hiller, who has been publisher of the Chicago Tribune, was named Johnson's successor. He said Thursday he would meet with Baquet to discuss their vision of the paper and would approach the issue of further cuts with an open mind.
Friday, several Times reporters and editors drafted a letter to Tribune Chief Executive Dennis FitzSimons and Tribune board members backing Baquet's plan to invest in the paper's newsgathering efforts.
"We ask that our new publisher, David Hiller, and the management of the Tribune Co. carefully consider and approve Dean's plans for strategic investments in the newspaper and its website that will expand revenues, enhance Los Angeles Times journalism and ensure a prosperous future for the company and its largest newspaper," the petition states.
"We are 960 employees who love this enterprise and we believe that if someone invested in this constellation of assets we could turn flagging revenues around, maybe even expand our circulation," said Vernon Loeb, California investigations editor at the Times and one of the employees organizing the petition drive.
Hiller met for about an hour with the paper's senior editors Thursday, fielding questions and assuring them that he did not have any orders from Chicago to cut a certain number of jobs or a set percentage of the Times budget.
Loeb said Times employees, while disappointed over Johnson's ouster, were willing to give Hiller a chance.
"We want the Tribune Co. to succeed," Loeb said. "We know we're, for the moment, owned by them and inextricably tied to them. They don't want to sell us and that's OK with us."
Hiller is the third Times publisher since Tribune Co. bought Times Mirror in 2000. The two previous publishers, Johnson and John Puerner, were both career Tribune employees who made deep cuts at the Times, then left after resisting Tribune pressure to cut further.
"We're hopeful for the moment that we can win him over like we won the last two Tribune publishers over," Loeb said. "If you're a good businessman, it's the only case that makes sense." Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
Copyright 2006 AFX News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
