A Los Angeles Times editor is forced out ... again

Posted 50 weeks 3 days ago by Joel

Another reason to be worried about democracy: The Los Angeles Times forced out its top editor over the weekend -- the fourth time in three years that has happened.

James O'Shea left for the same reasons his predecessors did: He didn't want to make massive cuts to the newsroom budget. Especially not in a presidential campaign year.

Officials at The Times said (the publisher) had ordered a $4 million cut in the newsroom budget. Some said he specifically sought to cut expenses related to covering the presidential campaign, a time when such expenses usually spike.

There are lots of good business-related reasons why papers like the L.A. Times are cutting staff these days: Fewer and fewer people are reading print, and while a lot of them have migrated to the Web, news organizations are still figuring out how to make a profit -- and, oh yeah, pay for reporting -- in the new Webbified world.

But in the meantime, robust coverage of the presidential campaign is threatened. And if the cuts don't come there, the cuts will come anyway -- just from some other area of coverage that's probably also important.

UPDATE: Yes, I should be reading Ben with my morning coffee.