{"id":386,"date":"2007-03-22T14:18:52","date_gmt":"2007-03-22T21:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"\/?p=386"},"modified":"2007-03-22T15:12:11","modified_gmt":"2007-03-22T22:12:11","slug":"the-days-of-our-los-angeles-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=386","title":{"rendered":"The Days Of Our Los Angeles Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago the Los Angeles Times announced that they were going to invite guests to edit their opinion section, Current. My initial response was that it was a terrible idea that trivialized the tradition of commentary in journalism. That impression was affirmed when they revealed that film producer Brian Grazer would be the inaugural guest editor. I have nothing against Grazer, but this is a news<\/i>paper (ostensibly) and its opinion pages should take that mission more seriously. If they had Bill Moyers or Peter Ueberroth launch the program, and held Grazer for a later edition, it would have given it more gravitas.<\/p>\n

Well now the scheme has produced some Hollywood melodrama of its own. Apparently the Times’ Editorial Page Editor Andres Martinez, who selected Grazer, was romantically involved with a publicist who works with Grazer. That appearance of a conflict of interest led publisher David Hiller to scrap this week’s Current (albeit belatedly, and after denying any conflict existed). That, in turn, led Martinez to resign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I really couldn’t care less about the management crowd at the Times who I believe to be journalistically challenged and beholden to their Chicago bosses and shareholders instead of their readers. But in a statement about his resignation<\/a>, Martinez wrote the following:<\/p>\n

“I will not be lectured on ethics by some ostensibly objective<\/strong> news reporters and editors who lobby for editorials to be written on certain subjects, or who have suggested that our editorial page coordinate more closely with the newsroom’s agenda<\/strong>.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Martinez’ observation about the Times’ reporters, and his revelation regarding the incestuous relationship between the news division and the opinion pages, is a more scandalous affair than the one between Martinez and Mullins. But the real problem with the Times was eloquently stated by Jeff McMahon in a posted response to Martinez:<\/p>\n

“It’s truly amazing that David Hiller has suddenly discovered the conflict of interest provisions of journalism’s codes of ethics. After all, the Tribune Company’s strategy has been to exploit situations in which interests are inherently conflicted – such as owning newspapers, television stations, radio stations, and in one truly unfortunate city, even a baseball team, in the same city, and then creating advertorial synergies between them. It’s a bit hard to believe anyone spawned by the Tribune Company headquarters is so concerned about ethics. So what’s really going on here?”<\/span><\/p>\n

I couldn’t have said it better myself.<\/p>\n

Update:<\/strong> This scandal may have more endurance than anyone currently anticipates. Bill Boyarsky<\/a>, former city editor at the Times, thinks a full investigation should be conducted to ascertain whether any other conflicts may have occurred.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of weeks ago the Los Angeles Times announced that they were going to invite guests to edit their opinion section, Current. My initial response was that it was a terrible idea that trivialized the tradition of commentary in journalism. That impression was affirmed when they revealed that film producer Brian Grazer would be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-6e","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":418,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=418","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":0},"title":"Los Angeles Times Book Festers","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/24\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"On April 28-29, The Los Angeles Times will hold its 12th annual Festival of Books. The event is one of the largest book fairs in the country and features over 400 authors and almost 100 panels on subjects ranging from \"Food Fight: When Did Eating Get Controversial?\" to \"Sands of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":762,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=762","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":1},"title":"Another Head Rolls At The Los Angeles Times","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/21\/2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The Los Angeles Times is about to get its fourth editor in less than three years. News has leaked from the Times' newsroom that editor James O'Shea has been sacked for the same reason three of his predecessors were ushered out. O'Shea, who was air-dropped in from the Chicago hive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":278,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=278","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":2},"title":"The Last Straw At The Los Angeles Times","author":"Mark NC","date":"11\/7\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The Wall Street Journal (via L.A. Observed) just reported that the Los Angeles Times has fired its editor, Dean Baquet. The Times parent, Tribune Company, has been on a mission to eviscerate what remains of the paper by slashing personnel. A month ago they fired the publisher, Jeff Johnson, for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":249,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=249","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":3},"title":"Lights Out At The L.A. Times?","author":"Mark NC","date":"10\/7\/2006","format":false,"excerpt":"The turmoil continues at the Los Angeles Times where the Chicago mob (Tribune) is exerting more pressure. Starting with the announcement that the publisher, Jeff Johnson, has been fired and replaced by mob boss, David Hiller. Nikke Finke has the goods on Hiller, whom the Times has soft-peddled as a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=37","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":4},"title":"Deadline News","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/28\/2005","format":false,"excerpt":"New Public Broadcasting Chief Wants Conservative Viewers \"Does public television belong to the Democrats?\" he asks. Sam Donaldson On Network News: \"I think it's dead.\" \"...if someone shot the President, which network would you turn to? It will be cable, the Internet--something other than General Hospital being interrupted.\" Future of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":316,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=316","url_meta":{"origin":386,"position":5},"title":"A Declaration Of Independence From The Los Angeles Times","author":"Mark NC","date":"4\/3\/2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Human beings are creatures of habit. We find great comfort in familiar surroundings and established routines. That's why, despite the abundance of persuasions, it is still difficult to break free from a decades long ritual of breakfast with the Los Angeles Times. Difficult, but not impossible. The time has now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Media"","block_context":{"text":"Big Media","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=12"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}