What's this? A publisher who's tired of gutting his newspaper on orders from
corporate headquarters? Jeffrey M. Johnson has been ousted as publisher of
the Los Angeles Times, the L.A. subsidiary of the (Chicago) Tribune Co., for
refusing to cut his staff back still further.
Imagine that-a publisher who believes that the way to save a newspaper is to
maintain and expand its quality, not sacrifice it. A new publisher now has
been dispatched from Chicago to make sure the troops in L.A. toe the line.
It's no surprise to learn that he's the old publisher of the Chicago
Tribune, a lawyer by trade who worked his way up the corporate ladder. This
is what newspapers have come to.
It isn't exactly a new phenomenon, this transformation of the Hometown News
into just another branch of Distant Corp. to be milked for all it used to be
worth.
One of the most successful and respected of newspaper chains, the once
mighty Knight Ridder, has just been hacked up and its body parts sold. It
seems its 32 daily newspapers had been able to record "only" a 20 percent
return on investment in recent years.
Cut back on the quality of a newspaper in order to show an impressive
short-term return for the market's sake, and the slide toward disaster has
begun. Readers will notice and begin drifting away, and advertisers will
soon follow. It won't be long before the vultures are circling.
For now the best hope for restoring the L.A. Times' reputation may be its
sale to somebody who would take personal pride in it, and personal
responsibility for it.
A century ago, an editor of a small paper in Kansas made it a great one, not
in circulation but in quality. He gave that little people a national
presence. His name was William Allen White, and the secret of his paper's
appeal was its identity with its publisher-and his with it.
William Allen White's fellow citizens knew he was deeply invested in his
community, and would stand by his beliefs whatever the cost. They might not
agree with the Emporia Gazette, but they could respect it. It had character,
just as its owner did. Continued... |