Tribune Co. forced Los Angeles Times Publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson to step down Thursday, three weeks after he stirred a national debate about corporate ownership of newspapers by publicly defying a demand for staff cuts in his newsroom.
Johnson was replaced immediately by David Hiller, the publisher of the company's hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune. Hiller is the 12th executive to lead The Times in its 125-year history.
Tribune Publishing President Scott C. Smith said in an interview that he hoped the management change would help put an end to speculation that the company intended to sell The Times.
"There is both strategic value and a financial value in The Times being part of Tribune," Smith said. "The Times is important to us."
His stance would seem to thwart overtures by three wealthy L.A. businessmen who have expressed interest in buying the paper and a campaign by civic leaders to promote local ownership.
Hiller, 53, held a series of meetings with employees through the afternoon and then met with business leaders Thursday night in Century City. He and Times Editor Dean Baquet agreed that Baquet would remain in his post, a decision both said they planned to revisit after they had had more time to work together.
Hiller said he had no preconceived ideas about whether to follow through with job cuts. Johnson and Baquet had refused to cut as many as 100 newsroom positions, contending such a move would damage a newspaper widely regarded as one of the nation's best.
"I don't have a plan or a set of numbers or any set of definitive answers," Hiller said in an interview at The Times. "What I want to do is come in, get to know the place, get to know my new colleagues and, with them, figure it out."
Hiller told Times editors that he would not have taken the publisher's job if Tribune executives had ordered him to reduce the newspaper's staff by a specific number. He also said he understood the value readers placed on The Times' national and foreign coverage.
Times staffers were somewhat reassured by Baquet's pledge to stay at the paper. Some had predicted that such a departure would trigger an exodus of other top journalists.
"I have a tremendous loyalty to Jeff," Baquet told a somber gathering of senior editors, who packed into a conference room late Thursday morning. "But, as I have said before, the paper has to come first.
"I am going to make as compelling a case as I can about [maintaining] the size of the newsroom," Baquet added.
