Times Publisher, Who Resisted Cuts, Ousted

The regime change at The Times played out just two weeks after a special committee of Tribune's board of directors announced that it would entertain offers to purchase the company or some of its assets. In addition to The Times and the Chicago Tribune, the company owns KTLA-TV Channel 5, baseball's Chicago Cubs, WGN-TV in Chicago and nine other newspapers and about two dozen TV stations.

Tribune bought The Times six years ago as part of its $8-billion acquisition of Los Angeles-based Times Mirror Co. The marriage was problematic almost from the start. But, at least initially, disputes between Tribune's management and editors in Los Angeles had been kept behind closed doors.

The tensions leapt into public view last month when a group of 20 prominent Los Angeles citizens, including former Secretary of State Warren Christopher, wrote to the paper's Chicago management, saying that the paper had already suffered because of cuts that reduced the news staff from about 1,200 to 940. Further reductions, the group said, could force The Times out of "the top ranks of American journalism."

The civic leaders urged Tribune to return the paper to local ownership if it could not meet its financial goals without making further cuts.

When interviewed by The Times, Baquet said he had refused to make substantial cuts or order layoffs. Johnson backed his editor and said, "Newspapers can't cut their way into the future. We have to carefully balance economic realities with serving our readers."

Journalists around the country cheered the duo for fighting to hold the line against further contraction, while some publishers said the intransigence was not realistic in a time when newspaper revenues continue to be eroded by the Internet and other new media outlets.

Johnson, 47, told friends after publicly defying his bosses that he realized his job could be on the line. In an interview Thursday, Johnson said that it became apparent "late last week" that he would have to leave the paper.

Rumors of a change at The Times began to leak out Wednesday. But Tribune executives declined to comment. Smith, Hiller and two other executives flew to Los Angeles later in the day.

Tribune's publishing president and Johnson met first thing Thursday, sealing the publisher's ouster. At the same hour, Baquet and Hiller, The Times' new publisher, met for the first time over coffee at a downtown hotel. By day's end Johnson had vacated his second-floor office, ending an 18-month tenure as publisher.