Twenty Los Angeles civic leaders sent a letter of protest to the Chicago-based owners of the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, saying that continued staff reductions threatened to seriously erode the quality of journalism at The Times.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher was among the prominent citizens who urged Tribune Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Dennis J. FitzSimons and the media company's board of directors "to resist economic pressures to make additional cuts which could remove it from the top ranks of American journalism."
"All newspapers serve an important civic role," the letter adds, "but as a community voice in the metropolitan region, the Los Angeles Times is irreplaceable."
Joining Christopher in signing the letter were Los Angeles County Federation of Labor chief Maria Elena Durazo, developer Steve Soboroff, Los Angeles Police Commission Chairman John Mack and Geoffrey Cowan, dean of USC's Annenberg School for Communication.
They described the newspaper as having a "special public trust, a responsibility to serve the community while making a reasonable profit."
The two-page letter urges Tribune to put more, not less, money into the newspaper. "If on the other hand, the Tribune Company believes this is not economically feasible given its own financial goals, perhaps a different mode of ownership would better serve Los Angeles," the letter concludes.
After reading the letter, which was first sent by e-mail late Tuesday, Tribune executives said they welcomed the perspective of local leaders. Tribune Publishing President Scott C. Smith said the letter affirmed the stature of The Times, which he said had only improved since the paper's acquisition by Tribune six years ago.
But staffing levels, Smith added, are only one indication of a newspaper's importance. "There is a misperception that counting numbers of people is the right way to measure the quality of a great newspaper," he said. "You are mixing quality and quantity."
Smith said that technology would make Tribune more efficient as a publisher. For example, a common editing system at all 11 Tribune daily papers soon will speed production and could reduce the number of editors needed, he said.
The Tribune leaders received the letter a little more than two weeks after a budget meeting at the Times' offices. In that meeting, Editor Dean Baquet told Smith that the paper had cut enough jobs in recent years. If anything, he said, The Times needed to add positions to thoroughly cover local, national and international news, people familiar with the event said.
