"The Times is, and under Tribune ownership will continue to be, a truly great newspaper," he concluded.
Some executives at The Times immediately rebutted FitzSimons' contentions, noting, for instance, that the editor who was responsible for many of the awards left the paper in protest over staff cuts.
The current imbroglio erupted into the public last week after Baquet was quoted in The Times saying that more staff reductions would do serious damage to the quality of the newspaper. He was backed by Johnson, who said "newspapers can't cut their way into the future."
The impasse began in late August, when Tribune Publishing President Scott C. Smith flew to Los Angeles for a meeting with Baquet and Johnson to discuss proposed staff cuts. Both before and during the Aug. 25 meeting, the Times executives declined to present Smith with a list of reductions, people familiar with the session said.
The two sides have not met since then. Proposed staffing cuts have not been forthcoming from Los Angeles. But Smith last week played down the disagreement, which he called "part of a dynamic process."
Smith said there had been "excellent progress" in budgeting sessions with The Times but declined to say what he would do if his top managers dug in their heels. "I have great respect for Jeff and Dean," Smith said. "And I won't respond to a hypothetical at this time."
Other newspaper industry observers disagreed on how long Smith and FitzSimons would allow the split with their biggest newspaper to go unresolved.
One top Tribune manager said he sympathized with efforts to stave off more job cuts, which have beset an industry that is losing ad revenue to the Internet. Like many of those interviewed for this story, the manager requested anonymity so as not to upset Tribune managers.
But the Tribune manager added, "How long can you have your biggest subsidiary in a sort of open rebellion? Especially from Jeff, who was put out there because he is a company loyalist. You can't have this at a time when there is so much other instability."
A top executive at a large newspaper chain predicted that Johnson and Baquet would be fired. "I hope those guys have their career plans well made," the newspaperman said, "because you do not tell Dennis FitzSimons and those guys at Tribune you are not going to do something. If you do, you are going to be on the beach, real soon."
