The Times editorial staff stands at about 940, down from its 2001 level of nearly 1,200. About 870 employees are devoted directly to putting out the newspaper, when adjunct operations are not counted.
Smith has not demanded a specific number of job cuts, but those familiar with the process predict that the paper could eventually be asked to trim dozens of positions.
But Baquet was distressed when Tribune asked for further cuts this year, after The Times dropped about 90 newsroom employees in late 2005. Tribune had already forced the paper to drop the equivalent of one full page of news a day beginning in May on top of a similar cut in 2004.
The parent company also ordered a $1-million cut over two years in The Times' foreign operations, which has resulted in lost support staff and the shuttering of bureaus in Rio de Janeiro, Vienna and Seoul.
FitzSimons noted in his Monday letter to the Los Angeles leaders that The Times still "has the largest editorial staff and budget of any metropolitan newspaper in America without nationwide circulation."
That doesn't change the feelings of many of those inside The Times that the paper cannot meet its obligations to cover the world, nation and a complex region with substantially fewer reporters and editors.
"Dean felt like they were just chipping away and chipping away, and this is as far as it should go," said one senior Times manager who had spoken to the editor.
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james.rainey@latimes.com
thomas.mulligan@latimes.com
