Latimes.com, the paper's online edition, has been adding readers at about a 20% annualized clip recently, Stanton said. The print version of The Times, the nation's fourth-largest daily, however, has seen daily circulation fall to about 780,000 from a peak of more than 1.1 million in the early 1990s, though it has shown a slight improvement recently.
The print newspaper generates more than 90% of The Times' revenue, but Hiller noted that the share from online publishing has been growing rapidly.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, February 17, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 36 words Type of Material: Correction
Times executive appointments: In an article in Friday's Section A about Russ Stanton being named The Times' 14th editor, the last name of Los Angeles Times Media Group's marketing chief John O'Loughlin was misspelled as O'Laughlin.
"We are literally in a battle to save the future of this great newspaper and we have to change to survive and thrive in the new world," Hiller said in an interview Thursday.
Stanton doesn't have the same range of experience as many of his predecessors, who before moving into the editor's chair had won Pulitzer Prizes and other accolades for their own reporting or coverage they supervised. High-visibility assignments covering wars or Washington traditionally have been steppingstones to the top job at The Times and other large newspapers.
In an interview, Stanton said he might be viewed as an unconventional choice.
"We have literally dozens of people here who have been involved in winning Pulitzer Prizes in recent years," he said. "What I bring to the table is an understanding of our print newsroom, our website and the Internet, and how we can make those three things work together to ensure that we're going to be around for another 126 years."
Stanton indicated that the paper, operating with about one-third fewer staffers than a decade ago, would need to cut back reporting in some areas. He declined to specify where those rollbacks might come but said The Times would beef up coverage of Southern California.
Some in the newsroom worried that finances would crimp the ambitious foreign and national coverage that has long been part of The Times' signature. Stanton said, however, that the paper needed "to retain some of the hallmarks of our coverage, such as foreign and national reports."
Times staffers said the paper's recent struggles had sapped morale and expressed hope that the new editor would be a positive force.
"I would say the atmosphere here is as bad as I have ever seen it," said Greg Krikorian, who has worked as a reporter and editor during his 18 years at The Times. "So the hope is Russ will bring some stability to what has been a long and tough ride for this paper. He's smart, he's engaged and he knows this place."
