L.A. Times Editor Fired as Tribune Co. Remakes Itself

Reporters at the paper described a dramatic scene yesterday when Baquet called the newsroom together in the afternoon, climbed on a desk and told them he'd been fired. Staffers applauded before and after Baquet spoke and some were in tears.

He was described as upbeat, saying: "Put out a good paper tomorrow. Give me something to be proud of."

Hiller addressed the room afterward, and, according to one staffer, drew some sneers by noting that yesterday's events had been hard on him, as well.

Times reporters described the atmosphere at the paper as "dismal," "rock bottom" and "like a crypt." "I can't imagine how you could ruin the reputation of a paper and kill morale more quickly in one fell swoop" than to fire Baquet, said one Times staffer in the paper's Washington bureau. "We're all just dumbstruck." Times reporters and editors spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared for their jobs.

But several of them downplayed rumors of a mass exodus from the paper. "That really wouldn't serve any purpose," one reporter said. "People have tuition to pay, kids to feed but they also still want the newspaper to improve."

At one point, the L.A. Times had a newsroom staff of 1,200, which has been trimmed to about 940. Its daily circulation through September was 775,766, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations.

By comparison, the New York Times, with a daily circulation of 1,086,798, currently has about 1,200 newsroom employees. The Washington Post, with a daily circulation of 662,100, has about 750 newsroom staffers after a recent buyout.

Tribune Co. acquired the L.A. Times as part of Times Mirror Inc. in 2000, also gaining the Baltimore Sun and other papers.

At a speech to editors in New Orleans late last month after Johnson had been sacked, Baquet said: "This is a giant moment in the life of newspapers. We all understand the business model is changing and we have to do some cutting . . . but don't understand it too much."

Baquet said he found editors "all too willing to buy the arguments for cuts," saying newsroom bosses "need to be a feistier bunch." At the time, Baquet said he considered resigning but decided to stay at the paper.

Poor stock performance by the Tribune Co. has led to a boardroom revolt. A minority of directors have agitated for a sale or breakup of the company to raise shareholder value. The company has received bids from at least two private-equity groups and said it will conclude the process by the end of the year.

Staff reporters Tamara Jones in Washington and John Pomfret in Los Angeles contributed to this report.