Chicago Editor Quits as Tribune Cuts Deeper

"Gotta REALIZE WAR HAS BEEN DECLARED by the Google's and Fox's . . . and FIGHT BACK . . . RECLAIM YOUR TURF! Ain't gonna happen by osmosis."

Dean Baquet, Washington bureau chief of the New York Times, who shared a 1988 Pulitzer Prize with Lipinski for reporting on city council corruption, called her a "terrific" journalist who "cared deeply about Chicago. She spent much of her career writing about the city, and she's a fine writer."

Tribune's previous management fired Baquet as editor of the Los Angeles Times in 2006 after he battled against staff reductions. In January, Baquet's successor, Jim O'Shea -- who had been the Tribune's managing editor -- was also fired in a battle over budget cuts, and he assailed the company's "asinine" priorities.

Lipinski "is presiding over a newspaper making one of its biggest cuts ever," Baquet said. "I don't know how you do that without significantly affecting the way you cover things. You spend more time thinking about cutting than you do about journalism and chasing stories." After the latest cutbacks, the Tribune newsroom will have shrunk from 670 to 500 in less than three years.

"Ann Marie was a giant who never wavered in her commitment to excellence," Tackett said. "She honored really aggressive reporting and elegant writing." As for Kern, he said, "the good news is that Gerry has worked on that [newsroom] floor at a high level for many years."

Times Publisher David Hiller also resigned yesterday, but told the staff in a memo that it was hardly voluntary. "Sam's the boss. He gets to pick his own quarterback," he wrote.

Hiller presided over deep cuts -- and forced Baquet out -- after the previous publisher, Jeffrey Johnson, quit in 2006 rather than carry out Tribune's budget-trimming plans. Times Editor Russ Stanton said yesterday he will begin identifying the 150 staffers who are losing their jobs over the next six weeks.

"The days and weeks ahead will be difficult ones, filled with pain, anger and sadness," Stanton wrote his staff. "All of us need to respect the feelings of those who are leaving us, and the editors who are being asked to handle duties they did not seek. As I've said before, I deeply regret that these cost-saving moves will result in the loss of work for the many people who have served this company well."