In a less-than-surprising development the Los Angeles Times's publisher who refused to carry out his owner's orders to make job cuts has lost his own job. By ousting Jeffrey Johnson, it may be possible for the Tribune company to reassert control, but it has left in place the editor, Dean Baquet, who had also refused to make the cuts. Baquet says he believes he will have a further chance to protect his staff and his editorial budget in discussions with a new publisher.
The story of Johnson's dismissal was reported very boldly in the LA Times itself. The opening sentence read: "Tribune Co. forced Los Angeles Times publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson to step down Thursday, three weeks after he stirred a national debate about corporate ownership of newspapers by publicly defying a demand for staff cuts in his newsroom ." It is unimaginable that a British paper would come close to doing that. (Via New York Times)
