Posted on 11/11/2005 6:33:35 AM PST by Pikamax
By J. Michael Kennedy and Rong-Gong Lin II Times Staff Writers
November 11, 2005
In a major shake-up of its editorial pages, the Los Angeles Times announced Thursday that it was discontinuing one of its most liberal columnists as well as its conservative editorial cartoonist.
Editorial Page Editor Andrés Martinez said that Robert Scheer, a Times reporter for 17 years before he began writing a column on the Op-Ed pages in 1993, will be dropped. Cartoonist Michael Ramirez, The Times' cartoonist since 1997, will leave the paper at the end of the year and will not be replaced.
Martinez, who was recently appointed to his position, said the Op-Ed page will rely more on commissioned artwork and illustrations, as well as stand-alone graphics.
"The opinion pages are the newspaper's town square," he said in a statement. "Our readers expect us to publish all points of view and the broadest range of opinion — from those of our editorial board and columnists to those of our readers and Op-Ed contributors. And we intend to do exactly that."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I love Ramirez's work. It's the LAT's loss. I'm sure he'll get snapped up immediately.
Scheer finally returning to Moscow? He'll notice some changes since he was last home.
Same here. His political cartoons were good antidote to the often very liberal opinion page.
Ramirez is a local Memphis man I think. He does Paul Shanklin's art work.
Scheer...one of the very worst.
The good thing about Scheer going is that the DSM Register will not be print his diatribes for awhile. I am certain he will join some syndication group. He may be gone from the LAT but I bet he won't be gone from a lot of papers for long.
They're dropping Michael Ramirez?
DUMB! DUMB! DUMB!
Michael Ramirez is one of the finest political cartoonist if not the finest in America.
Of course he is a conservative cartoonist...
no wonder they're dropping him!
Semper Fi,
Kelly
Experiencing "Scheer" joy at this news....LOL
NOT
LOL, the Los Angeles Times didn't have a twinge of concience when Conrad did his best to butcher the right for decades. Now Ramirez is gone. What a disgraceful rag!
Sheer wasn't let go... he simply fell off the left side of the universe. This guy was ending his hate-hate relationship with sanity. It was only a matter of time.
I had hoped the LA Times would make some moves to improve itself. It's now clear it's moves will only cause further disgrace to those who opt to buy the 'tissue' of record.
Don't sqeeze this stuff, the puss of anti-Americanism will drown you.
LAT dropping Scheer? Wow, could they be getting it?
Ramirez was the only breath of fresh air to be found on the LAT editorial page. The way he enraged liberals, judging from their letters of hate for him, says he was directly on target. Lately the Times has been posting catoons by the rabid leftist Tom Toles of the Wash. Post. So much for "balance".
Make that "cartoons". Fat early morning fingers....
Scheer probably worked out some sweet deal with a syndication group and asked to be let go so he could make more money (capitalism for me, but not for thee). I'll bet the LAT doesn't fail to print a single one of his columns - they'll just pick them up from the syndicate and write a check to them instead of to Scheer.
Well, Scheer getting the boot at the LAT is a bit of good news... Unfortunately, he still holds a professorship at my Alma Mater, the University of Southern California and still teaches "journalism" there. Even though I love the University... not one penny of mine will go to the school until he is gone - and I've made that known every time I get a solicitation from the Alumni Assoication.
I wonder if liberals will rally to the cause of Ramirez, demanding that the LAT needs more diversity in their editorial page. [/sarcasm]
You may be right, but what had surprised me in the past was that 'any' U.S. newspaper would print what he was writing.
Just how many people did they really think would be buying that drivel? 99% of the public must have thought the Times a whacked out mouthpiece for socialist moonbeams. And they would have been right.
In an email to friends and supporters, soon-to-be-ex Times columnist Robert Scheer blames Publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson for his ouster from the op-ed page:
On Friday I was fired as a columnist by the publisher of the Los Angeles Times, where I have worked for thirty years. The publisher Jeff Johnson, who has offered not a word of explanation to me, has privately told people that he hated every word that I wrote. I assume that mostly refers to my exposing the lies used by President Bush to justify the invasion of Iraq. Fortunately sixty percent of Americans now get the point but only after tens of thousand of Americans and Iraqis have been killed and maimed as the carnage spirals out of control. My only regret is that my pen was not sharper and my words tougher.
Thanks for the link.
I'll have to check it out.
And who has been doing the maiming and killing Mr. Sheer? Iraqi freedom fighers?
Why didn't you speak up about the maiming and killing prior to 2002? If you did, why do you oppose our trying to stop that now?
How long would the maiming and killing under Saddam Hussein have been okay with you, forever? How long would it have been okay for female children to be barred from schooling? How long would the rapes have been okay. How long would the filling of mass graves have been okay?
As long as the maiming and killing, inhumane treatment of subjects and things of that nature are being done by the likes of Hussein, Pol Pot, the North Vietnamese, Chairman Mao and let's not forget "terrorist butchers in Iraq and around the world", everything is a-okay with you and your fellow travelers. I have never seen you condemn one suicide bombing or terrorist act? I will admit that may partially be my fault, as I didn't consider your tripe to be worthy of reading.
If the U.S. steps in and tries to stop any of this, all hell breaks loose in leftist fantasy central. Then it's back to decrying the faults of the west.
...I was fired as a columnist...
The crusty old whack-job uses the term columnist rather broadly, to be sure.
Scheer married a chief editor's daughter, thereby assuring himself his column inches. With all the management shakeups at the LAT, his protector may (or may not) have survived.
There is certainly no good reason for retaining the Stalinist.
One great move and one horrible move. Ramirez is unbelievable. Great, great cartoonist and very funny. Shame, but not surprising considering the Times.
Andres, you get a C for effort.
I haven't seen this one.
It's great.
I am going to bookmark it and use it at some appropriate threads.
A good background on Leftwing Millionaire Robert Scheer can be found here:
http://www.discoverthenetwork.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=938
(thanks to David "Radical Son" Horowitz and Frontpage Mag.)
Robert Scheer is still writing? Who knew? Guess his status as his wife's husband only went so far.
The firing of Ramirez, who overall I find just so-so (but who plainly is not as liberal as the LATimes, by far; it's just that he frequently puts out that "don't hate me because I can be LIBERAL SOMETIMES TOO, SEE?" cartoon), is just "cover fire" for the firing of Scheer.
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