Posted on 06/13/2005 8:09:21 PM PDT by CHARLITE
Michael Kinsley shook up the editorial staff of The Los Angeles Times recently, transferring four of his eleven writers, letting one go, and outsourcing some editorials to freelancers.
But many on the newspaper's staff knew what was coming because Mr. Kinsley, who was hired to oversee the newspaper's editorial and opinion pages last spring, accidentally left a Power Point document describing his plans on a Xerox machine in their office in early May. He said he had intended to share his ideas at a company management retreat.
"We had a series of Power Point slides Michael was going to share at a retreat and some people stumbled across those and inferred that we were going to blow up the editorial board," said Andrés Martinez, the editorial page editor. "Michael does like to ask questions, such as, 'In today's world, what is the continuing relevance of a newspaper editorial board?' "
The changes, announced in yesterday's edition, include allowing editorial writers a once-a-year chance to write a signed piece dissenting from the editorial position of the newspaper. "Writer Judy Dugan has already used up her 2005 allotment with a strong rebuttal to our editorial endorsing the Republican Senate leadership's efforts to kill the filibuster," Mr. Martinez wrote in yesterday's paper.
This week, the newspaper, will introduce an online feature called "wikitorials," as a way for readers to engage in an online dialogue with the paper. The model is based on "Wikipedia," the Web's free-content encyclopedia that is edited by online contributors.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
"Michael Kinsley, erstwhile editor of the Editorial Page of the Los Angeles Times is as dense a businessman as he is a writer. The NYT reports, Michael is taking a blowtorch to the present set up and divining a new more modern staff and look for the editorial pages. Michael quit fooling yourself and everyone around you, you are a devotee of "Pravda" and you will continue to kill any editorial that espouses anything other than the socialist, leftist, anti-American, anti-war, anti-business garbage you have been peddling for decades.
"Until conservatives have an equal chance in your pages, your circulation will continue its path towards oblivion. Telling writers they have been allocated ONE EDITORIAL A YEAR TO DISAGREE WITH YOUR COLLECTIVIST RANT under this new regime is beyond the pale. You fail Econ 101. I pray you go the way of your circulation. And farther.
Dick McDonald
Doesn't he have Parkinson's? If so, bad way to begin an article.
I once knew someone who thought Kinsley was wonderful. Needless to say, the person was a jerk.
My advice is better. Sell off the newspaper in pieces. I understand that scrap steel is in short supply.
The terms "deck chairs" and "Titanic" come to mind.
Kinsley has left a wake of distruction in his path. He destroyed CrossFire, Slate, and now the LA Times.
I wonder if he could be persuaded to take the helm at the NY Times, Time, Newsweek, or the Washington Post.
Better yet, do them all in order.
Once a year they are allowed to speak against The Crown. For the rest of that year, they will daily be forced to regret it. What a whorehouse.
Well, at least there is some good news today, commies stabbing each other in the back.
I suspect all is not well at the LA Times. If you think the boss leaves a presentation in the Xerox machine you do not understand even a moderately sized operation. An admin assistant or secretary left the copies there for the work force to discover. Question, has the twerp found the balls to fire the admin assistant or secretary or other person responsible?
"Tom DeLay"
LOL! I thought it was all Bush's fault .. LOL!!
The executive editor of the L.A. Times, John Carroll, was a former editor of the Herald-Leader in Lexington, Ky. He & Kinsley are two peas in a pod !
I remember watching Crossfire a few times before I became politically informed and active, and how this man disturbed me when I listened to him. I thought then that he was a bit disturbed himself. I'd forgotten his name, and it didn't really ring a bell when I heard it in the context of the LA Times and their idiotic rants.
But I recognize that face, and I can't say it's pleasant to see it again. I think the LA Times' Board of Directors should leave him in charge until he sinks the paper, then with luck he will move on to other liberal rags and sink them as well.
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