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.
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