Baquet Urges Editors to 'Put Up More of a Fight' On Cuts (DeathWatch™ SE)

Editor & Publisher ^ | October 26, 2006 | Joe Strupp

[Milhous]

NEW ORLEANS Los Angeles Times Editor Dean Baquet on Thursday urged newspaper editors to do more in the battle against budget cuts and not blindly accept business-side pronouncements that resources need to be reduced in this "irrational era of cost-cutting."

"It is the job of editors of newspapers to put up a little bit more of a fight than we have put up in the past," Baquet said in a speech before the Associated Press Managing Editors here. "Don't be shy about making the public service argument."

Just weeks after his public battle with Tribune Company over potential cutbacks, which ended with the forced resignation of former publisher Jeff Johnson and speculation that Baquet himself might be leaving, the veteran editor told editors here that they, too, must not give in to demands for cutbacks.

Baquet said he had thought about resigning, but "the paper came first and I thought the best way to protect the paper was to stay." He also expected to remain as editor for several years, "hopefully 15 years, when I can retire at 65."

He explained, "This is a giant moment in the life of newspapers. We all understand the business model is changing and we have to do some cutting." But, he warned, "don't understand it to much. ... I find [editors] all too willing to buy the arguments for cuts," he stated, adding "we need to be a feistier bunch."

He pointed to the fact that his paper "is one of only three major newspapers to cover the war in Iraq day in and day out," a fraction of what occurred during the Vietnam War.

Editor of the Times since August 2005, Baquet said concerns about the paper's future began to mount last summer, well before Johnson was pushed out after he and Baquet publicly stated their opposition to potential reductions. "I felt my newsroom freezing up as fall came," Baquet told the hundreds of attendees. "Getting my paper through this is my primary concern."

Baquet, who is a New Orleans native with strong ties to the city, said he was glad to come to town to see family and friends, then joked that he also came to the conference hoping "you might have a jobs board." After the audience laughed, he added "you think I'm kidding."

But, stressing the seriousness of the situation, Baquet explained that he had to stand up to the budget reduction threat because, after three previous rounds of staff cuts since his arrival as a deputy editor five years ago, "I didn't believe I could pull off my public service mission with a greatly reduced staff. I felt compelled to say 'no.'"

Baquet said his public stance against cuts drew hundreds of e-mails from around the country by supporters, something that helped him stick with the position against cutting. Such notes ranged from The New York Times to the Akron (Ohio) Beacon-Journal. "I even got one from a Wall Street analyst who said it was about time newspapers started pushing back a little bit," Baquet said.

He also praised Johnson, saying "he believed that continued layoffs would hurt us as a business. It would kill our ability to put more talent on our Web site and create new sections."

The editor said the most influential reactions came from his own staff, which offered e-mail support, but also requests to be involved in the paper's future. "They said they appreciated the fight, but they felt left out," Baquet revealed. "If passionate journalists have ideas, editors should harness the energy, say yes, and get out of the way."

He added that "newsrooms are angry." But he also pointed out that such threats to the industry are not new. "Every generation, a new threat comes along to newspapers," he said. "Confronted by the deep fear that the next generation will turn away from us."

Baquet cited the New York Times of the 1960s and 70s, which expanded in to new sections, and later its stronger national coverage, to counter growing competition. "A new, highly profitable, even better paper, was born," he said.

Asked about the paper's future under Tribune Company, Baquet said he believed the company wanted to "hold on to it," but said "nothing would surprise me." He also said Tribune and the paper's previous owners, TimesMirror, did not work together enough after the 2000 sale was completed for a smoother transition before cuts and reorganization.

"I don't think they ever rolled up their sleeves and figured it out," Baquet told the audience, noting that one of the mistakes such companies make is to cut costs right away. "That is irresistible to all sides of business, that is a mistake." He urged the McClatchy Company, which recently took over Knight Ridder, to avoid such a move by letting their leaderships "sit in a room for about a month and understand each other's cultures."

Baquet also urged newspapers to do a better job of embracing the web and improving diversity. "We are still sort of stuck where we have been for the last decade," he said of the diversity situation.

When asked if his or any paper would do better under a local owner or a corporate chain, Baquet said, "history is filled with awful local owners and awful corporate owners who would do terrible things to a paper."

[Milhous]

TRB Truthsayer to Power Dean Baquet

“A large part of Dean’s job would be sitting on a couch and being told by David how stupid he is.”

"Don't be shy about making the public service argument."
..."I [Baquet] didn't believe I could pull off my public service mission with a greatly reduced staff.

If You Don't Buy This Newspaper... We'll shoot your democracy


He added that "newsrooms are angry."

Rove's magnificent Bush Derangement Syndrome relentlessly works to keep journalists™ full of rage and off balance.

[Milhous]

ping.

[ConservativeMind]

"Every generation, a new threat comes along to newspapers," he said. "Confronted by the deep fear that the next generation will turn away from us."

When will they learn that they are their own worst enemy?

Clueless, all of them.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Dean has never heard of shareholders it seems. He's toast in 60 days.

[Tribune7]

You know a whole lot of news -- municipal budgets, new codes, proposed developments, fires, murders -- doesn't get covered by these metro dailies.

What does get covered are gay rights marches, and complaints about pay by teachers.

Most of these places could cut a lot and actually improve content (and public service).

[Chode]

cause obviously telling the unbiased truth is out of the question... right???

[Cicero]

He pointed to the fact that his paper "is one of only three major newspapers to cover the war in Iraq day in and day out."

And exactly how do they "cover" it? With informative news articles about what is happening there, or leftist drivel and propaganda?

[fat city]

. "A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself." —Joseph Pulitzer

[Milhous]

"A cynical, mercenary, demagogic press will produce in time a people as base as itself." —Joseph Pulitzer

Thanks for the quote. :) A quote missing from my Bartlett's that happens to appear on wiki. ;) Pulitzer goes on to say, "The power to mould the future of the Republic will be in the hands of the journalists of future generations", which makes me curious as to how Drudge's take that Anyone With A Modem Can Report On The World modifies Pulitzer's original premise.

[potlatch]

You're going to see it again Milhous!

[Interesting Times]

Just relax. Struggling and howling is so... so unseemly.

Best to accept the inevitable. Be one with the tar...

[Milhous]

You're going to see it again Milhous!

Quite proper given the number of times you "get" to see re-runs of milhous rants. ;0)

[Milhous]

Be one with the tar...

BWAHAHAHAHAHA. Holistic homogeneity.

[devolve]

LA Timely!

[Leisler]

NY Times, 5 year chart.

[abb]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/26/business/media/26cnd-paper.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Los Angeles Times Editor Urges Others to Fight Cuts
By KATHARINE Q. SEELYE

NEW ORLEANS, Oct. 26 -- The editor of The Los Angeles Times, Dean Baquet, who publicly opposed staff cuts at his newspaper last month, encouraged other editors today to push back more against newspaper owners when they propose such cuts.

“Sometimes when I sit down with editors and managing editors, I find them all too willing to buy the argument for cuts,” he said “We need to be a feistier bunch.”

“It is the job of the editor of the paper to put up a little more of a fight than we’ve been willing to put up in the past,” he said, because a public service is at stake. “We understand the business model is changing and we have to do some cutting,” he said, “but don’t understand it too much.”

Mr. Baquet was addressing more than 100 editors at the annual gathering of the Associated Press Managing Editors. He made headlines last month when he and his erstwhile publisher openly objected to cuts at The Los Angeles Times proposed by its owner, the Tribune Company of Chicago. He said he received support for speaking out from his staff and from many newspaper people from around the country, as well as from two publishers whom he did not name and even a Wall Street analyst.

Three weeks later, the publisher of The Los Angeles Times, Jeffrey Johnson, was forced out.

Many wondered if Mr. Baquet would step down in solidarity with Mr. Johnson. He did not, and as a questioner in today’s audience noted, he has been criticized for not quitting, although many on his staff urged him to stay.

snip