Tribune Says L.A. Times Publisher, Chicago Tribune Editor Quit

Tribune Co. said Los Angeles Times
Publisher David Hiller and Chicago Tribune Editor-in-Chief Ann
Marie Lipinski resigned, seven months after real-estate
billionaire Sam Zell completed his buyout of the company.

A successor to Hiller is expected to be named by late
September, Tribune Chief Operating Officer Randy Michaels said
today in a memo to employees. Lipinski became the third top
newsroom executive at the Chicago newspaper to resign in as many
months, saying the position “is not the fit it once was.'’

“That decision was difficult and a long time coming, and
it would be inaccurate to attribute it to any one event,'’
Lipinski said in the memo of her resignation. “There is much to
do and your new owners should have their own editor, compatible
with their style and goals.'’

The departures come a month after Tribune publisher Scott
Smith announced plans to retire. Zell has overhauled Chicago-
based Tribune’s management since becoming chairman in December
through the $8.3 billion transaction. He recruited Michaels, a
former radio industry executive, to run the company. Lee Abrams,
also from radio, was named chief innovation officer.

Lipinski, who started at the Chicago Tribune as an intern
in 1978, will leave the newspaper later this week, she said
today in a memo to staff. Editor Gerould Kern will succeed her,
Tribune Co. said in a separate statement.

Hiller took over as publisher of the Los Angeles Times in
October 2006 after Tribune ousted Jeff Johnson for resisting
making newsroom cuts ordered by his bosses. Johnson and then
editor Dean Baquet publicly challenged demands to reduce the
staff of 940 after the loss of 200 jobs over five years. Baquet
left a month later.

Job Cuts

Tribune said this month it is cutting 250 jobs, including
150 news positions, at the Los Angeles Times, the fourth-largest
U.S. newspaper by circulation. In a memo to the editorial staff
today, Editor Russ Stanton said most news employees being fired
will be notified today and that all will leave by Aug. 29.

Lipinski previously led the Tribune’s investigative team
and held the roles of metro editor, managing editor and
executive editor. She was part of a 1988 team of three reporters
that won a Pulitzer prize for stories about corruption relating
to Chicago’s city council. The newspaper won Pulitzers in
categories including international reporting, feature reporting
and investigative reporting during her time as the top editor.

The newspaper had a Sunday circulation of more than 898,000
in the six months ended March 2008, according to the Audit
Bureau of Circulations. That’s down from the more than 1 million
in the period ended March 2001, the firm’s statistics show.

Debt

Zell is cutting costs and raising cash to tackle
$13 billion in debt and counter a 15 percent drop in newspaper
ad sales in the first quarter. On a conference call in June, he
disclosed plans to save money by cutting 500 pages a week from
the company’s newspapers and eliminating jobs.

The Chicago Tribune reported July 8 it will eliminate about
80 newsroom jobs, or 14 percent of its editorial workforce, to
reduce costs amid declining print advertising sales, and cut the
number of pages it publishes by as much as 14 percent.

The cuts represent the fourth round of reductions since
2005. They have been expected since last month, when Michaels
told lenders on a conference call that all newspapers would
reduce staff by mid-September, the newspaper said.

Kern, 58, joined the Chicago Tribune in 1991 as suburban
editor. He drove the expansion of suburban news coverage and was
named in 2001 as the newspaper’s associate editor. He also
recently became vice president of news and features for Tribune
Media Services.

The Chicago Tribune’s managing editor for news, 30-year
company veteran George de Lama, announced plans to leave in May.

Tribune, also the publisher of the South Florida Sun-
Sentinel, is selling Newsday, its Long Island, New York,
newspaper, and is seeking a buyer for the Chicago Cubs baseball
team. It’s is also exploring options for the headquarters
buildings of its two biggest newspapers.

– By Gillian Wee

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