When the LA Times ran what most saw as the “hit”piece on Schwarzenegger, it was merely more evidence that the Times was not only disconnected from California, but as nastily partisan as anyone else.
The “influence” of the Times has faded with “little things.” A reduction in Metro news in favor of news from “anywhere else” that is of little interest to the bulk of readers in Los Angeles; treating the 4th of July as some ho-hum day or worse, in 2005, a chance for some non-entity to assail the founders and the very idea of individual liberty by an Op-Ed; the LAT was mimicking the NYT which discontinued running the Declaration of Independence on its back page-and has also seen its circulation fall.
Then the big things: the hit piece on the terminator instead of maybe some serious articles on the LAUSD, the corruption at City Hall or the state’s out of control budget; the opposition to recalling Gray Davis, one the state’s worst governors (and I voted for him the first time!); incessant clamoring for higher taxes, more spending.
So now its now revealed that Baquet, who assisted with the decline of the LA Times as much as anyone, is now helping Pinch push the stake into the NYT.
And back at the LA Times, they doubtless wonder “why do they hate us?” “Why won’t they buy us?”
