How the L.A. Times Drove its Clown Car Off the Cliff
I worked there. I can tell you about cultural rot and a toxic mix of arrogance and complacency. When an institution is determined to become irrelevant, owners like Patrick Soon-Shiong are what you get
I ended my five-year stint at the L.A. Times 14 years ago, and I have never written at length about the place, not just out of loyalty, but because at every horrible turn there was this sense of “Oh, why pile on?” Nothing could be more fatal than the harm the organization did to itself, and nothing could keep it from a multi-decade program of rigorous self-harm.
Every new chapter feels like the occasion for an obituary about the City of Angels’ paper of record, and this one is no different, although I’m sure it will stagger on to show that this and subsequent reports of its passing were at least slightly exaggerated.
When we have chapters like this one, it gets a little surge of excitement going in the journalistic community, because it gives them the chance to shove the entire blame for its demise into a box labeled SHORT-SIGHTED GREED OF MALEVOLENT BILLIONAIRE OWNER. After a few of these owners, that box is overflowing, and if only that were the whole story.
But it’s just one of my culprits in this Who Killed the LAT? murder mystery. Today I name names, so to speak . . .