Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times Watch: GrazerGate FLAP Part III

March 24, 2007 /

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Kevin Roderick has the latest POOP on the GrazerGate Flap.

I’ll post a selection of other emails about the latest twists in the dramedy known as the Los Angeles Times over the weekend. O’Shea, Martinez, Brian Grazer and David Hiller (left to right) plus Kelly Mullens all come up on Saturday’s “Deadline L.A.” at noon on KPFK. Mark Lacter of LA Biz Observed and I discuss the Times situation with hosts Barbara Osborn and Howard Blume. Meanwhile, Radar Online’s John Cook (a former Tribune staffer) talks about O’Shea’s own complications from sleeping with a prominent PR executive — his wife, a manager of media relations for Chicago’s Field Museum.

Patterico asks what’s really going on here? And then proceeds to tell us. He is SPOT ON!

A cabal of staffers in the newsroom tries to influence the direction of the opinion page, some for “ideological” reasons. Martinez resists this attempt at interference.

Then, a cabal of staffers, including at least two well-known left-leaning ideologues, lean on the editor to take an extreme action on a non-scandal — knowing that such drastic action would be an effective way to humiliate Martinez.

Do you think there is any overlap or coordination between the first cabal of staffers and the second? I do.

Do you think this was a legitimate scandal that merited the extreme actions taken by the paper? I don’t.

I think there’s something else going on here. Tim Cavanaugh describes me as sniffing out a “left-wing coup,” and that’s about what I think has happened here.

So, is it Christmas in July?

You bet and stay tuned for more presents from Spring Street.

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Andrés Martinez, left, resigned as Los Angeles Times editorial page editor, saying he had been undermined by his publisher, David Hiller.

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Los Angeles Times Watch: GrazerGate FLAP Part II

Los Angeles Times Watch: Andres Martinez Quits Over GrazerGate FLAP

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