New CEO at LA Times

The LATimes has an opportunity to change with the resignation of its CEO John Puerner -- but institutions and individuals don't change if they don't think change is needed. So we'll wait with very modest anticipation.

The Captain has a thoughtful analysis, including this:

Perhaps a new CEO will address the drift of the leading West Coast daily towards increasing irrelevance. If so, the first decision will have to address managing editor John Carroll, whose erratic stewardship has demolished the LAT's credibility, especially since the recall election of October 2003 and their incredibly slanted coverage of Arnold Schwarzenegger. With the single exception of hiring Michael Kinsley as their editorial-page editor, Carroll has done nothing but run the paper further into the ground. [New CEO] Jeff Johnson will have his hands full no matter what he does.