Ejection Day

Dean Baquet apparently won't be guiding the election night coverage at the LAT tonight, as the ChiTrib execs turned election day into ejection day, canning the LAT's editor one month after trashing the publisher.

In a glorious piece of understatement, the WSJ said:

Mr. Baquet's departure is likely to ratchet up tensions between the Los Angeles Times's newsroom and Tribune.

Did the WSJ get bought by the Brits while I wasn't looking?

Baquet is replaced by James O'Shea, a senior editor and long-time Trib employee. Here's O'Shea's short-term career path in three words: Hero to zero.

The larger question, of course, is will the LAT shape up and lead the MSM into the enlightment that comes with reporting for all readers instead of just half of them? Will it become a neutral paper with a staff that is diverse in the only way diversity counts in a newsroom: Opinion?

Short answer: No way. The Tribune is not the paper to lead that cause, as it suffers from the same disease of "agenda objectivity" that's crippling the LAT.

Related Tags: Media, MSM, Media bias, LA Times, Chicago Tribune