Content area
Full Text
Citing the California economic downturn that has steadily eroded advertising revenue, the Los Angeles Times on Friday announced the closing of eight specialized editorial sections, including the weekly World Report and Spanish-language Nuestro Tiempo sections, and the elimination of 150 editorial positions.
The cuts are part of a broad restructuring that Mark H. Willes, the new president and chief executive of The Times' corporate parent, Times Mirror Co., announced this week as a means "to focus . . . on our core businesses."
Besides World Report and Nuestro Tiempo, sections being eliminated are the Westside and City Times suburban sections, Valley Life, Valley Business, Ventura County Life and the Washington Edition, a 2,600-circulation, streamlined version of The Times printed weekdays in Maryland and distributed in Washington and New York.
Except for Westside, founded in 1957, all the sections being eliminated have been started since 1990, the beginning of one of the region's worst postwar recessions. The sections will be phased out over the next few weeks.
"The strategy behind a number of the section cuts is a painful one-several noble experiments will have to be ended," Editor Shelby Coffey III said in a memorandum to Times staffers, adding, "These moves reflect a continuing shift...