Another L.A. Times editor departs after budget clash

The printer of business cards for The Los Angeles Times editorial department is getting ample work, as uneasy newsroom staffers wonder what’s next, notes Grumpy Editor.

James E. O’Shea, third Times editor in less than three years, is leaving the nation’s fourth largest daily following a dispute over across-the-board newsroom cuts.

Two prior editors also departed after flaps over budget cuts.

John Carroll, Times editor from April 2000 to August 2005, told Editor & Publisher that the shake-up is part of “an ongoing instability” in the newsroom.  “It affects morale, people’s boldness in pursuing initiatives,” he added. “It makes people cautious and worried. Cautious and worried people don’t often produce the best journalism.”

Latest flareup comes after O’Shea resisted demands to cut $4 million from this year’s $120 million newsroom budget.

The action follows the closing last month of an $8.2 billion buyout of Chicago-based Tribune Co., Times parent, led by Chicago real estate investor Sam Zell.

Editorial staff has slowly been trimmed as Times circulation in the last seven years has dropped to about 800,000 from more than one million.