James O’Shea, the L.A. Times’ top editor was forced out for resisting to cut $4 million from his newsroom budget.
The New York Times reports publisher David D. Hiller had ordered the multi-million dollar cuts specifically related to presidential election coverage, as well as reducing staff by the end of the year.
O’Shea’s ouster marks the fourth time in less than three years that the highest-ranking editor or the publisher has left for that reason.
Since 2000, the L.A. Times has eliminated more than 200 newsroom staff positions and its weekday circulation has dropped to about 800,000, from 1.1 million.
