Robert Channick
Contact Reporter, Chicago Tribune
Disappointed by the firing of Los Angeles Times publisher and CEO Austin Beutner this week, more than 60 Southern California civic leaders are calling on Tribune Publishing to restore local leadership to the newspaper.
Baltimore Sun publisher Tim Ryan was named Tuesday as Beutner’s replacement.
The group, which includes former Los Angeles Mayors Richard Riordan and Antonio Villaraigosa, sent an open letter Thursday to Tribune Publishing CEO Jack Griffin expressing concern over Beutner’s dismissal and the direction of the newspaper.
“As you move ahead, we strongly urge you to continue with leadership that knows and loves Los Angeles, and shares our commitment to its future,” the coalition wrote.
Citing the “impactful journalism and meaningful community leadership” achieved during Beutner’s short-lived tenure at the newspaper, the letter urged a continuation of his progress.
In addition to the former mayors, it is signed by dozens of Los Angeles power brokers including investor Eli Broad, whose renewed bid to buy the Los Angeles Times, with Beutner reportedly in line to continue running operations, was rejected last week by Tribune Publishing, a decision that likely precipitated Beutner’s ouster, according to sources.
Tribune Publishing acknowledged receipt of the letter Thursday.
Beutner was named to head the Los Angeles Times in August 2014, one week after Chicago-based owner Tribune Publishing spun off from Tribune Media as a stand-alone newspaper company under Griffin.
A former Wall Street investment banker who later served as deputy mayor of Los Angeles under Villaraigosa, Beutner was fired Tuesday for what sources said was lagging financial performance. Sources also cited a series of high-profile executive hires seen by some as a prelude to a possible run for office that did not sit well with Tribune Publishing. Beutner had previously run for mayor of Los Angeles.
“We understand that your goals are both to serve a community and to oversee a profitable business enterprise,” the letter said. “However, we share Austin’s view that the paper’s commitment to Los Angeles is a key to its financial success as well.”
Other members of the coalition include Mickey Kantor, chairman of the Los Angeles 2020 Commission; Anthony Pritzker, managing partner of the Pritzker Group; and David Fleming, founder of the Los Angeles County Business Federation.
In May, Tribune Publishing, which owns 11 daily newspapers, acquired the San Diego Union-Tribune for $85 million and put both operations under Beutner. Tribune Publishing also owns the Chicago Tribune.
Ryan started his career at the Chicago Tribune in 1982 and served as vice president of circulation and consumer marketing at the paper from 2005 to 2007.
In 2013, Beutner teamed up with Broad as part of an investor group interested in buying the Los Angeles Times, according to reports at the time. Tribune Publishing was subsequently spun off, allowing Tribune Co. to offload the newspapers while avoiding the large capital gains tax it would have incurred from an outright sale.
