Nikki Finke has a red-hot story about the coy relationship between Dean Baquet, editor of the Los Angeles Times, newly canonized Saint of American Journalism, aka the Dean of Arc and one of the suitors, gazillionaire David Geffen, pimped by managing editor Leo Wolinsky. Question: If Baquet walks the plank, and then picks up a cushy teaching/consulting/lecturing deal, who'll look after the small fry? Answer: No one.

And as for buyers, is it to be Eli Broad, the old money, or what passes for it in Southern Calfornia, or Ron Burkle, whom some think the LA Times has given a free pass, or Geffen, Mr. Inside, himself? Finke writes:

And in the course of conversation with Baquet and [Times publisher] Jeff Johnson, in passing they discussed that the L.A. Times should be locally owned,” an insider said. Baquet, meanwhile, has never met David Geffen. “But if David Geffen called me up tomorrow and said, ‘I want to have lunch,’ I’d probably have lunch with him,” Baquet was overheard saying. “After all, I’m the editor of the L.A. Times.”

The Los Angeles Times, a home-town paper without a home-town.

Kevin Roderick at LAObserved weighs in , as well.