Sun Sets on Witcover

Howard Kurtz is back from vacation and today offers up a surprising story: The unexpected and seemingly illogical dismissal from the Baltimore Sun of columnist and institution Jules Witcover.

Evidently culminating a year-long personality clash with editor Tim Franklin, Witcover–the long-time co-author of a column with Jack Germond and one of the original “Boys on the Bus” who has covered Washington since 1954–was overnighted a terse termination letter. The Sun had already cut his salary by two-thirds.

Both Franklin and the Editorial Page editor Dianne Donovan blamed the other for the odd dismissal.

Towards the end of the article, Kurtz gets at the larger frame: The ongoing shrinkage and cutbacks across the board at the Tribune Company’s paper, from the L.A. Times to the Hartford Courant.

We’re sure to see a bunch more articles about Tribune woes in the coming months, as they near completion of the planned D.C. superbureau.

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