The LA Times: Basically Without A DC Bureau

Earlier on FishbowlDC: “Source: McManus Out As Bureau Chief Soon…”

Romenesko has an email from an anonymous Los Angeles Times staffer, declaring…

Well, let’s just say it’s bad in every way it can be bad. Basically, the LAT no longer has a Washington bureau and we will be under the control of the Tribune Co., much like McClatchy is run. The much-touted 3-man committee was basically used to vote the LAT down 2-1 every time. The formal announcement will be made on Nov. 7, people will be informed they will be laid off on the 18th, and the new bureau begins on the 19th. Numbers are still fudgey, but 8 LAT layoffs seems to be the working number.

At the end of the session, Doyle basically put it simply: This was a well-orchestrated corporate campaign to sever the Washington bureau from the LAT. He appeared quite sheepish, since in hindsight this was all pretty clear…as he noted, Zell’s rant in Feb. has pretty much come true.

But LA Times DC Bureau Chief Doyle McManus wrote Romenesko and called the staffer’s email a “distorted and incomplete account of what I told our staff.”

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