Jim O’Shea: ”I Think You Have To Invest In Journalism”
Former Los Angeles Times editor Jim O’Shea, who was fired last week in a battle over budget cuts, appeared on Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last week he railed against the prevailing winds of change in the economics of the newspaper business as overall revenues decrease due to new online competition for ads as well as competition for readers.
From the Reliable Sources transcript:
”KURTZ: Now, you were the Tribune loyalist who was sent out to patch things up after Dean Baquet’s firing. You were the company man. You’ve worked for the Tribune Company since the late 1970s. What happened?
”O’SHEA: Well, I don’t — you know, I do think — think there comes a point in every person’s career and life where you really decide, OK, where I do I take a stand? What is enough?
”And I just came to that point. And I am — I’ve been with the Tribune a long time. And believe me, I’ve cut a lot of budgets. And I’m not some, you know, starry-eyed Pollyanna running around thinking the industry doesn’t have trouble. I just think we need to change our approach.
”I think we need to invest in journalism. Let’s try that for once. Let’s see what happens when you invest in a paper and you make it better, and people then — advertisers and readers come to you instead of fleeing you.”
(image via slate)
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