David Hiller

The new L.A. Times magazine--a name hasn't been settled yet--plans to go the way of the New York Times' T and WSJ Magazine: it'll be a glossy luxury magazine. Last month, the newspaper's then-publisher, David Hiller, forced the newsroom to surrender control of the magazine to the business side.

Even though Mr. Hiller has since been pushed out of the L.A. Times, the business side is staffing up for their new magazine. Annie Gilbar, who was once a host for a show on the Home Shopping Network and an editor of InStyle, will edit the magazine. WWD reports:

The editorial team so far includes familiar names in the glossy magazine world, among others: Celebrity stylist Lori Goldstein began as fashion director on July 1 (though she is not working in the office full-time), and several former House & Garden staffers are either on staff or contributing part-time, including former Testy Tastemaker columnist Mayer Rus, contributing food editor Lora Zarubin and contributing senior editor Paul Fortune, according to several sources.  read more »

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As you may already know, yesterday was a dark day for the newspaper industry: Layoffs at The Los Angeles Times; buyouts at The Wall Street Journal; the departure of The Chicago Times' editor-in-chief; The New York Times' stock price dipped to a decade-low as shares of McClatchy, Gannett, and News, Corporation also took hits.

Today, the hits just keep on coming. Some lowlights after the jump:  read more »

When some future historian writes the book about how newspapers went the way of the steel industry (if there are books in the future, of course), today could be the lede:

• The Los Angeles Times notified 150 newsroom staffers that they're getting fired today, months after they already cut dozens of jobs; the paper's publisher "stepped down," and will be replaced on an interim basis by Randy Michaels, a man with a career in radio.
• The New York Times' stock dropped another 3 percent today, falling to $13.21 and, at one point, hitting another decade-low of $13.00
• The Wall Street Journal is buying out half a dozen staffers
• The Chicago Tribune's editor-in-chief, Ann Marie Lipinski, is resigning, and wrote in her farewell memo, "it would be inaccurate to attribute it to any one event." This comes less than a week after the Tribune announced it would cut 80 positions from its newsroom, the second wave of cuts this year for the paper.
• McClatchy's stock went down 3.14 percent, Gannett down 0.9 percent, News Corp down 0.77 percent.

Rub the sleep out of those eyes: it's the morning-after in L.A.!  read more »

We just spoke to David Hiller, the publisher of the L.A. Times who chose Russ Stanton as the editor of the paper today.

"Even if there were divisions over who should be editor, Russ is well known and well liked and my view is that now that we have the candidtate that people will rally behind," he said.  read more »

As we documented this morning, there's a big divide over who should run the L.A. Times, and before Sam Zell and publisher David Hiller announce their choice, they're getting some dirty work out of the way: Job cuts are on the way.

Mr. Hiller writes that the paper will elimiminate 100-150 positions at the Times, which includes ending open positions, and laying some off. Sam Zell writes in his own e-mail that he wants to add staff some day, but: "Unfortunately, I can't turn this ship from its course of the past 10 years within just a few months." Mr. Zell said there will be job cuts at all Tribune papers.

Click "read more" to see both memos.  read more »

The New York Times reports that Los Angeles Times editor James O'Shea has been forced out because he would not cooperate with newsroom budget cuts ordered by the paper's publisher, David Hiller. The Times notes that this is the "the fourth time in less than three years that the highest-ranking editor or the publisher has left for that reason."  read more »

Should the L.A. Times be loaning out their offices to Donald Trump and his would-be Apprentices, in order to create a Sunday promotional supplement?

Obviously, last night's Apprentice was taped long before Grazergate. But still, with the commotion over the Times selling out to celebrities for promotional purposes, it was an unhappy coincidence.

Thankfully, publisher David Hiller didn't meet with Donald. Instead, he was greeted by executives from SmartMouth, the company that the two teams would be working for.

For anyone interested: Team Kinetic created the more eye-catching supplement, won the task, and got to see their work in the Sunday Times. They did not guest edit the op-ed pages.

--Michael Calderone