• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 15, 2008

The hits just keep on coming at the Tribune Co. On Monday, two key executives announced their resignation, with Chicago Tribune editor Ann Marie Lipinski bowing out first, followed by Los Angeles Times publisher and CEO David Hiller.

Lipinski, who joined the Chicago Tribune as an intern three decades ago and served as editor from 2001-2008, gave no explanation for her decision in a memo to staff, other than to say that "this position is not the fit it once was."

She will be replaced by Gerould W. Kern, previously Tribune Publishing's vice president of editorial. Lipinski's resignation follows the departure in May of managing editor George De Lama, who was a 30-year vet of the newspaper. In his farewell memo, De Lama said only that he was looking for new experiences.

Los Angeles Times Publisher and CEO David Hiller is also resigning; his decision may come under duress, following a meeting with Tribune Co.'s management. As of Monday evening, Tribune had not appointed a replacement.

Hired in October 2006 by Tribune's previous management, Hiller himself oversaw several rounds of cuts and resignations. In November 2006, he fired editor Dean Baquet, who had refused to make newsroom staff cuts ordered by top brass. In January of this year, Hiller forced out Baquet's successor James O'Shea, who also disagreed with Hiller about plans for more budget cuts in the newsroom.

Indeed, this seems to be something of an LAT trend: Hiller's predecessor as publisher, Jeffrey M. Johnson, and John Carroll, the editor before Baquet, both left the company because they disagreed with plans to cut staff.

Most recently, Hiller announced that LAT would eliminate 250 jobs--or 8% of the total workforce--including 150 positions (about 17%) from the newsroom, as part of company-wide cuts ordered by Tribune's new management, led by Sam Zell.

There was no word why Hiller was shown the door, but some of his recent moves garnered an unusual amount of negative publicity, adding to Tribune Co.'s image problems. Most notably, his decision to effectively transfer control of the Los Angeles Times' magazine from editorial to the business side was widely criticized by industry observers who warned it could blur the lines between journalism and advertising. Hiller was also criticized for his secretive approach to the transfer, which he planned for months without consulting the newspaper's new editor Russ Stanton.