• Chicago Business, Wednesday, February 15, 2006 11:15 AM

For the newspaper industry as a whole, but most especially for Chicago-based Tribune Company, the inability of The Los Angeles Times to right itself has been a very big problem indeed.  Almost from the moment Tribune purchased the Times, the paper has faltered, losing readers, advertisers, and, to some extent, the support of its own employees. "They've been throwing anything they can think of at that paper and nothing seems to work," says Edward J. Atorino, a media analyst with Benchmark & Co. "If results don't start improving... it's going to be merciless."  The paper, which represents 20 percent of Tribune's total revenue, has already suffered some major layoffs.  More may be in the works. Chicago Business' story about the troubles at the L.A. Times stresses that Trib chairman and CEO Dennis J. FitzSimons "faces no bigger task" than getting its L.A. newspaper fixed. It won't be easy.  Even among papers in the tough Southern California market, the Times has shown greater-than-average weakness.  Part of the problem, reports Chicago Business' Jeremy Mullman, is that the Times' ad sales staff has been ineffective and undermined by a high turnover rate. The Times declined to comment for the story.

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