LA Times lays off 50 More in Newsroom

    

     Where does it end?

     The Los Angeles Times announced today, February 13, 2008 (www.latimes.com) that they will cut 50 newsroom jobs, as part of a Tribune-wide cutback of 2% of its workforce.

     The competence of a credible newspaper, and its professional staff, is as important to America, as Chemotherapy is to the life of a cancer patient.

     I understand the modern economics of the new media and advertising---and how that is impacting our great news sources, such as the Los Angele Times, but who is going to be the credible source of information on politics and the skulduggery of city hall, without an expansive journalistic staff?

     Associated Press becomes the fall-back to the major newspapers, more and more, without the important individual reporter investigating and objectively looking at our local public officials for example.

    We are not going to get this original reporting, between "weather and sports and happy news" during our local TV outlets....and 24 hour cable...such as MSNBC is good for national issues and the often pictorial of the day, but they are no substitute for hard-nosed reporting by well trained journalists.

     Blogs, columnists and pundits, rely on the authenticity of newspaper reporting.  If we lose that, we lose everything.

     Thanks for reading:

     Bob Kholos