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Tuesday, March 14, 2000

Deal is end to 'cereal killer' era
Mark Willes, CEO of Times Mirror, will not stay on after purchase is complete
By Tom Verdin
Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - He arrived from a cereal company in 1995 with no experience in journalism and promised to shake up the Los Angeles Times, a world-class newspaper mired in sagging profits.
   What followed were huge and, critics say, largely unmet expectations to boost circulation and revenue that sometimes clashed with traditional notions of editorial independence and integrity.
   The announcement Monday that the Tribune Co. is buying the Times Mirror Co. marks the end of the Mark Willes era at the Times, where he served as publisher from 1997 until June and earned the nickname "cereal killer" for his staff cuts.
   Willes, chairman and chief executive officer of Times Mirror, said he would not stay with the company beyond the 90 to 180 days needed to complete the deal, the Times reported Monday.
   In a written message to employees, Willes thanked them for helping make the paper "strong and profitable" and said the Tribune Co. would not have agreed to the deal if it "did not have the highest regard for our newspapers and other businesses."
   But that regard suffered in recent months, even with the Times' own employees, after the newspaper acknowledged it had split about $2 million in advertising revenue from a Sunday magazine devoted to the Staples Center with the facility, a newly opened downtown sports arena.
   The deal was criticized as blurring the traditional line between a newspaper's business and editorial functions. Editorial staffers who worked on the section became aware of the arrangement only after the Times published it in October.
   In response to the outcry that ensued, the newspaper published a front-page apology in December and pledged a "commitment to editorial independence and integrity."
   It was the most visible but not the only sign of how Willes hoped to reshape the business philosophy at the Times, which had seen its profit margins drop from nearly 22 percent in 1986 to 6.5 percent in 1993.
   Circulation boost
   When he arrived two years later from General Mills, Willes cut 700 jobs at the Times and 2,300 more at other Times Mirror properties. He also closed the Manhattan edition of Newsday in New York and the Baltimore Evening Sun.
   In 1997, Willes vowed to boost the paper's circulation by 500,000, then upped the ante to 1 million. Circulation currently is 1,095,007 daily and more than 1.3 million Sunday. It has remained relatively steady for the last several years.
   The Staples agreement grew out of Willes' policy of having advertising executives work more closely with editors to support special projects and sections. Critics accused him of lowering the wall between editorial and advertising departments.
   In June, as he handed the publisher reins to Kathryn M. Downing, Willes said that policy had not compromised journalistic integrity.
   Questions raised
   But the Staples deal raised serious questions about whether it had, said Edwin Guthman, a journalism professor at the University of Southern California and a former national editor of the Times.
   "The Times survived as a pretty good newspaper despite him," Guthman said.
   In a conference call with reporters, Tribune executives said they would not pass judgment on the Times' Staples Center arrangement, but said it was important for the newsroom to remain independent.

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