The LA Times’s owner wants to take the struggling paper public. Will it work?
In recent years, the newspapers that have fared the best have been those with committed local ownership
When the legendary journalist David Halberstam wrote his landmark 1979 book about American journalism, The Powers That Be, he focused on four media organizations: the Washington Post, Time magazine, CBS and the Los Angeles Times.
His choice of the LA newspaper made perfect sense. Influential and successful, it was owned by a prominent California family, the Chandlers. The paper had high standards, a raft of Pulitzer Prizes, and a hard-charging Washington DC bureau that competed successfully with its east coast rivals. For reporters and editors, the LA Times was a prestigious career destination; if you got there, you probably stayed.
Related Knowledge Center: State of the business model
The traditional journalism business model has long since collapsed, and news organizations have shrunk or disappeared entirely. While a number of promising experiments are under way, the public has not shown a willingness to buy what news organizations are selling.
Related Knowledge Center: Local media
The hollowing out of the local news ecosystem has been well documented; in some communities, efforts are underway to reverse the growing news desert.