LA Times to merge with Chicago Tribune
After more than 100 years of local ownership, LA's major source of news and information is about to be taken over by out-of-town interests. The Chandler family has decided to sell the LA Times to the Chicago Tribune. Out goes controversial Times-Mirror president Mark Willes, who cut back and sold off other properties as he tried to break down the "wall" between advertising and editorial. In comes a company with 22 TV stations, along with cable and satellite holdings giving it access to 75% of America's TV households. The deal makes LA the nation's largest city without a locally-owned metropolitan daily. Guests include Steven Brill of Brill's Content magazine on journalism, reporter Henry Weinstein of the Los Angeles Times, and Jim Squires, a former Chicago Tribune editor and author of Read All About It: The Corporate Takeover of the America's Newspapers, Jeff Borden of Crain's Chicago Business report.