MoveOn.org PETITION: Fight L.A. Times news cuts for Chicago profits!

From MoveOn:

Keep the Los Angeles Times from slashing 85 people from its newsroom and watering down coverage of local, state and national news. Sign our petition to tell the Los Angeles Times and its corporate owners:

"Don't cut newspaper staff at the Los Angeles Times. As corporate owners in Chicago reap large profits from the Times, there is no excuse for them to force our paper to abandon its responsibility to deliver strong watchdog journalism to the public."


An accompanying LETTER:

Dear Southern California MoveOn member,

Do you think the Los Angeles Times should cut its staff and water-down its news coverage? Or should it keep a robust staff of reporters and give the public more hard-hitting journalism?

The Los Angeles Times announced it is slashing 85 people from its news staff, despite millions in corporate profits. This means watered-down coverage of local, state and national news. Politicians and corporations who should be held accountable by vigilant watchdog journalism will instead be covered by a staff that is stretched too thin.

Equally outrageous, Californians are being deceived about why these cuts are happening. Despite reaping huge profits that most businesses would envy, the Times' corporate owners in Chicago simply aren't satisfied. They want more. Instead of admitting this, the Times points to things like "rising newsprint costs" to distract the public from the real reason for the cuts.

The Times' corporate owners think they can get away with this because nobody is paying attention. But we're starting a petition to show the strong public opposition to these cuts. MoveOn Media Action is a campaign empowering regular people to fight back when news outlets abandon their journalistic duty to be a vigilant watchdog for the public.


LINK TO PETITION --
http://civic.moveon.org/latimescuts/index.html



(NOTE: Please do not turn this thread into a bash-the-LAT thread. Like other MSM news outlets, it is far from perfect. I thought the firing of Robert Scheer was a terrible move. Closely watching news from the NYT, WP, and the LAT each and every day, however, I find valuable news in these print press sources that would never see the light of day if they did not exist. These articles appear in LBN on a daily basis, in large numbers. And, if I had to pick one newspaper that was the most valuable, particularly on investigative stories, I would pick the LAT, the recipient of several recent Pulitzers for investigative reporting. DUers who dismiss/hate the LAT, I understand. But this thread is for DUers who might like to extend a helping hand to 85 working reporters whose jobs and livelihood are threatened, in an industry in which the number of available positions is not likely to increase.)

And I have very strong feelings about that is going on at the Times, but I won't say them here.

Tammy