Four former Los Angeles Times Book Review editors have issued a protest against the cessation of the standalone book review: (Our own previous call for a full-fledged web-review nothwithstanding, we agree with the gravamen, and especially appreciate the nuanced acknowledgement that "no section of any newspaper can remain hostage to past ways of covering the news of the day.")
"LOS ANGELES, Calif.--As former editors of the Los Angeles Times Book Review (1975 through 2005), we are dismayed and troubled at the decision by Sam Zell and his managers to cease publishing the paper's Sunday Book Review.
This step signals the end of an era begun 33 years ago when Otis Chandler, then the paper's publisher and owner, announced the debut of the weekly section. Since then, the growth of the Los Angeles metropolitan region and the avidity of its numerous readers and writers has been palpable. For example, every year since its founding in 1996, the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books has attracted upwards of 140,000 people to the UCLA campus from all walks of life throughout Southern California. Four hundred writers from all over America typically participate. The written word is celebrated. It is the most significant civic event undertaken by the Los Angeles Times to deepen literacy and to strengthen the bond between its news coverage and its far-flung community of readers. But without the Book Review itself, the book festival will be a hollow joke.
The dismantling of the Sunday Book Review section and the migration of a few surviving reviews to the Sunday Calendar section represents a historic retreat from the large ambitions which accompanied the birth of the section.
To be sure, no section of any newspaper can remain hostage to past ways of covering the news of the day. We are convinced, however, that the way forward is to increase coverage of our literary culture -- a culture that every day is more vibrant and diverse in the thriving megalopolis of Los Angeles.
Angelenos in growing number are already choosing to cancel their subscriptions to the Sunday Times. The elimination of the Book Review, a philistine blunder that insults the cultural ambition of the city and the region, will only accelerate this process and further wound the long-term fiscal health of the newspaper.
We urge readers and writers alike to join with us as we protest this sad and backward step.
Sonja Bolle
Digby Diehl
Jack Miles
Steve Wasserman"
If the Times had a trade union--the Newspaper Guild, in fact, my once union--the remaining few journalists could perhaps strike right now and maybe--just maybe--bring Zell to his knees. But they don't have one, and there is no other countervailing force under capitalism to this kind of rapaciousness. Get used to the death spiral. Zell is an idiot who is not going to yield an inch. And this is all going on in order to pay his $1 billion a year INTEREST on his leveraged buyout. It's a sickness, and it will destroy our culture.
Posted by: John Shannon | July 21, 2008 at 05:19 PM
On the plus side, this is a chance for some smart entrepreneur to found a Los Angeles Review of Books.
Posted by: Colin Marshall | July 22, 2008 at 08:09 AM
Mr Shannon: I'll say it already has destroyed a culture, but the news from the front says they're building a new one too. This loss is deplorable, but certainly not surprising since i've got oodles of more content than i even need right now. It's really a comment on class, which serves to leave out those people unable to consume their infotainment online. Those that have the leisure such as i do to read on the 'net are finding plenty of reviews. The model of cellulose is unsupportable during this "economic readjustment."
I really like my newspaper, and i miss what they used to be but i am trying to face facts. Where do all the little nicks and cuts lead to--complete exsanguination?
Posted by: missvolare | July 26, 2008 at 12:20 PM