Dean Baquet told his younger brother Terry (right) that he was being ousted as editor of the Los Angeles Times on Oct. 31, seven days before the Wall Street Journal website broke the news on Election Day. Terry is a top editor at the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp details their relationship and how they compared notes.

"I pulled up in front of my house, sat in my car, and we talked about it," [Terry] says of the morning conversation. "I didn't want it to happen, I felt awful for him. I wanted the earth to move so he could stay in Los Angeles."

Dean's only request to his brother: "Keep it discreet."

"He was one of the first people I called," says Dean, who did not inform his other brothers or his elderly mother at the time. "He was sad. It wasn't unexpected, because he and I had been talking about it."

Dean tells E&P his tough speech in New Orleans the month before had nothing to do with his exit from the Times.

Photo: E&P