Al Martinez to run Mondays *

The L.A. Times readers' representative is telling people who email about the treatment of veteran columnist Al Martinez that his column will resume — only on Mondays and somewhere in the California section. Excerpt of an email today:

We've made sure that the editors were aware of reader sentiment. I'm glad to be able to tell you that Al Martinez is coming back to the Times. He'll be writing a column for the California section that will appear on Mondays. It's not clear when the column will begin again -- sometime in the next month, I'm hearing -- but I wanted to let you know as soon as possible that your comments were heard.

I guess the opinion staff successfully resisted pressure to put Martinez on the Op-Ed page — where, frankly, I agree he would have been a poor fit.

* Also: Sam Zell dropped into the Tribune Washington bureau today. A Q-and-A session with staffers was cancelled, but reporters surrounded him in the lobby and he chatted for more than fifteen minutes. He wouldn't be pinned down on a desired profit margin, but I hear he told them that if the papers make enough money he won't interfere in the journalism. He also said there might be some independent directors with media experience added to the Tribune board.