One of the big concerns I hear voiced repeatedly in Los Angeles about the new webbier, less journalistic L.A. Times is the fear that it will become LAT Lite: less smart, less knowledgeable, more gullible, more boosterish. In other words, more like blogs and small newspapers than the paper that was often mentioned in the same breath as the NYT ansd WSJ. Whether that happens remains to be seen, but there have been troubling signs. Like today's LATimes.com headline, written by a web editor:

Gore says the nation should be oil-free in 10 years

That would be quite a statement by former vice president Al Gore: No gas-burning cars or oil-fueled heaters within a decade. Imagine the global reaction! Only he didn't say that, based on the AP story and video at the Times links. All Gore said, apparently, was that the next president should set a goal to generate electricity without burning oil in ten years. Important too, just not what the teaser promised.