NYT takes a lite shot at the LAT

When freshly assigned New York Times' newspaper beat writer Jeremy W. Peters called more than a month ago to talk about the decline over time of the Los Angeles Times, I never was quite clear on his rationale for writing that story now. I think my quip was that it seemed more like a peg for 2008. After reading his piece in Monday's NYT, I'm still not sure why now. He talks to a few Angelenos who feel the LAT is not the paper it used to be, with this nut graf:

Here in the city that has always strived to show how a sense of sophistication lies beneath the silicone and the superficial, The Times has joined the city’s impossible freeway traffic as a unifying force of complaint.

Among the quoted are ex-editor John Carroll and former executive editor Leo Wolinsky, but neither of them say anything to back up the premise.

Photo: Ed Fuentes