Another one bites the dust.

GELES (AP) -- The Los Angeles Times fired its top editor after he rejected a management order to cut $4 million from the newsroom budget, 14 months after his predecessor was also ousted in a budget dispute, the newspaper said Sunday.

James O'Shea was fired following a confrontation with Publisher David D. Hiller, the Times reported on its Web site. The story didn't say when the confrontation took place.

"The Los Angeles Times, like all newspaper companies, is facing major challenges in charting a course that will be successful for the future. The path ahead is going to be difficult and requires that our people and our organization be aligned behind what we need to do," Hiller said in a statement. "As a result of these changes, Jim O'Shea will be leaving the Times."

O'Shea's departure comes just a month after the Times' parent, Chicago-based Tribune Co., was taken private in an $8.2 billion buyout by real estate magnate Sam Zell.

The departure also follows that of his predecessor, Dean Baquet, who was forced to resign after he opposed further cuts to the newsroom budget in 2006. Read more…

So the short form of the argument goes something like this. The New Republic sucks, and it doesn't even have many subscribers these days, but they still are considered by many to be "the liberal magazine" on politics. There are much better ones, like The American Prospect and Utne Reader, but "no one" ever quotes those folks because they are small shops who don't have the resources to field big name writers in large numbers. But we can change that. By subscribing in larger numbers, we empower those magazines to move into a position to hire more, and better known, actually liberal/progressive writers. With a larger stable, those publications are in a better position to challenge right wing publications, as well as "centrist" newspapers and TV news shows. They may even find themselves quoted more often, and invited to take part in those discussions. They in turn can work with and fund New Media types like bloggers, and build up an information network that is well-sourced, fast responding, and an honest challenger to the SCLM.

It's an interesting argument, one that fascinates me as a blogger. Read more…