Rough week for LA Times, as duly noted. Not only did publisher/meanie David D. Hiller fire newly-appointed editor James O'Shea but then the paper got scooped on its own story by the Wall Street Journal. Finally there is a story up online on the LAT site today. And what do we learn? Well, first of all, gnome snakecharmer and LAT owner Sam Zell is described as a "baron" which doesn't bode well for employee/management relations. Also it turns out James O'Shea, like John Carroll and Dean Baquet before him, was fired for resisting management's constant pressure for budget cuts. Speaking of which, tonight, the Wire, budget cuts are coming and no one is safe. (Of course, one of the hated suits in the Wire is based on Carroll, who went on from the Baltimore Sun to become a newspaper martyr at the Los Angeles Times.)