About This Series

The Times today begins a three-part series examining the controversy and implications involved in the rapidly changing relationships between newspapers’ editorial and business departments.

* TODAY: In an effort to increase revenue in a time of growing competition and diminished readership, many newspapers are taking the risky step of breaking down “the Wall” that has long separated (and insulated) their news departments from their advertising, circulation and other business departments. Many reporters and editors worry that this could compromise their editorial independence.

* MONDAY: When Mark Willes took over as publisher of the Los Angeles Times last fall and announced several radical changes in traditional newspaper structure and operations, The Times immediately became a controversial case study on an issue confronting newspapers everywhere: Will lowering jurisdictional barriers inevitably lead to lower journalistic standards?

* TUESDAY: The “Mohonk group” forged cooperative ties to replace “guerrilla warfare” and “a dialogue of the deaf” between the news and business departments at the New York Times, where reporters and editors have historically protected their turf with missionary zeal. Also: Magazine editors, long more vulnerable to business pressures than their newspaper counterparts, feel the heat more than ever these days.