Business Journal

I was surprised--astounded really--at David Shaw’s reference to the Los Angeles Business Journal in his account of the Staples Center controversy (“Crossing the Line,” Dec. 20). How he came to the conclusion that “few Times reporters or editors read the Los Angeles Business Journal, and those who do don’t pay any attention to it” is beyond me. His research apparently missed the fact that The Times and Times Mirror currently have 57 separate subscriptions to our newspaper--more than double the number from four years ago--and given the “pass-along” factor for a publication like ours, it is no doubt routinely read by many more than that number.

His throwaway dismissal of the Business Journal is especially distressing not only because it’s flat-out wrong, but because it raises issues about our credibility. Let me note that the Society of American Business Editors and Writers has named us one of the nation’s top business weeklies for the second consecutive year.

MARK LACTER, Editor

Los Angeles Business Journal