Times Conflict

Integrity in The Times’ reporting is essential to trusting The Times as a news source. Once that trust is compromised, as it now is due to the Times-Staples Center conflict of interest scandal (Oct. 28-29), one cannot help questioning the integrity of all of its news stories and columns. Although most, maybe even all, of the printed news is untainted, it seems one can no longer depend on that.

It seemed odd that there were so many stories about the Staples Center throughout The Times, not just the Magazine section, mostly in praise of the center. In this regard, it would seem that the Oct. 28-29 articles still do not reveal the entire extent of the problem in Times management, as shocking as these revelations already are.

I look to The Times for unbiased reporting. I look forward to efforts by The Times to restore, if possible, its integrity.

DALE C. KRAUSE

Santa Barbara

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So publisher Kathryn Downing apologizes because she failed to disclose that The Times had a deal with Staples Center for the special Magazine edition. She thought that “because of the line between the business and editorial sides there was no reason to disclose it.”

What line? Isn’t it clear to her that she had already destroyed that line by making the profit-sharing deal in the first place? Readers must now be wary of anything they read in your once-proud newspaper, for once the integrity is gone, there’s not much left.

JAMES SOGG

Los Angeles