The Times is changing

Michael Kinsley hit the nail on the head in his commentary, “Where does the Times go?” (Current, Oct. 8). California is the most populous state in the union. We have one of the largest economies in the world. There is no excuse for her No. 1 city not having the best newspaper in the country.

CAROL MAY

Los Angeles

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As a reader of the paper for more than 25 years, this continued cost-cutting worries me, particularly in light of the fact that the paper is by all accounts quite profitable. But apparently the newspaper business is now just another business to be managed and manipulated to show the best possible financial statements -- especially the perennially most important one: next quarter’s.

Yet, to this reader, newspapers in general, and the L.A. Times in particular, are not just another corporate property. Because of newspapers’ role in enabling an informed electorate, the Fourth Estate is in a unique position within the business community. For this reason, the owners of The Times have a special obligation to its readers. And given that The Times is the foremost paper on the West Coast, it also has an obligation to be more than just another large municipal daily.

But the events of recent years make me worry that the L.A. Times will fall (or perhaps more accurately, be pushed) from the first rank of American newspapers. That would be an enormous loss not only to the region but to the nation and beyond.

DAVID SALAHI

Laguna Niguel