More from Lean Dean

http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2008/04/ron_kaye_out_as_la_daily.php

 

Didn't the Oakland Tribune just change editors? Maybe there's an extra player with no position.

 

Ron Kaye is a newsman's newsman.
David Butler is a wretched, two-faced corporate hatchetman.

 

And your point is ...?

 

I want to make sure there is some delineations. Because, in the coming day Ron is going to have to issue a statement that will include the words "mutual separation" at this challenging time as MediaNews seeks new leadership. Ron will have to make said statement to save whatever pension he's accumulated in -- I'm estimating here -- damn near 40 years in the business.

 

Pete Wevurski's the guy who was the editor at Oakland, a former sports editor who also spent some time in Newark. He was an all right guy when I knew him, thought when I asked the company to chip in on car repairs when my car door was kicked in while I was on assignment he gave me the bad news that no, they wouldn't. But he did it nicely.

 

I know the lawyer would cost money but holy crap, any one of us surely would have a case against that sort of thing, right? They can't dock your pension if you refuse to participate in a charade about your termination/departure -- that's just wrong. The lawyer would be worth his fee in punitive damages, I would think.

 

Fishwrapper's assesment of Butler as a ``wretched, two-faced corporate hatchetman'' is dead on, and perhaps the bigger story is how Singleton's lackey flexed his political muscle to pull off this hit job. Butler role in LANG was much like``Smithers'' to Singelton's Mr. Burns. I'm not sure what he did in Detroit, but he has apparently returened as his same mean-sprited self - and with a vengeance. Ron Kaye is perhaps the last remaining face of competency, decency, and humanity left in LANG management. In firing Kaye, Butler looks to be showing a hardening of an already merciless company line. It's unlikely he'll be able to get away with his outbursts at the Merc. Although loyal as a lapdog to Lean Dean, Butler's bullying tactics and blatent disregard for professional conduct in the news room have always been considered a bit crude - even by Singleton standards. And at a time when Lean Dean seeks to clean up his checkered public image, he'll turn on Butler faster than it takes to say BANG!

 

More on ``The Butler did it'' in PaulO's must-read blog. PaulO calls Kaye ``the last competent editor in the benighted L.A. News Group.'' PaulO says Kaye's commitment to journalism didn't fit LANG boss/hack Steve Lambert's vision, and rips Butler, calling him Singleton's ``No. 1'' Boy.

http://www.oberjuerge.com/?p=42

 

Why everyone loved working with Ron Kaye:

http://www.poynter.org/dg.lts/id.5252/content.content_view.htm

 

Any further word on who is replacing Ron Kaye?

 

DanOregon's thought that it's Pete Wevurski from BANG-EB (in above posting) makes sense, and seems consistent with LAO's report that they're bringing in someone from the North, i.e., somebody who works directly under Butler (Wevurski is listed on BANG website as the cluster's editor in chief). Seems fairly obvious Butler wants a LANG puppet he can use to spread his influence - while at the same time sending everyone in the South a message (especially to middle-level managers) that he's now in a position where he's willing and able to step on anyone who as much as looks at him cross-eyed. Butler was despised in LANG - clowned by everyone in the house from janitors and copy editors to those who worked in adjacent offices near the Zebra Lounge.