In
an era when being nice is the greatest virtue, and sensitivity,
especially in males, is the most desired goal, it's surely refreshing
when someone actually speaks his mind.
You
may recall back in 1985, when Claire Giannini Hoffman, daughter
of Bank of America founder A. P. Giannini, resigned her spot
on the board of directors. She felt that current management
was not doing things the way her father, who built the giant
bank on the basis of personal service and trust, would have
liked.
She
could have sat back and clipped coupons, but, instead she stood
up and spoke her mind.
Fast
forward to November 3, 1999.
Otis
Chandler, the former publisher of The Los Angeles Times and
the former chairman of Times Mirror, its parent company, offered
a sweeping denunciation of the newspaper's current management
for its "unrealistic and impossible" circulation goals, its
"unbelievably stupid and unprofessional" agreement to share
profits with the management of the Staples Center, a new downtown
arena, and its contribution to the decline in morale among the
newspaper's staff.
Chandler
made the comments in a letter to the newspaper's staff. In a
searing repudiation of the policies of the current publisher,
Kathryn M. Downing, and Times Mirror chief executive, Mark H.
Willes, Chandler, an heir of the family that founded the newspaper,
wrote, "One cannot successfully run a great newspaper like The
Los Angeles Times with executives in the top two positions,
both of whom have no newspaper experience at any level."
His
statement came as it was learned that the Staples Center not
only had entered an agreement with the newspaper to share the
profits from the magazine, but encouraged one of its suppliers
to buy advertising.
It
is considered quite unethical for a newspaper to enter into
any financial relationship with an institution that is the subject
of continuing coverage.
The
role of the arena in selling the advertising has become a bone
of contention inside the newspaper, even after Ms. Downing moved
last week to quell a fierce protest in the newsroom over the
profit- sharing arrangement, apologizing to the staff and saying
it reflected her "fundamental misunderstanding" of the role
of a publisher.
Wow!!
Talk about affirmative action! How would YOU like to get a job
as the head honcho of one of the world's major newspapers and
not understand what it is that you're supposed to be doing?
Chandler
concluded his message with a reference to the members of his
family who founded and ran The Times, saying: "When I think
back and realize the history of this great newspaper under the
hands of General Otis, Harry Chandler and my father Norman and
succeeding publishers, I realize how fragile and irreplaceable
public trust of a newspaper is. The trust and faith in a newspaper
by its employees, its readers and the community, is dearer to
me than life itself."
Kind
of warms your heart, doesn't it, to hear this 71-year-old guy
with more passion in his little finger for the business, than
the two soulless humanoids currently running the show.
Who
knows? Maybe Otis Chandler will start a trend: Speaking out,
even when it isn't polite or politic.
One
can hardly overestimate the amount of suffering that has occurred
in human history, because the bad guys were allowed to roam
free, solely as a consequence of our misplaced largesse.
Lest
we forget the motto in more heroic times: Veritas supra pacem
(Truth before peace)