Dennis FitzSimons Response to LA Leaders

September 18, 2006

Mr. George Kieffer Mr. Robert Simonds
Mr. Edward J. Avila Mr. Blair H. Taylor
The Honorable Warren Christopher Ms. Liza White
Ms. Maria Elena Durazo Ms. Antonia Hernandez
Ms. Elise Buik Mr. Brendan Huffman
Mr. Geoffrey Cowan Mr. Stewart Kwoh
Mr. David Fleming Robert K. Ross, M.D.
Mr. Ronald Gastelum Mr. Steven L. Soboroff
Ms. Irene Hirano Mr. Gary Toebben
Mr. John Mack Mr. Matt Toledo

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Thank you for your letter of September 12 regarding the Los Angeles Times. We
appreciate your deep interest in the Times, and are in total agreement with your view
of the vital role it plays in serving Southern California. We also absolutely agree that
the Times is a great newspaper and that it is important it remain so. We are also
confident you understand that in order to continue succeeding, great newspapers must
constantly evolve based on changes in the media environment and the communities they
serve.

Tribune's own evolution in the newspaper industry began in 1847, when the first 400
copies of the Chicago Tribune were printed on a hand press in a one-room plant.
Joseph Medill, the legendary publisher, shaped the newspaper in its early years and
instilled a sense of journalistic integrity that remains intact today. We feel strongly
that great journalism is the foundation for everything that we do—it has been for 160
years. And, during its history, Tribune newspapers frequently have been honored with
journalism’s highest recognition—winning the Pulitzer Prize 100 times. The Times
itself has won 13 Pulitzers since being acquired by Tribune in 2000—five more than it
won in the ten years prior to our ownership.

Importantly, we also believe that outstanding journalism is vital to our business success.
Your letter addresses staffing and the management of financial resources necessary to
make a reasonable profit at the Los Angeles Times. To provide context, the Times’
revenues today are actually below where they were at the time of our acquisition in
2000, due to structural changes in the media industry, as well as the industries of our
largest advertiser categories – automotive, movies and retailing.

In terms of editorial expense, the portion of the Times’ total revenues dedicated to news
coverage is currently almost double what it was during what many refer to as the "golden
age" of the newspaper, under publisher Otis Chandler. It is also higher than in 1999,
prior to our acquisition of Times Mirror. In fact, the Los Angeles Times has the largest
editorial staff and budget of any metropolitan newspaper in America without nationwide
circulation.

Over the past six years, the Times’ leadership team, with Tribune’s encouragement and
support, has taken a number of significant steps to improve the newspaper, placing more
emphasis on coverage of Southern California news, outstanding investigative reporting
and expanded coverage of the entertainment industry. We expect additional emphasis
on Southern California news in the future.

To cite just a few improvements:

• Many reader-focused section improvements have been completed. These include
Calendar, California, Food, Health, Home and West magazine.

• In 2003, the Times launched its fifth regional edition, The Inland Empire,
featuring expanded coverage of local and regional news/issues in Riverside and
San Bernardino counties.

• There has been significant expansion of the staff of latimes.com. Research shows
that latimes.com traffic is growing, and we expect further growth from this
talented team that has been supported with significant budget increases.
Tribune has also made over $250 million in capital investments in the Times, designed
to further improve quality of the newspaper, enhance revenue growth needed to finance
great journalism and improve efficiency through upgraded technology.

Some examples:

• Increased color printing capacity at the Times by 33% to give readers and
advertisers a more engaging newspaper.

• A new production facility in Irwindale to automate insertion of preprinted
advertising.

• State-of-the-art technology to enhance advertising, circulation, and editorial
efficiency.

• State-of-the-art space for the Times in Tribune’s Washington, D.C. multimedia
news bureau.

We will continue to make major investments to better and more efficiently serve
customers of the Times and all our other newspapers. We believe the collective scale of
our company and the ability to collaborate across markets enhances our ability to do so.

Tribune and the Times are deeply committed to effectively serving our communities,
readers, advertisers and shareholders in this rapidly changing media environment. This
requires that decisions at the newspaper be made on a dynamic, forward-looking basis
to deploy our very talented people and other resources to where they are most needed to
achieve these goals.

We are committed to a company-wide expense control program to offset inflationary
cost increases and better deploy our resources to where they create the most value for
customers. As our largest business unit, the Times will participate appropriately in
these initiatives, all in the context of our customer and community focus.

The issue of local versus corporate ownership has received much attention in recent
months. Neither is inherently better, but one only needs to look east to Dallas, New York
or Washington to realize that outstanding, locally-controlled newspapers are not insulated
from the competitive realities of today’s media marketplace. And looking north to Santa
Barbara highlights other issues that can develop under local ownership.

We would ask you to remember the L. A. Times as it was prior to being acquired by
Tribune. Ownership was local, but as you may recall, the newsroom was in an uproar
over a breach of journalistic ethics related to publication of a special advertising section.
The publisher and editor were under fire from the newsroom, as was Times Mirror’s
chief executive officer. The editorial integrity of the newspaper was in question.

Tribune changed that by returning the newspaper’s focus to the practice of great
journalism. We appointed a talented publisher and editor, set parameters, and then
stepped aside and let them do their jobs. The new team improved the quality of the
paper and we have been very proud of the many journalistic achievements and awards
earned by the Times during our ownership.


In summary, we hope you will evaluate the Los Angeles Times and its related websites,
not on the ownership structure or the size of their editorial staff or budget, but on how
well they serve the community’s needs. We’re confident that by that measure—or any
other—the Times is, and under Tribune ownership will continue to be, a truly great
newspaper.

Thank you again for your letter. I hope to be seeing many of you in Los Angeles soon.

Sincerely,

Dennis FitzSimons

SOURCE Kevin Roderick