Statement from the Publisher

March 22, 2007


Contact:
Los Angeles Times
Nancy Sullivan
213-237-6160
nancy.sullivan at latimes.com


This morning we made the decision to stop production of this coming Sunday’s Current section that was to unveil a new “Guest Editor” program, with the debut edition headed by Oscar™ and Emmy™-winning writer-producer Brian Grazer.

The reason for this decision is that a potential conflict of interest had emerged over a personal relationship between The Times’ Editorial Page Editor Andrés Martinez and a public relations executive from a firm doing work for Brian. We believe that this relationship did not influence the selection of Brian as guest editor. Nonetheless, in order to avoid even the appearance of conflict, we felt the best course of action was not to publish the section. The trust our readers place in us, built over 125 years, is of the highest importance and we try never to do anything that would call that into question.

I want to underscore that nothing in this situation is, in any way, a reflection on Brian Grazer, who has been honorable and generous throughout. I’m sorry that he and the wonderful group of contributors he had assembled have been put through this. The fine contributors include Paul Ekman on lie detection; André Leon Talley on fashion and status; Eric Kandel on the brain and psychotherapy; Dalton Conley on political polling and bias; Shepard Fairy with a special illustration; Marty Singer on the increasingly brazen tabloids and paparazzi; and Sam Hall Kaplan on L.A. I want to thank them for their willingness to participate in this novel idea and hope there will be an avenue to bring these creative, thoughtful and insightful pieces to our readers in the near future.

Also today, Andrés Martinez has submitted his resignation and I have accepted it. I understand and respect his decision. I valued him as a colleague and thank him for his contributions to this great paper.

David D. Hiller
Publisher, Los Angeles Times
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