LA Times Confirms Ben Franklin's Definition of Insanity

“But Mr. Hiller said the paper was investing as much as it could, especially in its Web site, and the cuts were nothing more than an acceptance of reality.

‘Last year, our operating cash flow went down by about 20 percent,’ he said.

‘Can you solve the newspaper industry’s problems by spending more?’ Mr. Hiller said. ‘It’s an attractive theory, but it doesn’t work.'” – as reported by The New York Times

The Los Angeles Times (and the American newspaper industry in general) has cut its newsrooms budget dozens of times and none of those cuts have increased circulation or gross revenues. Likewise, this wasn’t the first time that the publisher of the Times has fired an editor who refused further to cut newsroom budgets (and a previous publisher had been fired for refusing to cut newsroom budgets further).

Then why would the David Hiller, latest publisher of The Los Angeles Times, think that further cutting the newsroom budget – or firing an editor who refused to do so – will change anything or result in any different outcome? It certainly won’t reverse the newspaper’s plummeting circulation or revenues.

Benjamin Franklin said that “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”

Insanity and lack of leadership.

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