I posted the following this morning on my NewsNosh blog. I think it's relevant here as well:

The news earlier this week that Los Angeles Times Editor Dean Baquet had been forced out of his job is yet another sign of trouble in the mainstream media.

The LA Times chief had reportedly resisted additional staff cuts in the newsroom from parent Tribune Co. The Times reported on the scene:

Some in the newsroom were deeming the loss of Baquet "the election day massacre."

Just weeks earlier, Baquet had received widespread support when more than 600 newsroom employees signed a petition sent to Tribune saying they backed their editor.

This is an ongoing saga both for the LA Times and newspapers and broadcast outlets around the country. Some might see such events as validation that the future truly is Web-based information.

While this may be true, it's cause for concern. Here's why.

A great deal of the news we discuss in the blogosphere and in podcasts today has as its genesis the traditional media. Where, for example, would Google News be without all the news organizations that contribute to it? Who would do the actual reporting, covering everything from Middle East battlefields to local schoolboards?

Each time a newspaper or broadcast outlet fires reporters, editors and photographers, we know a little less. If this keeps up, we'll all have great access to online news -- but nothing at all to talk about.

And that would make NewsNosh a pretty boring place...

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