The New York Times checked in on Aaron Kushner today regarding the Los Angeles Times lawsuit against him. Kudos to the Grey Lady for citing our comparison of the Kush to Wimpy (though wonder why they didn't identify the Popeye pal by name…), and for getting Kushner to spout off even more platitudes (“We just had a nicely profitable month…we're going to have a nicely profitable quarter”–this after a mass round of layoffs and the shuttering of the Los Angeles Register) and pablum about persecution (“I do know that the L.A. Times has been spreading rumors about us to try and hurt our business” says the man accused of not paying millions of dollars in bills and stiffing delivery drivers).
But tossed off as an aside, with no followup whatsoever, was this line by reporter Christine Haughney: “And [Kushner] confirmed there would be additional layoffs at Freedom Communications, in a year in which job cuts have already been made.”
This, in a year where there's been TWO rounds of job cuts at the Register and two shutterings of newspapers.
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The story doesn't give any further details, so it's not sure whether the layoffs will hit the Reg, the Riverside Press-Enterprise or the mothership that is Freedom Communications. But one thing is certain: Kushner will spin it anew to his favor as the rest of the world vomits.
One other weird note from the Times piece today: new publisher Rich Mirman, who made his fame in the gambling business, also was successful in “truck-stop industries”. To borrow a line from a great man, does that mean we can expect Velveeta nacho machines in the Reg newsroom? And to borrow my line, does that mean shower stalls rented by the half-hour where there were once reporters? We'll see…
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