L.A Times fires editor in dispute over budget cuts

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Times has fired its editor, James O'Shea, for rejecting a management order to impose $4 million in budget cuts, the newspaper said Sunday.

O'Shea's ouster comes just 14 months after he arrived at the newspaper from the Chicago Tribune. He had replaced Dean Baquet, who had been forced to resign after he refused a similar order to cut the newsroom budget.

When he arrived, O'Shea told the news staff he would oppose any cuts he thought would harm the newspaper.

His removal comes just a month after the Times' parent company, Chicago-based Tribune Co., was taken private in an $8.2 billion buyout by real estate magnate Sam Zell.