Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune merge foreign operations

With their parent company in bankruptcy, the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune have announced plans to combine their foreign reporting operations. The editors of the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, which are owned by the Chicago-based Tribune Co., made the announcement in separate memos to their staffs on Tuesday.
"The Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times are unifying their foreign reporting operations into a single organisation to serve all Tribune newspapers," Chicago Tribune editor Gerould Kern wrote. Besides the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, the Tribune Co. owns the Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sentinel, Hartford Courant and several other newspapers.
The Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy protection in December.
Kern said the joint operation will be "run from Los Angeles, where most of the foreign reporting and editing staff is based. "The Chicago Tribune will work with the Times on a daily basis to shape coverage priorities," he said.
The editors did not provide any details about the reorganisation but Kern said "the foreign operation will consist of correspondents placed strategically around the globe, including some from the Chicago Tribune."
Faced with a steep drop in print advertising revenue and steadily declining circulation, US newspapers have been cutting back on their foreign reporting, closing bureaus and focusing more on local coverage and the Web. The Tribune Co. is the second-largest US newspaper publisher in terms of revenue and the third in terms of circulation.