Times Elevates 2 Senior Editors to New Positions

Times Editor Michael Parks said Friday that his handling of a controversial profit-sharing arrangement that has jeopardized the integrity of the newspaper was “naive” and “arrogant,” but that he had decided not to quit.

Parks elevated two of the paper’s senior editors to newly created positions in an effort to redress newsroom management problems that came to light in the wake of the deal with Staples Center. Parks said he was turning over the newsroom’s day-to-day operations to newly named Executive Editor Leo Wolinsky and selecting another senior editor to implement a series of ethics guidelines.

The reorganization of The Times’ newsroom leadership comes in the wake of disclosures that the paper had entered into a contract to share the profits of the Oct. 10 edition of its Sunday magazine with Staples Center, the subject of that issue.

That arrangement--considered a troubling break from journalistic principles and a threat to the paper’s credibility--resulted in a firestorm of criticism inside the paper and in scrutiny by the national news media.

Pressure on Parks has only risen since Dec. 20, when the paper published its internal investigation into the deal, which found that his recollection of his actions differed from that of other editors and business side executives.

Since the controversy surfaced late last year, Parks has said he did not know that The Times and Staples Center were sharing profits until after the magazine had been printed, although he knew before it had been distributed. He has said he overruled subordinate editors who had raised objections to the concept of a special issue of the magazine on Staples Center. After he learned of the profit-sharing arrangement, he declined to notify readers.

On Friday, the Pulitzer Prize-winner and former foreign correspondent told several hundred reporters and editors gathered in a fifth-floor auditorium that he “took a decision without information” and “didn’t listen to very senior colleagues whose guts told them there was trouble” in devoting a magazine issue to Staples Center. He also said he underestimated “the impact that this would have on our journalistic ethos.”

Controversy over the profit-sharing deal, in which The Times agreed to pay Staples Center about $300,000 as part of its commitment as a “founding partner” of the arena, has focused attention on the paper’s efforts to generate new revenue from closer ties between the news and advertising sides of the paper.

The push to break down the traditional wall between those two sides was initiated by Mark H. Willes, the chief executive of The Times’ parent, Times Mirror Co., since 1995. Willes was the paper’s publisher when the deal was signed, and last June named Kathryn M. Downing to succeed him.

Neither Willes nor Downing had any newspaper experience before coming to The Times. Parks, who became editor in 1997, has said he had to spend time out of the newsroom to educate the corporate leaders about its practices.

On Friday, Parks pledged to reverse what he called the “corporatization” of his post. Beyond that, he said the promotions would help ensure the integrity of the newspaper and clarify lines of management.

Wolinsky, a managing editor who has been with the paper since 1977, will run the newsroom’s day-to-day operation.

To rousing applause, Wolinsky told the staff “we are not about revenue. . . . We’re not even about circulation. We’re not about new products. We’re not about promotional vehicles. We’re only about quality journalism. In this newsroom that’s all that counts and that’s all that should ever count.” Wolinsky said Parks was “really not ceding anything, he’s gaining” a partner in overseeing the newsroom. Before, Parks was the only person who oversaw the newsroom.

“Would [the new structure] prevent Staples? It’s hard to say,” Wolinsky said. “But it does give someone else responsibility” for the newsroom.

Ardith Hilliard, editor of the paper’s Valley Edition, was named associate editor and assigned to implement a recently adopted set of guidelines to protect the newsroom’s independence.

Hilliard, whose staff led the paper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the 1997 North Hollywood bank shootout, said her mission in overseeing the integrity policies would be “to get us healed and get us on. Beyond the crisis.”

While Parks’ moves received a generally upbeat response in the newsroom, some journalists said he still needed to fight to regain the confidence of the rank-and-file.

Henry Weinstein, a reporter who has been at The Times more than 20 years and has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Staples deal, said Parks’ announcements were “encouraging . . . but there are still open questions” about the size of the paper’s news space and staff.

“You can’t make a newspaper greater by giving readers less,” Weinstein said. “Michael needs to form a stronger bond with the staff, and Michael needs to be a fighter for the newsroom.”