The Los Angeles Times’ announcement that it will close all 14 of its Our Times editions in the suburbs is great news for at least one person: newspaper mogul Dean Singleton.

Singleton, chief executive of MediaNews Group, owns a slew of newspapers in communities on the suburban fringes of Los Angeles. With the Times shutting down its unprofitable weekly and daily sections, Singleton and his seven Southern California newspapers will practically have a monopoly in providing localized news to thousands of suburban readers.

However, while Singleton will be in a position to boost circulation and advertising revenues, it doesn’t mean readers will be getting a better product or more to read.

“I doubt if the local news coverage will get better,” said Cynthia Rawich, head of the journalism department at Cal State Northridge. “I would say that if the L.A. Times surrendered its commitment to local news in these areas, I don’t think anybody will pick up the slack.”

As publishers go, Singleton is known for running a relatively spartan operation. His local newspapers include the Daily News of Los Angeles, the Pasadena Star-News, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin in Ontario, the San Bernardino County Sun, the Long Beach Press-Telegram and the Whittier Daily News.

Ironically, Times Mirror Co., the former corporate parent of the L.A. Times, paved the way for Singleton to become the suburban news leader. Times Mirror, now owned by the Tribune Co. of Chicago, loaned Singleton $50 million in 1998 so he could purchase the Daily News in the San Fernando Valley for $130 million. Many industry observers felt the loan was an effort by Times Mirror to block any strong competitors from buying out the Daily News and facing down the Times on its own turf.

Indeed, as the Times closes its various suburban sections, Singleton’s newspapers are expected to do business as usual. While competition for Singleton will be eliminated in a number of areas, a few L.A. Times suburban sections will remain open in his circulation areas.

“We’re going to stay the course,” said Ike Massey, publisher of the Daily News. “We’ll keep doing what we do best, and that’s cover the San Fernando Valley.”

In the San Gabriel Valley, newspaper executives at Singleton’s three newspapers made similar comments, with few changes planned. Staffers recently laid off by the Times will be bumping elbows to get the few positions open at these papers.

“Our problem is that we’re watching our dollars as well,” said Ron Wood, publisher of the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group, which publishes the Pasadena Star-News, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune and the Whittier Daily News. “We don’t have any plans to expand our editorial staff.”

The L.A. Times is closing the 14 sections launched two years ago by former Times Mirror Chief Executive Mark Willes because they failed to make a profit, said Times spokesman Mike Lange.

The Times created the sections in hopes of answering a demand for local coverage that was identified by company researchers, and grabbing local advertising dollars in the process, Lange said.

But the formula didn’t pan out. Plans to open more Our Times sections and to publish more often were scaled back as the numbers rolled in. For many, the announcement of a merger between Times Mirror and Tribune Co., which brought a change in leadership, sealed the fate of what the American Journalism Review asked was “local-local” or “loco” coverage.

Lange said the Our Times sections boosted the L.A. Times’ circulation figures, but advertising revenues didn’t follow suit, and many criticized the quality of the news coverage.

“What we were seeing was a very positive response by some members of the community where the Our Times (sections) were appearing,” said Lange, who confirmed the sections were not making money. However, he declined to say how much money the sections were losing.

Wood questioned the thinking behind Times Mirror’s original strategy with the publications.

“The business they were targeting was the lowest-margin business we have, the highest cost to produce and the lowest revenue-generating,” Wood said. “It effectively pulls your overall operating margins down.”

While the Times is closing 14 sections, no plans have been announced to close the eight profitable suburban sections. Those include the South Bay Weekly, the Westside Weekly, the Glendale News-Press and the Burbank Leader. The Times bought a number of those publications when it purchased Coast Community News in 1993. Except for the flagship Daily Pilot in Costa Mesa and the Huntington Beach Independent, the Times later folded the papers into the Times as zoned supplements and added more sections, including the Westside Weekly.

In making the announcement, L.A. Times Editor John Carroll said the newspaper is going to concentrate its resources on reporting more in-depth stories about regional, national and international news while studying how to improve its Metro coverage.