Last week’s announcement of the Tribune Media-Times Mirror deal came as a surprise to most Angelenos. The sale of the media company leaves a hole in the city’s corporate fabric and means that L.A. will no longer have a locally owned daily. So the Business Journal asks:

How do you think the sale of Times Mirror will impact Los Angeles?

Daniel Styles

Vice President of Emerging Growth

Imperial Bank

A lot of people are already getting nostalgic about this L.A institution and they think they’re losing a part of their heritage. I don’t necessarily agree with that. I think the Times could benefit from the added resources and maybe beef up the business section, which is a little thin right now. For the reader there probably won’t be a big difference. From the corporate standpoint I can see big synergies, as far as Tribune now being a one-stop shop. Now they can offer their ad clients representation in most of the major cities.

Gregory Calvosa

Director of Worldwide

Marketing

Pearson Television

The absence of Times Mirror probably won’t be that good for the local economy. But for the most part I don’t see a problem with an out-of-state company running the paper. As long as they have the same editorial staff and reporters, I don’t think it will change much. Compared to say, The New York Times or the Chicago Tribune, the L.A. Times has always been considered a second-rate paper. That perception isn’t going to change regardless of where the management is located.

Nancy Hoffmeier Zamora

Principal

Zamora & Hoffmeier

I don’t think it’s going to make a large difference since the editorial staff will remain the same. I’m really not sure if the overall management will change things. I don’t think it would be wise for the Chicago-based owner to ignore the Los Angeles community as far as charitable giving and community support. This is our only major newspaper. The subscribers and the community will expect them to take a leadership role in community projects.

David Fitzharris

Director of New Business

Mercury Media

It hurts my civic pride to see the ownership of the paper migrate out of Los Angeles. But I don’t think the editorial quality of the paper will diminish. I don’t think the Tribune wants to lower the quality of the paper. That would only hurt them. As far as how Los Angeles is viewed by those outside of California, I don’t think opinions will be changed much one way or the other.

Martin H. Kaplan, Ph.D.

Associate Dean

Annenberg School for Communication, USC

I’m looking for the silver lining in this. My guess is that it won’t turn out to be a story about one family and one city, but that it’s emblematic of what’s happening to the economy. I think this is a domestic version of globalization. Corporations, when they’re philanthropic, tend to do so in their own backyards. The company being based in Chicago could impact that. If you look at America as an information ecosystem, the amount of information from both companies now is large and it will become smaller as they overlap. They could consolidate overseas bureaus, causing the overall amount of an already extremely scare commodity, foreign news, to become even smaller.