Front Page [antikvár]

Introduction OTIS CHANDLER Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for Times Mirror Company We often stand or fall on timing. The key elements of timing were just right when I commenced my publishership in 1960. I inherited a good, primarily local editorial product and a very sound business from my father, Norman Chandler. Los Angeles at that moment was ready for a great newspaper—a reflection of the West's rising leadership and influence. A condition some writers chose to call the "Continental Tilt" was in full swing. Not only did the East-to-West tilt encompass the greatest voluntary migration in history, but also, within the space of a few years, it included the most dynamic explosion of education and cultural and scientific exploration this country has ever seen. The time was right to build a newspaper that would bring to its readers a new kind of excellence in journalism—the best account of public affairs that we were capable of delivering; plus a recognizable picture of our environment and of ourselves, telling, as sensitively as possible, how people work, live, and have fun; plus an acknowledgment of an admirable attribute in all of us, the quest for self-improvement. In short, the time was right to aim our newspaper at an audience of better-educated men and women with greater purchasing power and to bring our readers and advertisers together in a fast-growing marketplace on a scale much larger than ever before. It was not necessary to start from scratch. I had already apprenticed for seven years in a carefully planned executive training program. It gave me an opportunity to work in the major departments of The Times—production, editorial, advertising, circulation, etc.—and to observe at close range where improvements could be made. Fortunately, The Times already had in place a fine editor, Nick Williams. He had been named to the job in 1958, the same year I became marketing manager of The Times, and we often discussed changes that could be made in the years ahead. Thus, when I became publisher in 1960, we were ready to proceed and began immediately to upgrade the editorial staff, to create new editorial sections, and to expand coverage throughout the paper. I had two basic goals. One was to make The Times the best paper in the United States. The other was to make it the most profitable in the world. The road to greatness, obviously, must be paved with more than good intentions. The Times would have to pay the massive bills for these major improvements. It was clear that we faced gigantic costs required to upgrade our editorial staff, to hire and train better-qualified personnel in the advertising and circulation areas and the production departments, to develop additional office space, and to build larger and more modern production facilities. We needed to spend money on research and development to take advantage of new technology, including data processing and, later, microwave transmission to our Orange County satellite plant. It was important to pioneer, wherever possible, efficiencies that would make our operations more profitable. It appeared to me that we must push forward on all these fronts at the same time: editorial improvements should not be delayed while we expanded and modernized the circulation and advertising departments, but neither should we count on larger revenues from circulation and advertising without sharpening the editorial product. It was another case of timing, and it meant a series of carefully synchronized actions to begin promptly and to take place over a period of years. Our work inside the newspaper during those two