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DEAL BETWEEN STAPLES CENTER AND L.A. TIMES UNDER SCRUTINY

          The October 10 issue of The L.A. Times Sunday Magazine,
     which was dedicated to the opening of Staples Center, was
     part of a "financial arrangement between The Times and the
     arena," according to Felicity Barringer of the N.Y. TIMES,
     as the paper and the arena "shared the profit from the
     issue."  L.A. Times Manager Holly Bowyer "confirmed that the
     issue brought in more than" $2M in ad revenue.  Barringer
     reported the arrangement, which "provoked anxiety in the
     newsroom, evolved from a broader business contract, signed
     last year, that makes The Times one of 10 'founding
     partners' ... of the Staples Center."  The deal gives the
     newspaper "a corporate box and allows it to advertise around
     the arena."  The arena issue "provoked enough concern on the
     part of the L.A. Times City Editor, Bill Boyarsky, that he
     resisted allowing his reporters to be associated with it." 
     Boyarsky: "I was concerned because this was an advertising-
     generated issue of the magazine" (N.Y. TIMES, 10/26).  The
     WALL STREET JOURNAL's Lisa Bannon writes that the deal "has
     raised questions about how far a paper can go without
     damaging its integrity."  The paper "set a new precedent by
     sharing profit from the issue" with the arena's owners. 
     L.A. Times execs "defended the deal saying the editorial
     department had complete control over the issue and none of
     the partners in the Staples Center had any influence over
     news content or advertisers in the issue."  L.A. Times
     Editor Michael Parks: "The magazine was totally conceived by
     editorial.  We didn't know about advertising plans and they
     didn't know what we were writing."  L.A. Times Senior
     VP/Advertising John McKeon said that the profit-sharing deal
     "was simply a different way of paying for the corporate
     sponsorship" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 10/27).  

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