The acquisition of the Los Angeles Times by the Tribune is clearly an act of far-reaching significance. I had never imagined that any such thing would ever happen.
The day when both newspapers were voices of arch-conservatism is long gone. Both are now relatively centrist; indeed, in more recent decades, the Los Angeles Times was considered to be the West Coast equivalent of The New York Times and the Washington Post (i.e. an Eastern-establishment liberal sheet. No such claim was ever made about the Tribune).
So it may be that such a merger is not as significant in political terms as it would have been had both papers remained solidly right of center. Yet it may be that this event could not possibly have occurred in a world in which both were staunchly right wing, even if–or though–both need not be liberal either. Being moderate is good enough.
It will be interesting to see what the results of the merger are in the future.
