2007: Those wacky Times

It's amazing, really, to look back at all the distraction, disruption and toe-shooting the new Los Angeles Times can pack into a single year. In 2007 alone:

The #2 editor resigned after fighting with reporter Mark Arax over Armenian genocide;
The editorial page editor quit after a fight over his girlfriend;
The Metro editor quit to go home;
The top political columnist and science writer quit;
The lead designer quit;
The paper's two best bloggers quit;
The best young black columnist quit;
West magazine was killed;
The standalone Book Review was killed;
A front-page correction apologized to Roger Clemens...
And it wasn't even the correction of the year;
Editors spiked a Patrick Goldstein column;
Editors terminated then — oops — restored Al Martinez's column;
Editors launched then — oops — killed an enviro blog;
Editors cancelled then — oops — revived La Cucaracha;
The publisher began blogging, but not on the Web;
Another blogger hyped her PR exec-friend;
A shakeup hit the website;
The circulation director begged staffers to subscribe;
Joel Stein tried to teach an oral sex class;
A reporter began dating ex-mayor Richard Riordan;
Another reporter was mugged;
The Times Poll was decimated;
The pressmen voted in a union;
And the head guy at the rival Register was named publisher of the year.

And that's just the small stuff. A familiar sports columnist also became female and changed her name, and the paper was sold to a profane, unpredictable owner. Despite it all, a lot of good journalism was committed.