A group of more than 50 prominent Southern California civic and business leaders sent a letter Thursday criticizing Tribune Publishing Co.'s decision to oust former Los Angeles Times publisher Austin Beutner and calling on the Chicago-based company to reinstate local leadership to the newspaper.
Beutner, 55, a former deputy mayor of Los Angeles and former Wall Street investment banker, was fired Tuesday by Tribune Publishing Co. Neither Beutner nor Tribune Publishing officials would say what triggered the leadership change, but people familiar with the situation said it stemmed from a clash over whether The Times and its recently acquired sister paper, the San Diego Union-Tribune, should remain within the newspaper chain.