Chicago Tribune editor stepping down

CHICAGO, July 14 (UPI) -- Chicago Tribune Editor Ann Marie Lipinski and Los Angeles Times Publisher David Hiller resigned Monday in advance of coming Tribune Co. layoffs.

Lipinski sent a memo to Tribune staff members that her last day as editor and Tribune senior vice president would be Thursday. She is to be replaced by Tribune Publishing Vice President of Editorial Gerould Ken, the newspaper said.

Hiller served 21 months as LA Times publisher, following the firing of Jeffrey M. Johnson, who protested planned cost-cutting, the Times said. During his tenure Editor Dean Baquet and his successor James O'Shea left as a result of cost-cutting disagreements.

The announcements came about a week after Tribune Co. announced specifics on now many newsroom personnel were to be cut across its publishing empire.

"I began my editorship seven months before 9/11 and in the seven years since have become accustomed and even comfortable with editing and managing through crisis and change," Lipinski wrote. "But professionally, this position is not the fit it once was. Personally, my family and I believe it is time."

Lipinski began with the Tribune as an intern in 1978. She was selected the Tribune editor in 2001.

The Tribune announced last week it was cutting about 80 positions from its newsroom staff of 578. It also said it was reducing the number of pages it prints by 13-14 percent a week.

Hiller moved to the Times from the Tribune in 2006. Before joining the Tribune, Hiller, a lawyer, clerked for Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart and worked in the Justice Department during the Reagan administration.

The Times is planning to cut 250 positions, including 150 in the newsroom.