'Chandlers' Doc Offers Timely Look at Changing Times

"Inventing LA: The Chandlers & Their Times" won't premiere on PBS until October, but it's particularly timely in light of Los Angeles Times editor Russ Stanton's Marketwatch interview in which he discusses the paper's down-sized ambitions in its new configuration under the embattled, bankruptcy-filing Tribune Co.

"Inventing LA" chronicles the paper's colorful history as its founding family presided over the land grab explored in the movie "Chinatown" (there are even some strains of that memorable music in the score), vigorously fought against organized labor and helped champion the political career of a young congressman named Richard Nixon.

The most pertinent passages, however, are how fair-haired son Otis Chandler broke with that conservative tradition and sought to transform the Times into a first-rate paper that could legitimately compete with the East Coast establishment. Notably, his efforts are dismissed by some relatives as having operated the paper strictly to impress the Pulitzer Prize committee -- exhibiting obvious disdain for the notion of high-minded journalism.

As a Times alumnus (1996-2003, with the Tribune sale landing squarely in the middle) I did see some of the corrosive effects of prize-seeking at the Times first-hand, but there's no denying that Chandler oversaw one of the nation's best papers -- and viewed the enterprise as more than just a license for his otherwise-secretive family to pad their trust funds.

Beyond the circumstances leading up to the paper's sale to Tribune, the project doesn't spend much time exploring that deal's aftermath or the Times' status in the 21st century, other than a sobering postscript about the staff having been halved from its peak of 1,200 employees a decade or so ago. Still, for anyone with an interest in or appreciation of L.A.'s history, "Inventing LA" is a must-see.