Sad news out of California. Longtime LA Times columnist Thomas Bonk, who I have quoted on this site ad nauseam, has taken a buyout. This has become a common trend among the Tribune papers, and has hit close to home here with a number of Baltimore Sun staffers taking buyouts.
As Geoff Shackelford wrote on his site yesterday, for a paper like the LA Times that is focusing so much of its energy online, Bonk's dismissal is a shocker. We had gotten to know him pretty well for his weekly online column, which provided insights along with weekly telvision rating trends.
Larry Dorman of the New York Times, Leonard Shapiro of The Washington Post and Doug Ferguson of the AP are now in an elite group.
