Robert Gottlieb and Irene Wolt Thinking Big: The Story of the Los Angeles Times, Its Publishers and Their Influence on Southern California, G.P. Putnam's Sons: NY, 1977. 603 pp., 1973
Chapter 27 Down and Up in Washington
3. The Company Intervenes
"The Times was slow to get involved in Watergate coverage . . .
" . . . When the Justice Department learned of the interview, it threatened to withdraw [the former FBI Watergate lookout] [Alfred] Baldwin's immunity from prosecution and warned that he might be indicted if the Times story were published. That same afternoon Judge John Sirica, on request from government attorneys, signed a court order prohibiting any witness from commenting on the case and warned that Baldwin would be cited for contempt if the story ran.
" . . .
" . . . government subpoenas ordered the Times to hand over all material concerning Baldwin. At the opening of the court session Sirica ordered Lawrence [the Times editor] to comply with the order or to be sent forthwith to jail. To the shock of everyone in the bureau, when he refused, he was immediately taken off to prison . . . ." p. 442
Chapter 30 Management Ideologies
2. Shades of Gray
"In the middle of the Watergate storm, on September 23, 1973 . . . an announcement . . . shifting Paul Conrad's cartoons from the editorial page to the op-ed page. "Because the cartoon occupies a prominent position on the page where the institutional voice of the newspaper is expressed . . . the cartoon tends to color both the opinions expressed in these editorials, and the dispassionate news coverage we attempt to achieve . . . It will come as no surprise to our readers to hear that sometimes Paul Conrad speaks for the Times, and sometimes not. As he is fond of saying, he works in black and white; the editorial writers work in shades of gray . . .
""The Times developed a criteria about my work," Conrad commented . . . "If it's within the bounds of taste and makes sense then they run it." . . .
"In another discarded drawing, Conrad had Spiro Agnew urinating on several newspapers and magazines-identified as the New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Newsweek, etc.-with the caption reading, "Leaks." . . . " p. 481
"The cartoon that touched off the uproar that helped push Conrad off the editorial page portrayed H.R. Haldeman as a monstrous robot, with the caption, Son of Nixonsteen. Haldeman, whose parents were Chandler intimates, was vintage upper-class Southern California, was a good friend of Franklin Murphy, and had numerous ties to the local business establishment. Son of Nixonsteen touched off a systematic attack against the Times cartoonist, as evidenced by a letter-writing campaign and delegations of leading businessmen coming to see the Times management with the complaint that the "outrageous" Times cartoonist "had stepped out of bounds."" p. 482