Jim Bates, a deputy editor on the entertainment/tech desk at the Los Angeles Times business section, is leaving for a job at Sitrick & Co., a crisis PR firm, according to a memo posted on the LA Observed web site.
Times business editor Davan Maharaj wrote, “There’s no getting around it : This is a huge loss. Jim is a stalwart of the Business Section. His tenure here is second only to NancyRB and he has the most bylines in TOL (2725) of anyone in the section. That makes him the Barry Bonds of Biz (hmm, I’ve always wondered why he kept asking for comp time for his trips to BALCO).
“The good news is that Jim will be here for a few more weeks. We have permission to replace him, even though we can’t really replace him. We’ll miss him, his enormous reservoir of puns and his encyclopedic knowledge of the place.”
Read more here.
