LATimes biz section survives, for now

Kevin Roderick of LAObserved is reporting that editors at the Los Angeles Times unsuccessfully lobbied publisher Eddy Hartenstein to cut the standalone business section instead of the California local and state news section.

Roderick writes, “I’m told that in contentious discussions in recent weeks, the editors failed to persuade Hartenstein that if a section had to go, the more palatable cut would be to move the less-read Business pages.”

Read more here.

If the Times does eventually decide to cut its standalone business section, it would be one of the largest papers to do so. Other major metro papers that have cut their business section include the Boston Globe, Denver Post and Chicago Tribune, although the Tribune has brought its section back.

Note that the Times top editors are former business editors at the paper as well. The managing editor is Davan Maharaj, while the editor is Russ Stanton. Both have been business editors at the Times this decade.