The sacking of Dean Baquet, editor of the Los Angeles Times, marks another sad chapter in the   downward spiral of traditional journalism. Baquet was fired by the Tribune Company, which owns the Times, because he objected to making job cuts among the editorial staff.

The Times has been staggering for years as its owners pared one layer of journalists after another. But, it’s surely not alone in its plight. The network broadcast news teams have found themselves in the same, sinking boat (the R.M.S. Titanic, perhaps?). Today, it’s all about profits and less about journalistic excellence. The winners are the management and shareholders of outfits like the Tribune Company. The losers are the American people.

When it comes down to a race between winning a Pulitzer Prize vs. squeezing out an extra percentage point of profit, the almighty dollar wins every time.