Over on the news side of The Times, columnists are reacting to the paper's ongoing turmoil by trying to convince readers of just how great their hometown paper is. Steve Lopez:

Whether it's Ron Brownstein on the president, Kim Murphy on Russia, Megan Stack covering the war in Lebanon or Iraq, Stephanie Simon reporting religion and culture with scrupulous neutrality, Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino getting inside the disastrously run Getty, David Zucchino following wounded soldiers back home from Afghanistan and Iraq, Patt Morrison slicing and dicing, Bob Pool filing sublime snapshots of the city, Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten breaking political stories in Washington or Bill Plaschke digging for a local sports angle no one else thought of, there is personality and purpose in every edition, and it costs less than a cup of joe.

More in that vein at the link. Tim Rutten:

[Y]ou have to understand what makes The Times unique among major American newspapers. Alone among the country's leading papers, this one is simultaneously the most important news organization in a vast region, the Western United States, the most influential source of news in the largest and most important state in the country and the hometown newspaper of one of the world's greatest and most important cities. At the same time, it is a paper with a national and international reach because the size, interests and sophistication of its local readership require those things. Finally, the demographic realities of the world's most ethnically and culturally diverse region dictate special obligations when it comes to coverage of Latin America and the Pacific Rim.

Over in the Opinion shop, the Chandler family's Harry Chandler gives his recommendations on how to revive the paper, while columnist Gregory Rodriguez uses the new publisher's recent remark about going after the "Hispanic" market as a jumping-off point to discuss the limitations of the (Times-preferred) term of "Latino."