The honeymoon is over at Tribune ... Jim O’Shea is out as editor of the LA Times—the second top editor to leave in 15 months over cost-cutting disputes. The WSJ reported that O’Shea was fired by publisher David Hiller “over a budgetary disagreement” according to a “person familiar with the situation.”

WSJ and later the LAT and the NYT say that O’Shea was removed by Hiller because he opposed making cuts that he thought would hamper the paper’s ability to cover the 2008 elections and the Beijing Olympics.  Hiller’s predecessor Jeff Johnson was fired in late 2006 for refusing to make more layoffs. Hiller than fired editor Dean Baquet; Tribune veteran O’Shea came in following that last round of top-level departures. New chairman and CEO Sam Zell, who took the company private last year, took issue with the Tribune’s penchant for cost-cutting but he also said his managers will have more autonomy. That would suggest this decision to push for expense cuts during an election year came from Hiller.

WSJ: “Mr. Zell doesn’t appear to have been directly involved in the LA Times dispute. Indeed, another person familiar with the situation noted that after Mr. Zell took control, he took steps to decentralize the company, giving the head of each unit more operating autonomy.”

LAT:  Adding insult to injury, the LAT had to follow the WSJ: “Times Publisher David D. Hiller fired Editor James O’Shea following a confrontation in which Hiller directed O’Shea to carry out $4 million in cuts, according to a person familiar with the situation. The move didn’t become public until it was reported today by the Wall Street Journal.”

LAObserved.com: “It’s amazing to me that the journalists left at the L.A. Times can put out a paper and a website every day, with all the turmoil that swirls around down there.”

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