L.A. Times launches Manhattan Project

Like every other paper throughout the country, the Los Angeles Times is looking at ways to reinvent itself in the face of declining circulation and newsroom layoffs. However, the Times is taking an unusual approach to this effort. Instead of bringing in outside consultants to evaluate operations, the paper is drawing on the knowledge of its own reporters and editors. Three investigative journalists and six editors are charged with finding new ideas from both home and abroad "for re-engaging the reader, both in print and online."

The "Manhattan Project" was the idea of California investigations editor Vernon Loeb. "We realized we had to act fast or we wouldn’t have anything to act for," said Loeb.

Adds Robert Niles, the editor of the Online Journalism Review, "None of these legions of other people have come up with the answers, so why shouldn’t reporters take a shot?”

The paper has gone through its share of turmoil in recent days. Last week, publisher Jeffrey M. Johnson, who defied orders by the paper's parent company to reduce newsroom staff, was forced out and replaced by former Chicago Tribune publisher David Hiller.