Frantic for Revenue, LA Times Plans to Place Ads On Front Page

Revenue is down big time at the Los Angeles Times, and desperate times call for desperate measures. Here you go:

Amid a steep decline in revenue, the Los Angeles Times is planning to break with long-standing tradition by selling ads on its front page, Publisher David Hiller said Friday (7/13/07).

When it happens, the newspaper will be the largest metropolitan paper in the country to place ads there.

I absolutely love Patterico's response to the news:

The paper already runs ads for Democrats on the front page. They might as well get paid for it.

Bingo! Absolutely right on. (We've reported about the Times' front-page, hot-n-heavy love for the Democrats here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, for example.)

(Also: "Publisher's memo to Times staff," 7/13/07. 2nd Q: "[C]ash flow down a whopping 27%, making it one of the worst quarters ever experienced." Hiller notes that the WSJ carries front-page ads.)