The Los Angeles Times: Here comes the cavalry IN 1910 trade unionists aggrieved by the anti-labour stance of the Los Angeles Times bombed the newspaper's offices, killing 21 workers. It is rare for today's Times to ignite similar passions. But an impressive slate of possible buyers for the newspaper, the fourth-most widely read in the United States, suggests that it still carries some heft. For decades the Times was one of the few institutions capable of knitting together the disparate neighbourhoods of its sprawling city. Older generations of the Chandler family used it as a mouthpiece for their largely right-wing interests. Otis Chandler, who took over in 1960, sought to create a rival to the east-coast giants; he invested generously, opening bureaus at home and abroad and earning profits and Pulitzers. The paper often outsold the New York Times until the early 1990s. But the Los Angeles Times has suffered more than most over the past two decades. In 2000, with circulation and advertising revenue plummeting, the Chandlers offloaded it to the Tribune Company, owner of the Chicago Tribune. Sackings and cuts followed, and worse was to come. In December 2007 a leveraged buy-out of Tribune by Sam Zell, a brash property mogul, saddled the firm with $8 billion in new debt. A year later Tribune slid into America's largest-ever media bankruptcy. Today the mood may at last be lifting among the Times's 500-odd editorial staff (down from a peak of 1,300 or so). The Tribune Company has emerged from bankruptcy and wants to sell the Times (which still turns a profit), the Tribune and six smaller newspapers, leaving it to focus on its lucrative television assets. Several potential buyers for Tinseltown's favourite newspaper have emerged. For those who want the Times back in local hands, the best prospect may be a rumoured alliance of Eli Broad, a billionaire philanthropist, and Austin Beutner, a former investment banker and deputy mayor. Both have a record of backing civic projects in a city not overburdened with them. Other possible buyers include Aaron Kushner, who has poured money into the nearby Orange County Register; the new publishing arm of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation; and the multibillionaire Koch brothers, whose tea-party politics would fit a Democratic city awkwardly. Some buyers might be put off by the reported wish of Tribune's hedge-fund owners to sell all eight papers to one buyer. The Times's circulation has lately stabilised, albeit after a huge decline. But the new owner will face challenges that go beyond the drops in readership and advertising familiar to all print-media moguls. Chief among these is that it must decide whether it is a local or a national paper. Many expect the next owner to focus on city and state coverage; Mr Beutner has indicated that he would do so. The glory days of the Times are probably behind it, but at least it may now have a future.