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Untitled Document
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 Mark
Willes
Ahead of the Times
by Edward L. Carter
photography by Brad Slade
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Mark Willes, then chairman of Times Mirror Company and publisher
of the Los Angeles Times, stepped off the plane in mainland
China just days after the United States bombed the Chinese Embassy
in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
Upon arriving at his hotel that day in mid-1999, Willes watched
Chinese news broadcasts of student protesters hurling bricks at
the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Despite the risks involved, Willes
insisted that he go to the American embassy.
He and several Times reporters and editors made their way
through Chinese police blockades to within a block of the embassy.
"One reporter . . . explained that we were U.S. citizens and wanted
to go to the embassy," Willes recounted later to BYU students. "The
guard said, ‘No.'" The reporter asked why. "The guard responded,
‘There is no why.'"1
That nonanswer did not satisfy Willes, a man not easily swayed.
Later, though, Willes used the experience to illustrate a lesson
he knows well: Some questions don't have easy answers.
It is a lesson that Willes, now a visiting distinguished professor
of management at the Marriott School, frequently finds himself teaching
others as he explains a series of bold and controversial moves he
took as CEO of Times Mirror from 1995 to 2000.
Although they might argue with his ideas for reviving a sickly newspaper
industry, journalists and scholars alike agree that Willes is one
of the most extraordinary figures to enter the news and information
business in the latter part of the 20th century. His persistence
in forging ahead despite situations and people who would block his
path has made Willes successful—and sometimes unpopular.
"Stubbornness is a great asset, but if you take it too far it can
also be your greatest liability," he said. "It's very hard to get
the right balance."
"The newspaper is a greater treasure to the
people than uncounted millions of gold."
—Inscription, Los Angeles Times building
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