A few days back The Los Angeles Times trumpeted "the launch of a quarterly guest editor program for Current, the Sunday edition commentary section. Brian Grazer, Oscar® and Emmy®-winning writer-producer, has been chosen to oversee the debut and future guest editors will be similarly intriguing personalities from the worlds of politics, business, culture, entertainment and sports."

In a blow certain to further erode the paper's almost non-existent credibility, it has been revealed that Andres Martinez, the editorial page editor and overseer of the project, has been in a relationship with Grazier's publicist.

Bill Boyarsky has the details. Nikke Finke has much more.

I suppose this would be a bad time to bring up former Times' editor and Martinez mentor John Carroll's pompous lecture on the rise and dangers of pseudo-journalism.  (Carroll retired from the Times in 2005. Martinez was promoted in 2004.)

UPDATE: An e-mail said to be from Andres Martinez:

"David Hiller's decision to kill the Brian Grazer section this Sunday makes my continued tenure as a Los Angeles Times editorial page editor untenable.  The person in this job needs to have an unimpeachable integrity, and Hiller's decision amounts to a vote of no confidence in my continued leadership."

UPDATE: The full statement by Martinez is here.