In a sharply critical June 2008 opinion piece for "The Washington Post" entitled, "The L.A. Times' Human Wrecking Ball", veteran Los Angeles-based editor and columnist Harold Meyerson took Zell to task for "taking bean counting to a whole new level", asserting that "he's well on his way to ... destroying the "L.A. Times"." Comparing Zell to James McNamara, who was sentenced to life in prison for the notorious 1910 "Los Angeles Times" bombing (which killed 21 employees), Meyerson concluded his article by opining that "Life in San Quentin sounds about right" for Zell.