The Sacramento-based McClatchy chain has fired two classical music critics in recent weeks, apparently specifically targeted in the chain’s cutbacks. Paul Horsley of the Kansas City Star and Lawrence Johnson of the Miami Herald were both in cities with burgeoning arts scenes, and both got the axe.

This suggests that the bean-counters in Sacramento don’t know much about culture, or appreciate that arts coverage is local news — and that local news sells papers. There’s a lot you can pick up from the wires; reviews of your local symphony orchestra are not on that list.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City has organized a campaign to get Horsley reinstated. It worked in Atlanta, where Pierre Ruhe was scheduled to be re-assigned; maybe it will work in KC. But it’s odd that McClatchy would dump the music and dance critic in a city that’s building a brand-new state-of-the-art performing arts center for its orchestra and opera company.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post has shown a considerably better sense of its readership. Although the Post had a buyout recently — and longtime critic Tim Page took it (he’s now a professor in Southern California) — they’ve replaced him.

The new critic is Anne Midgette, a former regular stringer for The New York Times. She held the job on an interim basis for several months, and she’s a solid choice for the job.

May more newspapers make that kind of commitment to their communities and to the arts.