The Los Angeles Times announced newsroom layoffs today for the first time since biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the paper in 2018. The cuts include 74 positions, representing about 13% of the total newsroom headcount.
Per the paper’s Meg James:
Full-time and temporary workers will be let go, including a handful of managers. Reporting positions are expected to be largely spared but production staff will be trimmed, including editors on the news and copy desks as well as the audience engagement team. Some photographers and audio producers will also be cut.
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LAT Executive Editor Kevin Merida announced the move in a note to staff. Merida indicated the decision was “made more urgent by the economic climate and the unique challenges of our industry.”
He called such decisions “agonizing,” adding, “We will be saying goodbye to some tremendous colleagues.”
The New York Times reported that Merida also wrote, “Collectively, we have done a vast amount of work as a company to meet the budget and revenue challenges head-on. But that work will need acceleration, and we will need more radical transformation in the newsroom for us to become a self-sustaining enterprise.”
Reed Johnson, the unit council chair for the L.A. Times Guild, shared a statement on social media indicating that the union was “outraged” by the move. He said the layoffs would affect about 15% of unionized members of the newsroom.
“We were blindsided by this news,” wrote Johnson. “Management did not consult us in advance about other options for cutting costs and saving money, short of layoffs. We have been bargaining a new contract since September, and this was never hinted at during bargaining.”
He also maintained that, “under our contract, management is required to bargain with the Guild over proposed layoffs.”
Poynter reported that while that current contract has expired, “its terms are still in effect until a new contract is signed.”
Layoffs in the media and tech space have become a near daily occurrence in the past six months with news outlets such as The Washington Post, Vice News, ABC News, Vox Media, NBC News, CNN and NPR slashing jobs since the start of the year. In the past week alone, Spotify let go 200 staffers and Reddit cut 5% of its workforce.
Since Soon-Shiong bought the Times for a reported $500 million, it has added more than 150 journalists to its payroll and notably won two Pulitzers last month for its coverage of the L.A. City Council scandal.
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