Current:Home > Scams'Los Angeles Times' to lay off 13% of newsroom -Momentum Wealth Path
'Los Angeles Times' to lay off 13% of newsroom
View
Date:2025-04-16 02:32:33
The Los Angeles Times informed its newsroom Wednesday that it would lay off about 13% of the paper's journalists, the latest in a string of blows to major American news outlets.
It's the first major round of job cuts since the paper was acquired in 2018 by Patrick Soon-Shiong, a billionaire entrepreneur and investor based in Southern California. At the time, he told NPR that he wanted to protect the L.A. Times from a series of cutbacks that had afflicted the paper under previous owners based in Chicago.
During the pandemic, there was a far smaller round of layoffs. The paper and labor union negotiated a work-sharing agreement and furloughs in lieu of layoffs.
In making the announcement to officials of the newsroom union, executives cited a "difficult economic operating environment." L.A. Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida wrote in a memo to colleagues that making the decisions to lay off colleagues was "agonizing."
"We have done a vast amount of work as a company to meet the budget and revenue challenges head on," Merida wrote. "That work will need acceleration and we will need more radical transformation in the newsroom for us to become a self-sustaining enterprise."
He continued, "Our imperative is to become a modern media company - more nimble, more experimental, bolder with our ambition and creativity than we are today."
This follows major layoffs at other news companies, including BuzzFeed (which eliminated its news division), Vice (which declared bankruptcy), NPR (which laid off 10 percent of its workforce), MSNBC, CNN and The Washington Post.
According to a spokesperson, the L.A. Times intends to lay off 74 journalists. The paper expects to retain at least 500 newsroom employees after the cuts are complete.
Leaders of the paper's newsroom union, called the NewsGuild, note that it has been engaged in negotiations with the paper since September on a new contract with little progress. The prior one, which remains in effect, expired in November. They say they were blind-sided by the announcement, receiving notification from the paper's chief lawyer just minutes before Merida's note to staff.
"This is a case study in bad faith and shows disrespect for the newsroom," the guild said in a statement. It called upon the newspaper to negotiate alternatives, including voluntary buyouts, which it said was required under the paper's contract. (Fifty-seven guild-represented employees are among those designated to lose their jobs, according to the union.)
At NPR, the union that represented most newsroom employees, SAG-AFTRA, reviewed the network's financial books and agreed the need for cuts was real. The two sides ultimately reached agreements on how the job reductions would be structured.
The NewsGuild also represents journalists at the Gannett newspaper chain who walked off the job earlier this week to protest their pay and working conditions.
veryGood! (769)
Related
- 'Survivor' 47 finale, part one recap: 2 players were sent home. Who's left in the game?
- Horoscopes Today, July 7, 2024
- Hundreds of deaths, thousands of injuries, billions of dollars is cost of extreme heat in California
- No relief: US cities with lowest air conditioning rates suffer through summer heat
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- Emma Watson Confirms New Romance With Oxford Classmate Kieran Brown
- Podcaster Taylor Strecker Reveals Worst Celebrity Guest She's Interviewed
- Anchorman actor Jay Johnston pleads guilty to interfering with police during Jan. 6 riot
- 'Kraven the Hunter' spoilers! Let's dig into that twisty ending, supervillain reveal
- LeBron James says son Bronny 'doesn't give a (expletive)' about critics
Ranking
- Selena Gomez engaged to Benny Blanco after 1 year together: 'Forever begins now'
- Two sets of siblings die in separate drowning incidents in the Northeast
- Emma Watson Confirms New Romance With Oxford Classmate Kieran Brown
- Nicolas Cage Shares He Didn't Expect to Have 3 Kids With 3 Different Women
- NFL Week 15 picks straight up and against spread: Bills, Lions put No. 1 seed hopes on line
- Stock market today: Japan’s Nikkei 225 index logs record close, as markets track rally on Wall St
- Gypsy Rose Blanchard Is Pregnant, Expecting First Baby With Ken Urker
- Kate Beckinsale Details 6-Week Hospital Stay While Addressing Body-Shamers
Recommendation
Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
'Bob's Burgers' actor Jay Johnston pleads guilty in Capitol riot case: Reports
What does a jellyfish sting look like? Here's everything you need to know.
DB Wealth Institute, the Cradle of Financial Elites
Taylor Swift Eras Archive site launches on singer's 35th birthday. What is it?
Bethenny Frankel opens up about breakup with fiancé Paul Bernon: 'I wasn't happy'
Teresa Giudice embraces 'photoshop' blunder with Larsa Pippen birthday tribute: 'Love it'
Police union fears Honolulu department can’t recruit its way out of its staffing crisis