L.A Times’ layoffs are here! As per updates, the Los Angeles Times is eliminating almost 13 per cent of newsroom jobs by handing out pink slips to many employees.
According to a report in Variety, this round of L.A. Times would leave 74 people out of jobs. The L.A. Times Guild, an affiliate of Media Guild of the West, unhappy with these layoffs also issued a statement that the union was “outraged” and “blindsided by this news.”
The report adds that the intimation of layoffs at L.A. Times came via a memo sent by Executive Editor Kevin Merida. He said that the decision was “made more urgent by the economic climate and the unique challenges of our industry.”
However, despite these layoffs, going forward, the L.A. Times reportedly expects newsroom staff to be around 500 or more. The publication quoted Hillary Manning, VP of communications saying, “We have made the difficult decision to undergo a reorganization and eliminate certain positions within the company. The hardest decisions to make are those that impact our employees, and we are not taking this action lightly.”
As far as the impact of layoffs goes, as per L.A. Times report, the layoffs would impact “handful of managers”, for starters. Next, it adds that while “reporting positions are expected to be spared but support staff will be trimmed, including editors on the news and copy desks as well as the audience engagement team.”
L.A. Times is not the first media house/publication to resort to layoffs. Before this, even CNN and some other media houses announced mass layoffs in the event of a global economic downturn.
