The Los Angeles Times has laid off about 115 journalists, slashing the size of its newsroom by 20%. Many of those who lost their job were journalists of color, including Jean Guerrero, who was the only Latina columnist for the opinion desk. The paper also laid off its only reporters who focused on covering Black and Asian communities in Southern California. The layoffs are the largest at the L.A. Times since billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong bought the paper in 2018.
In other media news, Time magazine has laid off 30 journalists — that’s 15% of its unionized editorial staff. Meanwhile, The Baltimore Sun is in a state of turmoil after it was recently purchased by David Smith, the chair of the right-wing news network Sinclair.