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Black and Hispanic journalists most affected by layoffs at Los Angeles Times

The newspaper's union acknowledged that 38% of Latino workers and 36% of black workers lost their jobs.

Fachada del edificio de imprenta de 'Los Ángeles Times'.

(Omar Bárcena / Flickr)

Published by
Rosana Rábago Sainz

Traditional American media is in crisis. Following layoffs announced at Univision, Sports Illustrated and The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times was one of the last newspapers to announce staff cuts in mid-January. Specifically, it laid off a total of 115 employees or 23% of its staff, generating chaos not only in the media, but in the journalistic environment that quickly echoed the news.

But what was most surprising was discovered hours later, when the newspaper's union announced that black and Latino journalists were among those most affected by the layoffs. According to representatives of the Hispanic, Black, Asian American (AAPI) and Midwest, North African and South Asian journalists (MENASA) at the LA Times, many workers from these groups were affected.

Specifically, the different leaders of these groups pointed out, the Hispanic group lost 38% of its members and the black group lost 36%. For their part, the AAPI and MENASA racial groups said goodbye to 34% of their members.

Soon, social networks were filled with messages from these workers. People like Jean Guerrero, Jack Herrera, Sarah Parvini, Carlos De Loera, Lila Seidman and Brian Contreras announced on their X accounts that they were among the journalists fired:

Los Angeles Times admits layoffs mainly affect Hispanics and blacks

The situation reached such a point that the Los Angeles Times itself, in the article announcing the layoffs, made reference to the number of black and Hispanic journalists fired. It did so with a slight mention of the leaders representing Hispanic, Black, AAPI and MENASA people:

Our newspaper’s ownership made a promise to bring in talented journalists from diverse backgrounds so that our staff reflects the city we cover, in the most populous state in the country. These proposed cuts would severely damage what incremental progress has been made.

What they did not specify, however, was whether they would take measures to rehire them. They simply limited themselves to ensuring that, from their beginnings, they have tried "to diversify its staff to better reflect such a diverse region as California," thus removing blame while once again pointing out the owner of the media who, the newspaper claims, had tried to blame the union for the layoffs in order to eliminate any racial issue. Something that the Los Angeles Times' own journalists' union refused to accept :

This staffing cut is the fruit of years of middling strategy, the absence of a publisher, and no clear direction. We still believe in the Los Angeles Times and the important role it plays in a vibrant democracy. But a newspaper can’t play that role when its staff has been cut to the bone.
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