Half of L.A. Times journalists have left in the last three years
Dear readers,
Here we go again. After working for nearly 1,000 days without a new union contract or a cost-of-living raise, journalists at the Los Angeles Times learned this month that the company is doing another round of layoffs.
We know it’s a challenging time for the news business. But instead of working with us on a strategy to bring in more readers, find new sources of revenue and publish the best journalism possible, the people running The Times continue to cut to the bone with no discernible endgame.
Three years ago, The Times had about 450 rank-and-file journalists. Soon, we’ll have fewer than half that number. Layoffs and buyouts cut our ranks by more than 50 people in 2023 and nearly 100 more last year, and dozens of others have left for jobs elsewhere. In the first quarter of 2025, we said goodbye to 40 more Guild members, and now, 14 more are slated to leave the company in June.
Fewer journalists means more stories slipping through the cracks, more investigations going unpublished, more lies and corruption going unchallenged.
If you’d like to help, here’s what you can do.
Write to our newsroom leadership: Your voice matters. If you agree these cuts will undermine the essential coverage that you trust us to provide, if you believe that hard-working journalists who’ve been toiling for the better part of three years without a contract deserve a fair deal, please let our top newsroom editors, Terry Tang and Hector Becerra, know at terry.tang@latimes.com and hector.becerra@latimes.com
Post about it: Go on whatever social media site you use — Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Bluesky, X — and share your concerns. Please tag us (@latguild on X, @latguild on Instagram, @latguild.bsky.social on Bluesky) when you do it.
Subscribe (or keep your subscription): We know that cancelling your subscription is the easiest and most logical way to show your displeasure. But unfortunately, cancelling only hurts our journalists. Despite the cuts, The Times is still the biggest news operation west of the Mississippi River, with a perspective and a depth of knowledge on the West that no East Coast outlet can provide. Please stick with us.
Help our fellow Guild members: If you’d like to offer direct aid to those who will lose their jobs in early June, a colleague has launched a GoFundMe.
Despite the turmoil, the work goes on. So we’re spending a portion of each newsletter honoring our colleagues who continue to publish meaningful and important work.
Felicidades to Guild member Gustavo Arellano, who was named a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in commentary this month. The judges applauded Gustavo’s “vivid columns reported from across the Southwest that shattered stereotypes and probed complex shifts in politics in an election year when Latinos were pivotal voters.” You can read his columns here.
After federal and state officials refused to test soil in the Altadena and Pacific Palisades burn zones, The Times commissioned its own testing. Environmental reporters Tony Briscoe, Noah Haggerty and Hayley Smith reported that some lots in Altadena that have already been cleared by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers still have heavy metals and other toxins in the soil. Reporter Jeanette Marantos explained in L.A. Times Plants how gardeners can make sure their soil is safe.
Criminal justice reporters Brittny Mejia, James Queally and Keri Blakinger landed a national scoop about federal prosecutors who resigned over a “post-trial” plea agreement for a sheriff’s deputy who was convicted of excessive use of force.
Times sports reporter Jack Harris was a key voice in Apple TV’s new documentary on the 2024 World Series, when the Dodgers bested the Yankees. And our colleagues in De Los published a series looking at Selena’s legacy, 30 years after the death of the Tejano queen.
Thank you for following our fight and reading our work. We need your support. A strong city needs a strong newspaper, and as frustrated as we are with The Times, we still deeply believe in our mission to keep Angelenos informed and engaged.
In solidarity,
Connor Sheets, investigative reporter