On January 23rd, the LA Times announced a shocking decision to slash 20% of its staff, or 115 positions.
According to their announcement, this is “one of the largest workforce reductions in the history of the 142-year-old institution. The move comes amid projections for another year of heavy losses for the newspaper… The cuts were necessary because the paper could no longer lose $30 million to $40 million a year without making progress toward building a higher readership that would bring in advertising and subscriptions to sustain the organization, the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, said Tuesday.”
Soon-Shiong says that to some who aren’t in the know the cuts might seem drastic, but he believed they were necessary to ensure the paper could survive for another generation. He also went on to say a “newsroom guild” was to blame for the cuts as they refused to negotiate to save positions. Never mind the fact that they wanted to change the union rules, so seniority was being valued more than results.
With the paper cutting 13% last year, they have lost a third of their workforce in less than 24 months. While that’s a sign that they are having a hard time making it, the dollars and cents of losing $3 million a month or more to print a “newspaper” the size of a diner’s menu is a laughable waste of capital. Just as every other liberal rag publication is.
For the people of LA, this paper was once a way to connect the Chicano people with the rest of the city. A way to blend the communities. For conservatives, it once was a place to reach the minorities who were on the fence about who they voted for. Now, it’s only useful as a birdcage liner, if that.
