Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen: The LA Times Appears to Be in a State of Imminent Collapse

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The Los Angeles Times has been around since 1881 and has survived enormous
ups and downs over the past 142 years. But one thing remained constant:
the LA Times could be depended on for trustworthy and timely reporting of
the news. Growing up in the San Fernando Valley, the 260-plus square mile
suburbs of Los Angeles, my parents were loyal Times subscribers. The paper
has enjoyed over a century of respect and popularity with its consumers
and even detractors; until now. Impending doom seems to have struck the
Times, with new reports of "brutal" layoffs and exodus of senior editors.

The Los Angeles-based newspaper started its downward slide in the late
2000s when it went through a series of calamities, including bankruptcy,
ownership changes, an abnormally high attrition rate when it came to its
editor and general staff, and with its biggest hiccup of moving from their
historic headquarters building in downtown Los Angeles to a newer building
in El Segundo which is located near the Los Angeles International Airport
and giving the Times a new nickname of "The El Segundo Times." The move
came after the Times was purchased in 2018 by a South African billionaire
and surgeon, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.

Fast-forward to today and the news that comes with the day brings reports
of an institution in full panic and chaos mode. Tuesday's big news was
that the paper will be shedding a large percentage of the newsroom staff
and editors (115 people to be laid off), and two of the four remaining
senior editors (ironically they came from BuzzFeed) have called it quits.
This comes just a few weeks after Executive Editor Kevin Merida abruptly
left, citing differences with the paper’s owner.

Earlier this month, Kevin Merida suddenly announced that he was departing
his post as executive editor after less than three years on the job. Then,
news of forthcoming mass layoffs ensued, prompting the employee’s union to
stage a historic one-day walk out on Friday. The LAT’s Meg James reported
last week that management could slash upwards of 20% of the newsroom — or
roughly 100 positions — with the looming layoffs, though a person familiar
with the matter warned to me on Monday that it could ultimately end up
being “much worse” than that.

One of the two remaining managing editors, Julia Turner, tried to reassure
the newsroom staff of a continuing operation, but at the same time, not
sugarcoating the possibly grim future. In an email to employees, Turner
says:

“Scott [Kraft] and I are now responsible for all editorial operations, and
we’re advocating for editorial interests in conversations with the company
about the financial crisis we face.”

No one seems to truly know what is going on, or what will come, as several
employees are pointing their fingers or at the very least offering
criticism at the owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. An anonymous employee
stated:

“We have a billionaire who doesn’t understand media and thinks he can cut
his way to success...”

The critique of the leadership does not come without merit. The Times has
lost roughly $30 million annually since he took over with his activist
daughter, Nika Soon-Shiong. The Times is shedding editorial staff and
general newsroom staff at an extremely concerning rate, whether by being
laid off or outright quitting; the media giant has a historic attrition
rate. But more to the point, the LA Times is losing big to its
competition. The paper's year-over-year digital traffic, much of which is
from paying subscribers, was down 38 percent in November 2023, a
staggering hit.


As our Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar wrote:

This year-over-year decline in digital/mobile traffic for the L.A. Times
is massive, and seeing the number in comparison to outlets like the
Washington Post and the New York Times puts it into perspective. It's more
difficult to get advertisers when you're losing readers, and a 38 percent
decline in digital traffic for a publication where the overwhelming
majority of its pieces are for subscribers only is a very bad development.
It's also interesting that RedState's traffic is in the same universe as
the Los Angeles Times' despite having a very small fraction of the
resources (equipment, writers) the LAT has.

That is their sole purpose in life, to report the news and topics of
interest. The same goes for RedState, but there are some key differences
between RedState and the Times: our contributor staff is a fraction of the
size of the Times, as was pointed out; many of our contributors have other
jobs in addition to writing here, and we do this out of love of country
and the truth. We don't get paid exorbitant salaries or get fame or
fortune like they do. Yet we beat them at the very game they were a huge
part of creating, every day.

Besides the competition, the Times has another serious problem; they have
lost touch with reality and have taken a deep dive into being just another
partisan hack of the left. Decades ago, the Times used to have a solid
reputation for being truly independent in the face of politics, hitting
the right AND the left equally across the board. The same cannot be said
of the Times anymore, as they have become a stalwart member of the huge
media giant that coordinates with, supports, defends, and runs cover for
the leftist political and ideological machine.

For example, as Van Laar covered earlier Tuesday, LA Times had the nerve
to endorse LA's District Attorney George Gascon for his re-election. As
she pointed out, Gascon has never once in his professional time as a
prosecutor tried a felony case in court, is a far-left DA who refuses to
use maximum punishments, will not use weapon enhancements in most cases,
and is one of the most soft-on-crime DA's in the nation. With property and
retail theft and more running rampant in LA County, he continues to double
down on his horrible policies and the Times thinks he's deserving of a
second term.

READ MORE: Why Is the L.A. Times Losing $30+ Million a Year? This
Hilarious Endorsement Is a Big Indicator

Another prime example of tone deafness and ignorance in media reporting is
the editorial penned by Times editor Paul Thornton, which my colleague
Mike Miller properly skewered, asking "very nicely" for those Californians
leaving the state for better, safer, and cheaper places to live, to not
speak ill of the state. Even while admitting the real reason why people
are leaving, the words and tone of Thornton and the rest of the Times
staff are the perfect example of why the former paper giant is imploding
on itself.

All eyes are on the Times, as journalists around the country look at what
seems to be an ugly and bloody fall from power and influence. We are
watching as the purge of staff and the mass exodus of higher-ups all leave
the institution. I'm no expert, but I surmise that they are in deep
trouble and this is just the beginning of an inevitable end to a once
great media giant, at the very least, they will never be the same.

https://redstate.com/mdempsey/2024/01/23/oh-how-the-mighty-hath-fallen-
the-la-times-appears-to-be-in-a-state-of-imminent-collapse-n2169102