LA Times Top Editor Abruptly Exits Struggling Paper: ‘Hopeful That Progress Will Continue’
Photo by Kevin Wolf/Invision/AP
Just over two years since joining the Los Angeles Times, executive editor Kevin Merida announced on Tuesday that he is leaving the embattled paper.
In a letter to staff, Merida said that “with a heavy heart,” he would end his tenure effective this Friday:
Today, with a heavy heart, I announce that I am leaving The Times. I made the decision in consultation with [paper owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong], after considerable soul-searching about my career at this stage and how I can best be of value to the profession I love.
He added:
I am proud of what we accomplished together during my tenure here, and grateful to Patrick Soon-Shiong and family for the opportunity to help transform The Times into a modern, innovative news media company for a new generation of consumers. We’ve made tremendous progress toward that goal, and I am hopeful that progress will continue.
Ours is a fierce, resilient, superbly talented newsroom, and I am proud to have belonged to it.
Merida, a news veteran for decades who was a senior VP at ESPN and spent 22 years at The Washington Post, joined the 142-year-old newspaper in May 2021. Since taking over the top editorial post at the LA Times, the paper has faced challenges amid a changing, post-pandemic media landscape that has seen both traditional print and digital-only outlets struggle to thrive. During the summer of 2023, Merida faced the wrath of his own employees after 13 percent of the paper’s staff was laid off. The LA Times also struggled with the dueling SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes that crippled Hollywood, a prominent source of its local coverage, for months. Revenue projections were missed, cutbacks were made, and on top of that, the newsroom’s own union is still waiting for a new contract.
In a separate note, Soon-Shiong announced interim leadership until he finds a replacement for Merida: “In the near term, the newsroom’s senior leadership team, Julia Turner, Sara Yasin, Scott Kraft and Shani Hilton, will be overseeing the newsroom, with Terry Tang continuing to lead Opinion.”
