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Diversity & Inclusion

Statement from UCLA Latina Futures, 2050 Lab on the Los Angeles Times Layoffs

Today’s action by the Los Angeles Times to lay off 115 journalists, including Jean Guerrero and Suzy Exposito, the two Latina columnists at the paper, is yet another example of regressive leadership that erases Latino voices in the American story

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: lppipress@luskin.ucla.edu

Statement from UCLA Latina Futures, 2050 Lab on the Los Angeles Times Layoffs

LOS ANGELES (January 23, 2024) – Today, the owner of the Los Angeles Times announced that it had laid off 115 staffers, 20% of the newsroom. 

Statement from UCLA Latina Futures, 2050 Lab Co-Founder Sonja Diaz:

“Today’s action by the Los Angeles Times to lay off 115 journalists, including Jean Guerrero and Suzy Exposito, the two Latina columnists at the paper, is yet another example of regressive leadership that erases Latino voices in the American story. 

UCLA research has spotlighted the dire state of Latino representation in the opinion and editorial section of the LA Times. For instance, between 2020 and 2021, a mere 4% of op-eds sampled by researchers were authored by at least one Latina/o, and this figure only marginally improved to 10% in 2022. For Latinas, the findings were even more abhorrent, with only 1.4% of op-eds authored by Latinas in the 2020-21 sample period and less than 6% in 2022. The presence of voices like Guerrero’s has been pivotal in providing a Latina lens to the news and current events, a point of view that is almost obsolete across major news platforms. 

Similarly, the LA Times’ De Los initiative has benefitted from mutually beneficial conversations with an ad hoc group of Latina/o leaders over the last 18 months. As a new initiative, De Los requires consistent and sustained support from the LA Times to achieve the business impact that is possible with today’s changing demographic trends and emerging information channels. Instead, at least five staff members at De Los have been laid off, signaling that the investment to redefine news coverage for the nation’s diverse Latino communities is no longer a priority of the publisher.

We urge the LA Times and other media outlets across the country to cease cutbacks that sabotage any semblance of organizational commitment to diversity and inclusion and instead work to actively diversify their ranks through recruitment and retention of journalists from marginalized communities.”