Los Angeles Times: threatened with dismissal, dozens of journalists on strike

Unionized journalists at the Los Angeles Times stopped work on Friday, a first in the history of this American newspaper created 142 years ago, to protest against a vast plan of layoffs planned within this title in great financial difficulty. In a context of crisis in the American written press, dozens of newspaper employees walked off the job and gathered in a park in downtown Los Angeles to denounce the plans of management, which is currently considering a large wave of job cuts. jobs.

“The changes to our contract that management is trying to make us accept are indecent and untenable,” denounced Brian Contreras, a union official at the newspaper. “If management believes our financial situation is unsustainable, they should sit down at the negotiating table in good faith and develop a buyout plan with us.” This one-off strike movement was followed by 90% of the newspaper's unionized employees, according to him, including by correspondents from other cities in the United States, including the capital Washington.

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The management of this symbolic title of the American press announced Thursday “plan layoffs” to reduce its operating budget. No job cut figures have been given, but the plan could affect around a hundred journalists, according to several American media. That’s about a fifth of the L.A. Times editorial staff. This threat of a new wave of layoffs comes as the daily, which belongs to billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, already cut 70 positions last June.

Like many traditional press titles, the L.A. Times has struggled to adapt to the upheavals brought about by the advent of the Internet. The newspaper is struggling with declining advertising revenues and an erosion of its subscriber base. Last year, the newspaper lost 30 to 40 million dollars, according to sources close to the matter told its journalists. Print media is in trouble in the United States and its extinction is accelerating, according to the latest annual report from the Northwestern University journalism school. More than 130 newspapers closed or were absorbed in 2023 in the country, or 2.5 per week, according to this document. By the end of 2024, the United States is expected to have lost a third of its newspapers in just under twenty years.