Latino LA Times Journalists Tell Leadership the Paper ‘Continues to Fail’ Its Latino Audience
The Los Angeles Times Guild’s Latino Caucus sent a letter to the newspaper’s leadership Tuesday, demanding internal changes and better representation and service for the paper’s Latino audience.
The letter, which was delivered exactly four weeks after the Black Caucus sent its own demand letter to leadership, was addressed to owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, as well as executive editor Norman Pearlstine and managing editors Kimi Yoshino and Scott Kraft. It was signed by 78 Guild members.
It accused the Times of covering the Latino community in a “dehumanizing way” for much of its history, pointing out its past use of slurs and advocacy for the invasion of Latin American countries.
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“Today The Times continues to fail, in its staffing and coverage, to reflect a region where nearly one of every two residents is Latino. In doing so it has neglected to serve what should be its largest audience,” said the letter.
It went on, “For decades, we’ve asked management to hire more of us, promote us and make us editors. But those calls have largely gone unanswered. Today, only 13% of The Times newsroom is Latino. Of 109 editors and managers, only 11% of them are Latino. The Times has only ever had three Latino masthead editors.”
A representative for the paper did not immediately return a request for comment on the letter.
The letter highlights the achievements of Latino journalists at the Times, affirms the letter from the Black Caucus, and calls on management to make changes.
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Some of the demands include restructuring the staff to better reflect the makeup of Los Angeles, where Latinos are nearly half the population, and no longer treating Latinos as a minority group.
Here are the names of all who signed:
Tony Barboza
Dylan Hernandez
Maria Torres
Eduardo M. Gonzalez
Carolina A. Miranda
Tomás Mier
Brittny Mejia
Jorge Castillo
Jackeline Luna
Cindy Carcamo
Nancy Rivera Brooks
Esmeralda Bermudez
Gabriela Fernandez
Patricia Escárcega
Jessica Perez
Fidel Martinez
Paloma Esquivel
Andrew J. Campa
Elsie Ramos
Ruben Vives
Andrea Castillo
Nicole Santa Cruz
Marina Levario
Martina Ibanez-Baldor
Christian Orozco
Gustavo Arellano
Denise Florez
Raul Roa
Javier Panzar
Nick Leyva
Soudi Jimenez
Betty Chavarria
Eduard Cauich
Jad El Reda
Alejandra Reyes-Velarde
Selene Rivera
Steve Saldivar
Leila Miller
Sergio Burstein
Dania Maxwell
Alexa Díaz
Julia Barajas
Brian Contreras
Joseph Serna
Yadira Flores
Priscella Vega
Laura Zornosa
Jose Salvador Mancia
Melissa Gomez
Gregory Diaz
Jared Servantez
Jade Cuevas
Marilyn Ruiz
Vanessa Martínez
Dorany Pineda
Mariel Garza
Victor Barajas
Diego Medrano
Vera Castaneda
Hillary Davis
Hugo Martin
Hector Becerra
Vilma Cruz
Efrain Hernandez Jr.
Melody Gutierrez
Ruthanne Salido
Julissa James
Yvonne Villarreal
Carlos Santana
Steve Padilla
Frank Rojas
Carlos Lozano
J.R Lizarraga
Taryn Luna
Elsa Luna Jones
Victoria Hernandez
Laurie Ochoa
Lorena Elebee
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