Unethical and incompetent owner and top management - Staff Writer Los Angeles Times Employee Review

1.0
3 Mar 2025
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

There are a good number of excellent journalists who work hard, but almost all of them wish they could afford to leave. Everyone has their resumes out. Pay is relatively good for newspapers. Most people still work remotely.

Cons

Just the worst people at the top. The owner suddenly turned MAGA and can't do enough to kowtow to Trump and praise RFK Jr. He publicly tells blatant and nasty lies about his own staff -- demonstrably lies. He knows nothing about newspapers, refuses to learn, and his daughter who knows even less interferes or tries to interfere in newsroom decisions though she has no formal role at the paper. The executive and managing editors in turn kowtow to whatever the owner wants, never stand up for staff and are pretty universally hated. The m.e. also is known for being abusive to some staff. btw, if you are applying for a part-time or temporary job, know that they give you NO benefits. You can't work on holidays and you don't get paid for them, while permanent staff does, so your pay won't be what they say. No paid vacation even if you are a part-timer for years. The deadlines are so early that the paper the day after the World Series didn't even have the Dodgers winning because the owner sold the printing press. Tens of thousands of longtime subscribers are boycotting the paper and its circulation is sinking much faster than that of other papers.

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Los Angeles Times Response
1y
We thank you for your years of service at the Los Angeles Times, and for the thoughts and criticisms you’ve taken the time to share here. As the owner and publisher of The Times, Dr. Soon-Shiong has the prerogative to shape opinion coverage. The vast majority of journalism produced by The Times, however, is news coverage, which remains independent. In addition to the talented and dedicated members of the newsroom, we are fortunate to have an extremely capable and dedicated team of professionals in our business operations group who take our stewardship of The Times seriously, and we are committed to navigating this period of change while we continue serving the community and our subscribers. We want to reiterate here that the company takes employee relations matters seriously and has a process of investigating allegations of violations of our harassment-free workplace policy and the law. Any assertion that the company has ignored claims of abuse or hostility towards our employees is false. If you have any information that should be addressed, we hope you’ll consider either sharing it with the HR team or through the ethics hotline, which you may do anonymously, either online by following this link (https://secure.ethicspoint.com/domain/media/en/gui/80938/index.html) or by phone toll-free at 844-510-1878.

Explore other reviews about Los Angeles Times

5.0
24 Feb 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The management was supportive and responsive. I never had any issues.

Cons

It is a far commute for those who are remote and need to work in the office.

4.0
7 Apr 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good focus on long-form writing and journalism; lots of lovely people worked here and there was a nice community outside of the office; felt like a legit civic institution that people in L.A. care about.

Cons

Uneven management with unclear long-term priorities and conflicting top-down mandates. Not very willing to collaborate with the union.

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