REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
A comprehensive report
published by HuffPo on Friday details claims that Tronc,
the publisher of the Los Angeles Times, is hiring a "shadow"
team of non-union journalists in a move that could threaten the
jobs of newly unionized employees at the newspaper.
According to the report, Tronc could be developing a
contributor network within the LA Times. The new group
allegedly reports to the company's business division, prompting
worries of redundancies with the main newsroom.
The report which cites multiple current and former
employees, alleges that some newsroom staffers are being
targeted by management over suspected leaks, which led to one
editor being suspended and escorted off the premises.
Some employees at the Los Angeles Times are reportedly facing new
uncertainty only days after the newspaper's editorial staff voted
to unionize,
HuffPo reported on Friday.
Tronc, which publishes the LA Times, is developing a separate
entity within the company and hiring a team of editors who will
oversee a group of contributors, HuffPo reported.
Business Insider advertising reporter Tanya Dua wrote last
week that such a model, which for years had been a proven way for
publishers to scale quickly and affordably, has since gone out of
fashion.
According to HuffPo, the new entity — called the L.A. Times
Network — exists on the company's business side, prompting
concerns about potential conflicts with editorial staffers.
Journalists hired for the new company have been working under the
radar, HuffPo reported, and had not been formally introduced to
editorial staff.
The new group works on the second floor, one level below the LA
Times' main newsroom. Employees cited by HuffPo said they fear
Tronc may be trying to create a redundant, "shadow" newsroom of
non-union employees as a precursor to layoffs of newly unionized
journalists.
Additionally, employees alleged that some staffers were being
targeted by management over suspected leaks, with some employees
saying they feared the company was spying on their phones and
computers. Those fears were magnified, according to HuffPo, after
one senior LA Times editor was recently suspended and escorted
off the premises.
According to HuffPo, that editor, Kimi Yoshino, had previously
edited an investigative piece about the
business relationship between Disney and the city of Anaheim,
where two Disney theme parks are located. Yoshino is widely
respected in the LA Times newsroom, according to staffers cited
by HuffPo, but the Disney story allegedly upset editor-in-chief
Lewis D'Vorkin, who current and former LA Times employees
described as "caustic" and "highly critical" of Yoshino.
"He's at war with the entire staff. It's incredible," one
employee reportedly said.
Read the full story
at HuffPo »
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