Troubled Los Angeles Times Picks New Editor Amid Unrest
In an attempt to calm rising newsroom tensions at The Los Angeles Times, the paper was expected to name Jim Kirk, a veteran journalist
and former editor and publisher of The Chicago Sun-Times, as its next editor in chief on Monday, according to company officials.
Earlier this month, Mr. Levinsohn offered some details of his plan when he made
a presentation to investors that described a “Los Angeles Times Network.”
The project was made more mysterious in recent weeks when newsroom employees discovered the names of several
apparently newly hired editors in an internal human resources database, an image of which was shared with .
Under the reorganization proposal, newly hired editors would supervise reporting
that could be fed to all Tronc publications, which include The Chicago Tribune and The Baltimore Sun, according to several people briefed on the potential restructuring.
On January 19 — the same day that newsroom employees announced
that they had voted to unionize — the publisher, Ross Levinsohn, was put on leave following reports that he had previously been the subject of sexual harassment allegations.
Executives at the company made the decision to move Mr. D’Vorkin out of the top editor’s job as they were also
revisiting a sweeping reorganization plan, according to two company officials briefed on the discussions.
Since Mr. Levinsohn was put on leave, Tronc and Times executives have met in Chicago to talk about which
parts of the restructuring plan could continue, according to the people familiar with the discussions.
