As a general rule, most people are sympathetic when they hear about others who have lost their jobs due to layoffs, company closings, and the like.

But in the case of the now-former employees of the Los Angeles Times, that sympathy is in short supply among conservatives and others who were frequent targets of the paper’s agenda-driven news and opinion divisions.

On Sunday, Legal Insurrection reported that the left coast newspaper had announced that staff cutbacks were imminent, with around 100 people set to be let go. In response, unionized employees staged a one-day walkout and demanded, among other things, “to swap traditional seniority protections for those related to diversity.”

Needless to say, neither that nor senior editors “abruptly” quitting changed things, and on Tuesday, walking papers were handed out to at least 115 staffers:

The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday laid off at least 115 people, including about a quarter of its newsroom, in a stunning second round of major layoffs in less than a year that underscored broader challenges facing the news business.

Cuts included reporters, editors and columnists, according to the union that represents the newsroom and social media posts from individual journalists. Layoffs fell disproportionately on Black, Latino and Asian employees who tend to have less seniority, the Guild said in a statement.

That employees of color were allegedly “disproportionately” impacted became a media rallying cry as though losing their jobs was even worse than the job losses among white staff members. NBC News was one of several outlets that zeroed in on the Guild’s claim in order to paint the layoffs as an especially troubling development:

“The company has reneged on its promises to diversify its ranks since young journalists of color have been disproportionately affected,” the Los Angeles Times Guild said in a statement Tuesday. “The Black, AAPI, and Latino Caucuses have suffered devastating losses. Voluntary buyouts could have helped prevent this, but that’s not the path the company chose.”

The team behind De Los, a vertical the Times launched in 2023 to cover the city’s 49% Latino population, was gutted. Jeong Park, who was hired to cover Asian American communities in 2022, was also laid off.

Kevin Merida, who is Black, resigned this month as a prelude of what was to come. The Times’ owner, billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong, said the paper and Merida had “mutually agreed” to part ways, but the announcement was stunning.

Also among those laid off was anti-Trump columnist/author Jean Guerrero, who announced Tuesday afternoon that she had been let go even though she was the “only Latina columnist for the opinion desk”:

I’ve been laid off from my job as a columnist for the LA Times today, with 100 of my best colleagues. It’s a dark day. I was the only Latina columnist for the opinion desk. Trump is looming & I’m author of Hatemonger. If you’re hiring, I’m at [email protected]

— Jean Guerrero (@jeanguerre) January 23, 2024

Though others in the industry offered sympathy and expressed outrage that Guerrero was one of the writers of color who were shown the door, it didn’t hold a candle to the barrage of criticism she received not just because of how she worded her announcement but also over her past works:

Yo, @jeanguerre, who called me a “white supremacist,” you’ve been canned by the broke @latimes. Bet your equally bigoted, but black colleague, @Erika_D_Smith, who called me “the black face of white supremacy,” still has a job. She’d pull out the race card in a L.A. minute.#DEI pic.twitter.com/N3fAvUXxdt

— Larry Elder (@larryelder) January 24, 2024

IDENTITY JOURNALISM
When I left the @latimes (1986) — to take another newspaper job, I hasten to add — it never would have occurred to me to describe myself as the only Anglo-Armenian columnist on the editorial pages. My status as a lonely conservative was exotic enough. https://t.co/3OzT2m72xc

— PhilipTerzian (@PhilipTerzian) January 24, 2024

From “MissAnthony” on Twitter:

The business isn’t doing well and it’s not sustainable at the rate it’s going. Have you asked yourself where does your salary come from?

Perhaps if you didn’t stick to so much “hate monger” and division because you’re a “Latina” the paper would actually sell or you wouldn’t lose many subscribers? Why would Soon keep you around when you’ve shown your work is dead weight?

After years of Americanizing your last name it’s really bizarre to see you using race as a sorry ass excuse for your crappy work. It doesn’t sell. Think about that before your next job.

The business isn’t doing well and it’s not sustainable at the rate it’s going. Have you asked yourself where does your salary come from?

Perhaps if you didn’t stick to so much “hate monger” and division because you’re a “Latina” the paper would actually sell or you wouldn’t… https://t.co/GIRLKI1R4h

— MissAnthony (@NC2020Anthony) January 24, 2024

There’s a way to write this without narcissistic ethnic identitarianism creeping in but this isn’t it https://t.co/uQamxZoEvc

— Gary (@plzbepatient) January 23, 2024

And the best advice of all:

Well instead of plugging your race and hoping for a DEI pickup, you should probably demonstrate talent and work ethic. Just a tip.

— TruthHammer4EVA (@TruthHammer4EVA) January 24, 2024

Imagine that?!

— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —

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