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The Los Angeles Times gives pink slips to close to a quarter of the people working in its newsroom. The Media Guild of the West, which represents the Times' unionized journalists, says that the cuts included reporters, editors and columnists. A union statement also said that the layoffs fell disproportionately on Black, Latino and Asian employees. The layoffs follow the resignation of executive editor Kevin Merida and other senior newsroom managers. LA Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong said the paper has been losing $30 million to $40 million a year and need to make more progress toward increasing revenue and readership. “Slashing a quarter of the newsroom is devastating by any measure — to our members and their families, to our morale, to the quality of our journalism, to the bond with our audience, and to the communities that depend on our work,” the Guild said.
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TIME is also laying off about 30 employees, which accounts for approximately 15 percent of its editorial staff. According to a TIME spokesperson, the cuts hit departments including editorial, technology, sales and the company’s studios division. At TIME for Kids, the platform’s publication for school-age children, a majority of the staff was let go. “We have worked to manage expenses in other areas of our business aggressively to minimize the impact of this decision on our employees,” TIME chief executive Jessica Sibley wrote in a memo to staffers that was obtained by CNN. Sibley called the job cuts part of “a series of decisions to structure our company for long-term sustainability and growth.”
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The Baltimore Banner, the nonprofit platform that faces off against the Baltimore Sun says that it added 500 subscribers per day in the three days following the sale of the paper to Sinclair Broadcast Group chairman David D. Smith by Alden Global Capital, according to NiemanLab. Banner editor in chief Kimi Yoshino also says that traffic to the Banner website has doubled since the sale and donations are up. The Banner now claims 89,000 paid subscribers, versus 70,000 seven months ago. Banner founder Stewart Bainum made an unsuccessful bid to purchase the Sun in 2022.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which has roots going back to 1786, is going out of business, the paper’s owners, Block Communications, announced on Jan. 7... GQ editor Will Welch is stepping down to take on a new Paris-based role with the musician Pharrell, who is also men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton... Semafor says it has raised $30 million on a $330 million valuation, following its first profitable year. 
The Walt Disney Company and OpenAI reach an agreement that will make a set of more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars available for use by Sora, OpenAI’s short-form generative AI video platform... CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss has moved Tony Dokoupil, a co-host at “CBS Mornings” since 2019, into the anchor’s chair for the “CBS Evening News,” following the departure of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois... USA Today editor-in-chief Caren Bohan has left the paper.
Michael Kaminer, who was responsible for the Observer’s “Power List” for the past 13 years, has cut ties with the publication... The New York Times Company continues the march toward its goal of 15 million subscribers by the end of 2027... The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is providing more than $6 million in funding to eight organizations working to address the challenges local news and information environments face along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Conservative outlets Fox News, Newsmax and the Daily Caller are holding back from signing Pete Hegseth’s edict restricting press access in the Pentagon... CBS News sees the first executive departure of the Bari Weiss era as head of standards and practices Claudia Milne exits... Indiana University shuts down the print version of The Indiana Daily Student.
Rothschild family plans to unload 26.7 percent stake in The Economist... STAT, a digital media company that focuses the life sciences, brings back Damian Garde, who anchored its biotech newsletter and podcast from 2016 to 2024... High Times officially resumes print publication (following its 2024 shutdown) with the release of a limited-edition, collectible 50th anniversary issue. 
