Like most newspapers in the world, the Los Angeles Times does very important work. The journalists and writers there spend long hours researching, interviewing, calling, pouring through documents and reporting them in order to uncover frequently unpleasant truths about the most powerful in our country. One big story that broke earlier this year involved a drug and recklessness story involving a USC medical school dean. As Variety reported in August, that story opened up an investigation into the possibly compromising position that some higher up staff might have with the people being reported on.
Sources familiar with the situation tell Variety that the paper’s top investigative reporter, Paul Pringle, filed complaints with the human resources department about top editors, alleging that the story was being delayed due to cozy relations between the editors and USC officials. Tronc, the paper’s parent company, responded with an internal investigation. The probe did not find any substantiation for the complaint, but did open the floodgates to additional newsroom grievances against the paper’s leadership, culminating with the dismissal of Davan Maharaj, the editor and publisher, managing editor Marc Duvoisin, and two other top lieutenants. [...]
The email, obtained by Variety, touched off another HR investigation at Tronc. Newsroom sources say that many people have been interviewed in recent weeks. The investigators began to hear many other complaints against Maharaj and his team. For some time, several Metro staffers have grumbled about low pay and the lack of raises in recent years, and talked about organizing a union.
Tronc made moves to bring in new leadership to the paper but the momentum for unionizing the Los Angeles Times’ staff has only grown since then. As the Columbia Journalism Review explains, this would be historic.
The resulting uncertainty is fueling a union effort that may finally prevail in transforming one of the nation’s largest non-union newsrooms. There are currently labor unions at The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and non-newspaper outlets such as Vice and The Associated Press. A Tronc spokeswoman declined an interview request to speak with D’Vorkin or anyone else at the LA Times for this story.
And of course, management is pushing back.
The Times’ interim executive editor, Jim Kirk, recently sent letters discouraging staffers from forming a union or sowing doubt the union can deliver on its promises, writing in one: “We can say with certainty that if the union is voted in, the company will bargain in good faith and will attempt to reach mutual agreement. However, it is important to remember that the union cannot provide any wages, benefits or working conditions to you without the company’s agreement.”
The threat implied is that Tronc has the money and there just isn’t enough money to run a profitable business if you unionize. The Los Angeles Times Guild is organizing to get the Los Angeles Times staff to unionize and they put together an investigative report on how money is being spent at the Times. Pointing to the company’s SEC filings that showed that Tronc’s executive compensation has jumped 80 percent in one year, and the company executive’s claims of profiting to the tune of $1.5 billion this past year, The Los Angeles Times Guild breaks down some places where the newspaper and ownership may be able to “tighten” their belts. Here are some highlights.
Michael Ferro’s private jet alone costs the company millions. From February 2016 through September of this year, Tronc spent $4.6 million to sublease and operate the sleek Bombardier aircraft, which costs $8,500 an hour to fly. The kicker? Tronc subleases the jet from Merrick Ventures, one of Ferro’s companies. [...]
Last year, Tronc CEO Justin Dearborn made an eye-popping $8.1 million in total compensation. He made substantially more than his counterparts at The New York Times Co., Gannett Corp., Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal and McClatchy, among others. In fact, Dearborn’s compensation was $3 million more than that of New York Times CEO Mark Thompson, whose company has revenues similar to ours but a market value many multiples of Tronc’s. Plus, Thompson took a pay cut in 2016 because he did not meet his performance goals.
The listing of other top executives and their egregious compensation packages and expenditures, while they continue to add executive jobs without compensating the people putting the boots on the ground, so to speak.
Tronc spent nearly $250,000 to buy sports tickets from Ferro's company. And it has spent handsomely on golden parachutes. Ex-CEO Jack Griffin, for example, got a $2 million send-off when he was canned — after just two years on the job.
We need a healthy press and we need to pay the people doing the important work of helping to keep our democracy honest.