Tronc Inc names Ross Levinsohn as CEO of The Los Angeles Times in management shake-up

Newspaper company Tronc Inc yesterday named digital media veteran Ross Levinsohn to be chief executive officer and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, in a senior management shake-up.

Former editor-in-chief of the Chicago Sun-Times, Jim Kirk, was named interim executive editor. The company said in a statement that the appointments are effective immediately.

The current editor and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, Davan Maharaj, is leaving the paper, Tronc chief executive Justin Dearborn said in a memo to staff. Maharaj, a 28-year-veteran of the newspaper has served as editor and publisher since March 2016.

"This new structure will allow us to expand the reach of our great journalism and realise our business objectives, including elevating and better integrating digital processes that are critical for our future," Dearborn said in the memo, which Reuters claimed to have seen.

The changes at the top follow weeks of turmoil that started with the announcement of a popular editor being reassigned by Maharaj, according to two newsroom veterans who asked not to be named because they were not authorised to publicly discuss the matter, Reuters reported.

They added the reassignment led to numerous complaints to human resources. Staff dissatisfaction had also been simmering for months. An unfavourable article about Maharaj's leadership had also appeared in Los Angeles magazine in December 2016.

Meanwhile, The Times reported that Maharaj was terminated yesterday, along with managing editor Marc Duvoisin, deputy managing editor for Digital, Megan Garvey and assistant managing editor of Investigations, Matt Doig.

Morale at The Times has been low in recent years following a series of buyouts and layoffs and an almost revolving-door-like atmosphere among its top executives, some of whom quit rather than make more layoffs, according to commentators.

"So it's not really a surprise that it came to this," veteran media business analyst Ken Doctor said of Monday's shake-up, Associated Press reported. "It's unusual that you see what's been described as a purge, meaning four top editors all going at the same time, but that's just an indication really of the end of one era."