To the Los Angeles Times:

Now is the time to honor your past words1 and take action for racial justice — starting in your newsroom.

As the United States' largest metropolitan daily newspaper, the Los Angeles Times is a cultural power that shapes perceptions and conversations across California and the nation.

The 2020 racial-justice uprisings have underscored the need to shift power and build journalism that will expose and eradicate white supremacy in pursuit of human dignity for all. Building that future starts with recognizing and repairing the abuses taking place within the halls of your organization.

Publicly stand with — and meet the demands of — Black journalists at the Los Angeles Times.

1. “Rancor Erupts in L.A. Times Newsroom Over Race, Equity and Protest Coverage,” NPR, June 15, 2020

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    Stand with Black journalists at the Los Angeles Times.

    Tell the Los Angeles Times: Meet the demands of Black journalists

    Tell the Los Angeles Times: Meet the demands of Black journalists

    Major news and media organizations like the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette are experiencing a long-overdue public reckoning with anti-Black racism within their operations.

    This is thanks to the racial-justice uprisings taking place across the world and the brave journalists of color publicly speaking out against internal structures that uphold white supremacy.

    The U.S. media system has historically functioned as an arm of the broader system of racial oppression in this country.1 With the fifth-largest circulation among U.S. newspapers, the Los Angeles Times holds a unique ability to disrupt or reinforce anti-Blackness in a city that has a shameful history of police violence—in the state where the Black revolutionary tradition of Angela Davis, the Black Panthers and many others was born.

    That tradition tells us that change has always been possible. And in 2020, it's more urgent than ever.

    The Los Angeles Times can shift power. Newsrooms can join communities to build journalism that will expose and eradicate white supremacy, center impacted voices and address community-information needs — instead of favoring privileged populations that support the status quo.

    In the words of L.A. Times national correspondent Kurtis Lee: “It's ridiculous that only 26 of 500 Los Angeles Times journalists are Black.”

    The status quo has always been wrong and now it is no longer tenable. Stand with Black journalists at the Los Angeles Times who are bravely calling for change.

    1. “The Colonial Roots of Media’s Racial Narratives,” Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, Feb. 1, 2012