From: Jim Kirk Editor in Chief L.A. Times

From: Kirk, Jim 
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2018 3:25 PM
Subject: Pay Study

Dear Colleagues,

We’ve heard from many employees about the Guild’s recent pay study, which the Guild compiled using salary and demographic information that the Los Angeles Times provided the union in response to its information requests. The Times takes diversity and inclusion, as well as compensation, in its newsroom seriously. We continually strive to make our newsroom reflective of the southern California region that we serve and to pay our employees fairly and competitively in the context of our challenged media business.

We’ve made significant strides in growing a diverse and inclusive staff. The Los Angeles Times has taken important steps to open pathways for more diverse candidates to gain experience in our newsroom, through our successful MetPro program. As a general matter, our newer employees tend to be more diverse than our longer-service employees who have worked many years, even decades, in journalism careers – a dynamic that is not unique to the Times but is industrywide. In fact, based on 2017 ASNE data, the Los Angeles Times is comparatively more diverse than either of its largest daily competitors, The New York Times and The Washington Post. And we’ve made comparatively more progress over the past five years with our ongoing efforts to increase diversity in the Los Angeles Times’ newsroom:

[Chart showing LA Times newsroom diversity is higher than at the New York Times or Washington Post.]

We are committed to continued progress in this area.

We are also committed to ensuring that our talented colleagues are compensated fairly and appropriately at the LA Times. Many legitimate factors weigh into the salaries for professional journalists. Most of our journalists perform highly individualized roles – even if they share a reporter or other common job title in our newsroom. They have varying years of experience here at the Times, and they come to the Times with various levels of prior experience – some after many years with other major news organizations. And they each bring individual talents, performance and contributions to their roles.

We have asked the Guild for detailed information about the methodologies and factors that it considered and applied in its pay study, so that we can better understand the Study and evaluate the Guild’s assessment of generalized and individualized pay differences. That information is especially important as we prepare for the start of negotiations for a first labor contract that will address, among other things, wages for unit employees. In the meantime, we will continue our efforts to produce outstanding journalism for the national audiences and California communities we serve – through the increasingly diverse voices and talents in our newsroom.

Jim

Jim Kirk

Editor In Chief

h/t LAObserved