Editor Martin Beck is leaving the Los Angeles Times -30-

(L) Martin Beck, Nita Lelyveld, Tony Pierce, and Myself
















From his Facebook post:

I guess it's time to make it Facebook-status official: After 24 years at the Times, I'm leaving to cover social media for Search Engine Land and Marketing Land.

I owe so much to the Times, and even more to my colleagues, former and current, who provided my real journalism education.

From my first professional bylines as a freelancer (thanks Elliott Almond!), covering high school and college sports, copy editing on the late, great Orange County sports desk, helping to bring the magic of pagination to a hot-wax, paste-up newsroom, trouble-shooting CCI disasters on election nights, smoothing the merge of the web and print newsrooms, fighting the trolls on the comment boards, sharing our great work with new audiences on Twitter and Facebook, playing social media Pied Piper ... it's been a series of dream jobs with some of the smartest people in the business.

And the fact that the Times continues to be an outstanding news organization despite tough cuts over the years is a testament to the stalwart journalists who still prowl Times Mirror Square and outposts beyond.

My last day at the Times is this Friday. I'm leaving for a great gig -- the chance to return to reporting and writing from my home office -- but I'll always consider myself a Timesman at heart.