(Image source from: LAtimes.com)
Prominent Indian-Origin Journalist Fired As LA Times Editor:- After serving 28 years at the news organization, as part of a significant shake-up of the American daily’s top management, a prominent journalist of Indian-descent, Davan Maharaj has been ousted as the editor of the Los Angeles Times.
Since 2016, Davan, a native of Trinidad, served as both editor and publisher. Along with other senior editors of the daily, he was terminated. “Maharaj was terminated along with a handful of other senior editors, including Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin, Deputy Managing Editor for Digital Megan Garvey and Assistant Managing Editor of Investigations Matt Doig,” a report said.
In 1989, Davan as a summer intern began his journey at the paper and worked as a reporter in Orange County, Los Angeles and East Africa. Later, he served as an assistant foreign editor, business editor and managing editor. Maharaj in collaboration with photographer Francine Orr, wrote the six-part series ‘Living on Pennies’,which has won the 2005 Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Writing. The book has prompted readers to donate tens of thousands of dollars to support help agencies in Africa.
The Times won three Pulitizer Prizes, including for breaking news reporting of the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino, while Maharaj was editor. “During the last 28 years, it has been an honor working with the best journalists in a great American newsroom,” Maharaj said.
“They are indomitable, and I wish them well in their continued fight to serve our community. I’m proud of the work we’ve done,” he added.
Ross Levinsohn, a veteran media executive who worked at Fox and had served as interim chief of Yahoo, was named publisher and chief executive of the 135-year-old LA Times.
Jim Kirk was named interim editor. Kirk was a publisher and editor of the Chicago Sun-Times until last week.
Justin C Dearborn, chief executive of Tronc, the parent company of The Times and eight other daily newspapers made the announcement. The move comes as part of the organization’s plans to invest more resources towards ushering it into the digital age.
The shake-up came just one month after an investigative report was published in The Times, that revealed that the former dean of the University of Southern California (USC) Keck School of Medicine had partied with a prostitute and drug dealers, including on campus.
The senior management was approached by some reporters who had worked on the project. They expressed concern that for fear of upsetting USC, Maharaj and Duvoisin had delayed the story. The USC hosts the newspaper’s annual Festival of Books. The handling of the story was defended by Maharaj and Duvoisin. The report added that sensitive and complicated articles take months to report, edit and legally review.
SUPRAJA
