Los Angeles\u2019 volatile media landscape welcomes yet another new player.<\/p>\n
The LA Local, formerly known as Los Angeles Local News Initiative, expanded last week into 10 neighborhoods with two more newsrooms and its own website. The community-based nonprofit media organization now has three prongs in neighborhoods across L.A., including Koreatown, Pico Union, Westlake, Inglewood and South Los\u00a0Angeles.<\/p>\n
The newsrooms are modeled after Boyle Heights Beat, a local news source and The LA Local\u2019s first newsroom, which has served East L.A. and Boyle Heights for more than 15 years since its beginning as a youth journalism project. The LA Local also incorporated LA Documenters, an affiliate of the Documenters Network by City Bureau, which has trained more than 100 Angelenos to cover local government meetings.<\/p>\n
Facing an industry where trust in major media organizations is \u201cat an all-time low,\u201d Executive Editor Kristen Muller said The LA Local brings not only \u201ccoverage\u201d but also \u201cconnection\u201d through its focus on local issues. That ranges from small business profiles to immigration raids and neighborhood protests.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that trust is the most important asset that we have, and so we\u2019re on a mission to build trust,\u201d founding Chief Executive Michele Siqueiros said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do news that\u2019s informed by what the community is telling us.\u201d<\/p>\n
The LA Local is collaborating with 24 media organizations and universities in the region, including LAist and CalMatters, which contribute to its county-wide coverage. The LA Local has already funded six jobs in the LAist and CalMatters newsrooms and will add 27 more positions with the expansion, almost as many as its own headcount.<\/p>\n
The LA Local has raised $19.3 million in philanthropic investments as one of the largest nonprofit news startups in the country<\/p>\n
\u201cThe expansion of The LA Local is a significant investment in the future of our city and county,\u201d said Siqueiros. \u201cBy rallying philanthropic support and media partners, we are ensuring Angelenos have the reliable information they need to navigate Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n
L.A. County\u2019s geographic sprawl makes local news necessary, Muller said. The Local Journalist Index by Muck Rack and Rebuild Local News showed that there were only 3.6 journalists per 100,000 people in the county last year, indicating that Angelenos were struggling to access news about their immediate environment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYour neighborhood might be covered if there\u2019s a serious crime, but not much else,\u201d the Index\u2019s most recent report said. \u201cYou may get little reliable information on local candidates in many of L.A. County\u2019s cities, whether the schools in your neighborhood are improving, whether the hospital nearby has a bad mortality rate, or how inspiring people might be working to repair your playground.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The LA Local is swooping in to fill the gaps, according to Muller.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are 10 million people in the county, 88 cities, and yet it\u2019s really experienced at the neighborhood level,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat we\u2019re trying to do is focus on\u2026the things that you can see with your own eyes every day, not some abstract idea of city hall or the county government.\u201d<\/p>\n
The LA Local\u2019s story began in 2022, when a committee of civic leaders and journalists collaborated with American Journalism Project Inc. to survey about 900 Angelenos across 244 ZIP codes to understand local news needs. The survey findings suggest a hyperlocal approach: respondents said they wanted more \u201cunbiased, fact-based information about their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a story published on Jan. 12, Muller wrote that the community wanted journalism to treat them \u201cas neighbors, not just sources,\u201d preferring useful information over celebrity news and wanting more accountability.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to have journalism that helps them make decisions about life in the neighborhood. They want arts, they want culture, there\u2019s not enough of that,\u201d said Muller. \u201cNobody else is doing this kind of neighborhood reporting that we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
L.A.\u2019s media landscape is challenging to navigate. <\/p>\n
Legacy newsrooms such as Los Angeles Times are struggling with mass layoffs, editorial exits, dwindling subscription and declining advertisement sales. The newspaper\u2019s billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong announced plans last year to take the El Segundo-based newspaper public in an interview with \u201cThe Daily Show\u201d host Jon Stewart. The news sent shockwaves through its newsroom and rattled the industry as a whole. <\/p>\n
Moreover, Soon-Shiong said he would pursue a Regulation A offering, also known as a \u201cmini IPO,\u201d which allows the public to buy shares of the company with an offer limit of $75 million. Soon-Shiong also hopes to combine the newspaper with several businesses under his belt, including creator and streaming platforms, rebranding under the umbrella of the L.A. Times Next Network.<\/p>\n
Critics such as Gabriel Kahn\u00a0at the\u00a0USC\u2019s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism called the IPO a lowball, considering the millions of dollars the newspaper is hemorrhaging every quarter. Adweek reported a revenue loss of $50 million in 2024 and 115 job cuts \u2013 or 20% of its newsroom \u2013 following a $30 million loss in 2023. Numerous rounds of layoffs and buyouts followed, with the latest reiteration happening in May last year. <\/p>\n
Lloyd Greif, chief executive of downtown investment banking firm\u00a0Greif & Co., noted in an interview with the Business Journal that it has been years of \u201cjust red ink.\u201d <\/p>\n
Additional rounds of layoffs and buyouts stirred up turmoil in the L.A. Times newsroom, with L.A. Times Guild chair Matt Hamilton noting every round \u201cpulled us away\u201d from contract talks into negotiations aimed at laid-off employees. Soon-Shiong\u2019s decision to spike an editorial board presidential endorsement in 2024 and implement an artificial intelligence-powered \u201cbias meter\u201d to\u00a0 opinion pieces and editorial columns did not sit well with his news staff. The editorial board walked out, with the last member Carla Hall taking a buyout offer early 2025. <\/p>\n
\u201cHaving worked at The Times for more than a decade, I know the care that goes into what we publish each day,\u201d wrote Hamilton. \u201cI hear from colleagues who are tired, fed up, taking on second jobs, and struggling to see a future at The Times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sensing an opportunity, News Corp.\u2019s California Post is coming to challenge the status quo. The Lachlan Murdoch-led media conglomerate will launch the New York Post sister publication in Century City Jan. 26, bringing the Post\u2019s signature tabloid style and conservative voice to the arena. This means L.A. will soon see two billionaire-backed dailies in competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve assembled a crack team of reporters at our new newsroom on the Fox Lot in Century City and their\u00a0mission is tell the stories others won\u2019t or can\u2019t,\u201d said California Post editor-in-chief Nick Papps. \u201cPeople are tired of legacy media, they want change, and that change starts on January 26.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the November midterm elections, L.A. mayoral election in June, 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games on the horizon, L.A. finds itself in need of extensive local coverage \u2013 and the resources to dive in how these events will impact L.A. communities on a hyperlocal level, according to The LA Local.<\/p>\n
The LA Local made it clear that it is here to collaborate, not to compete on exclusives. Its collaborations with LAist and CalMatters have been based on sharing content to reach more people faster, according to Siqueiros.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf what we value is making sure that more Angelinos are informed, then none of us are going to do that by ourselves,\u201d said Siqueiros. \u201cWe are going to be stronger if we collaborate, if we amplify each other\u2019s work, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to show, that there is a new way forward for journalism in Los Angeles.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the future, The LA Local will take a \u201cmeasured\u201d and \u201csustainable\u201d approach to growth with a three-year business plan, Siqueiros shared. It also plans to continue hosting its youth journalism program.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we go into a new community, we have to be able to say we\u2019ve already raised enough money to be there for three years, so that we can really build the roots and spend the time it takes to grow an audience that can then support their own nonprofit community, their own newsroom hub,\u201d said Siqueiros. \u201cAnd I certainly see my role as CEO here of The LA Local as an opportunity to really increase information awareness, opportunities and also connection.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles\u2019 volatile media landscape welcomes yet another new player. The LA Local, formerly known as Los Angeles…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49,71014],"class_list":["post-140686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-the-la-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}