Kevin Merida, executive editor of the Los Angeles Times, told Loyola Marymount University students that his top priorities at the helm of the largest newspaper in the West are adapting to the digital environment and gaining subscribers.
Merida was in conversation with Kate Pickert, associate professor of English and director of LMU’s Journalism program. Pickert said that LMU was excited to have “Merida speak to LMU students and help them understand the value of local newspapers and high-quality journalism in the digital age.” He talked on Feb. 24 to about 150 LMU students, faculty, and staff in Ahmanson Auditorium.
Merida took the top editorial job at the L.A. Times in 2021, which he described as a “tumultuous period” due to the political climate in the country and the circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic. An ever-increasing combination of traditional and digital media, including social media, is producing more content than ever before, however not all of this content is reliable. “Social media makes it easier for us to connect and communicate, but it is also makes it easier to distort information and spread it,” said Merida.
While the impacts of digital media consumption and information overload are profound and pose many challenges, they also present many opportunities. One of the L.A. Times’ biggest goals is convincing people that they need, want, and will pay for quality journalism. Merida sees teaching news literacy as an essential component to growing and sustaining subscriptions. “We need to develop new ways to demonstrate that stories are accurate; offer courses that give people tools for discerning fake news; and create Hollywood-style campaigns that fight for truth and fact,” said Merida.
Merida touched on the importance of attracting new audiences and building deeper connections with existing ones. He said that he and his team are exploring ways to engage younger audiences by “delivering content on Tik Tok or Instagram and hiring people who can run these accounts and reach a younger crowd.” Another strategy Merida is planning to employ is the use of multiple storytelling formats. “One great way to redefine the newspaper is through multimedia content; collaborating with L.A. filmmakers on documentaries; as well as creating miniseries, or podcasts to cover news and current events,” he said.
Merida and Pickert also discussed Los Angeles as an exhilarating place to practice journalism. Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world as well as one of the world’s largest metropolitan economies. There is no shortage of news and information to gather, package, and produce. “The responsibility is quite large because there is so much to cover,” said Merida. “We need to cover stories that reflect the diversity of the region and reveal L.A. to those who live here, but will also resonate with more than one community.”
Before joining the Times, Merida had a stint at ESPN where he served as the editor in chief at Undefeated, where he wrote on the intersection of race, sports, and culture. Previous to this, he spent 22 years at the Washington Post in a variety of reporting and editing roles. He led the national staff for four years during the Obama administration. Merida is also the author of “Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas” and “Obama: A Historic Campaign in Photographs.”
Robbin Crabtree, dean of the LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, opened the evening with a few remarks about LMU’s Journalism Program, saying that “since its formalization as a B.A. program only five or so years ago, Journalism is among our fastest-growing programs, and this in spite of significant uncertainty as to the future of so-called ‘legacy’ publications like the L.A. Times, traditional broadcast and cable news media, and other industry-wide disruptions and integrations.” She also talked about her journalism background, from delivering newspapers at the age of 10 to working as a student journalist while pursuing her bachelor’s degree at UC Santa Barbara.
This event was made possible through the support of the Journalism Program; Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing; LMU Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts; Center for the Study of L.A.; Center for Media Arts and a Just Society; and Los Angeles Loyolan.
By Riley Apodaca ’22
