Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Times laid off 115 journalists, a move that effectively reduced its newsroom by 25 percent.


This was big news for a few reasons. First, the paper had recently hired a lot of new reporters to cover underreported topics; these largely focused on minority and marginalized communities. However, as the paper had a seniority clause, most of the layoffs affected those new hires — not a great look!


Making the situation worse is how the paper is handling it. For example, they recently sent a plaque to Brian Merchant thanking him for his “commitment to the Los Angeles Times” and his “continued dedication and service,” which the paper says has “helped advance our mission to inform, engage and empower the communities we serve.”


The only problem? Merchant was one of the people who was laid off.



“I opened the envelope expecting it to be information about my severance, which the company has still not communicated to me — I am locked out of email and Slack already — and instead found a ‘thank you for being laid off’ certificate in 1st grade student of the month award form,” he wrote in a follow-up tweet.


It’s unclear whether this was sent as part of the layoff, or this was planned before he was laid off. Several other former employees seemed surprised by the post, which would imply that they hadn’t received theirs yet — though, given the underfunding of the USPS, maybe it’s just still in the mail.





As far as Merchant is concerned, he seems to be in the best spirits he can be in, given the circumstances.



Salute to you, Brian — here’s hoping they actually give you severance and that, for both your and my sake, no more media properties go under.