Terry Tang, who has been leading the Los Angeles Times newsroom since late January on an interim basis, has been formally named executive editor.
The Times’ owners, Dr. Patrick and Michele Soon-Shiong, made the announcement Monday.
Since being tapped as interim executive editor, Tang moved rapidly to reorganize the newsroom, form her own leadership team and put a heavier emphasis on traditional news gathering.
Tang is the first female editor in The Times’ 142-year history.
“Terry in short order has demonstrated the capability of building on our legacy of excellence in journalism with stories that matter,” the Soon-Shiongs said in a joint statement. “She understands our mission to be a thriving pillar of democracy and the critical role that the L.A. Times’ voice plays — to our city, and to the world — in bringing attention to issues that matter most, especially for those whose voices are often unheard.”
The Soon-Shiongs acquired The Times in June 2018, and embarked on an expensive revitalization, which saw the paper’s newsroom swell to more than 550 journalists, the launch of a TV show in partnership with Charter’s Spectrum cable service and a new L.A. Times campus built in El Segundo near Los Angeles International Airport.
But the ambitious turnaround plan encountered turbulence amid shifts in advertising, accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, print circulation losses and last year’s Hollywood strikes.
The family’s financial losses mounted.
Soon-Shiong and his family have covered more than $100 million in operational losses and capital expenses since the acquisition, the owner has said. The family has reiterated their commitment to The Times, including subsidizing its operations and covering its losses.
But layoffs and cutbacks were ordered, and during the past year the newsroom shrank by nearly 200 journalists to about 400.
The cuts come at a challenging time in the news industry as traditional outlets struggle against economic headwinds. The Washington Post, CNN, NBC News and NPR all have shed hundreds of journalists in the last year. Local news outlets have been particularly hard hit; a recent report found that more than 2,500 journalism jobs were eliminated in 2023.
In January, Dr. Soon-Shiong called for a new direction and a new leader to settle a newsroom that had been roiled by two rounds of substantial layoffs, a one-day strike by the newsroom guild and the loss of its top editors.
In turning to Tang, a respected journalist who earlier in her career worked at the New York Times, Soon-Shiong selected a leader with whom he had already established trust.
Tang promoted longtime editor Hector Becerra to managing editor and he tapped city editor Maria L. La Ganga to deputy managing editor for California and Metro.
Prior to becoming interim editor, Tang led the Opinion section for nearly two years, after joining The Times in 2019 as deputy Op-Ed editor. Tang will continue to oversee Opinion. She will work with Deputy Editorial Page Editor Mariel Garza, who leads the editorial board; and Deputy Op-Ed Editor Susan Brenneman, who oversees the op-ed page.
Tang, 65, has deep roots in Southern California. She was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and her family spent a few years in Japan before immigrating to Los Angeles when she was 6. Her father worked in administration for Continental Airlines and the family settled near LAX in Gardena, where Tang and her sister attended public schools.
She graduated from Yale University with a bachelor’s degree in economics and earned her law degree from the New York University School of Law. She served as a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in the early 1990s.
Prior to joining the Times, she worked two years at the American Civil Liberties Union, where she served as director of publications and editorial. Before that, she worked at the New York Times for 20 years in a variety of roles in opinion and on the news side of the operation, including as deputy technology editor; metro desk major beats editor; and co-founder of a previous online platform for commentary.
In January, she replaced Kevin Merida, who departed after disagreements with Soon-Shiong over his role as executive editor and the extent of the newsroom cuts.
“The Los Angeles Times and its superb journalists make a difference every day in the life of California and this nation,” Tang said Monday in a statement. “It’s an honor to have the opportunity to lead an institution that serves our community and to make our work indispensable to our readers.”
Tang’s elevation comes less than two weeks before the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, one of the signature events the organization hosts for the community.
Tang “understands how vital it is that we connect the community with our journalism, better engage with our readers and build new audiences as we seek to transform the Times into a self-sustaining institution,” the Soon-Shiongs said in the statement.