The L.A. Local News Initiative is launching an independent, community-centered newsroom serving Los Angeles, and is looking for an executive editor. The successful candidate is an experienced newsroom leader with a passion for local journalism; a track record of building and/or managing teams that produce impactful stories; and a strong perspective on equitable, audience-driven journalism.

Drawing from local successes in L.A. and from innovative nonprofit journalism models around the country, the L.A. Local News Initiative will employ a community reporting model that equips residents and students to report on their own communities. Working with your CEO and leadership team, and with incubation support from the American Journalism Project, you will develop an editorial strategy for neighborhood-based coverage that employs professional reporters alongside innovative community journalism programs that engage residents in setting coverage priorities.

The executive editor will design and lead an ambitious, innovative, yet-to-be-named newsroom that superserves L.A. communities at the hyperlocal level. The newsroom will have three core teams who will work collaboratively to publish a suite of hyperlocal publications that will be primary sources of news and information for their respective communities:

• A local team will be a team of professional editors and reporters who are responsible for on-the-ground reporting and producing content for the web, newsletters, and other hyperlocal news products that are most relevant to the local audience, and include essential news, pathbreaking accountability reporting, features, and service journalism. The team will be organized in “pods” of resources dedicated to a growing number of communities
• A central editorial team will provide specialized support to the local pods, which may include anything from enterprise, investigative, service or data journalism, to multimedia production, social media strategy, and copy editing. It will also include an L.A. Documenters program, part of the award-winning Documenters Network, which brings more residents into the news gathering process by training and paying them to cover public meetings
• A central engagement and student journalism team will take the lead on developing community and student training programs, building partnerships with community organizations, hosting engagement events, and recruiting community members in our footprint to join L.A. Documenters and participate in other newsroom activities

This hyperlocal model was developed out of a significant research effort in partnership with the American Journalism Project, which included input from nearly 900 Angelenos, and identified significant gaps in trusted sources for local news, particularly at the neighborhood and community level. It’s inspired by Boyle Heights Beat, a community newsroom that has been serving Boyle Heights and East L.A. since 2010, and has built significant trust with residents by covering what they care most about. Boyle Heights Beat is a representative newsroom that utilizes equitable and inclusive community engagement practices, and will serve as the newsroom’s flagship hyperlocal pod.

Boyle Heights Beat’s high school journalism program, which has trained over 300 students from the Boyle Heights area, many of whom have gone on to careers in journalism, education, law, and community organizing, will be the basis of the central engagement and student journalism team, so student journalism can be expanded to be part of every hyperlocal publication launched by the newsroom.

In addition, the initiative is partnered with a coalition of more than a dozen local media partners, including LAist, CalMatters, L.A. Taco, La Opinión, Zócalo, and many others who will share their reporting for republishing in our hyperlocal publications, and who will collaborate with us to amplify the perspectives that come out of reporting by our hyperlocal pods.

This role is an opportunity to reimagine the possibilities for public service journalism, with significant support from local and national journalism, civic, and community leaders. As executive editor, you would be at the forefront of a movement to make local news a foundational part of civic life in Los Angeles by enabling the kind of journalism that holds power to account while being accountable to the communities it serves.

Founded in 2024, the L.A. Local News Initiative is a coalition of organizations and philanthropists that have come together to support local news in L.A.. Guided by a community listening effort that included input from nearly 900 L.A. residents, this coalition represents a groundbreaking effort by philanthropy, media, and community organizations in L.A. to work together to fill information gaps, strengthen local democracy and make L.A. work better for Angelenos.

With nearly $15 million raised so far, the new initiative will take a multi-pronged ecosystem approach to ensure all L.A. communities have free access to the information they need to be more civically engaged, to thrive and to hold decision makers accountable:

• It is investing in expansion of a community-centered, hyperlocal model developed by Boyle Heights Beat, a trusted newsroom serving Boyle Heights and East L.A., so that more communities in L.A. can get quality, independent news relevant to their neighborhoods, produced by people who are rooted in their communities.
• It will facilitate investments to add reporting resources in the region through investments in regionwide beats and state government reporting from the perspective of Los Angeles at LAist and CalMatters, made available to ecosystem partners, and continue to rally philanthropy to advance local news as a mechanism for civic engagement
• It will foster collaboration among ecosystem partners, by coordinating content sharing, and providing shared resources that will help existing news outlets in L.A. do more reporting and bring more journalism to more people

These strategies were formed following extensive research and community listening done in partnership between local civic leaders and the American Journalism Project, which included input from nearly 900 Angelenos spanning a wide range of ages, genders, races, ethnicities, incomes, professions, and neighborhoods.

• Free, Independent Local Press: We believe all Angelenos deserve to have a source of unbiased information that equips them to thrive in their daily lives. Our work will meet high journalism standards, be independent, non-partisan, and free to access. We’ll prioritize reaching as many Angelenos as possible, in the most effective ways possible.
• Community-first: We center the needs of local communities, with an ultimate goal to strengthen communities and make LA work better for Angelenos. Journalism should be focused on serving people most affected by the subject matter, and equipping them to take action.
• Equity & Inclusion: We need a representative, equitable, and inclusive local press. Newsrooms should be representative of the communities they cover, shift narratives to be centered on community perspectives, and provide pathways into newsgathering for residents.
• Trust: We believe that building trust must be a core principle of our journalism. As a baseline, the journalism we support must be accurate, independent, unbiased, non-partisan, and a trusted source of shared facts by the communities we serve.

• Develop and execute a vision to grow the newsroom from scratch into a thriving anchor newsroom for Los Angeles with at least several vibrant neighborhood-based reporting teams.
• Create an editorial strategy that accounts for the complexity of Los Angeles, including its many governments, communities and language needs
• Ensure that each local reporting team develops and executes an ambitious editorial strategy to become an essential  news source for the community served.
• Lead your team to design, implement and manage daily newsroom operations that can produce strong, community-oriented accountability journalism where ground level stakeholders are involved in shaping news stories.
• Produce culturally relevant narratives to amplify the voices and lived experiences of marginalized communities. Foster culturally competent news coverage that centers on the perspectives and concerns of the community most impacted by the subject matter.
• Create a newsroom culture that can attract, retain and develop journalism talent. Make continuous efforts to cultivate the journalist in grassroots storytellers.
• Support the creation of first-in-class community journalism initiatives, including a Documenters program and a robust student journalism program.
• Hold the newsroom to the highest levels of transparency, accountability and consistency.
• Ensure that the newsroom fully embodies core values of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), and incorporates DEI best practices in alignment with the strategic plan.
• Ensure that newsroom staff on all levels reflect the diversity of Los Angeles, and take the lead in incorporating community engagement in everyday coverage.
• Drive an open culture of collaboration, quality, innovation, data-driven decision-making and intelligent use of resources.
• Serve as a visible ambassador for the newsroom in the community, including speaking at public events and with potential donors.

• You are an experienced local newsroom leader with experience and a track record of producing and/or editing impactful journalism.
• You wake up every day thinking about how to get more people the information they need, and how to produce journalism that holds power to account.
• You believe local newsrooms should support, and be responsive to, the needs of the communities they serve, and are eager to build a newsroom that can do both accountability journalism and service journalism without settling for less than what your constituencies need.
• You have a strong interest in and can rally support for local journalism and independent media.
• You thrive in a fast-paced startup environment where you are expected to think outside the box and build things from scratch.
• You enjoy collaborating with others and finding new ways to serve the community.
• You prioritize building an equitable and inclusive organizational culture.
• You are the kind of leader who brings teams together, fosters a healthy work environment and motivates people to go the extra mile.]
• You have a Demonstrated commitment to local, public service journalism
• You have a strong understanding and knowledge of LA neighborhoods and communities and respect for the knowledge community members can bring to the newsroom
• You have stellar news judgment, editorial, communication and writing skills
• You have a flexible and entrepreneurial spirit—you can thrive in a startup environment where you are expected to learn as you go and think outside the box
• You're able to interact effectively with a diverse group of individuals internal and external to the newsroom

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. The salary range for this role is $200,000- $225,000 with a generous benefits package.

We’re committed to building an inclusive organization that represents the people and communities we serve. We encourage members of traditionally underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, veterans, LGBTQ+ people and people with disabilities. The Los Angeles Local News Initiative is dedicated to equal employment opportunities for all applicants and employees. We encourage people of all races, colors, national origins, ancestries, creeds, religions, genders, ages, disabilities, veteran status, sexual orientations, and marital statuses to apply.

‍What to expect in the hiring process

‍We hope to fill this role as soon as possible, though the hiring process can typically take from a few weeks to several months. We will do our best to communicate with you about timing expectations throughout the process. Candidates who advance to later rounds of this process can expect multiple interviews with members of our hiring committee. Semi-finalists will be asked to complete a written assignment designed to help us understand your thinking and approach to the role, and you will be offered an optional prep session to ask any questions that will help you put your best foot forward in this process. We aim to truly get to know you, to help you fully understand the role you’re applying for.