Hector Becerra has been promoted to managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, interim executive editor Terry Tang announced on Tuesday.
“His commitment to journalism, his integrity and his dedication to The Times have long earned him the deep respect of his colleagues,” Tang said of Becerra, who has been deputy managing editor for the California and Metro sections since 2022. Prior to that, he was the California city editor.
“His ability to lead change and ensure that we’re focusing our resources on the issues and stories that matter most to our readers is precisely what we need to meet challenges now,” Tang added.
Becerra’s promotion follows major upheaval at the paper that saw more than 100 staffers laid off last Tuesday. Prior to the layoffs, several editorial leaders resigned, including former executive editor Kevin Merida and managing editors Shani Hilton and Sara Yasin.
Tang, who has long overseen the editorial page, was named the interim executive editor on Thursday.
Becerra, who began his career at the Times in 1999, will oversee daily newsgathering and editorial operations, effective immediately. He will work with Tang to “examine all aspects of The Times’ report and editorial staffing as the newsroom undergoes a leadership transition and reorganization,” according to the Times.
Becerra, a native Angeleno who grew up in the Boyle Heights neighborhood, was a general assignment reporter for 15 years and was part of the team of reporters who won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for their coverage of corruption in the Southern California city of Bell. In 2015, he was promoted to Metro editor before becoming city editor in 2017.
As TheWrap reported earlier on Tuesday, the Times has lost a number of editors of color this month, including Angel Rodriguez, who was general manager of the De Los section that focused on Latino culture. The De Los team was trimmed from 14 to five staffers, but the section has not been cut completely.
Remaining De Los editor Fidel Martinez addressed the losses on Thursday, saying, “We will continue to chronicle the many contours of Latinidad and will strive to tell as many of our stories as we can.”
Also on Tuesday, film critic Justin Chang announced that he has left the Times after eight years and joined the New Yorker. Prior to that, Chang was a critic for Variety.
