Mara Shalhoup, editor of LA Weekly, revealed on Twitter Wednesday evening that the newspaper’s editorial staff has been “eviscerated” by its new owners. “Nine of 13 editorial staffers are gone, including all five editors and all but one staff writer,” Shalhoup tweeted, adding, “We were expecting there to be some pain with the sale of @LAWeekly But we weren’t expecting the Red Wedding. That’s how deep the cuts are.” Just last month, Voice Media Group sold the paper to a new company called Semanal Media, which was reportedly created for the sale and would not reveal the identity of its owner. Brian Calle, a former Orange County Register opinion editor who was installed to run LA Weekly by its new owners, said just a couple of weeks ago that the new ownership and management had no plans to change the “editorial bent” of the paper.
—Matt Wilstein
