LA Times editor Stanton is exiting

Yet another editor at The Los Angeles Times has had enough of the newsroom layoffs.

Russ Stanton, who has held the top job since 2008, is stepping down, with his final day on Dec. 23. The current managing editor, Davan Maharaj, has been tapped to take his place.

Over the past five years, at the direction of owner Tribune Co., the LA Times has slashed its newsroom staff from 900 to 550.

That included a staff reduction of 250 at the start of Stanton’s tenure, and it earned him a reputation that, warranted or not, he was willing to make cuts that others were not.

The paper’s two previous editors, Dean Baquet and James O’Shea, both left after refusing to carry out Tribune’s demand that they cut more staff.

Eventually the demands wore on Stanton as well. The New York Times reports that he was reluctant to carry out another round of layoffs coming in the new year, just after Tribune Co. is expected to emerge from bankruptcy.

Stanton’s replacement, Maharaj, has been at The Times for 22 years and holds a law degree from Yale. A native of Trinidad, he is the paper’s 15th editor.

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