LA Times promotes Rubin to associate editor, exec producer roles

The following excerpt was sent out on behalf of the Los Angeles Times deputy managing editor and vice president of L.A. Times Studios Chris Stone:

The Los Angeles Times is pleased to announce the promotion of Joel Rubin to associate editor for New Initiatives and executive producer for L.A. Times Studios. In his new role, Rubin will focus on the creation of The Times’ inaugural Power Project, which will launch in the fall as an annual editorial franchise.

Rubin is distinctly qualified to lead this initiative. As a reporter in the fall of 2019, he pitched the idea to editors, arguing that The Times’ newsroom was best positioned to identify and explain to readers the individuals and institutions who, from grassroots spaces to establishment corridors, leave an outsized imprint on the city. Then the pandemic intervened.

“The reporters and editors of the Los Angeles Times understand this city better than anyone,” Rubin said. “I’m really excited by the idea of tapping into their expertise to illuminate the people who, for better or worse, are writing the story of Los Angeles.”

An endeavor this ambitious requires a track record of trust and excellence that Rubin has brought to The Times’ newsroom for the past 20 years as a prize-winning reporter and editor focused on accountability in education, the Los Angeles Police Department and federal courts. He was twice part of teams that won Pulitzer Prizes for breaking news coverage, in 2004 for The Times’ coverage of the Southern California wildfires and in 2016 for its coverage of the San Bernardino mass shooting.

He started in his new position Feb. 27.