LA Times to debut equity reporting initiative

The following excerpt was sent out from the Los Angeles Times:

The Los Angeles Times is launching an equity reporting initiative focused on the extremes of poverty and wealth in California. It will explore the challenges facing low-income communities and efforts being made to address the economic divide. The two-year program will include dedicated coverage of socio-economic issues, such as access to employment and housing, and will examine the human toll of systemic poverty. It is being funded by the James Irvine Foundation.

Through the initiative, The Times will hire a full-time journalist who’ll be dedicated to covering the economic divide across the state.

The Times will begin recruiting for the position immediately. The journalist hired for the initiative will be a Los Angeles Times employee and, as with any newsroom partnership or initiative, The Times’ newsroom will retain complete editorial control.

As part of the initiative funding, the Irvine Foundation will sponsor the stories, making them free to read without a subscription. The project will also engage the community in discussions about the economic divide and in exploring a range of solutions through virtual public events based on the coverage.

The Times equity initiative is being funded through the support of the James Irvine Foundation, an independent foundation based in Los Angeles and San Francisco, whose mission is to expand opportunity for the people of California with a focus on increasing the power to advance economically among low-income workers.