Biz editor, deputy biz editor and tech columnist among LA Times layoffs

Business editor Jeff Bercovici, deputy business editor Lindsay Blakely and tech columnist Brian Merchant are among the layoffs at the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.

Bercovici previously was the deputy business editor before becoming business editor in September 2022. In addition to his editing, Bercovici has written a number of memorable features, Column Ones and book reviews for The Times.

Before joining The Times in 2019, Bercovici served as Inc. magazine’s San Francisco bureau chief. He is a former media reporter and the author of “Play On: The New Science of Elite Performance at Any Age.”

Blakely previously held a variety of editorial roles at Inc. magazine, including managing editor. She has also held editing and reporting roles at CBS Interactive and Time Inc.

Blakely earned a master’s of journalism degree from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s from Boston College.

Merchant started as the tech columnist a year ago. Writing and editing for Motherboard, Gizmodo and other outlets, he has carved out a niche around the intersection of tech, labor and the environment.

Also cut was Carly Olson, a business reporter covering retail, e-commerce and how the economy affects consumer behavior. She came from the New York Times, where she was a reporting fellow covering breaking news. Before that, she was a business reporting intern for the L.A. Times and an editor at Architectural Digest.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.