After serving 28 years with the LA Times, veteran journalist Davan Maharaj was terminated along with other senior editors of the daily publication.
After 28 years with the LA Times, veteran journalist Davan Maharaj was terminated along with other senior editors of the daily publication.
LOS ANGELES (Diya TV) — After 28 years with the LA Times, veteran journalist Davan Maharaj was terminated along with other senior editors of the daily publication. Serving as both editor and publisher of the award-winning daily newspaper since 2016, Maharaj was among several deputy editors fired.
Maharaj started his journey in journalism at the newspaper as a summer intern in 1989, working as a reporter in Los Angeles and East Africa. The Trinidad native then advanced to assistant foreign editor, business editor and managing editor. He and photographer Francine Orr collaborated in a six-part series, “Living on Pennies,” which garnered them a 2005 Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Writing. The series led to readers donating tens of thousands of dollars to support aid agencies in Africa.
During Maharaj’s nearly six-year tenure as Editor, The Times won three Pulitizer Prizes, including for breaking news coverage of the 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack. The Los Angeles Times is the largest newspaper in the West. He served as managing editor from May 2008 until being named editor in Dec. 2011. According to a staff bio on the LA Times website (LINK), “Maharaj’s investigative report about a Leisure World attorney who inherited millions of dollars in stock, land and other “gifts” from his clients led to changes in California probate law.”
“Maharaj was terminated along with a handful of other senior editors, including Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin, Deputy Managing Editor for Digital Megan Garvey and Assistant Managing Editor of Investigations Matt Doig,” stated the LA Times.
“During the last 28 years, it has been an honor working with the best journalists in a great American newsroom. They are indomitable, and I wish them well in their continued fight to serve our community. I’m proud of the work we’ve done,” Maharaj wrote in an email to employees, according to USA Today.
The drastic shake-up at the 135-year-old LA Times was announced by Justin C. Dearborn, chief executive of Tronc, the parent company of the Times and owns eight other daily newspapers.
Maharaj’s education includes a masters in law from Yale and a political science degree from the University of Tennessee.
Robert Haugh, a Bay Area based journalist who has been covering news, elections, arts & entertainment, professional sports, community events and crime for 18 years.
