• by Melynda Fuller , January 29, 2018

Coming just 10 days after the Los Angeles Times’ placed publisher Ross Levinsohn on unpaid leave following the discovery of two sexual harassment lawsuits while at other publications, the paper announced its editor-in-chief Lewis D’Vorkin will be replaced by Jim Kirk.

D’Vorkin served only three months as the paper’s top editor, often finding himself in battle with the newsroom, where the relationship was contentious.

D’Vorkin, who worked as the Chief Product Officer at Forbes before joining LAT, will become Chief Content Officer for LAT’s parent company Tronc.

Kirk previously served as publisher and editor of the Chicago Sun-Times and joined Tronc last August, when he was named interim LAT editor during a tumultuous upending of the paper’s masthead. D’Vorkin took his place in November.

Just this month, the editorial staff of LAT voted to unionize, joining the News Guild-Communications Workers of America.

Part of the upheaval comes in the form of possible high-level additions to the news staff that were not announced to the newsroom. According to a report from the paper, news staff are “worried that Tronc was building a shadow newsroom in an effort to blur the lines between news and advertising in a bid to boost revenue.”

D’Vorkin and other executives at the company reportedly declined to comment.

One of the unannounced hires is rumored to be Louise Story, previously an investigative journalist at The New York Times, as managing editor, and Bruce Upbin, a former colleague of D’Vorkin’s at Forbes. Their fate and those of other hires is unknown, following the removal of D’Vorkin.

Kirk will assume the position permanently and is the third editor-in-chief of the paper in less than six months.