Christian Stone, who was the Deputy Managing Editor at the Los Angeles Times, resigned on Friday after working at the paper for four years. TheWrap is the exclusive source of this report. Stone was the main editor of the 101 Power List, which was halted indefinitely, as previously reported. TheWrap This was reported earlier this month.
Although the L.A. Times spokesman informed TheWrap that the list of the 101 most influential people in the Los Angeles region had been rescheduled from its original publication date, there has been no sign of the piece. Stone was the mastermind behind it and the lead editor.
Stone is among a large group of senior editors who have left the paper in what has been a tumultuous year. In January, executive editor Kevin Merida resigned ahead of significant layoffs in the newsroom. Shani Hilton and Sara Yasin also left. Shani Hilton and Sara Yasin were part of the 100+ staffers let go on Jan. 23. This also included Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington, D.C., bureau chief Kimbriell Kelly; Angel Rodriguez, general manager for Latino initiatives at the paper; and Angie Jaime, who headed 404, the Times’ social media content team..
Stone wrote in an internal email obtained by TheWrap, “Today is my last day at 2300 East Imperial,” mentioning the newspaper’s location in El Segundo, California.
In a note, Stone mentioned his passion for newspapers, especially California newspapers like the San Jose Mercury News and the Orange County Register, which were thriving when he entered the profession in the late 80s. He also expressed his admiration for The Times.
He added, “I started at The Times in February 2020, two weeks after the Kobe [Bryant] crash and six before COVID shut down everything. It was The Times and Journalism at its best.”
Stone expressed pride in working with talented, generous, and determined colleagues, first in Sports, then in Studios, and later with the newsroom on the upcoming ‘LA Influential’ project.
He joined as an executive sports editor in February 2020. He noted, “Many of my career highlights came from working here, and many of them were unrelated to my work, but instead were due to the team and the pride that comes from representing the paper.”
Stone mentioned his former colleague Thuc Nhi Nguyen, a sports writer at the Times, in his farewell note, saying, “That’s my paper!” referring to the pride he feels when talking about the paper.
