Francisco Varta-Orta, who was laid-off from the L.A. Times last month has found refuge at the Los Angeles Business Journal. He told Richard Prince’s Journal-isms he will “be covering trade and transportation focusing on the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach and manufacturing in the county.”
He says he realizes the industry is in chaos and diversity efforts have diminished, but he remains hopeful for a turnaround: “I was very fortunate to land a job with the Los Angeles Business Journal and will start there soon. It’s a shift from metro to business but I’m willing to expand and learn and relish a new challenge. Journalism is not dead and in a democracy should never die so it’s up to us to get over this self-defeatist attitude and just work with what we have. Maybe I’ll be tested again but so far many people I know are hoping it’ll turn around in a few more years.”
