Peter Meehan Resigns as LA Times Food Editor

Hillary Manning, a spokeswoman for the paper, wrote in an email that it was “simply untrue” that the human resources department had received multiple complaints about him.

“Any and all allegations received by the company are taken seriously,” Ms. Manning wrote. “The matter will be thoroughly reviewed.”

She also disputed Ms. Teclemariam’s claim that his salary was $300,000. “That is a wildly inflated number,” she wrote.

Mr. Meehan’s departure is the most recent in a wave of resignations at the top of food media. In early June, Adam Rapoport, resigned as editor in chief of Bon Appétit, after Ms. Teclemariam posted a 2004 photo of him wearing a stereotypically Puerto Rican costume. His departure has prompted a broader conversation about race at the magazine’s parent company, Condé Nast.

More recently, John T. Edge, the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, has faced calls to step down.

Mr. Meehan’s departure comes as The Los Angeles Times is being accused a broad pattern of institutional racism. In a meeting last week, staff members told upper management that it had failed to adequately hire, promote or retain staff members of color. The meeting came after staff members started using the hashtag #BlackAtLAT to share personal testimonials.

Mr. Meehan, who has written for The New York Times, was also a producer of three shows developed by Mr. Chang, including “Ugly Delicious,” which aired in 2018, the same year Mr. Meehan joined The Los Angeles Times as a contributing editor. In 2019, the paper revived its food section — which had not been a stand-alone section since 2012 — and named him its editor. No replacement has been named.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/dining/peter-meehan-resigns-la-times.html