(Jacob Bruns, Headline USA) The editor of Los Angeles Magazine quit after barely a year because its far-left owners had stopped paying staff and freelancers for their work, the National Pulse reported.
Owners Mark Geragos and Ben Meiselas bought the failing publication in 2022 for $6 million but have been unable to turn it profitable since hiring Editor-in-Chief Shirley Halperin—a former music writer for Variety and Billboard—to take the helm, according to a report from the Wrap.
As a result, the two well-to-do left-wingers have reportedly cut off the funding for reporters, photographers and freelancers.
Christopher Gialanella, the magazine’s president and publisher, said it was forecasting bigger profits on the horizon.
“We are proud that Los Angeles Magazine will have a profitable year in a challenging media environment, and circulation is way up,” he said. “We will be announcing our new Editor-In-Chief in the next two weeks.”
However, Greg Gilman, the former executive editor for LAMag.com website, who quit last month, slammed the “lack of vision and strategy by new owners,” saying they had “little or no regard for journalists and media industry.”
Geragos is best known as a criminal defense attorney to the stars, including Michael Jackson, Colin Kaepernick, Winona Ryder, Chris Brown, Jussie Smollett and Scott Peterson—who was convicted in 2002 of murdering his wife and unborn child. The celebrity lawyer often makes appearances on the cable news circuit to comment on sensational trials
Meiselas is one of the three co-founders of the anti-Trump media conglomerate Meidas Touch, along with his brothers Brett and Jordan.
The group’s original mission, according to its website, was “stopping the reelection of Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election and beyond.” However, it has since become a social-media powerhouse spreading propaganda for the “BlueAnon” population of left-wing conspiracy theorists and low-information voters.
The main website, run by editor Ron Filipkowski, has featured regular contributions by convicted perjuror Michael Cohen and is bankrolled by notorious lawfare financier Reid Hoffman. It is also connected with the NeverTrump hoaxters and accused child-predators at the Lincoln Project.
Notably, the company has been praised by the Biden–Harris White House, which called the Meidas Touch PAC the “front lines” in the fight against Trump.
