L.A. Times names Maira Garcia as television editor
The following announcement is sent on behalf of Entertainment and Arts Assistant Managing Editor Craig Nakano and Deputy Editor Matt Brennan:
We’re excited to share the news that Maira Garcia will be joining the Los Angeles Times to edit our television coverage.
She’ll be working with Deputy Editor Matt Brennan and The Times’ talented team to direct our reporting and criticism about a medium in the midst of creative and economic transformation.
Garcia joins us from the New York Times, where she was most recently an audience editor on the culture desk shaping audience analysis and strategy, awards show coverage and live breaking news. In more than 10 years at the New York Times, Garcia also served stints as night web producer, homepage editor, and editor and producer for the sports, obituaries, national and international desks — a wealth of experience well suited to a beat as all-encompassing and fast-paced as TV. A native of Texas and a first-generation daughter of Mexican immigrants, Garcia has master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Texas State University and previously worked at the Austin American-Statesman and as a contributor to MTV News. She started Tuesday.
In addition, two members of the Times TV team will add new areas of emphasis to their coverage of the medium and the discourse around it. As senior writer, celebrity and pop culture, Meredith Blake will examine the evolving nature of fame and the untold significance of the “lowbrow” through expanded reporting and commentary on subjects as varied as the British royal family, Peloton instructors and “MILF Manor.” And as senior television writer, Yvonne Villarreal will build on her recurring feature “Running the Show” with more in-depth profiles of the artists making the entertainment we love, as well as enterprise stories on pressing issues facing creators and consumers of TV. These points of focus will further enrich the breadth and depth of The Times’ television coverage, which has recently included such highlights as TV critic Lorraine Ali on the failures of the 65th Grammy Awards; fellow critic Robert Lloyd on “pre-prestige TV”; senior culture and representation writer Greg Braxton on the return of Roseanne Barr; staff writers Tracy Brown and Ashley Lee on “The Last of Us”; and listings editor Ed Stockly on how to watch the must-see TV and streaming movies of the moment.
