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How to get featured in Los Angeles Times
Getting featured in the Los Angeles Times: how its desks cover California and beyond, how to pitch reporters, the Op-Ed rules, and what the tip line is not for.
- Website
- latimes.com
- Owner
- Patrick Soon-Shiong
- Lead time
- Breaking news: same day. Features: typically several weeks. Op-Ed: the paper says it tries to respond within 48 hours if it wants to publish.
- Last verified
At a glance
Audience. Readers across Los Angeles, California, and the West, plus a national audience for entertainment, business, technology, and policy coverage.
- California and the West
- Entertainment and the arts
- Business and technology
- Politics and policy
- Climate and environment
- Food and lifestyle
- Staff reporting
- Staff reporters on desks such as California, Business, Entertainment and Arts, Politics, and Climate cover their beats; editors assign and approve stories.
- Contributed articles
- The newsroom does not publish contributed articles; outside writers appear through Op-Ed.
- Opinion and op-eds
- Op-Ed welcomes opinion articles on any subject, sent by email as full drafts of about 750 to 1,000 words; submissions must be exclusive and contain no AI-generated text.
- Press releases
- The tips page says its channels are not for press releases, Op-Ed submissions, or letters to the editor.
Pitching Los Angeles Times, step by step
Find the reporter covering your topic through recent bylines, especially if your story has a California or entertainment angle.
Lead with why the story matters to Los Angeles or California readers, then the national stakes.
Offer data, documents, local customers or sources, and on-record executives.
For Op-Ed, email a complete, exclusive draft with the author's name and topic in the subject line and the text pasted into the body.
Assume Op-Ed has passed if you hear nothing within 48 hours.
How the Los Angeles Times decides what to cover
The Los Angeles Times, owned by Patrick Soon-Shiong, is a major West Coast newsroom with national reach. Its desks cover California and Los Angeles, entertainment and the arts, business and technology, politics, climate, and food. Reporters own beats and develop most of their own stories. A company story works best when it connects to California, to the entertainment and creative industries, or to a policy or climate story that plays out in the state.
Opinion content is labeled, and the Op-Ed guidelines page sits under the paper’s Opinion Voices section.
How to pitch the Los Angeles Times
Read recent bylines and pitch the reporter whose beat matches. Lead with the local stakes, then the larger trend. Bring material a reporter can verify: data, documents, local customers or employees willing to speak, and executives on the record.
The tips page invites evidence-backed tips about wrongdoing or matters of public importance, and it states that these are not channels for press releases, Op-Ed submissions, or letters to the editor.
Contributed articles and op-eds
The newsroom does not take contributed articles. Op-Ed is the route for outside writers. The paper’s published guidelines say it welcomes opinion articles on any subject. Submissions must be exclusive, must not include AI-generated text, and must disclose any financial interest the author has in the subject. Send the full draft by email, with the author’s name and topic in the subject line and the text pasted into the message body, along with phone numbers and a short bio. Most published pieces run about 750 to 1,000 words. The paper does not consider pitches or partial drafts, anonymous pieces, or pseudonymous pieces, and says it will try to respond within 48 hours if it wants to publish.
Frequently asked questions
Can you pay to be featured in the Los Angeles Times?
No. News coverage and Op-Ed selections are editorial decisions. Advertising and sponsored content are sold separately and labeled.
Does the Los Angeles Times accept guest posts?
Op-Ed accepts exclusive, complete opinion articles under its published guidelines. The newsroom does not accept contributed articles.
Who should I pitch at the Los Angeles Times?
The reporter covering your beat, found through recent bylines. Arguments go to Op-Ed as complete drafts.
A PR-led approach to the Los Angeles Times finds the California angle in a national story and prepares the evidence a reporter will ask for. That is how we approach media relations for major metro and national papers.
Mistakes that get pitches ignored
- Sending press releases or Op-Ed submissions through the tip channels.
- Pitching Op-Ed with an outline; the paper considers only full drafts.
- Including AI-generated text in an Op-Ed submission.
- Pitching a national story with no reason for a California reader to care.
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