Kevin Merida

Kevin Merida is an independent journalist, storyteller and media executive. He is the former executive editor of the Los Angeles Times. Under his leadership, the newspaper won four Pulitzer Prizes and its first Oscar for the documentary short film, “The Last Repair Shop,” directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers. The Times also implemented a range of new initiatives, including the “Fast Break Desk” for breaking news and trending topics, “the 404” social content creation team, the Latino identity and culture vertical “De Los,” and a reimagined climate, science and health coverage department. Before joining the Times in June 2021, Merida was a senior vice president at ESPN and editor in chief of The Undefeated (now Andscape), a multimedia platform that explores the intersections of race, sports, and culture. During his tenure at ESPN, he also oversaw the investigative/news enterprise unit, the shows “Outside the Lines” and “E60,” and chaired ESPN’s Editorial Board. While at ESPN, the journalism he helmed received three Sports Emmys. Before joining ESPN, Merida spent 22 years at the Washington Post in a variety of reporting, writing and leadership roles. He covered Congress and national politics, was a longform feature writer for the Style section, a columnist for the Sunday magazine, associate editor, national editor, and managing editor for news and features coverage. As managing editor, he helped lead The Post to four Pulitzer Prizes and the paper embarked on a digital transformation that made it one of the fastest growing news organizations in the country. Earlier in his career, Merida was a general assignment reporter at The Milwaukee Journal. He also spent 10 years at The Dallas Morning News in various roles, including covering the White House and overseeing foreign and national news coverage. Merida is co-author of the critically acclaimed “Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas” and the bestselling “Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs.” He also is the editor of and a contributor to the anthology, “Being a Black Man: At the Corner of Progress and Peril,” based on an award-winning Washington Post series. He has been honored with numerous awards for journalism, including from the University of Missouri, the University of Kansas, and the University of Michigan. In 2020, he was given the Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award by the National Association of Black Journalists, and was named NABJ’s Journalist of the Year in 2000. In 1990, Merida was a Pulitzer Prize finalist as part of a Dallas Morning News team reporting on the world’s “hidden wars.” Merida is a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, the L.A. Local News Initiative Board, The Video Consortium Board, the KFF Board of Trustees, the Boston University Board of Trustees, and was recently elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is married to author and essayist Donna Britt, and they have three sons–Justin, Darrell and Skye–and a grandson, Syd.