Stewart Bainum has hired Kimi Yoshino, a top editor from the Los Angeles Times, to help him launch the Baltimore Banner, a nonprofit digital upstart dedicated to local coverage of the city and funded by $50 million of his own fortune, according to a report in The Washington Post.

The plan, Bainum told the Post, is not to compete with The Sun but to cover the news in a city that he said has more than enough for one outlet. “Those reporters have their hands tied behind their back, and they’re still doing a good job,” he said, noting the Sun won a Pulitzer in 2020 for investigating corruption in the mayor’s office. “There’s a lot of damn talent there. And we just want to add to it.”

The 21-year veteran of The LA Times is tasked with building up a newsroom of roughly 50 journalists focused on local news and launching in 2022, with a goal of expanding in size the following year.

The Times reported that Yoshino, 49, has been managing editor of The Times since April 2020, serving as the second-in-command of the newsroom alongside Scott Kraft and Shani Hilton. Together, Yoshino and Kraft, as co-managing editors, led The Times through the first half of 2021 while the search for the paper’s new executive editor, Kevin Merida, was underway.

Yoshino joined The Times in 2000 as a metro reporter for the Orange County bureau, following stints at the Fresno Bee and Stockton Record. Yoshino’s last day will be on Nov. 12, The Times reported.

Photo: Venetoulis Institute