LA Times editorial editor resigns after billionaire owner reportedly blocked his editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris for president.
Members of the newspaper’s editorial board were willing to back Harris as commander in chief until a surprising announcement from executive editor Terry Tang.
Tang informed staff earlier this month that they would not be endorsing any candidate for president, two people familiar with the conversations said. he said to Semafor.
Now, Mariel Garza, the newspaper’s editorial editor, says that for her it was a red line and a sign that she needed to leave.
‘I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I do not agree with us remaining silent. In dangerous times, honest people must stand up. That’s how I stand,’ he said.
LA Times editorial editor Mariel Garza resigned after the billionaire owner reportedly blocked her editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris for president.
Members of the newspaper’s editorial board were willing to back Harris as commander in chief until a shocking announcement from executive editor Terry Tang.
Heron said C.J.R. he was under no illusions that the endorsement would make much of a difference.
‘I didn’t think we were going to change our readers’ minds; our readers, for the most part, are Harris supporters. We are a very liberal newspaper. I didn’t think we were going to change the outcome of the election in California.
So why was he so bothered by the inability to tell people to vote for Harris?
‘This is a time when you speak with your conscience no matter what. “And an endorsement was the next logical step after a series of editorials we’ve been writing about how dangerous Trump is to democracy, about his inability to be president, about his threats to imprison his enemies,” he said.
Garza claims the endorsement writer focused as much on how he “should not be re-elected” as on how Harris deserved to win.
Tang reportedly said the decision came directly from the newspaper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a doctor who made his fortune in the healthcare industry.
Soon-Shiong broke her silence on the issue in a social media post on Wednesday night.
“The Editorial Board had the opportunity to draft a factual analysis of all POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE policies of EACH candidate during their tenure in the White House, and how these policies affected the nation,” he said.
Tang reportedly said the decision came directly from the newspaper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a doctor who made his fortune in the healthcare industry.
Soon-Shiong broke her silence on the issue in a social media post on Wednesday night.
‘In addition, the Board was asked to provide its understanding of the policies and plans stated by the candidates during this campaign and their potential effect on the nation over the next four years. “This way, with this clear and non-partisan information, our readers could decide who would be worthy of being president for the next four years,” Soon-Shiong continued.
Finally he states: ‘Rather than follow this path as suggested, the editorial board preferred to remain silent and I accepted their decision. Please #vote.’
Meanwhile, Garza calls the decision “baffling to readers and possibly suspicious.”
She allowed CJR readers to publicly view her resignation letter to Tang, whom she said was “not to blame.”
The decision marks a major shift for Harris’ home state newspaper, which has exclusively endorsed Democratic presidential candidates since then-Senator Barack Obama ran in 2008.
The editors did not give a reason for the change when the newspaper released its endorsements at the state and national level last week.
In fact, the only mention of the presidential race was in its first line that said “it is no exaggeration that this may be the most consequential decision in a generation.”
The editors also noted at the bottom of the page that “the editorial board endorses selectively, choosing the most important races to make recommendations.”
The decision marks a major change for Harris’ home state newspaper.
The Los Angeles Times has exclusively endorsed Democratic presidential candidates since then-Senator Barack Obama ran in 2008.
A spokesperson for the newspaper told Semafor: “We do not comment on internal discussions or decisions on editorials or endorsements.”
But the LA Times has consistently issued presidential endorsements from the 1880s until 1972, when the newspaper endorsed Richard Nixon for re-election months after the Watergate hotel break-in, a decision that then-publisher Otis Chandler said he later came to regret. .
He began posting endorsements again in 2008 with Obama’s historic run for president.
Since then, the editorial board has exclusively endorsed Democratic candidates for the nation’s highest office.
But in 2020, Soon-Shiong decided to rescind the editorial board again after it planned to endorse Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic primary.
He would later endorse Biden for president instead of Trump.
Soon-Shiong had purchased the landmark newspaper two years earlier, after spending years working as an expert surgeon.
He made money by selling two pharmaceutical companies: APP Pharmaceuticals to Fresnius Medical Care for $4.6 billion in 2008, and Abraxis BioScience to Celgene for $2.8 billion in 2010. according to Bloomberg.
Soon-Shiong then bought the LA Times for $500 million in 2018, promising new investments in the languishing newspaper. Political reports.
But journalists have expressed concern about his daughter’s political activism and the role she may play in their coverage.
Still, company executives have defended Soon-Shiong and her daughter.
“As owners of the LA Times, the Soon-Shiongs have the prerogative to make decisions about all aspects of the organization,” Hillary Manning, vice president of communications, told Politico in 2022.
‘One decision they made and have been vocal about since the acquisition was announced is that maintaining an independent newsroom is vitally important to them, to the LA Times itself, and to the community as a whole.
“We can appreciate that staff have different opinions on how involved the Soon-Shiongs should be in the day-to-day operations of the organization,” he added at the time.