The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times gave a bizarre defense of his plan to eliminate the “too leftist” editorial board after it stopped supporting him. Vice President Kamala Harris,
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong said Harris’ Support for Israel’s military actions in Gaza was one of the main The reasons he refused to support Democrats and said he wants to hire more conservative voices — an odd approach given that most conservatives support the Jewish state’s war against Hamas terrorists.
Nevertheless, Soon-Shiong insisted he was seeking a better “balance” after vowing to replace the remaining members of the editorial board, who did not step down even after Harris dropped his endorsement.
“If we were honest with ourselves, our current circle of writers would lean too far to the left, which is fine, but I think to maintain the balance, you also need someone who moves to the right. And more importantly, there is someone who can walk the right path,’ said Soon-Shiong.
last month, He prevented his editorial board from publishing its endorsement Harris’s – instead suggested it print two side-by-side analysis pieces covering the pros and cons of electing either Democrat or Republican Donald Trump, who won decisively.
Thousands of people canceled their membership in protest Several members of the editorial board resigned.
The publication has a combined print and digital audience of 4.4 million subscribers, According to analytics firm Meltwater.
Soon-Shiong wrote on X earlier this week that he plans to make his newspaper “fair and balanced so that all voices are heard and we can respectfully exchange the perspectives of every America… From left to right to the center.”
“Coming soon. A new editorial board. Trust in the media is vital for a strong democracy,” Soon-Shiong wrote on X.
Soon-Shiong, who bought the Times for $500 million in 2018, told CNN that his plan to revamp the editorial board is “not as inflammatory as you are firing everyone.” Instead, he said he was “really trying to identify the voices that speak to all Americans.”
He told CNN that the publication needed to make a clearer distinction between its hard news coverage and its opinion and editorial sections.
“Somebody picking up a newspaper right now, Gen Z today or something, I don’t know if they’ll recognize that it’s an opinion,” he said.
“This mixture of news and news opinion sometimes gets mixed up, and I think that’s part of the problem of why trust in the press is declining.”
last week, Independent site Drop Site News reported Patrick Soon-Shiong, in an internal email circulated in the LA Times, said that the Israel–Gaza conflict and the administration’s policies were among the reasons for his decision not to endorse a candidate.
“Has there ever been a time in our history when our nation knowingly provided weapons to another nation and used those weapons to kill children, women, innocent people and target the press, doctors and medical personnel ? And the policies that enable it seem to be supported by both candidates?” he wrote in an email to employees.
memorandum followed new York Times His daughter Nika Soon-Shiong, 31, said the family took a “joint decision not to endorse” a candidate because of the Biden-Harris administration’s “openly funding genocide” in Gaza, the report said.
Citing his father’s upbringing in his native South Africa during the apartheid era, he wrote on But this moment requires resistance to crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and apartheid – as my parents did in South Africa.”
Patrick Soon-Shiong issued a statement shortly after the Times published her article, saying that Nika Soon-Shiong “speaks in her personal capacity with regard to her opinions.”
“She has no role at the LA Times, nor does she participate in any decisions or discussions with the editorial board, as has been made clear many times,” the newspaper owner said in the statement.
Dade later confirmed an earlier report that Harris’s support for the administration’s policies on Israel and its war in Gaza played a role in his decision not to endorse a candidate.
“Someone asked me, ‘Was that the reason?’ I said, ‘Well, that wasn’t the only reason.’ Obviously, that was one reason, and there are many other reasons, but I think all the reasons should be exposed really transparently,” he told CNN.
The post seeks comment from the LA Times.
Soon-Shiong’s intervention Image of Jeff BezosWho owns the Washington Post? He also prevented his newspaper’s editorial board from endorsing Harris.
Bezos’ move prompted about 250,000 of the newspaper’s readers to cancel their subscriptions.
