Meltdown at the LA Times: Billionaire Owner Denies Vetoing Presidential Endorsement, Top Editor Resigns

Sharon Waxman

Thu, October 24, 2024 at 4:22 AM GMT+7·7 min read

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The Los Angeles Times was engulfed in turmoil two weeks ahead of the presidential election on Wednesday when Editorials Editor Mariel Garza resigned “immediately” after she said owner Patrick Soon-Shiong vetoed a decision by the newspaper to endorse Kamala Harris for president.

It was the first time in more than a century that the paper had elected not to endorse a presidential candidate.

The firestorm pulled in billionaire Soon-Shiong, billionaire Donald Trump supporter Elon Musk and the entire newsroom of the L.A. Times, still one of the country’s largest newspapers, And it brought the stakes of the November election into sharp relief.

Garza wrote in her resignation letter, obtained by TheWrap, that Soon-Shiong had “vetoed the editorial board’s plan to endorse Kamala Harris for president,” and that doing so “undermines the integrity of the editorial board and every single endorsement we make, down to school board races.”

She added: “People will justifiably wonder if each endorsement was a decision made by a group of journalists after extensive research and discussion, or through decree by the owner.”

Soon-Shiong, whose executive editor Kevin Merida resigned abruptly earlier this year over reported interference in the newsroom, denied that he had vetoed the endorsement.

“The Board was asked to provide their understanding of the policies and plans enunciated by the candidates during this campaign and its potential effect on the nation in the next four years,” Soon-Shiong wrote on X. “With this clear and non-partisan information side-by-side, our readers could decide who would be worthy of being president for the next four years…  Instead of adopting this path as suggested, the Editorial Board chose to remain silent and I accepted their decision.”

Reached by TheWrap, Garza disputed that version of events. “We pitched an endorsement and were not allowed to write one,” she wrote.

Later Wednesday, the L.A. Times Guild Unit Council and Bargaining Committee released a statement on the matter, saying they were “deeply concerned about our owner’s decision to block a planned endorsement in the presidential race.”

“We are even more concerned that he is now unfairly assigning blame to Editorial Board members for his decision not to endorse,” the statement read. “We are still pressing for answers from newsroom management on behalf of our members.”

The incident was reminiscent of the Merida brouhaha, in which Merida stated he resigned, while Soon-Shiong insisted the two had made a mutual decision to part ways.

The lack of an endorsement immediately led to speculation that Soon-Shiong either privately supported Trump, or was concerned that Trump would retaliate against him if elected.

“He thinks that Trump is going to win, and he doesn’t need to make an enemy,” said a prominent former reporter, who declined to be identified.

Others pointed out that Soon-Shiong is friends with another South African-born billionaire, Elon Musk, who has used his ownership of the X platform to relentlessly boost Trump in recent weeks, and is running the candidate’s ground campaign in some swing states like Arizona.

Additionally, Soon-Shiong’s daughter Nika, a progressive political activist focused on the Palestinian cause, has reposted tweets critical of Harris’s support for Israel. She is also involved in the leadership of the paper.

TheWrap obtained a series of internal Slack messages from the L.A. Times newsroom in which staffers expressed confusion and anger over the lack of an endorsement.

“I’ve… witnessed the last 10 months of mind-boggling decisions, disrespectful negotiations, and finally, yesterday’s cowardly, unexplained non-endorsement,” one reporter wrote.  “I used to be proud that I worked at The Los Angeles Times. Now, I’m just embarrassed.”

Another newsroom employee wrote: “We’ve made ourselves the story and still had an impact, even if the intent was to stay neutral.”

A third staffer wondered how many readers had dropped the paper following the no-endorsement decision: “I’d really like to know how many people have canceled their subscriptions because of this non-endorsement… Are we going to end up paying for that in the long run?”

TheWrap reported Wednesday morning that multiple subscribers took to social media to say they were canceling their subscriptions to the L.A. Times.

“Mrs. Doubtfire” screenwriter Randi Mayem Singer posted she had “just canceled” her subscription over the paper’s non-endorsement. “WTF is wrong with you?” she asked.

Evan Handler, best known for playing Harry on “Sex and the City,” said he was also canceling his subscription. He said he didn’t “need to spend $15.96/month to read only what Patrick Soon-Schiong [sic] allows the paper’s staff to publish.” He also called on others to cancel their subscriptions by sharing the Times’ cancellation email.

Writer Janice Hough responded to Handler, saying it was a “deplorable” move by the Times.

And scores of people on X responded to the news of Garza’s resignation as an act of courage.

“I applaud @marielgarzaLAT for standing up for her First Amendment rights. An owner of a newspaper should not be ordering his editorial staff what to write or not write, whom to endorse or whom not to endorse. Shame on you @latimes,” wrote an account called NeilfanVegas.

In her emotional resignation letter to Executive Editor Terry Tang, Garza said she grappled with whether the decision to endorse no candidate really mattered. But after the news broke, she changed her mind.

“The reality hit me like cold water Tuesday when the news rippled out about the decision not to endorse without so much as a comment from the LAT management, and Donald Trump turned it into an anti-Harris rip,” she wrote. “Of course it matters that the largest newspaper in the state — and one of the largest in the nation still — declined to endorse in a race this important. And it matters that we won’t even be straight with people about it.

“It makes us look craven and hypocritical, maybe even a bit sexist and racist. How could we spend eight years railing against Trump and the danger his leadership poses to the country and then fail to endorse the perfectly decent Democrat challenger — who we previously endorsed for the US Senate?”

Semafor reported on Tuesday that the L.A. Times editorial board has endorsed the Democratic candidate in each of the past four elections, going back to Barack Obama in 2008.

In addition to being the Times’ owner, Soon-Shiong, a  tech billionaire, is also an investor, medical researcher, philanthropist and transplant surgeon. He’s also the founder of NantWorks, a network of healthcare, biotech, and artificial intelligence startups.

Speaking at TheGrill earlier this month, Merida cited “disagreements” with Soon-Shiong as one of the reasons he stepped down on Jan. 9. And TheWrap reported extensively on Soon-Shiong’s multiple moves to interfere with newsroom decisions.

The past months have been among the most tumultuous for the 143-year-old paper, with record layoffs and a steady stream of resignations from top editors.

Garza had been with the Times since March 2015. Prior to that, she was deputy editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee.

Here is Garza’s full resignation letter to Tang, courtesy of the Columbia Journalism Review:

Terry,

Ever since Dr. Soon-Shiong vetoed the editorial board’s plan to endorse Kamala Harris for president, I have been struggling with my feelings about the implications of our silence. 

I told myself that presidential endorsements don’t really matter; that California was not ever going to vote for Trump; that no one would even notice; that we had written so many “Trump is unfit” editorials that it was as if we had endorsed her.But the reality hit me like cold water Tuesday when the news rippled out about the decision not to endorse without so much as a comment from the LAT management, and Donald Trump turned it into an anti-Harris rip.Of course it matters that the largest newspaper in the state—and one of the largest in the nation still—declined to endorse in a race this important. And it matters that we won’t even be straight with people about it. 

It makes us look craven and hypocritical, maybe even a bit sexist and racist. How could we spend eight years railing against Trump and the danger his leadership poses to the country and then fail to endorse the perfectly decent Democrat challenger—who we previously endorsed for the US Senate?The non-endorsement undermines the integrity of the editorial board and every single endorsement we make, down to school board races. People will justifiably wonder if each endorsement was a decision made by a group of journalists after extensive research and discussion, or through decree by the owner.Seven years ago, the editorial board wrote this in its series about Donald Trump “Our Dishonest President”: “Men and women of conscience can no longer withhold judgment. Trump’s erratic nature and his impulsive, demagogic style endanger us all.”

I still believe that’s true. 

In these dangerous times, staying silent isn’t just indifference, it is complicity. I’m standing up by stepping down from the editorial board. Please accept this as my formal resignation, effective immediately.

Mariel

Ross A. Lincoln contributed to this story.