Los Angeles Times Owner Wants a ‘Fair and Balanced’ Editorial Board
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong says hyper-paper has conflated news and opinion and vows to ensure that “all voices” will be heard.
Legal Insurrection readers may recall that some of the editors at the Los Angeles Times resigned after its owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, would not allow the newspaper to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
The lack of such an endorsement was a clear signal that the Harris campaign was having substantial problems, and it was a wise move for a businessman who may have been looking to cut his losses.
And now, it appears Soon-Shiong has thoughts on journalistic credibility, as he revealed the newspaper will soon have a new editorial board.
The owner posted on social media Sunday that he will try to make the Los Angeles Times “balanced.” His announcement followed the newspaper’s editorial board refraining from endorsing a presidential candidate this year despite doing so in the last four elections.
“I will work towards making our paper and media fair and balanced so that all voices are heard and we can respectfully exchange every American’s view ..from left to right to the center,” Soon-Shiong wrote on X. “Coming soon. A new Editorial Board.”
The owner added that “ALL voices” must be heard when a presidential candidate wins a majority of the vote. Soon-Shiong’s announcement came just days after President-elect Donald Trump was declared by the Associated Press to have defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.
Proud that we posted this letter from one of our readers on X. When the President has won the vote of the majority of Americans then ALL voices must be heard. Opinions are just that. I will work towards making our paper and media fair and balanced so that all voices are heard…
— Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong (@DrPatSoonShiong) November 11, 2024
Interestingly, it turned out Soon-Shiong would have the editors would have been able to share their thoughts about Harris, as long as they presented a balance with information about President-elect Donald Trump.
He wrote on X, “The Editorial Board was provided the opportunity to draft a factual analysis of all the POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE policies by EACH candidate during their tenures at the White House, and how these policies affected the nation.
In addition, 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. In this way, 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. Please #vote,” the message concluded.
So many comments about the @latimes Editorial Board not providing a Presidential endorsement this year. Let me clarify how this decision came about.
The Editorial Board was provided the opportunity to draft a factual analysis of all the POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE policies by EACH…
— Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong (@DrPatSoonShiong) October 23, 2024
During a recent interview on the Fox News Channel, Soon-Shiong indicated he plans to bring a fair and balanced vision to the entire paper.
One of my concerns is they you understand as a journalist that this is news, and this is opinion. And we’ve conflated news and opinion.
So the first thing I want to do is ensure that we explicitly say, “This is news”. And if we say this is news, it should just be the facts. Period.
And if it is an opinion, and maybe it is an opinion of the news, that is what I call “a voice”.
So now we want voices from more sides to be hear, and we want news to be just the facts.
This development is one of the more positive signs I have seen in restoring news to its original mission of simply supplying information on who, what, when, where, why, and how in oceans of time.
Excited about what @DrPatSoonShiong is doing at the @latimes https://t.co/xZukrZWDML
— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) November 15, 2024
However, some think it may be too little too late.
The owner of the Los Angeles Times has fired the entire editorial board and says he wants to have a new board with “views from left to right to the center.”
The FP’s @SnoozyWeiss has her doubts, “This is a huge ship to try and turn around…We’ll see how that will go down when… pic.twitter.com/bzDzNhn2vx
— The Free Press (@TheFP) November 15, 2024
Soon-Shiong is a true Renaissance Man. He has published over 100 scientific papers and holds more than 500 patents worldwide. He combines medical expertise, scientific innovation, entrepreneurial success, and philanthropic commitment.
If anyone can bring the Los Angeles Times back from the progressive abyss and make it a functioning and successful example of real journalism, it would be him.
I wish Soon-Shiong much success. Our country would benefit greatly from having a more balanced media.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
This is a joke. Fair and balance to the propaganda media means something like 9 hard core leftists and one RINO who cowers silently in the corner.
Argh, you beat me to it, although I think the leftist media is more comfortable with 100:1 ratio, provided the one RINO is willing to beat up on any Republican decision like McCain.
I remember Tim Russert hosting his Sunday show with 3 liberals and poor George Will for ‘balance’..
georgfelis:
Exactly. They’ll end up hiring someone like Mittens Romney or Liz “Carpetbagger” Cheney to put up Rep-wing strawmen that can be easily knocked down.
Let’s see if they hire Kurt Schlichter who could take them all on single-handed…yeah, that’s not gonna happen.
Remember that David French is the “conservative” at the NY Times, lolz
That’s right. What we need is “News You Can’t Abuse” not some subjective measure of fairness or balance. See https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/news-you-cant-abuse/
Careful Dr. if you stay on this course your paper might survive..
Too little too late. In good faith, the time to have done this was before they had gotten soundly spanked. There’s no way for any rational person to interpret this as anything more than covering their asses.
Newsprint is dead. Ask a former RR Donnelly or Bowater employee.
LA Times Owner Wants Fair Blah Blah Blah…
Translation: LA Times owner doesn’t want to lose money.
I thought his daughter was running this paper? Has he fired her too?
His daughter has nothing to do with the paper, as Dr. Soon-Shiong as stated on numerous occasions. She is merely a privileged progressive who says she has more influence than she actually does.
What I get out of this is that when Right of Center is perceived to be the minority, Patrick was perfectly comfortable suppressing voices. Now that has been proven incorrect, he advocates for “balanced reporting.” To mitigate his own left-leaning views from suffering the same silencing that was imposed on Rrght-leaning voices, perhaps?
I do wish humans would learn that what goes around comes around.
Some will never learn, they just have to be relegated to the margins. Over at Bluesky they are currently cannibalizing their own because nobody outside their bubble is interested in engaging on that platform. But canceling and censoring is all they know, so now they turn on each other.
Exactly. Thank you.
They have realized that the people are actually aware that the emperor is naked.
Panic ensues.
Fair and balanced? That’s sorta like Saint and Sinner.
The MSM has cut its own throat by going all in on identity politics. You can’t save these places without a thorough house cleaning.
Elon Musk was definitely on the Leftist spectrum not too long ago,, and yet he took over massive Twitter and turned it around.
Its not an impossible dream for Soon-Shiong to reform the LAT.
And anything that breaks the progressive grip on legacy media is a good thing.
Yes, but the difference is that Musk bucked the tide.
The LA Times is being swept along by it,
Now he wants “fair and balanced”?
Why not six months ago?
What about 4 years ago?
Isn’t “fair and balanced” supposed to be at the core of journalism?
Excuse me, but I don’t buy it.
Funny how he wants to hear all voices after a majority of Americans voted with one voice supporting MAGA. “Balance” seems to me in this case meant to dilute that voice, because when Progressives were ascendant they generally had the floor at all times, across most platforms.
Leftists are not to be trusted.
What we are seeing now is the parasites, seeing that a cleansing is coming, are seeking new places in which to fasten and grow fat upon the host. They appear, at first, to be beneficial, but quickly release toxins as soon as they think they’re safe.
Trust NONE of them.
Before I moved to Orange County, California, in 1974, I read the Los Angeles Times. That would have been under the Chandlers.
Before then, they did not endorse anyone for President. The space where the endorsement would go read something like: “Everyone has enough information about the presidential candidates to decide for themselves.”
If memory serves, in the 1960 election, the LA Times was sufficiently right-wing that they did not even like Kennedy’s name in their paper. Reportedly when JFK did a campaign stop in LA, they posted a blurb on like page 17 to the effect “the Democratic candidate for President will be visiting this city sometime this weekend.”
“Fair and balanced” means six Bolsheviks and two Trotskyists.
Release the Rashidi-Obama tapes, LA Times.
Until you do, I don’t care what you think.