The Los Angeles Times Guild says its “deeply concerned” by owner Patrick Soon-Shiong’s decision to prevent the newspaper from endorsing Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
“We are deeply concerned about our owner’s decision to block a planned endorsement in the presidential race,” a spokesperson for the LA Times Guild wrote in a statement. “We are even more concerned that he is now unfairly assigning blame to Editorial Board members for his decision not to endorse.”
The guild’s comments come just hours after Soon-Shiong shared that the decision not to endorse a certain candidate came from the editorial board, with Soon-Shiong writing “the Editorial Board chose to remain silent and I accepted their decision.”
“We are still pressing for answers from newsroom management on behalf of our members,” the statement continued. “The Los Angeles Times Guild stands with our members who have always worked diligently to protect the integrity of our newsroom.”
Semafor reported on Tuesday that Soon-Shiong personally intervened to prevent the paper from endorsing anyone for president after the board, which has endorsed a Democrat in every presidential election since 2008, was preparing to endorse Harris.
Since then, the matter has evolved into a full blown crisis for the 142-year-old publication. Editorial page editor Mariel Garza resigned on Wednesday in protest, saying in her resignation letter, which was obtained by TheWrap, that Soon-Shiong vetoed the editorial board’s decision to endorse Harris.
“The non-endorsement undermines the integrity of the editorial board and every single endorsement we make,” Garza also said.
Though representatives for LA Times have not publicly commented on the matter, Soon-Shiong has issued a statement on his own in which he attempted to blame the editorial board for the non-endorsement but effectively confirmed instead he had quashed it.
“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,” he said in part. “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,” he concluded.
In a brief statement to TheWrap, Garza was blunt: “We pitched an endorsement and were not allowed to write one.”
Sharon Knolle contributed to this report.
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