Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong on Friday said his paper will undergo a “rebirth” where “dissenting views” and voices from all sides of the political spectrum are welcome.
His comments came after the LA Times was thrown into turmoil last month, after Soon-Shiong blocked the paper’s editorial board from endorsing Kamala Harris for president. He has since indicated his decision to create a new editorial board in light of Trump’s presidency as well.
“It is our obligation to ensure that our readers can tell what is News versus just Opinion,” Soon-Shiong said in an X post outlining his vision. “Every American’s views should be heard and we will label Opinion as ‘Voices’ … Voices of California and of the USA.”
He continued: “It is clear we need to rebirth the organization and allow dissenting views and ALL voices to be expressed … whether from the left, right or center.”
Soon-Shiong said the transition “won’t be easy,” but that he’s “committed to making this happen and to help heal our divided nation through a platform that enables civil discourse.”
The billionaire then linked to a Fox News story that recapped his appearance on the network on Thursday night. Moving forward, Soon-Shiong said he wants his paper to more clearly draw the line between opinion and hard news.
“If it’s news, it should just be the facts, period. And if it’s an opinion, that’s maybe an opinion of the news, and that’s what I call now a voice. And so, we want voices from all sides to be heard, and we want the news to be just the facts,” he told Fox News.
Friday’s pivot announcement comes after Soon-Shiong revealed earlier this week that Vice President Kamala Harris’ stance on the war in Gaza was “one of the reasons” he blocked his paper from endorsing her for president. He made the comment during an interview with CNN on Tuesday.
“Somebody had asked me, ‘Was that the reason?’ I said, ‘Well, that wasn’t the only reason.’ Clearly, that was one of the reasons and there are many other reasons,” Soon-Shiong said. He didn’t go into further detail on why it was a key driver behind his decision. His daughter Nika Soon-Shiong had previously tied the decision back to the war in Gaza as well, though her father denied it at the time.
The elder Soon-Shiong’s answer also came after he referred to the war between Israel and Palestine as a “genocide” in an email to an LA Times editor on Nov. 3. The email was obtained by Drop Site News and published last week.
Three LAT editors quit the paper after Soon-Shiong blocked the editorial page’s Harris endorsement.
