Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong is now prohibiting “editorials containing criticism” of Donald Trump “unless they are presented side-by-side with another opinion piece representing the ‘opposing view,’” according to a memo written by the newspaper’s editors.
As Oliver Darcy first reported in his Status newsletter, the staff memo reveals that Soon-Shiong’s “meddling” of the LA Times’ coverage – especially regarding the president-elect – has “grown more pervasive than previously realized.”
The memo, signed by several members of the LA Times’ opinion section, was sent to the newspaper’s executive editor, Terry Tang. It comes after Soon-Shiong killed an op-ed last month critical of Trump’s recent Cabinet picks and the incoming president’s suggestion that he may use recess appointments to circumvent the confirmation process.
In fact, as the staff claimed in its memo, that column is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Soon-Shiong intervening and preventing the paper from publishing negative coverage of the president-elect.
“We understand that Dr. Soon-Shiong has a role in shaping the tone and direction of the editorial board and Opinion section, but we are still bound by the core values and ethics of journalism, including a duty to be transparent and act in service of the public,” the memo stated. “We believe we have an obligation to report these under the ethics policy, which states that ‘the primary goal always should be to protect The Times’ integrity.’”
Asserting that the billionaire owner has told the editorial board to “take a break from writing about Trump” even though the president-elect is currently shaping up his administration, the Times staffers claimed that Soon-Shiong’s preferential treatment of Trump goes beyond just one axed column.
According to the memo, Soon-Shiong “has instituted a new policy that prohibits editorials containing criticism of the president-elect unless they are presented side-by-side with another opinion piece representing the ‘opposing view,’ adding that this essentially prevents any criticism of Trump from making the paper’s pages.
“This new restriction, which appears to apply only to matters involving Trump and not to other officials or issues, has effectively killed or indefinitely delayed multiple editorials that have been written and edited but remain unpublished,” the memo continued, suggesting the owner has nixed other columns about Trump.
The memo also asserted that Soon-Shiong “required” all opinion columns to go through him before publication, calling for editors to email him “the text of every editorial and the name of its writer” ahead of time. Staffers said that this raised “concerns about the ability of the board to do its job without fear of retaliation” while noting that the owner was placing unnecessary roadblocks in the process.
“Editorial board positions and content have been preemptively censored before publication, and its arguments, headlines and topics subjected to boundaries that did not previously exist,” the memo argued.
When reached for comment, a spokesperson for the Times said the “management team is currently reviewing the concerns expressed in the letter.”
The memo comes as the Times suffers plummeting staff morale, canceled subscriptions and a staff exodus over the specter of Soon-Shiong seemingly trying to curry favor with Trump. (He’s hardly the only one under fire for supposedly capitulating to Trump.) Tens of thousands of readers stopped subscribing to the paper after the owner blocked the editorial board from printing an endorsement of Kamala Harris just days before the election, prompting several board members to resign.
After saying he planned to remake the editorial board to add more conservative voices, complaining that it had become too far left and an “echo chamber,” Soon-Shiong announced last month that he brought on CNN’s resident Trump defender Scott Jennings as a board member. The owner also sparked outrage among staff by announcing on Jennings’ podcast that he was introducing an AI-powered “bias meter” to the paper’s coverage, though he has since clarified that he will only add this feature to opinion pieces.
“On a scale of 0 to 10, it’s a negative 5,” one staffer told Darcy about the morale at the paper.
It also appears that Soon-Shiong will have to fill yet another slot on the editorial board. Tony Barboza, one of the final two members left on the board, announced on Friday he was resigning his position. He will remain with the paper as a news reporter.
“My job writing editorials and commentary about climate change, the environment and other topics as a member of the board became untenable because of new restrictions that have been placed on what we are allowed to report and write since the owner canceled the board’s planned presidential endorsement,” he wrote.
“A series of decisions have interfered with, blocked or indefinitely delayed publication of pieces that contain criticism of President-elect Trump, his proposals or his associates,” Barboza added. “Reporting on related topics has been softened or subjected to new restrictions and censorship that did not exist a few months ago.”
