Los Angeles Times editorials editor resigns after owner blocks presidential endorsement

[Nevilledog]

https://www.cjr.org/business_of_news/los-angeles-times-editorials-editor-resigns-after-owner-blocks-presidential-endorsement.php


Mariel Garza, the editorials editor of the Los Angeles Times, resigned on Wednesday after the newspaper’s owner had blocked the editorial board’s plans to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not OK with us being silent,” Garza told me in a phone conversation. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”

On Oct. 11, Patrick Soon-Shiong, who bought the newspaper for $500m in 2018, informed the paper’s editorial board that the Times would not be making an endorsement for president. The message was conveyed to Garza by Terry Tang, the paper’s editor.

The board had intended to endorse Harris, Garza told me, and she had drafted the outline of a proposed editorial. She had hoped to get feedback on the outline and was taken aback upon being told that the newspaper would not take a position.

*snip*

[Moostache]

1. Good...the entire staff of that rag should follow suit...

There is no honor is staying on at a propaganda outfit to hold onto a paycheck. The death of local newspapers and journalism in favor of the internet and influencers is one of the defining elements of our current cultural rot and malaise. I salute this action and just wish it was MORE COMMON.

[DENVERPOPS]

21. No kidding

drop his profits from the LA Times into the cellar.........literally overnight .......Time to fight back, (actually way way past the time to fight back)......If that were to happen, every subscriber would quit, overnight.........

[verargert]

37. would not matter to owner, loss on taxes

[Hermit-The-Prog]

45. Do you have proof that it would not matter? Should no action ever be taken because it "would not matter"?

[DENVERPOPS]

52. Agreed

at least it would keep him busy for months and months, trying to deal with the fall out, maybe even years trying to replace the great employees, and dealing with the on-going expenses, with no Revenue......

Another item is that these 95+% of Republican Owned/Operated media are not going to be needed if Trump wins. He will simply install a "State Owned" media, like Pravda in Russia.....They will all be obliterated, and they are too stupid to realize it.

Same with all the Trumphumping voters. They are going to be financially destroyed along with all of us Dems, as they will no longer be needed, and THEY also are too stupid to realize it. Trump has said it when he has recently stated: "Vote for me this time, and you won't ever have to vote again"............ WTF do they all think this means?????????????

And all retirement and investment funds owned by the lower 99%? He and the Republican Party have also stated that they will be getting rid of all regulatory agencies, including the SEC........

Of course, even if Harris wins, and the Republicans take the Senate, (and/or the House) they will try to continue to try and erode the economy and Democracy..............

Russia, NKorea, China, Iran, Saudi's couldn't be happier and are all trying to help torpedo Harris and Dems......

Trump will pull out of Ukraine, and Putin will annex it forcefully, and Trump will obliterate NATO, making them ALL immediately vulnerable to Russian take over.........

Katie Bar The Door, and get ready to Bend Over........

[orangecrush]

53. Welcome to DU

Let's find out.

[calimary]

61. A boatload of bad publicity might.

Loud and vigorous questioning of that paper’s coverage, lack of objectivity, and blatant toady-ism. That might make a dent.

[soldierant]

86. Sure, but these people are so greedy that

wven a minor financial loss would hit him where it hurts.-

[LuvLoogie]

25. I'm sorry but corporate media is killing local media.

And it's killing independent media

Fox killed journalism before "influencers"

This is plain old money silencing voice. It's on the internet where we found out about this LA Times move.

And Donald Trump is running for President a third time so people are about to vote for him a sixth time.

[Moostache]

80. I believe I may have under-represented my point...

When I dump on "influencers" what I mean is the incessant and omnipresent chattering monkeys on every social media outlet selling stuff (usually Chinese imported, patent-stealing or ignoring, junk) and a select few becoming social influencers and causing - in my estimation - irreparable harm.

It would take a full-length novel and investigation to do this premise justice, so I will just say that I hold an absolute contempt in my heart, mind and soul for what "social" media has become in the modern world. I accept that at 54 I am dangerously close to being considered a luddite old fogey, shaking his fist at the clouds and yelling at the damn kids to stay off the lawn... so be it. But, there is no convincing me that social media is not the PERFECT vehicle for unregulated and unscrupulous capitalism to run amok with, and as it does so, it leaves a wake of human damage that is never quantified but ever increasing in magnitude.

The dissemination of lies and use of propaganda as a control mechanism is as old as the pyramids (or older), but the breadth and scope of modern BS reach is unmatched in human history. 20 years ago, the internet was nascent and its reach was largely limited to text, as multimedia bandwidth was too extreme for the dispensing tools of the time. Fast forward to now, where physical media (discs, tapes, tangible goods) have been all but eliminated and everything is distributed, downloaded and more and more becoming licensed for use or decoding. Piracy is rife, but the control over the populace is frightening and faster by the week. What once slowed the digital take over of everything - physical size and space requirements - have been eliminated....

So what does that wall of word salad indicate or mean?

Simply this - we are in the midst of another transition period, just as humanity has gone through from stone to bronze to iron to steel and fire to steam engine to internal combustion to electric drive, but in this current transition, there are no authorities, there is no control on the billionaires and their use of money to buy outsized and inappropriate influence - whether in the form of teenage girls dancing and self-exploiting on TikTok and Instagram or int he form of middle-aged excentrics jumping around like a clown behind a modern day fascist. Its all intertwined and related and Carl Sagan's prophecy of a dangerous time when society is awash in technology it does not understand and cannot begin to distinguish from magic.

We are in trouble. There are unspeakable weapons available and a society that is rapidly becoming numb to everything, unaware of the true dangers and potential calamities that are no longer only in the minds of dystopian fiction or horror writer's minds.

Sorry...this is again an insufficient explanation, but its the best I can do off the cuff...

[Liberal In Texas]

26. The LA Times ain't what it used to be.

What a shame.

[Captain Zero]

46. Sounds like the owner and editor wish

they had Japan's Generals.

[LauraInLA]

47. The editor?

[tenderfoot]

63. It's turned into the Hollywood Reporter IMHO

The California Section used to be my favorite but it's just bleed and lead anymore.

[Initech]

84. The Fox News-ification of everything media.

[cyclonefence]

76. You're right--no honor in staying

but holding on to a paycheck is pretty damn important, when you have a journalism degree and want to work for a newspaper.

I would not put the burden of that kind of support on the rest of the staff *unless* they are unionized.

[Initech]

83. I'm canceling my subscription. Had it for over 20+ years.

Fuck Patrick Soon-Shiong. To the hottest of hells.

[brush]

2. Hats off to her showing courage and taking a stand against the owner and orange turd.

[malaise]

3. Bet you don't know that Patrick Soon-Shiong

Is a South African of Chinese descent - another beneficiary of apartheid

[Nevilledog]

10. Oh, I know

[malaise]

22. Ding ding

😀

[canetoad]

38. Both are

South African expats.

[malaise]

40. And both fled with the cash

[dchill]

70. That's just Business Genius 101.

[dchill]

12. And good buddy of Lone Skum. I'm guessing.

[malaise]

60. Yes

[electric_blue68]

59. I didn't. Ty

[ancianita]

64. Right, but that doesn't mean what people think.

SA's apartheid laws in his and his parents' day classified Asians as "Coloureds".

Which meant that they didn't have as strict segregation and poor treatment as Africans, but they also were segregated and discriminated against.
Later, East Asians from Taiwan and Hong Kong were designated "honorary whites."

I learned about this in Freedom Park in Praetoria, in their interactive museum, as powerful an experience as the Holocaust Museum in DC, if not moreso.

What's puzzling is that Soon-Shiong got into and graduated from Witwatersrand in 1975, but the apartheid govt didn't change any other Chinese folks' legal designation until the 1984 Group Areas Act, where they could only live among whites by asking permission of the whites in "Whites Only" designated areas.
To get into Witwatersrand, he must have made quite an interesting case to authorities, because he's obviously brilliant, if not genius.

[MagickMuffin]

4. This is what happens when billionaires buy media outlets

Whether it’s print or televised the oligarchs own what we see hear and consume.

[malaise]

23. Foreign billionaire so

That is all

[erronis]

29. Hey, Malaise. I think Jeff Bezos is a US-born billionaire.

Bought the WaPo.

Not sure why that is different than the US plutocrats that own the NYT. They are all different than 'us'.

[malaise]

62. What about Musk and

Murdoch? Musk? Thief?
Not one is promoting democracy

[erronis]

65. Agree. Democracy is not in their interests or part of their plans.

[eppur_se_muova]

73. " Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me." ...

In 1925, Fitzgerald wrote a short story titled “The Rich Boy.” In 1926, it was published in Red Book magazine and included what became a very popular collection of Fitzgerald's early short stories, titled All the Sad Young Men.

The third paragraph of the story says:

"Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. They think, deep in their hearts, that they are better than we are because we had to discover the compensations and refuges of life for ourselves. Even when they enter deep into our world or sink below us, they still think that they are better than we are. They are different."

Clearly, that’s not a favorable view of rich people.

But years later, Ernest Hemingway, who had a sometimes-warm, sometimes-acrimonious relationship with Fitzgerald, decided to mock those lines from “The Rich Boy” in his short story “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.”

Hemingway’s original version of “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” was printed in the August 1936 issue of Esquire magazine. In a passage in that original version, Hemingway wrote:

“The rich were dull and they drank too much, or they played too much backgammon. They were dull and they were repetitious. He remembered poor Scott Fitzgerald and his romantic awe of them and how he had started a story once that began, ‘The very rich are different from you and me.’ And how some one had said to Scott, Yes, they have more money. But that was not humorous to Scott. He thought they were a special glamorous race and when he found they weren't it wrecked him as much as any other thing that wrecked him.”

Understandably, Fitzgerald was shocked and offended.
***
more: http://www.quotecounterquote.com/2009/11/rich-are-different-famous-quote.html

[erronis]

74. What an incredible back story to this discussion. Thank you for these intriguing references!

[TheProle]

85. And WaPo has not endorsed for '24, either (yet, anyway)

[ancianita]

67. Soon-Shiong is an American citizen.

So's Murdoch IIRC. He owns Fox, WSJ, New York Post, Harper Collins and other stuff abroad.
Regardless, you're right, they're not interested in democracy as long as either supports Trump.

[malaise]

68. Murdoch and Fux haven't been interested in democracy

Long before Slobby

[ancianita]

69. Everyone knows that in hindsight, but

they showed no evidence of that before Trump showed up. With the exception of the tabloid Post and thatcherite WSJ, media was corporate. MSM didn't swing so right wing until the "fake news" and "enemy of the people" disdain got flung into the body politic.

[Bmoboy]

5. Brave

[msongs]

6. Soon rhymes with Moon....coincidence?

[wolfie001]

16. Moonie Times? Soonie Times?

[riversedge]

7. She is a brave soul. I hope she can find another good job.

[Freethinker65]

8. I canceled our Chicago Trib subscription when they told readers to vote for Gary Johnson as a protest vote

[ShazzieB]

34. They did WHAT?

I had no idea they had done that. Shame on them. That paper endorsed Barack Obama back in 2008 and 2012...but Kamala Harris isn't good enough for them? SMDH

I already canceled my subscription because I had stopped reading it and didn't feel like paying for it any longer. Now I'm VERY glad I did!

[yardwork]

50. The LA Times is now owned by a billionaire businessman.

Dr. Soon-Shiong is a surgeon , inventor, and entrepreneur. It sounds like he's not sure who will win this election and he doesn't want to offend either Trump or Harris, because he'll be doing business with whomever wins.

This is why billionaires shouldn't own newspapers. Too many conflicts of interest.

[GoCubsGo]

77. The Trib has always been a right-leaning rag.

Every year prior to Obama, they endorsed Republicans.

[ShazzieB]

87. Yes, I know they have always leaned conservative.

I remember what a huge deal it was when they endorsed Obama, because it was so out of character for them. I would never be shocked by the Trib endorsing a Republican, but telling people to vote for Gary Johnson (or any 3rd party candidate) as a protest vote seems like a new low to me.

I assume they must be really disgusted with Trump (which I certainly understand) but just can't bring themselves to endorse another Democrat. The problem is, protest voting for someone who can't possibly win is an exercise in futility, and I'm sure they know it. By telling their readers to vote for Johnson, they're basically telling people to throw their votes away, and that seems like very irresponsible journalism to me.

Right wing or not, I thought the Trib was better than that, or at least they were at one time.

[Raven123]

9. Unfortunate that such a decision was necessary, but good that she had the integrity

[StarryNite]

11. Much respect to Mariel Garza!

Truth to power!

[senseandsensibility]

13. Cool

Hats off to this journalist!

[Dem2theMax]

14. Was hoping this would happen. The entire team needs to follow.

Integrity shines through.

[Jack Valentino]

15. I think we should all drop Patrick Soon-Shiong a line....

[BattleRow]

17. I said it here before,but worth repeating..

another example that the only real men these days are women.

[erronis]

30. I like the idea but I think it is a bit too 'facile'.

Last edited Thu Oct 24, 2024, 08:59 AM - Edit history (1)

While most women I know are better decision makers, there have been quite a few in history that may have had (ahem) a bit too much testosterone.

[BattleRow]

35. Perhaps trying to balance out the males who don't have enough?

[intheflow]

72. History as preserved and recorded by men?

I’m just saying’…

[Fullduplexxx]

36. Women with a set of steel ovaries

[BattleRow]

41. And a spine to match!

One cannot substitute a wishbone for a steel backbone.

(I suspect it's more like titanium for some of these fearless females.)

[Basso8vb]

18. I subscribed to that paper from 1989-1995 when I lived in LA.

How the mighty have fallen.

[tenderfoot]

19. I cancelled my subscription

Fuck that billionaire asshole owner.

[Cha]

20. I Hope Mariel Garza lands a

Much Better Job! 💙🌊🇺🇸🕯️🕊️

[ificandream]

24. The L.A. Times used to be a great paper. Sad that things have changed.

[maxsolomon]

27. This is why he bought it.

An endorsement or no endorsement is not going to make much of a difference; CA will go to Harris in the EC.

[PedroXimenez]

28. that's a big sacrifice

newspaper jobs are super hard to come by these days, good for her.

[Wiz Imp]

31. She deserves credit for resigning - it was the right thing to do

But why couldn't the endorsement have been run anyway? It seems they could have gone ahead and published it anyway and resigned immediately afterward. Unless there were others at the paper who agreed with the owner's stance and were somehow able to make sure they wouldn't allow it to be seen. If that is the case, those people absolutely need to be identified to the public as well.

[LauraInLA]

48. I believe they couldn't have run it without the help of other staff.

[Ranting Randy]

32. I dumped my Times subscription about 6-9 months ago.

Good to see I was slightly ahead of the times.

[kimbutgar]

33. Maybe he's scared he'll be deported for not being a citizen if the orange maggot wins.

[ancianita]

66. He's a U.S. citizen. Trump wants him in his cabinet.

[Demovictory9]

39. I unsubscribed today

[Sparkly]

42. The Washington Post has also failed to endorse Harris.

NO excuse. Disgraceful.

[Bev54]

43. It seems to be the women that have the guts to stand up to power.

[BadgerMom]

44. Good for her.

She is 💯 correct. May she land a professional position of influence quickly.

[BaronChocula]

49. Poor Patrick

His mind has been poisoned by the allure of scumbag billionaire-ism. He's not even THAT rich as far as billionaires go.

I used to live up the street from him. He had been in construction of his cobbled-together "compound" for what seemed like years. He bought up properties from adjoining homeowners for much of the space. It appeared to me that when someone didn't want to sell to him he'd build right up to their property. It looked like an F U, but I don't think I ever got confirmation of that being the case.

What really struck me as weird is most rich people in Brentwood want to be up in the hills where you have nice views of all the people down below. PSS built in what was basically the foot of a small ravine down in the flats.

I know Michelle Chan, his wife would talk to school kids about South Africa and Apartheid. They both gave $$$ to Hillary. Patrick has joined the Giving Pledge, but now there's this editorial fiasco. I think he just might not know who he is.

[orangecrush]

51. Now the rest of the media

Needs to follow suit.

Stop sanetizing Trump.

[flying-skeleton]

54. I'll be canceling....

I'll be canceling my LA Times subscription.

[TBF]

55. Hats off to Mariel Garza - very brave! nt

[Joinfortmill]

56. Wow and Good.

[Ramsey Barner]

57. Anybody else noticing that women are especially good at standing up to authoritarians?

[Iggo]

58. I don't like telling people to quit their jobs.

I’m just saying, when you work in an ethics based field, and management behaves in a willfully unethical manner, the correct move is to resign.

[LudwigPastorius]

71. Righteous

Ms. Garza is a true journalist.

Hopefully, she’ll find a new job soon at an organization with more integrity.

[hawkeye21]

75. I was an editorial page editor too at a midsize Midwestern daily

I wrote ALL the editorials, which are the opinions of the newspaper as an institution. But I never wrote anything that I didn't believe in myself. I also wrote a signed column three times a week that featured my personal opinions, independent of the newspaper itself.

Anyway, the First Amendment rights of any newspaper belong to the owner/publisher, so the owner has the authority to do what he did. In ten years at my newspaper, I was only stopped from running an editorial once. I had written something critical of a prominent local businessman who was charged with some crimes. The owner/publisher always received an advance copy. He called me in to this office and explained that what I had written would not be published. He said the person in question was a long-time friend, and he wasn't going to call him out publicly in his newspaper. And that was his right.

But for the LA Times owner to use his First Amendment rights to silence his own newspaper on an issue as vital to the nation and the world as this is shameful and disgusting. And make no mistake: Disrupting her life by quitting her job at the LA Times over this is inspiring. Threatening to quit is one thing; actually doing it is a whole other level. Imagine the reality of doing such a thing.

Thomas Jefferson said that if it were left to him to choose having a government or having newspapers, he would have no hesitation in choosing newspapers. That view persisted in this country for over 200 years. Today's newspapers, with some exceptions, are not worth saving. The LA Times has despicably joined that list.

[Mr. Sparkle]

78. I just read he is a South African

whats with all these south Africans supporting Trump lately

[SpankMe]

79. The article reports that the LAT owner and Musk are friendly

I think that explains it.

[bucolic_frolic]

81. Bright owner. Damages his paper's reputation to help Trump in an election

where his newspaper is extremely unlikely to decide any race anywhere.

Duh.

[malthaussen]

82. That shows some character. brava. n/t