California, United States
A California journalist at the Los Angeles Times (LA Times) Mariel Garza resigned from the paper after its owner blocked the endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
Garza, who has worked with the paper's editorial department for over a decade, wrote in her resignation letter saying she has been "struggling with the feelings about the implications" of the department's silence on the matter.
"I told myself that presidential endorsements don't really matter; that California was not ever going to vote for Trump; that no one would even notice," Garza wrote further.
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She further talked about the Democratic nominee Donald Trump saying the paper has written so many 'Trump is unfit' editorials that it was assumed it was endorsing Kamala Harris.
"But the reality hit me like cold water when the news rippled out about the decision not to endorse," she added further.
"Of course, it matters that the largest newspaper in the state, one of the largest in the nation, still declined to endorse in a race this important. And it matters that we won't even be straight with people about it."
Garza also claimed that the decision of not endorsing Harris is "hypocritical," "sexist," and "racist" as well.
"It makes us look craven and hypocritical, maybe even a bit sexist and racist. How could we spend eight years railing against Trump and the danger his leadership poses to the country and then fail to endorse the perfectly decent challenger," she wrote in her resignation.
In an apparent response to Garza's claims after her resignation, the paper's owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, responded via an X post saying the editorial board was given the "opportunity to draft a factual analysis of all the positive and negative policies by each candidate during their tenures at the White House."
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 with the opportunity to draft a factual analysis of all the POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE policies by EACH…
— Dr. Pat Soon-Shiong (@DrPatSoonShiong) October 23, 2024
Soon-Shiong said instead of adopting the given proposal the editorial board "chose to remain silent."
"A bastion of democracy"
Soon-Shiong, who is a biotech billionaire, bought the LA Times in 2018, with a pledge to make it "one of the bastions of democracy in the country”.
He said that his $500 million purchase of the paper was an "effort to fight fake news". He termed fake news the “cancer of our time”.
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Soon-Shiong also came into headlines in January when Kevin Merida, the former executive editor of the paper, resigned.
In his first interview since leaving the LA Times, Merida talked about his "disagreements" with Soon-Shiong which led to his departure.
Journalism is here to stay. But we’d better fight for it. Everybody should. And especially those of us still in the profession, and those who touch it. https://t.co/ZcChNExVaG
— Kevin Merida (@meridak) October 15, 2024
(With inputs from agencies)