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LA Times Non-Endorsement Another Sign of Our Billionaire-Dominated Politics Ari Paul ([link removed])


Election Focus 2024 The Los Angeles Times will not be making a presidential endorsement in this election, the first time the paper has stayed silent on a presidential race since 2004. But the decision not to endorse a candidate was not made by an editor. The paper’s billionaire owner, Patrick Soon-Shiong, stepped in to forbid the paper from doing so.

The move sparked a furor over the lack of editorial freedom (Semafor, 10/22/24 ([link removed]) ; KTLA, 10/22/24 ([link removed]) ; Adweek, 10/23/24 ([link removed]) ). The paper lost 2,000 subscribers, and editorials editor Mariel Garza resigned in protest, along with two other staffers, including a Pulitzer Prize winner (Guardian, 10/25/24 ([link removed]) ).
Guardian: Los Angeles Times sees resignations and loss of subscriptions after owner blocks Harris endorsement

Guardian (9/23/16 ([link removed]) ): "The lack of transparency around Soon-Shiong’s reasons for not allowing his paper to make a presidential endorsement has left journalists in the Los Angeles Times’ newsroom frustrated and confused."

The LA Times was widely expected to support the Democrat, Vice President Kamala Harris, a Southern California resident and former senator from the state. The paper's editorial board enthusiastically supported Joe Biden in 2020 (9/10/20 ([link removed]) ) and Hillary Clinton four years before that (9/23/16 ([link removed]) ).

According to news reports, the paper had been preparing an endorsement until Soon-Shiong reached across the wall that is supposed to separate the business and editorial wings of a newspaper. He tried to rationalize his decision, according to the Guardian:

“I think my fear is, if we chose either one, that it would just add to the division,” Soon-Shiong told Spectrum News ([link removed]) , noting he was a “registered independent.”

On Wednesday, Soon-Shiong tweeted ([link removed]) that he had asked the editorial board to instead publish a list of positive and negative attributes about both of the presidential candidates, but that the board had refused.

Soon-Shiong said that the dangers of divisiveness in American politics was highlighted by the responses to his tweet about his decision not to endorse, saying the feed had “gone a little crazy when we just said, ‘You decide.’”

And the LA Times is not alone. The Jeff Bezos–owned Washington Post will also issue no presidential endorsement, for the first time since 1980 (NPR, 10/25/24 ([link removed]) ). Former editor-in-chief Martin Baron called the move “cowardice,” telling NPR:

Donald Trump will celebrate this as an invitation to further intimidate the Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos (and other media owners). History will mark a disturbing chapter of spinelessness at an institution famed for courage.


** Alarms about editorial freedom
------------------------------------------------------------
Stat: Who’s the billionaire doctor palling around with Donald Trump?

Stat (11/21/16 ([link removed]) ): "Soon-Shiong called it an 'incredible honor' to dine with Trump, who 'truly wants to advance health care for all.'”

Soon-Shiong, who bought the LA Times from Tronc ([link removed]) in 2018, attempted to portray himself as a defender of the free press against attacks from then-President Donald Trump (CNBC, 9/7/18 ([link removed]) ). But Soon-Shiong—a doctor who made a fortune in the for-profit medical industry (New Yorker, 10/25/21 ([link removed]) )—was not shy about his ambitions for a top health position in the Trump administration (Stat, 11/21/16 ([link removed]) , 1/25/17 ([link removed]) ).

Is Soon-Shiong trying to make nice with Trump? One thing we know about him is that he's not big on paying taxes; “He hasn’t paid federal income tax in five consecutive recent years,” ProPublica (12/8/21 ([link removed]) ) reported.

He's also not overly concerned about ethical niceties; Stat (7/20/17 ([link removed] his medical empire is,is it good for patients%3F&text=He's spent years pushing,slew of experimental cancer drugs.) ) has raised questions about conflicts of interest in his medical business and how they might impact patients. A Politico investigation (4/9/17 ([link removed]) ) of Soon-Shiong's research foundation found widespread self-dealing:

Of the nearly $59.6 million in foundation expenditures between its founding in 2010 and 2015, the most recent year for which records are available, over 70% have gone to Soon-Shiong–affiliated not-for-profits and for-profits, along with entities that do business with his for-profit firms.

This isn't the first time Soon-Shiong's intervention at the paper has raised alarms about editorial freedom. The Daily Beast (10/22/24 ([link removed]) ) reported that earlier this year “executive editor Kevin Merida resigned after Soon-Shiong tried to block a story that accused one of his friends’ dogs of biting a woman in a Los Angeles park.”

Layoffs at the Times earlier this year also sparked outrage from trade unionists and journalists. “A delegation of 10 members of Congress warned Soon-Shiong in a letter that sweeping media layoffs could undermine democracy in a high-stakes election year,” reported Los Angeles Magazine (1/23/24 ([link removed]) ).

There was also a racial element, the Times union said in a statement (Editor and Publisher, 1/24/24 ([link removed]) ):

It also means the company has reneged on its promises to diversify its ranks since young journalists of color have been disproportionately affected. The Black, AAPI and Latino Caucuses have suffered devastating losses.

Bezos is far better known than Soon-Shiong; while it’s not reported that he directly intervened to stop a Post endorsement, like at the LA Times, NPR noted that Bezos depends on harmonious interactions with the federal government, as the company he founded, Amazon, depends on government contracts. Conflict-of-interest questions have long surrounded his control of the paper (FAIR.org, 3/1/14 ([link removed]) , 3/14/18 ([link removed]) , 9/19/19 ([link removed]) ; CJR, 9/27/22 ([link removed]) ; Guardian, 6/12/24 ([link removed]) ; CNN, 6/18/24 ([link removed]) ).


** Helping a fellow billionaire
------------------------------------------------------------
NPR: 2 years in, Trump surrogate Elon Musk has remade X as a conservative megaphone

NPR (10/25/24 ([link removed]) ): Elon Musk "has become one of the leading boosters of baseless claims ([link removed]) that Democrats are bringing in immigrants ([link removed]) to illegally vote ([link removed]) for them — a conspiracy theory that Trump and other Republicans have made core to their narratives about the 2024 election."

It's hard to ignore that in blocking endorsements expected to go to Trump's opponent, billionaire owners are using their media power to help a fellow billionaire. With the Washington Post, readers can easily assume that Bezos cares more about not offending the powerful than its now-laughable slogan ([link removed]) , “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

Bill Grueskin (X, 10/25/24 ([link removed]) ), a professor ([link removed]) at Columbia Journalism School, said that these endorsements are “unimportant politically” because “few votes would be swayed”—the Los Angeles area and the Beltway are solidly blue. But there’s an ominous factor here, he said, because “the billionaire owners are (intentionally or not) sending a signal to the newsrooms: Prepare to accommodate your coverage to a Trump regime.”

Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, is likewise using his wealth and his ownership of the social media network Twitter (rebranded as X) to boost Trump (PBS, 10/21/24 ([link removed]) ; NPR, 10/25/24 ([link removed]) ).

And Republican megadonor and billionaire Miriam Adelson “shelled out $95 million to the pro-Donald Trump Preserve America PAC during its third quarter,” Forbes (10/15/24 ([link removed]) ) reported. Her late husband bought the Las Vegas Review-Journal in December of 2015 (AP, 12/17/15 ([link removed]) ), and as the New York Times (1/2/16 ([link removed]) ) reported:

Suspicions about his motives for paying a lavish $140 million for the newspaper last month are based on his reputation in Las Vegas as a figure comfortable with using his money in support of his numerous business and political concerns, said more than a dozen of the current and former Review-Journal staffers and local civic figures who have worked closely with him.

Big money has played an enormous part in US elections, especially since the Citizens United decision eviscerated limits on campaign spending (PBS, 2/1/23 ([link removed]) ). “A handful of powerful megadonors have played an outsized role in shaping the 2024 presidential race through mammoth donations toward their favored candidates,” Axios (10/23/24 ([link removed]) ) reported. These megadonors “skew Republican,” the Washington Post (10/16/24
([link removed]) ) reported.

Much of the press in the United States has, correctly, portrayed a second Trump term as a threat to democracy and a move toward corrupt autocracy, eroding institutions like the free press and independent justice system (Atlantic, 8/2/23 ([link removed]) ; New York Times, 9/21/24 ([link removed]) , 10/3/24 ([link removed]) , 10/22/24 ([link removed]) ; MSNBC, 10/22/24 ([link removed]) ; NPR, 10/22/24 ([link removed]) ). Yet the intervention of Soon-Shiong and his fellow moguls is an indication that our media are already not in democratic
hands. Far from it; they are in the hands of the billionaire class. And it is sure to have an impact on this election.


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