The legal columnist wrote a scathing piece about how he would no longer work for the Times due to the meddling of its owner Email not displaying correctly?
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** OPINION
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** A prominent contributor leaves the Los Angeles Times in protest
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(AP Photo/Richard Vogel, File)

The hits against the Los Angeles Times just keep on coming.

In a scathing piece on his Substack ([link removed]) , Harry Litman, a former U.S. attorney and deputy assistant attorney general, announced he will no longer contribute to the Los Angeles Times op-ed page out of protest because of the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.

Litman has contributed to the paper’s op-ed section for more than 15 years, including the past three as a senior legal columnist, writing weekly columns about Donald Trump’s legal troubles, the Supreme Court, and other legal topics.

But no more. He’s done.

Litman wrote, “I don’t want to continue to work for a paper that is appeasing Trump and facilitating his assault on democratic rule for craven reasons.”

He then directed his ire at Soon-Shiong, writing, “My resignation is a protest and visceral reaction against the conduct of the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. Soon-Shiong has made several moves to force the paper, over the forceful objections of his staff, into a posture more sympathetic to Donald Trump. Those moves can’t be defended as the sort of policy adjustment papers undergo from time to time, and that an owner, within limits, is entitled to influence. Given the existential stakes for our democracy that I believe Trump’s second term poses, and the evidence that Soon-Shiong is currying favor with the President-elect, they are repugnant and dangerous.”

This started with the big national story before the election when the Times’ editorial board planned to endorse Kamala Harris for president. But Soon-Shiong stepped in and decided the paper would not make an endorsement. (Soon-Shiong suggested a pros and cons list of both candidates and letting readers decide, which, to be clear, is nothing close to being an endorsement.)

Litman wrote, “Owners participate in setting overall editorial direction. But it’s a grave insult to the independence and integrity of an editorial department for an owner to force it to withdraw a considered and drafted opinion. And of course, this was no ordinary opinion. The endorsement of a presidential candidate is an editorial department’s most important decision, so the slight was deep.”

He added, “Trump has made it clear that he will make trouble for media outlets that cross him. Rather than reacting with indignation at this challenge to his paper’s critical function in a democracy, Soon-Shiong threw the paper to the wolves. That was cowardly.”

Litman mentioned that the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post, owned by another rich guy (Jeff Bezos), each did not endorse Harris because of the owner’s wishes.

Litman wrote, “Before he has even taken office, Trump has faced down two of the country’s most prominent newspapers, inducing them to back off longstanding, well-reasoned editorial opposition. That is terrifying.”

Litman then wrote that it would appear Soon-Shiong has a “general program of cozying up to Trump, especially since the election.” Litman also mentioned Soon-Shiong adding Trump advocate Scott Jennings, who regularly plays a smug conservative on CNN, to the Times’ editorial board.

Litman wrote, “Soon-Shiong’s argument for all these moves is to create ‘balance’ on the editorial page, which still remains unstaffed and in chaos, and a neutral, ‘just the facts' approach to news. It sounds banal, but in fact, it is pernicious; and it goes to the heart of my reasons for leaving.”

There is much, much more to Litman’s criticism of Soon-Shiong. Read it for yourself, but Litman doesn’t hold back.

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** But, wait, there’s more
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In his Status media newsletter ([link removed]) , Oliver Darcy recounted a stunning story:

One disturbing example came after the newspaper published an opinion piece in November about Elon Musk that Soon-Shiong did not care for, people familiar with the matter told me. The piece, written by Times opinion contributor Virginia Heffernan, carried the headline, “Elon Musk bought himself a starring role in Trump’s second term. What could go wrong?”

While the headline seemed innocuous, Soon-Shiong expressed dismay over it, according to the people familiar with the matter. The headline was allowed to remain unchanged. But, as a result, the people said, a new rule was put into place: Prior to publishing opinion stories, the headlines must be emailed over to Soon-Shiong, where he can then choose to weigh in. While it is normal for newspaper owners to influence the opinion wing of a newspaper, it is highly unusual for an owner to have article headlines sent to them ahead of publication for review.

I’ve personally heard of editorial boards sending along more controversial opinions, and certainly political recommendations, to the owner — partly for approval, but mostly just to let the owner know what is coming.

But to send all headlines to the owner? Darcy is right. It’s highly unusual.


** And there’s even more
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Soon-Shiong announced the Times plans to publish a “bias meter” on stories.

On a podcast with his new editorial board hire, Scott Jennings, Soon-Shiong said, “Imagine if you now take — whether it be news or opinion — and you have a bias meter, whether news or opinion, more like the opinion, or the voices, you have a bias meter so somebody could understand as a reader that the source of the article has some level of bias.”

He also said, “What we need to do is not have what we call ‘confirmation bias’ and then that story, automatically, the reader can press a button and get both sides of that exact same story based on that story. And then give comments. Now, I’m giving you some little breaking news here but this is what we’re currently building behind the scenes. And I’m hoping that by January we launch this.”

Both sides of a story? Press a button? Yes, Soon-Shiong is talking about using artificial intelligence for this feature.

The Los Angeles Times Guild put out a statement ([link removed]) that said, in part, “Recently, the newspaper’s owner has publicly suggested his staff harbors bias, without offering evidence or examples. The statements came after the owner blocked a presidential endorsement by the newspaper’s editorial board, then unfairly blamed editorial board staffers for his decision.”

They added, “Our members — and all Times staffers — abide by a strict set of ethics guidelines, which call for fairness, precision, transparency, vigilance against bias, and an earnest search to understand all sides of an issue. Those longstanding principles will continue guiding our work.”


** About those wealthy newspaper owners …
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My colleague, media business analyst Rick Edmonds, warns not to read too much into Bezos’ and Soon-Shiong’s missteps — at least as far as other newspaper owners go.

“I’d argue that disappointment with Soon-Shiong and Bezos should not be extrapolated as proof that ownership by a wealthy patron just doesn’t work,” Edmonds writes. “Sometimes it doesn’t, other times it does.”

Check out his five compelling points in “Soon-Shiong and Bezos provide fresh evidence for the downsides of billionaire news ownership.” ([link removed])


** Woj’s next chapter
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ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski. (Courtesy: ESPN)

Back in September, just before another NBA season was about to crank up, Adrian Wojnarowski — the ESPN NBA reporter and scoop machine — made a stunning announcement. He announced that he was giving up his $7 million annual salary to become the general manager of the St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball team. He wrote at the time, “I understand the commitment required in my role, and it’s an investment that I’m no longer driven to make. Time isn’t in endless supply and I want to spend mine in ways that are more personally meaningful.”

Well, now his decision comes into even more focus. In a piece written by Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix ([link removed]) , Wojnarowski revealed he was diagnosed with prostate cancer last March. The good news is Wojnarowski said the cancer is “limited in scope” and that he is suffering no symptoms. Mannix wrote, “Active surveillance is the current treatment, which translates to quarterly checkups and regular monitoring. He’s been instructed to improve his eating habits, exercise more and get better sleep. Surgery is still a possibility, but for now doctors say the only reason to have it is if he can’t mentally deal with having the cancer inside him.”

Wojnarowski told Mannix that the cancer diagnosis wasn’t the reason he left covering the NBA, but he did add, “I didn’t want to spend one more day of my life waiting on someone’s MRI or hitting an agent at 1 a.m. about an ankle sprain.” He would add, “In the end it’s just going to be your family and close friends. And it’s also, like, nobody gives a s---. Nobody remembers (breaking stories) in the end. It’s just vapor.”


** One more (near) Woj bomb
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This is wild.

Whenever Wojnarowski broke stories on the NBA beat, they were dubbed Woj Bombs. It was a big deal whenever he dropped a Woj Bomb about some big NBA firing or signing.

In fact, he was so good at it that you might not believe who reached out to him to break one of the biggest news scoops of 2024.

In his Sports Illustrated story, Mannix wrote, “In August, representatives from Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign reached out. They had settled on their nominee for vice president and wanted Woj to break it. Alas, another outlet scooped him before he could.”

See, I told you that it was wild. And not a bad idea for Harris’ people to try and find an unconventional way to make their major announcement. Mannix didn’t say in his story and it’s not clear which outlet actually broke the news that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was Harris’ pick to be her running mate. But, what a Woj Bomb that would have been.


** And now for more media news, tidbits and interesting links for your weekend review …
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* CNN’s Casey Tolan, Curt Devine, Rob Kuznia and Brian Stelter write about Pete Hegseth in “As Hegseth’s public profile grew, he faced deepening private turmoil.” ([link removed])
* CNN’s Liam Reilly with “Jeff Bezos says he will try to talk Trump out of idea that the news media is an ‘enemy.’” ([link removed])
* The Atlantic’s Helen Lewis with “The ‘Mainstream Media’ Has Already Lost.” ([link removed])
* The Washington Post’s Greg Miller with “Two arrested in Romania for stabbing of Iranian journalist in London.” ([link removed])
* The New York Times’ style desk with “The 63 Most Stylish People of 2024.” ([link removed])
* The Wall Street Journal’s Joshua Robinson and Andrew Beaton with “He Won the Chess World Title. Then He Forgot How to Win at Chess.” ([link removed])
* A quick clarification. In Thursday’s newsletter, I wrote how Donald Trump will be interviewed on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.” I noted that the show airs at 10:30 a.m. Eastern. Well, that’s partly true. The show airs at 10:30 a.m. in New York City and Washington, D.C., but airs at 10 a.m. in many other cities. So check your local listings to find out when it airs in your area.
* Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod with “Sports world mourns death of legendary Arkansas sportswriter Bob Holt.” ([link removed])


** More resources for journalists
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* Leadership Academy for Women in Media ([link removed]) applications close today!
* Closing today: Transform your crime coverage ([link removed]) .
* Our training ([link removed]) for public media executives application period ends this week.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .
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