Los Angeles Times records resignations, loss of subscriptions after owner blocks Harris endorsement | US News

Nearly 2,000 Los Angeles Times subscribers canceled their subscriptions to the newspaper, citing “editorial content” after Patrick Soon-Shiong, the newspaper's billionaire owner, refused to endorse Kamala Harris for president through the editorial board. And that was only on Tuesday and Wednesday.

After the paper's editor, Mariel Garza, resigned in protest on Wednesday, two other members of the Los Angeles Times editorial board resigned on Thursday.

Robert Greene, who won a Pulitzer Prize for editorials on criminal justice reform for the Los Angeles Times in 2021, and Karin Klein, who wrote editorials on education and the environment, both told Semafor that they were leaving the newspaper. Green specifically referenced Soon-Shiong's refusal to allow the newspaper to endorse a presidential candidate, as well as the owner's subsequent comments about his decision.

The biotech billionaire who bought the Los Angeles Times in 2018 told a local television news station on Thursday that his goal in blocking the paper from endorsing a presidential candidate this year was to be “less divisive.”

“I think, I'm afraid if we were to choose one, it would just widen the divide,” Soon-Shiong told Spectrum News, noting he is a “registered independent.”

On Wednesday, Soon-Shiong tweeted that he had asked the editorial board to instead publish a list of positive and negative characteristics of both presidential candidates, but the editorial board refused.

Soon-Shiong said the dangers of division in American politics were highlighted by the reactions to his tweet about his decision not to support him, saying the feed “went a little crazy when we just said, ' You decide'”.

Soon-Shiong's attempt at an explanation was widely criticized as “nonsensical,” as a columnist for Poynter, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting media ethics, put it.

Mariel Garza, the editorial editor who resigned from the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, told the New York Times that “what he states in this tweet is not a recommendation or even an editorial.”

Garza and Klein did not respond to requests for comment.

The lack of transparency regarding Soon-Shiong's reasons for not giving his newspaper the president's endorsement has left journalists in the Los Angeles Times newsroom frustrated and confused, and appears to have sparked an uproar among some of the paper's readers.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, the newspaper saw an increase in the number of readers canceling their subscription to the newspaper. A total of 1,793 cited “editorial content” as the reason for their termination, a number that was circulating among current and former Los Angeles Times journalists.

A spokesman for the Los Angeles Times did not respond to a request for comment on the increase in cancellations.

Asked by Spectrum News for his reaction to readers who canceled their subscriptions, Soon-Shiong said: “I hope they understand that the non-subscriptions, frankly, are only contributing to the demise of democracy and the fourth estate.”

On Thursday, leaders of the union representing Los Angeles Times journalists posted a message on X urging readers not to unsubscribe from the paper.

“We know that many loyal readers are angry, upset or confused and some are canceling their subscriptions,” the union leaders wrote. “Before you hit the cancel button, this subscription covers the salaries of hundreds of journalists in our newsroom.”

The newspaper's journalists were “deeply concerned” about Soon-Shiong's decision and “urged for answers” even as they continued to do their jobs and report the news, the union leaders wrote.

Later that afternoon, Mark Hamill, the Star Wars actor, tweeted to his 5 million followers: “I have canceled our subscription to the LA Times because I want to make it clear that I do not agree with their silence.” In dangerous times we must honest people stand up. This is the only way I can show that I am steadfast.”

Hamill tagged his tweet with the hashtag #ThankYouMarielGarza, acknowledging the editorial page editor who initially resigned from the paper and made public the fact that Soon-Shiong had specifically blocked the editorial board from supporting Harris.