LA Times Owner Affirms Decision to Withhold Presidential Candidate Endorsement Following 3rd Resignation

October 28, 2024 TruthUSA

The newspaper endorsed candidates in 25 other races, including for the U.S. House and Senate, the state legislature, district attorney, and others.

LOS ANGELES—Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong stood firm Friday in his decision not to have the paper endorse a presidential election candidate, saying he has “no regrets whatsoever” about the move, despite the resignations of now three members of the paper’s editorial board.

“In fact, I think it was exactly the right decision,” Soon-Shiong told The L.A. Times in an interview Friday. “The process was [to decide] how do we actually best inform our readers? And there could be nobody better than us who try to sift the facts from fiction” and let readers make their own decisions.

He told The L.A. Times he felt that endorsing a candidate might only serve to exacerbate already deep divisions in the country.

The newspaper endorsed candidates in 25 other races in the election, including for the U.S. House and Senate, the state legislature, Los Angeles County judges, the district attorney, city council, and school board members.

The decision announced Wednesday against making an endorsement in the presidential race—an endorsement that was poised to go to Democrat Kamala Harris—has had repercussions for the editorial board.

On Thursday, two members of the editorial board—Robert Greene and Karin Klein—resigned. Editorial page editor Mariel Garza resigned Wednesday after Soon-Shiong’s decision was announced.