LA Times editorial editor resigns after owner blocks plans to support Harris

The editorial editor of the Los Angeles Times resigned Wednesday after the publication’s owner reportedly decided not to make an official presidential endorsement — specifically for Vice President Harris — this year.

“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with silence. In dangerous times, honest people need to rise up. This is how I’m rising,” Mariel Garza said over the phone, according to Columbia Journalism Review (CJR).

Garza highlighted two concerns in his phone call with CJR.

“But two things worry me: This is a time when you speak your mind no matter what. And an endorsement was the next logical step after a series of editorials we’ve written about how dangerous Trump is to democracy, about his unfitness to be president, about his threats to arrest his enemies. We argued in editorial after editorial that he should not be re-elected,” she told CJR.

She added that readers would think it was “possibly suspicious” that the newspaper, which upended the Democratic Party with its support for former President Obama in 2008, did not support Harris.

In her resignation letter, published by CJR in the article, Garza said she fought the newspaper’s decision not to endorse Harris until she realized it was important to her.

“Of course, it’s important that the largest newspaper in the state – and one of the largest in the country at that – refused to endorse such an important race. And it’s important that we don’t even come clean with people about this,” Garza wrote, per CJR.

However, LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong dismissed Garza’s claims in a Wednesday post on social platform X, saying the editorial board had “the opportunity to write a factual analysis” of positive policy decisions. and denials from Harris and Trump. and how they impacted the country while in the White House.

The council was also asked to provide its understanding of the policies mentioned in the candidates’ current campaigns and any of their potential impacts, Soon-Shiong added in the post.

“This way, with this clear, non-partisan information side by side, our readers could decide who would be worthy of being president for the next four years,” Soon-Shiong wrote. “Instead of following the suggested path, the Editorial Board chose to remain silent and I accepted the decision. Please #vote.”

On Wednesday night, the Los Angeles Times Guild issued a statement saying Soon-Shiong was “unfairly assigning blame” for the decision not to endorse.

“We are deeply concerned about our owner’s decision to block a planned endorsement in the presidential race. We are even more concerned that he is now unfairly assigning blame to the Editorial Board members for his decision not to endorse,” the Unit Council and Guild Negotiating Committee said in the post, adding that they are “pressing for answers from the Guild administration.” essay”.

“The Los Angeles Times Guild stands with our members who have always worked diligently to protect the integrity of our newsroom,” the statement said.

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