Los Angeles Times editor resigns after newspaper denies presidential endorsement

LOS ANGELES — The editorial editor of Los Angeles Times resigned after the newspaper’s owner blocked the editorial board’s plans to support Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for president, a journalism trade publication reported Wednesday.

Mariel Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review in an interview that she resigned because the Times remained silent about the contest in “dangerous times.”

Ricardo DeAratanha/AP/ Los Angeles Times

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Los Angeles Times

“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with silence,” Garza said. “In dangerous times, honest people need to rise up. That’s how I’m standing.”

In a post on social media platform X that did not directly mention the resignation, LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong said the board was asked to provide a factual analysis of the policies of Harris and former Republican President Donald Trump during their time in the White House.

Additionally, “the council was asked to provide (its) understanding of the policies and plans enunciated by the candidates during this campaign and their potential effect on the nation over the next four years,” he wrote. and nonpartisan information side by side, our readers could decide who would be worthy of being president for the next four years.”

Marcus Yam/AP/Los Angeles Times

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Los Angeles Times

Soon-Shiong, who purchased the paper in 2018, said the board “chose to remain silent and I accepted the decision.”

Garza told Columbia Journalism Review that the board intended to endorse Harris and she wrote a draft editorial proposal.

ONE LA Times The spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The LA Times Guild Unit Council and Bargaining Committee said it was “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 association said in a statement. “We are still pressing for answers from newsroom management on behalf of our members.”

The Trump campaign seized on Garza’s departure, saying the state’s largest newspaper refused to endorse the Democratic ticket after supporting Harris in her previous races for U.S. Senate and state attorney general.

His departure comes about 10 months after then-executive editor Kevin Merida left the paper in what was called a “mutually agreed upon” exit. At the time, the news organization said it was falling far short of its digital subscriber goals and needed increased revenue to support the newsroom and its digital operations.

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