LA Times billionaire owner killed op-ed that was critical of Trump's cabinet picks, report says

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: The Independent

Friday 13 December 2024 15:11 GMT


Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong killed an opinion column that was critical of President-elect Donald Trump’s recent Cabinet picks, telling his paper’s editorial board that it could only publish the piece if it also ran an editorial with an opposing view, according to The New York Times.

The spiked column was set to be published in the outlet’s Sunday newspaper and website on November 24. Soon-Shiong intervened just hours before the op-ed was scheduled to be sent to the printer, prompting the editors to pull the piece as the deadline approached.

According to the NY Times, the column was headlined: “Donald Trump’s cabinet choices are not normal. The Senate’s confirmation process should be.” The editorial board decided that after the incoming president had announced a slew of controversial picks, many of which the board members were concerned about, it would have one of its writers pen a piece calling on the Senate to take its job of confirming nominees seriously.

“In addition to saying that the Senate should follow its traditional process, the editorial criticized several of Mr. Trump’s picks as being unfit for their proposed roles, including former Fox News host Pete Hegseth and former presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” The New York Times noted.

Read more: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/la-times-oped-trump-owner-b2664015.html

[yankee87]

1. Right Wing Oligarchs

I'm not being an ahole, but how can we fight against this kind of crap. Almost all of the news is disseminated by right wing oligarchs.

[Keepthesoulalive]

2. Perhaps people should stop reading the L.A Times

We also have to vote with our wallets.

[RockRaven]

4. Also just for self-preservation, to avoid consuming misinformation.

One cannot trust what one reads in the LA Times to be truthful, given that the owner's whims and priorities rule what appears in the paper or not. There is no good reason to trust that this behavior doesn't also infect the non-op-ed pages.

[Keepthesoulalive]

6. I agree

I am a world class cynic but this level of corruption is something I am still trying to understand. They have infiltrated every single information source and some democrats worry about our messaging.

[Hekate]

8. Perhaps people like you should tell people like me where we can go for reliable news coverage...

…instead.

As a lifelong reader of the Los Angeles Times (minus the years I lived in Hawaii) , I have seen some ups and downs, especially when they were first sold and then sold again. But this is the first time I have ever seen an owner try to murder a great American newspaper that I personally know and love.

I was present for the demise of the Santa Barbara News-Press, which once upon a time had been the newspaper that blew the whistle on the John Birch Society and won a Pulitzer. They weren’t of the stature of the LAT, but they were quite important locally. Then they were purchased by (drumroll please) a billionaire, Wendy McCaw.

Dr. Sunshine has at his disposal a stellar roster of investigative reporters and columnists. He has betrayed them as surely as he has betrayed the readers. Whatever his original intent, the (drumroll please) South African billionaire has just chosen his class over his readers and the country.

We just renewed our subscription for a length of time that will take us past the Inauguration. By that time we will know what to do next.

I am relying on you to tell me where I am to go for honest coverage of — everything. A discussion board alone isn’t going to do.

[Keepthesoulalive]

10. This disinformation was well planned

We don’t know at this point where to turn because the lies are part of rich people’s controlling the information. Most people cannot parse the lies because It’s everywhere . I remember Ted Turner headline news was revolutionary but they want control and we can’t have the plebes being informed. I can’t tell you where to go but I like Jen Rubin on you tube and a few others. Maybe others here can help you. Change is difficult but I believe we can do it, we have to. All of our institutions are falling I believed people who owned newspapers believed it was necessary for our country to be informed and to make decisions based on that information, all that has changed . Everything now is a ? . That was a long response to say I don’t know.

[BadgerMom]

15. I, too, grew up and grew old with the LA Times.

When the oligarch owner stopped the endorsement of Biden, I pulled the plug. I hoped something would change quickly, but, unsurprisingly, it’s gotten worse. I feel for my brother and his family who live
in Silverlake. Their choices for local news are limited to non-existent. I live part time in Southern California and New Mexico. I’m not as reliant on neighborhood level coverage by the Times. When I cancelled the Times I began a subscription to the Riverside Press-Enterprise. I grew up with the P-E, too. I even reported for them for a brief stint. It is now part of a seemingly loose conglomerate of SoCal papers. (I’m a little wary because the conglomerate includes the Orange County Register which, when I was younger, anyway, leaned right. No signs of contamination so far.) They do a great job of covering Southern California. It’s almost as though both-sides-ism isn’t their mantra! Plus they cover LA sports. I wish the Santa Barbara paper had remained independent and joined this news group. So, the P-E is a local LA-adjacent recommendation.

For national news I contribute to ProPublica. I subscribe to The New Republic, the Guardian, Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair, the last two not being traditional sources, but providing insights. I cancelled the New Yorker when they full-throatedly joined the cacophony screaming for Biden to step down. I no longer turn on the television for news.

I think we all have to remain attuned to what sort of news we’re being asked to consume and therefore to cast our nets as widely as our budgets will allow. I’d love it if making America great again meant restoring our MSM. Obviously, I’m not holding my breath!

[Ndp5]

28. Maybe circulation declines will drive him to sell the paper

This election was all about class war — of the 1% against the middle class, with the uneducated/uninformed used as pawns — and Bezos and Soon-Shiong know it. Of course they chose money over journalism and democracy. That’s who they are.

Do what you want with your subscription, but here are a few suggestions, not meant to be comprehensive:

World/national news:

Associated Press
The Guardian
The Hill
National Journal
NYT

California/Los Angeles:

KCRW
Calmatters.org
LAist
LApublicpress.org
LA Business Journal
Streetsblog Los Angeles

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Owner is destroying the value in his newspaper and journalism itself

Good luck, Buddy. You don't know nothing about nothing.

[Blue_Tires]

13. The owner is the founder of some

Cutting-edge medical technology company, and he's buddy-buddy with Melon Husk...

Like all the other billionaires, he's looking to cash in big time with Donnie

[S/V Loner]

16. And another South African. n/t

[travelingthrulife]

35. Curiouser and curiouser...

[travelingthrulife]

34. I believe that is the point.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. Welcome to the Oligarchy

[0rganism]

7. And so they lined up to obey in advance and pulled down their pants to prepare for the dictator dance

Wow, the next decade is going to suck massively

[sarisataka]

9. They submitted to the Leader before the election

does anyone think they will stand up to him now?

[Bengus81]

11. Hitler had to physically take over the media to control it in Germany.......not Trump n/t

[nycbos]

12. In Timothy Snyder's book On Tyranny 20 Lessons From The 20th Century...

... lesson one is do not obey advance. He explains how dictators like Hitler and Stalin were able to consolidate power because many people surrendered their freedoms without asking. It is very depressing to see how many people are obeying in advance.

[eggplant]

14. I read "LA Times billionaire owner killed" and got my hopes up.

[Figarosmom]

17. Sounds like newspapers are scared. Nt

[live love laugh]

26. Scared of what? They're owned primarily by the right wing.

They’re simply doing with their property what they paid for—to message right wing information.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

18. He is hurting his cause. And doesn't seem to care.

He must be interested in continuing his medical research. I'm massively disappointed. As with Musk, who once seemed serious about addressing climate change. What is their core belief?

[BumRushDaShow]

19. "What is their core belief?"

[Cha]

21. That TY and Full Fascist Fuckery

[Cha]

20. It's the Shiong Times & the

Bezos Post.

[SunSeeker]

22. Disgusting. Republicans don't need LAT's help spreading GOP bullshit.

There are not two equally valid sides here.

These nominees are unhinged and unqualified. That's a fact.

[cactusfractal]

23. The first five words of that headline...

Was good news.

Pity.

[Hassler]

24. Another apartheid loving asshole from SA. Just like Thiel and Leon.

[Baitball Blogger]

25. Where can they reprint that Op-ed where it will get more attention?

[choie]

27. The great Times journalist Jack Nelson

would be outraged.

[Karasu]

30. Normalizing fascism is the sole reason these fucks exist.

[ZonkerHarris]

31. Fuck this asshole. Twice.

[Montauk6]

32. Wait, wait, don't tell me...

Dr. Patsy's daughter is still pissed at Kamala committing genocide in Gaza and doesn't want to risk adding to the regret many Trump voters may have for putting (in the words of The Holy Truth Seeker) "the Orange Bastard" back in the Oval Office?

[Orrex]

33. That subject line was great until we got to "op-ed"

[ck4829]

36. Kick