LA Times Presidential Approval Decision: Owner's Daughter Speaks Out

The daughter of Los Angeles Times Owner Patrick Soon-Shiong weighs in on the controversy surrounding the newspaper's decision not to support a presidential candidate in 2024, saying that “for me, genocide is a line in the sand.”

In a series of social media posts on Thursday, Nika Soon-Shiong blamed the decision on opposition to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris' position on the war in Gaza. He wrote that his father, a South African transplant surgeon, had worked as an emergency surgeon at Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto during apartheid. “For my family, apartheid is not a vague concept.” Claiming that the decision to endorse was made by Los Angeles Times editorial board, Nika added: “This is not a vote for Donald Trump. This is a refusal to SUPPORT a candidate who is overseeing a war on children.”

She continued: “I'm proud of Los Angeles Times' decision just as I am certain that there are no children of darkness. There are no human animals.”

The posts arrive as Times is facing an internal and external storm over its decision not to support a candidate in the 2024 elections. Three members of the editorial board have resigned since the decision was made public, and one of them, Mariel Garza, said in an interview with Columbia Journalism Review that owner Patrick Soon-Shiong had clearly expressed his desire not to approve through a message transmitted by Times executive editor Terry Tang. Previously, Garza had sketched out an editorial that would announce Harris' endorsement, he said.

In his own statement to The New York TimesPatrick Soon-Shiong said through a spokesperson, “Nika speaks her opinion in a personal capacity, as every member of the community has the right to do. It has no role in the Los Angeles Timesnor does he participate in any decisions or discussions with the editorial staff, as has been clarified several times.”

Traffic lights also reported that Patrick Soon-Shiong blocked the file Times editorial board from supporting a candidate even if it was preparing to do so.

While some outlets have suggested that Patrick Soon-Shiong may have pushed for a non-endorsement in order to curry favor with former President Donald Trump should he be re-elected, two well-placed sources at the Times suggest the real reason is Harris' antipathy to her and the Biden administration's stance on Israel. “Both have been very critical of the administration and its support for Israel, and Nika has been particularly vocal about it,” one source says. “He has regularly accused Israel of genocide and condemned the administration for its support. Just look at his Twitter feed: he has a Palestinian flag in his bio. Patrick is less explicit, but agrees with her. I think there is no doubt that their refusal to support Kamala stems from this.”

The Hollywood journalist reached the Los Angeles Times for comment.

In July, a Times The photo caption included in an article about a Los Angeles City Council motion to fund increased security for synagogues and Jewish places of worship sparked outrage in the Jewish community and calls to boycott the newspaper.

The Soon-Shiong family has faced accusations in the past that they attempted to intervene in the newspaper's coverage. After executive director Kevin Merida left in January, THR reported that a recent conflict between Merida and the Soon-Shiong family occurred when more than three dozen Times journalists “signed a Nov. 9 statement severely critical of Israel's invasion of Gaza, but barely mentioned the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel launched from Hamas-controlled territory.” Under pressure from senior editors, Merida banned those who signed the statement from covering the war in Gaza for 90 days.

Nika Soon-Shiong also faced reports that she influenced the paper's editorial work despite not having an official role at the paper. Times. THR reported that during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests he fought Times leadership on the use of the term “plunder” and criticized Times staff writers on Twitter. Political reported that in 2020 she appeared in staff meetings that addressed the issue of where the paper had gone wrong in covering racial issues and that when she became West Hollywood's public safety commissioner, she pitched stories about the commission and “it complained of newspaper headlines. ”

At the time, Nika Soon-Shiong said Political who worked as a consultant for the newspaper but said he did not control editorial decisions or have a “formal role.”

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