An Los Angeles Times columnist has lashed out at the paper’s owner for ‘currying favor’ with Trump in what he called a ‘shameful capitulation’.
Harry Litman, 66, lashed out at Patrick Shoo-Shiong as he dramatically announced his exit and the reason behind it on Thursday.
‘I don’t want to continue to work for a paper that is appeasing Trump and facilitating his assault on democratic rule for craven reasons,’ Litman wrote in his resignation.
‘My resignation is a protest and visceral reaction against the conduct of the paper’s owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong.’
The long-time senior legal columnist wrote for the California-based publication for more than 15 years, according to the announcement posted to his Substack newsletter.
In speaking with MSNBC after his striking post, Litman called the move ‘cowardly’ suggesting Shoo-Shoing is ‘threatened by Trump.’
‘I think there is no other inference, but the owner of the LA Times has decided to curry favor with Trump to move in that direction, to be in his own words, “fair and balanced,” and I just think this is not a time for balance,’ Litman told MSNBC.
‘I think they cowered and are worried about their personal holdings and just being threatened by Trump.’ he alleged, adding, ‘that’s a really shameful capitulation.’
Litman’s departure follows three other editorial board members who resigned earlier this year after Soon-Shiong blocked the more than 140-year-old newspaper from publishing an endorsement of the Democratic candidate, Kamala Harris.
Nearly 2,000 upset readers canceled their subscriptions after Shoo-Shiong – who bought the LA Times in 2018 for $500 million – scrapped the endorsement.
Shoo-Shiong’s move was just a part of his plan to make the LA Times ‘non-partisan,’ Fox News reported.
His plan also involves the creation of a new editorial board and a website ‘bias meter.’
‘If we were honest with ourselves, our current board of opinion writers veered very left, which is fine, but I think in order to have balance, you also need to have somebody who would trend right, and more importantly, somebody that would trend in the middle,’ he said.
Last week, Shoo-Shiong announced that conservative commentator Scott Jennings would be joining the paper’s editorial board, another decision that sparked immense controversy.
‘He wanted to hedge his bets in case Trump won – not even to protect the paper’s fortunes but rather his multi-billion-dollar holdings in other fields,’ Litman criticized.
‘Soon-Shiong threw the paper to the wolves. That was cowardly.’
During his appearance on MSNBC’s Deadline: White House, the 66-year-old former columnist argued that newspapers have ‘an important role to play’ especially now that Trump has won a second term.
‘Trump has captured the political arena, maybe the Supreme Court, and he’s going after now the FBI, potentially the military, and, really, they’re one of the few institutions to be able to stand up and push back,’ Litman said.
Along with his former employer, Litman scrutinized Jeff Bezos, who owns another traditionally liberal outlet, the Washington Post, and similarly blocked the paper’s endorsement of Harris.
More than 250,000 readers canceled their Washington Post subscriptions after Bezos blocked the endorsement, marking nearly 10% of their subscriber base.