A Semafor report alleged Tuesday the Los Angeles Times owner blocked the publication from endorsing a presidential candidate despite doing so for years.
The Los Angeles Times will not endorse a presidential candidate this year, according to a new report.
Semafor’s Max Tani reported Tuesday the paper’s editorial board will not endorse a presidential candidate for the first time since it restarted the practice when it endorsed then-Sen. Barack Obama in 2008, adding the decision came from the owner himself.
“But according to two people familiar with the situation, executive editor Terry Tang told editorial board staff earlier this month that the paper would not be endorsing a candidate in the presidential election this cycle, a decision that came from the paper’s owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a doctor who made his fortune in the healthcare industry,” Tani wrote.
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An L.A. Times spokesperson declined to comment to Fox News Digital on the report, saying, “We do not comment on internal discussions or decisions about editorials or endorsements.”
The L.A. editorial board issued presidential endorsements from the 1880s through 1972, only returning to the practice to endorse Obama in 2008. Since then, they have exclusively endorsed Democratic presidential candidates.
Tani also reported Soon-Shiong, who bought that paper in 2018, previously overruled the editorial board in 2020 after it had planned to endorse a candidate in the Democratic primary.
After initially choosing Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, “at the last minute Soon-Shiong overruled its leadership and said there would be no endorsement in the primary race.”
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The editorial board later endorsed Joe Biden for president.
The L.A. Times released its statewide and nationwide endorsements last week, including Democratic candidates for the U.S. House and Senate.
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