I’ve been meaning to write this column for a couple of months. My hesitation was because it involves the Los Angeles Times, where I worked for 23 years. And because it’s likely to offend some longtime friends still working there or since retired.
A recent article in the New York Times, however, has finally loosed my tongue. “Owner of Los Angeles Times Plans ‘Bias Meter’ Next to Coverage,” the headline reads. The gist: that billionaire surgeon Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong—who purchased the paper in 2018 a decade after I left—plans to start the New Year by introducing an online device next to news and opinion pieces by which readers “can press a button and get both sides.”
As a journalist, my first instinctive reaction was fluttering red flags. And, indeed, a senior legal affairs columnist for the paper’s opinion section immediately resigned, citing his “visceral reaction against the conduct of the paper’s owner.” Followed by a statement from the Newspaper Guild decrying Soon-Shiong’s suggestion that his staff “harbors bias.” In fact, the statement continued, the newspaper’s journalists abide by ethics guidelines calling for “fairness, precision, transparency, [and] vigilance against bias…”
All of which sounds wonderfully professional. If only it were true.
Before weighing in with my own nuanced opinion, however, let me offer some background. This brouhaha started in October when the crusading surgeon blocked a planned endorsement of Kamala Harris in the then-upcoming national election. Instead, he explained later, he proposed a neutral two-columned piece citing each candidate’s position on various issues, an option he claimed the editorial board rejected.
The aftermath was immediate and thunderous; several members of that board resigned in protest. And the good doctor went on a public crusade, promising to save the paper from continuing as “an echo chamber” rather than “a trusted source.” His plan: to hire new editorialists of diverse persuasions and work towards more balanced coverage.
OK, time to tell you how all this looks to me. I have long harbored concerns regarding the slanted journalism I’ve seen creeping into global mainstream media. Last year I wrote a column quoting a young former reporter forced to leave the Washington Post by an editor who has since retired. “American view-from-nowhere ‘objectivity’-obsessed, both-sides journalism is a failed experiment,” the 30-year-old angrily declared.
The unfortunate truth was that he spoke for an entire generation of young—and some not-so-young—journalists then on the rise. This became achingly apparent during Donald Trump’s recent political resurrection.
“Trump’s big rally doubles down on hatred,” screamed a headline above the fold on page one over a typical LA Times column a week before the election. “The New York event showcases a party that’s lost all pretense of wanting democracy.”
To be sure, the Times wasn’t the only—or even worst—offender. But statements by staffers angered by their owner’s ostensible desire for balanced coverage dispelled any lingering doubts regarding their objectivity. “I don’t want to continue to work for a paper that is appeasing Trump and facilitating his assault on democratic rule,” last week’s resigning columnist declared.
In truth, it’s not surprising that so many journalists feel that way. A 2022 survey showed fewer than 4% of them identify as Republicans, a fact apparently feeding the one-sided coverage that, according to the latest Gallup poll, makes them (or should I say us?) America’s least-trusted profession.
So what’s the solution? In all honesty, I’m not a fan of Soon-Shiong’s attempts to publicly humiliate his staff. Nor am I convinced that his proposed “bias meter” will be anything but an unfunny joke.
That said, however, I can’t help but admire the owner’s stated goal of enhancing the intellectual diversity and fairness of his paper. Let’s hope he means what he says. And that it all works out the way he claims to hope that it will.
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David Haldane is an award-winning American journalist and author living in Northern Mindanao. A former Los Angeles Times staff writer, his latest book, A Tooth in My Popsicle, is available on Amazon. This column appears weekly in The Manila Times.
