LA Times Editorial Page Editor Resigns After Paper Skips Presidential Endorsement

Los Angeles Times editorial page editor Mariel Garza resigned from the paper on Wednesday following the decision by owner Patrick Soon-Shiong not to endorse a political candidate for president.

In her resignation letter to executive editor Terry Tang, Garza wrote;

“The non-endorsement undermines the integrity of the editorial board and every single endorsement we make, down to school board races. People will justifiably wonder if each endorsement was a decision made by a group of journalists after extensive research and discussion, or through decree by the owner.”

The news was posted on a private Facebook page frequented by current and former LA Times staffers and shared with TheWrap.

Internal Slack messages reflected frustration in the newsroom over the lack of explanation from the paper’s executive leaders. Wrote one: “The newsroom is being put in a difficult position here. While the editorial board is separate from the newsroom, it is the reporters who face the public on behalf of the LA Times each and every day. Leaving us without a clear explanation for why there is no endorsement this year seems to disregard our own contribution to the newspaper.”

A spokeswoman for the Times did not respond to a request for comment

Semafor reported on Tuesday the LA Times would not endorse either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, a decision made by the paper’s billionaire businessman owner. The editorial board was prepared to endorse Harris and has endorsed the Democratic candidate in each of the past four elections, going back to Barack Obama in 2008.

TheWrap reported on Wednesday that a number of newspaper subscribers cancelled in anger over the decision. “Mrs. Doubtfire” screenwriter Randi Mayem Singer posted she had “just canceled” her subscription over the paper’s non-endorsement. “WTF is wrong with you?” she asked.

On Wednesday, many of those who read the news of the resignation cheered Garza for her stance. “A courageous and important statement,” wrote an X account @sebosokoff. “But you shouldn’t have had to resign. #LATimes used to be an esteemed Fourth Estate leader. Now it’s a barely dressed up tabloid.”

“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent,” Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.”

Sewell Chan, who wrote the CJR article, shared his own history with the Times and that this wasn’t the first time a political endorsement was blocked.

“I was the newspaper’s editorial page editor in 2020 and 2021, and presided over the board’s endorsement of Joe Biden in 2020,” Chan wrote on X. “Months earlier, before I took the job, Soon-Shiong had stopped the editorial board from making an endorsement in the Democratic presidential primary.”

Internal Slack conversations viewed by TheWrap echoed the sentiment that the paper had “abandoned that responsibility” of endorsing a candidate, as one newsroom journalist wrote on Slack.

Another newsroom staffer wrote that they had represented the Times at several prestigious events, adding, “I’ve… witnessed the last 10 months of mind-boggling decisions, disrespectful negotiations, and finally, yesterday’s cowardly, unexplained non-endorsement. I used to be proud that I worked at The Los Angeles Times. Now, I’m just embarrassed.”

An additional employee wrote that without an explanation to readers and staff about the decision not to endorse Harris, “we’ve made ourselves the story and still had an impact, even if the intent was to stay neutral.”

A separate employee wondered how many readers have dropped the paper following the no-endorsement decision. “I’d really like to know how many people have canceled their subscriptions because of this non-endorsement… Are we going to end up paying for that in the long run?”

“I echo everyone who is still waiting and hoping for an explanation from our owner and editor,” wrote yet another staffer.

One employee speculated that Soon-Shiong’s decision not to address Harris may have been”to further his business interests outside of the LA Times.”

In addition to the Times, the tech billionaire is also an investor, medical researcher, philanthropist and transplant surgeon. He’s also the founder of NantWorks, a network of healthcare, biotech, and artificial intelligence startups.

Speaking at TheGrill earlier this month, Kevin Merida, the former executive editor of the Times, cited “disagreements” with Soon-Shiong as one of the reasons he stepped down on January 9, and TheWrap reported extensively on Soon-Shiong’s multiple moves to interfere with newsroom decisions.

The past months have been among the most tumultuous for the 143-year-old paper, with record layoffs and a steady stream of resignations from top editors.

Garza had been with the Times since March 2015. Prior to that, she was deputy editorial page editor of the Sacramento Bee.

Here is Garza’s full resignation letter to executive editor Terry Tang, courtesy of the Columbia Journalism Review:

Terry,

Ever since Dr. Soon-Shiong vetoed the editorial board’s plan to endorse Kamala Harris for president, I have been struggling with my feelings about the implications of our silence. 

I told myself that presidential endorsements don’t really matter; that California was not ever going to vote for Trump; that no one would even notice; that we had written so many “Trump is unfit” editorials that it was as if we had endorsed her.

But the reality hit me like cold water Tuesday when the news rippled out about the decision not to endorse without so much as a comment from the LAT management, and Donald Trump turned it into an anti-Harris rip.

Of course it matters that the largest newspaper in the state—and one of the largest in the nation still—declined to endorse in a race this important. And it matters that we won’t even be straight with people about it. 

It makes us look craven and hypocritical, maybe even a bit sexist and racist. How could we spend eight years railing against Trump and the danger his leadership poses to the country and then fail to endorse the perfectly decent Democrat challenger—who we previously endorsed for the US Senate?

The non-endorsement undermines the integrity of the editorial board and every single endorsement we make, down to school board races. People will justifiably wonder if each endorsement was a decision made by a group of journalists after extensive research and discussion, or through decree by the owner.

Seven years ago, the editorial board wrote this in its series about Donald Trump “Our Dishonest President”: “Men and women of conscience can no longer withhold judgment. Trump’s erratic nature and his impulsive, demagogic style endanger us all.” 

I still believe that’s true. 

In these dangerous times, staying silent isn’t just indifference, it is complicity. I’m standing up by stepping down from the editorial board. Please accept this as my formal resignation, effective immediately.

Mariel

Ross A. Lincoln contributed to this story.

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