SPJ/LA urges reconsideration and reversal of Los Angeles Times publisher Patrick Soon-Shiong’s decision to forego presidential endorsement

The Board of Directors of the Society of Professional Journalists Los Angeles Pro Chapter strongly urges Los Angeles Times publisher Patrick Soon-Shiong to reconsider and reverse his decision to forego a Times presidential endorsement.

Nobody disputes Soon-Shiong’s legal or constitutional right to make such a decision. But the manner in which his personal decision was reached, and was announced to the editorial staff—and the paper’s utter failure to offer any reporting at all on an action so arbitrary that the editorials editor and two longtime editorial writers, including a Pulitzer winner, quickly resigned over it—demands a public explanation and correction.

We are often reminded that “the press” is the only industry singled out for special constitutional notice and protection under the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. But that protection is not an unearned privilege. Implied in the Framers’ recognition is both the special role the press plays in a democracy, and the special obligations and responsibilities the press carries that flow from it.

Editorial endorsements and ballot recommendations are not simply slate cards or voter guides. They are also a profound statement of institutional values, and in that light, this decision speaks volumes, and not in a good way.

Considering everything that the Times opinion section has published about the threat to democracy of another Trump administration, it is inexplicable and irresponsible that on the threshold of the most consequential election of our lifetime, the leading newspaper not just in our region, but in the Western United States, would suddenly and mysteriously fall silent.

We urge Soon-Shiong to reverse course and begin the process of repairing the damage to his paper’s reputation and staff morale.

The Washington Post also has made an executive decision not to endorse in the presidential race. For a paper whose masthead slogan is “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” this is a shocking and disappointing abandonment of its  journalistic obligations.

Today’s masthead slogan might as well be, “Freedom of the  Press Belongs to the Billionaires Who Own Them.”