The Times They Are A-Changin’

Patrick Soon-Shiong is tightening his grip over the Los Angeles Times.

The MAGA-curious owner, who drew controversy when he blocked the newspaper's planned endorsement of Kamala Harris, has waded further into its operations since the November election, according to new information I have learned and public remarks the billionaire made Wednesday during a media appearance with right-wing personality Scott Jennings. The meddling has alarmed staffers, some of whom now harbor concerns that the billionaire presents an active danger to the paper they once believed he might help rescue.

"The man who was supposed to be our savior has turned into what now feels like the biggest internal threat to the paper," one staffer confided in me Wednesday, speaking on the condition of anonymity, like others, because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

This story is based on nearly a dozen conversations over the last week with current and former staffers at the newspaper. The staffers described a publication depleted of its spirit in which employees are "offended," "confused," and "frustrated." After a year of turbulence in which the Times underwent painful layoffs and lost top editor Kevin Merida, along with several other high-ranking editorial leaders, staffers are now coming to terms with their rule-by-tweet owner using the newspaper as an apparent vehicle to appeal to Donald Trump. Several veteran staffers told me that morale has never been lower, with some people even wondering whether the newspaper will be disfigured beyond recognition under this new era of Soon-Shiong's reign.

"We've gone through ups and downs," one longtime staffer told me. "But in previous times, there were always people who saw the upside. It is different now."

There certainly is plenty of cause to be alarmed. Soon-Shiong, who once fashioned himself as a Black Lives Matter-supporting vaccine proponent, has morphed into a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Jennings fanboy. Since Trump’s victory in November, Soon-Shiong has turned to X to criticize the news media, praise Trump’s cabinet picks, and appeal to a MAGA audience. The change in behavior has confounded his journalists, who wonder what happened to the Soon-Shiong whose newspaper enforced strict Covid restrictions and emphasized its support for social justice causes.

Nevertheless, journalists at the Times respect that Soon-Shiong is entitled to his own political views. What has concerned them is that he has simultaneously started to exert more influence over the broadsheet's operations, seeking to marry his worrisome views about the news media with how the newspaper carries out its work.