The editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times has resigned after the newspaper’s owner blocked the editor’s plans to endorse Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for president, a journalism trade publication said Wednesday.
Mariel Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review in an interview that she resigned because the Times remained silent on the contest during “dangerous times.”
“I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not comfortable with our silence,” Garza said. “In dangerous times, honest people must rise. This is how I rise.”
In a post on social media platform at the White House.
In addition, “The board was asked to provide insight into the policies and plans the candidates proclaimed during this campaign and their potential impact on the nation over the next four years,” he wrote. “This way, with this clear and unbiased information side by side, our readers could decide who would be worthy of being president for the next four years.”
Soon-Shiong, who bought the newspaper in 2018, said the board “chose to remain silent and I accepted their decision.”
Garza told the Columbia Journalism Review that the board intended to support Harris and that she had drafted the outline of a proposed editorial.
An LA Times spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The LA Times Guild Unit Council & Bargaing Committee said it was “deeply concerned by our owner’s decision to block a planned endorsement in the presidential race.”
“We are even more concerned that he is now unfairly attributing blame to editorial board members for his decision not to approve it,” the guild said in a statement. “On behalf of our members, we are still pressing for answers from editorial management.”
Trump’s campaign took advantage of Garza’s departure, saying the state’s largest newspaper had declined to endorse the Democratic ticket after backing Harris in her previous races for U.S. Senate and attorney general.
Her departure comes about 10 months after then-editor-in-chief Kevin Merida left the paper in what was called a “mutually agreed upon” departure. At the time, the news organization said it had missed digital subscriber goals by a wide margin and needed a revenue boost to support the newsroom and its digital operations.
