Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong wants the Los Angeles Times to present both sides of a story – much to the continuing consternation of his staff. The newspaper owner says he wants the LA Times to have what he calls a "bias meter" with every story by the start of next year. The details are a little muddy, but it sounds like a cross between Snopes and X's Community Notes.
Tim Graham of Media Research Center says Soon-Shiong – fresh off denying his paper's endorsement of Kamala Harris during the election – continues to bring his paper to the political center. "He's trying to offer readers some sense of fairness and balance," Graham tells AFN.
The Times' newsroom is once again in revolt (see related stories here and here). One long-time senior legal columnist resigned in protest, saying he refuses to "normalize" Donald Trump. Graham says the staff at the Times lives in a bubble.
"It was sort of humorous that the reporters at the Times, through their union, were complaining that there's no evidence that they tilt things," says Graham. "I think the real question is, please provide some evidence of a story where you've been even-handed."
Once concern is who will write the opposing point of view. Graham contends it can't be the reporters.
"It sounds to me like AI is going to sort of try to provide both sides. Even AI attempting to go out and find the conservative point of view is better than ignoring the conservative point of view," he offers.
According to Graham, the LA Times has been a far-left Democratic megaphone for years.
"From a Republican perspective, the editorials didn't mean much because you could see all the editorials on the front page saying 'Trump is a horrible person' – so it wasn't a surprise for the editorial page to, basically, sound like the front page," he states.
