Nothing better embodies the state of criminal justice reform and the rot that liberal activism has wrought on media than the mess that is the Los Angeles Times.
Politico’s deep dive into the tensions between the Times and its billionaire owner lays it all bare. It opens by recounting how a reporter wrote a fairly basic crime write-up after criminals stole two luxury watches worth $19,000. Left-wing activists piled on the reporter, Jeong Park, calling the story a “press release” for law enforcement.
That pile-on was joined by Nika Soon-Shiong, the 29-year-old daughter of the Times’s billionaire owner. She was upset that the outlet would dare cover crime — you know, the damage criminals do to communities — instead of focusing on “overcharging, manipulating crime stats, or lying about the cost per deputy.”
Politico further details the intrusions by Soon-Shiong, an uber-privileged Stanford graduate who served as an intern on the paper’s photo team before her billionaire father bought the paper. In 2020, in staff meetings, she “suggested the paper avoid using the word ‘looting’” when covering … well, you know, looting. She felt the Times should not use the word when covering riots and looting related to race and added that the Times “could become more inclusive in hiring.” She also “clashed” with editors over coverage of the Los Angeles Police Department.
After she was appointed as a West Hollywood public safety commissioner, Soon-Shiong began complaining about headlines in the paper and pitching the commission’s work to journalists for pieces.
Soon-Shiong has been steeped in privilege for her entire life and has little to worry about when it comes to crime, which harms lower-income black and Hispanic people most. And her privileged liberalism has, sadly, seeped into the Times’s content, bringing with it mold and rot. The paper has since conveniently begun to endorse Soon-Shiong’s favored candidates for office. Even more damning is this line: “It was not lost on staff that they did not initially report on the public safety commission’s decision to reduce funding for the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department — a move [Soon-Shiong] pushed for aggressively and one that was covered widely by other Los Angeles outlets.”
Soon-Shiong is just one more wealthy and privileged liberal activist who doesn’t have to worry about the effects of crime. She has corrupted the news-gathering operation by the outlet owned by her family. Thanks to her, the Los Angeles Times no longer covers crime. It is now the Soon-Shiong family’s personal vehicle more than it is an outlet for actual journalism.
This is what liberal activism and real privilege look like. This is how leftist activism destroys journalism from the inside.
