Letters to the Editor: Readers discuss The Times’ non-endorsement in the presidential race
To the editor: At any other time, the owners of the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post may have had good reasons to discontinue presidential endorsements. By providing good, solid reporting on candidates who differ on policy issues but fall within the broadest definitions of normality, newspapers can inform readers, who then draw their own conclusions.
But this election is not between two normal candidates.
Former President Trump is exactly the kind of person that the framers of our Constitution feared would rise to power without an electoral college in place. But the abhorrent result of their check on the people is that democracy is thwarted, the minority rules, and the framers’ nightmare of an utterly unqualified, destructive candidate coming to power is close to reality.
The decisions by L.A. Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos to withhold their editorial boards’ endorsements of Vice President Kamala Harris so close to the election are akin to canceling one’s fire insurance just as the blaze is close to burning down the house.
Sheldon H. Kardener, Santa Monica
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To the editor: In this election year, publishing an endorsement would seem to be a no-brainer. That The Times and the Washington Post would decline to endorse a candidate of obvious merit who could save this country from Trump’s fascism, racism and his billionaire cohorts is unconscionable.
Perhaps in the election of 2028, we should simply have a national lottery, and whoever has the most money buys the presidency.
God help us all. I will cancel my subscription to both papers.
Barbara Brenner, Studio City
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To the editor: I briefly considered canceling my subscription in protest, a knee-jerk reaction to Soon-Shiong’s scuttling of The Times editorial board’s endorsement of Harris.
But I thought better of it, partly because Soon-Shiong has helped the paper stay afloat at a time when newspaper journalism is as needed as it is imperiled, and partly because he has allowed for coverage and reporting that clearly has favored Harris during the campaign.
The main reason I haven’t canceled is because doing so would have a negligible effect on the life and bottom line of a billionaire. Soon-Shiong needs my subscription about as much as a turtle needs a library card. But when throngs of unhappy readers cancel in protest, it threatens the livelihoods of journalists I admire.
Thomas Boyd, Diamond Bar
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To the editor: Many thanks to Soon-Shiong for reinvigorating The Times since he bought the newspaper in 2018. Painful at times, his efforts shine through to readers.
But I will be canceling my subscription to the broadsheet that I have read over the past 64 years, since being a Dodger-addicted kid growing up in Arcadia.
It’s simply guileless for Soon-Shiong’s daughter, who claims that the Biden administration’s policy on Gaza affected the decision to withhold an endorsement, to believe that the U.S. alone can bring peace to the Middle East. Evidently, she believes Trump will be better able than Harris to settle the Gaza tragedy.
The Soon-Shiong family, displaying remarkable naivete, now erodes this venerable institution they aim to enhance, one that I will sorely miss.
Bruce Fuller, Berkeley
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To the editor: My brother, photojournalist Richard Cross, was working alongside L.A. Times reporter Dial Torgerson when they both lost their lives in Honduras in 1983. They were attempting to reveal the truth behind what became the Iran-Contra scandal.
Richard would weep if he knew that you are not providing an endorsement for president in 2024.
I applaud your former editorials editor Mariel Garza and writers Karin Klein and Robert Greene, who resigned in protest of the owner’s decision.
Your silence speaks volumes. It does not honor the journalists who gave their lives to reveal the truth. It isn’t too late to reconsider and do the right thing. Please revise your decision — we need the support of your honorable publication.
Malia Cross, Honolulu
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To the editor: I’m a Democrat. I believe a newspaper should give its readers true information on the policies of the two candidates running for president and let us decide for whom to vote in an election.
I would be upset if The Times told me to vote for the candidate I was not going to vote for. A person on the other side of the fence would feel the same way.
Myra Fisher, Woodland Hills
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To the editor: I have been a longtime reader (essentially since I could read) and subscriber (more than 30 years) to The Times. I think the decision by Soon-Shiong not to endorse a presidential candidate was a self-serving one.
I believe a Trump presidency would present a danger to democracy as well as honest journalism. Not to call him out on that and make a stand weakens our country. Fair reporting on both sides of the political spectrum can be done while the editorial board makes its opinions known.
In stifling the editorial board’s presidential endorsement, Soon-Shiong has used his power as an owner to shape the election. In fact, he has now become part of the news cycle.
While I am close to canceling my subscription, I worry that doing so just takes a step toward honest journalism’s demise and would be unfair to the actual workers of The Times. But I know of no other real way to voice my opposition and loss of support.
Angela Kim, Mission Viejo
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To the editor: Somewhere along the line, journalists, editors and publishers got it into their heads that “neutrality” is what should be practiced — that is, the indiscriminate reporting of facts and folderol side-by-side, pronouncing them as equivalent.
But it is objectivity, a weighing of information and experience to highlight truth and reality, that should be a news outlet’s aim.
Soon-Shiong says he spiked the editorial board’s endorsement of Harris in an effort to reduce political division and because he trusts readers to make up their own minds. Poppycock! If that were true, why has the newspaper endorsed in most other important races?
Here’s a fact that should be reported: By every measure, Trump is thoroughly and demonstrably unfit for the presidency — a profound understatement in the interest of time and space.
Joshua Gershick, North Hollywood
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To the editor: I am curious if the owner still feels good about his decision to block the editorial board’s endorsement of Harris after the parade of racist and xenophobic ethnic slurs put on at Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday.
Honestly, remaining “neutral” in the face of such hate and bigotry is actually taking a side — the wrong side.
Mona Lynch, Laguna Beach
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To the editor: I have been a subscriber to The Times my entire adult life. I am now in my 60s. I am extremely disappointed with the ownership’s decision to squash an endorsement of Harris.
My first reaction was to consider canceling my subscription out of protest. Upon further reflection, I decided to continue my subscription in order to continue supporting the good reporting that your staff does.
It is crystal clear to me that Trump is uniquely unqualified to hold any elective office, let alone the presidency. The reasons for this are more numerous than I want to take the time for, but among them are his felony conviction, pending federal charges, adjudicated sexual abuse, paying off a porn star for an extramarital affair, stoking racism and malignant narcissism.
Any one of these should be disqualifying. The words from several of his former Cabinet members echo all this.
Shame on Soon-Shiong for tarnishing the reputation of your great newspaper by failing to see the obvious. But I will continue to support the good work of your paper with my subscription.
Frank Nemiroff, Venice Beach
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To the editor: I have been reading the L.A. Times every day since I was 6 years old. I am now 71. It is one of my “positive” addictions.
So I am writing this letter with a heavy heart. Never in a million years did I imagine canceling my subscription. But I swore to friends and family I would get out of my comfort zone in my efforts to support Harris and defeat Trump.
When I heard that The Times’ owner refused to publish an endorsement of Harris for president, I realized I had to take this step.
I am so sad. I will miss “my” L.A. Times.
But even more so I am scared and furious that so many Americans are unable to admit that another Trump presidency would be a direct threat to our democracy.
Peter Getoff, Los Angeles
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To the editor: When I first heard that The Times was not going to endorse a candidate for president, I was disappointed and angry. With so much at stake for our democracy, I would have liked the paper to have endorsed Harris.
Yet, after considering why I read the paper, I think it is more important that The Times focus on reaching the largest audience possible, keeping us informed and amused and presenting factual and balanced reporting, not on telling us how to think.
Martie Levy, Santa Barbara
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To the editor: Soon-Shiong was quoted in The Times as saying, “I hope [subscribers] understand by not subscribing that it just adds to the demise of democracy.”
He apparently doesn’t understand that his decision not to endorse a candidate for president just adds to the demise of our democracy.
Accordingly, he doesn’t deserve my subscription to the paper. The Times’ refusal to endorse Harris, the only pro-democracy candidate, is unforgivable. I am canceling.
Ray McKown, Torrance
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To the editor: While I understand in theory why Soon-Shiong might not want to influence readers, this is no ordinary election.
Never before have we had an unqualified, unhinged, vindictive, fascist felon determined to destroy democracy seeking the presidency — and primarily to avoid going to prison.
In Germany before World War II, people said they “didn’t know.” They did. My mother was there. They didn’t want to know.
This is an unprecedented time in our country’s history. Saying journalists should just present the pros and cons of both candidates is like saying Hitler did some good things.
The only reason I’m not canceling my subscription is because I want to support the dedicated journalists who work hard to present the facts.
Margie Friedman, Santa Monica
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To the editor: Thanks to Soon-Shiong for his decision not to endorse a presidential candidate. I believe that this should be standard policy for all elections.
In an era where clear biases are appearing in non-editorial pieces even in quality newspapers, more articles these days should be flagged as opinion.
For better or worse, I think that most people do not need to receive additional education on this presidential election. Unless something is unearthed about one of the candidates that is unknown and surprising, there is nothing else that voters need to know.
An endorsement is nothing more than taking advantage of your pedestal to share your opinion. Especially for this election, endorsing will not change anyone’s mind and just perpetuate the loss of trust in journalism.
People are best served when they are given information that helps them form their own opinion, not when they are told what their opinion should be. The Times’ owner made the right decision.
Cory Benjamin, Dutton, Mt.
