Truth & Toxins: Dr. Soon-Shiong’s Vision for the LA Times and America’s Health | 12.21.24
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Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the LA Times, made headlines this fall for making big and potentially risky changes at his paper in an effort to root out bias. In this episode of Morning Wire, we speak to Dr. Soon-Shiong about his intentions for the paper and why he's willing to go to bat for Trump's incoming cabinet picks, RFK Jr. and Dr. Marty McCary. I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Saturday, December 21st, and this is a Saturday edition of Morning Wire.
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Joining us now is Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, medical entrepreneur and owner of the LA Times. Dr. Soon-Shiong, thank you so much for coming on.
You're welcome, and thank you for having me.
So first off, when did you acquire the LA Times?
Oh, I think it's about six years now, around the 2018 timeframe.
Now, you've presided over some very divided political times, but recently you've made some headlines for shaking up the editorial board and also for declining to endorse a political candidate. That suggested to some people that you might be changing the direction of the paper or at least doing a bit of a rebrand. Is that accurate?
Well, the accurate thing is that when I bought the paper, I wanted it to be really the voice of all people. And more importantly, I wanted our readers to understand the difference between news and opinion. And when I first started this, obviously, Norm Polstein was the executive editor with me and really seasoned and we had that same mission. Unfortunately, COVID happened and I had to take my eye off the paper to focus on what I was doing on cancer and COVID. I hired a new editor as Norm retired, and the new editor, unfortunately, I think, pushed the paper into something I didn't believe was the right direction. So once I had time, which I did last year and beginning of this year, I began to realize we really need change.
Now, how are your readers responding to that? I mean, obviously it's a delicate dance because you have this subscriber base. They've become accustomed to a certain tone at the paper. Are you seeing a loss of subscribers? And if so, is that something you're willing to weather to build this new and improved tone?
Yeah, and I think, look, I recognize there'd be risks, right? And as I said in my tweets, if you have to lead, you have to lead. Leaders have to lead. And my concern was, were we... writing opinions based on only one-sided view and recognizing that California is a very blue state. But as you begin to see, I didn't want to be just the voice of California. I wanted to be the voice of the nation. More importantly, I wanted to be the voice of truth. So taking that position that we could be the voice of truth, that we need to make that happen. I would like to refer you to the mission statement, which I'm going to read to you now. The editorial board actually has not even followed. It says here, oh, editorials are written by a group of writers who meet three times a week to discuss and debate issues. I think that's okay, but maybe they're not really okay, because if the group of writers, and again, I'm getting into trouble for this, but so be it, are an echo chamber of themselves, we just get a one-sided view.
But what is most important in the mission statement, it goes on to say, and I'm quoting we strive to take into account different perspectives particularly if they don't align with our own to inform our views our hope is to lay out arguments and analyses that can help our readers navigate complex questions or at the very least give them a well-considered way to think about the issues of the day that is an amazing laudable mission statement meaning
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