The New York Times reports:
After President-elect Donald J. Trump announced a cascade of cabinet picks last month, the editorial board of The Los Angeles Times decided it would weigh in. One writer prepared an editorial arguing that the Senate should follow its traditional process for confirming nominees, particularly given the board’s concerns about some of his picks, and ignore Mr. Trump’s call for so-called recess appointments.
The paper’s owner, the billionaire medical entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, had other ideas. Hours before the editorial was set to be sent to the printer for the next day’s newspaper, Dr. Soon-Shiong told the opinion department’s leaders that the editorial could not be published unless the paper also published an editorial with an opposing view. Baffled by his order and with the print deadline approaching, editors removed the editorial, headlined “Donald Trump’s cabinet choices are not normal. The Senate’s confirmation process should be.” It never ran.
Read the full article. Soon-Shiong, you will recall, scuttled his paper’s planned endorsement of Kamala Harris, a move that was quickly copied by Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. Last week Soon-Shiong announced that a “bias meter” will appear next to straight news items.