The head of the Los Angeles Times editorial board, Mariel Garza, handed in her resignation this Wednesday, setting off waves of discussion and controversy. The move came after the paper declined to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for the 2024 presidential race, a departure from its long-standing tradition of backing Democratic candidates since 2008. Garza didn’t just leave quietly—her exit was a direct protest against what she saw as the paper’s silence at a critical moment.
Garza explained to the *Columbia Journalism Review* that her frustration boiled down to principle. “I am not okay with us being silent,” she said. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.” She believed the lack of endorsement not only muted the paper’s voice but could also be perceived as endorsing the status quo—or worse, as discriminatory.
Her frustration wasn’t rooted in any belief that endorsing Harris would flip votes in California—Garza made that clear. “Our readers are mostly Harris supporters. We’re a liberal paper. It wasn’t about changing minds.” What really stung, she implied, was the paper’s sudden retreat from a position it had held for over a decade: using its platform to make a public stand during elections.
Behind the scenes, Garza suggested that LA Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong pulled the strings, instructing the paper to remain neutral. According to Garza, the lack of endorsement for Harris could send the wrong message. “It makes us look craven and hypocritical, maybe even a bit sexist and racist,” she wrote in her resignation letter. “How can we criticize Trump for eight years, then turn around and refuse to endorse the Democrat who’s challenging him—someone we previously backed for Senate?”
Soon-Shiong didn’t stay silent either. In a post on X, he argued that his decision wasn’t about stifling the editorial board but about ensuring fair coverage. He claimed that the board had the opportunity to provide readers with an unbiased comparison of Harris and former President Donald Trump’s policies. His intention, he said, was to give readers the information to make up their own minds.
While Soon-Shiong painted the decision as one aimed at non-partisanship, the move was quickly spun as a win by the Trump campaign. “Even her fellow Californians know she’s not up for the job,” the campaign said, pointing out the irony that the state’s largest paper, which had previously endorsed Harris, was now stepping back.
Garza’s resignation leaves the LA Times at an interesting crossroads. As the dust settles, the decision not to endorse Harris is sure to keep fueling debates over how much influence news outlets should wield and what neutrality really means in a polarized media landscape. And with the Trump campaign already seizing on the fallout, it’s clear that this story isn’t over yet.
