Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong interfered in reporting at the newspaper about a billionaire doctor friend who was involved in a lawsuit over his dog biting a woman in a local park, TheWrap has learned. TheWrap reported on this incident in an investigative piece last week, but the details of the interference only emerged on Friday in The New York Times. Soon-Shiong learned about a potential Times story in early December and attempted to head off the reporting, telling Merida that he did not think it was worth pursuing. “He doesn’t understand that the owner of a newspaper doesn’t second guess journalists’ decisions about newsworthiness.”Hillary Manning, a spokeswoman for the paper, confirmed to The New York Times that Soon-Shiong inquired about the reporting. “This request for truthful, factual reporting was made by Dr. Soon-Shiong, irrespective of who was involved in this ‘dog bite’ story.

Source: Los Angeles Times January 27, 2024 07:29 UTC