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The Los Angeles Times’ owner on saving the newspaper.
The Los Angeles Times could roll out an artificial intelligence-powered “bias meter” as soon as January, in the latest shakeup as the paper’s owner tries to reshape the outlet.
LA Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong announced the upcoming AI feature on Wednesday in an interview with conservative commentator and newly appointed Times editorial board member Scott Jennings on “The Mike Gallagher Show,” which Jennings was guest-hosting.
“Whether it be news or opinion — more likely the opinion or the voices — you have a bias meter so somebody could understand as they read it that the source of the article has some level of bias,” Soon-Shiong, a billionaire tech entrepreneur and doctor who bought the Times in 2018, said Wednesday.
He added that readers could then “press a button and get both sides of that exact same story, based on that story, and then give comments.”
Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, a billionaire who made his fortune in the medical industry, bought The Los Angeles Times in 2018. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
LA TIMES EDITOR ADDRESSES STAFF ‘CONCERNS’ AFTER OWNER SUGGESTS HE WANTS TO OVERHAUL PAPER
The announcement comes amid promises by Soon-Shiong to overhaul the paper, which he said has “conflated news and opinion.”
“If it’s news, it should just be the facts, period,” Soon-Shiong told “Fox News @ Night” host Trace Gallagher last month, adding that he wanted the paper to be more than an “echo chamber.”
While specifics on the “bias meter” were scarce, Soon-Shiong said he was hopeful it would launch by January.
“So we’re talking about a fusion of content created by journalists and technology that you’re developing that will give the readers a more well-rounded view, or the complete view, of any given story at any given time?” Jennings asked.
“Correct,” Soon-Shiong said, pointing to X as an example of the kind of discourse he hopes to foster at the Times.
On X, “the comments are as important as sometimes the story, because you get the feel of what people are thinking,” he said. “You could have a conversation, a discourse, a respectful disagreement, and that’s what I want to engender here.”
Soon-Shiong has vowed to overhaul the Times, which he said has “conflated news and opinion.” (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Some of the paper’s liberal staff members have not welcomed Soon-Shiong’s overhaul.
Three editorial board members resigned after Soon-Shiong decided the paper would not endorse a candidate in the 2024 presidential race.
The Times’ editorial board endorsed presidential candidates from the 1880s through 1972, and picked the practice up again in 2008 with the endorsement of then-Sen. Barack Obama. Since 2008, the paper had exclusively endorsed Democratic presidential candidates and was set to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris, as well.
Soon-Shiong addressed the dust-up over the non-endorsement on Wednesday, as well.
“I began to see it was an echo chamber and not a trusted source,” he said of his editorial team. “When my next level of editorial people and the editorial board shared with me that they had pre-packaged an endorsement without having met with any of the candidates, I was a little bit outraged and felt whatever they were about to say should really be based in facts.”
Last week, Soon-Shiong announced that Jennings, a former aide to President George W. Bush and CNN commentator, would join the Times’ editorial board as part of the effort to make the paper more balanced. Jennings frequently draws attention online for his televised debates with liberal CNN counterparts.
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Jennings praised Soon-Shiong’s revamp of the paper in a post on X.
“Roughly half (or more) of the country often feels like legacy media doesn’t care what it thinks and has little interest in fairly representing its views and values. I plan to represent those Americans who believe they are often ignored or even ridiculed in legacy media,” Jennings wrote.
Fox News Digital’s David Rutz contributed to this report.
