Weeks after the editorial board withdrew its prepared presidential endorsement of Kamala Harris, the owner of the Los Angeles Times announced that its product team would be adding technology-driven updates to articles on the paper’s website. He said he is working on developing a new “bias meter.” As soon as next year.
The idea, presented by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, appears to be a module that can present multiple perspectives on a particular news item and integrate several versions of comments. And it marks the latest signal from the billionaire that he plans to restructure the Times as the second Trump administration gets into full swing and after multiple editorial board members resigned after expressing support. .
“Imagine this: Having a bias meter helps someone, as a reader, understand the source, whether it’s news or opinion, or rather opinion or voice. There is some degree of bias in this article,” Soon-Shiong elaborated on a radio show hosted by Scott Jennings, the Times’ incoming editorial board member.
(The revelation of this news to Jennings was no coincidence. In November, Soon-Shiong used his He extolled the virtues of the house and said the owner was “looking for people like Scott Jennings” to staff his newspaper.
“What we have to do is avoid what’s called ‘confirmation bias,'” the Los Angeles Times mogul said, “so that readers automatically read the story at the push of a button.” “You’ll be able to know both sides of the same story based on this.” and add a comment. Well, here’s a little news flash: This is what we’re currently building behind the scenes. And we hope to be able to launch this by January. ”
“So we’re talking about the convergence of content created by journalists with the technology you’re developing that gives readers a more comprehensive or complete view of a particular story at any given time,” Jennings said. ” I answered.
“That’s right,” Soon-Shiong said, adding: “Comments are sometimes just as important as stories, because you can see what people are thinking and, like you said, you can have conversations, discourse, respectful disagreements. ”
After the radio show’s segment was published, the newspaper’s editorial union issued a statement in response, saying, “The newspaper’s owners have publicly suggested, without providing evidence or examples, that their staff is biased.” Its members “value fairness, accuracy, transparency, and vigilance against bias.” and a keen inquisitiveness to understand all sides of an issue. ”
The idea of a “bias meter” has been floating around the internet for some time as a product idea that readers might find theoretically interesting. Founded in 2018, NewsGuard offers a browser extension that provides “complete nutrition labels” on news websites, their political leanings, and their owners. Captain America star Chris Evans launched a website in 2020 called “A starting point,” with a format of “Three Democratic Opinions on This” and “Three Republican Opinions on This.” Provide commentary on news topics. And the short-lived news startup The Messenger (which Soon-Shiong had proposed buying before shutting down earlier this year) has partnered with artificial intelligence company Seekr to somehow eradicate bias in its reporting. I had a contract.
Soon-Shiong also addressed the reason behind Harris’ surge in support, saying he believed the Times opinion section was “an echo chamber and not a reliable source of information.”
“When people at the level next to me on the editorial board told me that they had put together endorsements in advance without meeting any of the candidates, I was a little upset and thought that what they were trying to say was I felt it should all be based on facts,” Soon-Shiong said.
He added, “We knew it was going to be hot, we knew it was going to be painful, we knew people didn’t like change, and we actually told newsrooms, “Look, you… I knew I had to say, ‘Is your news really news, or is your news really your opinion about the news?’
For another perspective, Los Angeles Times editorial board member Karin Kurien, who resigned after her endorsement was revoked, spoke about how she viewed the paper’s owner’s late move.
“Had Soon-Shiong decided early last spring that he would no longer support him in the presidential race, it would have been fair, neutral and legitimate,” Klein wrote in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter on October 27. My decision is not to consider the most important election of my life, but to consider his call. ”
Klein added: “But making a decision at the eleventh hour, when the candidates have been chosen, means that the polls are close and almost anything can swing the race either way.” “The anti-editorial stance is actually a de facto decision,” he added. Writing an editorial — a wordless, invisible subterfuge that unfairly hints at Harris’s grave flaws, placing her on a par with Donald Trump. Whether he realizes it or not, Soon-Shiong is practicing the opposite of the neutrality he professes to seek. ”
