The *Time's* now to take out the garbage
The *Time's* now to take out the garbage
The owner of the (garbage) LA Times used the (garbage) news outlet to promote uptake of the 'vaccines.'
HERE’S A CHUNK FROM SOLID REPORTING BY ‘POLITICO.’
Staffers privately expressed concern about the paper’s coverage of Los Angeles’ mayoral contest. Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, the mayoral frontrunner, won the Times’ backing in the primary against billionaire developer Rick Caruso while being cheered on by Nika Soon-Shiong and wooing her father.
Before the endorsement, Bass chaired a March congressional hearing on the Covid crisis in Africa, at which the elder Soon-Shiong, who is working to manufacture vaccines on the continent, was a witness.(*see below)
Months before then, Bass announced her plan to combat homelessness at an abandoned building that housed the old St. Vincent Medical Center. The building, long identified as potential housing for homeless people, is owned by Soon-Shiong. Later, in a debate sponsored by the Times and radio station KCRW, Bass again raised using St. Vincent. She noted that she would have no problem getting “the owner” on the phone after being told others had trouble reaching him.
“It’s almost like she became a real estate agent for Patrick Soon-Shiong,” said one Democratic official who worked in the mayoral primary.
In a statement, Bass campaign spokesperson Sarah Leonard Sheahan said the congresswoman was highlighting “an empty hospital right here in Los Angeles she believes can be used to safely and compassionately house mentally ill homeless Angelenos.”
“We are in a crisis, and the situation needs an all hands on deck response,” Leonard Sheahan said.
As for the congressional hearing, Leonard Sheahan said Bass has called dozens of witnesses to testify on issues pertaining to health care and human rights on the continent. “Committee staff invited Mr. Soon Shiong, who was born and raised in Africa and had just opened a vaccine manufacturing plant in Botswana.”
LATER ON IN THE PIECE:
The former executive described Soon-Shiong as both an “absentee landlord and also a micromanager” who can be deeply indecisive.
That has been particularly true during Covid. Several Times employees said Soon-Shiong has been distracted since the start of the pandemic. In private, he indicated to the former executive that he’d become “obsessed” with Covid and to another person it would be diverting his attention. Still, he has personally contacted multiple Times journalists during the pandemic to urge them to write specific stories featuring people he has worked with on vaccines, according to a person directly familiar with the matter. That person added that those interactions left the reporters and editors feeling uncomfortable.
Manning said Patrick Soon-Shiong is passionate about many subjects and “often” discusses coverage with news staffers. “With the onset of the COVID pandemic, he has also had discussions with reporters to highlight the science underlying the virus, concerns of long COVID, consequences of mutations and studies coming out of his home country, South Africa,” Manning said.
Still, both Manning and Merida disputed that Patrick or Nika Soon-Shiong had explicitly ordered certain stories or editorials be written.
“Patrick does have interests he cares about. And what owner doesn’t? He has never compelled us to do a single story on any of his interests,” Merida said. “That decision making authority resides with me.”
Patrick Soon-Shiong acknowledged but did not return a request for comment.
The blurry intersection of his interests was evident in the winter of 2021 when he published a video about Covid on the newspaper’s website. In it, he appeared to promote a vaccine his own company has been working on, even though it’s not approved in the U.S.
* Africa avoided surges like we had in highly-jabbed nations as Dr. Robert Yoho — among others in the Covid Truth World — have pointed out. Yet, the NY Times seems incapable of wrapping its head around the concept: ‘Trying to Solve a Covid Mystery: Africa’s Low Death Rates.’