Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, claims he would install an AI-powered “bias metre” on the news articles.
Soon-Shiong, who is also planning to restructure the editorial board and reject the publication’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, said this will provide readers with “both sides” of a story.
The biotech entrepreneur Soon-Shiong, who purchased the Times in 2018, revealed to CNN political analyst Scott Jennings, who will be joining the Times’ editorial board, that he has been “quietly building” an AI bias metre “behind the scenes.” The same augmented intelligence technology that he has been developing since 2010 for medical applications powers the metre, which is scheduled for release in January, according to Soon-Shiong.
On Jennings’ ‘Flyover Country’ podcast, he stated, ‘Someone could recognise as they read it that the source of the item has some level of bias.’ “And what we need to do is not have what we call confirmation bias and then that story automatically. The reader can press a button and get both sides of that same story based on that story and then comment on it.”
According to Soon-Shiong, major publishers have not yet done a good enough job of keeping news and opinion apart, which “could be the downfall of what people now call mainstream media.”
In response to the remarks, the union that represents hundreds of Times newspaper employees chastised Soon-Shiong for “publicly suggesting his staff harbours bias without offering evidence or examples.”
The Los Angeles Times Guild stated in a statement Thursday that “all Times staffers and our members adhere to a rigorous set of ethics guidelines, which call for fairness, precision, transparency, vigilance against bias, and an earnest search to understand all sides of an issue.” “Those enduring principles will guide our work.”
Harry Litman, the Times’ Opinion page’s senior legal affairs columnist, also resigned as a result of the controversial actions taken by the paper’s owner.
“My resignation is an outspoken protest and gut-wrenching response to the actions of Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong, the paper’s owner. Litman wrote Thursday, “Short-Shiong has taken several actions to compel the publication to adopt a more pro-Donald Trump stance, despite the adamant protests of his personnel.
They are disgusting and dangerous, especially in light of the existential risks that I think Trump’s second term poses to our democracy and the indication that Soon-Shiong is gaining favour with the president-elect.
The Times’ assistant editorial page editor, Kerry Cavanaugh, also announced her departure a few days before Litman’s resignation, as initially reported by Status. Along with making significant changes to the editorial board, Soon-Shiong has started reviewing the headlines of all opinion pieces before they are published, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. CNN reached out to a Times spokesperson, but they did not reply.
The actions are part of Soon-Shiong’s efforts to reorganise the editorial board. In the wake of President-elect Donald Trump‘s victory, he told CNN last month that he intends to balance the paper’s opinion section with more conservative and moderate voices.
