LA Times (Los Angeles Times) – Bias and Credibility

History

The LA Times, originally called the Los Angeles Daily Times, was founded by Nathan Cole Jr. and Thomas Gardiner in 1881. The LA Times was acquired by then Editor/publisher Harrison Gray Otis. In 1885, Harry Chandler was hired as a circulation department clerk and became Harrison Otis’ son-in-law. Under Chandler and Otis, the paper was anti-union, which led to the 1910 bombing of the LA Times building, resulting in the deaths of 21 employees. In 1944, Norman Chandler succeeded his father, Harry Chandler, and in the 1960s,

Norman’s son Otis Chandler became the owner and publisher of the LA Times. Otis Chandler “transformed the Los Angeles Times from a conservative paper into a Pulitzer Prize-winner.” Under Otis Chandler, the paper won its first of 44 Pulitzer Prizes.

In June 2000, Tribune Co., owner of the Chicago Tribune, acquired Times Mirror Co., the parent company of the LA Times, which ended “100 years of local ownership of The Times by the Otis and Chandler families.”

In 2018, Biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong acquired LA Times for $500m from the Tribune Publishing Company (formerly Tronc) and became the owner and executive chairman of the Los Angeles Times. Former Vice Chairman of Time Inc., Norman Pearlstine, is the Executive Editor. See the Masthead for a complete list of the editorial team.

The LA Times covers local/national news, business, entertainment, political analysis, and sports news. The LA Times is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

Biotech billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong is the owner of LA Times. The paper is funded through advertising, subscriptions, and newsstand sales.

Analysis / Bias

In review, the LA Times (Los Angeles Times) uses moderately emotionally loaded headlines such as this “Outgoing White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly defends his rocky tenure” and “Engaging with the world doesn’t make Americans ‘suckers’”  The wording within articles also tends to lean left as evidenced by this quote from an editorial “Congress needs to focus not only on how amateurishly Trump executes foreign policy but the clear shortcomings of the policy itself.”

Regarding sourcing, the LA Times rarely uses hyperlinked sourcing, which is acceptable as news stories are covered and written by their journalists. They utilize credible sources such as the Financial Times when using hyperlinked sources.

Editorially, the LA Times has endorsed Democratic Presidential Candidates in the last three elections. During the 2016 General Election, the LA Times stated, “Hillary Clinton would make a sober, smart and pragmatic president. Donald Trump would be a catastrophe.”  

In a 2018 Interview, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong told NPR, “We’ll be as competitive vis-à-vis The New York Times and The Washington Post.”

In 2024, just before the Presidential election, the owner did not allow the LA Times to endorse Democratic candidate Kamala Harris. Finally, in December of 2024, the owner has forbidden op-eds about Trump to provide neutral news reporting. He also stated he would add more conservative voices to the paper.

Failed Fact Checks

• None in the Last 5 years

Overall, we rate the LA Times as Least Biased based on editorial positions that attempt to be balanced. We also rate them as High for factual reporting due to a clean fact-check record. (5/18/2016) Updated (M. Huitsing 12/30/2024)

Source: https://www.latimes.com/