The owner of the Los Angeles Times got slapped with a community note after the author behind a Robert F. Kennedy Jr. opinion piece accused the paper of editing out his critique of the Department of Health and Human Services nominee.
Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner and executive chairman of the LA Times, tweeted a link to a recent opinion piece in the paper titled “Trump’s healthcare disruption could pay off—if he pushes real reform.”
“He is our best chance of doing so,” Soon-Shiong added.
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But his post was quickly stamped with a harsh community note: “The author of this article says that the LA Times edited out his clear opposition to RFK Jr. without his consent and gave it a headline which directly contradicts the point he was trying to make.”
Eric Reinhart, a social psychiatrist and the author of the opinion piece in question, tweeted on Friday that his article was “given a misleading title” and had “key lines” cut that made clear RFK Jr. is “dangerously ignorant” and is “effectively a mass murderer in waiting.”
“My first time working with the Los Angeles Times, and I expect also my last,” he added.
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Reinhart revealed that his suggested title for the opinion piece was “RFK Jr’s Wrecking Ball Won’t Fix Public Health” and that the opening and closing lines to the piece do not leave his stance on the HHS nominee “ambiguous.”
“Editors edit and control final copy and hed; I get that. But editing out a very central and timely point in the minutes before sending to press while then also assigning a title and image that suggest an argument entirely opposite to the author’s clear intent is bad,” he continued.
Reinhart later had the original version of his piece published by The New Republic with a fresh title: “The RFK Jr. Op-Ed The Los Angeles Times Didn’t Want You to Read.”
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The op-ed author later called the LA Times incident a “scandal” and suggested it is “symptomatic of the oligarchic takeover of U.S. media and politics.”
In a statement given to NPR by an LA Times spokesperson, the paper said its opinion editors work with op-ed contributors to edit pieces for length, clarity and accuracy, among other things.
“No op-ed pieces are published, as edited, without the permission of the author. That includes the op-ed written by Eric Reinhart,” the spokesperson said.
Soon-Shiong publicly praised RFK Jr. last Tuesday, saying he hoped he was confirmed. Soon-Shiong previously told Fox News Digital that Kennedy’s questions about what Americans eat are legitimate issues to raise.
The LA Times did not immediately return Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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